My Friends Visiting, Nights Out and Working with Older Students

I wrote this blog post on Friday and forgot to post it, so that's why some of the 'today' and 'tonight'  references apply to Friday, not actually today.

I can’t believe it’s been a week since my friends came to visit. I’m so happy that they came even if the weather made things difficult to do. This week has sped by, even though I have been ill again with another cold. Two colds in a month…my luck is beyond bad. Last weekend was special, and exactly what I needed, but it left me yearning for the Christmas holidays more than ever.

I do have a few words of advice; when three boys home to visit you, if you’re like me, do not go hard on the first day and risk affecting the rest of the weekend. They will not let you simmer or have some down time, you literally have to ‘go hard, or go home’. My excitement to be reunited with them, and have them in Barcelona meant I arrived home at 4am Friday morning, and just over three hours later I was awake for my class at 9. This is not professional and I will not make it a habit. ‘Yes I will have a beer…oh and another…2 more? Sure why not!’ Hangovers and kids are not a good combination! I was fighting back throwing up, or just collapsing from lack of sleep. There were a couple of times I had to gently push the children’s arms away from hugging my stomach due to their little heights. Regardless, I survived my half day, only to run straight home and flop in bed. I achieved a good two hours sleep, which no, was not enough to survive my manic weekend…hence the illness.

In my opinion, the Friday night was a bit of a dud except for the company of course. I didn’t get drunk and my anxiety levels were too high from my lack of sleep, which resulted in me wanting to go home at 2am. It sounds late but in Barcelona that’s early. I got to witness the Barcelona prostitutes trying to sell themselves to who they viewed as potential customers, but boy, they were wrong! They are very direct here, they see no problem with approaching men and physically touching them, but I’m not talking just an arm around the shoulders, I’m talking grabbing down below, where by anyone else, would be seen as sexual harassment. Thankfully after being pushed away a few times, they dispersed and tried their luck with the next victims, but it saddens me that there are so many of them on Las Ramblas and in Barcelona in general. I suppose you just have to show your dominance, firmly say no and push them away. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until an hour or so later that one of the guys that was with us realised he had his phone stolen. It’s that easy for them. This is further emphasising my one hate about living here.

It wasn’t all bad though. Saturday night was a good one. Not only did I get to go to my first club, I seemed to survive the night on two cans of beer and a strong vodka-mixer. The club was a pretty good choice too. It was situated by the beach; the smoking area backs onto the sand, so I can’t wait to go here in the warmer months. Although, the weather (it rained a lot) didn’t stop us taking a few stumbles on the beach, some of which dared to take a few steps further. This club restored my faith in Barcelona, it showed me that I could have a good night without worrying too much, and I didn’t get anything stolen this time. Touch wood for the next! There are so many clubs and bars here. I can’t wait to experience them all!  

Last weekend supported the fact that as much as I can hang around the boys and try to blend in, I still shine out as a girl with my inability to survive three big nights out in a row. The pathetic amount of alcohol I drank could never match up to the straight shots of absinthe or Jaeger the boys were doing. However I’m happy being merry after two beers, it means it’s cheap for me! I'm so happy that they came to visit me, it was nice that even though they said they would, they actually kept to their word. They are good guys and I'm glad I have them in my life. It's just crazy I have only known them since summer, but yet I consider them close friends of mine. It's funny how quickly you can grow fond of people after one drunken night at The Pink Toothbrush (an infamous club in my home town).

Now it’s just two weeks until I go home for Christmas. Being from England, I’m very lucky in the fact I can just fly home, for those who live outside of Europe it’s not quite as simple. This is something that always stays apparent in my mind, because no matter what happens, if I really needed to, I can fly home. After finding out that at Easter I only have a week, it seems this may be the longest I get to go home for from now until the end of my time here. As time off is limited, I want to use the time off in March/April to explore and travel a bit.

I had my college class today. I have a class of college students because in my third family I will live with a college girl. This class makes me the most nervous because they are the closest to my age. I am still four or five years older, but you know. However our conversations went a way that I wasn’t sure if they were appropriate. The restriction for going out and getting into clubs is very different here, I haven’t yet been asked for ID, which makes it easier for underage people to go out. I couldn’t think of anything worse than bumping into a student that I teach when I was in a bar, or a club. Especially when I told them I went to Shoko last week, and they said they go there too! It seems that my nights of getting drunk are over.

I really enjoy classes with the older students because I can have a joke with them, and there is more of a range of topics we can talk about. One activity which really seemed to work was them creating a story. The activity consists of everyone writing a word down on a piece of paper which they keep hidden, then I start a story off and they must continue from each other, making sure to include the word they have written down. At the end, we try to guess the word they used. It’s imaginative and funny, and I think with some of them, it gives me little insight into their personalities. One boy added a part about being sat in a café thinking about how we could all work together to make the world a better place. I thought this was nice. In my opinion it’s really good to be creative with things, even if some struggle, it makes them think and gets them talking. With some students it’s very difficult to get them to say things.

I’ve decided that tonight I’m having a night in. I’m currently sat on the sofa with two of the host children, after spending most of the past hour watching and singing along to English songs on YouTube. I have definitely bonded with them the most the past couple of weeks. My posts are always so long when I leave it more than a week, but I guess it’s good I have stuff to say. I need to take more photos though.

Since I wrote this blog post I went to Tarragona and will write about that, and some Christmas traditions in Spain in my next blog post.

Take care,

Laura May