Sometimes we all have to learn the Hard Way

For example. yesterday I walked out to meet the 6 year olds for gym class. As I walked into the open gym area they were all running around, chasing each other and playing. One of the little girls started running at me and as she did so I swooped her up and flipped her over, squealing and laughing. It was like some sort of alert. I saw half the heads snap in my direction and identify that yes, I had in fact just done something very fun looking to one of their peers. This initiated some sort of attack sequence in their little brains. It was on par with a scene in Jurassic Park. I had to overcome my own instinct to run away when I saw a good number of them from all corners of the room head straight my way. They hit me like a wave and crowded around me with their hands up jumping and squealing "ahora mi! ahora mi!" So I fell back into my super English teacher defense mode saying "I don't understand you. English please." HA! It worked; they all looked to one another trying to figure out what I was asking of them, although they continued to jump against me with their hands up, trying to climb me. Just at that moment the Little Miss Know it All of the class ran by and informed them all in Spanish, "she says for you to all stop touching her ta-tas." They all fell back and stared at me. I had to restrain myself from laughing and quickly made my escape to the other side of the room with the teacher to await instructions for the games we were to play. Lesson learned.


I am also experiencing the learning by doing technique on another level. While this teacher exchange program has been happening in Spain for some years now, this is the first year of it being in the Balearic Islands. As such, instructions are still rather convoluted and are coming from all directions. Sill little details and questions arise, such as "do I have health insurance? Is that what that form was about?" "who pays me, the schools or the government?" "If I do get a Spanish bank account to have my checks sent to, who do I tell so the checks actually get sent?" "Exactly what other types of paper work do I have to fill out to be legally here and to work?". I have resorted to directing these questions to the American consulate here and to the facebook accounts of other kids in the same program, asking them how they are going about things. This is proving to slowly be helpful and I should hopefully get it all worked out soon.
Marga was sent to a teacher's meeting regarding we Auxiliares de Conversacion and she too was struck by the inefficiency and weaknesses in the system. Such as, why are they having the teacher's orientation meeting weeks after the Auxiliares are already at the schools?
I was starting to get frustrated with the whole ordeal but then I realized that if I break it down, the government is just like us, doing its best to move forward and learning through doing (or that is the idea at least. . . I think/hope).

I suppose these are the kinds of things we get frustrated with but with a little bit of grace and a whole lot of persistence we can get through and hopefully make things better in the end.

I would like to conclude this post with sharing one of my new most favorite things. Today I did some neighborhood exploring. Identifying all the various tiny shops within blocks of my house that might cater to my various needs. Post office. Paper shop. Bakery. The bakery is just around the corner from my house and I walked in and bought a fresh baguette, still warm from the oven. I took it home and made myself a sandwich and sat out on my deck and watched the darkening clouds roll and roil overhead and enjoyed my sandwich, all of the components of which were made within miles of where I live. It was pleasant.

One final bit, I have an address, feel free to use it at will:
c/ Margarida Xrigu, 31
Palma de Mallorca, Spain 07011