March has been a pretty uneventful month. I didnt plan any trips, so I've been staying in my town every weekend, hanging out with my friends here and just living the boring life. Last weekend Magda and I went to our friends apartment for a barbeque and to use his oven to make some Polish cookies, which were AMAZING, even though they were a little deformed in the end. The boys we were hanging out with loved them, and enjoyed them while I beat them at poker, for once in my life! We were playing with euro pennies and 2 cent pieces (I dont understand the point of 2 cent pieces...), so I didn't actually WIN anything except pride. Earlier that week we also celebrated St. Patricks Day with the same friend who's Irish... he decorated his apartment in green and orange and many corny things that his friends and family had sent him from Ireland, including hats that light up and weird green and orange wigs. We drank beer and ate dinner, and then I watched as Magda made crepes while tipsy (hilaaaarious!), which we all enjoyed later with whipped cream and fruit. Then we went out to the sparsely populated bars and danced the night away, as if we were the only people there (which was almost true).
A few weeks before that I was on the radio for the first time in my life! My bilingual coordinator and another teacher at my school just started a new radio program where for an hour every Monday they pick a country and try to interview someone and play music from that country. They asked me to come for their United States day, and at first I was really nervous about my Spanish skills and almost didn't want to go. But they reassured me that it would be okay, so I sucked it up and went, and it actually turned out to be really fun! I brought some music including Sweet Home Alabama and they had some Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan CD's with them. And they interviewed me about if American high schools really are like what they see in the movies, with the jocks and the cheerleaders and all that (Yes. But sometimes less extreme cliques and stereotypes), and what was the ideal most important to Americans (our independence), whether I missed my car (HELL YES), among other things. And I was actually really pleased with myself and my Spanish skills! I realized that I do speak pretty good Spanish, and even if it's not perfect and I still dont know some vocabulary, I can get my point across. I was surprised to find myself really enjoying the hour and was happy that I came. It was also fun being in a radio station environment. One time Jon, the other teacher, forgot to put the CD in with the next song, and Fran and I were making hand signals to him frantically while keeping our voices casual, and when he finally figured it out we had to stall while he put it in and got it ready. It was hard not to laugh out loud at some of the things that happened while we were talking into the microphones. No one can SEE us, they can only hear us, and that was a very different and comical experience. Like there are two different stories going on... the one our voices portray to the listeners and the one that is actually happening for us.
This last Friday I finally got out of Priego since being in the Canary Islands. We didn't go quite that far, but Magda and I did tag along on a shopping trip to Cordoba with one of our friends and her sister, in a CAR. I was SO happy to be in a car once again, with the windows rolled down... it's actually starting to get pretty warm here, in the mid 60's, which is a great change from the cold before! I can sleep in just a t-shirt and sweat pants now, rather than bundling up in a sweatshirt and socks and a hot water bottle. Anyways, so we went to Cordoba and had lunch with our friends cousin, then we all went downtown and had coffee before we went shopping. I didn't find very much but it was so nice to be out of Priego and in a city with so much going on. We went back to Priego that night and the next day Magda and I continued our shopping spree in the town, to the limited stores that are here. Afterwards we met my other roommate Maria and some of our friends from my school, and we had tapas and drinks sitting outside in the sun. It was wonderful!
But I do blame Spain and tapas for the fact that my pants are starting to feel a little tight. I know I've gained a little weight while I've been here, so lately I've started running. At first I was hesitant about it because people here don't seem to understand "running for excercise," but now I don't care. It's time for me to do something about the fact that I sit around and do nothing a lot because lately a lot of my classes have been canceled and I end up having nothing to do. For instance, I didn't have any classes at my school on Thursday, and I dont have any tomorrow (Monday), either. I know that this may seem nice to some people, but it's horrible not having anything to do for this long. For a day or two, its great. But when it continues and you begin to feel unproductive and without a purpose, it starts to really suck. So anyways, I run the back way to the track (so that there will be less people staring and honking at me) which is about a mile, and then I run a mile on the track and then walk back to my place. It's a pretty good workout so hopefully if I keep that up I'll feel better and more healthy soon. Also I should probably stop eating chocolate and tapas. I can always get into better shape when I go home, but for now I just want to NOT have to buy new pants!
One last thing. I was looking through my sisters photo album on facebook and it really hit me how much I miss home. Spain is fine but I hate looking at pictures of my family and not seeing myself in them. I've realized here that I don't want to miss birthdays and Christmases and holidays and trips and Brayden learning to read and Cassy heading off to college and other big and little events. I like traveling, yes, but I've realized that I don't want to be away from my family and friends at home this long ever again. I want to be there in those photos with them. Although I've made some great friends here, it's lonely without the people I love in my life. I'm looking forward to meeting my mom and Grandma in Italy in two weeks (CAN TIME GO A LITTLE FASTER RIGHT NOW PLEASE?!), and then having Laurie and Lisa visit me, and then having one of my best friends visit and travel with me also. These last two months are going to go by SO fast as soon as I head off to Italy, so in a way I'm glad that I spend all of March in my town. It's the last time I'll spend this much time here, and even though it's been pretty boring I'm glad I've been able to attempt to enjoy it as much as possible and to relax before my final adventures here begin.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Carnaval craziness
Today I learned a new word in Polish. I dont know how it's spelled in the language, but it sounds like, "Shwishish" and it means, "Are you listening to me?" I LOVE IT! I know some words in Polish now, which is always fun when Magda is talking to her friends and I can say "hi" (Chesst) and "thank you" (Jeinky). I can also say "good" (Dobra), "good morning" (Jen dobre), "yes" (tak), and of course, "f**k" (koorva). Also, "noh" means "yeah" in Polish. So sometimes I see Magda nodding her head and saying "noh" which really confuses me! Magda also clicks her tongue like she's trying to get a horse to gallop when she is getting the attention of her one year old cousin, which sort of irks me because to me it sounds like she's making noises you'd make to an animal at a child! I know this is a ethnocentric thing to feel, but I just can't help it.
Anyways, moving on from Polish. I realized today that the reason I love my private classes so much is not because I get to teach, though that is still enjoyable, but it's the fact that I get to spend time with people and connect with them. In my one-on-one class with this 26 year old girl, all we do is have conversations and I correct her grammar and pronunciation. But I get to learn about her and make a connection. Today in my class of nine-year-olds, I gave them a vocabulary quiz, and then we read their book they have for their English class, Little Red Riding Hood. I had them read it in English out loud (correcting their pronunciation) and then translate it into Spanish (I feel great that I understand their translations and can correct them when they're wrong). At the end of today I suggested that when we finish the book, I should have them perform it as a play, and the girls got so excited! I love seeing kids like that, and I feel great that I can get them excited about learning. One of the things they learned today was "Who is it?" so when one of their mothers knocked on the door at the end of the class, they yelled, "WHO IS IT?!" and then burst out in fits of giggles. Kids are really quite easy to please.
Last week I went on a hike with some of the fourth year classes at my school. The hike was 10 kilometers through the Spanish countryside, and it was beautiful! First of all, there were no olive trees to be seen, just natural landscape. We saw a small waterfall and walked through valleys and hills. Near the end of the walk we were trecking through a canyon that was so impressive and beautiful! I found myself holding my breath as I turned a corner, in awe of what was in front of me. I feel so lucky that my school takes every opportunity to include me on any excursions, understanding my desire to experience all I can while I'm here.
This last weekend was exhausting but HILARIOUS. We went to Carnaval. In Cadiz. This celebration of Carnaval (equivilant to Mardi Gras) in this city is one of the biggest and most popular celebrations in Spain. The gist of Carnaval is that EVERYONE dresses up (like Halloween), and has a huge party on the streets. So on Saturday some friends and I took a bus from Granada to Cadiz, which lasted four and a half hours. When we got there, Magda and I put on our costumes (Bees! We had bought them from a chino store and they were slightly too big, so we had to take them in a little bit by sewing. I can do at least one domestic activity!) and headed off towards the main plaza in Cadiz with our friends. We got there, found a kebob place because we were starving, and just stood there and watched people walk by. I think I was laughing for about two hours straight, simply because people REALLY get into their costumes! People really like to dress up as groups in the same costumes or as a theme... the first thing that got me laughing was this group of men that were dressed up as chickens. They would find an innocent bystander, and then circle around them and "peck" at them for about 10 seconds, and then continue on and find their next victim. Everyone would be laughing and the people in the middle just slightly nervous until the chickens moved on. There were people dressed as sheep and the Three Musketeers and the Pope and the Frog Prince and anything you could imagine, even a man dressed as an (almost) naked woman. There was even a group of people dressed as BOTELLON (they were all a different alcohol bottle). These other guys dressed as sailors walked by and I yelled, "MARINEROS!" and they all turned around and saluted me, and continued on. I also yelled at some people dressed as Superman and they flexed their muscles at me! Everyone was really into their costumes and I was having such a great time, just watching people walk by. Spain is crazy though with their parties. People bring their own alcohol and they were drinking it anywhere, and the ground is just a huge trashcan. This huge plaza was PACKED with people, I could barely walk around! It had to be one of the craziest parties I've ever been to.
At five in the morning, the bus came back and we got on and began the long ride back to Granada. Everyone looked bedraggled; my wings were gone, peoples makeup was smeared, costumes ruffled and we all were exhausted and smelling like booze. After the five hour bus ride, Magda and I looked real classy walking around Granada trying to get another bus back to Priego in what we had been wearing under our bee dresses (tight black shirts, black tights, shorts, and boots) and messy hair from the night before. It was like I was on the longest walk of shame ever, but without the shame part actually happening, and I kept finding glitter everywhere. I felt like Ke$ha. Thankfully I am back in Priego for this weekend, so there will be much less craziness and I can actually relax!
Anyways, moving on from Polish. I realized today that the reason I love my private classes so much is not because I get to teach, though that is still enjoyable, but it's the fact that I get to spend time with people and connect with them. In my one-on-one class with this 26 year old girl, all we do is have conversations and I correct her grammar and pronunciation. But I get to learn about her and make a connection. Today in my class of nine-year-olds, I gave them a vocabulary quiz, and then we read their book they have for their English class, Little Red Riding Hood. I had them read it in English out loud (correcting their pronunciation) and then translate it into Spanish (I feel great that I understand their translations and can correct them when they're wrong). At the end of today I suggested that when we finish the book, I should have them perform it as a play, and the girls got so excited! I love seeing kids like that, and I feel great that I can get them excited about learning. One of the things they learned today was "Who is it?" so when one of their mothers knocked on the door at the end of the class, they yelled, "WHO IS IT?!" and then burst out in fits of giggles. Kids are really quite easy to please.
Last week I went on a hike with some of the fourth year classes at my school. The hike was 10 kilometers through the Spanish countryside, and it was beautiful! First of all, there were no olive trees to be seen, just natural landscape. We saw a small waterfall and walked through valleys and hills. Near the end of the walk we were trecking through a canyon that was so impressive and beautiful! I found myself holding my breath as I turned a corner, in awe of what was in front of me. I feel so lucky that my school takes every opportunity to include me on any excursions, understanding my desire to experience all I can while I'm here.
This last weekend was exhausting but HILARIOUS. We went to Carnaval. In Cadiz. This celebration of Carnaval (equivilant to Mardi Gras) in this city is one of the biggest and most popular celebrations in Spain. The gist of Carnaval is that EVERYONE dresses up (like Halloween), and has a huge party on the streets. So on Saturday some friends and I took a bus from Granada to Cadiz, which lasted four and a half hours. When we got there, Magda and I put on our costumes (Bees! We had bought them from a chino store and they were slightly too big, so we had to take them in a little bit by sewing. I can do at least one domestic activity!) and headed off towards the main plaza in Cadiz with our friends. We got there, found a kebob place because we were starving, and just stood there and watched people walk by. I think I was laughing for about two hours straight, simply because people REALLY get into their costumes! People really like to dress up as groups in the same costumes or as a theme... the first thing that got me laughing was this group of men that were dressed up as chickens. They would find an innocent bystander, and then circle around them and "peck" at them for about 10 seconds, and then continue on and find their next victim. Everyone would be laughing and the people in the middle just slightly nervous until the chickens moved on. There were people dressed as sheep and the Three Musketeers and the Pope and the Frog Prince and anything you could imagine, even a man dressed as an (almost) naked woman. There was even a group of people dressed as BOTELLON (they were all a different alcohol bottle). These other guys dressed as sailors walked by and I yelled, "MARINEROS!" and they all turned around and saluted me, and continued on. I also yelled at some people dressed as Superman and they flexed their muscles at me! Everyone was really into their costumes and I was having such a great time, just watching people walk by. Spain is crazy though with their parties. People bring their own alcohol and they were drinking it anywhere, and the ground is just a huge trashcan. This huge plaza was PACKED with people, I could barely walk around! It had to be one of the craziest parties I've ever been to.
At five in the morning, the bus came back and we got on and began the long ride back to Granada. Everyone looked bedraggled; my wings were gone, peoples makeup was smeared, costumes ruffled and we all were exhausted and smelling like booze. After the five hour bus ride, Magda and I looked real classy walking around Granada trying to get another bus back to Priego in what we had been wearing under our bee dresses (tight black shirts, black tights, shorts, and boots) and messy hair from the night before. It was like I was on the longest walk of shame ever, but without the shame part actually happening, and I kept finding glitter everywhere. I felt like Ke$ha. Thankfully I am back in Priego for this weekend, so there will be much less craziness and I can actually relax!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Lanzarote and Toledo
This past weekend Magda and I went to Lanzarote, an island in the Canary Islands. We left from Priego at 1:00 for Cordoba, and then from Cordoba to Madrid on a five hour bus ride. It was long and boring, but I was amused by watching this girl in front of me play a computer game where the main person was a bright pink pig, who had to collect apples. I saw that a couple other people were watching her too, and sometimes I wanted to take the controls from her and say, "HERE, let me try. You are frustrating us with your inability to do this one move." But I simply sat there and laughed under my breath at this game, and looked away when I wanted to steal her computer and do it myself.
We arrived in Madrid and quickly figured out the Metro... I am getting quite accustomed to traveling in all sorts of modes of transportation. We figured out how to get to our hostel, and left the metro at the correct stop. We walked along a street for about two blocks, and that is all that I saw of Madrid... the rest was underground on the metro, train stations, bus stations, and airports. The first hostel was crap, but we paid a crap price, so we definitely got what we paid for! The next morning we woke up very early and got back on the metro to get to the airport. After checking in and going through security and finding our gate, I noticed that there were other American girls waiting to go to Lanzarote. And I realized that I was annoyed! There were about five girls sitting together, speaking American English together, using all our little habits like saying "like" all the time and talking about college-student topics, like who is going out with who and hooking up with who... I was so annoyed. I dont know if it was because they were American or because they were American college girls, but I wondered to myself how I was going to survive when I get back to the USA! Perhaps its only when I hear the TRAVELLING, and representing the US in that way. Maybe when I get back to the US it will just fade into the background...
Anyways, we got to Lanzarote and it was absolutely beautiful! Mid-70's, sunny, warm, fresh. We got a taxi to our hotel, and I watched the island fly by me on the way there. It reminded me a lot of the big island of Hawaii, where most of the island is volcanic rock, but palm trees thrive along the beaches. We arrived to our hotel and stood in our room, shocked. We didn't have a hotel room, but a small apartment. There was a living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen with a small stove, a sink, and cupboards with plates and silverware. The door to our apartment was wooden double doors with large windows in them, and the doors opened up to the rest of the hotel which was outside, filled with plants, and a nice big pool with a snack bar/real bar right next to it. It was PERFECT! Magda and I jumped around and squealed with happiness for about a minute, and then put on our bathing suits and went out to the pool to order some sandwiches and well-deserved cocktails (which were HUGE!). The girl working at the bar seemed surprised when I spoke to her in Spanish. I realized quickly that most of the people on the island were retired couples or vacationing families from Northern Europe, who didn't know any Spanish. The girl at the bar and her co-worker who I met later both thought I was from Italy, which I take as a compliment! I didn't have an obvious accent! The evening bartender also made me speak to him in English for a little while, because he rarely hears American accents and he thought it was cool.
After we spent some time relaxing next to the pool, Magda and I went and explored the beach, which was also very nice! A lot of the beaches weren't beaches at all, but expanses of volcanic rock. When there was a beach, there were a lot of people on it because they weren't very large. But the weather was amazing; I was beaming at the fact that I could walk around in a t-shirt and shorts and be completely comfortable. Eventually we went back to our hotel and laid next to the pool a little bit more, and indulged in happy hour (two-for-one beers!). We went to our hotel around 6:00 to take a nap... and ended up sleeping until 7:30 the next morning! Magda and I have decided that we shouldn't be allowed to nap anymore, because we seem to suck at it. But we hadn't slep much the night before, we had travelled and walked a lot that day, and drank alcohol. So we weren't that sad about our nap-turned-into-full-nights-sleep.
The next morning we went and got some breakfast and laid by the pool until noon, when we had to switch hotels because of availability issues. The next hotel we went to was just as nice, with an apartment-style hotel room, a balcony and a pool we could lay by. I spoke to the man at the reception counter in Spanish, and he seemed to appreciate it. I spoke Spanish as much as I could on this trip... I got compliments almost every time I did! I'm not sure if they say I have good Spanish because they're just surprised to hear me speak Spanish because most foreigners don't, or if I actually have good Spanish. But I like hearing it all the same! But anyways, we had to wait a little bit for our room to be cleaned, so we were sitting in the cool reception when a British guy came in and started trying to speak to the man sitting at reception. It was obvious that this man didn't know much English, and I saw the two struggle to communicate. The English man finally got pissed and started to leave, and I jumped up and said, "Wait, sir! What do you need?" And he looked at me for a moment and told me, and I translated for the Spanish man, who replied and I translated that to English. This went on for a little bit, until everything was figured out. The English man left, and the Spanish man turned to me and said, "Thank you." and then he sighed and said, "That man has been drunk for the entire week." And as soon as he mentioned it, I realized that yes, this man definitely seemed a little drunk. Soon the English man came back in and got something sorted out, and then he looked at me and said, "You speak very good English." And I stared at him for a second. And then replied, "Oh. I'm American." We laughed a little bit and I left in a slight shock. How did he not know I was fluent in English?! I chuckled about this for the rest of the day.
Magda and I left the hotel and went to walk around for awhile, then came back and laid next to the pool for a couple hours. During this time I got up and walked about 20 feet down the road to the supermarket and bought beer, pringles, and some food for the morning. I put the food away and brought the beer and pringles to the pool, and Magda and I happily had a picnic next to the pool, drinking the cold beer and devouring the chips. It was wonderful, and so relaxing! Eventually we got hungry for real food, so we ventured out and walked along the road next to the beach, looking at all the restaurants for something good. I found a Mexican restaurant and was thrilled! We went in and I asked in Spanish if it was open because there was no one there, and they said yes so we sat down and I ordered Chicken Fajitas for us. While taking our order, the waiter said, "You have great Spanish! I was upstairs when you asked if the restaurant was open, and I thought you were Spanish!" I was so happy again! Lanzarote was just one huge ego boost for me and my Spanish skills. Anyways, so the fajitas got there, with the chicken on a bottom platter, the tortillas on the second platter, and little dishes of sour cream, guacamole, and salsa on the top. I happily dug in, but Magda stared at this for a second, then turned to me and said, "I'm confused. How do you eat this?!" I started laughing and it took me a minute to calm down before I could show her how to take the tortillas out of their little holder, put the chicken on it, put some sauces and rice on it, and then how to roll the tortilla. It was such a strange and wonderful feeling, teaching a foreign culture to someone who had never experienced it before. The fajitas were amazing, and I only wanted more when it was gone, even though I was full to my eyeballs.
That night we decided that we WOULD go out, and there would be NO taking any naps for us! While waiting for an appropriate time to go out, I taught Magda how to play quarters, but with a 5-cent euro rather than a quarter. And she had ENORMOUS beginners luck, and I was totally crap at this game, so I ended up drinking an entire beer in the time that she had two sips! I should have never taught her that game. When it was 11:00 we left the hotel and began walking along the beach road, looking at all the bars and restaurants and trying to decide where we would go for our first drink. At one of the places, a waiter began talking to us, and asked us where we were from. I said the US, and Magda said Poland. As soon as she said this, the man said something that I couldn't understand, and Magda suddenly laughed loudly and threw her hands over her mouth and doubled over in shock. The man was Polish! So of course we stayed here, and Magda and this guy talked for several hours while he was working, and I sat there happily listening to them. Magda barely gets to speak Polish. He was fluent in Spanish also, so at one point he asked me if I was okay with them speaking Polish, and I said, "Of course! She doesn't get to speak Polish very much, so don't worry! I'm perfectly fine." He also made us rather strong mojitos, and we ordered two, so I had fun with that also. He was very friendly and even though he was speaking a different language, I could tell he was a nice guy. Magda did eventually get a little too comfortable speaking Polish, because the next day when we went back there for our last drink, she at one point said something off-handedly to me in Polish. She suddenly looked at me as if she forgot who she was talking to and burst out laughing, then said in English that she was tired. I just laughed at all of these different languages converging.
Anyways, after our two mojitos we said goodbye to the Polish guy and headed down the road, where we found some clubs. We chose one even though it was rather empty because we had to pee, but they convinced us to stay by bribing us with 2-for-1 drinks. The guy at the door who was telling us about these specials wasn't Spanish but spoke English with an accent... and when he heard my American accent he stared at me and said, "Wow, you have a sexy accent!" And I was completely flattered! I dont ever know what people think about American accents, but to hear its sexy was kind of awesome! So we went in and had our cheap drinks. We were two of the only people there, so the DJ (and owner of the bar) told us we could request any songs we wanted, which we happily did for about an hour, dancing around by ourselves and having a generally good time. When that bar closed we continued down the street to a much more crowded club... this was obviously where the party was. Magda began dancing around and I went to sit down and began watching these two guys play pool. They noticed me watching and asked me if I wanted to play, which I did! I tend to be better than I think I am at pool after I've been drinking, and I had a great time. Eventually Magda found us and we all were playing together. These two guys were also on vacation, one from the Dominican Republic and one from France. We had a nice time but eventally headed back to our place at 6 am.
The next day we slept, ate and laid on the beach, enjoying our last moments in Lanzarote. In the evening we were at a bar, and the bartender looked at me and said, "These girls are from America too!" And I said hi, but turned back to Magda to continue our conversation. Then suddenlly I paused, because I heard these girls speaking Spanish. They were TERRIBLE. Their accent was just ridiculous, and I know I should give them props for trying, but hearing such a horrible spanish accent for me is like hearing nails on a chalkboard. And I figured out that they were studying in Granada, which means they SHOULD be working on their accent, no excuse! Magda saw my face and said, "Time to go?" To which I nodded, trying not to feel like a snob, and we left.
The next morning we sadly checked out of our hotel and got a taxi to the airport. We flew back to Madrid, and because it was too late in the afternoon to get a bus back to Cordoba and then Priego, we went to the nearby Toledo by train. We got there about an hour until sunset, so we ran around and tried to take as many pictures and see as many things as possible before it became absolutely black outside. When it did, we went to a bar and ordered some wine and beer and food, and made friends with the bartender, who was from Colombia. People in Spain are so friendly and they love to talk to the people they are serving and make friends! We had a great time talking to them, and when we got our check at the end of the night, they only charged us for two drinks when we had ordered six. It was a nice little present for our last night on vacation.
The next day we began the long journey back to Priego. We took a taxi, train, metro, and three buses. I missed my car SO MUCH. As we our bus was entering the Granada bus station, I saw the bus to Priego leaving. I moaned in agrivation... we would have to wait three more hours to catch the next bus! So while waiting, Magda and I began playing games like normal. We have become very good at entertaining ourselves in bus stations. We played this soccer game she taught me in my notebook, and then we played that connect the dots and make boxes game that I played with my students back in the US sometimes. And then Magda suggested battleship, to which I happily agreed and we drew our ships and began playing. She said, "B-5."
"Hit!" Crap, she got one of my boats!
"B-4"
"Miss. G-1?"
"Miss. B-6" She said.
"Hit." I knew she would sink my boat now, she only needed one more.
"C-5." I stared at her. What?
"Why didnt you sink my ship?"
"I'm trying!" She replied.
"But... boats can't be touching you know."
"I know!"
I stared at her. "Well then why didn't you sink my ship? You only had one more!"
"I told you, I'm trying!"
Confused, I looked over at her paper where she had drawn her boats, and suddenly yelled, "Your boats are wrong!" Her fleet of ships looked like a tetris game, with boats not in lines, but her three- and four-square boats shaped in any way that four squares can be placed together and still touching.
"No they're not! This is how we play in Poland!" She replied.
"Yes they are! Boats can't be curved! What is wrong with your boats?!"
"There's nothing wrong, this just makes it more difficult!"
"BOATS CAN'T BE CURVED!" I repeated loudly. What the hell is she thinking?!
"THEY'RE NOT REAL BOATS!" She half laughed/yelled at me. By this time, people are staring at our fight. We were yelling at each other in English in the middle of the bus station. I suddenly take a deep breath and sit back in my chair, arms crossed in defiance. It takes me a full two minutes to re-think my rules to battleship before I can accept it and begin playing again, with these new rules. It was a ridiculous thing to have an argument about, and we was laughing soon... but changing the rules to such a simple game that I have always played in the same way really caught me off guard! It was a funny cultural encounter.
We finally made it back to Priego, where it was freezing! We burst into our apartment and Maria was on her phone, but we didn't care. We began yelling out our experiences to her and she laughed and had to put her phone conversation on pause while we told her the most important things in excited voices, and finish the conversation later. I look back on this simple memory and I know that I'll miss things like this when I come home. I realized today that I only have 13 weeks left here in Spain... 3 months next week. It really shocked me. I also bought a hostel today for my last night in Spain before I fly home... that almost made me cry! I know that it will be nice to be home, but I will really miss Spain. Its such a crazy feeling to have, so I just try to ignore all these things and simply live the rest of my time here in the best way!
We arrived in Madrid and quickly figured out the Metro... I am getting quite accustomed to traveling in all sorts of modes of transportation. We figured out how to get to our hostel, and left the metro at the correct stop. We walked along a street for about two blocks, and that is all that I saw of Madrid... the rest was underground on the metro, train stations, bus stations, and airports. The first hostel was crap, but we paid a crap price, so we definitely got what we paid for! The next morning we woke up very early and got back on the metro to get to the airport. After checking in and going through security and finding our gate, I noticed that there were other American girls waiting to go to Lanzarote. And I realized that I was annoyed! There were about five girls sitting together, speaking American English together, using all our little habits like saying "like" all the time and talking about college-student topics, like who is going out with who and hooking up with who... I was so annoyed. I dont know if it was because they were American or because they were American college girls, but I wondered to myself how I was going to survive when I get back to the USA! Perhaps its only when I hear the TRAVELLING, and representing the US in that way. Maybe when I get back to the US it will just fade into the background...
Anyways, we got to Lanzarote and it was absolutely beautiful! Mid-70's, sunny, warm, fresh. We got a taxi to our hotel, and I watched the island fly by me on the way there. It reminded me a lot of the big island of Hawaii, where most of the island is volcanic rock, but palm trees thrive along the beaches. We arrived to our hotel and stood in our room, shocked. We didn't have a hotel room, but a small apartment. There was a living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen with a small stove, a sink, and cupboards with plates and silverware. The door to our apartment was wooden double doors with large windows in them, and the doors opened up to the rest of the hotel which was outside, filled with plants, and a nice big pool with a snack bar/real bar right next to it. It was PERFECT! Magda and I jumped around and squealed with happiness for about a minute, and then put on our bathing suits and went out to the pool to order some sandwiches and well-deserved cocktails (which were HUGE!). The girl working at the bar seemed surprised when I spoke to her in Spanish. I realized quickly that most of the people on the island were retired couples or vacationing families from Northern Europe, who didn't know any Spanish. The girl at the bar and her co-worker who I met later both thought I was from Italy, which I take as a compliment! I didn't have an obvious accent! The evening bartender also made me speak to him in English for a little while, because he rarely hears American accents and he thought it was cool.
After we spent some time relaxing next to the pool, Magda and I went and explored the beach, which was also very nice! A lot of the beaches weren't beaches at all, but expanses of volcanic rock. When there was a beach, there were a lot of people on it because they weren't very large. But the weather was amazing; I was beaming at the fact that I could walk around in a t-shirt and shorts and be completely comfortable. Eventually we went back to our hotel and laid next to the pool a little bit more, and indulged in happy hour (two-for-one beers!). We went to our hotel around 6:00 to take a nap... and ended up sleeping until 7:30 the next morning! Magda and I have decided that we shouldn't be allowed to nap anymore, because we seem to suck at it. But we hadn't slep much the night before, we had travelled and walked a lot that day, and drank alcohol. So we weren't that sad about our nap-turned-into-full-nights-sleep.
The next morning we went and got some breakfast and laid by the pool until noon, when we had to switch hotels because of availability issues. The next hotel we went to was just as nice, with an apartment-style hotel room, a balcony and a pool we could lay by. I spoke to the man at the reception counter in Spanish, and he seemed to appreciate it. I spoke Spanish as much as I could on this trip... I got compliments almost every time I did! I'm not sure if they say I have good Spanish because they're just surprised to hear me speak Spanish because most foreigners don't, or if I actually have good Spanish. But I like hearing it all the same! But anyways, we had to wait a little bit for our room to be cleaned, so we were sitting in the cool reception when a British guy came in and started trying to speak to the man sitting at reception. It was obvious that this man didn't know much English, and I saw the two struggle to communicate. The English man finally got pissed and started to leave, and I jumped up and said, "Wait, sir! What do you need?" And he looked at me for a moment and told me, and I translated for the Spanish man, who replied and I translated that to English. This went on for a little bit, until everything was figured out. The English man left, and the Spanish man turned to me and said, "Thank you." and then he sighed and said, "That man has been drunk for the entire week." And as soon as he mentioned it, I realized that yes, this man definitely seemed a little drunk. Soon the English man came back in and got something sorted out, and then he looked at me and said, "You speak very good English." And I stared at him for a second. And then replied, "Oh. I'm American." We laughed a little bit and I left in a slight shock. How did he not know I was fluent in English?! I chuckled about this for the rest of the day.
Magda and I left the hotel and went to walk around for awhile, then came back and laid next to the pool for a couple hours. During this time I got up and walked about 20 feet down the road to the supermarket and bought beer, pringles, and some food for the morning. I put the food away and brought the beer and pringles to the pool, and Magda and I happily had a picnic next to the pool, drinking the cold beer and devouring the chips. It was wonderful, and so relaxing! Eventually we got hungry for real food, so we ventured out and walked along the road next to the beach, looking at all the restaurants for something good. I found a Mexican restaurant and was thrilled! We went in and I asked in Spanish if it was open because there was no one there, and they said yes so we sat down and I ordered Chicken Fajitas for us. While taking our order, the waiter said, "You have great Spanish! I was upstairs when you asked if the restaurant was open, and I thought you were Spanish!" I was so happy again! Lanzarote was just one huge ego boost for me and my Spanish skills. Anyways, so the fajitas got there, with the chicken on a bottom platter, the tortillas on the second platter, and little dishes of sour cream, guacamole, and salsa on the top. I happily dug in, but Magda stared at this for a second, then turned to me and said, "I'm confused. How do you eat this?!" I started laughing and it took me a minute to calm down before I could show her how to take the tortillas out of their little holder, put the chicken on it, put some sauces and rice on it, and then how to roll the tortilla. It was such a strange and wonderful feeling, teaching a foreign culture to someone who had never experienced it before. The fajitas were amazing, and I only wanted more when it was gone, even though I was full to my eyeballs.
That night we decided that we WOULD go out, and there would be NO taking any naps for us! While waiting for an appropriate time to go out, I taught Magda how to play quarters, but with a 5-cent euro rather than a quarter. And she had ENORMOUS beginners luck, and I was totally crap at this game, so I ended up drinking an entire beer in the time that she had two sips! I should have never taught her that game. When it was 11:00 we left the hotel and began walking along the beach road, looking at all the bars and restaurants and trying to decide where we would go for our first drink. At one of the places, a waiter began talking to us, and asked us where we were from. I said the US, and Magda said Poland. As soon as she said this, the man said something that I couldn't understand, and Magda suddenly laughed loudly and threw her hands over her mouth and doubled over in shock. The man was Polish! So of course we stayed here, and Magda and this guy talked for several hours while he was working, and I sat there happily listening to them. Magda barely gets to speak Polish. He was fluent in Spanish also, so at one point he asked me if I was okay with them speaking Polish, and I said, "Of course! She doesn't get to speak Polish very much, so don't worry! I'm perfectly fine." He also made us rather strong mojitos, and we ordered two, so I had fun with that also. He was very friendly and even though he was speaking a different language, I could tell he was a nice guy. Magda did eventually get a little too comfortable speaking Polish, because the next day when we went back there for our last drink, she at one point said something off-handedly to me in Polish. She suddenly looked at me as if she forgot who she was talking to and burst out laughing, then said in English that she was tired. I just laughed at all of these different languages converging.
Anyways, after our two mojitos we said goodbye to the Polish guy and headed down the road, where we found some clubs. We chose one even though it was rather empty because we had to pee, but they convinced us to stay by bribing us with 2-for-1 drinks. The guy at the door who was telling us about these specials wasn't Spanish but spoke English with an accent... and when he heard my American accent he stared at me and said, "Wow, you have a sexy accent!" And I was completely flattered! I dont ever know what people think about American accents, but to hear its sexy was kind of awesome! So we went in and had our cheap drinks. We were two of the only people there, so the DJ (and owner of the bar) told us we could request any songs we wanted, which we happily did for about an hour, dancing around by ourselves and having a generally good time. When that bar closed we continued down the street to a much more crowded club... this was obviously where the party was. Magda began dancing around and I went to sit down and began watching these two guys play pool. They noticed me watching and asked me if I wanted to play, which I did! I tend to be better than I think I am at pool after I've been drinking, and I had a great time. Eventually Magda found us and we all were playing together. These two guys were also on vacation, one from the Dominican Republic and one from France. We had a nice time but eventally headed back to our place at 6 am.
The next day we slept, ate and laid on the beach, enjoying our last moments in Lanzarote. In the evening we were at a bar, and the bartender looked at me and said, "These girls are from America too!" And I said hi, but turned back to Magda to continue our conversation. Then suddenlly I paused, because I heard these girls speaking Spanish. They were TERRIBLE. Their accent was just ridiculous, and I know I should give them props for trying, but hearing such a horrible spanish accent for me is like hearing nails on a chalkboard. And I figured out that they were studying in Granada, which means they SHOULD be working on their accent, no excuse! Magda saw my face and said, "Time to go?" To which I nodded, trying not to feel like a snob, and we left.
The next morning we sadly checked out of our hotel and got a taxi to the airport. We flew back to Madrid, and because it was too late in the afternoon to get a bus back to Cordoba and then Priego, we went to the nearby Toledo by train. We got there about an hour until sunset, so we ran around and tried to take as many pictures and see as many things as possible before it became absolutely black outside. When it did, we went to a bar and ordered some wine and beer and food, and made friends with the bartender, who was from Colombia. People in Spain are so friendly and they love to talk to the people they are serving and make friends! We had a great time talking to them, and when we got our check at the end of the night, they only charged us for two drinks when we had ordered six. It was a nice little present for our last night on vacation.
The next day we began the long journey back to Priego. We took a taxi, train, metro, and three buses. I missed my car SO MUCH. As we our bus was entering the Granada bus station, I saw the bus to Priego leaving. I moaned in agrivation... we would have to wait three more hours to catch the next bus! So while waiting, Magda and I began playing games like normal. We have become very good at entertaining ourselves in bus stations. We played this soccer game she taught me in my notebook, and then we played that connect the dots and make boxes game that I played with my students back in the US sometimes. And then Magda suggested battleship, to which I happily agreed and we drew our ships and began playing. She said, "B-5."
"Hit!" Crap, she got one of my boats!
"B-4"
"Miss. G-1?"
"Miss. B-6" She said.
"Hit." I knew she would sink my boat now, she only needed one more.
"C-5." I stared at her. What?
"Why didnt you sink my ship?"
"I'm trying!" She replied.
"But... boats can't be touching you know."
"I know!"
I stared at her. "Well then why didn't you sink my ship? You only had one more!"
"I told you, I'm trying!"
Confused, I looked over at her paper where she had drawn her boats, and suddenly yelled, "Your boats are wrong!" Her fleet of ships looked like a tetris game, with boats not in lines, but her three- and four-square boats shaped in any way that four squares can be placed together and still touching.
"No they're not! This is how we play in Poland!" She replied.
"Yes they are! Boats can't be curved! What is wrong with your boats?!"
"There's nothing wrong, this just makes it more difficult!"
"BOATS CAN'T BE CURVED!" I repeated loudly. What the hell is she thinking?!
"THEY'RE NOT REAL BOATS!" She half laughed/yelled at me. By this time, people are staring at our fight. We were yelling at each other in English in the middle of the bus station. I suddenly take a deep breath and sit back in my chair, arms crossed in defiance. It takes me a full two minutes to re-think my rules to battleship before I can accept it and begin playing again, with these new rules. It was a ridiculous thing to have an argument about, and we was laughing soon... but changing the rules to such a simple game that I have always played in the same way really caught me off guard! It was a funny cultural encounter.
We finally made it back to Priego, where it was freezing! We burst into our apartment and Maria was on her phone, but we didn't care. We began yelling out our experiences to her and she laughed and had to put her phone conversation on pause while we told her the most important things in excited voices, and finish the conversation later. I look back on this simple memory and I know that I'll miss things like this when I come home. I realized today that I only have 13 weeks left here in Spain... 3 months next week. It really shocked me. I also bought a hostel today for my last night in Spain before I fly home... that almost made me cry! I know that it will be nice to be home, but I will really miss Spain. Its such a crazy feeling to have, so I just try to ignore all these things and simply live the rest of my time here in the best way!
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