Method to the Madness

1. Some Key Observations

There are no latches or knobs to turn to lock the doors in my apartment. Instead, on both sides of the doors there are keyholes which require the use of a key. This came as some surprise to me; having to use my keys to get out of my own room and apartment in the morning after locking the doors the night before seems a bit unnatural to me. But after further thought, the genius of it dawned on me: only by manually locking the door then sliding the key underneath to the other side is it actually possible to lock myself out of my apartment or room here. Had this been the setup in Nicole's temporary lodgings in Oshawa last year, I would have avoided the very trying ordeal of slipping in through an impossibly narrow basement window, ass-backward, shirtless, with genitals duck-taped to leg to avoid any unpleasant snagging, a step which I assure you was necessary. It being a basement window, a blind 7 foot drop to the floor also awaited me after squeezing through. I did try picking the lock and would have googled 'lock picking techniques' after my failed attempts, but my laptop was stored safely inside the locked room.

Although with this new setup, although very unlikely, I suppose locking myself in my room or apartment becomes a possibility, if my keys were to somehow find their way out while I was still inside. How embarrassing that would be! Not to mention difficult to explain in Spanish. I'll have to be mindful of that.

Making a splash.

I'm a pretty big deal here: A few boys from 1 ESO (about 12 years old) approached me on Thursday after class holding pens and open notebooks in outstretched arms. I ended up signing half a dozen autographs before I really knew what was going on. I guess I'm a bit of an oddity around the school, a head taller than almost everyone and much pastier. Spaniards generally do seem shorter than North Americans. One teacher told me that some of the students had decided that I was Russian after passing me in the halls. Or perhaps instead of simply a big first impression, here's another theory: In introducing myself to this particular class, I told them I like basketball and that the Toronto Raptors are my favorite team. Since the level of English in this class is very low, misunderstandings are quite possible if not expected. With my height and this talk of basketball, perhaps they got the wrong idea about my connection to the Toronto Raptors. With all the basketball talent to come out of Spain recently (Pau Gasol, José Calderón, Garbajosa, etc.), many of the students are basketball fans, so the idea isn't too far-fetched.

The education system here parallels that of Canada fairly closely. Students go through 7(?) years of primary school then enter ESO -- escuela secudaria obligatoria, four years of mandatory secondary education. Two years of an optional 'bachillerato' follow, as preparation for further post-secondary studies. In the case of my school, students stay at the same school for their bachillerato. All of my responsibilities involve 1 and 2 ESO classes, the two youngest secondary education levels. For one hour a week, I also host a conversation hour after classes for any faculty who wish to attend. This past week, only two teachers showed up, but such a small group allows for a lot more participation and individualized attention for everyone.

But enough talk of school and beating around the bush; the real reason I'm here can't be found in the classroom, but rather the Cantabrian Sea. I've priced a few new surfboards and am only delaying the purchase to look in to the possibility of a used board. Aside from the board, everything else is in place: my apartment is only a 20 minute walk from the beach, I have my wetsuit with me and more than enough spare time.

The Miracle of Couchsurfing

Finally, a second, long overdue update... only 2 entries in and already in a state of neglect, joder! In my defense, I'm still without an internet connection in my apartment and it's been a hectic two weeks of travel and getting settled here. Yesterday alone I applied for a certificate of residency, foreigner's identification card, and city of Gijón resident's card, and opened a spanish bank account. Luckily my supervisor here, Jorge, seems to know everyone in Gijón and with his connections I was able to skip the queues for most things, albeit under the piercing stares of my fellow aliens in line.

Despite arriving in Spain three weeks ago, I've only spent one of them at my final destination, Gijón. The prior fortnight I spent making my way slowly from the airport in Málaga in the south of Spain to Madrid for the program orientation, then ultimately north to Asturias. With 8 months of luggage in tow and only a tenuous grasp of Andalucian Spanish, this could have been an extremely trying task were it not for the miracle of Couchsurfing. Through the Couchsurfing.com website, I got in touch with Sophie from Málaga and Ahmed from Granada, both of whom hosted me for 2 nights in their respective homes, free of charge. Sophie, a French expat now living and working in Málaga, despite having a busy schedule of her own showed me some of the sights in Málaga and took me out to some great places for eats and drinks. In Granada, Ahmed set the bar extremely high for my future couchsurfing experiences. In the space of 2 days, I had 3 meals cooked for me, received three novels from his own collection, and was shown all the sights of Granada. As an extremely well read and traveled fellow, he was also a fountain of interesting bits of trivia, two of which really stick out in my mind:
1. In my own experience, one of the most obvious cultural differences here was the prominence of pork products, particularly ham. Even hamburgers here are usually just that, a burger made from ham/pork. With thanks to Ahmed, I now know that the ubiquity of pork here is a strong statement that Spain and its people are not Muslim, pork of course being off limits for Muslims. Most of Spain was conquered by Moorish Muslims in the late 8th century and was only reconquered completely by the Christians in 1492. The current affinity for pork today is tied into this complex history.
2. Equally fascinating was the explanation of the origins of the "Big Apple" as a name for New York City. In parts of Spain, city blocks were, and still are if I'm not mistaken, referred to as 'manzanas' or apples. Spanish immigrants to NYC brought with them this term and yada yada yada, we get The Big Apple. There seems to be some controversy as to whether or not this is true, but an interesting theory nonetheless.

Context for the Content

Since I'm still 19 days, an ocean, and several thousand kilometers from Spain, this blog's title is at the moment a bit of a lie. But misnomers aside, the ultimate goal is to post updates to this space during my time away to give anyone who's interested an idea of how I'm keeping busy.

I'll be working in a highschool in Gijón, a city of some 300,000 people in the north of Spain, as an English language assistant teacher. Since the school has a bilingual Spanish-English program (similar to French immersion here, from what I can tell) I'm still not sure whether I'll be helping out strictly with the teaching of English language courses, or with the instruction of other subjects in English. In either case, all of my official duties will be carried out in English. Outside the classroom, I'll have to rely on three years of Spanish classes to keep me afloat.

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The city of Gijón faces the Bay of Biscay/Atlantic Ocean and falls within the autonomous community of Asturias. The strip along the north coast of Spain (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country) is referred to as "Green Spain" because of its wet, moderate climate which allows lush vegetation to grow. The region is bounded to the south by the Cantabrian mountain range, a western extension of the Pyrenees.