Becoming part of a community

Today, the school I work at and all the other high schools in El Ejido participated in a peace run to raise money for different charities. There were so many aspects of my day today at this race that really sum up why I believe I am so lucky to have been placed at the school I was placed at for this program.

I got a ride with four other teachers over to the park where the race would take place. We met up with all the other teachers from the school, and they were all making sure the students got registered at the correct tables. There were hundreds of students dressed in jogging clothes and smiling, laughing — all clearly very excited for the race. Because it's Spain and no one is really in a rush to do anything, registration for the race took about an hour and a half. When the teachers realized it was going to take a while, they asked me if I wanted to go with them to get coffee. I said yes, even though I don't drink coffee. That is one piece of advice from orientation that has definitely helped me — always say yes when teachers ask you to go get coffee with them. This is always a great opportunity to practice speaking Spanish and to get to know the teachers.

It was the little things from this coffee outing that made me really appreciate the group of teachers I work with. Throughout this outing, they were all obviously talking ridiculously fast in Spanish with a southern Spanish accent, so I was struggling to keep up with the conversation. Maria, the teacher who I was sitting next to who has continously helped me out these past few weeks, kept turning to me and asking if I understood. I would say I understood parts but not all of it, and she would repeat the main idea of the conversation in Spanish, but slower. Then, after she did this a few times, the other teachers started to catch on that I was struggling to keep up with their conversation. So, they switched topics and started to ask me about myself and what I would be doing this coming weekend. I got the chance to practice my Spanish, and they all began to make an effort to help me understand the conversation. More importantly, they made me feel included in the conversation. It's definitely a lot easier to try to listen, understand and contribute to a conversation in a foreign language when you feel accepted. 

Then, when I didn't order a coffee (because I don't drink coffee), the teachers all said, "Oh you must want something!" They insisted on buying me a drink, and so eventually got me ColaCao, which is basically hot milk with the Spanish version of Nesquik. 

All of the teachers also automatically wanted to help me by using whatever connections they may have. I told them I want to find a place here where I can do indoor rock climbing or play tennis, and a couple teachers started researching places on their phones for me. Another started texting their daughter who lives in Almeria to ask where I could go rock climbing. They all wanted to help, even when I didn't specifically ask for help. I then said I'm going to Jaén for the weekend, and it turned out so are three other teachers, who all offered to drive me. I'm going with a different teacher named Maria (it's a very common name here) who wants to help me with my Spanish for an hour of the drive so I will help her with her English for the other hour of the drive.

After everyone finished eating and drinking their coffee, we all walked back to see the race. Looking around, I noticed my school had the biggest group of teachers cheering on their students out of any of the schools present. Not only did my school have more teachers present, but they were also more clearly a group, a community. We all stood together as one school at the start line cheering on the students when they ran off. When the students started crossing the finish line, the teachers from my school were pretty much the only ones clapping for each and every student of theirs who crossed the finish line. What made my day was seeing the smiles grow across the students' faces as they crossed the line and turned their heads to see their teachers cheering them on. Several of the students came over and hugged their teachers at the end. The teachers at my school very clearly deeply care about their students and play large roles in these kids' lives, and I love how genuinely that comes across. The teachers are all also very close friends with one another, and I love how warmly they have accepted me into their community. I am overly excited to continue to get to know both the teachers I work with and the students I teach over the next few months. 

The above photo is a picture of me with the teachers from my school at the peace run today.