La vida diaria/La huelga general

Alright, so I warned everyone that my posts would become less frequent as I got into the day-to-day (la vida diaria) here in Madrid. I still haven't started with work yet (my first day is on Monday), but I did go and visit the school. The program is in its beginning stages, and so we aren't quite sure what we'll be doing yet, but it should be a fun year nonetheless. Remember when I thought I'd be teaching high schoolers English? Well, that plan has changed. I will be teaching high schoolers, but in Spain, "high school" starts at the sixth grade level... so I'll be teaching 11 and 12 year-olds. A little different than expected. In addition to English, I'll also be teaching art, technology and natural science. It's good to know what I'll be doing (finally!).

Things at the apartment are becoming a little less "getting to know you" and more just "hanging out." We've become accustomed to watching American TV on sidereel.com (thanks Cat!) and trying to decipher the Spanish translations of American shows on Spanish TV. A favorite of mine is La Ruleta de la Fortuna (Wheel of Fortune), where I actually am a little better than the people on TV at figuring out the Spanish puzzles. We cook dinner every night, and have had homemade mashed potatoes, salsa, tacos, campfire stew, pizza, and all sorts of other culinary creations (which are always accompanied by a giant jug of wine). We have our doubts about this "family dinner" tradition continuing once we start work, but since the Spanish don't eat dinner until 9 or 10 PM, I feel like we can make it work.

Today, Spain is observing a huelga general... or a general strike. Around midnight last night, our game of Would You Rather? was interrupted by commotion in the street. We ran around to the different windows in the apartment trying to see what was happening, and then decided to go down to the street level to find out. We expected to see a giant organized march or protest, but instead, it was just a handful of  drunk Spaniards banging on pots and pans and yelling into megaphones. There are posters and ads everywhere about the huelga, but according to Spanish news reports, the Metro system is only operating at about 75% of its regular capacity. We'll see if this strike has as much of an impact as predicted.

My days have been consumed by trying to get my life together here. My Metro pass, my NIE card (basically, a legal alien card), and other adventures have taken up a lot of my time. I've also visited the botanical gardens, the park, and explored around the center of Madrid. I'm enjoying it for now, but we'll see what happens once I start work. Orientation is tomorrow, which I've heard is really just 10 hours of banging your head against the wall, but we'll see (I hear we get food!).

This is probably the earliest I've been up since I've arrived in Spain, and I'm feeling my first siesta of the day coming on (we estimate that the Spaniards nap 2-3 times a day). I need to start work so I'm not so lazy!