Countryside horseback riding, traditional Spanish meals, and making international friends: My first two weeks as an au pair and student

Hi lovely people and welcome back. It's been a couple weeks since I last posted and I wanted to give you an update on all things au pairing and student-ing.

First week of au pairing

One of my outfits for class and au pairing! My shirt says "Go Fish"

I started working as an au pair on Monday, October 6th! The weekend prior, I was speaking to the kids mostly in Spanish so that they felt comfortable introducing themselves and asking me questions. However, as soon as Monday rolled around, I started to enforce communication in English. The parents are really intent on the kids practicing the language with a native speaker, so one of my main duties is to encourage them to speak and grow their English skills.

From my experience teaching last year, I noticed that many young students in Spain find English learning to be a chore, especially since they have mandated language classes at their elementary schools. My goal with the kids is to reframe English learning to be as fun as possible and NOT feel like another required English class. So... I created a theme for each day of the week that caters towards their interests:

Music Monday: We listen to a song in English and the kids have to identify as many words as possible.

Question of the Day Tuesday: Ok... the reality is that I ask them a lot of questions in general. However, these questions are meant to be creative, evoke thought, and expand their vocab. For example: "If you could travel anywhere in the world for 24 hours, where would you go and what would you like to do?" (I assist them with verb tenses/comprehension if needed in Spanish but they have to answer as much as possible in English)

Wordy Wednesday: This can go one of two ways: 1) I bring up a super fun word to teach to the kids or 2) they choose one word they want to know in English.

Tradition Thursday: I show them a tradition from my home state (which usually prompts conversation about Spanish traditions too! :)).

Free-for-All Friday: Friday is whatever we want it to be. We can listen to another song, talk about fun words, ask hypotheticals, play games, whatever it may be.

My first week with the kids went very well. My job is pretty simple: I pick them up from school (or their after-school activities) every day and supervise them from the afternoon into the evening. I make them a "merienda" (snack), help them with homework if needed, and make sure they shower and put their PJs on before dinner. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the kids get out of school early, so my shift starts and ends earlier.

For that reason, I'm trying to sign up for Flamenco classes on Wednesdays!

I've quickly learned that all the kids are super academic and athletic. They play soccer, volleyball, and gymnastics. The oldest knows the most English; although, the other three are still so curious and take to the language well. The youngest is four yet she already has great English listening skills. I've learned some of their favorite Spanish songs, taught them some fun words in English -- like "yummy" and "nutmeg" (in reference to the soccer trick) -- and taught them what cider mills are (I feel morally obligated to show off Michigan cider mills during the fall season). I showed the kids a video of the cider-making process and they loved it.

Classes started a week after au pairing began, so I had mornings and early afternoons free for a week. I spent my time exploring the city, exercising, and meeting new people! I walked through the Parque de Maria Luisa, Jardines de las Delicias, and Muelle de las Delicias. My new friend Mira and I also visited the Plaza de Toros, where we explored the museum and saw the bullring (Real Maestranza). We found out that bullfights are still held in the plaza, which honestly shocked me. I spoke to my host parents about the topic that same day, and they said that bullfighting can be controversial, but it's a huge part of the culture in Seville.

I have also been exploring the nightlife on the weekends, and it is FUN (as expected). I love that people actually dance at the clubs. The past two weekends, I've gone to some bars and discos in a couple different districts with some new friends from class. I recently went to La Carbonería, which is a bar-restaurant with a casual Flamenco show. It was phenomenal, and I'm very eager to go to a more formal Flamenco performance sometime soon.

The campo

The Monday before classes started, everyone had the day off due to a national holiday. This meant that my host family went to the campo, or the countryside! We left in the morning and drove about 45 minutes outside Seville to where their country house is located. It was amazing! There are acres and acres of land with horses, cows, and some bulls (enclosed within an electric fence). I also spotted some lemon trees in the backyard. We went for a ride in the family's truck and I got an epic view of the land, the wilderness, and the various animals. We, of course, had to keep our distance from the bulls, but it was still a surreal experience to see them in person.

I also had the opportunity to ride one of the family's horses! The horses are all older and very well-behaved, and I had the most fun trotting around the pen with Sardinita, who is pictured in the gallery above. There are a few dogs at the campo as well, and we were able to play outside with the youngest, Nala.

First week of classes

My first week of classes went super well. I'm enrolled at a Spanish academy in the San Lorenzo neighborhood of Seville, which is a 25 minute bus ride from the apartment. I have two classes per day in CEFR levels B2 and C1, both of which are back-to-back morning sessions. The class sizes are small and personal, which means I've already gotten to know some cool people from several countries (like Germany, Brazil, Egypt, Scotland, and more).

What's interesting is the academy allows students to enroll for as little or long as they'd like, so we have people who take classes for a week and others who enroll for several months. This means that people filter in and out of the school often. My B2 class is very manageable, while the C1 class has proven to be a bit more difficult.

Example of our current unit

I'm glad to be taking on the challenge of intensive classes, but I still have to find my footing and strike a good balance between academics, au pair duties, and social life. With my evening au pair hours and my attempts to study outside of class, it was a tiring first week! I'm looking forward to settling more into my routine in the coming weeks.

The whole academic experience is very rewarding though. I think I learn about 20 new Spanish words a day, if not more, and in combination with living with a Spanish host family, my comprehension has vastly improved.

The food

On another note, I've enjoyed experiencing traditional Spanish food and meal times. When I lived with my previous host parents, one of whom was born in Venezuela, I ate a lot of traditional Venezuelan dishes (which were delicious); I was also taking classes on the other side of town, so I often sat down for one meal a day with them. This time around, I eat lunch at home almost every day, with the kids, might I add!

Something that surprised me last year was learning that kids often come home for lunch if they live super close to the school. They have about 1.5/2 hours to eat and relax before they return. This means, however, that they get out of school later.

Since moving to Seville, I have tried a plethora of authentic Spanish meals! Last year, I tried a lot of new fish and tapas, but I'm getting a real traditional experience this year with the home-cooked meals. I've eaten a variety of soups, from carrot to squash to leak to a creamy tomato soup called Salmorejo; I've had shrimp and rice, a white fish + tomato sauce dish, homemade empanadas, and a "barquito de berenjena," which is stuffed eggplant. I also had homemade tortilla de patata, which is one of my all time favorite Spanish foods.

This picture does not do it justice!

Some interesting things I've noted about the Spanish meals:

• They love tomato sauce. I've eaten it with plain rice, eggplant, shrimp and rice, etc.

• Bread is almost always at the center of the table, and it's incredibly fresh.

• After dinner, the kiddos have some sort of yogurt. This originally caught me off guard but now I find it to be a great light dessert.

• They cut their pizza with SCISSORS!

The more obvious differences I have noticed (and known about prior) are the later meal times and emphasis on lunch as the biggest meal of the day. With my host family, I typically eat lunch around 13:30; we eat a "merienda" around 18:30pm, and dinner takes place anywhere from 20:30-21h every night.

Overall, I'm acquainting myself with the city and getting to know more people each day. Yet, I haven't even scratched the surface of what this city has to offer :) There's so much to explore. My goals for this week are to officially sign up for a Flamenco class and continue to meet new friends outside my classes.

Thanks for reading, once again.

Muah!