Part 2: A Belly Full of Pig’s Blood

2.1 - Meet the Family (Written May 2, 2026)

On Tuesday morning I had orientation with the other English teaching assistants in my area. The other assistants consisted mainly of Americans and the orientation consisted mainly of us walking around the region’s capital of Valladolid. When we arrived at the city square or “plaza mayor” (pronounced platha mayor) the program director told us to look at the glass windows of one the buildings and asked if we noticed anything. She then explained in a thick Spanish accent that these are marks from bullets that were fired through the building in the Spanish civil war and that this was the square where “the blood was spilled.”

After orientation I took the train to Segovia where I met the family I would be staying with. They were 5 waiting at the train station with a Canadian flag. Saulo (father), Maria (mother), Pablo (15 year old son), Cesar (8 year old son), Matteo (7 year old son). Saulo is quiet and seems very well read. He teaches history at a local high school and speaks and understands English well. Maria is a friendly, loud, cigarette smoking Spaniard. She works at a cardboard box factory with one of her brothers and her mother. She says the business has been in the family for generations. Maria is nearly fluent in English and has told me several times that I look like a less fat version of Ed Sheeran (which I think is a complement?). Pablo is rather quiet and has some decent English but says he is working hard to improve it. He and his friends like to order fake versions of high end clothes. Kids these days… and then there is Matteo and Cesar. They are polar opposites. Matteo is very loud and energetic, and Cesar is very quiet and lowkey. They both have very little English. Maria and Saulo have both told me that by the end of the 6 weeks I will not want to get married or have kids.