tu si que vales!

blerg. this blog has been a long time coming, and i apologize to all three of you who read this for its tardiness. the truth is i'm a much more avid blogger in my head than i am in actuality, but that is no excuse. actually it is, just not a good one. i digress ...

life has been awesome lately and i'm incredibly thankful for how lucky and blessed i've been since first arriving to zaragoza six and a half weeks ago. i'm going to do my best to recap everything that's happened to me in the last month or so, but i'll also take into consideration that in all likelihood you don't care, and if you do, chances are we've already spoken.

resident in charge

as of february 2010 i am officially a legal resident of spain and as such am afforded everything that comes with that, including the right to work and receive health care. thanks to my "host" mom gloria, the process was actually much easier than it sounds. upon telling her that i was going to the immigration office that week to fill out my residency papers, she informed me that she has a friend who works there. one phone call later i had gone from a four-hour wait in a cramp, crowded immigration office to instantaneous access and help. it makes my immigration experiences in ecuador laughable.

but why is all this important you ask? because with residency i can open a bank account, get a job, and much, much more.

i blame pat mcteague

a couple years ago, back when i was still a volunteer in ecuador, pat mcteague (the co-founder of fundación nuevo mundo) said that i'm going to become a teacher one day. now granted, pat says this to every volunteer. but two years later it turns out she was right.

my first few weeks here, i was fortunate to have four english students that i gave private lessons to. i figured with four students i could at least pay rent and survive, but my goal for the end of february was to be teaching eight hours a week. a short, manageable goal. i'm happy to report, on the last weekend in february, that i not only reached my goal of eight hours, but far exceeded it. starting next week, i will be teaching 20 hours a week. these hours are split between private lessons and classes at colegio maria inmaculada & banco santander.

my private lessons make up about half of my hours every week. in a sense, i enjoy these classes the most. these are the classes that are the most free flowing and allow me to meet people from all walks of life. one day i could be teaching a student the basics of beginner english and the next i could be enjoying a conversation class where we discuss spanish wine. these classes also allow me to learn about spain in a very organic way. if i want to know about social work here in spain, no problem. i teach a social worker. if i want to learn about journalism, easy. i teach two journalists. and of course, if i'm ever at a party and in need of a magic trick i've got that covered too. (that's right, i teach a magician english. it's like teaching GOB Bluth two hours a week and i love it.)

in contrast, i also teach classes at a school and a bank, which are much more structured. colegio maria inmaculada is a catholic school run by claretian missionaries here in zaragoza. in spain there are three types of schools: public, private, and "concertada" or state-assisted. concertada schools are half-public, half-private. in essence, the government pays for the upkeep of the facilities, but everything else (books, supplies, etc) is up to whoever is running the school (usually a religious organization). the other defining characteristic of a concertada school is there is no tuition. (think of fundación nuevo mundo for all you rosties out there.) anyway, at maria inmaculada i teach 10-14 year-olds and couldn't be more excited. while i usually prefer to work with the chiquititos, i'm just happy in general to be working with kids.

and finally, there are my classes at the bank. banco santander is the largest bank in spain and the fifth largest bank in the world. (so kind of a big deal, unbeknown to me on my first day). eight hours a week i teach group lessons to employees at the zaragoza headquarters, who are looking to improve their knowledge of english. however, unlike colegio maria inmaculada, banco santander is not my employer. global languages, a language academy based in madrid, hired me about a month ago and they send me to local businesses that request an english teacher. in this case it just happens to be banco santander. i've actualy enjoyed the classes a lot and have used the opportunity to learn more about the spanish economy (and europe in general). while i've done my best up until now to be the black sheep in my family of accountants, financial advisers and overall math whizzes, and avoid at all costs the financial world, i've finally been sucked in. God has a wicked sense of humor.

all of this is to say i've really enjoyed teaching so far. while i'm not sure i could ever teach in a traditional setting, at least not in a public system with all of its bureaucracy, i've found i really enjoy teaching. every day is an adventure and i'm never without a funny story from one of my classes to share with my roommates. 

cities are bliss

in addition to doing really well in terms of teaching, i really have enjoyed living in zaragoza thus far. a large part of this stems from the fact that it's a compact city where i can walk or take public transportation anywhere. in terms of size, it's pretty comparable to san francisco (zaragoza has a population around 700,000). 

i also enjoy the city for its history and culture. with buildings dating back to the tenth century (there's a castle in the middle of the city), the city has no shortage of history. oh! and here's today's fun fact: the name zaragoza stems from "ceasaraugusta" when the romans and one ceasar augustus invaded the area (it was also named "saraqusta" for a period when arab forces siezed the city in 714).

the point is i'm enjoying life. right before i moved to spain, i had second thoughts about coming to zaragoza. i seriously wondered whether i should just stay in madrid with my friend ben. but after seven weeks in spain, i couldn't be more happier where i am.

(oh and if you're wondering what the title of this post means, it means yes you're worth it! what does that have to do with this post? absolutely nothing. it was just the name of a karaoke competition i went to last night and it's been stuck in my head all day.)