It was great meeting the new
auxiliaries for this year. Fresh-faced, young, eager to start a new
adventure. As a veteran, I gladly answered their questions.
Because Lord knows, the people in charge won't. Every year,
auxiliaries receive promises and read grandiose statements in emails, intentions against the fact that our bosses don't have
time to help us. The heads of our program give us their phone numbers
and email addresses, and tell us, “If there's ANYTHING at all we
can help you with, contact us!”
Right.
Within a day I was receiving texts from
newbies, because the organizer wasn't answering her phone. In a
way, they were receiving a good lesson: in life, it's sink or swim.
My first year in Spain, I almost drowned. Emails went unanswered, and
when I tried to call I couldn't deal with the Andalucían speed nor
accent. Bank machines spit out my Canadian card. Clicking on webpage
after webpage led to dead ends and more Spanish gibberish.
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| This year's auxiliaries. |
During my first few weeks back in 2013, I had to
open a bank account and go to a specialist for surgery follow-up. I
was extremely nervous about doing both alone, so my boss said she'd
go with me. Only to be told one day before my appointments that she
had to cancel in order to attend a parent-teacher meeting. I learned
two lessons: 1) things change last-minute in this country, and 2) I
will survive. Without internet on my phone, I ran around like a
chicken with its head cut off, trying to figure out the complicated,
two-bus journey to the tiny town where the specialist was. I made it
to my appointment, the doctor spoke extremely slowly and nicely to
me, and in the end I was issued a clean bill of health.
How are things two years later? I'm
definitely more confident. Thanks to my time in Villacarrillo, my
Spanish is a lot better. In fact, I played Scattergories with Spanish
friends and came in second place! I still balk at calling – I
prefer email or making the trek to talk to the person face to face.
But I push hard to get a response. In a sea of unanswered requests, I
know that I have to be my own life preserver.
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