Today I was reminded about how little I know about farming. When I began my study abroad here in the city of Granada, I would never have guessed that I would have found myself sitting in a classroom with 14 and 15 year olds, explaining the difference between leasing and sharecropping. But I did.....

How did I find myself in this situation? Well clearly out of the goodness of my heart, I decided to dedicate my time to the bettering of young minds.

But actually, I have to do a "tarea externa" for school, meaning I have to go out into the community and work with Spaniards in some context. You can play futbol (which unfortunately I had to rule out because I haven't played in 8 years), work in various NGOs (which seem to never respond to your emails) or teach in a school. There were other options too, but by the time my last name came around for the meeting with the secretary, those were my options. After a stressful post-Ireland week, I somehow managed to arrange my first day of tarea externa in a middle school close to mi casa.

Which is how I found myself in this classroom. Originally, I was really excited to be in a class teaching history and geography. However, the knowledge of history and geography that I have gained from my classes at the UW are a bit more advanced than that of the 8th (?) graders that I'm helping with and not entirely applicable. So there I was, trying to figure out what leasing and sharecropping are (still not entirely sure), in English, but also in Spanish when possible. To top it off, I don't have a very extensive knowledge of crops and farming in Spanish (or English). So I ended up reading from the book and generally feeling like a fool...and probably sounding like one too.....

But oh well. It was only the first day and it can only get better. Without any idea of how I actually found a tarea externa, I'm pretty happy with the situation. It has the potential to be very fun.

Today was just one of those days where I might have seemed like the least educated person in the room. And on the topic of the day, I probably was. But I can now adequately explain the difference. Maybe...but I wouldn't bet on it....

'Til next time...