My First Day of School

I arrived at the school early, but had a bit of difficulty finding the office for the building I needed. The whole site is pretty big, as there is a high school right next to the primary school. I managed to use some garbled Spanish to find my way to the main desk.

The other ‘Conversational Auxiliars’ all seem really nice! Roselle is British, and on an Erasmus year from university, Carmen is from Indiana, and living with her mother who is a Spanish Literature professor, Meg is Australian and learned Spanish while she lived in Chile, and Ricardo from Texas, and is returning for his second year working at the school.

I was the first one there, and the other ELA’s arrived one by one. We were ushered into a meeting room, where Enrique, the headteacher, started giving us a long talk in Spanish. I recognised him as the man I had asked for directions outside. What a great start.

“Nosotros...nosotros....nosotros....” was pretty much about all I could understand of the introductory talk. Later, I found out that he was telling us “not to take too much food at the canteen buffet” and not to speak any English in the canteen as it would "upset the other teachers". Meg asked whether her nose ring was a problem, and if it was she would take it out, to which Enrique replied “well, if you want to look normal, take it out”. What a welcoming start to the new job. According to Ricardo (the auxiliar who has returned for a second year), told us that the work politics here are the toughest part of the job, but I think because I don’t speak Spanish this aspect won’t really affect me.

But on a more serious note, the school expected me to have basic information like a bank account, address, and a NIE number (apparently this is like a special number for foreign workers? First I have heard of it). British Council said that “someone” would help me with all this, but this “someone” is not coming forward, and I feel really stressed about what to do. I don’t know where I’m going to live, or how I will navigate opening a bank account without speaking Spanish. I like to think of myself as really strong and independent, but at the moment I feel almost disabled by the fact that I cannot communicate effectively with anyone, not to mention how completely knackered I am! I don't feel annoyed with British Council; they are an intermediary organisation, they're not babysitters. How am I going to do all this stuff without being able to speak Spanish?