Spanish teacher and Foreign Language Department Head Phyllis Blanco writes on the front board as she instructs her class on the subjunctive mood and the proper verb endings that comply. Midway through her lecture, Blanco unintentionally changes the subject, recalling a story from a past experience in her life. Instantly, eyes which were once glazed over with indifference seem to come to life.

This situation is a daily occurrence with Blanco, who, through her various jobs, travels and experiences, has many stories hidden up her sleeve.

Although she has taught for almost 30 years, Blanco had other plans when she entered college. She was originally a pre-med major, wanting to be a psychiatrist. Eventually, Blanco decided to switch into Latin American studies because she had a passion for Spanish.

After college, Blanco held several different jobs, ranging from a waitress in Atlantic City to a journalist for a Spanish newspaper in Boston, and began her teaching career at Boston University, before coming to Krop.

With jobs in different places under her belt, Blanco has a story to tell for almost any circumstance. Can you guess which ones are myth and which are fact?

Fact or myth?

Think you know Mrs. Blanco? If you’ve ever had her

as a teacher, you know her stories. Here’s your

chance to see which are actually true.

•On a trip to Spain, Mrs. Blanco visited a cathedral in the city of Seville when the country was still under the rule of Dictator Francisco Franco. Entering the cathedral, she saw another American tourist take out his camera. Instantly, a Spanish Civil Guard came to the tourist who proceeded to ask him for the camera. The American tourist did not speak any Spanish, and when he failed to comply, Mrs. Blanco witnessed the Civil Guard smash the camera on the floor.

•When Blanco studied abroad in Peru, she visited the Incan ruins, and while taking a tour, she had a scarf that her mother had given her as a child eaten by a llama that had been grazing by the ruins.

•When writing for a Spanish newspaper in Boston called El Mundo, Blanco covered a story on a woman from La Paz, Bolivia who had twenty children. During the summer, this woman would visit all of her children who were spread out all over the world.

•Blanco once took a bus from Miami to California to test out the bus system. On her trip, another passenger sitting in back of her kept pulling her hair and making rude comments to the other people on the bus. When the bus made a stop in Texas, Blanco saw the bus driver force the rude passenger to get on the next

•While living and working in Atlantic City, Blanco witnessed a thief robbing a casino. After this, Blanco was asked by a police officer to give a description of the thief and aided the police in catching him.

Answers: fact, myth, fact, fact, myth