September 25, 2011

So things are definitely getting harder before getting easier. Yesterday I met with a woman named Nuria, whose husband works at the school that I’m going to work at. Nuria and I had been emailing a lot before I came here about Navalmoral and about me teaching conversation classes to her kids. So she invited me out to lunch with her and her family yesterday. I met them at a café where we each had a drink and chatted for a while, then we went to a restaurant and had a ton of delicious tapas.

After lunch, they had invited me to a barbecue on their friends’ rooftop terrace that night, so we parted ways until them. I came home, showered, took a little siesta, had a merienda, and just hung out until 7.30, when Nuria met me on my street and we walked to the barbecue. The friends’ house was right next to the school I’ll be teaching at, so she showed me the best walking route to get there.

Once at the barbeque, Spanish overload kicked in. Nuria knows a good amount of English, so we had been switching between English and Spanish all day. But, Nuria also has a cold/allergies and was losing her voice, so by the time we were at the BBQ, she wasn’t really in any condition to play translator. There were so many people there (all either over 35 years old or under 13) and they all spoke Spanish so quickly and loudly and all at once. I was definitely overwhelmed and though they all were trying to include me, most of the time I had no idea what was going on.

It was interesting seeing a Spanish BBQ versus an American one. At this one, there was bacon, other kinds of pork, beef, and morros…that’s right…the return of the pig cheek/lips/whatever it was I had to eat the day before. I stayed clear of the morros and had a bit of the bacon, bread, and salad. At a little after 10.30pm, I think Nuria could tell I was ready to leave and she was also still feeling sick, so the two of us left and she took me back to my apartment.

While it was lovely meeting all of Nuria’s friends and family, I do just want to meet and make friends with people my age. But still, I’m in Spain and am so happy to be here. It’s so good to finally get some of the things I’ve been missing since leaving Valencia…

Things I missed about Spain:
-La comida: All of it is so good (minus the weird stuff…eg: morros). Shopping at Mercadona and has definitely been one of the highlights since being here. I’m also thrilled to have café con leche back in my life.
-Casual day drinking: Everyone has a beer or two or three with lunch and it’s completely normal. I’ve been embracing the tinto de verano or when I don’t feel like alcohol, the fresh orange juice. So good.
-Walking everywhere: Cars are overrated.
-Spanish children: SO cute, dressed like little adults, but not in the creepy “Toddlers and Tiaras” way.

Things I didn’t know I would miss about the USA:
-WiFi in cafes (or really anywhere): I’ve been without the internet for almost a week (grabbing a few seconds of it here and there) and it’s awful. Now I know what drug withdraw must feel like….
-To-Go food: Now, I’m not talking about fast food, but if I don’t feel like cooking and if my hundreds of friends (ha) are all busy, I only have two other options. 1) don’t eat, or 2) sit at a café and eat by myself (which gets pretty boring)…neither option is very good.


So basically, there are definite trade-offs to being here, but I do really like it and know that my Spanish is going to be so good when I leave and that in a month, I probably won’t even miss the Wifi in cafes or to-go food anymore ☺