I sit with my english thoughts

Everyone in Spain loves futbol (soccer) especially the children, and since Spain is coming off a World Cup win, they are even more ecstatic. There are some talented 8-year-old athletes in my classes who know everything about soccer. As I mentioned, I teach English in a LOT of P.E. classes. I know very little about the standards for physical education but have spent some time looking up old games we use to play in middle school like Capture the Flag which the teachers find very fascinating. Today I finally met the "real" P.E. coaches after being confused for a month about why I was working with teachers who spoke zero English. The female coach was in Canada teaching and the male coach was on paternity leave. Yes, paternity leave.. for a month. Ana greeted me with a ginormous hug and her enthusiasm poured out during the very first class of 2nd graders. I also met Javi today. If you have the typical American idea of what a "Javi" would be, you're exactly right. This 6"3 beast of a man has deep eyes and dark longish hair, curls at the end, and gel to hold it back. His nose is large. His skin is tanned all year 'round. He of course played professional (or some sort of semi-professional) futbol in his "younger" years although he doesn't look a day over 30. He speaks Spanish fast and loudly, using his hands to get the point across to the children. I have finally seen a real Spanish man. Later this afternoon I mentioned to Manoli my take on Javi, and she, without discretion, offered up the information that he "has been successful with many of the ladies in the past." I, at first, thought she kept saying "sexual", which is really the same, and we had a huge laugh. Today I also sat through a meeting where two representatives from some healthcare company were trying to persuade the teachers to use their services. The two kept looking at me for some reason, and I nodded as if in agreement although I had no idea what they were talking about. Manoli sat across laughing and poking fun. I got a free multi-colored pen out of it.

There is more play than work at my school. I spend my stressful hours traveling to and from school and the non-stressful hours following teachers around, trying desperately to understand what they'd like me to do and getting hugs from little Spanish niños who robotically say to me, "Hello. How are ju? I'm fine, thanks. bye bye." Hopefully I'll get something accomplished here.