Getting situated

Hi Folks,
I am beginning to get situated in my classes and am starting to like it. Most of the upper grade classes are wonderful and attentive, its going to be the little ones that need the most concentration. I was able to work with a great third grade teacher yesterday, Pilar. She was able to help translate for the day, because the students were asked to only speak to me in English of course. So the class had to write down some questions they wanted to ask me and I put them in groups to choose two questions that the brave kids to ask. It worked fabulously and they had some awesome questions. They seemed really excited too which certainly helps the situation. There is one deaf boy in this class but he can read lips and talk, so I imagine he is more hard of hearing than completely deaf, but I don't want to get into medicine. I was kinda sad already that I wont get to see this class til next Thursday, but am excited to do different things with them. I will be focusing on poems, dramas, and stories to do with them as it is a literature class, that I am proctoring.
Then came the hard part.... FIRST GRADE.....
Now I understand that first graders are small and have difficulty paying attention, but they couldn't even stay still for one page of a book. I couldn't even read the words on the page!! But at the same time it want a complete disaster. They were able to draw something red from the book, such as an apple, tomato, and some drew a heart, or watermelon. I was really impressed with the students that went above the task and thought about what in the world around them is red. It's a relief to know that some students can work on a different level. The tough part about this session was I could hardly get the kids quiet on the rug to listen to the page, and the teacher did not help me at all! Finally at the end, when I was leaving... she says to me next time to get them quiet there is a bell on my desk that you can ring or something else.... ( I often forget words and simple phrases in both languages so you'll have to excuse me sometimes)
But hey lets leave school for now and talk about the APT and my rommie!
I am so lucky to have a good roommate, Kate I hope you can say the same thing! Gina is awesome, we have a lot of fun together just talking, its funny though, cause she says that when I leave I will be more like a Latin American than a Spaniard. But I hope to be a mixture of both. In fact one of the students asked me yesterday what my favorite food was, and I said Mexican (I miss Boca Grande and a carnitas burrito) yet then tried to get them to laugh or respond because I said oh when I leave here though hopefully will say Spanish food! They needed the teacher to rephrase it for me in Spanish and I got a good response.
I am often surprised by the mixture of cultures here in Madrid. There are a ton of Chinese people and a bunch of Spanish people are white as white and blonde hair, which kinda breaks the stereotype of what a Spaniard should look like. But its all a part of living in a new place.
I should go now cause I should probably do something productive today, but please people call me today, for those people I have been desperately trying to speak with, and anyone else too.