Just as I was saying about February being a difficult month for me psychologically, it wasn’t easy on the other members of the teaching staff. On February 14 we found out that a teacher from the year before who I knew well passed away suddenly in his sleep. It was eight years to the day that Mr. Calegari, a teacher at my high school when I was a sophomore passed away in an eerily similar way. There were no warning signs, he just didn’t wake up. Both were married with families. Needless to say it sent a bit of a shock through the teaching staff.

No more than 10 days later, right as our “Semana Blanca” break began, I received news that an old student of my high school’s, Salva, who graduated the year before I arrived, was murdered in a park by school. Piecing the story together from various sources (mainly students), a boy who he owed money to confronted him in a park to intimidate him about it, Salva retaliated, and the boy stabbed him. “17 year old stabbed to death in park over debt” may sound like a typical headline in California, but in Spain it’s rare. This made national news and shook the community a bit. Salva’s little brother is a student of mine, and the murderer had two little brothers at my school, though the family basically fled from town right afterwards. Growing up in the Bay Area this is page 5 news that has little affect on those outside the family and friends. We’ve become numb to the violence and a boy like Salva becomes merely a statistic. But after almost 2 years here, I realize I’ve gotten used to the general security I feel in Spain. It’s not the safest country around, but most of the crime is small-scale, petty things and I’ve been able to walk alone at night whenever and wherever I want without second thoughts. I almost forgot that things like this happen, that young people get their lives taken daily at home over trivial violence that can so easily be prevented. It’s so sad to me, and I feel guilty for not feeling worse about these kinds of crimes at home. Something about it was so much more disheartening for it to have happened here. No one should have their child taken from them, especially at such a young age. To imagine even my short life from 17-24 makes me grateful simply for having the opportunity to live.