Regalitos y Su Lei

Well, I haven't had any profound realizations or epiphanies lately but if I only wrote on those occasions I would possibly only write about once a month. The past few weeks some little interesting things have happened though, things that made me think or that suprised me.

The main one is that I have been getting lots of gifts from people lately. I kinda feel bad about it cuz I am not financially in the position to be returning their kindness as I just booked tickets to Ireland (Yes!!), am trying to save for my last 2 months in Spain where I will be without work and of course for a tiny, and I do mean tiny, nest egg to fill the gap for when I get home from Spain and will be looking for work once again.

But lets see, it WAS Christmas and my birthday so thats all good and normal but then the gifts continued. Monday when I went to teach at one of my elementary schools, one of the teachers who I have hardly talked to (because I truly can hardly understand him with him mumbly, raspy voice) had boughten me the Adele cd. Another teacher from my other school gave me a silver ring that is just gorgeous and I now wear everyday but for seamingly no reason at all. One of the ladies that I teach private lessons to, brought me a DVD with recorded movies in Spanish. My boyfriends family is always giving me things to borrow and to keep seemingly every week.

In my 13 months here, I have come to realize that this is a culture of gift giving. People seem to really enjoy bringing each other little gifts. So much so, that the kids in my elementary schools will sometimes ask me if I have a regalito(little present) for them completely out of the blue. And I think "Uh no. Why would I have a present for you?" But over this past year, the kids have given me so many regalitos, most of which I dont want but hey, its the thought that counts, no? Most of the time it's a little old bracelet or a broken Little Mermaid pen or a piece of disgusting candy. But I appreciate the gestures.

One day I had to stop by one of the "chinos"(little stores that have a little bit of everything run by chinese people here in Spain are called chinos) to buy a notebook when out came two of my students. Their parents owned the store and Su Lei, the littlest one, was crying because she had just lost a tooth. This pretty little chinese girl from my first grade class also happened to be one of my favorite students. I had her last year when she was in kindergarten and the kids AND teachers would say things like "she doesn't know anything, she's chinese". Yet she was born in Spain. But she still messed up her Spanish sometimes because her parents spoke little Spanish and she was constantly with her parents at work in their family-run store and they all spoke to each other in Chinese. I could identify with how the people treated her (like she was dumb for not speaking perfect Spanish) and so I kinda had a little place in my heart for her. Plus, she would always get so enthusiastic when I would show up to class and try extra hard to speak English. In fact her accent in English was much better than all the Spanish kids in class. Also, she would stare at me and play with my hair, like having long, blondish hair was just so fascinating to her. Anyhow, that day in the store I said "Su Lei, why are you crying?, Don't cry" and told her parents that I was her and her sister's English teacher. Then after I paid, the mother said "wait, Su Lei wants to give you something." She was taking her time to pick out a bracelet for me from her family's store. She handed me a bracelet and said "para ti" and then asked me what color case I wanted so that I could have a little baggy to store it in. I said "that one that you have in your hand" and she said "for to keep your bracelet in".

This all transpired in Spanish though. It was such a precious little moment for me because here she is Chinese, struggling with the language, and here I am, American, also struggling with the language, I am her English teacher, her family speaks Chinese but the only language that we both knew enough of to communicate with was Spanish. And I also feel like we both recognized (even though she's only 6) that we had a common bond. Niether of us fit in to the normal Spanish society, we both come from different, barely understood cultures, we both talk funny, and people often treat us like we are stupid because of it. That was in November that she gave me the bracelet and I have never taken it off since because for one, I love it!! Its totally my style. And two, because it really means something to me. Anyhow, I am sad to say that Su Lei never came back to school after Christmas break. The other day I finally asked Su Lei's homeroom teacher what happened to her and she said "She left. Her family disappeared without saying a word. I think they went back to China." :( :( My Su Lei. It makes me sad to think about that I didn't get to say goodbye and I have to wonder if everything is okay. I hope nothing bad happened. I also hope that she will always remember me like I will always remember her. I wear this bracelet that will always remind me of her and hopefully when she hears English or sees someone with long, blonde hair, she will think of me.