They're Eating Hot Dogs...FOR BREAKFAST?!

One awesome part about teaching in Spain is getting to go on trips for free! Since I teach in a professional formation "ciclo" for students who are studying the transport industry, I was able to go to Rota, Spain to check out the base. The naval base is actually part American and part Spanish but it is the "American" presence in Spain.

The base was super cool and I felt like I was at home for a few hours. We got to see the area where the American families live and there are even schools within the base for American children of the officers. They gave us a tour of the school and my students could not get over how cool the high school was. They were amazed by the gym and the classrooms. And they almost fell over when they saw the lockers. LOCKERS! Of all things! They just kept saying, "I feel like I am in an American movie!" High school musical high school musical!!! El baile de Prom!!! I thought it was so funny how amazed they were by everything. I guess I never really think about how a school like that would seem to someone from another country.

In Rota, the American students keep their same daily schedule so of course they eat lunch at 12 pm. Well, the Spaniards eat at 2-3 pm ish. So one of my students, Samantha, looked at the students eating hot dogs around noon and she became so concerned. She said, "Bridget, what are they doing? Aren't they going to get sick?" And for the longest time I could not figure out what she was talking about. Then she finally said, "They're eating hot dogs...FOR BREAKFAST!" And I just started laughing and said they are eating them for lunch! That's the American eating schedule.

We got to see so many cool places within the base. It was literally like its own American city within Spain. We went and saw the ships, the fire department, the planes and of course, an authentic American pizza place for lunch. Everyone was super nice and it was so funny to speak to people and hear that they were from all over the United States and living at the base for a few years.

When we were at the fire department, all of the girls were drooling over the American firemen. I think that gave them a little bit of an inventive to try harder in English class. Everyone thought it was so cool that I could talk to everyone there and I spoke "so fast" when I was around people from the States. But they loved hearing me speak. I was like "Who me?" I speak English...that's not too impressive.

I also thought it was so interesting that they had American grocery stores in Rota as well as American restaurants. It was great and the students got a kick out of the fact that they would receive American change when they put euros into the vending machines at the fire department. I was more amazed at the fact that there were a few different types of Cheez-Its chilling in there waiting for me to eat them. But to each his own...

Overall it was a great experience and contrary to popular belief, you cannot just enter the base just to go grocery shopping. I was lucky to get the pass through my school and join my class. I also became a lot closer with my students and got to know them better. We spoke Spanish most of the time since it was an outside of school excursion and the tour was in Spanish. They saw that I am also learning another language and I struggle as well. Now, more of them are volunteering their answers in class and speaking to me more than before. They know they shouldn't be embarrassed because we are all learning!