"Hello, How are you, My name is Teresa."

So a fun little thing that I realized I have yet to mention in my blog is that back in October, at the beginning of classes, I got a nannying job here! My program put me in touch with this woman who lives in the town right next to Granada and who was looking for someone to help her out twice a week with her 4-year-old, 2-year-old, and newborn and teach the older two English. So every Monday and Wednesday night I go to their house in Armilla and play with the kids and  help Maria Jose (the mom) out and teach Teresa (4 years old) and Gonzalo (2 years old) English.

When I first started Teresa was very shy. Maria Jose told her that I didn’t speak or understand Spanish so she had to talk to me in English (Although I think by now she has caught on a little bit…) and I think she was shy to speak English with someone new. But one day, I got in the car with them to head to their house and Teresa looks at me and says “Hello, how are you? My name is Teresa” For me, this was such a priceless moment and it made me smile. I think this was definitely when Teresa got more comfortable with me and started practicing her English more. And when that happened, I was amazed. She has such an incredible vocabulary for a 4 year old. She can count, and knows her colors and things around the house and it’s just amazing to see how much she knows. We do different things together and I teach her different words and how to say things or ask for things and she is such a smart, quick learner. It has been so much fun and so rewarding to work with her especially when she is running around the house or pointing out everything in a book and telling me the words in English.

Another fun fact is that Teresa is essentially a princess. She has so much Disney Princess and Hello Kitty stuff and her favorite color is pink so obviously we are essentially bff’s haha. One of her favorite activities is playing dress up which was evidenced on Halloween. For Halloween which by the way is not really a huge celebration here in Spain, Teresa got a princessy witch costume (it was black and pink). The day after they bought the costume Teresa insisted on showing it to me so I had to help her put it on when we got home and she refused to take it off the whole time I was there. Maria Jose told her she had to put her pajamas on so we did that and then put the costume on right back over her pajamas. I unfortunately wasn’t in Spain for Halloween so I didn’t get to see her which was sad but needless to say that wasn’t the end of the dressing up. In fact, both days this week we had to put on the Ariel costume with all of the accessories and dressed up one of the dolls as well. These are just a few of my favorite memories I’ve had with her this semester but the whole experience has just been so wonderful and I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity. These kids and this family are going to be so hard to leave at the end of December but I can’t wait to see how much further they come and how much more they learn in the next month!