I’ve been in Lugo for a month now. It
already feels like home. I have the beginnings of a family of friends; I get to
work in a school full of vivacious children; my volleyball team is really nice
(they say the newbie bruises on my arms will go away); and I share a cozy
apartment with a magnificent roommate, who even shares her dog with me. For
those who aren’t aware, I’m in Spain working as “cultural ambassador” at a
primary school until June of 2013. The
program is through the Spanish Ministry of Education, and it brings native
English speakers to all parts of the country to assist in public school English
classrooms. I’ve dreamed of teaching
English abroad for years, so this whole experience is my real-life fairy tale.
A little about where I am: I’m living in
the city of Lugo, which is the capitol of the province of Lugo, which is part
of the region of Galicia on the northwestern coast of Spain. It’s only about a 1.5 hour drive to the
coast, but that’s a very long drive if you don’t have a car! I haven’t visited
the coast yet, but I’m really looking forward to it.
Playa de las Catedrales, a nearby beach I'm looking forward to visiting
My little inland city is perfectly hilly
and green. I’m very grateful that I’m in
a smaller city (about 100,000 people) that gives me easy access to my best
friend, Mother Nature, rather than in a megalopolis like Barcelona or
Madrid. After living in various cities
over the past few years, I’ve come to realize that I need to see green foliage and smell fresh air in order to keep my
soul happy.Concrete and skyscrapers stifle me.
Lugo, on the other hand, tricks me into thinking I’m in Ireland
sometimeswith her low, moss-covered stone walls, green rolling hills, and
abundance of Celtic heritage.
Less than five minutes from my
apartment, there are trails that go along the Rato River and into the forests
and fields beyond the city.
When the Romans came along and kicked the
Celts out of this area, they built Lugo’s most famous asset: the wall. Known as “la muralla” (moo-RYE-yah), this nearly 2,000-year-old and 40-foot-high stone wall makes a 2 kilometer circle around the center of the
city. It’s converted from a shield to
unwanted visitors into a UNESCO World Heritage site that locals use as a giant
walking/running track.
View from the wall into the center of the city, including the cathedral
Inside the Roman wall is where I fell in
love with Lugo and her deliciously free tapas.
At just about every bar/café (of which there are easily five or six on
every street), you get a free tapa and pincho with every drink you order. A tapa is a small serving of a prepared dish
from the kitchen, like mushrooms in cream sauce, roasted potatoes with garlic
sauce, prawns, roasted meat, or a seafood salad. A pincho is a piece of bread with a topping
and a toothpick through it. Pinchos can
have cured meats on them, tortilla española (thick potato omelet), cheese, or
sometimes cheese and anchovies (my favorite!).
Lugo is arguably the cheapest city in Spain; a glass of good wine costs
about two euros, and a beer costs €1.50. With a tapa and pincho with each drink, it’s
easy to have a dinner of tapas, pinchos, and drinks for less than five
euros! Going out for tapas is a great
way to start off nights out in Lugo, which usually keep people out until at
least 6:00 a.m. or even mid-morning the next day. But I’ll save those stories for another post
;)
Here are Annia and Elizabeth at one of our favorite places, las Cinco Vigas.
I’ve been trying to keep my all-nighters to
a minimum since I have a grueling work schedule of Wednesday through Friday
from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. I work in a
primary school called Casás with a lovely English/arts and crafts teacher named
Teresa. Normally I help the students
with pronunciation, go through their workbooks with them, and give cultural
presentations (this week I did a PowerPoint about Halloween in America). My students think I speak very little
Spanish, because I always use English with them. I’m sure they’ll be shocked at the end of the
school year when they find out I understand everything they say!
The outside of my school, CEIP de Casás
I also teach an extra-curricular English
class at Casás for a few hours each week, and I give private lessons to a few
pairs of siblings and an adult couple who want to learn English for
traveling. Even with my extra classes, I
still only work about 20-25 hours a week.
I love it! I get to fill my days
with the things I love: long walks in nature, reading books, doing yoga,
cooking, and meeting new friends.
There are about twenty other people in Lugo
working in this program (we’re called auxiliaries), all from the U.S., U.K.,
and Australia. It was easy to flock together
at the beginning since we’d formed a Facebook group before arriving, and
everyone is naturally falling into their groups and branching out. I feel SO lucky to have met my roommate,
Annia (and her husky, Gwen). We get
along perfectly and even have a song.
Give us enough Rioja (preferably Muga), and we might sing it for you.
Though my American friends are AMAZING in
every way, one of my main goals for my time in Spain is to continue improving
my Spanish language skills. Obviously, a
good way to do that is to be friends with Spaniards! My yoga buddy and all-things-Lugo mentor,
Elizabeth, is starting her third year working in this program. She’s introduced me to a lot of her Spanish
friends, and she and I also joined a local volleyball league. I’ve also met lucenses (Lugo-ans) through
other auxiliaries and their roommates, so I have a nice mix of English and
Spanish throughout my day.
My volleyball team, Emevé
You’ve now completed Lugo101, your
introductory course to my time in Spain :) Your homework is to message me, make a Skype date with me, or write
me a letter…keep in touch! I’d love to
hear about what’s going on with my friends and family in other parts of the
world. Until next time…hasta luego!
un beso xo
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