Some photos from Haro today

Here are some pictures I promised.

Pura Vida!

Black and Brown are the not the same thing...

So before I tell you about my conversation on the bus, let me tell you about yesterday.

I did indeed have a lazy day. I slept in late. I ate lunch with the family that I'm staying with and then skipped the siesta to play with the 6 year old boy, Andrés. Wow, what an imagination he has! We played frisbee until I of course threw it in someone else's yard. Silly me. He then invented a game using a cardboard box. He put three holes in the box and labeled the 10, 20, 30. We sat on basketballs in the grass and tried to throw a marble in the holes. He threw the marble in the 30 hole, but I could not. When he detected that I was becoming bored with the game, he decided that we would play English word/Spanish word on the board. This game was followed by a leggo game in which we built a castle and then made paths for a marble to follow. I really became bored with this game so we started to build castles with playing cards and then we had a battle in which each of us slid cards across the moats to destroy each other's castle. Fun stuff.

Later that evening, I had a drink with a friend and ate my first kebab at Doner Kebab.

Today

I sat next to a lady on the bus today who noticed my black sweater against y brown skin and smiled. She said, "Look at your sweater, and look at your skin. They are not the same. Black is not brown.(los marrones no son los negros) I have a granddaughter with brown skin like yours. When people see her, they a say 'oh you are so pretty, where are you from?' and she tells them 'soy español, soy de España.'

When people refer to me here, they usually say the black girl (la negra) like they do in the US. The Brazilian woman that owns the last hostel that I stayed in spoke to a family over the phone (the family that I live with now) and told them how to distinguish me from the others at the bus station. She said, "Es una morena (dark skinned) con gafas negras (black glasses)"

Just something interesting...

Pura Vida!

Lazy Day

So today I don't have to go to school. No one does. It's a national holiday. I'll probably just walk around and take some pictures. I've failed to do that on other days, because I already have so much stuff in my hands and a camera adds to the pain.

Yesterday

I lead the English classes at the elementary school and the night school. It was very difficult, because the kids get bored really quick. We worked on some material for a play that they will see. They need to learn the plot synopsis and the vocabulary to be able to enjoy the play. I was surprised that so many of them wanted to answer the questions. The 11 year old kids are by far the funniest and most active. They tell alot of jokes and understand more English. The 9 year old kids don't understand as much English and so just start shouting at random words. I asked someone to tell me the meaning of "alone". Instead of letting me act it out, the teacher tried to explain the movie "Home Alone" to them in English. It was disaster. They started to shout out verbs that have nothing to do with the word "alone".

Night school was a bit difficult at first. The intermediate 1 class don't understand as much so they start speaking in Spanish when we break them into groups to do the exercises. They had to do exercises in which they agreed or disagreed with a given statement. We couldn't get anyone to disagree on the statement that women worry more about their diets than men. Everyone agreed with the man that said "I go to a restaurant and eat everything. She go and might eat nothing." They had a hard time understanding me, also, because I spoke too fast. Not because of my accent. I usually don't speak with an accent when I'm in school. I just need to work on speaking slower. It seems obnoxious when tourists do it. You've seen it. They talk really really slow and really loud. Well, in this class, that's what I'm supposed to do. I just need to get used to it. I also need to think of some simpler synonyms for the confusing words instead of more confusing synonyms...

The intermediate 2 class was fun. The jump in comprehension was amazing. They did excellent on reading comprehension. We read about the group ABBA. To begin the class, I asked them about the types of music that they listen to. Most of them said they enjoyed pop, but I didn't believe them. I assumed that this one guy didn't listen to pop. I totally stereotyped him because of his tattoos, leather jacket, and lip ring :/ I am a heathen, but I was right. He said that he likes metal rock and that his favorite group is Iron Maiden. This same guy also said that he does not like ABBA and can only listen to them after drinking. Also, he supposed that the group broke up, because love and work don't mix. He said, "If I'm around my girlfriend, I can't say what I want to say. These things don't mix. The working and the loving." We of course had to follow the book and listen to "The Winner Takes it All" to fill in the lyrics. This song was written after the group split. A lot of them could only fill in the blanks, because they knew the song. Sadly, the clip was a cover song and apparently the cover song was worse than the original. Oh and one more thing....Did you think Bjorn and Benny were boyfriends? One of my students did. :)

Pura Vida

P.S.

I promise the next post will have pictures.

I have a home!

So I can finally breath now that I have been blessed to find a room with a good family. Before I tell you about the family, let me tell you about Monday and Tuesday.

Sunday

I visited the small town of Haro (http://www.haroturismo.org/). It takes about 1 hour by bus to reach the town. The ride was not that bad, because I listened to my ipod and talked to a man from Ghana. It was interesting, but it seems that my conversations with 60 or 70 year old men always end in them asking me if I'm married. Gah!

Well, I walked around the town and found my schools. They are on opposite ends of the city. Great. I thought I had settled on living here, but I changed my mind. I don't want to be isolated all the time. I thought that I would be ok with living there, but I decided that I want to stay in Logroño.

Monday

I went back to Haro to find out what hours and days that I would be working. At the colegio (primary and secondary levels). I only teach on Tuesdays. My pupils are 9-11 years old. I thought I had it made until I went to the Official language school that evening. I teach Mondays for one hour, and Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for 3 hours. I teach later hours so I can't take any of the spanish classes that I had planned to take with the Universidad Popular. I can't have 4 day weekend to travel around. I can't take the evening ballroom and latin dance lessons. This really hit me hard. I've put so much into that, and I don't want to let my skills lie dormant for 8 months. I'll forget everything. :( I will find someway around this. The schedule especially aggravated me, because I was told that I was the first language assistant to show up in the last couple of years. Oh well. I will cope.

I also turned in my form to obtain resident status and I opened up a bank account. The process was so long, but I had someone who is accustomed to working with foreigners. She was very patient.

Tuesday.

I met the students! My 1000hr class consists of 10 year old pupils who are in the 5th level. They were so excited to see an American! It was so awesome. After I introduced myself. They had all kinds of questions. And of course, "eh", was used like 3 times in each system. I now say "eh" instead of "uh".

Some questions I was asked (corrected, of course)

Where is Georgia?

Do you like Spain?

Do you like soccer?

What is your favorite team?

What is your favorite color?

I was such a spectacle, because I am american and black. One girl came up to me at the end of class and said, "I have a cousin like you." Meaning, she has a black cousin. Great.

The 9 year old (4th level)pupils had less questions:

Do you like magic?

What do you like to do?

Why are you in spain?

The 11(6th level) year old pupils, well, are interesting:

Do you like Kobe Bryant?

Who is your favorite soccer player?

Do you like wine?

Do you like reggaeton?

Can you dance to reggaeton? (One kid proceeds to dance reggaeton. mmk)

Are you married?

Real Madrid or Barcelona?

It was very fun talking to them and listening to them try to formulate questions for me. They can get quite rowdy, but the director easily puts them in their place. I think that is so, because the school is religious. When the kids start to get out of control, the teacher says "1, 2..." If the teacher says 3, then the students have to copy a certain sentence or put their journals on the table so that notes can be written to the parents. While I was there, two kids had to copy something 25 times: I will be silent in class and I will work in class. I love it.

The official language school is quite different, because the class consists of adults. Some are retired with nothing else to do and others want to learn english for their jobs and for travel. Tuesday's classes have intermediate 1 and intermediate 2 students. Eventhough they are at the intermediate level, I still had to talk a little slower.

Wednesday(10/5/2011)

Nothing much. I just went to the night school to meet my students: Intermediate and Basic level. The intermediate 1 class was a bit intense. The teacher wanted to talk about sterotypes. She told the class to tell me about some stereotypes of Americans, and I told them about some of the stereotypes of Spaniards. In the US, there are mostly stereotypes of people from latin america so it was a little difficult. I'm sure there are some of Spaniards, but I don't know any yet.

Ok. Basic 2 level. You would think that the basic level would only know some basic English. Well, there was one lady who was out of control. She wanted me to teach them...genetics. I told them that my favorite part of my biology studies was genetics, and she wanted me to give them a lecture. Eh, what? She went on and on and on about her interest in genetics and the crossing of wheat and barley and wanted very much that I tell her about my time in the laboratory. Eh, what? The other students didn't know what was going on. Apparently this lady had lived in England for quite a bit of time and so had a nice grasp of the english language. Maybe she should have been in my Advanced 2 class instead of basic 2. For the next class, the professor made sure to tell the students to ask me "normal" questions. Haha.

When I returned to Logroño that night, I secured a place to live in a small neighborhood. It is a 30 minute walk (more or less) from the center of Logroño. It does not matter that much to me since I will probably only go out thursdays-saturdays. We have yet to get paid so I cannot do too much. The room is in a terraza with a couple (late 30s or 40s) who have a 2 year old daughter and a 7 year old son. My rent includes wifi, electricity, light, and food. Awesome. The mother only asks that I speak to her children in English whenever I am around.

Thursday(10/6/2011)

Nothing much happened during the day. That evening I had an advanced 1 class. I introduced myself, and we talked about hobbies. The advanced levels are more about oral practice than anything else. My next class was Advanced 2. The teacher who leads this class was out for personal reasons, so the class asked that I meet with them in a bar. It was 6 or 7 of them who had studied English from 3-6 years. I introduced myself, told them a little about Georgia, New York, and Florida. They of course new about the Coca Cola Company and the Golf tournament. We talked about the Georgia cuisine which is mostly cooked in fat. I used Paula Deen as an example. I also used her to imitate the Georgia accent. I do not sound like a southerner so I needed a point of reference. I also had to explain the meaning of "bitchy" conversation. They were supposed to come up with different adjectives for conversation and someone choose "bitchy". Eh, ok. We talked for maybe 1.5 hours, they invited me to have dinner with them next week in a cellar, and I was on my way.

Friday (10/7/2011)

No school! I moved into my new place with the family, I made a trip to the grocery store with the mother to pick out my favorite foods. I ate lunch with them and took a siesta. That night, I went out to the center of the city with another English assistant. We had some pinchos (tapas- small finger foods) and walked around.

Saturday (10/8/2011)

I practiced English with the kids and went to the center of the city to buy some stuff that I needed. I also signed up for a libray card. Yay! I will be there all the time.

Later on, I went back to the center to meet my friend. While I was waiting for her, I had some ice cream. The best ice cream in the world. Imagine a orange tootsie pop turned. Make that ice cream and you have chocolate a la naranja (orange chocolate) Yummy stuff.

When my friend arrived, we went to some bars and had some pinchos (tapas) and some red wine. It's sooo cheap! We also tried some mosto, which is the grape juice before it becomes wine. The real grape juice! The night ended with a stop at a cafe turned discoteca.

Today (10/9/2011)

I just walked avenue looking for a place to buy a good winter jacket. I'm going back out later to watch some theatre. Now, I'm going to take a siesta. Since you've read to this end of all my ramblings, you might want to take one too.

Pura vida!

update

Just wanted to check in so that my friend doesn't call the embassy number that I gave her....

I have lots to tell you, but I'm frustrated and exhausted as I am still looking for a place to rent and I have been waking up super early to catch the bus to commute.

I'll try my best tommorrow to write more. I really will. Here is some pictures to hold you until tomorrow. Well, for me, it is tomorrow. I'm delirious.

If you want a postcard, send me an email.

pura vida!

On the bus to Haro. I still don't have batteries for my real camera...



Just wanted to check in so that my friend doesn't call the embassy number that I gave her....

I have lots to tell you, but I'm frustrated and exhausted as I am still looking for a place to rent and I have been waking up super early to catch the bus to commute.

I'll try my best tommorrow to write more. I really will. Here is some pictures to hold you until tomorrow. Well, for me, it is tomorrow. I'm delirious.

If you want a postcard, send me an email.

pura vida!

In Logroño!

The view from my hostel yesterday

Hello all!

I arrived in Logroño yesterday by bus. The ride from Madrid to Logroño was 4 hours without any stops. I was irritated for most of the bus ride, but I will put that in my private journal. :/

I absolutely love Logroño and think I may want to stay here. It depends on the bus schedule and my school schedule. I do not think I want to spend 10 hours a week commuting. I will figure that out soon enough.

Logroño reminds me of Salamanca alot. The town seems to have the same layout. At night, the surrounding streets become very calm and quiet while the center of the city, the Plaza, has bustling crowds on every alleyway. I was a litte surprised and creeped out, however, to have a 70 year old man waiting outside the bus station for me, grinning and asking me to have a drink (tomar algo) I told him I was waiting for my friend (she was in the restroom) and then I competely ignored him when he would not leave. He walked off right before Laura came back.

We caught a taxi to a student residence and settled in. That night, Laura and I walked around time and went to to the Plaza to have two glasses of red wine (vino tinto), mushrooms (champiñones), ham croquettes (croqueta de jamón), and stuffed mushrooms (pimientos rellenos). We then met up with some of the other language assistants (auxiliares de conversación) and I did my normal antisocial gig. I try. I really do. It depends on the person.

Today, I am in another hostel that is closer to the bus station and the center of the city. I have already had coffee (café con leche), a muffin (called magdalenas), a piece of cake(not cake, but it tasted like cake), ham sandwich (sandwich de jamón), tortilla española, and lemon fanta ( fanta límon). Well, I had the offbrand kind, Kas límon.

After I finish sending some emails, I will look for apartments (pisos) and go visit the town of haro. Hopefully, I can find a place today. A ver ( We will see)

Pura Vida!

Cool quote

This is posted above the gift shop on the hotel...

Translated roughly (very roughly): It's not what I have, but what (or who (?)) I am.

Pura Vida!