Life in Andorra

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted and there are lots of things I could talk about, but I will try to keep it short (keyword: try). Here are some updates on my life in Andorra so far.
.
School
At school I have good days and bad days. Sometimes I leave class feeling great about teaching and other days I count down the weeks until June, wondering how I will get through the next nine months. The thing is, I never know which classes will behave and which make me want to start researching flights home. For example, last Monday my two classes were fine and my Tuesday class was a disaster. This week was the opposite. My fourth level students on Monday had behaved fairly well up until now, but this week I felt like I was in a war zone with paper flying everywhere and coming from all directions!
.
So much of their behavior depends on the lesson plans and their level of English, which varies drastically from class to class. If the activity is too easy, they will finish quickly and goof off. If the activity is too difficult, they will give up and goof off. I am slowly learning what works and what doesn’t, but it’s difficult for me because I have lesson plans that I am supposed to follow and I’m still confused as to the actual purpose of my classes. Are they to teach the students about the United States or to practice speaking English?
.
It’s also interesting having only three lessons per week (repeated many times). This means that two weeks ago I listened to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” at least three times a class for six classes. You do the math. With each successive class I am able to make improvements, though I feel bad for the guinea pig classes at the beginning of the week. For example, last week my second and third level students worked on the computers doing an activity where each of the questions on their worksheet had a link to a webpage where they could find the answers. For my second level students, the activity was way too difficult so I had to create a cheat sheet in Spanish to help them. For my third level students, one of the worksheets (there were four different groups), was a page longer than the others so I had to give it to the smarter students and hope they didn’t notice that they had to do more work. By the end of the week I had memorized all the webpage addresses, which questions were problematic, and exactly where to find the answers on every page. Now I know all about New York City.
.
Housing
Last Wednesday I said a tearful goodbye to Aparthotel Conseller (ok, not really), and moved to an apartment closer to where I work. It only takes me three minutes to get to school! I am living with two women from Barcelona, Isabel and Carol. Isabel is 47, works in optics (I think she means that she works in a glasses store), and has lived in Andorra for about 20 years. Carol is 26, a lawyer, and has been in Andorra for about a year and a half. They both speak Catalan and Spanish, and Carol speaks English too. They both work a lot so I haven’t seen a lot of them yet, but I think it will be a good living situation.
.
One thing that I have been learning here is that often times when I need to make a decision, there may not be one clear-cut answer, but rather many options that would work. I’m not used to this sort of ambiguity, but I am learning to make my own decisions and deal with the results. I’m sure this is just what life is like, but maybe after studying math I’m a little too accustomed to right answers. Regarding housing, this means that every once in awhile I start doubting my decision to live here. I had the opportunity to move in with some of the other Fulbrighters here, but in the end I chose not to. I am here primarily to improve my Spanish (and Catalan) and to experience a new culture, and there is no better way to do this than living with locals. Plus, since I live so close I don’t have to wait the extra 40 minutes for the bus everyday. On the other hand, after living in the same building with the others for the first month, it is sad not seeing them as often. And they are spending about 80 euro less a month for rent! Like I said, no clear winner but I had to choose something.
.
One good thing about apartment hunting and moving (besides the location and having reliable internet), was the empowerment I felt in finding my own place. It was the first time I have ever done anything like this for myself. At APU and in Sevilla, even many of the Fulbright arrangements, most things were taken care of so all I had to worry about was school. But now I can say that I went apartment hunting on my own, in another country and in another language, and I succeeded (though I know that I was lucky too). On days when I feel completely ill-equipped and inadequate, I know that in the end I am capable of more than I often give myself credit for. I’ve been having lots of doubts about my decision to come to Andorra to teach, praying that this year won’t be a complete waste. But like my friend Cassie said, even if everything doesn’t work out perfectly, we are still gaining life experience, and she’s right.
.
Everyday Life
I’ve been here about a month, and things are still slowly coming together. I’ve heard that it takes about three months to really get settled in, which I know was true in Sevilla, so I guess I shouldn’t be in such a hurry. I think I’ve adjusted to the culture much more quickly than I did in Spain, but getting into a routine is taking longer. At the same time, every day something new falls into place, so I know that I’m making progress. For example, I am now completely unpacked and my room is organized. I have also memorized my schedule and the bus route that I use (for the most part). Yesterday I even joined a swimming pool, and on Sunday I am going to a new church. Poc a poc.
.
After four years of constantly moving, I’m excited to be in one place for a year (or at least 10 months). Nevertheless, knowing that it’s temporary means that I am still going to be living out of a suitcase in some respects, even if it’s only in my attitude towards some things. I don’t think I will ever change the way I use decimal places and comas with money (like writing 19,99 instead of 19.99), though I have found myself writing dates backwards (October 7 would be 7/10/09 instead of 10/7/09). Even my attitude towards learning Catalan is different than it would be if I were planning on staying longer. Side note: I must be improving with Catalan, though, because yesterday I was complimented on it at the pool, though I hadn’t even realized that I was speaking it. I thought I had been speaking in Spanish! I guess I have an English mindset and a non-English mindset, and things get mixed up in the latter).
.
Other everyday differences:

• When you take a bus here, you never know what type you will get. They all look the same from the outside, but inside you might have a normal city bus or a charter bus. They also use these for school buses, so it’s funny when you see a giant charter bus full of pre-schoolers on their way home from school.
• The paper is different here. It is longer and a lot more like graph paper than lined paper. I don’t like it. In addition, my students always write in pen and they use tons and tons of whiteout.
• When I work on the computers at school, the keyboards are different. When I want to make a : I end up with a ñ, and the ( ) buttons are both one key to the right. After all the Mavis Beacon typing programs I did in elementary school, it’s hard to force myself to look down at the keys when I type! So if you get an e-mail from me full of weird typos, I probably wrote it at school.
• I also have to figure out where to buy everything. I had this problem moving to California too, but that was only with grocer stores (and then some where the same stores as in Washington, just with different names). I know I can’t expect there to be a Target or Barnes & Noble, but it takes awhile to figure out where to buy what and where to buy it cheap. Luckily Andorra is small! Sometimes, though, I just want to walk into an Albertsons and know where to find everything.

Anyway, that’s all for now. If you made it to the end, you should give yourself a gold star :)