Dia del Mestre

Today was an exciting day at school, el dia del mestre, or Spain’s version of a teacher appreciation day. The schedule was normal. The teachers went to the classes and the students didn’t pay them any attention. However, we did have a big feast in the middle of the day. I usually go home during the lunch break (12:30-3:00pm) but today I stayed to feast with the other teachers. For the teacher appreciation day, the director hired a catering service to cook us lunch. We sat at a long table and had a usual Spanish feast. The tapas/appetizers that they brought out were very good. There was the Spanish tortilla, bread, ham and cheese, watermelon, nuts, olives, anchovies, shrimp, and octopus (I didn’t eat the anchovies or the octopus). Of course, there was also lots of wine and beer. The main dish was a spinach and fish plate. As much as I would have rather of had another dish, I buckled down and ate the fish, and it wasn’t bad. For dessert, I had a pudding. The caterers also brought us a semi-frozen alcoholic beverage that was supposed to help the food go down. It was very strong. Lastly, I had a café con leche.

Normally, I would assume that at a teacher appreciation luncheon the teacher’s wouldn’t have to pay for it, but we each paid 10 Euros to eat. We did, however, get gifts. The director gifted each of us with very comfortable winter socks.

Also, at the dinner, we were given our amics invisibles, or invisible friends, in preparation for Christmas. This is similar to the Secret Santas that we have in the U.S. except there is a little twist to it. Each teacher was told to choose a celebrity to be; I chose Beyoncé. Little slips were placed into a box that contained our name and our celebrity name. Each teacher had to pick a slip, and the person that they chose is their amic invisible. So for the next 4 weeks of school, the teacher has to put little tricky gifts inside their invisible friend’s mailbox to leave the other person curious. At the end of the four weeks, all of the teachers bring a real gift (of about 15 Euros) for their invisible friend and share who they had. It sounds a little more complicated to me but I will go along with it.

The person that I picked from the box just so happened to be a teacher who is now on maternity leave, So I think that I have it easier than a lot of the other teachers do.