The Lewis School of Languages, Barcelona

Back blip

When I went up to meet Bb after his work at IESE business school, I hadn't anticipated an hour of walking down memory lane.   I was a bit early (well, unusually Bb was a wee bit late) and so decided to walk past what used to be the school where I first worked in 1991 when we moved to Barcelona:  The Lewis School of Languages.  It hasn't been a school for many years now, but this is as different as I've seen it!   You can't see it from the photo here, but it's actually now quite a big cafe and a wall has been knocked down between what used to be a little beauty salon and they are now one.  It was really strange to look through the old beauty salon door and see right through what used to be small classrooms.  Then when I stood outside the front door (shown here) lots of memories of people came rushing back:  Sonia, the school receptionist;  Emma, the Scottish director;  teachers who came and went over the years  - Colleen (who became one of my best friends and is now a blipper in New Zealand), John, Sue, Geoff, Hugh, Wendy, Susan, Laura, Rosa the French teacher;  Paca, one of the Spanish teachers; Mila, who was our Spanish teacher and a very good friend here in Bcn; and Caroline, the owner of the school, who has since become a good friend and who I'm meeting tomorrow night!  There was a time when she only turned up once a month with the salaries and John used to call her 'the woman with the money'!  I remembered all the early morning starts and locking up the door most nights at 9pm.  I can still remember some of the students and one of whom I'm still in touch with - Cristina Martin de la Vega.  Both Colleen and I taught her as a teenager.  She shared her secrets with us. She's in her 30s now, living in Madrid and the three of us met up a few years ago here in Bcn.  It's here I learnt my Spanish, both in formal classes and, probably the most useful (sorry Mila!) was at the receptionist desk where we chatted to Sonia.  I remember buying my first Spanish music CD - Ana Belen & Victor Manuel and when I showed it to Sonia she brought me down to size by saying that it was the kind of music her mum liked!  I was just 28 at the time and not what I wanted to hear as I ventured into the world of Spanish music!  I quickly learnt the word 'anticipo' meant 'advance' as we teachers were allowed to get an advance on our salaries till the end of the month!   The 11 years I spent in the school were very happy ones and only stopped when we moved to live in Sao Paulo.   After peering in through the 'school' windows I walked through the gardens to Bugui's, where Bb and I were going to meet.  It was dark by this stage and I remembered thinking that I used to know these gardens like the back of my hand, every crack in the road and every step second nature.   I thought as I reached out for the handrail on what felt like very steep stairs that I must have skipped up and down them many times a day as we filled every spare 5 mins we had with our caffeine fixes in the surrounding cafes.   As I sat in Bugui's waiting for Bb I Whats app-ed New Zealand with photos of our old school and then sent the same shots to Caroline, who I'm meeting tomorrow.   As Bb arrived, looking smart in his business clothes, I then recalled that Bugui's was where we'd met after he'd had his interview to be accepted as an MBA student.  I'd ended up with boiled cabbage as I didn't speak Spanish and there were no English menus 'in those days', like there are now!   Fun times and very good memories!  And Bb's still as handsome as he was when he was 30!