La profesora, Maria

claseIn high school it was a running joke that none of our Spanish teachers were actually of Latin decent. Coming to Spain I was expecting our professors to be Spanish and was therefore surprised to find out that my Spanish teacher, Maria, was actually from Argentina.

During orientation we found out that she was 39, which surprised us because she honestly doesn’t look much older than we do. She’s a petite brunette with a light caramel complexion and wavy hair. She’s really pretty, but not in a in-your-face gorgeous sort of way.

She approached me after class one day the first week of school. Loosely translated, she didn’t think I should be in her class and told me that I could take the placement test “if I wanted.” I answered simply and in Spanish, “no, I don’t want.” She told me she didn’t understand, at which point I proceeded to explain to her that I didn’t WANT to be placed out of her class.

I may go into the story in a later entry, but for now all that is important is that I placed out of her class, but decided, against the schools wishes, to remain in the class anyway. When faced with the predicament of which class to take, I asked Maria what she thought…despite her own personal biases she told me that she couldn’t make the decision for me.

Even though she didn’t necessarily agree with my decision to stay, she didn’t treat me any differently, which adds significantly to the amount of respect I have for her. From day one she made it quite clear that her class would be conducted solely in Spanish. It’s funny when there are things that it’d even be easier for her to explain in English…she tends to use a lot of gestures. It’s funny to watch, but also incredibly effective. Considering there are people who, day one of class, didn’t know much more than the words necessary to order a meal at the Taco Bell back home, it is amazing that she teaches in a way such that everyone understands, despite the language barrier.

She says she only knows some English, but I have a feeling she’s actually fluent. After a quick google-search, it appears that she is an NYU PhD candidate…I’m going to have to ask her about this tomorrow…let’s hope I can do so in Spanish (though apparently she’ll understand me just fine if I don’t)!

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