Madrid, NYC, Ann Arbor, LA, SF, SLC, Idaho, phew I'm tired!

Hellooooo

What a long time it’s been. When I last wrote I was heading off for my long awaited return to the USA. It was quite an adventure! Coast to coast, 5 states, 3 weeks, and lots of friends and family to be seen. Oh yeah, and tons of good food to be eaten!

I left Madrid on March 26th and was headed first for New York City. The flight west really isn’t too bad (6-7 hours) but especially when you are very lucky like I am and get to sit in business class thanks to wonderful family friends who work for Delta. The first signal that I was once again surrounded by Americans was this: The flight attendants served dinner and I dug in. About three minutes in, the flight attendant comes back to say, “Are you finished?” I looked at my plate (which was 75% full) then looked back at her with a face that hopefully read, “Does it look like I’m finished?” I said no and she left me alone. About two minutes later she was back with the same question. Once again I said no. At that point I looked around and realized most of the other passengers were on the next course. So unless there’s some new prize on airplanes for who can eat the fastest, I’m going to guess Spain has changed my eating habits.

When I landed in JFK and picked up my bags I immediately got a taxi and headed for NYU law campus. As we merged on to the highway I noticed one thing, “Man these cars are HUGE!” I’m not just talking about the big SUVs. I mean, clearly those are enormous. But even our “compact” cars seemed big to me. Example: early in my time here I met a Spanish guy who was quite proud of his “big American car”. He was bragging about how he has the biggest car of all his friends but also lamenting that it was nearly impossible to park. The car? An old Ford Taurus. WOW… HUGE!

Anyway, I got to NYU and headed in for day 1 of an admitted students weekend. All in all the school was great. I met lots of awesome students, was wowed by the faculty and the programs, got to see the tiny, exorbitantly expensive student apartments, and was really impressed by the whole thing. I was definitely excited about it. I was lucky enough to have a friend, Ryan, from USF who lives in Brooklyn who let me stay with him. It was great to get to see the Brooklyn side of NYC also. I had all day Saturday just to explore the city so Ryan played guide and took me on a walking tour. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge through China Town and Little Italy. We took the subway up to Times Square, got a cupcake (or two) at famous Magnolia Bakery, and then explored Central Park. We also had a slice of pizza (or four) from a place that got voted “Best Pizza in NYC” by Food Network (though best pizza in New York is a huge debate I don’t want any part of). It was great! I had a really amazing time in New York and while it’s not somewhere I would want to live forever, it’s a pretty awesome experience.

After a fun weekend in NY, it was time for the next stop on the tour. I jumped a plain to Detroit, Michigan, where our old family friend, Steve was nice enough to pick me up. I got to hang out for a bit with his ridiculously cute children who were so sweet. I used to babysit them but they were really little so I figured they wouldn’t remember me. But when I got there Hailey (age 7) ran and gave me a big hug and said, “I really missed you.” I love kids.

That day we drove through Ann Arbor (the town I came to see) and I spent the night catching up on some sleep. The next day I walked to the University of Michigan campus where I had a little day of activities planned. I met with an admissions director to get some of my questions answered. I wandered around the cute college town and got a great deli sandwich for lunch. I sat in on a transnational law class that was pretty interesting. And finally I took a private tour of the law campus with a second year law student. The Michigan law campus is unbelievably beautiful. The law quad is part of the main campus but its four walls keep it quiet. All the wonderful things I heard about the school were true.

From there I got on yet another plane, this time going to LA. My good friend from high school, Ryan (another one!) was my gracious host. My first day in LA I had a day planned to visit UCLA law. My situation was interesting in that I was staying near the USC campus but had to get to the UCLA campus. I decided to save myself a lot of money on a cab ride and take the bus. I’m a pro with public transportation at this point, right? Well, let’s just say it was an epic journey. According to Wikipedia the campuses are 10 miles apart and the bus ride took a little over TWO HOURS! What fun! It was also a nice opportunity to get the scenic tour of some of LA’s less picturesque neighborhoods. But once I hit Sunset it was a pretty nice drive. We went through Beverly Hills and finally landed at UCLA.

At UCLA I met with the Dean of Admissions, sat in on a class, had lunch with a student, and took a tour of campus. It was a warm, sunny day and it was amazing to see students studying outside! The campus is beautiful and just what you would imagine of a campus in southern California.
The next day I was free to do fun things in LA. Ryan and I had lunch at In N Out (my request), walked down Santa Monica Pier and a cute shopping area, and later went to a concert in Hollywood. We also went to one of the coolest bars I’ve ever been to, The Standard. It sits on top of a hotel, is surrounded by skyscrapers and has incredible views. So fun!

After a great few days in LA it was time to go back to the city where I left my heart almost one year ago, San Francisco! It was a great weekend :) I stayed in my old apartment with my old roommates which was such a blast! I was lucky enough to get to meet up with soooo many wonderful friends on this trip that I won’t mention them all. But it was really great to reconnect with everyone I love in the Bay.

But I didn’t just go for fun! I went to visit Berkeley law. This was another admitted students weekend planned by the school. It was a pretty packed day which involved a mock class, student panel, tour, lunch, student organization fair, and reception.

Unfortunately there is a pretty major construction project going on that won’t be finished until my third year of law school. But the inside of the law school is state of the art. I met some cool people and enjoyed the sunny, relaxed atmosphere.

After some days of just having fun in SF, it was finally time to go to the most important leg of the trip, HOME! I ended up staying a little longer than I planned and enjoyed every minute of it. The older I get, the more I love home. It was so fun to hang out with my family. If you haven’t spent time with my little brother lately, you should because he is hilarious! I loved having family dinners and just relaxing at home.

I also got to see my closest friends from Utah. My best friend, Stephanie, even flew in from Spokane just for the weekend! She, Megan and I took a spontaneous road trip to Idaho to take a dip in the hot springs. (They were really hot).

Hanging out in Utah was the perfect ending to the trip.

Finally it was back to Madrid! After some set backs due to tornadoes in Atlanta, I made it back safely to Spain. I'm usually pretty good with jetlag but I made the fatal error of sleeping for seven hours my first day back. Therefore I was nocturnal for about a week.

It was so wonderful to be back in the States. I have learned so much during my time here in Spain and one of the greatest things I think I’m taking away is a new appreciation for America and my home. There is definitely something special about the US and I know it now, more than ever. I’m already looking forward to coming back in July!

But that’s not to say I wasn’t happy to be back in Madrid. I definitely felt like my time wasn’t finished here, and I had more things to see and do. The weekend I got back all my closest girlfriends met for a reunion dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Chueca! It was really fun to hear about all the exciting things people did during the Easter break. And the nachos weren’t bad either!

Now I’m back in the swing of things at school and with my private lessons. The highlights of the teaching week included trying to help a student understand Beyonce lyrics (“Boo stop trippin” is when… “Shawty got swag” has to do with…) and making Mother’s Day presents in first grade (a popsicle stick recipe holder of sorts).

Tomorrow two of my friends here, Blair and Kristen, are running the Madrid Marathon! A bunch of us are going to go support them at various points of the course. Oh yeah, and out of 11,000 runners there are only 500 women!!! WOW!

I have some exciting trips planned for May and June! More details to come…

I wanted to say thank you to all the friends and family I was able to see on this trip! Thank you for everything from rides to lodging to meals to just your company! I feel so blessed to have loved ones on every corner of the earth.

One last thing! If you’re wondering where I decided to go to law school… well, it’s a tricky thing. I’ve narrowed it down to NYU or Berkeley but it’s a pretty agonizing decision. I thought I settled on NYU, then had a mild panic attack and reversed my choice, then thought some more… so I’ll let you know for sure in a week or two. Either way, I feel extremely lucky to be stuck in a win-win situation.

Besos!

picnics, polpo and the huelgas

Where to begin!

In my last post I promised myself (and anyone reading) that I would do a better job of taking advantage of my remaining time here. Based on the fact that I had to organize an outline of all the fun things I did in the last two weeks, I'd say I'm doing pretty well!
A couple of weekends ago I decided to organize a little outing in the city inspired by a cool article a friend sent me (thanks Jenna!). The article suggested some really awesome things to see in the city which remained undiscovered by tourists (for now). The best of the bunch was Plaza de la Paja.
The Plaza is a few blocks from Opera but tucked up in a neighborhood. It sits on a big hill and at the bottom there is a very small gated garden. The garden remains from the Spanish court. All around the Plaza sat cool restaurants, bars, and cafes. The most popular cafe, Delic, was too crowded to get a seat. We got a coffee at an equally cool spot and then browsed. Another find was a cute little shop that was like a mini Whole Foods, but Spanish and reasonably priced.

The next day Blair, Eimear and I decided to enjoy the warm sunshine and have a picnic in Retiro. We each brought some grub and I brought a giant blanket and really that's all you need! I am so thankful it's sunny and nice out finally. I think we earned an early spring after the winter we endured.

Mid-week we decided to try a new Galician restaurant our friend Cristina has raved about. Galicia is a region in northwest Spain and it's famous for its killer seafood among other things. There were six of us at dinner which allowed us to get a whole bunch of things and try them all. We got the usual croquetas, some really yummy steak, salty green peppers, calamaris, and... pulpo!! I have been wanting to try pulpo for a while since so many Spaniards have told me I must. Any guesses? Octopus! I have to say that while it's not my favorite seafood dish, I did really enjoy it! Tentacles and all :)

Last Saturday was my last volleyball game with the Spanish team I've been playing with. As for the game, we got absolutely destroyed. It was ugly stuff. But I think that's because we were all distracted and looking forward to the team dinner afterword. To celebrate the season we went to a local Italian restaurant. It was fun to hang out with my teammates outside of the gym. I also sampled THE best sangria I've had in Spain. And let's just say I've had a few glasses of sangria in my time here. The secret ingredient was a hint of cinnamon. Yum!

Last weekend we had another puente. Spanish quiz! Do you remember puente? If you said bridge or four day weekend, you are correct. I stayed in Madrid for the puente for a number of reasons. But on Thursday I was able to take a day trip to Segovia. After a short bus ride we landed in this very cute town. It's most famous for it's aquaduct which was built in 50 b.c.! We walked around a bit and I even got to see the home of my favorite Spanish author and the namesake of the school where I work, Antonio Machado. I also splurged and got cochinillo for lunch, which is suckling pig and something Segovia is famous for. I may have ragged on pig products in the past, but let me tell you, this was some good pork.
The next day my friend and teammate from USF, Linzy, came to visit from Paris where she currently lives. We had a really fun weekend together. We went out Friday and Saturday night and had dinner at a cute place in La Latina on Saturday. It's famous for fries and eggs. I didn't really get it. I asked the waiter, so what is it? He looked at me like I was stupid and replied, "it's fries...with eggs on top." Ok then. We decided to see what all the fuss was about. Gotta say this one wasn't my favorite. Kind of a weird "I really need to go grocery shopping what can I possibly throw together" sort of a dish. But I'm glad we tried it nonetheless.

On Sunday we went to the Rastro, somewhere I've been meaning to check out. The Rastro is a giant street fair of sorts that extends many blocks in the La Latina neighborhood. Vendors sell everything from jewelry to tapestries to my personal favorite, rubber by the kilo. It was really fun and I even picked up an item or two.

Finally, I'd like to tell you about some exciting happenings here in Madrid. On Monday we read in the paper as well as heard announced on the metro that there was going to be a "huelga" of metro workers on the 24th and 26th. A huelga is a strike, btw. The huelga would make all metro trains run at 50%. This annoyed me for two reasons. One is I already have a pretty dreadful commute at 100%. Second, the 26th I was to go to the United States and getting to the airport via metro seemed impossible. So the 24th I got up early, walked to a farther metro to avoid a transfer, and got there early preparing myself for the worst. And then, I walk up to my platform and what's this? There are less commuters than usual, the train pulls up immediately, and I get a seat which never happens. Could this be? The strike scared off a lot of passengers and in the end the metro union decided to postpone it for the 30th. Nice! So no need to worry about that any more.There was also a huelga of all public teachers today. It was a big one. We had a lot of teachers from school stay home and go to the protest. I, however, don't qualify to participate in the huelga since I'm not technically a teacher but an auxiliar.

Ok, well I'm off to bed because in the morning I am heading to the good old USA! I am so excited. It will be an adventure to be sure.

Besos!

Aprovechar!

Hello! Hope everyone’s having a nice week. Just to taunt me it's been really sunny and beautiful and the next day rainy and freezing cold. Spring's coming! No wait... Spring's coming! Nooo..... Everyone keeps telling me it’s been an unusually horrible winter this year. Just for me! The last couple of weeks were both very nice and very eye opening.

Aprovechar is one of my favourite Spanish verbs (and one that is often used here). It means “to take advantage”. It is also used to mean bon appetite. It’s custom here that when anyone enters the dining room they say “que aproveche” (take advantage, used more or less to mean "enjoy your meal") to EVERYONE. And you respond, “gracias”. When you all start eating at different times this can get kind of tiring. It’s like a constant call and answer song during your lunch.

But beyond meal time, aprovechar makes its way into my life in many other ways. When I’ve talked to Spaniards about the places I’ve been and the many more I’d like to go they always respond, “Well yes of course. You have to aprovechar your time here in Europe.” When I tell them how I’d like to improve my Spanish more they respond in the same way. “Aprovecha!!!”

Last weekend it was sunny and dare I say it, borderline warm. My roommate, Liz, and I decided it was a must to aprovechar the good weather so we went for a walk and a Diet Coke in Retiro. I loooove Retiro. When I was really sick in November and didn’t leave my apartment for a week, I started to go a little crazy, and on the last day I said, I don’t care how sick I am. I’m going for a walk in Retiro. It was better than medicine. Anyhow, it was an absolutely beautiful day. There were lots of families having picnics in the grass, and students doing homework and couples having coffee dates. It made me pretty excited for Spring and Summer.

I recently passed the half way point in my time here in Spain. It was really shocking. The first few months went by soooo slowly. They were rough. But since Thanksgiving, I've enjoyed Madrid more and more and time has flown by. I have exactly four months left now. It’s weird to think about that.

I’ve decided that I really must make more effort to fully aprovechar my time here. I speak way too much English and I’m starting to get angry with myself. I live with two Americans so I speak English at home. My two closest friends here, Blair and Eimear, are American so I speak English with them. I teach English from morning to night. So to say the least it’s a little frustrating. It’s not like I never speak Spanish. I do a lot and I have definitely improved a huge amount. But I see lots of opportunities for me to aprovechar further. I’m reading the paper on the metro to work. I’m making an effort to speak Spanish at school with the teachers who don’t speak English. I’m speaking lots of Spanish with my volleyball team. I’m going to try to spend more time with the few Spanish friends I have here. And I’m going to get back in the habit of doing intercambios (that’s where you meet with a Spaniard for an hour or two and spend half the time speaking in Spanish and half the time in English). I improved so much in the first five months, so I can get even better in the last four!

Last Thursday we got terrible news that a fifth grader in our school died. It was a very tragic accident in which the cover of a soccer bench (like a dugout but above ground) collapsed on him. He was 9 years old. I teach fifth grade but not his class. Anyway, we got the news and then I immediately had class with my fifth graders. It was one of the more horrible hours of my life. There are 50 fifth graders in total and they’ve gone to school together since the age of 3. So needless to say they were all very close. By ten years old you understand these things, so to see them so upset obviously made me very upset.
In talking with other teachers about it, the universal response (other than being incredibly sad) was that life is short and we have to aprovechar. And I do agree.

The incident definitely made me re-evaluate my priorities, how I behave, how I treat myself and others. I realize how lucky I am to have this life of mine, so I don’t want to waste it. I’m trying to improve in a lot of areas.

Anyway, on Sunday, Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona in a shocking upset. Atletico was the club that our fifth grader played for (but in a younger age group obviously). So they had a minute of silence at the beginning of the game which was really nice. I read in the paper on Friday a quote from the captain of the team saying they were going to try to win for Diego (the boy). But from everything I had read and heard on TV, there was no chance Atleti would win. But they did :) The paper said it was a “milagro” (miracle).

After the game I went to church. It’s cuaresma (lent) which fits right in with the new self-improvement kick. I’ve gone to church pretty often here and let me tell you, there aren’t too many of us attendees. Spain is more or less a universally Catholic, and universally non-practicing country. An interesting combo. But this Sunday there was a much larger turnout. I’m guessing it’s a lent thing. The differences between Mass here and in the States are pretty striking. Obviously the language is different. But for one thing, mass here generally runs 30 minutes, maybe 40. They start right on time (the only thing to start on time here) and there’s no big entrance precession. The priest just walks up to the podium from the side of the church and gets the party started. Although mass starts on time, that doesn’t mean anyone gets there on time. A lot of people roll in around 15 minutes late. Mind you, that’s about half way through. They don’t quietly slip in the back though. They march all the way up to the front, high heels clicking and all. There are no songs, no music, no announcements. But what they lack in ceremony, they make up for in sermon. I don’t know how it’s possible in such a short service, but the homily is much longer here. It’s good listening practice anyway. When it comes time for communion, there’s no pew by pew line business. Lines aren’t really popular here. It’s just a free for all. If you’re in the last pew but you hustle to the front, good for you. Anyway, it’s efficient. And I can truly say mass is the ONLY place I’ve seen in Spain where efficiency exists.

Well that’s all for now. My volleyball team beat the undefeated first place team in our league last Saturday. It was really fun! We have two more matches and then I’m free. I’ve really liked it, but it will be nice to have a little more time to do other things.

Also, completely unrelated. Have you seen Slumdog Millionaire?! I saw it last night and it is incredible. I laughed, I cried, I got my 8 euros worth. I highly recommend it. The soundtrack is great, too.

If you're wondering what the deal is with the cow pictures, there is an art exhibit of sorts going on with hundred of these cow statues placed all over the city! They are all painted or decorated in different ways by Spanish artists. It's pretty fun to see a new one everyday!

I may be making a trip to the good old USA soon to visit law schools. Pretty exciting!

Today I'm going to do some city exploring, so I’m off to aprovechar!

sometimes God tells you to shut up...

It seems like everyone I know has recently been pick-pocketed, robbed, or nearly pick-pocketed or robbed. Eimear and Blair have both already been pick-pocketed. My roommate's mother was nearly pick-pocketed but Melanie caught the gypsy in the act. Another friend, Amanda, recently had her bag stolen. A coworker did also.

Lucky for me, I have had no such problems (knock on wood). I attribute this to a few things. For one, I am MUCH larger than virtually every person in Spain. Seriously. I think it's just not possible for most little Spaniards to reach up into my purse. And maybe the gypsies/gitanas/criminals are just the slightest bit afraid that if I caught them in the act I would beat the crap out of them. Works for me. The other reason I think I've been lucky is that I'm hyper aware of how often this happens. I keep my bag tight and high under my arm or in front of me. I never let anyone stand too close to me and I pretty much treat everyone on the metro like a criminal. Even children. And old people.

On Saturday, I was coming home on the metro and in a hurry. There was a group of four American girls who were clearly college students studying abroad. It's hard to explain why, but in general I really, really don't care for Americans studying abroad here. And most of my friends here feel the same way. They're quite often loud, obnoxious, make no effort to learn Spanish, expect things to be easy for them, and think they're pretty hot stuff. These girls were no exception. It was a crowded metro and they were shouting to each other across the car in English. Cringe. As we approached my metro stop, one of the girls screams, "That woman took my wallet!" Her friend was confused and she continued, "Yeah! That sketchy woman took my wallet. I felt her brush up on me and I knew she was creepy and she took my wallet!" They frantically searched her purse and shopping bags with no luck. Her purse was probably the worst possible thing you could carry. It was a messenger bag that hung really low (below her hip) and had no zipper or button. The girl was crying and frantic and I leaned over and said, "Get off at the next stop and find a security officer and tell them what happened and they'll give you a form to fill out to report it." And then I left.

As I was walking home I thought, I should have helped that girl. She obviously didn't speak Spanish. She won't be able to talk to the security guard. But I was in a big hurry. And then I thought, really, she was asking for it. Drawing attention to herself shouting loudly in English. Carrying an open bag. What a tourist... scoff.

So I ran a few errands and began to get ready for Eimear's birthday party. When I was just about ready to go I went to transfer all my stuff from my purse to my evening clutch. Camera, lipgloss, phone, wallet.... wallet?! My wallet was no where to be found. I began to panic. I tore apart my room. No wallet. My first thought, I got robbed right along with the stupid American girl! I'm a stupid American girl, too! But then I remembered that after the metro I had gone to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I had paid for them, so obviously I had my wallet at that point. And then it hit me, I left my wallet at the grocery store at the register.

Quick side note. If you ever want to raise your blood pressure a few points, try checking out at a Spanish supermarket. It's one of the more intense situations you'll experience here. There is a checker, but no baggers. So you get up to the counter and put your stuff up there and the checker immediately starts scanning it. Then you frantically start bagging but before you can really get a handle on the bagging she tells you the total and you have to pay. Then after you pay you go back to bagging but at that point the next person is already at the counter and the checker is already scanning their items. So while you're desperately trying to bag up the rest of your stuff, someone else's stuff is flying across the counter into your stuff and you have to make sure not to take any of their items. It's tiring.

So like an idiot, I had set my wallet on the counter while I was bagging and apparently left it there. I called the grocery store, about in tears, and asked if a wallet had been found. She said yes, I sprinted back to the store, and reclaimed my billetera. Phew.

I think I needed this little humbling. Everyone does stupid things, myself included. Obviously. So I think the next time I'm rolling my eyes at students or tourists, I'll think twice. And maybe offer them some friendly advice or help instead. Thank you God. I'll take one slice of humble pie with whip cream on top!

Por Fin!!!

Hey hey!!

So it’s been a looooong time since I’ve updated this bad boy. That’s because so much has happened lately that the thought of putting it down in words kind of overwhelmed me!

Ok. So I went to Paris to spend Christmas with my friend Linzy. We played volleyball together at USF and now she is playing professionally in a cute little town just outside Paris. Linzy’s mom, Leslie, also flew in from the States to visit. We spent four wonderful days in Paris before hitting the road. Paris is such an incredibly beautiful city, especially at Christmas time with all the lights! I think if I spoke French I could see myself living there for a little while.

A few days later we hopped in Linzy’s car and headed south for five or six days. First stop was Toulouse. Toulouse is a really darling town on the southern border, close to Spain. I would describe it as what you probably imagine when you think of a small French town. There was an open air market, cheese shops, wine shops, boulangeries, cafes, and wonderfully dressed families. That night we had dinner at a cute little restaurant called Entricot. As we were seated I looked at all the delicious food and noticed that one dish seemed to be really popular. When our waitress came over she asked if we were ready to order, but we were confused because we were never given a menu. She explained that there was just one thing on the menu: steak and fries. Well then, I guess we’ll have that! But this wasn’t just any steak and fries. It was reaaaally reaaally good steak and fries!

Next we made our way east to Aix en Provence, just outside Marseilles. This was even smaller than Toulouse. On Christmas Eve, we went out in search of a restaurant to have a semi-traditional meal. The problem was that most places were doing a Christmas Eve special menu that cost around 75 euros. Just as we were starting to lose hope we stumbled upon a small, quiet little restaurant that luckily served the normal menu. It turned out to be absolutely perfect! We had some really delicious food and loved being surrounded by families. After dinner we asked our waitress for the best church to catch Christmas mass. She gave us directions to a very sweet little Catholic church. The mass was really beautiful, although entirely in French! But a nice thing about Catholicism is that it’s the same all over the world, so I could pretty much follow.

The next day we drove into Marseilles to check it out. Marseilles was interesting because it had so much potential to be a really beautiful city. It’s a port city so the town is centered around the water. There was a nice area with a castle up on a hill that overlooked the water, but outside of that, Marseilles was extremely dirty and not well kept. It really shows you what a difference local government can make. So we decided not to waste too much time there and left after about an hour.

Next we headed to Nice, one of my favorite cities in the world! I had been here before, so it was kind of fun to remember things that I liked and be a bit of a tour guide. We didn’t have hotel reservations in Nice and decided to just drive into town and hope something was available. We stopped at the first place we saw, which was right on the ocean. I figured it would be too expensive, but upon asking it was ridiculously cheap. Linzy kept asking her to repeat the number because she thought she had misunderstood! We had a nice little room with a view of the Mediterranean. We spent three days in Nice, wandering around town, eating great food and drinking good wine and just generally enjoying ourselves. Linzy even convinced me to buy a beret! I highly recommend a visit to Nice if you ever get the chance. I especially love the old part of town where the streets are narrow and there’s lots of colorful laundry out on the line!

We made a day trip to Eze and Monaco, where I had also been previously. Eze is a little village up high on a mountain that requires quite the hike. But the difficult location keeps it relatively “un-touristy” and preserved. There are great views of the ocean and lots of little shops. Next we hit Monaco, which isn’t really one of my favorite places, but nice enough none the less. We wandered around the ritzy town and even popped in the Monte Carlo casino! We didn’t actually gamble because from what I hear they don’t have quarter slots…

Finally we headed back to Paris for one more night before it was time to go back to Madrid. Overall it was a great trip. I had so many fantastic meals and it was a very relaxing couple of weeks. Being with friends really helped me to not be too homesick, and I also tried to keep in mind that this will likely be my one and only Christmas away from home in my life.

Linzy came with me back to Madrid to spend New Years here! Madrid has a reputation around the world for being the best place to be for New Years Eve. Two of my former roommates from college, Tressa and Kendra, also stayed with me for the big day! They were on a little European adventure and luckily Madrid was the first stop. I had so much fun hanging out with my college friends! It was also great to show them around Madrid and see how blown away they were. It helped to remind me of how lucky I am and what a cool city I live in.

For the big night, we got dressed up (Kendra and Linzy even bought wigs!) and headed downtown to Sol. Sol is the most important plaza in Madrid and it is the place to be on NYE. Here’s how it works: Tons of people fill Sol and wait for 12:00. At the stroke of midnight, a giant clock tower rings out twelve chimes. With each chime, you have to eat a grape for good luck. So you eat twelve grapes and then share hugs with everyone! It’s a cute tradition I think. My only issue was that seedless grapes don’t exist here. I’m not really picky but something about crunching on a giant seed just doesn’t sit well with me. So we bought special seedless grapes made just for New Years (uvas de suerte). They came in a can. This struck me as pretty odd but I went with it. They definitely weren’t the best grapes I’ve ever had, but they were lucky so I toughed it out.

After a couple more days in Madrid, it was time for Linzy to go home and for me to head to Dublin! I was so excited to add a new country to my list! The trip didn’t start out great, seeing as my flight was delayed about two hours. This did, on the bright side, leave me a lot of time to people watch in the airport. I noticed there were a lot of families where one parent was Irish and one parent was Spanish. It was so interesting to me to watch the dynamic in terms of languages. The common system seemed to be that the Irish parent would speak only English to the kids and the Spanish parent would speak only Spanish to them. What was more interesting to me was that a lot of the kids would talk to both parents in just Spanish or just English. But the parent would continue to speak in their native language. I think it’s so amazing how little kids can pick up two languages so young. I wish I were so lucky!

Lucky for me, my friend here in Madrid, Eimear, is a dual American-Irish citizen and has lots of family in Dublin. So I got to stay with her at her aunt and uncle’s house! Upon arrival, I was greeted by Eimear, her aunt, uncle, another aunt, a brother in law, and tons of cousins! They were all so happy to meet me and so sweet and very concerned that I might need some tea. Dublin was really great, but I think the best part of the trip was staying with their family. They were all so nice and generous and hospitable. It was great to be with a family kind of like my own: two story house in the suburbs, roast beef and mashed potatoes for dinner, etc.

Dublin was a really charming city. I like towns where there aren’t a lot of landmarks you feel obligated to see, but you can just stroll and take in the scene. Of course there were a million pubs. I also went to Grafton Street and saw an area where some scenes were shot from one of my favorite movies, Once. Maybe the highlight of the trip (other than having a pint of cider in a pub) was going to the Kilmanem Jail. It’s an old prison where some of the most important figures from Irish history, like leaders who fought for Irish independence, were jailed or executed. The tour was very informative and a little creepy. A good mix!

After five days in Dublin, it was time to head back to Madrid and get back to real life! I think Christmas break was just what I needed. I feel my spirits are really lifted and I’m enjoying my time a lot more here now. I can’t believe it’s already February and I have been here for over four months! Things at school are great. I’ve also been playing volleyball a lot lately which is fun.

Funny kid quote of the week:

I teach infantil once a week although I wish I taught it everyday! The kids are four so it’s pretty limited what we can do. Class is pretty much going over what day it is, some vocabulary, and then they do a coloring worksheet involving English colors. So for the coloring portion I always pick a table to sit with and color. On Thursday I’m coloring with some kids (they’re four years old by the way) and one boy says to me, “Teacher you’re so tall! How’d you get so tall?” and I responded with something about drinking a lot of milk or whatever. Then one little boy says, “Profe, pareces como un elefante!!” (Teacher, you look like an elephant!!). I started laughing and said, “Oh really?” and he responded, “Well, you don’t have a trunk but otherwise….” Hahahaha I about died. Then a little girl said, “No no no Alvaro, elephants are fat! She’s not fat.” And I said, THANK YOU Maria! Maria is getting an A in English in case you were wondering. As for Alvaro…

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well! Now that I’m back in the swing of things I hope to post more regularly.

Besitos

Puente = Bridge = Long Weekend

Hey everyone. I've got the Christmas tunes playing and I hope you do, too!

Last weekend we had a "puente" which literally means a bridge, but in this case it means a long weekend. Monday was a national holiday because it was the Immaculate Conception. Oh Spain, are you secular? Are you Catholic? Well it's all very confusing. For example, the school I teach at is public. But you might not know it since the children attend Catholic religion class and there is currently a giant nativity scene set up in the hall and pictures of the Holy Family all over the school. I asked one of the teachers about this curiosity and she explained that religion is "optional" but no one opts out. As for the "belén", which is like a nativity scene but instead shows the whole town of Bethlehem, the teacher explained that this isn't just a Catholic thing, it's part of Spanish tradition. Hmmm..... whatever you say. I mean, I'm Catholic so what's it to me? But I happen to think separation of church and state is a pretty awesome thing. And while it doesn't function perfectly in the US (ahem, Utah?) I think we benefit from it in many ways. But Spain has a totally different history and culture and I don't know that it would ever be possible here.

Anyway, for the puente my friends and I decided to head south to see the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the city of Granada in the region of Andalucía. Our Spanish friend, Angel, went with us and since he has a car it was a nice chance to see some Spanish scenery along the way. Driving south you have to get through the region of Castilla la Mancha. The best comparison I can offer is the really ugly part of Nevada between Reno and Salt Lake. You know when you look left and right and there's nothing for miles except flat land and death? Well that's sort of Castilla la Mancha. But once you get into Andalucía it's very different. Literally all you can see for miles are rows and rows of olive trees. All the houses in the towns along the way have white roofs, which makes for a pretty sight.

We finally got to the little town we were staying at in the mountains outside of Monachil. It's actually a stretch to call it a town. It was really a pueblito, a village of sorts, and it appeared to be deserted. But we found our hotel and a nice woman greeted us. It's funny because I can actually differentiate accents around Spain now. Andalucíans often don't pronounce the last letters of words. So instead of "Buenas noches, tenéis una reservación?” it sounds more like, "Buena noche, tenei una reservacio?" or something like that. It wasn't too hard to understand. But it was really interesting to talk about it with Angel, because he was explaining that most people from other parts of Spain look at the southern accent as a sign of lack of education, stupidity, ignorance, etc. and that many Andalucíans try not to adopt a very strong accent in order to avoid that connotation. I told Angel that the southern accent had a similar rep in the US and he thought that was pretty funny.

Our first night there we wandered over to a little cafe we had passed on the way in. We went in and were excited to find it was a cave building: all the rooms were natural caves. We went in one where a young guy was playing the guitar. We had some tea and enjoyed the music that was played just for us. We talked to the young man and it turned out he was from Argentina. Actually we knew this about one minute in because Argentineans pronounce their "y" sounds like "j" sounds. It's very beautiful Spanish. It was a really cool way to start the trip.

That night we went into Granada to get something to eat. Something that is unique to Andalucía is this great thing they do with tapas. If you go to a bar and you buy a glass of wine or a beer or something, you are served tapas for free. And not like a dainty dish of olives or something. But real food. So we went to a little place and spent

6 Euros for three drinks and three plates of food. Pretty sweet deal. We're not used to such hospitality in the big swanky city. I also got to meet up with a friend of mine from USF named Peter. He lived on my floor in the dorms Sophomore year and now he's studying abroad in Granada. It's such a weird/cool feeling to be able to meet up with someone in another country!

The next day we headed up the mountain to the ski resort. My friends wanted to ski but I passed. While I love skiing, I don't have any of the equipment or clothing with me so I thought it was more money and hassle than it was worth. Plus, can Spanish snow or mountains compare with Utah? Claro que no. I instead spent the day in a cafe reading a book and sipping something warm. I was just as happy. That's another nice thing about Spanish restaurant rules. You purchase something and you are in no way pressured to leave your table at any time. I bought a coffee and sat at my little table for like four hours. No pasa nada. We came back from the snow adventure and were totally pooped.

On Saturday we moved camp to a hostel in Granada. It was very small and cute with a terrace on the roof and great views of the city. We had a coffee and pastry and then walked all over the city. Granada is such an amazing city and I highly recommend a visit there. It was inhabited and ruled by Arabs for over 1000 years, so the Arab influence on architecture, food and culture is strong. We walked through the Cathedral square, the street vendors, and all over Albayzin, which is the Arab area of the city. We had some great Pakistani tea at one of the many famous titerias (tea houses) in Granada. Finally we met up with Peter and another friend of mine from home, Sarah, and had tapas.

The next morning I woke up before sunrise to go to the Alhambra. I had heard so many amazing things about it that I decided it was a must. In order to get tickets you either have to reserve them something like three months in advance or you have to get in the ticket line at the crack of dawn. Unfortunately we were left with the second option. Luckily someone at our hostel had told me that there is a secret ticket machine that only takes credit cards that no one seems to know about. This tidbit of info turned out to be true and we skipped the lines and were the first people let in. I felt like one of those kids who gets to skip all the lines at Disneyland because they won a contest.

The Alhambra is a palace, fortress and garden built by Moorish emperors in the 13th and 14th centuries, and later used by Charles V in the 16th century. It is simply incredible. The palace has endless amounts of rooms with different patterned ceilings and the most intricate etchings done in marble walls. There are lots of fountains and arches and incredible views of Granada since the palace sits high in the hills. The gardens go on for miles and have lots of fruit trees and flowers I'd never seen. This isn't really a "words can describe" sort of thing so check out the pics.

We drove back to Madrid that day and I can really say it was an incredible weekend. I'm so glad I got to see Granada and definitely wouldn't mind going back.

This week was a really short one thanks to the puente. Nothing too eventful except that last night Real Madrid lost to Barcelona in futbol which is a sore subject around these parts. The rivalry between Madrid and Cataluña is a big one, and it has a lot more to do with it than soccer. As a Spanish girl said yesterday, "Cataluña... it's not Spain." It's pretty true. When I was in Barcelona I was really offended that people in stores and restaurants wouldn't speak Spanish with me. They would speak Catalan or even English, but not Spanish. Catalan is the regional language and it's sort of like a mixture of French and Spanish. Linguistic issues have become a hot debate in Cataluña as well as País Vasco and Galicia which also have languages outside of Spanish. For more info check out this really great article in the Economist:
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12501023

Anyway, I probably won't be posting again till 2009! I leave on Thursday for Paris and I will be there till the 29th. I'm spending New Years Eve here in Madrid and two of my roommates from San Francisco will be here. Then I'm heading to Dublin on Jan. 2-7 to visit my friend Eimear and her family. It should be a really fun vacation!

I will really miss Christmas at home this year. But I know I can spend every Christmas for the rest of my life with my family. So I'm keeping my spirits up!

I don't know that I will be able to send Christmas cards to all my family and friends... so let this serve as a big Merry Christmas to everyone I love!

Felices Fiestas,

Audrey

Illness, thankfulness, field trips.

Hello everyone! First let me start by wishing you a belated Happy Thanksgiving. I am currently listening to Christmas music which makes me incredibly happy :)

Obviously I have slacked off with updating my blog, but my justification is a good one. Unfortunately I have been pretty sick recently. I’ve had some form of a cold on and off for a month and half (the majority of the time I’ve been here) but it escalated into something worse. Finally, I had a complete breakdown one recent Monday at school which resulted in me crying like a little child in the principles office, explaining how I was tired of being sick and wanted my mom, and the principle taking my temperature. “OOOh 38 centígrados…”, she said. This resulted in more tears and me replying in Spanish, “I don’t even know what that means!” Well, it meant I had a fever. The result was a week off of work resting, several 30 second visits with my worthless Spanish doctor, and un montón (a whole bunch) of tests for my lungs. I haven’t gotten the final test results, but I have an American friend here who already finished med school and is taking a year sabbatical before doing residency. I told him everything that had happened and he thinks I had pneumonia. I agree. Luckily thanks to a week of doing nothing and some antibiotics I am feeling much better.

Harder than being sick was being sick in a foreign country. I found the medical system supremely frustrating. The doctor quite literally gives you ten seconds to explain what’s wrong with you before cutting you off and making a decision as to your fate. And from talking to other Spaniards, this is not exclusive to my crappy doctor; it’s just the way things are here. I also had several interactions with the “clinica” which is basically the hospital where you have x-rays, blood tests, and MRIs (all of which I had). In order to get the procedure, you have to bring a slip from your doctor requesting it. On one occasion I brought the slip for the MRI rather than the slip for the blood test which I needed in order to get the MRI. So back home I went. At least all of it was free.

All I wanted was to be in my own bed, with chicken noodle soup and saltines (neither of which exist here). It was hard to do all that medical business completely on my own. But in the end I feel better and pretty proud I was able to get through it all, and in Spanish!! Feeling better physically has also helped me feel better mentally. My first two months here have been less than a fairy tale and I would be lying if I said there weren’t times I wanted to pack my bags and head for the airport. But I sort of feel like I’m past my low point, and now that I’m better I can really start enjoying my time here.

My new found health and positive attitude left me very excited for Thanksgiving (Día de accion de gracias), even though I was spending it away from home. My friends Blair and Eimear decided to host Thanksgiving since they have the biggest apartment. The guests included: Blair, Eimear, Me, my two roommates Liz and Melanie, two English girls, one Scottish girl, and five Spanish girls who are our friends. So it was the first Thanksgiving ever for 8 of the 13 attendees! I don’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen but I made a spinach-artichoke dip and a sweet potato casserole and I was pleasantly surprised that everyone loved them! Our table was a big mix of Spanish, English, laughter, and ooohs and aaaws over every tasty dish. I explained the tradition where you go around the table and everyone says something they’re thankful for. But with our mixed guest list, we decided everyone had to do this in both Spanish and English. This was definitely a struggle for some, but everyone managed and we all applauded each other. It was really touching because the Spanish and British girls were so thankful to be invited since they understood what a special day it was for us. I think we (the Americans) were all really thankful to be in such warm company on a day that could have otherwise been a sad one. I did not expect this, but it was an unforgettable experience and one of my most memorable Thanksgivings to date.

In other news, Marta, who I teach with, was sick two days last week which left me teaching by myself. I was nervous but it went really well. Of course with the second graders I spent the first five minutes of class answering, “Where’s Marta?? What happened to Marta???” But once we got that matter settled everything was fine. I did notice, however, that I am starting to be a little more lax with my use of Spanish. We were explicitly forbidden to use a single word of Spanish when we started the job. I understand the reasoning, and I have really made every effort. But when it is time to discipline a second grader who really doesn’t understand, “Stop hitting Pablo with your pencil or I swear I will take you to the principles office!” then I will resort to Spanish. There are other instances where I’ve found it necessary. For example, when a fifth grader didn’t understand the word “against”. How do you explain the word against without just giving the direct translation (contra)? “Well, against is when… like when two teams play each other… or when…. you don’t agree with someone….” Enemies? No. Opposite? No. Different? CONTRA!!! Ok I give up, it’s contra!!!! And just like that you clear up all the confusion.

The other highlight of the school week happened when I got to take my first and second grade classes on a field trip Thursday. Each of the American teaching assistants gets to go on one field trip. I missed the last one to Escorial (which is a Spanish palace of sorts) and I was pretty jealous of the girl who got to go. The vice principal told us on Wednesday that one of us needed to go on the field trip the next day to la granja (the farm). This didn’t really appeal to me right away. But one of the other teachers, Visi, told me in confidence that it is by far the best excursión and that I should try to go. Based on this advice, I said I’d take it. So we all got to school early Thursday to get the kids ready. In the hall, Salma (the future supermodel second grader) ran up to me and exploding with excitement told me, “Audrey, vamos en una excursion hoy!!” (We’re going on a field trip today!) I told her that I was going, too which made her give me a big hug. How exciting. We packed up the buses as the over protective Spanish mothers lined the sidewalk to give a final wave (don’t they have jobs?!?!) and hit the road. I thought it was great to see that Spanish kids are just like American kids when riding the bus: songs are a must. The best song went like this, “Rosa robó pan en la casa de San Juan.” (Rosa stole bread from Saint Juan’s house.) Then Rosa responds, “Quién yo?” (Who me?) And everyone yells, “Sí tú!” and Rosa responds, “Yo no fui” (It wasn’t me.) and everyone yells, “Entonces quién?” (Then who?) Then Rosa yells out the name of another student, “Jose!” and the song repeats using Jose. The funniest part about this game was that the kids thought it was hilarious to pick me just about every other time. So it went like this, “Audrey robó pan en la casa de San Juan.” But I had to reply in English, “Who me?”, “Sí tú!” “It wasn’t me.” “Entonces quién?” and then I’d pick Paula. Of course at the end of her song Paula would pick me again. This continued the entire bus ride. But I didn’t mind.

When we got to la granja the farm group leaders pretty much took the kids off our hands and did all the work the rest of the day. The teachers then went and had a really nice breakfast and coffee. Nooooow I see why this was the best field trip ;) After that we went around the farm and took pictures of the kids doing the various activities. They rode a horse and made apple marmalade and got to pet lots of different animals. But the best activity, I thought, was when they got to watch how a slaughtered pig was hung out to dry and then separated in to all the different types of ham. These kids are between 5 and 7 mind you. They thought it was great. I thought it was hysterical. The group leaders pointed to the giant dead pig and explained, “This part of the pig is where we get jamón Serrano..” and the kids all went, “mmmmm jamón Serrano!!!” They weren’t really fazed by the giant carcass which I thought was kind of cool. Says a lot about the Spanish.

The teachers were also treated to a big lunch which I’d say is the best meal I’ve had here. That’s because all the food came straight from the farm. It was all delicious.

I’ve started going to church again with Eimear who is also Catholic. There is a beautiful Cathedral right by my house and since I live in kind of a swanky neighborhood it’s fun to see all the ladies go in their giant fur coats. There’s something comforting about mass here being pretty much the same as it is at home, minus the English. Well, there are some differences. There’s no music. No big entrance or exit. It’s pretty much a condensed, straight-to-the-point version of mass, except the priest’s sermon is much longer. But I look at it as good language practice. Today he talked about Saint Joseph and the Holy Family. The funny part is that I didn’t pick up that he was talking about Joseph til about a minute in. He kept saying, “Jose” and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who Saint Jose was. But then he said, “Jose, Maria’s husband and Jesus’ father.” And then came my light bulb moment when I realized I was an idiot and obviously Jose was Joseph. There’s always more to learn!

Sorry for the excessive length of this post. Now that I’m feeling better I will do this more often and with fewer words! I hope everyone is getting in the Christmas spirit!

Besos,

Audrey