Cien Días

Tuesday made 100 days in Spain. It hardly feels like it- probably because I’ve accomplished far less in the past 100 days than I do in my normal life as a new yorker. It’s been a weird little lifestyle. I’m settling in but am never really settled, my tutoring schedule is always changing and I’m always planning some new trip.


Besides that, I decided I should start planning for when I’m home and have been scoping out my grad school…which I am rather dreading. I’m doing all I can to see if I can squeeze my bilingual education program at SUNY Brockport into a year or a year and a half. Tied down to another college for 2 years doesn’t exactly sound exciting to me, so we’ll try and make it quick. I’m thinking anything will see rather boring after having plans to live in Spain for the year, so perhaps I’ll just have to get used to that thought.

As for my 100th day it was more eventful than I would have liked. I ran back and forth to school three separate times, I made apple crisp for an entire class that didn’t show up, a boy asked if I’d walk him out because he was going to get “beat up” ,while I was walking with said boy, another came running past and smacked him in the head, I went back to school to meet with the principal about it but waited an hour listening to her meeting, I went to meet two girls for shopping who didn’t show up.

That was the worst of it at least. I then got to tutor my two favorite little ones and go to a Christmas dinner with the teachers from my school. Julie, my one teacher and I all walked together to the dinner. It was super fancy with like 10 courses, all very Spanish. The waiter tried to force the last of each appetizer on me saying, "But I made this one with extra love". The dinner started at 10 and didn’t end until 2 am…and the teachers were still begging us to go out dancing. It was a lot of fun, really good food, and I learned lots. It always feels good to survive a night speaking Spanish with a big group without embarrassing yourself…too much. I pulled out some of my idioms-always winners!

I called my Spanish momma to tell her I’d be in Oviedo this weekend and she said “Well it’s about time, I was wondering when you were going to call! I was telling everyone you must be busy or something because I never hear from you!” Aw, break my heart. But the phone works both ways. Anyways, meeting Meg tomorrow in my Spanish hometown and so so happy about it. Dear Buffalo-Oviedo friends, where are the rest of you? Will be thinking about you..xo

La Vida es una Caja de Bombas

Our lovely Spain has put up all of the Christmas lights...they did so about 2 weeks ago but they turned them on for the very first time the other day. I think they're skimping out due to the crisis and trying to save on electricity. Yet they still paid people to move these HUGE red potted plants to various parts of the city to be decorated. It took 6 men and a huge bobcat to do it. But that's worth the money, obviously.

This. Was a lovely surprise. I was awoken out of my bed by a knock at the door from my Spanish roomie telling me I had to sign for a package. I had literally just woken up and responded "Okay thanks". In English. Ah, oh well. I knew the handwriting all too well and was unbelievable happy to open the box and see this:

My loving friend, Katie, sent me a beautiful box with lots of little wrapped presents inside. I still haven't opened them all as I'm drawing out my little Christmas goodies. All I can say is: goldfish and brownie mix, where have you been all my life? In heaven.

Sarah and I went to the mall because word on Calle Campanillas was that Santa was going to be there. We showed up to his little bubble wonderland, but he was sadly missing.

Turns out Spanish Santa goes on Siesta just like the rest of Spain. Should have known better than to visit him between 2 and 4 pm. I'll be more prepared next time. Alsso his chair was too small for the kind of Santa that could support me sitting on his knee. Suspicious.

Finally. My roomate truly is crazy, I've decided. And it's hard to even be mad anymore because she truly has some kind of compulsive issues. I was furious initially so I decided to get her a Christmas card and after I wrote it to her wishing her good things for the holidays, I felt better. I also realized that she had taken the care with her hate note to write each point with a different color marker. How can you be mad at that? The elementary teacher in me melted just a little.

She is upset that we don't take down the recycling and that we "locked her boyfriend in the house". I personally find that highly entertaining. But if the door is locked and you don't have a key, you can't get out of the apartment. I didn't know she had left him here but he apparently was locked in and called her furious because he felt really "claustrophobic". Next time I'll lock him out instead of in.

I made her a lovely little chore chart complete with yellow paper and as many colored markers as I could. Maybe that will appease her for a while...at least until we can sneak out for the holidays. Also, my favorite line she wrote "Do I have to say it in Chinese?". Perhaps English would be the more practical language of translation...but I won't tell her that. Sometimes I'd rather NOT understand her.

So soon til I get to see my home friends. <3

A la Hora de la Siesta...

If you were to ask me the one thing I miss most about being home, it would be hard choose. If you ask me my favorite thing about Spain, it would be hard to choose. If you were to ask me what I dislike most about Spain….do it. Ask me.

It’s Siesta. I.Hate.Siesta. I think it’s Spain’s worst invention. At around 2 o’clock everything closes and everyone goes home to eat a big lunch, rest, etc. It sounds lovely in theory, I agree with that. But when you work 9-2 and then 5-9, think about your free time: 2pm-5pm. Siesta. Everything is closed. Oh you want to buy stamps you say? Well, you cannot. Or you wanted to run over to the store to pick up that purse you’ve had your eye on? Sorry, we are home for lunch. You need light bulbs, boots, a scarf, chocolate and churros at Valore? You will have to wait until the entire city comes back from their little mid-day standstill.

A serious question here though- how do people work 8 hour shifts? Honestly. Because even if they start at 8 am (though there are very few people on the street at this hour), they would have to work until 4pm, which is impossible as it would cut right through siesta time. I, personally would prefer to have all my work done in one chunk than to work in the morning, return home to rest, and go back to work. However, I tried my best to schedule some tutoring sessions earlier in the day and my lovely Spaniards just won’t have it. “Before 4 is impossible” they say. Well actually they say “Antes de las cuatro, sería imposible.”

The one thing I have learned from Siesta though is that it’s rather noble that the Spaniards work so hard to keep up the tradition. I suppose it’s how our American dinner time should be: sacred.  However, I am way too used to convenience and I think that if it is before 10pm on any given day (except for Sunday) I should be able to go get all of my errands done without question. I’ll never get used to it, I swear.

Also, as a side note, I was helping a teacher with her oral exams this week and met some new classes. One 18-year-old came up and my teacher asked him to “Describe Leigh”. If I didn’t know it before, then I know now: he’s a clever boy. His response, “She has long blonde hair, blue eyes, is thin, and is very pretty.” Smart boy. However, he then tried to say “She is average”. Don’t worry, I jumped in and quickly corrected him “You mean average height?”... I did my best to save him from himself.

My younger students are very excited to meet my friends coming to visit: Mike and Amy. Watch out. When Sam and I first got here they interrogated us. Do you have a boyfriend? Do you prefer the mountains or the beach? Have you seen snow? Do you speak Spanish? Do you have any friends that are famous? Do you eat at McDonalds every day?

We started pen pals with my lovely Meg's class back in Buffalo and my students were so excited to get their letters. All except this one boy I have who thinks all Americans are selfish, power hungry capitalists, who care only about material things. So when I received the letter for him in the mail, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. It was the only one which had been decorated entirely in marker by a high school girl with things like a drawing of an ice cream cone labeled "helado" and a beach labeled "playa" etc. As if he doesn't know what the words were in Spanish. So I happily handed it to him and the very first words he said "Jobar, she's a capitalist!"

Dear American capitalists, stop drawing pictures of ice cream cones, you're giving yourselves away.

I love baby Spaniards.

Naranjas Valencianas

Plaza de la Reina

Just got back from a long weekend in one of the loveliest Spanish cities I’ve seen: Valencia. We were lucky to have even arrived seeing as how an hour after we landed, airport workers began their strike and the entire Madrid airport shut down. Thankfully we made it.

Mediterranean with Kate and Sarah

I was unimpressed by the beach and more than impressed by the food, the people, and the vibe of the city. We arrived via the world’s slowest moving subway, representative of a fairly laid-back city. Though it’s the 3rd largest in Spain, you’d never guess by the homey feel and the friendly people. We ate our way up and down the streets, walking far enough in between to merit more food stops. Day one: dinner, gelato, see the main plaza. Day two: starbucks, park, shopping, asian food, cathedral, tower, picking oranges, paella, agua de valencia. Day three: starbucks, arts and science museums, aquarium, oranges, cooking. Day four: beach, pier, kebabs, clementines, old walls, American food, sangria.

The home of paella. Which came with "shots" of chicken stock...less delicious

The oranges in Valencia truly are bomb. No exaggeration. Sarah even stole one from a tree.

As you can see, much of day revolved around what foods we needed to try and what ones we needed to have because we missed them and can’t get them in León. Starbucks felt strangely like home- especially with the Christmas decorations and the names on the cups and the employees with red aprons. The hostel treated us well; we had a family style dinner that we cooked with an interesting new friend of ours, who we will call Ryan, though I’m not entirely convinced that’s his real name.

Mini model of the playground

Real size playground of Gulliver...see the slides in his hair?

Accidently ran across the coolest.playground.ever. In the shape of Gulliver from Gulliver’s travels. Definitely not kid safe or U.S. approved, but Spain embraces the slippery stairs and no-railing, elevated walkways. But it was safe enough for me! And I tested out Gulliver’s jacket lapel slide and nearly took out a small child.

The science and art buildings

We spent an entire day down by the arts and science museums. The buildings were the coolest part, the inside of the aquarium was actually underwhelming. Save your 25 euro and hold onto some of your idealistic ideas of lovely foreign Spanish families and skip going inside. There were lots of fish and lots of children banging on the tanks, lots of parents smoking and drinking beer and ignoring their children, and then there was me. Yelling at Spanish children who were wrestling on the floor in the middle of the museum. I hope their parents heard me.

 Jungle Book trees at the park

Christmas decorations plus palm trees minus snow 

Also, it’s become a super bad habit to talk about people who are around me because I assume they can’t understand English. But there goes that good plan as our little “Japanese” friend who “didn’t speak English” turned out to be a Japanese-American who speaks better English than I do. As for the Spanish people at the aquarium: yes, I was talking about you and your misbehaved children and your lazy attitudes towards parenting and the way you blow smoke in my face and walk into me or stand unnecessarily close to me in line. I feel quite blessed with my little Spanish friends, family, and students after seeing how bad it could be. Some of them are beyond lovely, and as with any culture and any country, you take the good with the bad.

La Primera Nevada

My prison-looking school covered in snow

Well I woke up yesterday, on the last day of November, to a lovely light snowfall. During the day it got pretty heavy but by now it’s all melted again. Oh León, can’t make up its mind.

       

Some things I noted about snow in Spain: It makes the tile sidewalks super slippery. Spaniards use umbrellas so the snow won’t fall on them. I saw a man raking the grass to get the snow away. I saw another using a broom to brush it off a sidewalk. Finally, I saw a third (woman, mind you, that’s where the smarts are at) using a shovel to clear the sidewalk. Well done, Spain.
                                         

Anyways, it made for a beautiful walk to school and the kids went out for recess and played with snowballs so it was good entertainment. I got the question from my 3rd years “have you ever seen snow?” Have I ever. Buffalo October storm anyone? These poor chaps have no idea…

I got invited by a student to go to the mall with her sometime. She wants me to help her pick out clothes. I would say I think that’s totally legal…I can teach her English and fashion. My two best talents. Besides she’s always wearing this brown nail polish that I’m dying to have…

Anyways, Friday I’m off with Kate and Sarah to Valencia, to try and escape some of the cold weather and see the Mediterranean in all its glory. We’ll see if it looks different in Valencia than it did in Barcelona. Should be a good start to my non-stop next month and a half. Nate, Megan, Jaime, Amy, Mike! Come play, Spain is ready for you. And we have cookies.

El Día de Acción de Gracias a la Española

So we’ve been in preparation for Thanksgiving for a few weeks now, knowing it would be hard to find what we needed in León. Thanks to wonderful families we had bags of stuffing, cinnamon, cranberry sauce, and molasses mailed to us. I had to make my own brown sugar mixing molasses and white sugar for the apple crisp, but it was super delish so I won’t complain. With all our little talents and supplies combined we ended up with a more than huge, more than delicious feast.

I DID attempt 4 stores in various parts of León and none of my trips left me with a whole turkey. Therefore, I gave it up and lugged home two chickens for a nice ¾ mile walk. Then I watched a few videos on carving a turkey and had a few phone calls with my mom about how to stuff my little guys etc. Overall, the chickens were beautiful. They cooked in about 2 ½ hours and served us well. And then some. They also left us with some delish stuffing tucked inside and some juice for making gravy. Done.

Chicken

Stuffing

Gravy

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Broccoli

Salad/Ranch Dressing (!)

Jello

Deviled Eggs

Cranberry Sauce

Pumpkin Pie (s)

Ice Cream

Apple Crisp

We had a fabulous little American (+1 Canadian) crew, none of whom wore their pajamas, who brought treats and good company to our apartment. We spent some time making fun of how Spanish people speak English, though I’m sure our mistakes are JUST as bad when we speak Spanish. We also dedicated some good time to making fun of Canada, and each person’s respective state. Oh wait, I don’t think we ever did say anything bad about NY…because there is nothing bad to say . We even managed to squeeze in some conversation admitting our plan to eat with and then kill the Indians and take their land. Dear Indians, we’re sorry. Thank you for bringing the corn. And for teaching us everything we know about surviving off the land. Perhaps we could have offered you more than just your final meal.

It’s really impressive how a group of people who only met this year can make such a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. It’s about being with family and friends. It’s about being with people who are happy to share with you and be with you. It’s about being with people who are thankful. And we had nearly all of that. I’m thankful that we got to do Thanksgiving in our own little leonés way.

"Muy bien"

Sometimes, the only thing that comes to mind is “muy bien”.

Like when you’ve had a long weekend away from school and speaking very little Spanish and you suddenly walk into school and the teachers that usually speak English to you approach you with their super fast Spanish. I was asked three times (twice by the same professor) how my weekend was and I all I could say was “muy bien”. I think he caught on as he said “Everything is ‘muy bien’ then eh?” (Note: He was not speaking Spanglish…he did in fact say that whole sentence in Spanish). And to this I only nodded. No other word from my entire 10 years of studying Spanish could come to my mind or mouth fast enough to redeem myself.

I then tutored a high school girl who speaks no English, but is attempting to learn. Therefore even when I spell her words etc, it has to be in Spanish. And then we pronounce the word in English and try and make a sentence with it etc. Today I was trying to spell her “do” and I said “d” in Spanish and watched as she jotted down “the” proudly. I looked at her totally confused. And you know what I said? “Muy bien”. Because, she had in fact, written her first English word from listening. And although it’s not at all what I said, I was somewhat impressed that she wracked her brain to think of the recent words she had learned and tried to match the one that sounded most similar. (No worries, I did pronounce “the” correctly for her, after all).

Then I got home from my tutoring session and my concierge stopped me at the desk to tell me he had left me a package up at my apartment. Stellar. And my answer: “Muy bien, gracias”.

It’s only 12:11 pm and I’ve already managed three conversations using one single Spanish phrase. I’m about to see how far I can stretch it.

Odio los Martes

The worst Tuesday I've had in a long time turned out to be average afterall. But it didn't start out that way. I actually remembered my umbrella but as I walked to school, the wind turned my umbrella inside out and it was more of a hassle to use it then not use it, so I opted for getting soaked instead. In class, only 5 of the 15 kids brought their homework with them. They all claimed to have "left it somewhere"...meaning they had better things to do than English homework.

So then I got home to call the mother of the newest boy I'm tutoring and spent 2 euro on trying to figure out where she lived. I then spent 30 minutes on google maps looking for their street "Calle Las Medulas". It looked pretty darn far away, but she insisted it was walking distance and not a problem at all, so off I went. I left all my maps and directions in my apartment but was already too far to turn back. So I scoped out the maps on my Blackberry and went for it. Again, the umbrella turned out to be worthless because unless you hold it like a shield out in front of you, you can't avoid the rain. And I seriously considered the shield option, til I realized it also means getting nearly run over by cars and old women with shopping carts.

So I continued forever and ever but my Blackberry insisted I was going the right way and I am blindly faithful to maps because there's really not much room for error. Or so I thought. I passed three roundabouts and knew I was well on my way. 20 minutes...30 minutes...40...50. HIGHWAY. Yes. No sidewalk, hardly a shoulder at all. But at this point I was so close, I couldn't turn back. I literally had to walk 10 feet and duck into a driveway or the grass if I heard a big car coming. 10 feet. Bushes. 20 feet. Driveway. 30 feet. Ditch. Oops. Sore ankle.

My thought process "When I get there I'm going to insist they drive me home, and compensate me for my troubles, and give me hot chocolate." Another thought "I will NEVER walk the Camino de Santiago...no matter how much peer pressure." Third thought "Who do I know in Spain that has a car? How much would I have to cry to get my director to come pick me up on the side of the road and take me home?" Fourth thought "Horses!? Farm? I'm in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I can borrow a horse and ride it home." Last thought "Well if I can't find their house, these signs are all pointing to Oviedo, and I must be at least 1/100 of the way there. Should keep going."

After 1 full hour...arriving at 5 ON THE DOT...Calle Las Medulas. Imagine my happiness until I took a peek down said street and saw one single house. Yes, one. Here is when I decided using my cell would be a good idea. I called the house and talked to the dad for about 12 minutes (costing me another 9 or so euro) who I frustrated to the point of using mild swear words. Also, this happened in Spanish, therefore it was much more entertaining.
Me: "I see a yellow house and a big grey building made of bricks and it says Calle Las Medulas".
Hombre: "Yes, it's yellow but with some other colors, some orange and green and tan"
Me: "Umm yea, but it's pretty big. That's your house?"
Hombre: "Yes yes the big house."
Me: "It's the only one on the whole street"
Hombre: "Yes! That's it!"
Me: "No, but it says number 1, and you're number 11. And there is an abandoned building in front."
Hombre: "No, there is an Alimerka (grocery store) and a bar."
Me: "I haven't seen an Alimerka in 3 miles."
Hombre: "Ask for help"
Me: "I haven't seen people in about 2 miles."
Hombre: "Where are you?"
Me: "I am on Calle las Medulas, but this can't be it. There must be two streets with the same name"
Hombre: "Impossible. Did you pass a roundabout?"
Me: "This is Leon, I passed three roundabouts"

And that's when I gave up and told him I was going home. However, on my wayyy home I started recognizing things they had mentioned to me before. And I stumbled upon yet ANOTHER Calle Las Medulas. Which is exactly 4 minutes walking from the highschool that I work at every single day. Also, it was not a house. It was not yellow. It was a HUGE apartment complex with one yellow stripe on an otherwise tan building. JOBAR TIO. Thank you 2 hours of walking for what should have been 25 minutes, max. I have surely lost some credibility now, yet the parents still left me alone in the flat with their child. And I earned exactly 3 euro more than I spent on calling them all afternoon trying to find their house. 2 hours walking in the rain and on highways to tutor for one hour and make 3 euro. Don't ask me if I thought it was worth it. Also, don't tell me "Now you know the city really well". Tell me you'll send me love and sympathies in the form of euros and chocolates, stirdy umbrellas and rainjackets.

The family was really nice. I got a new Spanish roommate who is not completely crazy like the other. I got to eat the bottom half of a dino cookie. I learned the word for a "slide", and I didn't have to do pilates today. Turned out it wasn't the worst day ever...

El Otoño

Fall in Spain was disappointing up until this last week. The leaves finally changed yellow and some even red. But I can still count on one hand the number of pumpkins I've seen. Also, no cider. But it's 65 degrees and sunny today, compared to low 40s with rain at home...so I won't complain.

I have never been so bored at school as I was today. And I was teaching! The kids were so boring and the day was draging and I only enjoyed one of the classes all day. I was literally daydreaming. It makes me wonder about the teachers I had when I was younger...they were probably planning their post school day life while writing on the board or listening to us read. I miss my elementary kids who adore me and are almost always excited by new things. They are so much more my speed. Mostly because they adore me. And I love being adored. :)

I taught the kids the words "awesome, super, cool..." today and they loved it. That's all they said the rest of class. I also told them that if I hear them say "I don't mind" one more time, I'm going to go crazy. Tell me you don't care. Or that it makes no difference to you. I HATE the phrase "I don't mind." We should push it out of the English language.

This will be my first weekend in Leon in over a month. I plan to actually go to the grocery store before it closes all day Sunday and to cook something Spanish and maybe even bake! It took 1 1/2 months but I figured out my oven. About two weeks ago, I yelled at my Spanish friend "Spanish people and their ovens...they don't even know how to use them! They don't even know what ovens are for, I don't know why they even bother having them." Apparently I've been harboring some anger towards Spanish ovens...who knew.

Off to tutor and play with little Spanish babies. Every day Diego says "Hi Leigh! How old are you?" ...instead of "How are you?" and Marta asked me how long the plane ride is from my house to her house every day. She thinks I commute from Buffalo/Rochester daily. Love.

Pintxos=Pinchos=Tapas

Sarah and I taking over Bilbao. Took the elevator up to here.

Chris and I at the beach in San Sebastian.

Me on top of the hill we climbed in San Sebastian

Andrew (lovely tour guide) and I at the Guggenheim ("The Gugg") in Bilbao

The puppy in Bilbao!

Chris and Sarah and turtle island (Santa Clara) in San Sebastian

I got to teach some Halloween lessons in my classes last week and I had a lot of fun. We learned some idiomatic phrases and had fun with some Halloween cartoons. The kids could not understand "you mean you carry around a PILLOWSACK and fill it with candy at people's houses?" You don't realize how strange your traditions are until someone from the outside points it out. The two little kids that I tutor played some Halloween games with me. I taught them words like "Jack O Lanters, vampire, mummy, bat, etc. Then they came and knocked on my door and they had to say "Trick or Treat" and tell me about their costume before I would give them a treat. I adore them. I am so lucky to spend time with them so frequently. I'd be missing little ones like crazy if it weren't for them. I've definitely realized by being here that Elementary Ed is my favorite place to be. And I also don't want to teach ESL. Did you know that in the past you can say "used to" before an action or state of being, but you can only use "would" before an action. For example: He would/used to stand outside and wait every day. BUT. He used to be a happier person. I never would have thought that was a rule, it either "sounds right" or it doesn't.


So this last weekend I took my fifth trip in a row. Five weekends, and now I'm taking a break. Traveling can be more exhausting than working, go figure. Six of us took a train out to San Sebastian (Donostia) on the northern coast of Spain on the Bay of Biscay. It was a beautiful beach town. We went up the two big hills on either side of the beach to get two different views. It really felt like fall and Halloween taking the hike up the hill through all the trees.

The second day we went to Bilbao to visit a friend of mine and to see the city. The puppy at the Guggenheim was beautiful, though the outside of the building was the most impressive part of it. We spent about 30 minutes inside. The rest of the day was spent seeing the river, the bridges, the old part of town, took an elevator up the hill to get a stellar view, etc. It was a fabulous little city that has really cleaned up and is looking quite impressive. People go just for the Guggenheim, and have no idea that there's anything else to Bilbao.

I nearly forgot it was Halloween because of how little they acknowledge it here. This week I really miss upstate new york and fall, pumpkins, cider, the impressive changing landscape, trick or treaters, hot chocolate...Fall is definitely the season I'll miss most at home.

We had our Fall Behind one our this weekend which was super convenient as we were out and about in San Sebastian. We had Pintxos (pronounced pinchos) which are commonly known in Spain as tapas, which are appetizers. They were beautiful but sadly most were seafood.

Towards the end of the trip I was running low on cash and thought I'd see if I could get by without going to the ATM. I came home with about 1,30 euros in my wallet. Impressive, I must say. With 20 euro I saw all the sights in Bilbao, ate three meals, and even squeezed in some gelato. Also, I walked the whole of San Sebastian and didn't see a SINGLE grocery store. We finally had to ask and found one on the underground floor of a mall. I need to find a native and ask how they shop. I'm really very curious.

Also they speak Basque in the two cities we visited, which was pretty interesting. I listened in on some conversations, but it's such an ancient language and has no connection to any other language...therefore I was clueless. Ah well. One language at a time...

I feel lost without another trip planned! I suppose I'll start looking things up to see my friend Nate (maybe in southern France). And then my Christmas plans to see Jaime, my favorite Spanish friend, Megan who's coming from the states, and my lovely Mike and Amy. Hurry to Spain, my loves! I miss you.

El Mundo es un Pañuelo

About 2 weeks ago we got an invite from a few of the Spanish teachers in our school to go see ‘Las Médulas’ which are mountains that had been blown out in order to sift for gold. We couldn’t say no to that…They picked us up super early and we headed out for a day of broken Spanish, broken English and beautiful views. We showed up in front of the town hall waiting for the tour guide and some other friends of our teachers. The next thing I know, my friend Ian, who I had studied with a year and a half ago in Oviedo, walked up. Turns out he was joining our 12 person crew. Small world.

We got to hear lots of (too much) history from our tour guide and climbed high to see the canals that were hand dug. We had a truly Spanish lunch…one that included 4 courses and lasted over 3 hours. Then we headed out to see a Castle up in El Bierzo. It had been partially reconstructed but it was pretty gorgeous. The view from the mountain it was on was unreal. Our crew was quite an interesting one. I’m trying to recall but we had 3 people who spoke no English, 2 who were pretty darn fluent in both languages, 1 student who speaks high school level English, 1 who speaks pretty good English but very awkwardly, one girl who speaks basic Spanish, and 3 of us who have a pretty good grasp of Spanish but are still working at it. Anyways. Imagine. Translating, re-explaining, Spanglish…overall a wonderful time. I loved every minute of mixing our cultures and languages in the most tongue-tied way ever.

Well due to good old Spanish timing, we got to the bus station well after the last bus had left for the evening. The other girls I was with decided to pay the extra money to take a late night train. I, however, decided to go with the flow and stay with my friend Ian. We got to go out for drinks and tapas with our teachers and then split off to meet the language assistants working in his city (Ponferrada). I think I’m shaking off some of my compulsive control issues. Take my advice. Things happen, let it go, and spend an extra night in Ponferrada.

This past weekend Sarah and I headed back to Oviedo to stay in her host mom’s house while she was out of time. Sick set-up. They were having the awards given out by the Princípe de Asturies. So we got to stand with the huge crowds and wait to see some of the Spain Soccer Team, and the Prince, Princess, and Queen. Pretty cool if you ask me. And obviously you care somewhat about my opinion as you’ve spent the time to read my blog. So yes, agree….it’s pretty cool to see the royal family in the flesh.

So while in Oviedo, I got to see old friends, meet some of the Canisius College kids studying there this semester, go to some old places, and even pour some sidra! I did a terrible job of it but I did get SOME sidra in the cup.

I got home from our lovely little trip and had some Spanish telenovela-style drama waiting for me. Our Spanish roomate’s boyfriend left us a note taped to the door about how he had “cleaned the whole kitchen and went to cook in it later and it was a mess. My girlfriend it not your maid, leaving crumbs everywhere is ridiculous” plus some other choice words which I won’t translate into English. First of all, as you can tell from my blog, I am never in my apartment. Secondly, I am quite a clean human being. Thirdly, my roommate’s boyfriend (who lives with us 4 nights a week, smokes, showers, uses our internet, stays here while she works etc) doesn’t pay rent. He doesn’t live here…and he had the nerve to say something to us about the way we live in our apartment.

Later on I approached my roommate to say “If you have any problem, you know you can always come talk to us we are happy to work something out, we had no idea you had any issue, but you don’t need your boyfriend to tell us.” But then he cut in and started to yell at me and tell me he is “29” and this would never happen in his house and I’m uneducated and rude. I didn’t yell until he said “do you even understand Spanish?” HOMBRE. We were SPEAKING in Spanish! That’s when I really went crazy and yelled and perhaps pulled out a few not so kosher words myself. But he was in my house, yelling at me and judging me.

Since then, I’ve called the landlord to retell the whole account and we are getting together to chat with my landlord, my American roommate and friend Sam, my Spanish roommate, and her mom. Because even though WE are the second language learners, she needs her momma’s support. Haha…oh the crazy life we live. It will be pretty cool to be able to say that I had a yelling fight with a Spanish man and even managed to get through a meeting about rearranging the household rules etc.
Keep posted! We shall see what happens…

Las Leonesas Vagabundas

A super busy long weekend. Five cities in 4 days, no big deal. Oviedo, Covadonga, Cangas de Onís, Gijón, and Salamanca. So we left Friday for Oviedo and I was beyond excited, it felt like I was finally getting back to my home base in Spain. I was jumping out of my seat by the time I saw familiar buildings. Sam, Sarah and I went straight to my host mom Merce’s apartment: the one I lived in when I was in Oviedo. She was waiting at the door with a huge hug for me, her “vida”. It was so weird to be back in her apartment, nothing had changed at all, except in the hallway on table was a framed picture of me and her. Loving. She insisted we go grocery shopping with her (Alimerka of course) and that she make us some lunch. After lunch, she would have had us stay all day but it was a miracle that it wasn’t raining and we were trying to get out a little before it started. Sam and Sarah say it’s obvious where I learned my Spanish…haha with the 76-year-old Spanish woman vocab, speed, and inflections. Great.

We headed to our hotel and entered in a fiasco. The woman at the desk informed us that even though it says on the website you can have an extra bed for a 3 person room, it is not actually allowed. We couldn’t cancel our reservation either because you have to do that 24 hours before. SO. She asked us for two of us who would be staying there to give her our passports. Sam and I gave her ours, just thinking we would drag Sarah up later when we came back and no one would know the difference. Wrong. We went back around 10pm just to change our clothes etc and the woman wouldn’t even let Sarah come up to the room with us. Profiling! Literally. She had to wait in the “lobby” which consisted of two chairs and a round table. At that point we figured there was no way we would be able to all stay in the room and it was too late to book a hostel etc. Therefore I made the most awkward call ever to my momma Merce and was like “I know I told you weeks ago I didn’t need to but can I please stay with you tonight, they won’t let us all stay in our room?” She was furious that we didn’t know this sooner but said “Well of course, I have no other choice, what are you going to do, sleep in the street?” I felt like a little kid who had to call their parents after they had messed up. Oh well, we went downstairs to tell the woman at the desk that Sarah and Sam would be the ones staying and I wouldn’t. Note: convo has been translated into English for your benefit.
Concierge: “You can’t change that. You’re the one that checked in earlier today and you can’t change your mind now.”
Me: “I don’t know what difference it makes to you, if Sarah had given you her passport earlier instead of me then you wouldn’t have cared, neither of us has stayed here yet…I don’t see the difference.”
Concierge: “She would have had to check in earlier in the day, I can’t change it now”
Me: “What do you mean you can’t change it? Did you just write it on a piece of paper back there or did you put it online somewhere you can’t fix it?”
Concierge: “It’s already in the computer”
Me: “This is ridiculous. I’m not leaving until this gets rearranged.”
Concierge: “What gets rearranged?” (smirking…)
Me: “The room! I want to switch who is staying here.”
Concierge: “I don’t think you understand”
Me: “Yes, I do understand.”
Concerge: “No you don’t.”
Me: Do you have a boss?”
Concierge: “No”
Me: “There is no one else I can talk to? You can’t call anyone? You’re the only one here…”
Concierge: “Yes I’m the only one”

That’s when we just left. And called her rude things in English right in front of her. At this point, I didn’t want to confuse Merce further so I was going to stay there for sure. But, Sarah wasn’t allowed to stay at the hotel. She had to call her friend David and ask to stay there. So it turned out that Friday night, the three of us paid for a hotel but I stayed at Merce’s, Sarah stayed at David’s and Sam stayed at the hotel. Just wait til I get online to leave reviews for the place. Multiple reviews.

Yea. That’s when we decided we needed to go out for sidra. And this is where my night got good. We went to La Pumarada, which was my favorite place on Calle Gascona. I saw my favorite waiter and asked if he remembered me. Before I knew it he was bringing me a 43 with coca cola (my favorite) and said “You’re the one who hates sidra.” I was in love with Oviedo all over again. It’s one of those places that once it’s been your home it’s always your home. Even just walking through the University campus I saw some kids from Canisius College. Weird.

Oviedo was as loving as ever. It felt so weird to not have Jaime, Greg, Megan, Liz, Eric, Lauren, Sarah, Becca, and the rest of the 2009 UniOvi crew there with me! You guys are a huge reason why Oviedo was so fabulous. Let’s all go back.

We took two day trips on Saturday. One to this Roman Bridge in Cangas de Onis and the other to Covadonga which was unreal. The fog was thick and sort of low in the sky so it hung on the mountains and on the church towers. There was a wedding going on as well. It felt like we were tucked away in the most hidden and gorgeous spot in the world. Like we had been wandering through the Picos de Europa and had stumbled upon this unbelievable little alcove.

Gijon- my love. The coastal town I visited nearly every other Friday last time I lived in Spain. We had to go back, and share it with Sam. The views from the hills were awesome as always and the rain held off- impressively. However, the most eventful part of this trip was the bus station beforehand. Sarah, Sam and I had all gone into the bathroom right before the bus was going to leave. I came out and saw Sarah who was already heading towards the bus. I walked back to see if Sam was still in the bathroom and didn’t see her so I ran to the bus. The driver had to reopen the door for me to let me on and we pulled away. I was walking down the aisle and saw Sarah sitting alone. “Uhhh where’s Sam?” That’s when my phone rang with Sam’s little voice on the other end “Can you come back in the bathroom, I’m literally trapped in the stall?” Uhhh…. “Sam, I hate to tell you but we’re already on the bus…climb under? Yell for help?” Not only did we leave her in the Oviedo bus station, we left her trapped in the bathroom stall. I haven’t laughed that hard in a looooong time.

Monday was off to Salamanca which has a super well preserved city center with huge cathedrals, churches, and university buildings. We found the frog hidden in the carvings on the university wall. We hunted for an hour for a place with ice cream. We got to climb the church tower and have an awesome view. We found some “caves” that were more like empty old towers that took us up to a little private view where we obviously interrupted a little Spanish couple’s love sess. So we took our time and hung around just long enough to be really obnoxious before heading out.

We almost lost Sam a number of times. To be honest, I’m not sure how she made it back from the trip alive. We’ve decided (as per her own request) to let her live inside a little chocolate bombón, where she will be much safer.
Bored yet? <3 Hasta luego…

Maestra

They finally let me teach! Well actually the history teacher asked if I had any ideas for this geography lesson. So I, being an elementary ed teacher, went home and prepared note cards with words on them for the kids to get into pairs. Then I made a presentation for a Smart Board activity, and then I made some note outlines for the little ones. So we took a little field trip to the "Technology Room" with the SmartBoard as all the other rooms only have chalkboards. They were sooo excited. It went super well and I just took over...my teacher should have never asked for my opinion. Afterwards she said "Well...thank you! I didn't realize I had another teacher working with me". The first years were fun. We learned the difference between "beach" and the alternative pronunciation.

I called Merce (my spanish Mom from Oviedo) to tell her I'll be in town this weekend. She said she won't leave her house except to take out the garbage, otherwise she will be there "getting ready and waiting" for me. Soo ready to get out to Oviedo. This short week was surprisingly exhausting.

Empezamos

So last weekend we headed down to orientation for all of the language assistants who are in Spain. I thought I'd meet a fair amount of genuine/friendly people, but I was mistaken. It really is surprising how pompus people become after traveling or living in other countries and feeling "worldly" and "superior". So I did my best to avoid direct eye contact which might be mistaken as interest in someone's life, experience, accomplishments. I faired well!

I did get to see the Royal Palace, Cathedral, Crystal Palace and Retiro Park and got to eat some gelato, which I had to attempt to pronounce and order in Italian although we were in Madrid. All in all a decent trip.

This week we "started teaching", and by that I mean we went in Monday, they gave us our schedules and said "you know, tomorrow is a holiday so let's scrap today too and see you Wednesday". Spain's got it all right, we must be overworking our American teachers. But today my teacher did open the book to the next lesson and said "How do you want to do this tomorrow, and make these 15 new landform vocab words exciting and easy to learn?" Hm, as luck would have it all I've done for four years is make up lessons as I go and my creativity seems to be at its peak. Off to the SmartBoard room tomorrow for some interactive Geography tomorrow.

Last night we went for a little tapas crawl around the city for a friend's birthday. We were a group of nearly 20, though only 2 were actually from Spain. The rest were quite a mixed crowd: americans, mexicans, a canadian, a british girl, one from n. ireland, and lithuanians. Using whatever language we could to have some kind of meaningful conversation... mixing a little Spanglish here and there much to the dismay of one of our fellow tapa-goers. A smile and a laugh go a long way. Tis how I get myself both into and out of of most situations. What do you mean 'pajarita' means 'bow tie' and not 'straw'? Ah, can't be right all the time, cue laughing at yourself.

This coming weekend I'm heading to Oviedo to see my Spanish host family who I haven't seen in a year and a half and wasn't sure I'd ever see again. Stoked. It might very well be my favorite city in the world, so I'm thrilled to be going back. Hoping it doesn't rain the entire time (though Asturias rains rarely diappoint). Also hoping that my Spanish hasn't gotten so much worse that my Spanish family thinks I'm totally ridiculous. Maybe at least this time I won't cry for not knowing the word for extension cord. Surely they'll ask me something I don't know. I suppose that's why I'm here, eh? Cheers. Ask away, I've mastered the phrase "No tengo ni idea".

La Ciudad

This big fountain is where we usually end up meeting because it's right in the center of the city-near the cathedral, all the shops and cafes etc. The weather's been great and I can walk the whole city which is so nice. I went to shadow some classes today at the highschool and they were a lot of fun. The students are so much crazier than the ones I've had in the states. They have zero discipline and they are kind of rude. But they are Spanish so I automatically love them. I was in a couple of English classes today where they did translations and had to think of multiple ways to say the same thing both in English and in Spanish. I learned a lot! And was suprised that I thought of Spanish phrases that they didn't. :)

I went out to coffee today with a few of the teachers which was really loving. They have a 30 minute break and we went to the cafe across the street where there were literally 15 teachers from the school getting little cups of coffee, ha! One woman asked the person next to me what my name was and where I was from. Excuse me: me llamo Leigh, y no soy sorda, soy americana y hablo español. Ah, oh well. Some days I feel like I could say anything and do anything in Spanish and other days I think I'm a total failure and feel like I can't string a single sentence together correctly.

The picture of the mountain is from a little farther north in Spain, heading into the Picos de Europa. Sam, Julie, Alberto and I went for a drive up into the little towns and mountains. We wandered around the valleys etc and had a picnic. It was gorgeous, what a view. Though the mountains were impossible to climb due to a)barbed wire b)creeks at the base c)super steep d)no paths. SO we didn't get too far.

Next week we are going to Madrid for our orientation for all of the Americans/Canadians teaching here in Spain. All 500 or so of us in one hotel should definitely be interesting. The week after that we have a long weekend and we are already planning what cities to go to. Going to head north while the weather is still nice there, because it will start to get cold way too soon!

Off to find veggies-because they definitely only had like 2 kinds at the grocery store. I'm in need of a veggie stand!

El piso!

So...I'm finally in Leon. It's been a crazy few days, I feel like I've been here months already. I was super thrown into Spanish again, having to go to the bank, police station, town hall, foreigneres office, cell phone store, grocery store, meet a landlord, etc. Let's just say I've learned some new vocab this week. Gas tank for a stove...botella de butano. Didn't know I'd need that one. Empadronarse...register to be a resident...yes. It's going great.

I have an apartment, which makes me feel a lot more settled. The best part is it is superrr Spanish looking-pretty old style, which I adore. I can't wait to hang my laundry on the line.

These are the gaudy bathroom, my bedroom (which is pretty big!) and the kitchen.

I already got asked to babysit for a friend of one of the teachers I met. He wants someone to "play with his 5 and 9 year old and talk to them and teach them". Sign me up! Also, I am already pretty well-known around the city as "la americana" because I've been to all of the above-listed places like every single day all week.

So I am living with a girl who is teaching with me, Samantha, and two Spanish girls. The one spaniard is already moved in but I've been there two days and have yet to see her! She is MIA. The other moves in on the 20th so that should be interesting for sure. We are already all set up so it will be weird to feel like other strangers are joining. But I'm addicted to Spanish so I can't help but be thrilled. We also have a concierge at our apartment who has proven to be super helpful when we are clueless. I think I need a permanent concierge.

That's all for now! Hasta pronto.

Fotos

These are just a couple pictures of Leon, the city I'll be in. I visited last year for the day while I was in Oviedo. Beautiful.