The Building

I had never seen a 7-story school building. In suburban Pennsylvania, I knew two story school buildings with a football field. The tall, narrow school building rose like a California redwood over Doblas Street in Caballito. 

The First Day

I accompanied Lucia, the volunteer coordinator, on a trip to Colegio Mc Allister to take photos of the school. Lucia was there to meet with Aurora, the director of English, as the school was being added as Voluntario Global’s newest project. As we walked upstairs, we encountered students dressed in the same wool dress pants and polo shirts I wore at my catholic school. There was an uncanny sense of familiarity; I could almost feel the nuns walking with us down the hall to our next class. 

New Plan

Lucia and I visited each of the classrooms to say hi and meet the teachers and students. Although the students seemed starstruck hearing a native English-speaker, I was amazed by their ability to fully converse in a second language before high school. Back home, that was something only children with immigrant parents could do. I was proud of finally achieving conversational Spanish at the age of 20.

As we wrapped up one of the students asked me, “are you coming back?” It was the question I had been hoping for; after leaving each classroom feeling dissatisfied with our short time together. I had already screamed, “YES,” in my mind before even looking to Lucia for approval.

“Well, why not.”

Over the next four weeks, I spent time across each of the grades, starting each afternoon with a coffee and medialunas from the secretary. In my time, I danced in circles and was tackled with bear-hugs from first graders. I experienced the World Cup sticker craze as students rushed to show me their best finds and even gifted some to me. I chuckled at the silent awe that captured classrooms after they learned that their new American friend actually played fútbol his entire life. There was always a proud cheer when I said my favorite Argentine dish was choripán. 

Pennsylvania is a pretty unknown state, but everyone knows Rocky Balboa: “El Boxeador.”

In The End

On the last day, Aurora and I talked about her experience learning English: she taught herself and later took classes in the university. She explained how important it was to the parents to provide this for their students, and how unique it was for the students to talk with a native-speaker. “Thank you so much for coming, it meant so much to them.”

That made me smile.