Translation of jener

In the that time of the year, when I used to go to school, I had to get up very early and leave the house at around seven o'clock in the morning. At this time it was still night, dark and cold outside.
How could I get better in Spanish if I had to eat by myself. Impossible. The next days we always ate together and sat around the table for hours discussing politics and the lives we were living.
My wife and her started a nice conversation and the village girl did not believe that my wife was older than thirty years old. My wife considered herself as old, but the little girl explained her that she wasn't.