Learning about the structure of the Madrid school system, how the hours are split between subjects, etc. was great. The 90 of us are all working in non-bilingual schools, which means we don't have at least 30% of class time in English. Our students (at the secondary level) will only have 3 hours of English language instruction every week, and it is a program that needs a lot of help as a result of this lack of time. This is the first year they have brought in so many of us and they're hoping to bring in more as more money becomes available every year, but with La crisis this may prove difficult. We are here to assist the English department, bringing in new and original material and activities to get the conversation and everyday-practical level of English up.
Aside from that, we got a presentation from two State Department representatives: the first was a security department guy, the team that makes sure places are safe for diplomats to live, travel, etc. He was very AMERICAN, if you know what I mean. Making comments about weapons, how we're better, and how this isn't Iran (as though Iran is the worst place to possibly be in the world). It really rubbed me the wrong way, but his colleague balanced him out, showing me the other side of the State Department, the culture side. She was of the belief that State does everything perfectly; they share cultural activities and materials, they give young people all the opportunities they could ever want through internships, and they are just a marvelous resource for us here in Spain. I was generally turned off by the presentation, especially with the questions from the incredulous US members of the crowd as they learned that carrying pepper spray in Spain is illegal. This is why Spain is amazing! VERY few weapons of any type, and if you are caught with a weapon in a robbery or whatever, you will be the one arrested, even if you were defending yourself and that weapon is registered. This is a great thing! Our country has taught us to protect ourselves and not trust anyone, and this has meant a lot more violence than necessary in the US. Spain has it right, girls, you really don't need your pepper spray, just don't be stupid.
The end of the orientation consisted of two of the Ministry staff getting us signed up for appointments with the local police to get our Foreign Residency Cards next week, rather than with the appointments we had gotten for ourselves, all of those being in May or later of next year (mine was May 9th at 9:00AM, and my visa "expires" on December 15th). I will present myself with my documents next Wednesday at the police office in the city. The process for signing up for appointments took about 1.5 hours extra because every time Leticia would stop talking, the people in the room would raise the chatter volume to the point of near-yelling and then complain that it was taking forever... Not putting 2 and 2 together? Guess not. Maybe it's the language barrier. Or that they all were presenting the impatient US attitude we all know so well.
That's all for now! The next two days are super relaxed and probably won't consist of much. I might not even leave the neighborhood! I may have to dig the old running shoes out of the bottom of the suitcase, though I am moving on Saturday morning, because I might go stir-crazy without exercise. All the walking to visit pisos was great, but now that that's done...
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