A case of the Mondays!

A good friend here told me to think about the week starting on Sunday instead of Monday, and see what that does to your perception of it. Sundays in Madrid are like Sundays in many European countries and I'm sure in countries around the world--things shut down completely, forcing you to spend time either at home or in cafes with friends. So, mentally starting a week on Sunday is like mentally putting yourself in a state of relaxation from the beginning, instead of a frantic work mode.

Today was a Sunday, Monday week. I relaxed yesterday, hugging my computer in sweats, and I embraced staying in my apartment. I am working on creating a business for all the english functions I could possibly do competently--editing, translation, and tutoring is what it's looking like. I worked on that for most of the day, along with classroom plans, and catching up with people. Not the most exciting news to report, but, hey---I'm updating my blog...progress!

Today I woke up very early to head to school and print out my worksheets. It such a diverse subject world that I'm in right now. I taught Health and Sickness first period with an activity that tried to make the students interact and present material themselves (direct quote from the teacher was "Spanish students don't know how to do group activities¨). The second period I worked on Global Classrooms explaining how to research a country and the protocol that goes along with the innerworkings of the United Nations. Third period I edited English papers with fiction stories about a boy who has a job he's embarrassed about. Gotta love it. I also asserted my authority today, something I've been remiss about doing in the past since we're technically not supposed to enforce it as teaching assistants. It felt a lot better not being so passive, and also I feel like kids respect you more when you are able to discipline (for the right reasons and in the correct way, of course).
We'll see where tonight takes me. I want to try an Argentinian tango lesson at 8...and if not I would like to see a play here sometime soon. This whole month is a festival where many differnt theatre companies come and perform.

I'll let you know!

bye!