Huelga

I love my job so much! These are some of my coworkers. Bolivian flag in the background :)

So I haven´t written in almost a month...sorry I have been very busy. My travels have taken me to Granada, Sevilla, and París. But I will write more on those later.

This week the strike was horrible. The metro always is polite and announces strikes a week or so before. Some background: the economy in Spain is horrible. The unemployment rate is worse here than in Greece and Portugal. So a lot worse than the USA. It is currently a horrifying amount of 19-20%. And as things are worsening, there are more and more strikes. It is hard to go anywhere and avoid them. Someone is always angry and striking. So Monday I woke up 2hours earlier and got to work fine. Tuesday morning I did the same. When I entered the metro, everything was not working. I climbed down the stopped escalator and when I reached the bottom the crowd of workers called to me and told me that the metro was closed. I was like "what the hell do you mean it is closed, where do I go?" Luckily I had anticipated problems and had left earlier for work. I was one of the the few lucky people to flag down a taxi and get to work. Good thing too because there was a huge meeting/presentation that day with our office, our sister office in Bolivia, and the city hall of Madrid. As the day went on, I figured out what had happened. All right, more background: while every union o sindicato has the right to strike, they must at least offer minimum service for the city. However, the metro workers are furious and in the wee hours of the morning, the night before, they announced that they would have no metro. Now, 2million people rely on the metro to move anywhere in this city. Buses had lines around the corner to get on, and people were packed like sardines. It was not an option for me. And taxis had lines as well and were hard to come by. I ended up waking back from work. Highways were shut down, there were too many cars to move. City driving was also miserable. Imagine a city where no one drives, and everyone relies on public transportation. Now imagine it flooded with traffic worse than rush hour traffic in Detroit. Ambulances and cops were flying by every 15minutes.

The next day, there was still no metro. I woke up very early and made the journey again to work. This whole time I am lugging around my purse and backpack with laptop(I save all my work things in there). My voyage to work is about 1h and 15minutes long. My feet were ripped by day two. But I was luckier than most. Props to the tías still rocking the high heals, I definitely wore my nice little work outfit with tenis shoes for comfort. After I walked home I had an hour to make lunch and then walk the hour to school. After I walked back from school, I completed 20km for the day in a time of maybe 4hrs and 30minutes. I was feeling the burn! The government was presuring the metro to open as it was thier legal obligation, but they had failed. National Guard were in some stations like Nuevos Ministerios and the government tried to negotioate the reopening of a few lines, anything to stop the insanity that had gripped the city.

Finally, on Thursday the metro started running some trains again. I still didn´t trust it and walked to work again. It takes a very long time to get to work or anywhere still. And now, Sunday, the metro is still on an "indefinite" strike. This is most illegal but at least the trains are running. And still there are more flyers and protests for more things to go on strike. I really do noe understand this rationality. The metro workers are simply hurting the working class who is also experiencing difficulties just like they are. This whole strike where the metro was not running was absolutely out of line, and apparently had only happened like 3 times in Spanish history.

I don´t even know what tomorrow will be like, that is the scary part. I would just walk to work again, but I am teaching a 2hr Inglish class tomorrow so I don´t want to show up all sweaty and gross. Oh dear.

Well this week was fun otherwise. I went to the Orgullo Gay parade yesterday- the largest Gay Pride Parade in all of Europe. It was so much fun! We climbed the scaffolding of a building to get some good pictures of the desfile as it went by. After, we hopped on the metro for Santiago Bernabéu to watch the game there! It was a blast. And we are going to the semifinals! Spain has la Copa Mundial in the bag!

I am a bit under the weather again though, I feel pretty sick but I want to get better soon! This coming weekend I am going to London to see Simon and Paula! I am so excited. I may be on a plan during the world cup finals though...I am pretty upset. But at least I should be landing in time to celebrate our victory! The weekend after next I am going to Rome to meet Ashleigh and one of her friends! These next two weeks will be tiring but well worth it. I also am in the trámites of planing a trip to Morocco! And then the rest of the weekends I will spend in good old Madrid.

On a side note, I now understand how to function in a Spanish hospital. They are very different from the US. I took my friend there who was sick this morning/afternoon. Not the best 4th of July for us, but we ate some McDonalds at the hospital to celebrate!

¡Feliz Cumpleaños América!

Viajeros nuevos

I am sad to see two of my roommates go back to the United States today but I am excited for the next round of international people! Two French travelers are coming today in 8 hours, and I am excited to get to meet them! Supposedly it is a middle-aged couple. I am going to take advantage of this opportunity to practice my French before I go to Paris in a par de semanas. My French is dreadful but I have my practice cds and book as well as a French to Spanish guide book to help me along. I have also begun stepping up my Arabic and have a native speaker to teach me every once and a while. It`s going very slow of course, I have a lot to learn! But yesterday my teacher (my friend Lisa´s boyfriend Adil) broke down the vowel system into a set of phonetic symbols so I can work on learning them. Reading is going to be my biggest challenge. I wish I knew about the French couple earlier, I just found out today. I would have intensified my French studies the past couple of weeks, because I have been slacking.

Yesterday I went to El Escorial with Caroline and Lauren. We were originally going to go to Valle de los Caídos también but it is closed indefinitely so we couldn´t even catch a bus to the area. El Escorial was neat though, a lot of art and history and beautiful architecture. And the bus ride through the mountains to the campo en las afueras de Madrid was amazing. And so was the return- flying down the curvy mountain roads at breakneck speads, just the way I like it. On another positive note, I got a student discount at El Escorial of about 50% off which just made my day! That`s all the more money I can save for Paris, el Sur de España, and Roma which are coming up soon.



I am also freaking out about la Copa Mundial. It starts so soon!! I gotta learn some fast fútbol knowledge (currently it is very basic) and get an España jersey! I thought we wouldn`t have much of a chance but people have been telling me that we might be poised to do well.



I am loving Spain!! The only downer is the lack of Spanish; it is difficult to practice. I mostly read on my downtime so I can learn more, with speaking it is harder to find companions other than when at the store, and that is maybe a few second "conversation". But yesterday I was excited to talk for hours in Spanish to Lisa and Adil at thier house. It made my week and I got so much practice. I would not shut up, I was so eager to speak Spanish with someone!

If I got more than two hours of sleep last night, I would go stay out later tonight, but as it is I think I will ave some fun during the day and then turn in early so I can wake up for Rastro tomorrow en la Latina. It`s the Madrid open air market that happens every Sunday morning. It is supposed to be huge but it gets too crowded to move around 10:30-11am so I was gonna catch the metro around 9 to try and get a solid hour of some decent shopping in. I hope there are some good peaches there tomorrow!

Primer día de trabajo

Well, I have finished my third day of work. The first day was just me following people around and taking notes and poking my head in some workshops. I learned a lot. In order to get papers, a person must demostrate 3 years of residency here and have a work contract. That is the minimum, and most people are here for longer. They cannot leave the country either because then they cannot get back in, so many are here for years without seeing thier family. ACOBE offeres services to people with and without papers trying to get the card that makes them a legal citizen. In Spain, a non citizen is only entitled to 2 things: healthcare and education for minors. And with la crisis of the economy, things are getting tougher for immigrants to make ends meet. Discrimination is high as well.

Yesterday, I was set to work translating thier entire website. I worked for hours! It is hard to translate, frequently there are words in Spanish that can yield multiple English words and vice versa. Occasionally, I would have to ask someone to read the sentence and give me a few synomyns or describe that word in other words a few times so I could pick the English word that I liked the best. And I also had to explain the English words sometime in Spanish and try to explain thier slightly different meanings in order to figure out exactly which meaning they wanted to convey to the public. I still have work to do on the website, thankfully I got a translating break today. I am not a big fan of translating but it wasn´t as bad as I thought it would be. I just hope I do a good job. They are always shocked when I tell them how old I am. I cannot wait to be 20 so people won´t look at me like a baby anymore.

Today I shadowed some more departments. At ACOBE, many different services are offered: there is a legal department of lawyers, a phychological department to counsel people, a cultural department to help with immersion and retaining old cultures, and a labor department to help with employment and consiguiendo trabajo and also to make sure that people´s rights are protected in these jobs. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings are huge because we have a line outside of people looking for the services offered at ACOBE, which is always completely free to the public. They will line up for a while until we open.
Today there was a seminar (there are several a day everyday) that I attended. The leader got a call and stepped out and told me to entertain everyone. I was freaking out for 10seconds and then pulled it together and talked with everyone, telling them a bit about myself and asking about them. They had many questions about the United States. Afterwards, I felt really good. I do not know what happened, but the fear melted away and Spanish just started flowing out. Today I learned a lot and was really happy with how the day went. Yesterday I was mostly alone translating, but I don´t have my own desk so I bounced around several times. Today I got to see a lot more of how things functioned and talk and be more vocal and assertive. I really liked that. And I like what my job does and how it helps people. It has opened my eyes a lot. I will write more on what I have learned later one though, I have a tendency to write way too much in these blog posts! I know that I am teaching English to children in July. At first I was upset to teach English and translate, but I love kids and I will only have one or two classes a week so I will suck it up. Besides, English is one of the reasons I got hired so I have to deal with it sometimes at least. I am excited to see what next week will bring me at work.

Tomorrow is Corpus Cristi, a Spanish holiday. So I do not have work and I was originally going to travel in the South of Spain but I got my Mediterranean Vacation last weekend so I will save that for later. I can´t go a weekend without traveling though, I love it! So I will go on a day trip or 2 (the price is really cheap too!) to some areas near Madrid. I´ve checked off a chunk of my travel list but I still have a lot left! I am going to London the second week in July, Paris sometime this month, and Rome sometime this month hopefully. Also Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba in the South of Epaña. Morocco will be in late July, and then I hope I can hop over to a few more places in Italy (Venice, Le Cinque Terre, Florence) but I don´t know how far in debt I can go over here! So I will cross that bridge when I get there. But I am only young once. I don´t need money and sleep, I can get that working at college again next year! Though I don´t think I will sleep until I am dead.

Tonight I am going bar and club hopping with my roommies! Then tomorrow I may do some outside work on translating that website so I don´t have to translate at work on Monday and can shadow and go to more workshops.

Valencia

My spontaneaous travel style brought me to Valencia this weekend. I bought my tickets the day before, found a friend to go with, and embarked on my journey. Valencia is a 4 hour bus ride away from Madrid. We had to cross out of mountains, into the Mancha, then over some more mountains, then to the coast. The main goal of this trip was to see the Mediterranean Sea. I love oceans, probably something that has to do with me growing up in Florida. We got off the bus, had no idea where to go (I love that feeling of adventure!) and asked around and got a guide book for 1E. Then we just hoped on the metro, my prefered method of traveling, and had to make a few connections to get to the playa. The metro in Valencia is nothing compared to Madrid´s, but it was quite interesting to see that a lot of it was above ground. My host madre would have enjoyed that becuse she always tells me I´m like a little rat for always taking the metro everywhere.

I found the ocean!!! This is the 4th ocean I have seen and probably my favorite now that oil has destroyed the Gulf of Mexico :(

After we got off, we had to find the ocean. After walking for a few minutes we found it! The water was beautiful and smooth and so was the sand. It´s the first time I´ve been to the ocean in so many years I almost wanted to cry. Since there were only two of us, we had to take shifts watching the backpacks. We ate our packed lunches, mostly containing bread because it is barato. I sat soaking up the sun and reading for 45 minutes then it was my turn to swim. I was so happy. I went out pretty far, and tried to catch some waves for body surfing but waves were not the Mediterranean´s strong point. Oh well. One thing I will metion that was quite odd was European Beaches. Ok, I know that there are a lot of nude beached supposedly in Europe, but this was not one of them. However, it was still perfectly acceptable to walk around without a top on or tan topless. It was interesting...and a really wierd thing for an American to see. On a similar line, Europeans do not know the meaning of censuring "mature" moments on television or movies even with children around. I was absolutely horrifyied on the bus ride back with the movie we watched, I mean obviously I am old enough for that, but vamos, a child? Pienso que no.

But back to my Valencia story. One thing Spain has taught me is the value of water...it is priceless yet in the US it is everywhere and free of cost. Water costs just about the same as coca cola in restaurants here and you don´t get refills in Spain. My water thermos was by far probably the best thing I brought with me. It gets heavy carrying around a bunch of water everyday, but it is worth it. You can drink out of the tap in Madrid, so I fill a bunch of water up before I leave for anywhere and take it with me becasue I never know how hard it will be to find water that day or how expensive it will be. My backpack was heavy with water in Valencia, but it was so worth it. One big difference about Valencia and Madrid is the language. They speak castellano and "valencian" which is a dialect of Catalán. I could tell immediately that it was catalán. All the signs were either in valencian or castellano(Spanish as most Americans know it). Soem things were only in catalán. This was not a problem, I could read it and understand it, but it was...I don´t want to say annoying, but it was a tad more difficult to get around because of it. Luckily, all the locals spoke back in castellano and were very friendly and I understood them. But sometimes, as I was evesdroping (which I try to do sometimes to learn the language better) I was confused.

After staying at the beach for a couple hours, we decided to move on to the next thing. Now, Valencia is a city that requires a couple days at least to see and we had but one. That meant we didn´t get to see the Arts and Sciences Museum with Europes largest acquarium (I think it is the largest). While this was sad, I was perfectly content walking the city and seeing where actual people lived instead of being just a tourist. We walked 45miuntes to the town´s center and there we climbed a beautiful castle. And of course on the way we ran into some guay stuff too. After hanging out for a few hours and seeing some neat buildings and parks, we headed back to the train station and walked downstairs to the bus station. There we grabbed a quick bite and got ready for the long bus ride back to Madrid. Therefore, we were in Valencia for maybe 8hours of fun. It was worth it!



So I definitely but locks on my backpack to keep it protected, which was a good call I think. After our rest stop on the way back, I noticed that someone had tried to open it. I am a pro at sleeping on planes and bused and protecting my belongings now, after the flight here and some experience on buses and trains. My backpack went inbetween my legs and I squeezed my legs to keep it secure. My little bag stayed around my neck and on my lap, but with my hand firmly locked over it. And since I cannot function without music and my sleep usually is shallow in these situations and I still can hear it, I keep my ipod on and locked in my hand. It´s the first thing I grab tighter when I hear something stirring in my sleep. I am good at sleeping yet being alert. I heard some movement about 30minutes later on the bus and instantly was jolted awake and securing my grip on my pertenencias. This kind of thing usually is not a problem, but in a 24 hour period, I was around 2 attemped robberies, one of which was on me, so I´m looking out a little bit more this weekend. Nothing serious, and I was lucky to have some guys with me. But it does make me a little more precautiaus this weekend.



After we got back to Madrid, I thought I was going to die of exhaustion but I knew that I had to take the long metro ride back. We got into Madrid around 45 minutes after midnight. The last metro trains on the lines run at 1:30 so we were booking it to try to catch them. Luckily, I only had one transfer and it was early so I made it back to my house around 2am. It would have sucked if I had to walk home from so far south, it would have taken hours! So I am very glad and lucky to have taken the metro.

I didn´t go to Rastro, the Sunday market here in Madrid today, but I think I will definitely head out to Parque del Retiro for a nice reading break before I get cracking with work tomorrow. I am a bit nervous for my first official day, but I am also very excited.

Día típico

Step 1: I wake up and take a quick shower, of course only using water when I absolutely am needing it to rinse off, in the European style, and all the other moments showering without the water on. Then I quickly get changed and eat some breakfast...usually a café con leche and dos galletas (not the cookies you would think of in the USA, different) with some strawberry mermelada and maybe a piece of tostada(again, not American toast, much smaller and premade sort of so there isn´t really butter on it, it is small piece of hard, crisped but not burned, bread that I have come to love. And if I am on the run, I just grab a banana and eat it like a NewYorker on the way to the metro. Most people in Spain actually sit down and eat a breakfast in the morning so I look wierd running with a banana in my mouth. Therefore, if I can I avoid this.

Step 2 is the metro. This can be tricky. It is easy to navigate and use, but in the morning, around the afternoon siesta/lunch break, and again in the evening; this whole process becomes a jungle. There are full out security gaurds yelling at us and telling us where to go (in as nice a way as they can of course) and people shoving an pulling all sorts of tricks and manuvuers to get that coveted spot on the left hand side of the escalator (the fast lane). There are so many people in thier suits, school uniforms, ect running, jumping, and squezing themselves strategically to get out to the open air. My stop for school now is un lío. We are deep in the earth and need 3 sets of pasamanos (escalators), or maybe its 4, to reach the open air. Now, metros also have different bocas. This means to say that there are several different exits from the station that go to different streets. Some have as many as 6 or so, so it is imperative to pay attention and push to your boca. At this point, the crowd is pretty much dispersed to where they need to go. Step 3 is traffic and crossing the busy roads. After that is achieved I have a one or two block walk to school on which I pass my favorite bookstore that sells foreign books. I have already boughten a Spanish to Italian book and a Spanish to French traveling book. There will be many more purchases to come too. I have also purchased some Spanish books at open air street vendors´stands. Next, getting to work takes longer than school. I am in a cutoff barrio in the South of Madrid; there is only one metro in and out. After I get off at my boca I have a 3 block walk or so. My interview went well I suppose because I have the job! I am anxiously waiting to see what my new job will have in store for me.

Al momento I have just finished dinner, it is 22:10 here, or 10:10pm. And I think I am going out for a night on the town with a few roommates. This is after I have some time to read the book I am reading now, La casa de los espíritus por Isabel Allende.

And then I wake up at 7:30am and repeat the process. I don´t know what I would do without my café con leche to get me going in the morning. I have come into the bad habit of drinking as many as 3 cups a day. I drink one at breakfast, 1 at second breakfast around 11:30am and then another in the afternoon if I don´t get my precious siesta.

P.S. I hope Natalie Kozlowski feels better. I am so sorry about your dog!! We should Skype sometime xoxo
Reading in a plaza near downtown

Adjustment Fears

I realized today that I cannot return to the United States. I don´t think I can live there anymore. It will always be my first home and I will always reserve a special place for it, but I need to live in a Spanish speaking country from now on. After I graduate, I am thinking seriously about not doing the Peace Corps or Americorps and just moving somewhere. I know basically what I must do. I need to save enough money to live for 2months without work becasue it is difficult to find. Then I must work in my new country for a few years until I can become a citizen. After that, I´m sure I will become restless again and move to a new country. So maybe I will bypass the new citizenship.



Nextly, I must begin seriously pursuing my next language. I have studied English for a decade and then when I was 10 Spanish began and now I am almost 2o so I must pick my next language to be fluent in. I have been studying Italian, French, and Arabic but doing so at the same time is starting to prove to be ridiculous. I know the most Italian but I am starting to lean towards Arabic and French I think. Any suggestions? I have one month to pick and then I must dedicate myself to its study!

My job interview at ACOBE is tomorrow at 4:30pm. I am a little nervous, but I´m going to go in there with a smile and a dose of confidence.

My new traveling schedule includes, Santander in Northern Spain this weekend, then Granada and Cordoba in Southern Spain the next weekend. The Mediterranean is coming up as well and I hope to hop over to Paris soon!

Continuando mi viaje

I refuse to come back empty handed, I will find me a Spanish man. Oh look I already have one!





I am so small and insignificant in comparison to this!




Salsa dancing buddies in Madrid!

So I am really having a blast in Spain right now. Thursday was the one week mark for me, and I can´t believe how much I have done after only having been here for 10 days. Me and a few girls also on the study abroad went and took a day trip to Toledo, the old capital of Spain and the first city taken back in the Reconquista after it was occupied by the Moors for centuries. I´m delighted that it is finally warming up in Spain! In Toledo it was about 36degrees celcius (about 98degrees) and it was AMAZING! I am going to finally be tan. I can´t explain how happy the heat makes me, it´s just...so relieving. Toledo was very nice, we went to a fancy cathedral, the best in Spain according to many. We also saw the last surviving mosque, and a variety of museums and really cool architecture. It was too fun to put into words, and the view was breath taking. Only a 30minute train ride from Madrid in which we got to see the belleza of the campo and afueras de Madrid and Spain.

I have also gotten a lot of shopping done in Spain! I love European clothing, it is well made and cheap in price. I was talking with the woman from Germany in my Spanish class and she said it was so funny because all her friends love to go shopping when they are in the United States. The grass is always greener on the other side I suppose.

Today I went to a beautiful ancient cathedral for a very traditional Catholic mass in the morning with my friend Caroline. Then we laid out in El Parque del Retiro, pretty much the most amazing place in Madrid to be a hippy and hang by the lake and grass, and sand, and trees and flowers. I would equate it to what I did everyday last summer at the Stoney Creek Metro Park.

I am still being as stingy as I can with lunches to save money for traveling and a future trip abroad next summer. But as I look around, I can´t help but feel that even with my financial preocupances, I am better off than some in Madrid. I have decided to try and donate 1E at least a day to someone homeless in the metro or on the street. Lots of Latin American immigrants and Northern African ones are struggling to make ends meet here (as is everyone nowadays around the world). It´s really sad seeing good women turn to prostitutes to make a few euro. I was walking around the Chuerco district the other day and was shocked. I turned to my friend and whispered "are those prostitutes?!?" and she confirmed my observations. Yes, prostitution is legal here, but pimping is not. And this particular street is lined with them.

I am getting really desanimada with my Spanish studies though. I feel as though I am not improving. I know this is me being ridiculous because I have only been here for 10 days but it still bothers me a lot. I want to learn so much! And I cannot make the Spanish accent either. It´s like an American moving to Britain and trying to be British, everything is so hard to alter to sound different. But my in person job interview is this Thursday for ACOBE, ojalá que pueda ganarlo pero no sé. I am a bit nervous about the fact that I am not as nervous as I should be. I am also worried that I will mess up and say a culturally wrong word. I need a crash course in Bolivian Spanish asap. Hopefully once I am around only native speakers for 8 hours of my day I will pick up some new tricks.

Sleep is the hardest thing to come by for me here. There is so much to do and so little tiempo to do it. But Friday everyone in the Capa Internship Program went to see a nice flamenco show and drink some good wine. Afterwards we went to one of the famous cave bars that are legit. Even though it was a long day, it was so worth it.

I don´t know why I have been complaining so much these past few days, well I guess I kind of do. I don´t know, I just had a really difficult week last week. My great-aunt died unexpectedly, luckily I got to say bye to her via phone. That mixed with my worries and preocupations that I will not improve my Spanish has just led to a devastating week for me. But for the most part, I put on a smile and am happy to have made several new friends here. It is mindblowing how easy it was to acostumbrar myself to this city. I really do feel at home here...even though my home life is strict and full of rules. I cannot imagine returning to the United States, it will be so strange a place to me now.

Más de España

So yesterday was my first day of class. I learned how to fend for myself on the vicious Spanish metro on the way there, but it really wasn´t all that bad. My commute is about 45mins. I may be located in the city, and it may be only a maybe 15minute car ride without traffic, but the Madrid city life adds time to everything.



I really like my class, there are maybe 15people in there from all over the world and only one girl from the group I came with. Native countries vary from France, to Scottland, Britain, Germany, Turkey, and China plus a few more. This makes it so we have the common language of Spanish to speak in, though some other people know some English as well. So far, I spend the majority of my day thinking and speaking in Spanish which is amazing. These past few days have taught me so much via experience. I am comfortable going anywhere and talking to anyone in Spanish.

After class I went shopping for the first time here (not for groceries or essentials, for clothes!!!)!!! Me and Lisa went everywhere, and I love the style here. I bought a shirt and nice trench coat at Blancos a native store to la moda de España. Prices are great too! I got good deals and of course the quality is much better than in the USA.

After that I came home for dinner with the roomies and la Señora. Afterwards I decided that I wanted to go walk around the city alone at night. Sounds like a bad plan, but I knew I would be safe, I´m comfortable here. It´s quite strange how easy it was for me to adapt to living here and to accustom myself to everything and the culture. I feel so normal here. I don´t even glance too much at all the monuments, they are just part of my walk back from lunch. Not completely though, I am still really enamered with the atmosfere here. But anyways, so I went exploring at night by myself in Puerta del Sol. I think night is the best time to see a city because you can see its true colours; daytime is a facade, a trick of the eye. One can see the hard time Spain has feel upon at night. The people laughing and playing music during the day, are reduced to shivering people in a blanket under the archway of a beautiful cathedral. Lots of, for lack of a better word, beggers, have dogs too to try and play on sympathies of toursists for money and also I suspect for companionship. The economy here has been hit bad, protests are all over the place (thought I suspect it is like that always because this is the capital) and tensions are high. It will be interesting to follow politics here, as there are increasing pushes for protectionist measures and backlashes to counter them as well. Madrid by night is bella.

Today I went to class again. Yesterday I was feeling a little discouraged. I realized that it doesn´t matter that I was in a high level Spanish class at Michigan State, I still have a lot to learn when it comes to being in a Spanish city. But today, I woke up anew and ready to conquer the world. Class was good today, I made friends with a lady from Germany and another from Scottland in my class and we sat and spoke Spanish together during our second breakfast break, our only break in the 4 hour class, at 11:30am. It is really cool to see people coming together from all over the world to speak a language together. And the different accents adds a new twist to things. Langauge truly is something amazing.

After class ended at 1:30, I went home for the customary siesta. My one hour nap refreshed me and is super healthy also for the mind, spirit, and body. Then I went shopping with Lisa again at a store called Sfera. I bought a new work dress of good quality for an even better price. We ate lunch around four oclock at the Arabic Restaurant we like and then browsed a few more places. After that, I had a typical rest of the day with dinner around 8:45pm and now it is 11pm. I think I will sleep now though because I have to get up around 7am tomorrow. Without my café con leche and siestas I don´t know what I would do!

San Isidro y los demás

So I studied some French yesterday...it was bad. But after that I decided to go out with two of my roommates, Xander and Jeff, to go celebrate San Isidro! There was a HUGE concert in plaza de España and we went and hung out there, went to a bar, and then went to a VIPS (a very popular restaurant chain here in Madrid/Spain. It was really funny, because when my hostess came back from spending the day with her children at 8:30 or so and saw that we were still here, she was horrified. She told us to get out into the street and not to return until 7am!! Well, I have still had a hard time adjusting from US Eastern time, jet lag destroyed me for some reason, so we came back around 2am, pretty early by Spanish standards.



Today I FINALLY got a cell phone. It´s about time, meeting up with people is difficult when you make tentative plans at random stops on the metro. I also did quite a bit of exploring and picture taking today. Well, I went to Puerta del Sol and upon getting off the metro I was in the middle of a huge protest. It was very interesting to view a Spanish protest. After, I met up with Lisa and Adil. We ate at a really good Arabic restuarant too. I´m probably going to be going there a lot because they don´t eat ham or pork and niether do I so it works out pretty well. We went all around to Puerta del Sol, Parque del Retiro, Plaza de España, Plaza de Santa Ana, y many other places too! Then we went to an Irish bar to watch the fútbol games, there were two important ones at the same time. Unfortunately Real Madrid didn´t do so well and Barcelona wooped who they were playing. O well. Vale, pues I am going to sleep now, it´s 11pm so I am probably the first in the house to sleep. But I have to get up at 6:45 tomorrow...so yeah. I think me and Lisa are going to go shopping tomorrow though! And then to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) and hopefully the Museo de la Reina Sofia porque I really want to see Pablo Picasso´s Guernico!

Ayy, mis primeros problemas

So yesterday we all went out to a bar called el tigre and I had my first Spanish sangria. It was excellent. And we ate the tapas and other things they brought us too. I am complemented because people say that I look Spanish and speak well! I think I belong here, maybe I will move here after college...I am thinking yes. Well after we went to this club called Joy near Puerta del Sol where it was only 12E for cover and two drinks! Yea, it was pretty much amazing. We stayed there until 4am...I had no idea it was that late. Usually in Madrid people stay out until 7am or so when the metro starts running again (it closes down at 1:30am). But I had orientation at noon the next day so I wanted to return early.

Problem: my alarm is too quiet and with jet lag and little sleep, I didn´t wake up. I was horrifyed. And it really sucks not having a cell phone or anything. What do you do when you are totally screwed and alone and have no idea where to go or what to do? Well I cried for the first time today, all in Spanish of course.
Finalmente I discovered that Xander and Jeff were in the house still so I borrowed Xander´s phone, and got a hold of my hostess who had gotten in touch with Marisol my program coordinator and worked it all out. So off I go to run and get there 2hours late. But I took the bus which was a huge mistake, I should have taken the metro, I like that better. Pues, I messed up with the bus a few times and basically, long story short, was lost and alone. I only had a small map scribbled on paper because that´s how I do, I like to wing it. Well, I finally found the International House and got there and just started crying and crying. I hate to admit that but I was embarrased and frustrated. The woman started talking to me in English (in the house it is English students so she knew where I was from) but I refused to break. I am only speaking Spanish here. After I was responding in Spanish and she replied "well look at you speaking perfect Spanish, much better than my English" or something like that and then she started speaking in Spanish the rest of the time with me. I was complimented and proud that even while distressed I can speak Spanish. I´m trying to find the positives from my misadventure because siempre es mejor pensar en lo bueno. It´s always good to look on the bright side and find the good in everything. Well, she walked me to the restaurant my group was at and I got there just in time before the kitchen closed at 4pm...four hours late to my orientation. But no pasa nada. Next time I know what to do. And I have a better alarm now too!

I ate at a McDonald´s for the first time here today, just to try it out. Man, Mickey D´s in SOOO much better in Europe, one can taste the difference in quality! But yes, that is the last time I eat there. Backtracking a bit on the subject of food, for lunch at 4pm I had a salad and a pizza dish. I have a tendency to "be polite" and just eat what is given to me (however I don´t like pork which I´m gonna have to learn to like, and I don´t like dressings on salads or other things) but I can deal. So I got my salad and was eating it, dressing and all but I hated every last bite with that dressing. After, I found out that my chicken, apple, lettuce, carrot, tomato salad had a dressing called salsa rosa. And salsa rosa is ketchup mixed with mayonnaise. I HATE mayonnaise. Ayyy what a horrible surprise. Oh well, at least I know why I didn´t like it before. So I suppose today was a bad day. But I don´t feel bad at all, I am perfectly happy.

Around 10pm tonight I had another meal after my 8:30pm dinner at McDonalds. I had café con leche, which I absolutely love probably because me muero por café, and galletas con mermelada de fresas. Translation: small European, hard cracker cookies with strawberry jam. I loved my snack for the evening. Well, it is still early here by Spanish standards, only midnight. Usually people sleep at 1am if they are going to bed early. This is perfect for my lifestyle. I am studying some French and Italian and then going off to an early bedtime. I really need a cell phone, but San Isidro, a Spanish holiday of sorts, is tomorrow so everything will be closed. Shops in the city here close around 8:30 or 9pm and open around 10am usually. And sometimes they close for some time in between 1pm and 5pm for the afternoon siesta that is traditional. Vale, well by any means I will wake up tomorrow and go celebrate in the streets with everyone tomorrow. I love España.

On a side note, my English is horrible. I still refuse to speak in English if I can manage unless someone really wantsme to because I want to improve my Spanish. So today, at orientation, I had to speak English and I had completely forgotten some words and only knew the Spanish ones. I am going crazy. But I suppose forgetting English is a good thing. Although, I definitely had a hard time getting my point across. One day, I will be good at seperating the languages I know and being able to speak either language and either time. Until then, I have some work to do.

Más sobre la casa

So I finally met all my roommates. They are leaving in early June though so I guess I will be either alone or with other students who are new. No lo sé. So I am living with Anna from D.C., and Xander and Jeff from Missouri. For dinner, we eat seperately, the boys eat first (they just pulled me up a chair and I sat with them while they ate), and then after that they have to leave and we girls eat accompanied by Señora Zornoza. There are only two places at the table, but a third chair can be pulled up. This, and I believe also the fact that the Señora is conservative makes it that men and women eat seperately. In addition, we only get 30minutes to eat or the food is taken from us, not much time for chatting. I think Señora is harsher on the boys about that one though. She calls over that she needs the dishes and today she told the boys to talk less and eat more. It was pretty funny.

We are only permitted to speak castellano in the house, though the rule is frequently broken. Hopefully more Spanish will be spoken and I can immerse myself.


Funny side note- my meal happened to have an apple today. I was so happy! And I forgot that Europeans are disgusted with our manners. I bit into the apple thinking that there couldn´t possibly be a better way to eat it. Señora was aghast and stared at me like I was crazy! She was worried about my teeth etc and immediately asked me if I would like a knife instead. I was thoroughly embarrased and took the knife after she got one from the kitchen.

I can´t wait to go out on the town! We were going to leave around 10 or 11 pm, so in and hour or so. To combat jet lag, I passed out for a 4 hour siesta today. So hopefully I will be able to stay out tonight. And then I have to get to the International House by noon tomorrow for my program orientation. I got this!

La ida y llegada

I just arrived maybe six hours ago in Madrid. Flying was so much fun, I was definitely one of a small handful of women traveling alone. I flew from Detroit to Atlanta and then out to Madrid. On the Madrid flight I sat next to another girl who was on her way to a study abroad in Spain and her future roommate was a couple seats away. I watched the Hurt Locker on the way there, I´ve been wanting to see it for a while now; it was a very powerful movie. We had a small dinner at what was perhaps 9:30pm Detroit time. I tried to sleep a bit, and managed to get maybe 4 hours in. I am super exhausted at the moment.

After landing, I got in a taxi and went to my new address. The taxi driver didn´t speak any English which was awesome. But it was peculiar because the radio was turned to an American station and apparently everyone loves American music here. Huh. All in all the taxi ride was fun. A man met me after I paid the taxi driver and helped me carry my two bags upstairs...I live on the 10th floor. And then he gave me my metro pass and keys, one for the building and one for my house. I was alone in a new house for maybe 15 or 20 minutes until Señora Zornoza returned. She seems very nice, definitely very consevative. I am living with three other students but some of them are leaving soon. There are two guys who I haven´t met yet that share a room and then a girl from Alaska who studies in Washington D.C. I met her an hour ago maybe.

My keys.

So before I met the girl, Señora Zornoza pointed me in the general direction of a phone store because I desperately need a phone. This resulted in me going on a couple hour-few kilometer adventure by myself out into the streets of Madrid. It was so much fun! No English to be found. I went into a couple phone stores and asked about phones but I think I´m going to try a different service company my housemate recommended to me. I am in desperate need of a nap though after all my adventuring! My room here is small, the house is too. There is a kitchen and a family room (which I thought it would be rude to take pictures of ) and then 3 bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms. While this sounds like a larger house, it is altogether maybe the size of 3 rooms in the typical American house. I kind of like that though: I have less possessions and more freedom.



Tonight me and the other three students are going to go out to a bar or something. Hopefully I can stay awake, I have to be at the International House at noon tomorrow. And I start work in two weeks. So far Madrid is very different and I am loving the chance to explore my new home!

Pre-Departure

A week ago I decided it would be nice to write a travel blog. I will only have internet access about once or twice a week and I want to be able to tell everyone how I am doing. I thought this was the best way for me to communicate with everyone, especially considering the time difference and my lack of internet.
I just moved out from Michigan State today and will be leaving on Wednesday May 12th for Madrid. I will be back on August 7th. For the first two weeks in Madrid, I will be taking an intensive Spanish class with people from all over the world in Madrid´s International House. Then, I will begin my internship. I just found out that I was accepted by ACOBE, a human rights NGO (non-governmental organization) that deals with the rights of Bolivian immigrants in Spain. I am super pumped to begin working there. I also will be finishing up my Spanish major at Michigan State by writting my 15page research paper(in Spanish) and creating a portfolio that represents what I have learned.
While I am going to miss everyone back in the States, I cannot wait to think, speak, dream, read, and write Spanish in a native speaking environment. I will also be getting some traveling under my belt while I´m in the nieghborhood. I plan on going all around Spain (especially Andalucía, a southern province), Morocco, Italy to practice my Italian, Paris in France, and the United Kingdom. I promise to take lots of pictures and I´ll try not to forget English on the way!