My first official week of teaching in Bakio! My students range from the ages of 5-11 years old and after three days I’m already attached to them. Since the common language in the Basque region is Basque and Spanish is the alternative, I wasn’t sure how much of my students would know English, but to my surprise, they know a lot and make my job very fun. My favorite moment with my students was when the boys found out I used to play soccer and that my favorite team is Manchester United, the following day many of my students showed up either in a Manchester jersey or a soccer jersey, and made sure I knew they all played. I’ve even been asked to play with them at recess…which in the future I probably won’t be able to resist. All the teachers are very sweet and always offer coffee, sweets, and even a ride home to me every day. I was a bit nervous to come to such a small town, but this past week the people here have proved that I made the right choice and I look forward to getting to know my students and colleagues more and more each week.
I decided to join a Spanish class four nights a week to hopefully improve on the language and maybe even become fluent, well somewhat, I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself. While I was in Italy one of my favorite things was all the amazing food and the culture around it…I can say that Spain is the EXACT same way and if it weren’t for all the walking around the cities, I would gain so much weight from eating such delicious food and treats. Not to mention it’s so cheap, so it’s even worse. My favorite so far is the “tortillas de patatas”, which is basically a potato omelet sometimes with onions, ham, or anything you prefer. They are so good and in most places, you can get a piece the size of your face for only one Euro. I’ve had far too many to count this past week, and I don’t intend on stopping anytime soon.
I also learned of a specific drink invented here in the Basque region, a “calimocho”, which is red wine, and hear me out, coke mixed. It sounds so bizarre, and I thought that it was a joke at first, but it's real and it tastes good. The story behind it is two friends didn’t want to throw their wine out because it went bad, so they decided to pour coke in it as an experiment and everyone loved it, the two names of the men were, “cali and mocho”, thus “calimocho. It did not taste amazing though when I nearly missed the last bus to my town and had to sprint through the city within five minutes. I somehow did not miss the bus, and miraculously kept the food and wine down.
My favorite part about the culture here in Spain, and essentially Europe as a whole, is the lifestyle here. Everyone here lives their life and then they work, whereas back home our lives are constantly determined and centered around our careers or figuring out how to get more money. No one here lives that way and the love that everyone has here for such simple things like reading the newspaper in the morning with a cup of coffee or meeting friends for a walk and pintxos is so rejuvenating and makes you appreciate the smaller things in life so much more. Yesterday the hardest decision I had to make was which beach would I be spending the day at…life in Spain is so different but in the best way.
Agur!
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