The list of disparate cities above are where I´ve been since Wednesday. I´m wondering how people become totally in control of such insanity. I left San Francisco with 9 students and 9 tickets and passports in hands of each high school student. When we got to Paris one ticket was missing. This felt like a definitive moment: welcome to your new job :) Fortunately, the ticket was replaced for very realitively little money and I was able to go to Madrid with everyone in tow and another student we met in Paris. It´s been interesting spending time with these students. I´m feeling ways I expected and ways I never expected to feel. I´m recognizing my own personal transformation while experiencing theirs to some degree.
The students are now all in host families in Granada, Marbella, and Malaga. We spent a night and day in Madrid. The students had lots of observations. I heard some ineteresting comments about cultural differences. For some reason spending time with them is a real wake-up call to the fact that so many conversations I am having every day these students are never asked to engage in. I had a talk about race with a student today. It was the first time I actually decided to voice my opinion. I´m sure my body language gave me away a bit. It was actually a good conversation. I felt like the student heard me.
Another interesting thing that has happened is the way the students relate to me. This speaks to all the issues of race that I feel like I confront in my work at Roosevelt. I never felt like for a moment that I had to try too hard to be cool with them. They naturally gravitated towards me. We all went out last night and they wanted me dance! Hillarious, my dancing moves emabaress the hell out of the kids at Roosevelt.
Madrid is a city full of windy streets and I was totally lost leading 13 students at times. We laughed. Some of them were a little annoyed but all-in-all they´ve had a great attitude about things. We had an amazing tour of the Riena Sofia and went to the Palacio Real. I saw my friend Conchita who is 5 months pregnant and married. She was niether last time I saw her four years ago. She was so beautiful and I really felt like the changes in her life had brought her a lot of joy. It´s so amazing to follow someones life for years, even if it is from a distance. Today we arrived in Granada and I left the students with their host families. They were nervous and excited. I was happy to see them start off well with this amazing experience but I was a little nervous for myself. I really have little idea about what I´m going to do for 16 days all by myself! This is a truely unique experience in my life: no responsiblities and no friends! I think I´ll find some time for much needed head space even if just for a short time. I´ll fill you all in. Sorry for the poor grammer! I have to pay for this fun :) Un beso muy fuerte desde Espana...Maggie
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