PE lessons can be fun

Playing football at the end of PE lessons is something my year 9 group always look forward to. After stretching, running around the field for 10 minutes and doing some sit-ups, they have about 10 minutes at the end of the lesson to do what they want - normally they play football, and this time I joined in.

There are 7 guys in the class, so I made it 4 a side. I was one captain and Sebastian - a big Real Madrid fan - was the other captain. We chose our teams and ended up having a little game. They scored first. A terrible error by our keeper who tried to skill the attacker and ended up getting punished for it. After a bad start, it was time to up the pressure. We got some good possesion going and when the ball was sprayed out wide to our winger, I made a quality run in the box and a simple tap in was all that was needed. GOLLLLLL WILSONNN! 1-1! Terrific play. With our team then on top, we had to capitalize. With 2 minutes to go, we counter-attacked from one of their throw-ins in our area; quick passing, 1-2-1-2. I sprayed the ball out wide, made a run, received the ball back, then sent a thru-ball to the attacker. GOLLLLL. 2-1! And there was the full-time school bell!

A friendly 'Lo siento, has perdido' to Sebastian raised the spirits of the losing team and made everyone laugh, but I'm sure this small rivalry won't be over anytime soon, and there may be a re-match on the cards in a fortnight...

Encouraging signs from the students

My 3rd week in school, and actually a very good one!

It was Monday morning, and Music was one of my first lessons of the day. As I was arriving, the kids were going to their tables and sitting down as per. What happened next, however, was rather suprising but also incredibly satisfying. One of the kids, Alejandro, had actually saved me a seat and basically 'told' me to sit there, next to him. Which I did, of course. I don't know why he asked me too - I havn't really spoken to the kid. But I remember that on the Friday before, I saw him outside of school walking up the road when I was with some other Auxiliars. I said 'Hola, que pasa?' to him, and he smiled and said 'nada' back. Maybe it made his day, maybe it didn't, but I can't help but feel this had something to do with it - maybe he realised I am a normal human being, not a stereotypical 'teacher' whom everyone naturually thinks that they don't have lives and they are not normal people. But we are!

Anyway, during the lesson we talked about Spanish music. I personally havn't heard much, if any, Spanish music before, so I handed round my notepad and asked them to jot down any recommendations they had for me to listen to. There's quite a lot as well, so I've got some listening to do this weekend!

The kids were saying to me that they prefer English music to Spanish music - there was more rhythm, the lyrics were better, and basically Spanish pop was crap in comparison to English music. I then proceeded to play an English song on the laptop-speakers that they use. My example was the song 'Like a G6', as this was currently big in America, and was a genre of music I was sure they wouldn't have heard before. They absolutely loved it! Infact, they all asked me for the name of the band and the song so they could write it down and listen to it when they got home.

I had the same class on Wednesday, for Music once again. This time, two of the kids saved me a seat. One of the kids I don't even know his name, I think it's Jose Maria, and the other one is called Dario. Normally these two boys are fairly quiet, but during this lesson they seemed to be trying hard - answering every question in the best English they could. Maybe it was because I was sitting next to them, maybe it wasn't, but I think more so the former.

This is encouraging for me - to know the kids are accepting me and beginning to like me makes me feel more secure about myself, that I am doing the right things, and that I am not a weirdo. To actually have the kids wanting me to sit next to them really does increase my confidence when I go to their lessons. Infact for the next lesson, I've been asked to prepare some work about British music, or music related to Manchester. I think I'll prepare work for both of these topics, and spread it over 2 or 3 lessons, as different aspects can be mentioned. Maybe I'll take this class by myself next time, and it would be the first time that I would have done this, but I feel that with the kids on my side, it will be possible.

Anyway, I hope things stay this way, and I hope soon that the rest of my classes become more co-operative and friendly like this one. Only time will tell, but things are looking up!

I'll post up another blog tomorrow about the rest of my week at school. More good things have happened this week and I want you all to know about them, because I'm sure you want to hear about them...

Possibly the gayest night ever...but at least it was in MADRID!

MADRID!

The first major city I have now visited on my weekend travels around Spain, and what a place to begin. It's absolutely massive!

I got there by train Saturday evening around 8pm, then had to get the metro to the place where Fran and Alex live - a district called Arguelles. The metro confused me so much I had to ask people where to go. Luckily, both the people I asked were from America, and so they spoke English. I do feel confident at speaking Spanish over here now, but if I'd have got confused and ended up on the other side of Madrid, it would not be a very good start...The metro only takes a few minutes so I had to say goodbye to my new friends pretty soon.

When I arrived at Arguelles I was met by Joe, who lives close by, and so we went to Fran and Alex's flat, where Louiseanne was also there.

After a quick stop to a Carrefour Express to get some Vodka, Redbull and a pizza, we were getting ready and drinking before we knew it. Little did I know, we were going to Cueca. Cueca is like gay capital of Madrid. Similar to Canal Street of Manchester, except a much larger area. I kind of realised this was a gay area in the queue to the first bar that we went to - Liquid (yes that's right you Oldhamers - Liquid is gay). It was full of camp-as-you-like men. The place was, unusually for Madrid, free entry, but the drinks were, as expected, quite pricey. We're talking about 9 Euros for a Vodka-RedBull.

After a few drinks in Liquid we moved on to somewhere else, I can't remember the name of the place but there was a drag act on. We were there about 5 minutes, so it's not really worth mentioning. Here's a picture for you that I took anyway.

After the drag place, we went to a nightclub in Madrid called 'Cool'. Gay as you like. It cost, I think, 10 or 20 euros to get in (can't actually remember), and with that you get a free drink of whatever you like. As always with Spain, you get a lot of alcohol in your drink, but I've learned that if you give the barman a cheeky look, he'll put in a bit more for you, especially if he's gay. Inside the club, literally 95% of the people were guys, and i'd say 95% of them were gay by first impressions. Not that I have anything against gay people, but it was pretty obvious.

Dancing on several stages were what the Spanish call 'Gogo's'. Tall, extremely muscular men wearing nothing but leather, and hardly any of it at that. There were also girls dancing on stages too, also in leather, and even a transvestite at one point - well at least I thought it was a transvestite - his face looked like a mans, but he had no tits.

The music they played at these clubs was decent though - much better music than whats played at nightclub in Manchester or Leeds in my opinion. Proper house music.

The night finished when the club closed at 7am, so we walked back to Fran and Alex's apartment, had about 3 hours sleep, and then I had to be up to catch my train back to Valdepenas. All in all, a top night.

More travel blogs to come soon! Although I think I'm going to Madrid again in a couple of weeks - this time to see the city itself...another night out is not out of the question though...

I'm actually learning to cook!

Yes, it's true! Well, it's a start anyway...

Pasta with salchichas and bacon! With this being the most complicated thing I've cooked in my life, after putting a pizza in the oven for the right time, you can obviously tell that I'm no 'pro'. But a start is a start, and the outcome was 'lush', as 'Tall' Paul would describe it.

This blog is not a cookbook recipe so I won't bore you with how I made it - it's probably pretty obvious anyways, but I do have to say that this is the nicest meal I've had in Valde P, and normally make it twice a week - at least once anyways!

Even though I made an absolute mess of the kitchen, I was proper proud with myself. There's actually loads in the pan but this is because I made it for 2 people. Can't wait to make this meal for my mum and dad at home...! (I'm sure they can though...)

After the meal, we had a desert made up of vanilla and strawberry ice-cream, complete with Oreos on the side. The picture kinda makes it look a bit naff, but it actually was pretty decent too!

More meal-blogs to come soon, when I learn to make them!

PUENTE!

"What's a puente?" I hear you eagerly asking. Well to sum it up quite simply, it's a holiday. 'Puente' in Spanish literally means 'bridge' but also has the meaning of a 'long weekend', consisting of a public holiday, the weekend and the day in between.

To explain this in more depth, picture this example. If there is a bank holiday on a Tuesday, the 'puente' means we don't have to work Mondays, as Monday acts as a 'bridge' or 'puente' between the weekend before and the Tuesday. Get it?

Well basically, in almost everywhere in Spain, if there is a holiday on the Tuesday, the Monday would be a 'puente'. Unfortunately, where I worked was not one of those places, and so I had to go in on Monday. Bad times!

But still, that Monday night, all the auxilliars in Valdepenas decided to go and get smasheddd. It was quite a decent night actually. We all got talking to spanish people in the bars, who were quite amazed at how good our Spanish was, and we generally had a good night.

This picture is our our group of all the Auxilliars in Valdepenas. There's a mix of people from England, Scotland and the USA.

The Spanish go out really late...if you go out around midnight, you'll be too early. The main action normally kicks off around 1am, and can last until around 7am. Maybe this is why a siesta is needed during the day?

The prices of drinks are quite expensive...5 Euros for a vodka with red bull...but the amount of vodka that they put in the glass can easily explain this price. Literally, half the glass (and it's a pretty big glass at that) was of vodka, then you get a can of red bull to use accordingly. I'll get a picture at somepoint to show you just how much they put in! Not that I'm complaining or anything...

Where the hell is Valdepenas?

You're all probably wondering where the hell Valdepenas is - I certainly was when I got told this would be my hometown for the next 8 months. Well, thanks to my good friend Wiki, I have some information for you.


Valdepenas is a municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. Its name means "Valley of Rocks", because it is located in a wide area meander of hill the Jabalón River surrounded, just bordering on the plain south of La Mancha and the subsoil is rich in limestone rock. It's located 2 hours south of Madrid.


Valdepeñas has several museums of history, art and wine. There are two Fairs, in August "the summer fair" at the first week and in September known as "Fiesta de la Vendimia" (Grape Harvest Fair).


The town is home contains large distilleries, tanneries, flour mills, cooperages, and other factories, but its chief trade is in red wines. The city is famous for its wines and is the centre of a grape-growing district. Valdepeñas wines are among the most popular in Spain and recently in EU countries.


Wine is so cheap here; in the supermarkets Valdepenas wine can be a cheap as 1 Euro, whereas the same wine in Tesco can be £10 or more


So heres some pictures of the town...

This is the main Plaza, and the church is called the Church of Asumption. Surrounding this church there are lots of bars that are open till early in the morning almost every night. My piso is literally 30 seconds walk from this church. It's a very social place; everyone gathers here for drinks and the kids of the town play football against the church wall as soon as school is over for the day (around 2:15pm for most schools) until the late hours.

This is a picture of the 'canal' street. No, not the 'anal treet', gay street of Manchester, but similar in a way - it has many bars and nightclubs along it. It may not look like a canal, but this is because the canal runs underneath the road. It's basically a big ditch, and fills up when it rains hard here.

This final picture is of my two best mates in the town Not really, it's Paul and a statue of a man sitting down reading a newspaper with a proper heavy briefcase. (BRIEFCASE WANKER). But yeah, Paul is the only other guy in Valde P doing this auxilliars thing and this is a photo taken on a day when neither of us had to go to school, so we decided to walk around the town and take photos of things.


More pictures of the town will be uploaded in another blog, of the fiestas that go on and of all the people that gather round the Plaza during the week and at the weekends.

Awkwaaaarrrdddd!

Yes. Awkward. The only word to sum up my first week in this new school.

When you're thrown into a class where you don't know anyone, not even the teacher, things won't really get off to a good start. This was what my first day at the school was like. I only had 2 lessons to deal with on my first day but still, when you walk into a room, everyone stares at you, when you sit at the back of the class, everyone turns around and stares and you, and when you get asked to read something in English so the class can see how the pronunciation should be, EVERYONE stares at you! A bit embarrasing really, but I should've expected it, since I am a new teacher in the school and about the same height as the year 8s! I need some 5 inch high boots or something.

I think it must be a spanish thing, to stare a lot. I get it a lot in the streets walking around. People obviously know I'm not from around here. Maybe it's because I wear shorts when its pissing it down, maybe it's the colour of my skin, or maybe they just generally stare at everyone anyway. I personally find it a bit rude and have started to adopt the habit of staring right back at them to see how they like it...most of the time though, I give them no attention at all and just carry on walking.

Glad to have first day over, I still had the rest of the week to look forward too. More staring, more embarrasment, more awkwardness. But one of the classes that I had on the first day, I had again the day after for a couple more lessons. As they started to get used to me being around, they were all more friendly and it was less awkward; infact they all shouted 'TOM' and smiled and waved as I entered the room in their final lesson of the day. This was my year 9 class, my favourite one so far. I hope this happens in the rest of my lessons. I kinda want to be recognised as a 'cool teacher' if there is such a thing. Not about having a bad rep, me. I would like to be remembered in a good way, so I'll hopefully shape this year to be something of a fun time.

The subjects that I will be assisting with this year are English, Maths, Art, Music, PE, Tecno and IT (not sure what the difference is between the last two - I shall inform you when I find out)

"Im locked out, can you come and get me?"

So it was Monday 4th October and it was the Ciudad Real auxiliares induction course.

The spanish being spanish, it was obviously late starting, but it gave me time to meet up with the friends I'd already met from Valdepenas, and so we all shared a row of seats together. Now I have to say, the course itself was one of the most boring things I've had to sit through. I actually don't really remember what they even said, but it was a great way to meet more people in your area, and so this is what I did.

During the lunch break I met three girls - Gemma, Laura and Rhiannon (most of these auxiliares are girls, not that it bothers me at all like) and we went to a local bar. Little did we know, we could have actually got free food if we'd followed the crowd to where it was being offered. We somehow got broken up from the crowd though so thought the nearest bar was the best option. The prices here were actually pretty decent. It seems very cheap here in general, especially compared to Madrid where the prices from what I've heard are SKY HIGH for everything! So it was only 3.50 euros for a massive, and i mean massive, sausage sarny. Can't complain!

These girls are the funnyest bunch of girls I've met over here. The accent of Rhiannon from Bradford cracks me up, she was like 'BEERSICKY (basically) all yuz av ter do..." to explain what we had to do for something. I love this accent. Proper northern. She was hilarious. Then there was the Scottish lass, Laura, who literally was the definition of the stereotype of Scots - she got a beer, with her lunch, at 3pm. Quality. And she's living in Valdepenas too. And finally Gemma, a very nice girl who went to Uni in Hull. They all love a good piss up anyways, and so having swapped numbers with these girls, I'll be sure to meet up with them soon for some messy nights out.

We all had a proper laugh together and an hour or so later, we strolled back to the induction course but ended up being locked out. Not knowing what to do or who to ask, we just chilled around for a bit and got to know eachother more. Eventually, the gates were opened for us and it was back to the boring meetings...

It was over before we knew it though, then it was time to do the 45 minute journey back to Valdepenas. I took advantage of this though, and had a conversation with Marisa all the way back, in Spanish. I was dead pround of myself; she naturally corrected my mistakes but I feel as though this year will really be a step-up for me in terms of my Spanish grammar, pronuncation and fluency. I hope so, anyway...

Auxiliares here, there and everywhere!

Before I'd travelled to Valdepenas, I'd been friends with some of the other auxiliares on facebook, so I already knew I had people to meet in the area. Most of them were already there, and had their piso's sorted out, so it was just a case of getting in touch with them and then meeting up.

On the first Friday night I was there, I got in contact with one of the girls I knew, called Sara, and so we decided on a place and time to meet eachother. Sara was sharing a piso with 2 other girls who were also auxiliares, Reena and Emma. We went for tapas at a local bar by the main plaza. Little did I know, tapas came free when you ordered a drink each. This was like a full meal for me, as I don't eat much as it is anyway, so I gladly ate.

It's a wonder how they make their money really, if you take into account I'd only paid for a coke and got a free sandwich and chips that obviously had the costs of bread, bacon, chips, the wages of the staff and the rent of the building. But the place is just SO busy every night that I can understand how they make a profit.

Anyway, everyone was very nice and we all talked about where we came from, what we did over summer, where we want to travel to, etc. Not awkward one bit really.

Also during my first weekend I met Paul and Ismay, two other auxiliares in the area who I'd previously met over facebook, and so the group of us from Friday night, as well as Paul and Ismay went for more tapas at a different bar in the plaza.

There are actually more auxiliares here than I'd previously anticipated there would be, which bodes well for travelling to different cities together, something I'm really excited to do, especially to the cities where friends from University are staying. Hopefully, this year will be a good year!

That's it for this blog anyway, during my next blog I will talk about the Induction course in Ciudad Real and
after that, my first full week of school.

Private English lessons already??

I went to visit my school and its teachers on the 2nd day that I was in Valdepenas. I went in and was met there by Marisa, who took me to the staff room to meet the teachers that were chilling out in there. Everyone was very friendly. All the men shook my hand and all the women gave me a kiss on both cheeks (face cheeks, obviously). This is natural for the Spanish, they all seem very open to strangers, something quite contrary to England. Infact I don't know anyone in England that kisses a stranger to greet them. Obviously it's a culture thing, but I enjoyed it nevertheless, especially since there were a few fitties.

I then met the headmaster who seemed to be very eager to meet me from what Marisa had told me. And he was. He shook my hand, led me to his office and one of his first questions was to ask me if I would be giving private English lessons. This was something I had considered before I arrived in Spain, but I didn't think I'd be asked as early as the first time I stepped foot in the school. I thought it would be a good way to meet new people, get to know them, and earn money on the side as well as my 'beca'. So I told him I would be doing. He then proceeded to tell me all the times he was available and if I was free to teach him at those times too. Two times a week I teach him and his daughter now, and since then I've had many more teachers come up to me to ask me for lessons. I have about 7 extra lessons now per week, so the 70 euros obviously comes in handily. English must be a well saught-after language in this small town. Everyone here is Spanish, most of them have lived their whole lives in Valdepenas and from the time I've been here, there are not any foreigners at all, aside from the Auxillers. So when a native English comes to live here, it really is the talk of the town.

After meeting the headmaster, I met the English Department. All of them are ladies, so a few more kisses on the cheek were in order. Marisa then asked me if I would sit in her bachillerato (A Level) lesson with some of her pupils. Naturally, I agree. One thing I had assumed before arriving in Spain was that the English level of the students would be top notch, since English is the current language to be learning since it's spoken in lots of countries around the world. However, I do feel as if I was mistaken a bit. The language level of the students was OK, don't get me wrong, but just not as high as I'd anticipated.

Anyways, after the lesson, Marisa had told her students that I was obviously new in town, didn't know anyone or anywhere really well, and that I could do with seeing the town more. A couple of the students gave me their phone numbers and told me that I could meet with them any time I wanted, and go for a drink with them this weekend, which I thought was nice of them.

The next week was my first real week at school, and I will talk about that in a new blog soon, as well as other auxiliares that I have met, and how my first weekend went.

First impressions of Valdepenas

Let's start of by saying I'm probably not gonna be good at this blogging thing, and will no doubt forget about writing these - Infact the only reason I'm writing one is because I've seen a couple of other people writing them and thought I'd join in with the fun. I doubt anyone will even read them, but it's more for my benefit to remind me of what is happening during my year abroad.

Anyway, I've been living here in Valdepenas a little over a week now and knowing that it's only 10 weeks until Christmas makes me think that the time will fly by. In some ways I'm happy about this - I get to see my family again and friends back in England, amongst other things (such as my own bed!) - but whilst I'm over here I want to travel to a lot of places, take a lot of pictures and meet a whole bunch of new and interesting people.

It was last Tuesday when I arrived, the 28th September. My piso (flat) over here had already been sorted out, it was just a case of how to get there. I landed in Madrid in the afternoon and then had to catch a taxi to the train station, find the train to Valdepenas, make sure I was on it and then make sure I got off at the right stop 2 hours later. Luckily all this happened without much fuss and my contact from the school where I would be working this year (Marisa) was waiting for me there to take me to my piso.

Marisa is a very nice woman. She was the one who helped me sort out a piso before I arrived here. I would be sharing with another teacher from the school - a new postgraduate Philosophy teacher called Miguel. I was happy about this was one of the main things I wanted - to share a flat with a native Spanish speaker, and he is actually a very nice man. He's married and his wife lives in Malaga, so he goes home every weekend to see her, but when he is here he cooks food for us all, helps me with any Spanish I don't understand, and we generally have a laugh together.

At a cost of only 150 euros per month, this is a great price (my Erasmus grant even covers my bills too!). So hopefully with the 'beca' from the Ministry I will be able to travel lots. The flat is quite large actually, it has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a kichen and a massive living room. It's a bit old fashioned furniture-wise, but I can deal with that. We could have more people rent the flat with us, which would decrease the rent even more, but we're happy with our own bathrooms and it's nice and peaceful here so for now we're going to stick with just the 2 of us.

I was absolutely knackered from all the travelling - waking up at 6am in England and getting to my piso at 10pm that night - so I had a lie-in in the morning. But during my first real day here, Marisa took me round the town and showed me the way I needed to go to get to the school. Fairly easy really, just a 20 minute walk down 2 roads. The town itself seems very friendly - everyone seems to conjugate in the main Plaza in the centre of the town almost every night (of which my piso is literally around the corner from) so I can see many fiestas will be taking place there at weekends - something I'm going to have to get myself involved in during the weekends that I'm not travelling in.

Anyway, that's enough to read for one blog...first impressions of my school and other auxiliares in the area will be up soon. Until then, hasta luego.