While I was teaching at the Foundation, Iris introduced me to two lovely women who wanted English classes for their children, and so Daniel, Helena and Paula joined the list of students and young people who, over the years still hold a special place in my heart. 
The list have increased over the years, students who have become friends, young people who have called me to help them with their English and who have subsequently laid a claim to my heart. We´ve studied together, laughed together and even cried together... (Eva and her young son, Iván).  
I guess I owe my success as a teacher to the love and friendship I´ve built with my students and their families. We´ve succeeded because my heart is in my teaching and I consider my students´ good grades as a personal achievement, a trophy.
Simply put, I love my students and I love teaching. 
Two years later, by a stroke of luck and armed with a recommendation from Andy, an Association affliated with the Oficial School of Languages invited me to teach conversation classes to upper intermediate and advanced students during its summer courses, it was another milestone for me and I was over the moon. Things seemed to be getting better but I also knew it meant more hard work, so that I don´t let the people who believed in me down.
Yeah, sometimes, I´m that responsible... come on, I have my moments, just like the rest of us... I guess.
I met some beautiful people and I had my first "troublesome" student. Monica was a woman in her early 50s... and she was trouble. Big trouble! She wouldn´t participate in most of the activities, she had a hard time connecting with the rest of the group. In our "Getting to know you" class, she just had this really annoying smile on her face the whole time, like she knew something I didn´t, and hardly spoke at all. After the first week and several failed attempts to get her to open up and be active in class, I decided to ignore her the best I could... well, to tell the truth, I remembered the word, "empathy", and I concluded it may not be so rosy being fifty something, I mean with menopause and all...
I chanelled my energy to giving the 2 groups asigned to me the best I could, and at the end of the course, recommendations and accolades were pouring in. And yes, you´re right, Monica helped keep my feet on the ground with her criticisms, and she was surprised I took it so well. She had no idea!

Between Andy,  María and Paz, I finally made up my mind to go back to the university..., something that was one of my priorities when I moved here, but made to look almost impossible by the language barrier and the exhorbitant prices and tuition of American or International universities. They cheered me on, cajoled, bullied and encouraged me to take the step. In September 2009, I did. I enrolled in the " Cursos de acesso al unversidad para Mayores de 25 anos" with UNED. I was told to just try it out and see how it goes, that I shouldn´t expect to pass or at least not all of the 6 subjects I had to study, as it was difficult enough for Spanish people. It was a challenge, one I had no intentions whatsoever of failing... I gave it my best... Andy gave me his time, his help, his support and between two of us, we made it happen! 
Before this time, I had a few health scares which affected me greatly and still seems to do so even now... the people whose names have been mentioned previously and a number of other special people who are an integral part of my life held me hand and loved me through those difficult moment...
Owing to ill health, my studies were interrupted and I thought I wasn´t going to make it, but somehow, I did. And believe me, it was one sweet victory when I discovered I had made good results and was qualified to get into the uni to study English Philology...
During the acesso school year, Alma and Tom came into my life. Alma was a former ballet dancer; a laughing, elegant and beautiful dancer. Tom was just Tom... Tom left, and Alma stayed... she´s still around today... well, in England at the moment. I haven´t seen her in a good while, but everytime I want or need to talk to a girlfriend, her name readily comes to mind. Eventually she moved back to Valencia and couldn´t start the course with me. 

I had other very interesting colleagues, amongst who was Andy... 
These days, I can only say that describing Andy and his place in my life is not an easy feat...
I´ve felt indifferent to him, he´s driven me nuts, he´s made me mad and there´ve been times when I´ve had to supress an incredible urge to shake him... 
I´ve loved him, admired him even, I still respect him and there´ll always be a soft spot, a special place for him in my heart. Above all, I am and will be very grateful that I met this man, someone who challenges me to be the best I can be... he´s shown to be my number one fan, he believed in me and has helped me to establish an enviable command of the Spanish language. 
At the beginning, it was supposed to be a swap, but most of the time, it ended up being a spanish class, partly because he loved teaching, and by God, he is good at it... and partly beacuse I did want to learn. I won´t say anything about my feeling totally unable to actually TEACH Andy any English..., he always came up with so many linguistic and technical question regarding English... some of which I had not the faintest clue about...and the ones that I possibly knew, I wouldn´t remember. I didn´t mind having a conversation with him in English, but I always backed out anytime he came up with those questions... 

We´ve gone through different phases, but through it all, we´ve maintained a certain respect and admiration for each other, or at least I´d like to think so... 
These days, there´s an unspoken distance between us, but it doesn´t feel bad or worrisome. It´s happened before in the past, but we had mannaged to find our way to our friendship again... I´m hoping that we can always find it again, anytime.
One of the things Andy did for me which greatly endeared him to me was passing over a prospective student of his to me. Hís English was good enough to tutor a young learner or a beginner, but he choose to pass over the opportunity to teach Luna to me. When I met Luna, it was love at first sight, an interesting and exuberant little girl of seven. We hit it off immediately and for 3 years we got along like a house on fire. For 3years, I taught her... she learnt and I loved her.

In June, I contacted Father John for teaching opportunities, considering that he´s the priest in an English speaking church where people usually look out for English teachers. I was in luck or maybe God was still friends with me... but there was a language study programme due in a few months time, organized by one of the foundation. Lucikly, I got in and that was how I met Iris...  
Iris was and still is one of the sweetest people I´ve had the privelegde of knowing in Spain, she won me over with her eagerness to please, to help, to give and to love... She was the cordinator of the programme, which meant that technically, she was my boss... but imagine having the afore mentioned adjectives describe your boss.... It was a rich and rewarding experience the school year I worked with her... I remember all the lovely little notes she always dropped on the envelope containing my pay at the end of the week. We discovered our common love for books and reading, and she ensured that I didn´t miss my books and novels which I´d left back home before moving to Spain. I reread some of my favourite titles and authors, I discovered new favourites. Till today, I still have some of her books linning my shelf and whenever I find the time, I still read of her wide range of collections.
 Working with the foundation was the first of many fulfilling teaching jobs that has defined my teaching skills and development. The randomly organized seminars during that period was the boost I needed. I must have done something well, because, my name became synonymous with being a great teacher, and the offers started coming in, slowly at first, but eventually getting to the point where I´m turning down offers or looking for an assistant and even considering setting up a language consultancy agency... tall order you might say, but you never know...lol

Sort of reminiscing about my years here...
I´ve had a pretty good life, with its ups and downs, highs and lows, but nonetheless a good life... I´ve loved and I´ve been loved in return. I´ve had my heart broken, and I´ve broken a few hearts myself... I´ve learnt a lot of lessons and I´m still learning. I have no regrets whatsoever, but there are a few things which I´ll definitely like to do better if given the chance to rewrite my history... but we all know that´s not happening.
I met and married a good man who though didn´t make my heart beat skip, has been a solid rock for me. I wasn't ready to break any more hearts or to have what was left of mine broken again...so, I married him and left everything that had been my life and moved to Spain. A fresh start, a clean start. I was well aware it wasn´t going to be easy, but I was excited about the prospects. 
Few months after I got here, I met María, an energetic and hardworking young lady who somehow managed to give me a small glimpse of what my future in Spain might be like. She had no idea. That encounter set the pace for others; I met her sister, Paz... a woman who has shown me nothing but love and acceptance,  a woman who gave me back my confidence as an English teacher... Paz believed in me the way nobody would have dared to during those early years... she also inspired me to REALLY learn Spanish as a second language. 
After a number of frustrations and quite some rejections, I perservered and somehow, with hard work, self development, self study, research (all things are possible these days with the internet) and hardwork, I started teaching. I found I actually enjoyed it... , not to mention that it was a ready escape from the loneliness that was threathening to drive me totally insane as well as a certain kind of financial emancipation. Nothing huge or anything, but those few 10Euros a week meant that I don´t have to ask my husband or give explanations for every penny I want to spend.
So, I became a teacher, again. At that time, I strongly felt that it was something I was doing by the side, until, something better comes up...
From Paz to Ana, who lasted only a few months with me... she said her working hours were changed... to Graciela for almost a whole school year... and a few others.
Then, María called and said she had given my number to Mina. a potential student. She called. It was a call that will take my story to another turn. I met her and we ended up agreeing to doing a swap instead, that way, I help her with her English and she could help me with my Spanish. It went farther than that. We became friends... and spoke English most of the time. I loved her the moment I saw her... (I still do love her very much, but these days, when I remember Mina, there´s an ache in my heart...) anyway, she reminded me of myself some years previously, with her smile and sweetness, only difference being that she was white and younger... Over the following months, I became close friends with Mina and felt like I was young again... (I was young, only that I had forgotten), we did all the girly stuffs, laughed together, shared our dreams and aspirations... We discovered each other´s strenght and I didn´t think twice about showing her my weaknesses. I felt accepted, loved and admired and I, in turn loved her like a sister.
Other students came and went, and then suddenly a year had passed