Menorca Part 1 in Review

Note to friends and family: I know I've neglected my blog lately, but it really wasn't all my fault! I wrote this one my last night in Menorca before Christmas break, but couldn't get internet on my laptop in order to post it. So, consider this my December post, and I'll put up January soon!
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As of right this minute I couldn’t ask for much more. I am currently staying at the LaSalle school in Palma de Mallorca, from where I will catch my flight home tomorrow for Christmas. The LaSalle in Palma is huge, with a sports center, pool, café and residence area home to the 10 or so grandfatherly “hermanos” (Brothers? Clergy? Religious dudes?) who work here. Since I am currently a LaSalle employee, I have the advantage of staying for free in any LaSalle school across the country that has rooms to offer. And let me tell you, it’s an amazing deal. I have a nicely heated room with a large bed, a bathroom, and an office, and I just had a delicious buffet-style dinner with the hermanos. They’re going to call on me tomorrow morning as well for breakfast and show me around the LaSalle campus before taking me to the airport to catch my flight. Can we say…spoiled?

Despite the royal treatment, I’m also happy to have a night to myself in order to reflect on my time so far in Menorca. I’ve been there 2 ½ months now, and can honestly say that it’s been quite the experience so far. It’s definitely been a challenge for me to leave my happy home in New Jersey and venture to this tiny island where I knew absolutely nobody. Not to mention that people love to bring up the fact that it “must be so difficult for a girl from the US to come to this rural little island” that they say is “just so sad and boring in the winter” and then ask me “how do you stand it?” before telling me about someone they knew who moved to Menorca but had to leave because they felt too trapped. These conversations tend to make me sad because they bring to mind the negative aspects about Menorca. Like, for example, the lack of shops. There is really only one well-known women’s clothing store called Mango, a popular European chain that’s just reaching the US now. One day Natasha wanted to buy a new sweater and we were joking that she just HAD to get herself to Mango because of ALL the clothing stores it was by far the best. But really, lack of shops may give us the opportunity to break free of the materialistic values unwillingly thrust upon us by contemporary culture in order to achieve a greater appreciation for the intangible beauty of life. How’s that for digging up a silver lining?

And yes, Menorca may be small, geographically speaking, but once you give in and adopt the island mentality it actually becomes quite large. For example, Mahon and Ciutadella are situated at opposite ends of the island about 40 km apart. Now, that’s about the length of a marathon, so technically speaking, I’ve RUN the distance between the two cities. If you have a car, it takes about 25 minutes, which was roughly my commute to high school every day. However, to us Mahonians, a trip to Ciutadella is quite the journey. It’s important to fill your gas tank, use the restroom, restock the first aid kid and pack a sandwich before you are ready to embark. And once you get to Ciutadella it’s important to keep in mind the cultural differences. From what I understand, people in Ciutadella are weird. They’re more close-minded, more politically conservative and they even have their own word for “bicycle.” I can’t fairly judge them myself, but from their reputation in Mahon it looks like I’ve ended up in the better city.

So this experience has had its challenges and I’ve had to adapt to the island mentality and way of life, but in addition to justifying the negatives I’ve had to focus on the positives. And when all is said and done, it boils down to one truism: a place is just a place, with inherent advantages and disadvantages; however, it’s the people you’re with that make an experience what it is. With that said, my time in Menorca has been truly a blessing.

For one, I’ve been lucky in terms of living situation. We’re 3 in the house now, Natasha, Aimee and I, and we have a really good time together, despite the language barrier. I’m being serious! I never realized how different American and British English are until I lived with English girls. They call eggplant “obajean” and underwear “knickers” and they use adjectives like “gorgeous” to describe tasty food. One day, Natasha and I were in the kitchen and she asked me to “turn the hob on.” The hob? It took a few minutes, but finally I realized that she meant to say “stovetop.” Since I am an English teacher these days I’m always offering to give her free lessons, to which she always replies, “Natalie, it’s called ENGLISH for a reason.”

In addition to Natasha and Aimee, I have a solid friend base. There’s Patri, who’s an English teacher, and loves to ask Natasha and I questions so she can compare British and American English. There’s Juan, Patri’s boyfriend, who moved all the way from Andalusia to be with her because he’s her “media naranja.” (“Soul mate” in Spanish, which oddly enough directly translates to “orange half”). They’ve been together for 7 years, although I think now that Trevor (the other American here teaching English) is on the scene they might have some problems, because he and Juan LOVE each other. Of course us girls just find it so cute that the two of them get along so well. I’ve also stayed close to Eva, who in an unbelievable gesture of friendship prepared an entire Thanksgiving dinner so I wouldn’t miss out. It turned out really well, despite the fact that we couldn’t find cranberry sauce and had to improvise by using cranberry jelly and mustard. Believe it or not, it tasted better than it sounds. We ended up having an awesome time, with the Spaniards enjoying their first Thanksgiving, and me being extremely grateful for such a special day despite being so far away from home.

And then there’s LaSalle, which I’ve already written about. I loved it from the start, but now I love it double. No –triple, with a cherry on top. How can you not love a place that makes you feel like such a rock star? The kids are still so excited to see me every day, and there’s no better feeling. I don’t know when they’re going to realize that I’m really not THAT cool, but I’m going to milk it while it lasts. I met a mother of one of the 1st graders the other day, and she said to me, “Oh, you’re Natalie? I’m so glad to finally meet you. Abril talks about you every day. She told me she thinks you’re really a princess.” With compliments like that, it’s impossible not to feel good. I’ve also become close to the teachers I work with. They’re very diligent about inviting me places so that I can see the island, and I never turn down their offers.

Today was my last day at LaSalle before the Christmas break, and when I was saying goodbye to the students they became distressed. “Natalie, you’re not leaving forever, are you? Are you coming back after Christmas?” I was happy to answer honestly that yes, I will be back in January, and that I can’t wait to see them next year.