Hi dear followers and readers! Always a pleasure to know you are giving yourself some time to read my memories. Today I have decided to go a bit deeper with this new chapter and I hope you like it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Teaching has been one of the greatest experiences within my life. I have learned many things beyond the simplicity of "teaching what I was trained to teach" so it has been such a priviledge! Some people might find it too annoying sometimes, while some others like me, see the light beneath and capture its real colors. 

The process as a whole serves as a possibility to reach out to millions of personalities and attitudes. It is like a game... an unending game of seeking a treasure within every single person that comes up on your way, so I find it quite enjoyable! 

To get to the point, many people have mentioned I have only stayed in for a couple of years in the field.... and they are right. But it doesn't mean I haven't got the chance of experiencing the process as an adventure that sets goals every single time. I recall being back on 2016, where I just started a challenge that was meant to last only a year: training a new generation of future ELTs. Months passed by, and the phrase "it seems you are doing the things right" came up, so I was given the chance to teach for a second consecutive year. That's when it occurred: I met a cutie with some cool sunglasses, a bit socially awkward, with a look kinda annoyed, but with a particular familiar aura... It was like meeting an old friend. Her name? Let's call her: Ardnajela. 

So, I met this girl with a defiant look that somehow I felt attracted to get to know a bit more -I barely remember the times when I had the feeling of trying so hard to get to someone! (not even in my goldies when I was flirting all the time)- Anyway, I started doing my job, and so my side-challenge of getting to know her.

I'm not the one to create artificial lines of what is and is not a friendship, in fact to call someone "my friend" is such a challenge for me. But sometimes I feel it is largely a matter of personal or natural designation. If the relationship is meant to be named as such, then let it be. I have to be honest, I know that being a teacher of undergraduate students leads to keep in mind a differential power or grade of hierarchy, but it doesn't mean that friendship can't blossom. It is just that it is a bit different form of someone who is socially equal.

I know the struggle is real... there have been cases were boundary crossings happened and at different levels as well, but I hesitate to call them ethical violations as they depend on the real intentions of those involved, although I recognize they could be problematic to many perspectives! So at this point, there is an issue of being honest with the desire itself... Is it truly friendship? that's why being honest to yourself and to the other person, will help a lot in the long-term. Beyond that, so being open continues to be the best bet. 

There's certain criticism about establishing bounds with those we "should not" (socially talking), but in this particular story, we both never forgot what we were and where we were... We both naturally understood and felt (i guess) that something was on the way. But we were too stubborn to see it!

Here comes the good stuff... all the time she was an energetic student, she was someone willing to do her best and therefore, she was trying so hard to improve her weaknesses day after day. I started to admire her because of her story, of her inner desire of testing her abilities and searching for more... As a teacher, I just loved the fact she was true to herself, her roots and her ideas about teaching with a new perspective. These characteristics led her to succeed in the course, to reach new standards and to look at me as someone who was there to support her and to shake the floor in the last steps of her carreer. (something that was necessary to wake her up from her fairytale).

To make the long story short... we became friends. It has been an adventure of many years where there is no day I love her a bit more. I feel that I have met a new version of me because of her... and I suppose I am giving myself some credit as I hope to have caused the same impact in her life. So this chapter's moral of fabel is that when you get to meet -that- someone, don't let it go... she or he might be there for some reason. She has taught me that I also needed someone to shake my world, because I needed a life-teacher as well.

So yeah... I'd rather not tag people (that is something I have learned about her), but she is definitely someone I look up to, someone I am not willing to let go, someone I waited for so long to come along and that's why I enjoy every single time next to her. So yep.. She went from being a S to a real B, and although she believes people are just transitory, I stand to call Ardnajela aka -Alejandra- my bestie anyway.