Better brush up on my cursive

Today marks the official end to my second week of school!  I have already drawn a long list of comparisons of Spanish and American schools, but here are some of the most interesting things I found out

• Spanish classrooms are nearly as diverse as American classrooms.  My Spanish students alone range from blonde hair and blue eyes to dark hair and brown eyes.  In addition to that i have at least 2-3 black students in every class and 5-6 Morrocan/Muslim students.  This took me by surprise as I did not realize how diverse Spain can be!  Also, there is a high number of Indian and Chinese immigrants in Almería.
• The first week, I noticed that the teachers and students all wrote in cursive, however I just thought that was something they practice at a young age (like us in the US and then we eventually just never use it and forget it) in addition to print. However, this week when one of my teachers asked me to write something on the black board, I printed it and she said "Wow, that's so English of you!"  Then, she continued to tell me that they do not print in Spanish, the stick to cursive and that printing is something that is quintessentially American! The students say that I "write like the computer"
• Currently, most of my students are learning about "Parts of the Body" but today, we took a break with my first graders and talked a little bit about autumn.  Although the leaves don't change colors here in Almería, the teachers still teach the students about leaves changing colors and falling during autumn.  We colored leaves to decorate the door with!  When my teacher was telling the students what colors to use for the leaves she mentioned brown, yellow and orange.  One of my students asked if she could use red and my teacher said "no."  When I asked why not, she said "Leaves don't turned red" and I laughed and said "yes they do" and showed her a picture on instagram of red leaves!  She was amazed and said she had never seen that before.  I guess my teacher learned something new today too!

Other highlights of this week include finally spending an afternoon on the beach, getting Chinese take-out with my roommates, sitting in on a private English tutoring lesson (so I know what one looks like before I give my first one!) and getting introduced to two awesome girls from Germany who are spending the year here as volunteers at a local church! 

We'll its time for me to go hang my laundry.  That's right!  For those of you who didn't know, most Spaniards don't own a dryer so I have to hang my clothes on a clothes line the old fashioned way!