Wednesday, October 29, 2008

'Tis Only a Season

‘Tis Only a Season

"The sky is clean, clear, and the sun itself is benevolent, the autumn sun making an autumn day a special moment in time."
American Author Hal Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year



Every afternoon, I leave work only to step outside and find myself wrapped in a cool sierra breeze, yet bathed in the warm sunlight of central Spain. The first thing I love to do when I arrive at the #157 bus stop is close my eyes, turn on my iPod, and take a deep breath — enjoying that the school day is over while letting the warmth of the autumn sun hit my freckled cheeks.

One thing that I can never tire of is this season. No matter what part of the world I am in, I find such peace, such calm in autumn and its falling leaves, warm colors and cinnamon-like smells. I missed autumn while living in Buenos Aires in 2006, as I arrived to the southern hemisphere a bit too late. And I felt robbed, like someone had literally taken something from me that I could never get back. I have told myself since then that I would never again miss fall.

I am constantly reminded of this season that we are in, as my adorable first graders tell me every day. It’s like I have a record of their voices constantly playing in my mind… “Today is Monday, October 27th, 2008… it is autumn.” How I hope they are able to say a bit more in English by the end of this year.

Although I always find such beauty in the yellows, oranges, and reds of the leaves during this time, as I was walking home the other day from school, I noticed a bright green leaf that had fallen from its tree. It looked so out of place, so mismatched among its neighboring leaves that were filled with such warm colors. It had fallen too early, but it had fallen nonetheless. It was now a part of the leaf piles of the Calle de Cuesta Blanca.

Seeing this green leaf made me think of myself, and many of my good friends who have recently graduated and are now in the "real world," making livings for themselves, and trying to figure out what they want out of life. It's like we are so out of place in this new stage of our lives that maybe we weren't ready to fall into the mix of reds, yellows, and oranges.

Despite these feelings of misplacement and uncertainty in a brand new life, what I have learned this past week is acceptance. I have accepted that, for the moment, I am a part of the reds, yellows, and oranges. Life here is becoming routine, so it no longer feels like such a big accomplishment to make it through another day. Now, it is just another day, just like the one before. I see the same people on the bus each afternoon, I have made friends with the employees at the library, and I feel like this city is now my home. There is such a sense of familiarity, which makes things very comfortable. I have gained an acceptance of how my life here is. And 'tis only a season, autumn will soon become winter, which will be filled with new thoughts, experiences, and adventures.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I´ve Got ...


Profe Kah-tee with her first grade class.

I've Got ...

One of my favorite things about teaching English in Spain is the fact that all of the English teachers in my elementary school speak the Queen´s English.

In my classroom, third-graders ask me every day if they can “borrow a rubber.” Ana, a bright student with beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes, forgets hers every day and I hope that she never goes to the United States and asks that same question.

At lunchtime, when the kids have patio or recess, the girls always ask me, ¨Have you got a boyfriend?¨ We´ve been going over “he’s got” or "you’ve got” phrases (he’s got short hair, you’ve got a scarf) with my second-graders and I cannot help but laugh to myself each time that I teach this grammatical structure.

It is now my third week as an English teacher in Madrid. Each day, I am happier and happier with my school, and above all else, with my students. They are the reason I wake up each morning, happy to go to work. I feel incredibly fortunate that I am a recent college graduate and excited to go to work. Yet I can’t help but think about the other things going on in mi vida that I am not completely happy about. Contrary to popular belief, being abroad isn't always so glamorous.

So what have I got?

I´ve got a second job that takes up a great deal of my time. My time is spent with two 4-year-olds who are constantly misbehaving, calling me tonta, and attempting to run away from me. I am with them Mondays through Thursdays, 5:30 p.m. to 9 pm, and then Friday mornings for an hour and then in the afternoon, from 4:10 - 9 pm.

I´ve got weekends that are completely dedicated to studying, babysitting, and laundry. I´ve got too many decisions to make and my December LSAT to study for.

I´ve got no money or family here. I´ve got no bank account or opportunity to open one until November because I am not able to receive a non-resident certificate until then.

I think, above all else, I´ve got regret about planning this year abroad too far ahead of time. I planned to be an aupair at the beginning of September because I did not want to worry about housing when I arrived to Madrid. Granted, this plan worked out wonderfully my first week in the city as I moved in right away with the family, but I wonder what it would be like had I found my own apartment. Or found a second job teaching English in a private institution.

One of the only things getting me through the situation at hand is that, come Dec. 22, I will leave this family, only to return to Madrid with my own apartment and time.

Clearly, I´ve got a bad attitude and need to think of all the positives of living here next year, when I am no longer nanny Kah-tee. There will be free time and choices, followed by questions: Do I stay here another year? Do I begin job hunting back in the States? The more I think of it, the more appealing working in Europe seems, given the situation of the U.S. economy. Until then, just getting through each day is my goal.

I’ve just got to live and learn along the way.

Lucía, one of my favorite second graders!

Diego

Ana

Monday, October 13, 2008

All I Have to Do ...

UPDATE: I'm still staying in a hostel near the Plaza de Sol with three other girls who are also English teachers with the Comunidad de Madrid. They are still looking for apartments and we've been here for almost a week now. Because they are not Spanish residents, they're having a hard time renting here. They’re miserable and frustrated with apartment hunting. I, on the other hand, plan to live with a family in order to speak more Spanish and save some money these first few months. Just tonight, I met the family I will be staying with. I had been in touch with them while I was still in the States, but we finally connected! I went over to their house, met the family, and loved it. I'll have my own private bedroom and bathroom on the first floor. The only disadvantage of all this is that I am pretty far out of the city — almost an hour commute to downtown. But I'm living and working in my grade school part-time in Alcobendas, a suburb of Madrid which is its own city with lots of buses to and from Madrid. The mother of the boys, Ana, is wonderful and wants me to start as soon as I am able. We seem to get along very well and are a lot alike. She is an attorney and is the president of an NGO that does work with empowering women all over the world. She has lived in the United States, Germany, and France and speaks many different languages. Professionally, it could turn out to be a very positive situation — lots of potential networking that might help in finding an immigration internship after I take my LSAT on Dec. 6. And then there are the boys, Nacho and Ismael, that I will babysit in the afternoons. They are four years old and absolutely adorable. All I have to do is play with them, speak to them in English, and keep them busy until Ana arrives home in the evenings.

Kate's moving toDAY
into some strangers' HOME
And she'll soon get to PAY
Her grandfather's LOAN
Oh the tiiiiimes they are a'changin

All I Have to Do, Right … Locura, Stress, Driving and Caca

“Corre, corre, corre! Venga!”

These were the first words out of Ana´s mouth when she picked me up last Sunday. It was move-in day to her house, and I should have known that the second I moved in with this family, my life would be crazy.

Oct. 1, 2008 started off as one of the most exciting days I've had since graduation. Not only was I employed as an au pair by a wonderful Spanish family, I also had a real job at a school, working for the Spanish government as a teacher.

That morning I woke up at 7 a.m., got ready, packed my things for school, had the usual peanut butter on toast with a cup of coffee and was off to catch the bus. I walked to the bus stop across the street from my house, also known as the A1 highway of Madrid. I watched thousands of madrileños speed past me in their cars, and tried to be as patient as possible as I waited 45 minutes for the #155 to take me to school.

As 9 o´clock came and went, I stopped sitting and waiting for a bus that never came. I decided to cross the A1 highway again, walk back to my house in Cuesta Blanca, and ask Ana what to do. From there, she instructed me to help get her two four-year-old boys ready for school. She would drive me to work afterward. Easy enough, right?

I got the boys dressed, fed, and then took them to their bus stop. This turned out to be my second mishap of the morning — dragging one of the boys, Nacho, to the bus stop, while the other one, Ismael, slowly poked behind, singing to himself. Nacho did not want to go to school that day, and was hitting me in the face, pulling my hair, and crying hysterically as I carried him to the bus stop. The boys barely made it to the stop on time and were off to school, leaving me there to take a few deep breaths and start crying by myself over all the hysteria.

From there, I went back home, put my jacket on, and was off to my school, Emilio Casado, in the car with Ana. We arrived at school, and immediately asked the principal what my teaching schedule would be like. When I accepted this teaching job, I was under the impression that I would work 16 hours a week. To a recent college graduate, four days a week from 10 ‘til 2 sounded perfect! But I was mistaken, as I was informed that I would be working 9:30 – 4, Monday through Thursday. Ay madre mía.

After a long day at school getting to know the teachers and students, I took the wrong bus home to Cuesta Blanca. What should have been a ten-minute bus ride became an hour excursion around the northern suburbs of Madrid.

The moment I arrived home, there were Nacho and Ismael, screaming and running around. Ana was there, and we talked for a moment about what to do about my schedule, as I needed to pick up the boys at 4:10, but was scheduled to work at the school until 4. There just was not enough time to get home on the bus between my two jobs, so Ana suggested I take the car.

The stick-shift car.

The rest of our night consisted of practicing driving their second car around Alcobendas. “Arráncala! Otra vez! Despacito. Oye tía, arráncala por favor! Otra vez! Otra vez!”

In the meantime, the two little boys were sitting in the back seat and Ismael pooped in his pants. The night ended with me giving them a bath, telling Nacho to stop sniffing Ismael down there and cleaning their dirty clothes.

I keep telling myself that it is just a matter of adjusting and settling into my routine here, with the boys and at work. It’s tough, and I already know that sleep will be minimal. I need to accept that craziness, stress, and poop are now a way of life.

On the Road Again: Getting Settled and Uncertainty

Immediately following graduation in May, my life had been filled with travels and excitement. Twenty-four hours after my graduation ceremony, I was in California, relaxing on the beach at our new condo in Orange County. From there, I went to Miami, Africa, Mexico, Chicago, and St. Louis. Summer seemed like a blissful whirlwind as I traveled all around the world. Yet, uncertainty constantly loomed in the back of my mind – always posing the question, what’s next?

Upon graduation, I had no professional plans. Although most of my friends were in the same position, without jobs and not doing much to get one, I was a nervous wreck, constantly searching and applying for positions online. Being the efficient planner that I am, I had been applying for jobs since September 2007, wanting desperately to move to a big city and work in some sort of human rights or immigration NGO. For whatever reason, these plans never came to fruition and I was left to figure something else out. Move back home to Milwaukee, find a job near home, save some money, and help Mom fix up the house? Being the dreamer and “doer” that I am, this was not the most attractive or ideal situation.

Yet in March, I received an e-mail from the career advisor at UW-Madison asking graduating seniors if they would like to be teachers in Spain during the following academic year. As I was already in the routine of filling out job applications daily, I thought to myself, why not, and applied. After that moment, Spain never crossed my mind again, until I heard in June that I was accepted to teach English in an elementary school in Madrid.

The thought of going to Europe never appealed to me much, as I had my heart set on staying in the States, implementing change here, in my own country. I was determined to work with Spanish-speaking immigrants in New York, DC, or Chicago, and pursue the career path of my dreams. But as I thought more and more about Madrid, the more excited I became. Given my busy summer of travels, I needed a job that would start in the fall. I knew that living in Spain would be a wonderful opportunity to keep speaking Spanish and live in another part of the world. I’d absolutely loved my study abroad experience in Buenos Aires in 2006, so why not do it all over again in Madrid following graduation? Plus, the prospect of finding an immigration internship in Madrid was incredibly appealing! Thus, at the end of June, I confirmed my position with the Community of Madrid school system, and signed my contract to be an elementary English teacher during the 2008-2009 academic school year.

And now, here I am, on an airplane to Madrid. My whole life is sitting beneath me. you can find it in seat 36C and in the luggage compartment below me, in the two black Samsonite suitcases with hot pink bowties on the handle, and my red North Face backpack with a teal ribbon safety-pinned on the back. Four years at UW-Madison, a double major in Sociology and Latin American Studies with comprehensive honors to my name, and here I am - off to Madrid, to lead a life unknown, filled with uncertainty, excitement, and hesitation. I continually ask myself, is this the right decision? I have no idea where my school is, what my work schedule will be, and no idea where I will live. As if things weren’t uncertain enough, I have no money, and thousands of dollars of student loans to pay off. But I’m off to Europe for a year, where everything is 1.5 times more expensive. Really, Kate, are you sure this is what you want to do?

The answer… I am not sure, but I will never know until I live it to find out.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

... for the times they are a’changin’ ...

So you want to be a travel writer? The first step to achieving your big dreams of traveling the world while getting paid to do it is, naturally, to create a blog. Forget about Rick Steeves and the Lonely Planet, travel blogs are the latest fashion and truly the way of the future. I’m a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and I am now living in Madrid, Spain. For the next year, I’ll be working in a grade school as an English teacher. This blog is my first step in sharing this next big adventure with all of you.

Most people in my life, with the exception of my beautiful mother, “get” technology. I, on the other hand, would much rather avoid it at all costs. I despise automatic updates on my computer, and especially hate those kiosks at the airport where you can check in your bags and receive a boarding pass without ever speaking with an airline representative.

When I travel, my journal never leaves my side. I love writing about my adventures with a pen and paper. So when my friends encouraged me to change my ways and start a travel blog, I hated the idea. Yet with a lot of convincing, here I am in Madrid, writing my first blog post.

So what do I hope to achieve through all of this? My objective is three-fold. The obvious goal is to share my experience living in Madrid and traveling throughout Europe with friends and family.

Second, for professional purposes, I will not just write about my travels, but also about my experience as a foreigner in Madrid. I hope to go to law school in the near future, and pursue a career in international affairs and immigration. While abroad, I plan to work part-time at an international organization that helps migrants moving to Spain, primarily from Africa. Given my professional goals, this will be a wonderful way to see first-hand immigration issues, and the many struggles these individuals face. Through this internship, and my own personal experience, I plan to explore, understand, and live through the obstacles and excitement that people face when living in a different country.

And third, as a personal objective, I want to move away from my standard academic writing style for a little while and experiment and enjoy finding a different kind of voice in my writing. I’m fascinated by language and love to write. Breaking out of my comfort zone un poco and experimenting is my goal.

So, for now, I’ll take to heart a line from my favorite Bob Dylan song and acknowledge that ’these times they are a’changing.’ I welcome you to follow along and take this journey with me.