So, I’ve been in Spain for 10 days now. In that time, somehow I’ve managed to conquer language barriers (well, to a degree) and navigate my way through some of the challenging situations that moving to a foreign country inevitably throws up. And here I am: I have somewhere to live – yes, a real Spanish flat in actual Spain – a Spanish job; a Spanish mobile phone; a fridge full of Spanish food which I somehow procured from the supermarket using a combination of common sense and my somewhat limited knowledge of the Spanish vocabulary; and, as I write, a Spanish man is standing on a chair in my flat drilling holes through the wall (don’t worry, we’re paying him to do so – he’s installing a phone line and internet access).
If, 10 days ago, you’d told me all this would have happened by now, I’d have laughed. Or, possibly cried, at the seeming impossibility of the situation and how useless I felt about the fact I could never achieve so much in such a short space of time. They are not things that I would ever recognise as achievements had I done them in England, but in Spain, every time I understand a babbled Spanish sentence from a native who doesn’t think to slow down their speech for the benefit of shell-shocked foreigners, it’s a step in the right direction. To this end, every day so far has been laced with ‘Eureka!’ moments, and it feels good!
Of course, it hasn’t always been plain sailing. When I first arrived in Cuenca I was decidedly unsure about what beheld me. It seemed small. Very small. Being used to relatively large cities like Liverpool and Sheffield, I had my doubts as to whether this so-called ‘city’ of just 60,000 inhabitants could really live up to my idea of a city.
On closer observation, my suspicions about its size were, of course, confirmed. But happily, I found myself not minding; Cuenca, and in particular its picture-postcard ‘casgo antiguo’ (old town) with its dramatic ‘casas colgadas’ (hanging houses), has a certain charm to it which appeals to even the most cynical of visitors straight away. Yes, it’s small... but I prefer to use estate agent speak and say it’s ‘compact’. It has everything you need: shops, bars, restaurants, supermarkets, cinemas, schools, a university, a library, parks, a leisure centre and (reasonably good) transport links to other, larger cities – and all these things are in easy walking distance of one another. Perfect. Okay, so I wouldn’t recommend you come here to go on a shopping spree, but for that, there’s Madrid!
As for the cost of living, Cuenca is cheap. I’m paying 170 euros a month to live in my flat. Where in Britain would you find somewhere to rent for that price? Not even in the dingiest student dive in the country, I fear.
I’ve even made a few friends, of sorts. There’s Natira, my flatmate from Indianapolis who is also doing a British Council assistantship in a local infant and primary school (so far we’ve not really warmed to our other flatmate, an 18-year-old Spanish Shrek lookalike who doesn’t seem to change his clothes, urinates on the toilet seat and apparently has an aversion to showering). There’s Kate, also coincidentally from Indiana, whose 3-year-old son Lucas goes to Natira’s school. Her husband Rodrigo is Spanish and she’s lived in Cuenca for years, so she’s fluent in Spanish. On Thursday, they took us out for a 3-course lunch on them! There’s Marta, the lady who served Natira and me in the bank when we went to open our Spanish accounts – she gushed about how much she loves to speak English but doesn’t get to practise, and asked if one of us would meet with her once a week for English conversation (she said she’d pay, too). Then there’s Elena, the wonderfully eccentric and young at heart Head of the English Department at my school, San José. From the outset, she’s been somewhat a lifeline for me. Even before I arrived in Spain, I had email contact with her, and ever since I’ve been in Cuenca she’s been my first point of contact if something goes wrong!
As time goes on, I hope to meet more lovely people like these and build up some sort of social life. As much as I like Cuenca, it isn’t the liveliest of places, so in order to feel completely at home here I would need to keep myself as busy as possible to avoid the drag of repetitiveness. I have yet to go and sample what Cuenca’s nightlife has to offer, which is a travesty!
In terms of the job, I have had my first day at school. I was only there for an hour, mainly to be shown around the building and introduced to some of the staff (all of whom were very welcoming). I was also given my timetable, which shows that I have Fridays off; plenty of long weekends gallivanting around Spain for me, then! I start properly on Monday. I’ll be observing my classes for the first week or two, to get a feel for their levels of English and what kind of things engage them. After that, who knows what I’ll be doing... I still can’t imagine myself stood in front of a classroom full of teenagers, imparting my wisdom to them! What makes it even weirder is that one of my classes consists of adults in their 20s, so I may actually be ‘teaching’ people older than myself!
Well, that’s all for now folks. There’s sun to be enjoyed!
¡Hasta Luego!
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