October 3, 2011
I finally had my orientation meeting today. There are a lot of us, Auxiliares de Conversación (language assistants), in the region of Ciudad Real. Not everyone is going to work at the same school though. In fact, I think I am the only assistant assigned for my school.
One thing I noticed is that most assistants seem to have a good level of Spanish, as opposed to when I came to study in Spain a while back and the group I came with spoke broken Spanish, or English all the time.
Anyway, in a very long (and boring) meeting this morning, they gave us the history of Castilla La-Mancha and told us everything else we need to know (e.g. what our tasks are, what is expected from us, where we can get our temporary resident card, etc.) The professors are very helpful.
My coordinator has even offered me a daily ride to my school (about 18 miles from center Ciudad Real). I thought that was really nice, especially since I won’t have to pay for transportation. 😉
So I officially start “work” tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. Yeah, the morning part is a bummer — I am not a morning person at all! Also, the sample schedule they showed us at the meeting didn’t look too attractive to me; some people have to teach first thing in the morning and then go back in the afternoon. I hope I don’t anything like that.
The good news is that we’ll have a day off during the week and we’re just going to have so much free time to travel. There seems to be a día de fiesta (holiday) about four times a month in Spain! Might be more. I think it’s going to be fun.
I also went to the police station in Ciudad Real today to set up an appointment for my N.I.E. After being yelled at by one of the employees (for no reason other than asking a question), they gave me a cita for this Friday (finally!). Ahh, Spaniards…I don’t know how they do it.
Once I have that piece of document in my hand — the only one thing standing between home Internet and me — I will be all settled and more relaxed. Almost there.
Related articles
- To Spain I go! (vadoaspain.wordpress.com)
Vado a Spain 