Welcome welcome! After taking last week off to spend some time with a special guest (check out next week's post for the insider tea!), I'm back with a Day in the Life post. Now that I've entered my last two months on the island, it's about time that I show you all what my days here actually look like. It's not all beaches & cream over here, though I admit, it's much cushier than the false spring my Midwestern compatriots are suffering through at the moment...
Anyways...this is a particularly good time to showcase a typical day in Menorca for me. My personal roster of classes switched in February, the halfway point of my contract; as a result, I've only recently readjusted to my new weekly schedule. For the remainder of my time in the program, I'm working with students in 1ESO (7th graders), 3ESO (freshmen), 4ESO (sophomores), 1Batx (juniors), and 2Batx (seniors). *If the different grade system is confusing, I explained it a little more in depth here! *
In my secondary school, all the ESO English classes are split into two so the teachers work with a smaller roster of students. As a result, my schedule rotates every two weeks so I can do the same activity with both sides of a section. (If you're curious, I'm currently working with 24 sections from 14 classes!) Unsurprisingly, working with such a wide range of ages means my role takes on different aspects depending on which class I'm in. With the younger students, my role is more focused on speaking while I take on more of a lecturer responsibility with the older classes.
Two weeks ago, I channeled my inner influencer and recorded everything I did on a normal Thursday - though the act of observing something changes it, so naturally we had some abnormal events pop up! Shall we read on? See what this little life of mine really entails?
A Day in the Life
7:30 - Good Day Sunshine
Thursdays are a sleep-in day (as opposed to 6:30 a.m.) and since we've yet to spring forward in Daylights Savings, it's plenty light out when my alarm goes off. Over the last few months, I've gotten my daily routine down to a crisp 35 minutes. In that time, I get up, get dressed, make the bed, eat breakfast, and listen to the previous day's Up First from NPR podcast (they're published well into our afternoons here in Menorca).
8:05 - Day Tripper
In an ideal morning, I'm walking out the door at 8:05 to start my daily commute with a steady walk to the bus stations. My apartment is blessedly close to the Mahón station, so I'm typically able to get there and on my bus within 6 or 7 minutes. From there, it's about a twenty minute ride to Alaior. On Thursdays, I'm grabbing the 8:15 bus which is markedly less crowded than the 7:15 one, and I'm typically able to nab a window seat and read as we make the seven-ish mile journey over.
Another stroke of luck? The Alaior Polisportieu bus stop is directly in front of my school; it's a quick walk off the bus and into the Foreign Language Department room inside. Since I'm relying on public transportation, I'm typically arriving 20-30 minutes before my first class of the day, and more often than not, I hang out in our Department room to kill the time. IES Josep Miquel Guà rdia offers two "foreign languages" (English and German) who set up shop in here, though it's generally pretty quiet in the mornings.
8:55 - Tell Me What You See
My first class of the day on Thursdays is 1ESO A, the equivalent of seventh graders. This particular day, my job was to facilitate a speaking activity in which students described various photographs of American celebrations before sharing how they themselves celebrated that holiday. We got lucky last week in that there was an empty classroom available - I normally sit with the kids out in the hall, which can be understandably distracting for them! After chatting about all things birthday/Easter/Halloween/Christmas related, the proverbial bell rang and it was time to flip the script.
9:50 - Paperback Writer
After my hour with the Little Littles, I went downstairs to the other end of the spectrum: 2nd of Bachillerato (Baccalaureate). These are students in their final year of school, typically 17-18 years old, and preparing for university entrance exams at the end of the year. As a rule, day-to-day progress isn't really visible in jobs like this, but man, going from 1ESO to 2Batx really reminds you to trust the system! It's actually rather heartwarming to see how much progress students can make across a couple of years, unprecedented circumstances and all.
This day, I did one-on-one conferences with a handful of students to go over their For & Against essays from the week before. Since my job description specifies that I'm not allowed to grade student materials, these little meetings were more conversational in nature; I simply shared what I found to be the highlights of their essays and offered some tips for areas of improvement. I may not always know why native English speakers instinctively know when to say "amount" over "quantity," but my English minor really comes in handy during essay-based sessions like these!
10:45 - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
It's Patio time! Patà is a little different from the recesses you may remember. Since there is no official lunchtime or cafeterias in schools here, Patà is when students & faculty alike sneak a quick snack in while the kiddos run around outside. There's a small canteen in the courtyard as well, helpful if you forget to bring the typical sandwich or desperately need a coffee and pastry.
My Patios are largely uneventful. I typically hide away in the Department room - it's much, much quieter than the boisterous recess area - and have my own packed snacks while catching up on work or doing the NYT puzzles. The break is ~30 minutes, you don't need me to tell you how the time flies.
11:20 - Come Together
We're back to work after Patio, this time with 3ESO A students (freshmen). Like the 1ESO kids, I typically run speaking activities when I work with this age group, though our discussions are understandably more developed and cohesive. At this point in the school year, we're able to create quasi-seminars, with students interacting both with me and with each other during responses. Our brief this week was about dream travel destinations (yay!) and I loved hearing about each student's ideal vacation in the future. In this class, the head teacher and I split the class into two, so I spoke with the same five students for the entire hour.
12:15 - All Together Now
More of the same for my final hour of work! We literally cross the hallway to 3ESO C to find the next group of students, and I basically repeat the same exercise. It can be slightly comical to see which answers remain constant across different classes and small groups - everybody wants to visit Greece, apparently - and how students identify within their class and their grade respectively. The group I worked with during this hour tends to have a better grasp on vocabulary, so the chalkboard was utilized more as a visual aid than a makeshift dictionary. Again, I cannot emphasize enough the benefits of using an empty classroom instead of chairs in the hallway!
1:10 - When I Get Home
The bell might dismiss me at 1:10 in the afternoon, but I'm truly at the mercy of the public bus system. I am eternally grateful for the affordable transportation for residents (it's practically free for us!) but I can't lie: it is tear-your-hair-out levels of frustrating to wait on a bus that is always 10-15 minutes late. It's like - why don't you just adjust the timetables if you know that the journey from Ferreries to Es Mercadal always takes ten minutes longer than what's recorded?? And then the timetables wouldn't be incorrect?? Thankfully, you can track the buses on this route for a better idea of when your coach in shining armor will be there to whisk you away.
2:00 - It Won't Be Long
When I finally get home, it's a quick and busy break. I eat a meal-prepped lunch (this week was the NYT's Couscous Risotto with Tomatoes & Mozzarella!) and catch up on emails/news super quick before finishing any lingering preparations for my upcoming private lessons. Many auxes work as private English tutors on the island as a way to supplement their stipends. Since we're not automatically given the right to work, this is a great way to A) practice your teaching skills and B) earn some extra spending money! It does require extra time management skills on the tutor's end, as you've got to slot in your students and find the time to prepare materials or lesson plans. This week, I had centered our lesson around irregular past participles and made some flashcards for my student.
3:30 - We Can Work it Out
Flashcards in hand, it's time to put everything to use! I've limited myself to a handful of private lessons to ensure a positive work/life balance. My singular hour on Thursdays is with a sophomore-aged girl in Mahón which is a good fit for both of us! The Language Assistant at my student's school is from the UK, so by working with me, she gets more exposure to a different accent & vocabulary in our speaking-based sessions while I get to continue working with my preferred age group and strengthen my one-on-one instructional abilities. I'm finding this part of my 'career' surprisingly rewarding - one of the best lines I ever heard from a former professor was to remember "the power of radical investment of someone else's growth as a pathway to your own," something I'm consistently reminded of in these sessions.
5:00 - Run for Your Life
After my private lesson ends, it's time to warm up for my Thursday night run! I'm currently training to do the Cork City Half Marathon on June 1st with bestie Aditi. This will be my first half marathon (Aditi’s third) and I have to say, it’s been very rewarding to slowly see my distance increase over the past few months. Since we’re currently 4,000+ miles & 6 hours apart, our training regimens are, how shall we say, not similar…even with me sticking firmly to my Brooks Approved training plan, Aditi is still going to run circles around me in a couple of weeks. Still! I’ve really come to love my 3-4 runs a week, either in Mahon’s port or through the countryside of neighboring villages.Â
Shameless Plug: As a part of my participation in the Cork City Half Marathon, I'm fundraising for Huntington's Disease Association Northern Ireland (HDANI), something very near & dear to my family. If you feel so inclined as to donate or sponsor some of my run, I would be beyond grateful. Running for something bigger than myself has been a tremendous motivation when training gets tough - not only do I want to accomplish this for myself, but I want to move my body and do Super Cool Things for those who no longer can.Â
6:00 - I'm Happy Just to Dance with You
Once I get home from my run and cool down, I normally start getting ready for my Spanish class. We meet twice a week at the local school for adults, one hour on Tuesdays and two hours on Thursdays. This particular Thursday, classes were cancelled, and boy, what luck! It just so happens that Purdue Basketball had their Round of 64 game that day, and with the time change, it fell right during my normal class time. Instead of slyly trying to check the score at school, I was able to watch the game in its entirety while eating dinner (tomato cucumber chickpea salad!) - my housemates are increasingly amused by the sheer passion for my alma mater, but those who have never known Mackey Arena simply won’t understand that brand of community identity. Luckily for everyone under my roof, the Boilermakers advanced (don't talk to me about Houston, I'm still processing)
8:30 - Roll Over, Beethoven
Full of post-win endorphins, we return to regularly scheduled programming: Jam Session! In the fall, it became a staple within my friend group to spend our Thursday nights at Bandidu - an edgy Bohemian hangout with a serious graffiti habit on the port - during the popular open mic style jam nights. From 8:00pm - 11:00pm, anyone & everyone are welcome to take over the makeshift stage at the counter-culture core bar-restaurant. When they closed for the winter in late December, we mourned the loss of the reggaeton "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Dreams" renditions we'd come to recognizie. Luckily, they reopened for the summer season the very day I had decided to record my Day in the Life!
If you remember from posts past, I don't work on Fridays, so our Bandidu Jam Sessions represent the beginning of my weekends. It's a great way to spend some time with friends and experience live, local music after the work week, and I'm very excited to rotate this activity back into the lineup.
11:00 - A Hard Day's Night
I may be able to sleep in on Fridays, but teaching is genuinely one of the most exhausting professions; I almost always head home early from Jam Sessions, just so I can go to sleep earlier. Fortunately, Menorca is known for its relative safety and I typically feel very safe walking to and from the port late at night. I'm also very privileged to be renting a room with a private bathroom, meaning I can immediately shower and get ready for bed once I get home! My nighttime routine is notoriously detailed, and it typically takes me about an hour from start to finish: I have to wash my face, brush teeth, journal, read, etc. It takes time to habit stack ;)
12:00 - Golden Slumbers
As the clock turns over, it's finally lights out and away we go! The sun will inevitably get up before I do - Menorca boasts the earliest sunrises in Spain - but my windows are equipped with the infamous Perisana blinds that shutter almost all light out. It's not quite a Cold Air dorm, but it's close enough. Sweet Dreams to Me!
And thus concludes this Magical Mystery Tour! I've always conceded that NALCAP is a pretty sweet set-up, especially for recent grads, but perhaps this has convinced you that this lifestyle of ours does contain some substance ;) Truly, though, I would consider this to be a pretty accurate Day-in-the-Life for a Balearic Auxiliar, accounting for the variations in school type and season, of course.
I'm determined to soak up the remaining days of sunshine here - the countdown clock is increasingly louder, much to our general chagrin. There are still plenty of adventures to be had, though! Next week, I'll jump into the shenanigans my most recent visitor & I got into, a full week of troublemaking with everyone's favorite guest star. After that, we'll have Semana Santa to break down, and then the triumphant ending in May before I face a daunting 13.1 miles in Ireland in the shadow of a long haul flight back to the States. Time is precious, but things are still happy flowers here 😊
¡Hasta luego!