I'm baaaack!

Time flies when you’re having fun. Too flipping right. Just over a week ago I was sat in my kitchen, eating a delicious steak and drinking a delicious wine like it was the norm but now, quicker than you can say ‘paella’, I’m back in Spain (albeit drinking a delicious cup of tea and eating an equally delicious Thorntons chocolate - thanks Mum x). My 2.5 weeks at home were pretty darned fantastic. The highlights included… Cabaret the musical, ice-skating at the Natural History Museum, a mulled-wine fuelled Christmas party, Christmas Day, ice-skating in Bath, Hogmanay in Edinburgh, an incredible surprise trip to London see Les Miserables, winter walks, curries, pubs, friends, family and good old fashioned British fun. To put it plainly, I was spoilt. And it made it all the harder to get on that plane back to Spain.

BUT, now that I’m back, there are plenty of good things to say about it. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve moved to a new flat in the centre of Gijón to be closer to the action and to live with Spaniards (apparently, this language ain’t gonna learn itself) and so far its proven to be a great decision. The flat is in a fantastic location. I can walk out of my front door and be on the beach within 30 seconds. Naturally I plan to make the most of this with a bracing early morning dip in the sea every day. Ahem. I don’t have to catch a bus anywhere which means more freedom and, most importantly, no kerfew. The other night we had a little gathering at Eric’s flat to take advantage of his 11-storey-high view overlooking the sea and it was so relieving and refreshing to not worry about missing the last bus home or rely on someone to lend me a bed or a couch! My room is pretty lovely too (that is, after parting with quite a hefty wad of cash in IKEA). And what’s more, encouraged by the freedom of my own kitchen, I cooked my first ever Spanish tortilla the other day. And no one died as a result. Hoorah.

My first 24 hours back on Spanish soil did nothing to assuage my fears that the ol’ Espanol may have gotten a bit rusty after a few weeks of Anglo immersion. I caught the bus from the airport to the city centre and upon arriving I went to retrieve my luggage from the luggage hold under the bus. My hand luggage had slid to the other side of the bus, resulting in me crawling right into the hold to reach it. The bus driver saw my plight and cheerily remarked “You poor thing! Having to do that” I went to reply, wracking my brains for a generic “It doesn’t matter” style phrase and somehow settled on “Yo tampoco”. Which means “Me neither”. Excellent. And then at school the next day I was approached by a slightly eccentric staff member who insists on bringing  home baked goods into school every day. He wished me a Happy New Year and thrust a foil-wrapped piece of unidentifiable tart into my hand. And what did I say back? “Merci”. Merci?!?! Seirously?!? I haven’t had so much as a lesson of French since I was 12 freakin’ years old!

My mentor, Luz, suffered a pretty nasty fall before Christmas so she’s off school nursing a broken leg at the moment and the main English teacher seems to have disappeared too which means I’ve spent the majority of my week with a new teacher called Natalya, whose English is pretty astounding. She sounds like Mary Poppins. It’s hilarious and wonderful all at the same time. She had no clue who I was or what I was meant to do so I briefly explained that, depending on the teacher and how they want to utilise me, I range from being a walking dictionary, pronunciation guide, conversation assistant, history expert, lesson planner, full blown teacher and everything in between. Which probably didn’t clear things up for her all that much.

I’m excited about this term and being able to make more of life in Spain now that everything is more familiar. I have a few plans up my sleeve - mainly involving cider and making friends, nothing too strenuous. As hard as it was to leave home again, in a roundabout way I was reminded of the things I love out here too and found myself missing certain things about life in Spain (mainly the people, who I’m very glad to be reunited with!) PLUS there is a very distinct and exciting possibly of a visit from a certain person-who-was-in-Canada-but-is-now-back-home-in-Bath. And that's just great.

So, 2013, bring it on. 

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