Blog 4 - the start of León life

It’s been a week since we arrived and I think it’s safe to say it’s been an eventful week.  I feel like my feet have barely touched the ground; ironic when they actually hurt from being on them most of the week and I crawled to the weekend pretty exhausted.  

First and foremost I love my school.  It’s small and has a lovely feel about it.  I’m teaching almost every age group as there’s generally only one class per year, so I’ve probably met over 100 new faces!  Trying to remember 100+ Spanish names of masked people is proving something of a challenge!  Everyone at the school has been extremely welcoming though and they seem really excited to have me there, especially the children.  I felt pretty good (and then also pretty embarrassed) when I went into the playground on one of my first days and dozens of children started screaming my name.  Luckily my mask covered my blushed face 🙈!!

My involvement in the classes has been varied and I’ve had 2 classes now by myself with year 6 primary, who were as good as gold.  The lovely headteacher popped in a couple of times to make sure they were behaving and I have to say they really were.  I also enjoyed an interesting conversation session with a year 4 secondary class - aged 15/16 (most of whom were away on a school trip) so I just did a conversation session with the 6 students who remained and was impressed with their engagement and efforts to practice their English.  I’ve also done some small conversational group work with several of the younger primary classes as well as some PE lessons, which have been rather entertaining.  

This week most of the students in the younger classes have been dressed in an array of colourful wigs, neon ties and fancy outfits in preparation for the León carnival this weekend.  Schools are closed for this on Monday and Tuesday so I’m looking forward to seeing what this carnival lark is all about.  I was pretty gutted to have missed the procession earlier today but I had to head home for a snooze after our lunch out as I was slightly fragile after last night’s escapades 😅!!  We all had a great night though, I do believe, even though I did loose my warm woolly scarf as I squeezed my way out of a ridiculously packed night club - I should have gone home when Iain and Tracy left.  We live and learn!!  Or at least that’s what I often find myself saying 🤔.  

So, you can see I’m loving it here but my timetable is probably the worst of the group.  It’s knackering and I’m not home before half 5 any day.  I have an awkward 2-3 hour break every day and then another lesson 3.30 / 4 - 5pm.  It’s not really worth going all the way back to the residence so I miss out on the lunch and everyone else (except Moira) seems to be finished by 2.  Lots of things are closed for siesta during my break time too which is strange.  My only other issues are the lack of WIFI at the residence and the seeming sub zero temperatures our apartment seems to randomly plummet to here and there.  Today was a warmer day in the flat, thankfully, as I was here a lot today for some R&R. 

Emile (aka Fran 🤦🏼‍♀️!) abandoned ship back to Italy on Wednesday so we await his return for our lesson observations in a couple of weeks time.   And Hannah and I are contemplating another little social session tomorrow night so hopefully the other Leonites will join us!  I’m thinking cocktails could be an idea 😉!

Despite the exhaustion and coldness, I love this city, especially the stunning cathedral, and the warmth of the locals really makes up for any niggles or teething issues.  Everyone seems really keen to practice their English which is working out well for me as my Spanish isn’t progressing as well as I’d hoped.  However I said Hola to a young waitress today who claimed she’d thought I was Spanish by the way I’d said it… I think she was just being kind but I’ll take the compliment nonetheless 😂!!  The students have been pretty impressed to know that I speak Romanian and in several of my classes they have asked to hear me speak a bit, which I did a little just to see their wide-eyed expressions!  I have even found 2 Romanian students and one of them thought I was Romanian so she was impressed to learn I’m in fact English and had told her parents about me.

It’s very late now and I must get some rest for more lively León adventures tomorrow… Good night everyone!

Lauren x