One thing I really like about here is how living in a small town really allows teachers to form closer relationships with their students. I remember when I was a kid, I would avoid talking to teachers outside of the classroom at all costs. Actually, I distinctly remember doing that even when I was in college. However, here the students aren't embarrassed. Just the opposite. I always feel strange when we run into each other in bars or nightclubs, but they take it like champions, saying hey and smiling. Undoubtedly, it is me who probably makes a bigger deal about it than they do. I'm veering off subject though.
As I mentioned earlier, I do like how living in a small town allows you to forge closer relationships with your students. And one of the ways this closeness is shown is that students in the last year of high school (segundo de bachillerato) invite the teachers they like to lunch and or dinner on their last day of class. It's is something that I would never have thought to have done when I was in school and I suppose it would have been quite difficult to arrange since my class was about 500 strong in comparison to 15 or so here. I'm not sure if this is a tradition everywhere in Spain, or if it's just something that goes on in the pueblos around here, but I thought it was a nice gesture and worth mentioning.
