My first bad day

Tuesday was an average day. I don’t remember anything spectacular happening at school. In the early evening I met with Estefania, the one girl that I’m tutoring. I’m there to help her practice English conversation. It was kinda awkward. She’s 13 and her level of English is pretty basic so it was hard to think of things to say and ask. The rest of my evening was free so I enjoyed watching Madrid win against AC Milan. Always a good thing.

Wednesday was my first bad day here in Quintanar. I just wasn’t in the best of moods. At school everything was fine. I really like my 4th grade girls and I like that they seem to be content with just being around me even if we can’t really talk about a lot of things. At lunch we (Eddie, the one teacher Jesús, and another random woman that I’m not sure where she comes from) got into quite the conversation about religion, mainly focusing on the Catholic Church. It was certainly interesting. At 4ish I had my first afternoon class with the 5-7 year olds. And it was a disaster. It was me and like 16 kids with way too much energy. Some of them were wandering around, some were just off in their own little world. The most frustrating part is that I’m not allowed to speak Spanish to them (I still have them fooled), therefore I can’t really discipline them, but if you can’t even explain a fun activity to them, it’s difficult. And you try to tell them not to do something, and they pretend they don’t understand you, whether or not they really do. Right after that class I had one with the 4th-6th graders. It started off better and then it went way downhill. I tried playing a game with them but it got too far out of control, cuz once again, they did their own thing instead of listening to simple instructions. I don’t know. Maybe it was just because I was low on patience to begin with or maybe I just like my classroom a little bit more structured than they’re used to, but all I know is that I left super frustrated and ready to cry. But Wednesdays are my crazy day so I just had to keep moving. I met with Estefania again and this time it went really well. The hour passed by really quickly and it put me in a way better mood. Then after that I went to meet Felipe for coffee. And right after that I went to Manuel and Ana’s to work with Alejandra and for dinner. They brought home kebabs cuz they knew I loved them. And they were great because they were spicy. Like decently spicy. But I love that family (I probably say that every time I mention them). After dinner, Manuel and I sat and talked about a whole bunch of stuff, from life to traveling to Spanish literature. It was just a great way to end such a stressful day.