Teaching English In Spain: Auxiliares de Conversación February Update

Hola! If you are new to my blog, bienvenido! You’ve stumbled upon my monthly Auxiliares de Conversación update, where I share all about my experiences teaching English and living in Spain. If you are interested in teaching abroad, are curious about life as an auxiliar, or simply enjoy keeping up with my Miss Adventures, then you are in the right place!

This February, I’m talking all about why I love my coworkers, the Dia de Andalucia, and my travels to Ronda and Rome!

February

If January felt like the longest month ever, then February was the exact opposite-it seemed to fly by! While February is a few days shorter than every other month, there were certainly other factors at work which seemed to fling this month into hyper-drive. For starters, I only spent 1 weekend at home in Seville!

Instead, I wound up spending two weekends in nearby El Puerto de Santa Maria, took a day trip to Ronda, and spent a weekend back in Rome! Additionally, we had a random day off for the “Dia de Andalucia”. Unfortunately, it happened to be a Wednesday, so I couldn’t head off on any long distance adventures. But a day off is a day off, and I certainly am not complaining! Plus this day was a ton of fun-keep reading to see why!

Teaching Update

In my previous Auxiliares de Conversación updates, I’ve written quite a bit about what happens on a day to day basis in my school. As things haven’t really changed on that front, this month I’d like to focus on one of the things I love most about my school-my awesome coworkers!

Why I Love My Coworkers

I won’t lie-sometimes the long commute I have each day wears me out and has me wishing I was placed in a school much closer to Sevilla. While I might not have gotten very lucky with my placement location-wise, I will say that I totally lucked out when it comes to my coworkers! Over the past few months, I have gotten closer and closer to those who I work with-so much so that I’m even questioning my decision to apply for a different school next year!

Every day, I show up to work and am greeted by a group of truly friendly and welcoming teachers. I will admit that it is much easier for me to communicate with the teachers who speak English. My Spanish isn’t the greatest, and I’m a bit nervous to practice at school (I prefer practicing outside of work). That being said, even the teachers who speak less English always say hello and smile at me when we pass each other in the hallways. I only wish I could better communicate with them!

I love that all of my coworkers have positive attitudes! Teaching can often be an exhausting job-and I only teach 12 hours a week (plus my second job teaching at a language academy)! Even if my coworkers and I are tired, there are plenty of smiles to go around, and rough days are always made better when you are interacting with great people.

Another cool thing about my school is that every Tuesday a group of teachers always goes to lunch together. While it is impossible for me to go every week (I typically try to squeeze in some blogging before my academy teaching job), I always enjoy these lunches and love having the opportunity to spend some time with everyone outside of school.

I directly work with 5 teachers, who I have gotten to know quite well over the past few months! After all, we see each other every day. I’ve even hung out with several of these teachers outside of school, slept over at a co-workers house after a long school day, and met up with a few teachers in Sevilla. This month, my bilingual coordinator was even kind enough to drive me down with her to El Puerto de Santa Maria, and her mother even prepared lunch for us-twice!

Now that I have made friends with my coworkers, I sometimes wish I spent more time in Lebrija so we could hang out more. When I first made the decision to live in Sevilla and commute each day, I didn’t know if my coworkers would be friendly, and since I don’t speak much Spanish I was nervous to move to a smaller town. While I was originally closed off to the idea of living anywhere but Sevilla, I can definitely see some benefits to living in the town you work, especially if you are fortunate enough to work with a great group of people, like I am!

If you are planning on applying to be an auxiliar de conversación and were hoping for a city but end up getting placed in a pueblo, I would highly recommend at least considering all of the benefits that come with living in the town you are placed in.

Dia de Andalucia

One of the fun parts of living in a foreign country is getting to observe and participate in a different culture’s festivals and holidays. In Andalucia, the region I live in, one such bank holiday is the “Dia de Andalucia.” This holiday falls each year on February 28th, the day in which Andalucia officially became one of Spain’s autonomous communities.

The day before the holiday, we celebrated the Dia de Andalucia at school with a traditional desayuno andaluz, or Andalucian breakfast. A group of parents prepared slices of toast with olive oil and sugar and hot chocolate beverages for all of the kids and teachers. Additionally, the green and white Andalucian flag was raised, students were sporting face paint, the recess period was extra long, and there was even a teacher-versus student football match!

It was certainly a fun and exciting day at school, and I appreciated having the following day off of school to relax!

Renewal Update-Registrada

Last month I applied to teach English again with the auxiliar de conversación program. While I am still not 100% sure if I will teach English again (you can read about the factors playing into my decision here), I am happy to report that I received an email on February 16th which stated that my application is registrada, or registered.

Now I just have to be accepted again and await a placement! Wish me luck!

Travel

We didn’t have any extra long weekends in February, and I surprisingly didn’t end up traveling to any places I hadn’t been before! Many of the closer destinations I am hoping to visit involve beaches, so I am saving them for the summer months.

Ronda 

One of my favorite cities to visit for a day in the south of Spain is Ronda. I visited just over a year ago and completely fell in love. This pueblo blanco (white village) is incredibly charming and is known for its’ white houses and dramatic setting, as the city straddles both cliffs and a gorge. It seriously looks like something out of Game of Thrones! I wrote all about my first visit to Ronda and the best things to do in town here. If you happen to be in Andalucia, then I highly recommend adding this village to your Spain itinerary-after all, I loved it so much that I’ve now been twice, and even Ernst Hemingway had this to say about Ronda:

“Ronda is the place where to go, if you are planning to travel to Spain for a honeymoon or for being with a girlfriend. The whole city and its surroundings are a romantic set. … Nice promenades, good wine, excellent food, nothing to do…”

Have I convinced you to go yet?

Rome

The other destination I was lucky enough to return to in February was…Italy! After living and working in Italy, I was certainly missing my home away from home…and all of the pasta, pizza, and vino there!

I kicked the weekend off with a day trip to Tivoli, and spent the rest of the weekend celebrating the opening of The RomeHello hostel with a group of fellow bloggers! We partied, explored the city, went on a street art tour, and ate ALL THE FOOD. It really was “What Dreams Are Made Of”…sorry, I couldn’t resist the Lizzie McGuire Movie reference!

You can read all about my stay and the weekend here, plus find out how to save 10% on a stay at The RomeHello if you are planning a trip to Rome soon!

 

Budget

If you’re curious about how much I make and spend teaching English in Spain, click here for a monthly breakdown of my finances!

 

---