Tuesday 24th April 2018

The second week in Valencia has started well.  At the weekend almost the entire Valencia contingent met in a cookery school to be taught how to make paella – which we then ate. It was excellent in every way. The food was good; the chef was fun; meeting our colleagues was like a family reunion – the type that doesn´t end in arguments, recriminations and tears. It is amazing how close we feel to one another after just those few days in Chester.

On Sunday we went into Valencia again, firstly to attend a festival promoting the use of the Valencian language, involving all – or at least most – of the schools in the area (a huge event, it seemed to us, although I was assured by a teacher that it was much smaller than last year), followed by a visit the Science Museum. The architecture of that area of the park in stunning. We are also planning to visit the zoo and aquarium – which I have been told is the biggest in Europe.

This morning I, along with most of the children in the school, attended an event based around a ‘play bus’, which again was promoting the use of the local language. This took up most of the morning, and I learned a few traditional Valencian games, and made a rather poor show of playing hop-scotch.

As far as my school is concerned, I would only extend what I felt before; it is a great place and I feel very warm towards it. Although having NO Spanish does limit my communication with many staff, I have met no-one who is not friendly. The children now recognize me in the street – and seem pleased to see me. The staff with whom I work directly are amazingly helpful and happy to translate for me, and my mentor simply could not be better – she has even suggested that she thinks I could be quite good. She got very excited when she discovered that I had smelly stickers (apple, before you ask).

It’s so nice to look forward to going in to school each day.

Nigel