Spring

Villafafilla- Bird Sanctuary near Benavente

As my longest day of the week came to an end I felt…happy. It was a day well spent learning how to identify and deduce the meanings of slang from various English-speaking countries; the students as well as myself. Every day I become more comfortable in front of the class. My diffidence melts away and my ability to think up a lesson on the spot is improving rapidly. An average day starts with me seeing my fellow teachers in the hall, passing by they say, “We’re talking about American slang, modal verbs and the Saxon genitive, I’ll send the students to the lab.” Next I rush to figure out what the hell the Saxon genitive is. The teachers look at me as if I’m lying. “You have never heard of the Saxon Genitive before?” They ask with suspicion. The implied message being, but you use it so well! If I have time, I search out some activities on the internet before the students show up, worst case scenario we work out of the book and I try not to looked panic when I don’t know what “grouse” means in Australian slang.

My students at the high school are as intractable and apathetic as ever. I’ve learned through time though that they tire out much faster than I do, and if you just keep trying they are, in the end, quite harmless. At times the 50 minute classes (more like 45 minutes since teachers never arrive on time) creep slowly by. Other days I arrive at school with unmatched alacrity to get up in front of the class and force English into their brains. Some classes keep your spirits high. From time to time I watch the teachers and wonder how they continue year after year being underpaid, working far from home, driving over an hour each way to show up. They tell me it’s because they love teaching yet every so often their looks of exhaustion and exacerbation make me doubt it. Then Marta will run into the class, our latest lesson a success.

Her eyes were glowing, still feeding off the excitement of her students. This week, as we practice the simple future tense “will”, we asked the students in three classes to design a tv, car, or cell phone of the future. We spent the morning watching groups present their future cars with a level of enthusiasm matching that of taking the trash out when it’s raining. Then the next class arrived dressed in skirts and ties to present their visions of the future televisions. I missed the class but I could deduce how well it went from the excitement in Marta’s eyes. I won’t lie. I was jealous.

Moments like this make me fall in love with Spain a little more every day. The people are what make Spain great. What they lack in customer service, mail service and public restrooms, they make up for with their cheerful and contagious outlook on life. It’s the people you meet along the way that make these adventures worth it.

I recall a very important day. One of my first weeks in Benavente, I was looking for extra work. I walked up the stairs to the language academy practicing in my head, “Hola, alguien me dijo que quizas necesitais una profesora de ingles. Es verdad? Porque busco un puesto.” I walked into an office with three of the most talkative women I have ever met. There I was, Spanish coming at me from three sides. I must have looked like a deer in the head lights as I tried to pretend I was following them. Little did I know that this encounter would shape my stay in Benavente.

In the end I got a job teaching adult conversation classes and helping out in after-school classes for students. These classes have been by far the most challenging for me. No structure and no note to hang over the little ones, I find that my hours there are a constant battle. They have taught me the importance of changing perspective sometimes. I replaced the dread I used to feel as I walked to the classes with an excitement. It’s simply another challenge every week.

My Conversation Class mid-lesson

I love my adult class. They have the English, they just need to refine it and use it. That’s where I come in. I show up with a vague idea of what we’ll talk about and they take it and start talking. I am more of a catalyst and dictionary than anything else. This class has also taught me everything I know about Benavente. Through class discussions of the town or class outings to the bars I have learned about Benavente’s history, nightlife, surroundings and people.

Urueña- Fortified city near Benavente

And I met that person, I feel like she was life’s sign to me that I’m where I should be right now. The signs that Coelho talks about in The Alchemist (which is a good book by the way). I had no idea when I tried to follow her rapid words that she would become very important to me in Spain. Her, let’s call her MJ, and her husband have been all over the world, including Africa, and they host young boys from Africa together. I find them completely fascinating. They have helped me adjust to life in Spain and have taken my visitors and I on unforgettable adventures, to interesting places only reachable by car, the Whiskey Museum and their own wine cave which looks more like a hobbit hole. They have invited me into their lives to experience the Spanish culture more in depth. In all they have really shaped my time here in Spain, and I am very lucky that I did not run out of the office that first day.

As the world begins to thaw and spring weather creeps in I can’t help but get lost in thoughts of my first few weeks in Benavente when the weather was very similar, but Benavente seemed like a different world from the comfortable little city I know now. Benavente was still a large unknown to be discovered. Now it has become a familiar home to me, and soon instead of my hello it will be time for good-byes.

Wine caves in Pobladura about 10 k outside of Benavente. We are standing on top of MJ's cave.