What I'm REALLY doing here...

My school:)

     Riiiight! Teaching English to little guys.:) So every once in a while when I'm not galavanting around Europe I stick around during the week and teach 1st-3rd grade English, Science, and Art classes at a teeny school called Colegio Ramón Linacero located in a village northeast of the Madrid city center. And I am surprised everyday by how much I enjoy it! Some days they are especially crazy, some days the commute seems especially long, but everyday I am thankful for being placed at such a great school!!
    The kids are wonderful and I feel somewhat like a celebrity when I walk through the halls (it is super small so I am the only full-time language assistant there) and they scream "Me-leeeeee-ssa, Me-leeeeee-ssa!!", and some have even resorted to jumping ON me and kissing my cheek. Oh boy. Needless to say, I have discovered that Spanish boys begin their extremely affectionate mannerisms at a VERY young age.

Daniel, Pepito, Gabriel, and Sergio at the Danone Yogurt Factory

     Last Friday was particularly crazy as I went on a field trip to the Danone yogurt factory of Spain with some of the kids and they were on some crazy free-yogurt-field-trip-day high and were attacking me with their grimy little hands and love letters in the form of paper airplanes.;) Pepito, one of the boys pictured on the right was particularly fond of writing me love letters that day and drawing pictures of us  together. "Melissa+Pepito=<3"(according to one of his letters we are getting married one day...sorry Mom, looks like I really am here for good;)). 

Free yogurt, woohoo!

    This job is full of surprises and new opportunities and I am loving it so far! Ironically, teaching has proved to be more of a learning experience than anything else and I have already learned so much! I keep pinching myself because I just can't believe that this is, in fact, "real life" for me right now! Ayyy! More updates and pictures to come soon!:)