International Teaching on Pause

Being on a swing has always been my happy place

          It is April 19, 2020 and I'm sitting across the table from my grandmother as I'm writing this article. I'm blasting good feeling music in my ears from my phone through my earphones as I try my best to tune out the news update of the Coronavirus pandemic that my grandmother feels as though we must stay up-to-date on. This method of therapy is working somewhat well. I have finally reached the stage of helplessness even though I am now back in the States (U.S.A) with my family and with a roof still over our heads. If you're thinking what I think you're thinking about then yes to your question; I am no longer living in Spain. I returned back to the United States a month ago on March 27th, but arrived in Maryland on March 28th. In this article, I will discuss how the decision process took place when I decided to leave Spain three months earlier than expected and how my two days of traveling went.

         From the last article, A Birthday Celebration in Spain, I mentioned how the week of my birthday celebrations was also the last week I would work at the school I was interning at and the last times I would get to spend with all the people I've gotten to know before the president of Spain, Pedro Sanchez announced the State of Emergency for Spain. After the announcement, all the schools and non-essential businesses were closed for two-weeks. The jobs that the government of Spain considers essential is very limited compared to the jobs the government of the United States considers essential. The jobs that were allowed to remain open in Spain, were jobs that could telework from home; hospitals and medical centers; and hotels holding patients who were tested positive with the coronavirus and couldn't stay at a hospital.

         I gained the news about the school closing from my host family since they received an email from the school. When the president spoke about Spain declaring a state of emergency on the news, my host family had translated it for me in English. For a week and a half, I stayed in the house with my host family while we waited to learn more news about the pandemic and before I would learned where I would be living at until my mentor/ tutor found me another host family.

          On March 17, I received a text message from my mentor letting me know that my time with my host family had came to an end. Since she wasn't able to find me a new host family before the deadline, she talked with one of the teachers I assisted in the classrooms with during my time working at the school and she agreed to let me stay with them until another host family was found for me. I was excited when I learned who the teacher was because it was someone I really consider as a friend and I would finally be able to hang out with another female. It was cool hanging out with the Harrys, but it's nice to have "girl talks" sometimes. Deep down, I knew my mentor wasn't going to be able to find me a new host family with this pandemic taking place, but I didn't worry about that during that time. While living with the teacher; we baked pizzas, baked a brownie cake for Father's Day, watched movies with her dog, had a cook out, working out in the living room, and made an exercise video for the preschool students. And of course we had "girl talks." It was like an endless sleepover that I didn't want to end but you know the saying, "all good things have to come to an end."

A barbecue cook out with the teacher Judit and her dad 

Celebrating Father's Day March 19, 2020

Baking homemade pizzas

Baking a homemade Pizza and open styled Stromboli's

Movie nights with the teacher Judit and her dog Tula

Me and Tula getting to know each other when I first moved in

By March 23rd, my mentor/ tutor emailed me to say,
 "...As your tutor and on behalf of the school, we are worried about you since your family live in the States and maybe the borders will be closed in the near future.

We are sorry to say that maybe the best option for you now would be coming back home as soon as possible before the flights are cancelled. don't you think so?..."

          After reading the email, it became real for me that possibly the shut down in Spain was going to last longer than expected and my internship will be coming to an end, but I remained hopeful while worrying of the possible fact that I would have to travel through the madness. I personally felt as though I was safer in Spain during their lockdown than coming to the U.S.A's version of their lockdown. I still feel the same way to this day.

         I eventually responded back to my mentor and told her my concerns about traveling in the midst of two countries on lockdown and possibly catching the virus myself to end up bringing it to my family. She sounded very understanding when we finished our conversation that day, but the next day, the tone I received from her messages said differently. Somehow, she thought through my concerning questions, I had decided to buy a flight back to the States. For the next two days, it felt as though I was being pushed to go back to the U.S. by both my mentor and the teacher.

          By the evening of March 25th, I had a flight from Barcelona, Spain to Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. booked after three failed previously attempted. By then it was around 8 or 9am in Maryland and I told my parents, grandmother, and boyfriend that I will be back in Maryland on the following Saturday.

Repacking all my stuff so it can fit in my suitcases. Why is repacking always the hardest?

         Friday, March 27th, was the day of my first two flights before arriving in the States. I'm going to start off by saying that the day was crazy from the start. I woke up around 5am to get dressed and ate some breakfast. After eating half a bowl of cereal, the teacher and I left to head to the metro station. With the shutdown taking place, this was the only way I could get to the airport. The police had blocked the streets within the communities because people were only allowed to travel the roads if they were going to their essential jobs or going to the grocery stores. It was a ten minute drive to the metro station from her house so luckily there wasn't any police in the area at five o'clock in the morning. We then put on gloves before entry. After the teacher paid for my ticket to enter the gates and I made it to the other side; we waved goodbye to each other and she left to go back home.

          I struggled to hold my two heavily packed suitcases together with my bookbag in one place as I sat for two hours on the train heading to the airport. Once I arrived to the station leading me to the airport, I spent almost an whole hour walking up and down the station trying to figure out where I was suppose to go in order to get inside the airport. I asked three or four people working at the station who spoke English and they all guided me to different locations. I even turned on my international mobile data on my phone so I could contact the teacher. Imagine a 5'4 height girl, weighing 150 pounds, walking up and down a ,metro station, carrying 200 or more pounds weighed luggage while cussing under her breath the whole time. That was my ass. As the time for checking in at the airline table was getting closer, I remained lost. But for the grace of God, a random guy who was walking pass me saw that I was lost and told me where to go to get inside the airport and he spoke English.

The Metro Station I passed countless times while looking for the airport entry

          With thirty minutes left before check-in; I was able to buy a ticket to enter the gates that lead to an elevator. The elevator lead me to another train that took me inside the airport and I walked up to the AirFrance check-in table with less than fifteen minutes to spare. The teacher even helped me with those that as well over the phone.

          I thought I was done running around like a lost child, but I was very mistaken when the AirFrance workers told me that I had to pay for my second suitcase. The place I had to go was located at a different table on the same floor. Once I finally paid for the second suitcase and arrived back to the check-in table, the ladies that I talked to were gone, but luckily another worker who had overheard what was taking place with my luggage was able to help me and guide me to the next place I had to go. After going through security and getting my passport stamped and checked twice, I was finally on the plane before take off. Thank God! My ass almost missed the flight.

          Two hours and thirty minutes later, the plane landed in Paris, France. I stayed in the airport for literally thirty minutes before getting on the next flight to New York, U.S.A. Everyone on this flight were Americans citizens or legal citizens returning back home since the United States of America's president, Donald Trump, closed the boarders for non-Americans three weeks prior. We were all asked to show our passports, the reason why we were in the country we were at, how long did we stay in that country, and whether or not we brought anything from that country with us. The flight from Paris, France to NewYork, U.S.A was seven hours long. We arrived around five o' clock in the afternoon. Before we could get off the plane, we had to file out a form about the countries we were in before arriving to New York and got our temperatures taken. We got our passports checked like three times, questioned about our travels, and had to get our luggage. Since my last flight to Maryland was the very next day, I stayed the night at a nearby hotel. I was so done with the day, but I was grateful that I finally arrived back to the States in one piece because so many factors could have changed that.

One of the play areas at the airport in Paris, France

         When I woke up the next morning, I quickly got dressed and ate breakfast then ate my leftover dinner for lunch before I sat in the lobby waiting for the van to take me back to the airport. Five or six hours later, I was back in Maryland with my family where I had to immediately self-quarantine alone in my room.

Getting Ready to leave the hotel in New York, U.S.A

A man was nice enough to give me a pair of gloves and a mask before getting on my flight to Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A

          As you can tell from this article, I faced a lot of challenges and went through a lot of emotions when it came to making my decision to come back to the United States. I also faced some challenges when it came to my first flight and had to pay for additional things within my travels even though it went smoother than most people who are still trying to come back to their native countries during this pandemic. All three airports were very empty looking. New York had the most people because the JFK airport is one of the few spots returning American citizens land at when returning back from being overseas before having to get on another flight to get to a certain state in the U.S. I got questioned a lot at all the airports especially the one in New York then the amount I usually deal with when I'm about to get on a flight. When I was going through security before getting on my final flight, I was asked my age and the lady stilled asked for my I.D because she didn't believe that I was twenty six years old. I found that hilarious and this was the first time that happened at the airport. At the end, I am happy to be back home with my friends and family. I am also grateful that both my mentor and teacher pushed me to go back while there were flights available because I am stubborn and I would have waited longer before booking a flight back.