The Start of a New Week

So far, it has been a pretty exciting week.

Got back my first graded Phonetics homework (over the weekend via email)...86% (which seems good compared to the mark a friend received...our teacher makes us all feel dumb!  She did not deserve the grade she got!)

Made it through classes on Monday despite my exhaustion.  Nothing much else exciting happened Monday...except for taking out loads of cash to pay for a mandatory class trip coming up this weekend...and discovering I have a limit on how much I can withdraw at a time.  And a chance to Skype Sarah, Julie & Margie, Sam, and then facebook chat with Julie D!  I miss you all tons and talking to you made my night!!!

Today I had Phonetics again...it's getting a bit better...sort of...  and had Culture and Civilization.  I felt really smart in Culture and Civ. (thanks to Miss Paula's classes in high school) because I was the only student that knew more than 1 fact about the Spanish Civil War...I was spouting off details and other students mixed up the century in which it occurred.

I had also received a call this weekend from a senora I had talked with about a job tutoring English.  However, I was contemplating taking the job as a desperate measure...the place was a 30-min metro ride each way and she was only going to pay me 10 euros an hour for 2 kids at once.  So I checked my university e-mail, hoping another offer had come in.  Was surprised to see several more offers...many of which were much closer to my house than that of the senora I was supposed to meet tonight.  I cancelled that interview and called 2 other senoras.  One only wanted a babysitter who would speak English to her daughter for 2 hours per week and the salary was the same, but it was much closer.  The 2nd person I talked to wanted someone 4 days a week for 1 1/2 hours per day to work with 2 children ages 7 and 9.  She only offered 10 euros per hour, but was only 2 metro stops away from where I live (which did not stop me from taking the wrong train...oops...on the way back from meeting her).  I took a chance and agreed to meet her.

The interview went very well...and drumroll...I HAVE A JOB NOW!!!!!!!!  Each day of the week, I will be picking up one child from school (2 days it will be a 7-year-old girl and 2 days a 9-year-old boy) and walking them home, speaking in English.  Then I will play with the girl and do lessons with the boy, basically whatever they need to do their homework and better their English.  The senora I will be working for already loves me and she is super sweet and even speaks some English.  She tells me that her little girl loves English and is bubbly and will gladly sing or play games in English.  And this child is adorable, but she's shy!  Her little boy dislikes English because he has exams in it and it's a requirement and he says it is boring!  She says she's a bit worried about him and that I need to focus on lessons with him, rather than just playing in English.  She gave me the CDs that go with their lessons to look at and told me what she's looking for.


I will be starting October 3 and making 60 euros per week for 6 hours total.  Plus I can go there straight from school...I'll start a bit less than an hour after my classes end, so I will have a little time before I have to leave.  What a fabulous deal!!!  I'm so excited!  We will be meeting up next week so she can show me where the school is and where I pick up the children.  This is a fabulous opportunity for me!  And so close to home!  A few more hours than I was originally looking for, but I cannot pass up an opportunity like this, especially when the family is so sweet and lives so close to me.  Plus the money will help a lot with travel expenses.

Since the little girl likes to sing, if anyone wants to tell me their favorite song to singe when they were little (or favorite little kid song to sing now), that would be great.  Or do you know a song in English that uses very simple language, is upbeat and fun to sing, and is understandable without looking up the lyrics.  Plus it has to be appropriate for a 7-yr-old and a song where she would understand what she's singing about.  I want to find a song to sing with her on our first day.  According to the mother, if I teach her any songs, she would prefer that they are not Justin Bieber...haha!  Apparently the girl knows some of those and mom finds them annoying...much like a lot of Americans.

EDIT:  Unfortunately I realized last night that this job will make it difficult for me to be involved in my CLC here (because not only does it conflict with the meetings, but it also makes it quite difficult for us to find another time) and will make finding a time for my intercambio much more difficult.  Shoot!  Oh well...I need the money and think I will genuinely enjoy this job, so I suppose everything else will fall into place somehow .

Other news of the day:  I have tickets to see a bullfight in the near future and plans to visit Museo del Prado soon to complete an assignment for Art History class that is due in a couple classes.  Very excited to explore more of Madrid.

That's all I have for now.  I'm dead tired and will probably go to bed rather early.  Hope everyone else had a great weekend and beginning of the week.

Oh forgot to mention this:  I was talking to a few friends last night and one person asked what my daily life here was like, what my schedule was like.  Yeah...I didn't even realize that I had not really posted a summary of my general schedule, but rather a more detailed account of the exciting parts of each day.  So to show you the ordinary - both the exciting and mundane details, I plan to compile some photos and do a post about "A Day in the Life of Melanie in Spain."  Keep your eyes open for it.  I hope to put it together in the next week or 2, but you never know when I will have time these days.

Peace and Blessings,
Melanie

Spanish Words of the Day:  trabajo = job, tutora = tutor, inglés = English, lección = lesson :)