Jaén

Jaén. That is where I will be teaching. Jaén is a provence of Spain, and I will be living in the capital, Jaén City. It seems to be a smaller city, about 100,000 people live there, and not a tourist destination at all. The city is located on the foothills of the mountain (read: there will be snow) and like every good Spanish town has a huge cathedral that that are incredibly proud of. Moorish remains can be found in the city as it was a once dominated by Arabs becoming one of their strongholds against the Castillians. It is said that the city is surrounded by olive groves and is the world's leading producer of olive oil. There is also a university in the city. And that is really all I know about the it.
I have found an apartment and am in the process of trying to figure out of to pay my last months rent while in the US.
I'll be sharing an apartment with two girls, Ana and Victoria, who are both from the city of Cadiz, attend the university, and are 21 and 22. They seem to be very warm and welcoming, already mentioning that I can go to their house during some school breaks. Other people from my program are all trying to get apartments with other Americans, and while that would not be as scary as moving in with two spanish girls, I know I would greatly regret that decision. So I took the plunge and spent a lot of time surfing the internet for bedrooms to rent. Perhaps it will be nice; I can have 'American' apartments to go to while still being fully immersed in the culture by living in mine and hopefully meeting people through the girls.
My job. I have no idea what's going on with that. I've been emailing one of the teachers at the school and he mentioned that I will be teaching math and social studies. There was no mention of teaching English however, classes would be taught in English. I'll be teaching 12 year-olds, and I am thanking god that middle school math were my peak of math comprehension. I also don't know if I'll be teaching the class by myself, or if I'll be just a teacher's aid. That's the Spanish for you, no details and last minute planning. So for now, I wait. I don't know what these next nine months will hold, but I do know that they will be exciting. I'll be posting everything in this blog: observations, cultural difference, language barriers, sights, feelings, people, teaching experience, travel anecdotes... everything So stay tuned...