All Things Foreign
Teaching English in Spain
It has currently been one month of teaching English in Spain and it something that I wasn’t even close to imagining. I am placed in a small town a little more than an hour away from Madrid. There is no train station, only a bus station that ruins every once in a while. I always cross my fingers when I wait, hoping it will come. The area is known for grapes and olive oil. Tractors slow the town’s traffic as it is harvesting season for grapes. The closest thing to Amazon are the town’s local bread shops delivering fresh bread to everyone’s door step. They pull up to the door, honk the horn, drop the bread and then speed off to their next delivery.
With with my butchered Spanish and American customs, I am easy to spot. When kids see me walking down the street they always stop what they are doing to give me their best “hello, hello” in English. Once when I was walking down the main streets that leads to the town’s plaza a teacher from my school spotted me as she was getting her hair done. Through the reflection of the windows she points at me in the street, the hair dresser immediately stops what she is doing and cranks her head to look at me through the window. I didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing but I definitely can say people know I am new.
When you tell people that you are moving abroad their face immediately lights up and their eyes get big, as ooohhhs and aaahhhs leave their mouth. The mere ambiance of traveling has always interested people. I knew teaching English in Spain would be a challenge for me, but it has been a challenge in many ways that I didn’t expect. I have felt many emotions since my arrival in Spain. Excitement, panic, surprise, loneliness. For awhile at the beginning I truly didn’t know if I could last the 8 months and I am still trying to find my way. It is a constant battle of always being foreign, never truly knowing what is going on, what is being said or what is expected of you. Always trying to be two steps ahead when you don’t even know what step you just took. One of the things that I have learned is to embrace the foreign.
Embracing the foreign is about not hiding under a rock and trying to blend in, but to take the steps to learn from what is around you, learn to be uncomfortable. Because at the end of the day you are a foreigner, not everything will be what you think, you will stand out and you will make mistakes. But if you embrace being a foreign your perspective changes, you are not constantly worried about making mistakes and sticking out, but you take each challenge and make the most of it. I think this idea is needed when traveling. To not be scared of something going wrong and making a fool at yourself, but laughing it off, embracing it and making the most of your experience. So in this challenging experience I am going to embrace the foreign and see where it takes me.
