It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for over a month! I feel like I’m starting to acclimate in some ways, and in other ways I’m still the stupid foreigner who doesn’t know what’s going on! Some days I feel like I’m improving in the language, and other days I feel like I’ll never learn it. Some days I love Spain, and other days it frustrates me to death.
I’ve learned that starting a life in a new country is not any easy thing – it’s full of obstacles that can cause a person to become disheartened. You may be surprised to find out that I frequently experience discrimination because I am a foreigner. However, I wouldn’t trade this experience; not just for the wonderful things about it, but for the hard things, too. I come from a country that is made up of immigrants – immigrants who went through, and continue to go through, the same challenges that I’m facing. This experience is invaluable and I’m growing in ways I never could have otherwise.
Teaching. is. great. I love it. I feel like a fish in water. It’s what I’m supposed to do. The students are a lot of fun and I really enjoy planning classes. I teach adults (ages 18 -30), so they’re my age, which is weird and cool at the same time. The first day of class the students had the opportunity to ask me questions. The questions from the female students were the normal questions one would expect on the first day. The questions from the male students were: “Are you married?”, “Do you have a boyfriend?”, and, “Do you like Spanish men?”. I took these questions as jokes. It’s been interesting (in a good way) getting to know the students over the last month. I feel like I have a real opportunity to be a “light” in a “dark place”. The abuse of alcohol and drugs seems to be ubiquitous, and is considered completely normal. In fact, I wasn’t sure what to do when one of the students started casually rolling a marijuana joint after class one day. It’s not necessarily the daily routine of drug and alcohol abuse that surprises me - it’s more how strange they consider it if this is not one’s daily routine. I think that the students don’t really know what to make of me. I arrive at class each day excited to teach and happy about life. I think that they must think I’m taking something, but I hope that as we get to know each other better, they’ll see that it’s really just the Christ in me that gives me joy and enables me to love others.
Teaching. is. great. I love it. I feel like a fish in water. It’s what I’m supposed to do. The students are a lot of fun and I really enjoy planning classes. I teach adults (ages 18 -30), so they’re my age, which is weird and cool at the same time. The first day of class the students had the opportunity to ask me questions. The questions from the female students were the normal questions one would expect on the first day. The questions from the male students were: “Are you married?”, “Do you have a boyfriend?”, and, “Do you like Spanish men?”. I took these questions as jokes. It’s been interesting (in a good way) getting to know the students over the last month. I feel like I have a real opportunity to be a “light” in a “dark place”. The abuse of alcohol and drugs seems to be ubiquitous, and is considered completely normal. In fact, I wasn’t sure what to do when one of the students started casually rolling a marijuana joint after class one day. It’s not necessarily the daily routine of drug and alcohol abuse that surprises me - it’s more how strange they consider it if this is not one’s daily routine. I think that the students don’t really know what to make of me. I arrive at class each day excited to teach and happy about life. I think that they must think I’m taking something, but I hope that as we get to know each other better, they’ll see that it’s really just the Christ in me that gives me joy and enables me to love others.
1 comment:
that's so wonderful! I'm glad you are enjoying the experience and I hope that you have an opportunity to teach more than Spanish while you are there!
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