BED. BUGS.

So I don´t know why, but it seems like everytime I blog its in the middle of the night! Tonight tough, I have an excuse for being up so late...but let´s back track a little bit! Our schools are on vacation, so me and a friend decided to take advantage of the break and take a trip! So last tuesday, we arrived in Barcelona, and it´s been an awesome trip! Barcelona is definitely unlike anywhere I´ve ever been! It´s a beautiful city, and the weather was around 70 degrees everyday! There is a main tourist-y street called Las Ramblas, and you can see just about anything when you are walking up and down it! There are bums selling beer and weird whistle things, there are guys trying to sell light up toys...and about every 10 feet there is some type of human statue, or people pretending to be babies, or a guy covered in flowers...haha they are all just trying to get you to give them money to take a picture of them! (pictures to come...;) ) anyway, we basically walked ALL week. We also didn´t really sleep too well, because we were staying in hostels, so there was always lots of noise and such. Anyway the point is, it was an amazing week, but I am completely exausted. SO, tonight the hostel we booked is close to the airport, because our plane leaves at 8 so we thought it would be a good idea to be close...(the airport is about 30 mins from town) So we take a bus to the airport, then take a cab to the hostel where we are staying. Well, the cab driver didn´t know where the hostel was, and he couldn´t seem to locate the address on the GPS. He finally asks someone, and we make it to this place. It´s basically the creepiest place ever, in a super shady part of town. The reason it´s so strange though, is because it´s HUGE, and looks really nice, but there are literally no people here! We were just excited to get here though, because we were ready for a good nights sleep! So knowing we have to get up at 5 am, we go to bed at about 10...about 30 minutes later, I start feeling like something is crawling on me. At this point I´m like half asleep, so I just assume its my imagination and try to go back to sleep. I toss and turn for a few minutes, then I realize that it is NOT my imaginating, and something is biting me, like, a lot. I reached up and turned on the light by the bed...and there they were. The bugs. Not one. Not two. There were bugs everywhere. I jumped out of bed and ran and turned the overhead lights on and go back and look in my bed. I saw the last thing you ever want to see in a bed you were just laying in...it was disgusting. There were big ones, small ones....it was like a little bed bug community. So at this point I´m totally freaked out. I´m trying to shake out my clothes and hair (I´m convinced they are all over me...) After I calmed down a bit, we decided we were going to go down to the front desk, get our money back, and leave. Well...problem. The man at the front desk doesn´t speak a lick of english...and unfortunately, we don´t speak spanish. After much confusion, we finally get him to realize what is wrong, and he tells us there is nothing he can do about it, and the ladies that can help us will be back at 7 am. Awesome. So now we can´t go back to our room, we can´t leave...and we can´t believe this is happening! All we wanted was a good nights sleep! So now we are in the library, and Elizabeth is alseep on a desk. I tried to lay down and go to sleep but I couldn´t. And it wasn´t the cold hard desk, or the fact that its like 20 degrees, or the bright lights...no I´m pretty sure as tired as I am I could have slept in those conditions. What was keeping me awake was the fact that everytime I started to fall asleep, I keep feeling like I had bugs on me! So now it´s 4 am...I don´t foresee sleep anytime in my near future, and I have to get on a plane at 8 am...needless to say, I think it´s going to be a long day...

oh France...

There are strikes going on in France right now, its about the government and the fact that they are trying to change the retirement age from 60 to 62. Anyway, that's not out of the ordinary, in France, if you have an opinion about something, you strike. But today, I woke up to loud shouting and horns honking...and I thought, that's strange, what's going on? So I looked out my window, and it was high school kids, congregating in the streets and blocking the cars and shouting at them in unison! High school kids!
So anyway, jump to this afternoon ...I am in class and we are talking about some differences between France and America. One of the students told me that about once a year, high school kids will be striking about something, and they will LOCK the high school, not let anyone in and the teachers don't do anything about it! They are so worried about conflict that they just wait "until it passes" So school and everything stops for weeks because someone is trying to make a point. When I told them that if that happened in the states, the students who locked themselves in would most likely be arrested, they couldn't believe it. The other teacher said that if a student in France got arrested for something like that there would be a revolution! I'm all for freedom of speech, but I think letting students get away with stuff like that only on the basis of fear of conflict is a little much. But if we all did things the same way, it would be pretty boring huh?

So I survived the first day...whew :)

Day one: complete.

So today was my first official day at work. I was really nervous, because I had no idea what to expect. I had met some of the teachers and they were all very nice, but I was still pretty anxious. I know it sounds silly, but as I was walking toward the staff room today, I had to MAKE myself keep going. haha I was telling myself 'You have to go in there, you can't just turn around and walk away...one, that would be lame, and two, you don't have a choice!' LOL so there I went, into a room full of people I don't know, most of whom were speaking a language that is not my first. When you go into a room full of people you don't know, there is always that awkward pause-type-thing. They look at you, you look at them, neither of you know which one should speak first...Finally I just decided to be myself, and smile, and say hi to everyone, regardless of whether they were english teachers or not! Once I did that, everything was much better! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming...they all gave me their e-mail addresses and phone numbers, and  told me not to hesitate if I need them! Its amazing how much a small gesture like that can mean to you when you are far from home. So after I had tackled the obstacle of meeting all the teachers, a new challenge arose...the students.
I decided that I was going to do the same thing with them I had decided to do with the teachers! Sure I was nervous, but I realized there was no reason to be, and it was silly to worry. Besides, these are high school kids...they can smell fear. :-) So I went in, smiled and introduced myself, and it was fine!
After today, I'm really excited about the school year. It's definitely going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it! :-) It was also really interesting to learn more about how the French school system works, and how its different from the U.S...but I'll bore you with that later... ;-D

A Bientôt !

Oh also for those of you who are wondering, I will eventually be adding pictures with the blogs, I just haven't really had time to do that yet! Love y'all!