Speaking of my private classes and my job at the academy, I'll just say that they're going really well! I randomly see some of my students out and about, and I think they really respect me as a teacher but also appreciate me as a friend...I would love to hang out with some of them!! My private classes are also great. I just acquired another student in the same hour that I teach Clara. Her name is Paloma, and she's a neighbor and friend of Clara's. That upped my wage a little bit, so now I'm making 15 euros an hour for both classes! And all three of my students are 7 year old girls...which is PERFECT for me because I can play with them and draw and color, but they still are really smart and are interested in learning English. We're learning about clothing right now, so last week I brought a variety of my own clothes for them to dress up in! With Clara and Paloma, I put the clothing on the floor and whispered a different item in each of their ears...the first one to find the item and put it on won! They loved it. With Cecilia I just had her layer on ALL the clothing, which was hysterical. When I first started teaching her I let her listen to the song "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel, and I didn't think she liked it until she asked me to play it last class! Turns out she DID love it, and tried to sing along with the words, but most of all her own name of course. I took a video of her while we were playing dress up...it's absolutely precious:
As for my classes in Alosno, that's a different story. I'm still loving it, and all the teachers are SO nice and the kids are great, but they still aren't utilizing me like they should be. I'm not one to complain about not having extra planning to do, but my days can get a little boring. But, Rocío said that they're going to celebrate Thanksgiving!! I will definitely be able to give my expertise on that one, as I'm the only American, and I'm sure we'll start making a lot of crafts, hopefully including turkeys made out of handprints :). The town of Alosno is just so tiny, and the ride to school every morning is beautiful. We pass by orchards of orange trees and olive trees and tons of strawberry fields...and whereas North Carolina is beautiful because of the tall trees and the changing leaves, the province of Huelva is quite different. The trees don't grow taller than our house in Sanford, and even that height is rare. That means you can see for miles and miles and miles....the sky seems so massively expansive because of that. The sunrise every morning is stunning, and the white windmills set atop the distant hills and mountains make it all the more picturesque. I wish I could take a drive through the countryside on my own sometime, so that I could stop and explore and take pictures, but I just don't think that would be possible without renting a car. I'll try to snap some pictures on the drive sometime.
Back to the Thanksgiving thing, have I mentioned on here that I don't have an OVEN??? How does one live without an oven? I'm going to have to borrow Jane's and Jessica's for when I cook a casserole for our own Thanksgiving celebration in Huelva. But, what's one thing I CAN cook without an oven? No bake cookies!!! Mama texted me the recipe, and after I went to TWO different grocery stores looking for vanilla and peanut butter, I suddenly realized...they don't use "cup" and "tablespoon" measurements in Europe! So I went online to find a measurement converter and then realized that I didn't have ANY type of measuring cup. Ahhh!! So what did I do? Guesstimated. And for not being much of a cook, I'll say that I did a pretty fine job. The cookies were delicious, just like Daddy makes, and Regina loved them and said that they made a similar type of cookie in the Dominican Republic. Rachel, Miriam and Jane also loved them...it was like a tiny little taste of home :).
Well, that's about it for now. A lot of people are going to Sevilla this weekend or have friends coming into town, so I'm just not sure what my plans are. I might just decide to have a me-weekend and explore Huelva a little more, maybe go to the beach. We'll see. Can you believe it's already November?? I can't. I finally got paid though, and only one week late! I'm one of the lucky ones.
I love you all, and thanks for reading! It makes me feel a little more connected to home knowing that you read about my adventures...I would love to hear about all of yours!
