From months of agonising over the fact that my life is going in completely the wrong direction, working day in and out until the late hours in a job going absolutely nowhere (sound familiar, graduates?): I had a welcome e-mail arrive in my inbox.
‘After considering your application for the role of Conversation Assistant in one of our infant/primary/secondary schools in Spain, Home to home has a great pleasure in announcing that you have been accepted on the programme.’
Or, to put it simply, in a month’s time, I will be jetting off to Spain until June 2012 to assist children with their English conversation. I’m incredibly excited that I can ditch the lime green shirt, and discussions with the octogenarians of York about the current socio-economic climate, or indeed the climate of our wonderful home county (‘It doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going/lovely day outside, isn’t it?/my gosh, isn’t it windy, eh?’). I know that I will miss the day-to-day goings on of York, a city I have just started to get to know, and its wonderful sights, such as this – every day, on my walk to work:
I do, however, know that York isn’t going to leave any time soon (unless Vikings conquer it again whilst I’m out the country), and when I return next year, I’ll look forward to attempting to find every street in the City ending in ‘Gate’. It might take me a while, though.
Spanish life and culture is very different to ours, that’s obvious. So I am very much looking forward to exploring it and getting to know families different to my own. I will be staying with a Spanish family, whose children will attend the school I am to be teaching at. I’m already planning my lessons, largely involving the well known classic ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes’, and an introduction to the way we live over here (maybe telling them about benefits, Cameron, and kids quaffing White Lightning at the age of 11 in the park, isn’t the best way to highlight our culture).
This will mainly be a medium to update friends and family about my experience, so no obligation for anybody to read it: however, if aforementioned friends and family get the time, it would be lovely for you to keep in touch through my blog, as I finally get the experience I’ve been waiting for, and actually believe I deserve after this past year.
Speaking Konglish 
Heya, that sounds really great!! I don’t know whether you knew, but I’m out in the Dominican Republic at the moment and I’m here till June 2012 as well. If you need any help with your spanish before you go, it’d probably be good practice for me 😛
Thanks Jasmine! That would be incredibly useful: my Spanish leaves a LOT to be desired. I’m enjoying learning it though and I’m sure once I’m surrounded by it, it will be much easier. How are you getting along in the Dominican Republic? I’m sure you’re having a fab time.
Yeah it’s really exciting! It true, my spanish has improved greatly since moving here though I’m still far from fluent 😛 If you just send me a message sometime and I’ll see what I can do to help 🙂
That’s great!
Please keep it up, as you’ll enjoy looking back over it as much as your readers will.
My WordPress blog includes a feature which enables interested readers (who may not all use FB) to sign up to be notified of new postings. You might consider including this.
I’m not sure I quite understand your last paragraph? Do you mean you link to me on your blog, or something entirely different?
You’ll see my blog is in 2 column format. In the second column is a feature inviting you to sign up to receive notifications that there’s a new posting, by adding your email address. I’ve forgotten now how I got that organised. Can’t have been too difficult if I managed it…..