Planet-go-round: first day of school and a parade!

I woke up today at 4am. Awake. I skyped and emailed my family and fretted about the day. I had a palmier covered in chocolate and a lemon soda from the vending machine for my breakfast. I emailed my future apartment mate to see where in the heck I was going to live and when I could move in.

At 9:30, I left for school. I followed my map and found it fairly easily, thankfully. When I arrived, I went by the doorman to the school on the second floor. Inside, I was introduced to Geoff, one of our teachers. He showed me our classroom and then led me around the building to where the other students were waiting. Mikaela is from Mill Valley and went to Cal. Steph is from Beverely, England. Charlie is from London. We chatted a bit and then went into class. Two more students arrived. Dalia is from Egypt and Petr is from Siberia.

We were given a tour of the building- a square of hallways around the reception area, a computer room, and a hallway to a back eating area and a couple more classrooms. All of the classrooms are very small and can only fit about 10 students at most. We talked about our schedule—what we’ll learn when.

We had a coffee break and discussed how intimidating the course sounded. Then we had a lesson in Czech. The idea is to help us understand how our students feel. My brain had lots of trouble wrapping itself around Czech greetings. I DID understand, suddenly, why one of the second graders in Korea refused to say “My name is…” I resisted the urge to give up though. I don’t think that would help me pass my TEFL.

Then we had a lunch break. Mikaela and Steph and I went to find something to eat. We walked down a cute alley past lots of shops and pastry shops and around a loop and ended up in a small restaurant. We looked at the tabloid, Hola. It had lots of pictures of royalty Steph knew of. I had a ham and cheese sandwhich on a baguette and a Coke Zero.

After lunch, we went back to school for a lesson in learning styles. My top 2 are visual-spatial and body-kinesthetic. I believe number one and our teacher, Erwin, believes number 2 about me. Erwin is a bit kooky, but nice.

Then we had a short break and a lesson on lesson planning. Dalia and I are teaching our first lesson together on Thursday. We would be starting sooner, but Wednesday is a public holiday in Spain. There are parades around Barcelona on the 5th because the 6th is the 12th night of Christmas. The parade is for the 3 kings (or 3 wise men). During the main parade, the kings get off of boats at the water front where they are greeted by the mayor, and then are taken by carriage to the Olympic Stadium, according to worldeventguide.com. The kings and other members of the parade throw candy to the crowd. Kids leave messages requesting gifts at the carriages before the parade. Kids and adults receive gifts on the 6th.

After school, Mikaela, Steph and I went to a grocery store. We browsed a bit and were surprised not to find refrigerated milk. I didn’t buy much because I’m not moved in, yet, to my apartment. Mikaela and Steph invited me over to their apartment, but I decided to go home to bed, saying hopefully tomorrow we could hang out.

On the walk home, I saw a parade in the making—lots of costumed people and horses and drummers. I decided to stay and watch. I asked someone “que hora” and pointed to the paraders. She said seix and looked at her watch, which showed 6:20. I think she was saying they were late. I joined a crowd on the sidewalk.

The parade started with a van with a shooting star on top and people throwing candy from inside. Then there was a troupe of drummers all in red. Their faces were painted. The crowd rocked with their beat. Then there was a truck with the sides cut out so kids sit inside and throw candy to the crowd. The little kids all stooped to scoop it up into bags. Most of them were under the age of 7, I’d guess. It was decorated with lights and draped fabric. Then came horsemen in capes, followed by shepherds? in wraps and headdresses carrying candles on sticks. Next was one of the kings in a decorated horse-drawn buggy. He was followed by a sort of cart draped in fabric with poles going up to sort of starry tinselly decorations. The same basic collection of paraders went by 3 times for each of the 3 kings. Also, a caterpillar with about 7 people in its body swerved by. The last group to pass had torches and gave out sparklers to the kids. Lots of the paraders were very young— I wondered if this was maybe a youth version of the main event.