Summer Camp, part 2

We´ve just finished our second day of teaching. MAAAAAN i am wiped! Being an auxiliar really didn´t prepare me well for coming to a camp and teaching four straight hours, seeing as I have to plan everything (worksheets and listenings and materials provided) and think about routines and classroom management. I have a group of 15 14 year olds (2º ESO) who are, for the most part, well-behaved, minus the last hour of the day where they revert back to Spanish and get lazy and restless.

On Saturday, we spent the day level testing, correcting exams and getting familiar with the cirriculum and each other. I´ve got the fluency group, so we´re doing super fun grammar like passive sentences, conditionals and the like. The days are broken down between grammar, vocab (I get to teach men´s short haircuts tomorrow!), listening, oral skills, projects, videos and drama, so we´re kept busy. I have been lesson planning like a maniac trying to find something that the kids will enjoy doing at such a difficult age group. Everyone has been more than willing to share ideas and resources, and there´s even another guy here from Sevilla who I met thru the auxiliar program. That night after dinner, we all went down to the city of A Coruña, which is beautiful, to have a few beers in an enormous plaza. The five of us have become a little group and went out later that night after dinner. Everything in A Coruña is a lot cheaper, so we were drinking beers and small jugs of wine for cheap at seedy little bars. From there, we hiked through the old town to a bar called Mardi Gras that played oldies and got craaaaazy. Let´s just say stir crazy teachers drinking can lead to some good stories the next day around the lunch table!

The camp seems to be well organized. Claire, the director, has been running this camp for the last several years, and many people have worked under her. I feel all official running around in the basement grabbing supplies and signing out boomboxes. After we teach, we have a meeting to troubleshoot and go over any announcements, then we have lunch with the kids. The food is bland and repeats a lot, but today I got broccoli with a little flavor, some pork and FABADA!!! I almost passed out, I was so happy! I´ve got some snacks in my room in case I get hungry, though, and tonight we´re going to go down to the city and have something. They run a complimentary bus from the camp down along a route that runs by the city center and the beaches, so it´s easy to get out of the camp. And since my computer is on its last legs, I appreciate that!

It´s all been distracting me from the big breakup. Kike and I are no longer dating, but I won´t get into it here. Just a lot of pent up feelings and worries about the future ultimately led to me iitiating it, and it´s ended up pretty peacfully. I´m not 100% sure what I´ll do next year, but I´m leaning towards staying in Sevilla. I paid 31€ for my residency card to get renewed..how can I not stay?