Off to a great start. I only had one class today; my time at
school was mostly spent walking around and being introduced to all the
teachers. They were all very friendly and welcoming. What people recognize from
America usually is unrelated to me. They know New York, California, Texas, and
pop culture that permeates the planet. Surprisingly one student was very
interested in the Amish, which is quite close to my hometown. I talked to one teacher
about gun control –or lack thereof— in America.
The professors and students talk a lot of Galician or Galician/Spanish
among each other, so I’m glad I signed up for the Galician class. (Starting
tonight!) I went with a few professors to the café right outside of the school,
which seems like a nice, common occurrence. Another thing to add to the
differences between Galicia and Basque Country—here they automatically bring
free pintxos/tapas with your drink. Guay!
After one day of class I've already set up a weekly English
conversation session. They even live in my building, which is convenient. Then
there’s another teacher who asked me about doing lessons on the side, so I may
not even have to advertise myself. I feel quite lucky to be in demand. Having English
as a first language is handy in that regard: people want to learn English
because it’s common. But on the other hand it can lead us to believe there’s no
reason to learn other languages since “everyone knows English.” Clearly that’s
not how I roll.
My first gallego class also went very well. There's only one other student, so we'll be getting lots of practice. We didn't learn much exactly, but the teacher only speaks in gallego except sometimes translating a word to Spanish. She asked how long I've been in Galicia and was surprised to learn it's only been a week. She said based on my comprehension of when she speaks gallego, she assumed two months. Toma ya!
