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Tahlei As I sit here badly hungover and trying to prepare mentally to back up tonight for our
despedida, I know I should really be doing something constructive, like packing, but instead I want to share some of
my reflections on our time in Madrid.
The first thing that comes to mind when I start to think about all the things that I´m going to miss, and there are many, is my kids. My very first class back in September 2008 was a group of eight year old boys, and it was one of the longest hours of my life. Luckily I lost that job after a week when they discovered I was
sin papeles, and since then I haven´t had any more groups of children. Rather, I´ve been lucky enough to do one-on-one, after school classes with some of the cutest little Spaniards one could hope to meet.
It´s been such a pleasure to get to know them all, with their different personalities. There´s the studious kids, the bossy ones, the really smart ones, and the curious ones. Though I suspect little Anita purposefully fired questions at me in an attempt to distract me and waste time, but then again maybe I´m giving too much credit to a seven year old!
Of course there´s not just the kids, I´ll also miss my grown-ups! I have been so lucky this year to truly enjoy all of my classes and get along well with all of my students. It makes the job so much easier - sometimes so easy that I almost feel guilty getting paid for it. Almost!
Kyle wouldn´t know because he doesn´t often do the shopping, but one thing I will certainly miss is the
mercado, in spite of the pushy old Spanish ladies and queuing for half an hour for a few slices of bacon. A supermarket certainly has its benefits but there´s something nice about being able to chose your produce from many different stalls and interacting with the stallholders. It´s also great for vocabulary, even when I say embarrassing things like asking for three red
manzanares instead of
manzanas or forgetting the word for broccoli and asking for the little tree, when broccoli is
brócoli.
And let´s not forget about
amigos. On one hand it takes time to make new friends, but on the other hand ex-pats are so open to meeting new people, which makes it much easier. Before you know it you´re very good friends with some very lovely people, and saying goodbye will be hard. I also managed, eventually, to find a few Spanish friends, though that´s a harder nut to crack. I have to especially thank those friends for helping me so much with my Spanish. Without them I wouldn´t have been able to improve so much.
I´m feeling much better now and almost ready to hit the town again! Tonight Spain plays Paraguay for a place in the semi-finals, Kyle Minogue is in town for
Orgullo 2010 and we of course are having our leaving bash. It should be a good night!
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SEE YOU!!! HASTA PRONTO!!!
I dont´t know how to start this email, because I try to think in funny things but I can,t avoid feel sadly about your "despedida". Yours classes, both of yours, had been interesting and especially funniest. My prefer Tahlei´s mispronuntiation was when She tried to ask "2 porras", but said "2 porros", jajajaj, was very funny. I know that my english accent is horrible, but I´m not so funny like Tahlei. Finally I would like to thank you for your pacient and for teach me english and for share your custom and knowledge with us. I hope to see you back. Lucky for the future. PD. Kyle, I,m sorry to tell you this, but we cant choose the teather, was a coincidence. And one thing more, in Spain women study more than men. jajaja xox Have a good trip!!