Thursday, February 13 // Jueves, 13 de febrero
ENGLISH
I left the apartment at 8:15 this morning and got back to the apartment at 8:05 tonight.
Today was my first day of volunteering at Padres Blancos, a school in Los Remedios, which is a neighborhood across the river and about 30 minutes away from my school. I took the bus for the first time to the school and arrived right on time with no hitch - I even ran into my host mom on the bus, which I thought was a perfect sign of luck. I met the teacher whose class I will be working in and he seems very kind.
First, many students asked me questions before the teacher and I changed classrooms. They asked me my name, age, favorite, color, whether I liked Donald Trump, and if I could say their names in English. Every answer I gave was the most impressive thing according to their faces - the room was filled with laughter, excitement, pointing, and clapping!
Every Thursday I will help the teacher with his English class of mostly eleven-year-old students. I am looking forward to getting to know them, helping them with their Spanish, and even improving in my Spanish along the way.
This afternoon, I helped a few girls in the class practice for the English spelling bee that they would participate in later in the day. They were so cute. When they spoke in Spanish, my heart melted - and then I realized that my Spanish is probably worse than an eleven-year-old's Spanish and laughed at myself. Those girls would probably be some of the best teachers for me! I told the girls that they were getting an exclusive lesson because lucky for them, I would be one of the judges later that day for the Spelling Bee.
A few other American students and I volunteered at the Spelling Bee - it was a great decision to go to this event. Talia and I read the words in our American accents for the students to spell and their teachers rang a bell if the word was incorrect. It was an International Spelling Bee, and whoever won got to go to the next round in the big city: Madrid! It was such a cool event. I'm glad I wasn't the reader for the first grade children, though, because I would've started giggling when seven kids in a row spelled "pet" wrong. You would not believe how adorable it was.
Volunteering at the school was a great way to chop up my day and get a new experience while I'm here. I haven't been around kids at all yet here and I really think that they can be great teachers, so I am excited to learn phrases from them or make bonds over language and learning. When I entered the classroom, I felt like my mom, and it was so comforting seeing all of their smiling, welcoming faces. Thursdays are definitely going to be some of my favorite days.
The past few days have been a bit drab because I got a cold - yesterday I laid in bed for a long time to try and rest up before the program trip to Lisbon, Portugal this weekend (we leave tomorrow!!). I was recommended to watch the Netflix series "When They See Us" and it is very powerful, so if you're looking for an intensely moving story, start the series! It's practically a long movie.
Speaking of movies!
Talia and I mentioned to our host mom, Rosario, that we wanted to see a movie sometimes in Sevilla a few days ago. Well, she made it happen! Wednesdays have cheap ticket prices (3,90 euros!) so we saw Parasite, the Oscar winner from this year. I was both stunned by the movie theater (very old and elegant, yet comfortable) and the movie (despite the small language barrier, I ate up the plot!!). We have been discussing it ever since and I still have yet to watch the director's Oscars acceptance speech. I would definitely recommend the movie.
Down below are some photos from the past few days:
We walked to the market under Las Setas for my Spanish civilization class. I was shocked at the numbers and types of fish and animals that were sold there, especially the unconventional parts of animals such as the brains, hearts, skulls, etc. All of the fish were staring at me.
That same day in my architecture class, we went to the exhibition - also under Las Setas - where there are Roman and Moorish ruins. There are many Roman house structures with columns, stone walls, and intricate mosaic floors with abstract designs or distinct human or animal forms. Today in architecture class we checked out some fabulous Moorish/Arabic/Islamic structures, such as part of La Giralda (before the Catholics Romanized it and before the earthquake toppled its cover), el Torre del Oro (gold tower), el Torre de Plata (silver tower) and la muralla antigua (old city wall). Some trademarks of this kind of work are sturdy brickwork, skinny windows, lobulated arches, and tall height in each piece. These are the last six photos below.
Lastly, the river is becoming one of my favorite places in the city to relax. It is so calming to watch the sun set over the buildings in Los Remedios or Triana with nothing to worry about but getting home for dinner at 8pm. There are so many perfect places for people of all ages to enjoy the water; even those who want to row or kayak on the river.
As I mentioned briefly above, this weekend is a program trip to Lisbon, Portugal! Look out for photos on my social media as I explore the city and get a tour with my SAIIE pals :) xo
