(no subject)
February 7th
Mayte and Javier are home. I practically killed Mayte with hugs and besos I missed her so much. I’m happy to have my little spanish family back instead of boring ol Paco who just sat in front of a TV and made me eat in my room. My favorite time here is sitting down to dinner with Javi and Mayte and learning about them (although I doubt they know this). They are just cute and I especially enjoying chatting w/ Javi who is very friendly, funny, and especially sweet when Mayte is in a grumpy mood.
Seriously Mayte and Cris have the most obnoxious mood swings. Cris is far worse, of course. Today she cried herself hoarse for reasons I was not able to distinguish but it had something to do with something her father would’ve let her done but Mayte wouldn’t. I doubt it was anything worth throwing a huge fit over but since I’ve done that to my parents umpteen times in my life, I’ll let her off the hook. It’s just weird to only be 5 years older than her and yet a world away. No wonder teen years are so scary…becoming rational and sane in such a short span of time is a scary process. Its fun having a “little” sibling (little GIGANTIC sibling…she’s like…5’ 8”). It is a whole knew perspective to be the one being looked up to rather than being the one looking up (obviously I’m speaking figuratively here).
I just can’t wait for RAYO to get home! I miss him like crazy! He’s so ADORABLE and I’m living in fear that he isn’t going to return and fill my life in spain with absolute happiness (despite the fact that he has destroyed my slippers which I now must sew up). I LOVE LOVE LOVE him. And I especially love that I don’t have to clean up after him although I have to say I’ve come to love him enough that I DO clean up after him. Hmph. Luna on the other hand annoys me. If she weren’t so dirty/ugly. I can’t help it. She smells and she’s so smart she’s obnoxious. She always pokes me with her nose when she’s not getting enough attention, and she drags her tug toy everywhere. She’s so obsessed with her tug toy that when I tell her to go get her “toy” in English, she gets it. I feel like the dog is learning English faster than I’m learning spanish….
Speak of that whole language thing: Today, about midway through class, I decided I’d had enough with our lesson, and began to doodle a portrait of my professor. It turned out really well! I’ve never really mastered drawing faces before but with so much time on my hands, I really managed to perfect it. I heart Mónica because she stands directly in front of me for all of our lessons and yet she didn’t say anything. Perhaps because I looked like death had come over me today (I have a very mild cold but it was at its peak atrociousness during class).
Today, to fend off my cold, I made a fresh squeezed NALGENE FULL of orange juice. That’s 8 oranges, just FYI, which I squeezed um, basically all morning. I sacrificed my hair for fresh squeezed juice in insane quantity.
Yesterday I wandered to the Marcadona (Super market). I had to buy some Napolitanos (croissants with chocolate in the middle, aka- godsends) for my classmates. I had to do this because I was caught speaking English and the punishment is to bring a treat…I, of course, think that English should be spoken more often if this is the PUNISHMENT. And since I believe in spreading the word of god, of COURSE I brought my friends Napolitanos! A whole pile of 8 napolitanos costs an unfortunate 1 euro (unfortunate for my increasingly pudgy tummy), so I bought a couple packs for my class of 11. Just some hechos (facts) about Supermarkets spanish style. First off…they keep practically nothing in the refrigerators and forget about freezers. Their milk was kept un-refrigerated in vacuum packed cartons (refrigerate once opened). The eggs also didn’t make it into the refrigerator but no worries, ice cream, yogurt, and flan made the cut. Spain confuses me somtimes…. I like the Marcadona: You come in and buy small portions (as many as you can carry home a few blocks), everything is quick close and cute. I just really enjoyed that particular experience. It’s like home only a little different and the differences are fun and interesting.
I went running today (inspired somehow by yesterday’s hike up a GIGANTIC MOUNTAIN hill). Let me tell you what it’s like to run by the Mediterranean: um, AWESOME, duh. Despite being incredibly out of shape it was quite amazing. And despite my ridiculous consumption of goodly confections, it wasn’t all that rough on account of all of the walking we do here (which I’d say averages out to a good 5 miles a day).
I’ve had some weird encounters with habitantes, recently. I was walking around town with Cris the other day when at a bus stop a particularly large fellow passed out on me. Good god. I felt for the man but he weighed twice what I did. Luckily there was a billboard behind us that he ended up falling on when my body didn’t do the trick. Oye. I left a spanish lady to tend to him since I’m severely lacking in medical vocabulary and knowledge.
So then my other raro experiencia was tonight at Carpe Diem (Hugo’s bar) where I was minding my own business, using my computer as usual. Sometime between me checking my email and fiddling around on facebook, this previously friendly/normal man became EXTREMELY drunk. I first noticed when he began dropping his cellphone (which finally broke). It was a razor and I felt for him because the razor phone here costs 130 euros which is about 190 dollars…. He sure didn’t care though. He was SLOSHED. Next thing I knew he was plunging from his seat on the quest for his lighter (which he had now dropped 2 times in a row). Fearing that another old spanish man was going to fall on me, I scooted away. I probably could’ve handled both of these situations with a little more empathy but…I didn’t know what to do and…this isn’t even my country. I lack patriotic duty….yea. He kept dropping his cigarettes on the ground too rather than putting them in the ashtray. Needless to say Hugo asked him to leave.
Okay, here’s a thinker: everyone says that Spaniards are so friendly and besitos galor. Well, let me tell you, they really are friendly! But …not really in the way I expected. Most are completely UNFRIENDLY when walking past on the street. They stare but don’t smile (not even if smiled at), and I think that is what provokes the most loneliness in me. That is always what I’m referring to when I say that I feel alone but surrounded. It is that there are so many people that seem to physically engulf your space but who interact as though they’re invisible. They are so cold. And yet when you meet them they are instantly warm and friendly in most cases. I just miss smiles. I wore a skirt today and drew a lot of ridiculous attention from all walks of life, old ladies especially. They don’t even pretend they aren’t staring. They just. Stare. I don’t know if the skirt wasn’t working or if they liked it. I’ll assume the latter for my own well being.
I got plenty of whistles this afternoon as well in my skin-tight running getup. I don’t think that the international sign language is as international as everyone thinks because I tried it out on a guy and he didn’t get it. I’ll try a certain Spanish gesture tomorrow…. I just get so sick of the masochistic crap. Mayte had to come home and clean up our whole house because Paco was disgusting (and Cris is just lazy and spoiled). I would’ve cleaned more had I known what and where the cleaning supplies were. I did what I could (aka- almost ALL of the dishes). While cleaning Mayte explained “you know men. They just can’t clean.” To which I replied, “I’ve seen plenty of men clean house.” Okay…that’s what I wanted to say, but the technical translation was “I have seen a lot of men that can clean the house (he visto muchos hombres que pueden limpiar la casa).” Blah. Stupid hombres.
Speaking of (sorry I’m so chatty today), I met an EXTREMELY attractive guy at Carpe Diem tonight who Megan and I had been pining over for a few days now. Unfortunately he’s AN IDIOT. We were all on our computers together and he’d turn to me every five seconds asking how to spell. He was like, “okay, if I want to say there is a party tonight would I use t-h-e-i-r or t-h-e-r-e?” If it has taken him 21 years to NOT figure out the difference between there, their, and they’re, then I’m not sure how on EARTH he’s going to learn spanish. His hotness factor was completely killed.
Tomorrow I have my third oral presentation. Suck. I hate presenting with a passion. And what’s even worse is that my serious lack of internet access makes researching anything next to impossible. But I managed to throw a few things together so now I’m off to practice. My love to everyone!
-Zoe
Mayte and Javier are home. I practically killed Mayte with hugs and besos I missed her so much. I’m happy to have my little spanish family back instead of boring ol Paco who just sat in front of a TV and made me eat in my room. My favorite time here is sitting down to dinner with Javi and Mayte and learning about them (although I doubt they know this). They are just cute and I especially enjoying chatting w/ Javi who is very friendly, funny, and especially sweet when Mayte is in a grumpy mood.
Seriously Mayte and Cris have the most obnoxious mood swings. Cris is far worse, of course. Today she cried herself hoarse for reasons I was not able to distinguish but it had something to do with something her father would’ve let her done but Mayte wouldn’t. I doubt it was anything worth throwing a huge fit over but since I’ve done that to my parents umpteen times in my life, I’ll let her off the hook. It’s just weird to only be 5 years older than her and yet a world away. No wonder teen years are so scary…becoming rational and sane in such a short span of time is a scary process. Its fun having a “little” sibling (little GIGANTIC sibling…she’s like…5’ 8”). It is a whole knew perspective to be the one being looked up to rather than being the one looking up (obviously I’m speaking figuratively here).
I just can’t wait for RAYO to get home! I miss him like crazy! He’s so ADORABLE and I’m living in fear that he isn’t going to return and fill my life in spain with absolute happiness (despite the fact that he has destroyed my slippers which I now must sew up). I LOVE LOVE LOVE him. And I especially love that I don’t have to clean up after him although I have to say I’ve come to love him enough that I DO clean up after him. Hmph. Luna on the other hand annoys me. If she weren’t so dirty/ugly. I can’t help it. She smells and she’s so smart she’s obnoxious. She always pokes me with her nose when she’s not getting enough attention, and she drags her tug toy everywhere. She’s so obsessed with her tug toy that when I tell her to go get her “toy” in English, she gets it. I feel like the dog is learning English faster than I’m learning spanish….
Speak of that whole language thing: Today, about midway through class, I decided I’d had enough with our lesson, and began to doodle a portrait of my professor. It turned out really well! I’ve never really mastered drawing faces before but with so much time on my hands, I really managed to perfect it. I heart Mónica because she stands directly in front of me for all of our lessons and yet she didn’t say anything. Perhaps because I looked like death had come over me today (I have a very mild cold but it was at its peak atrociousness during class).
Today, to fend off my cold, I made a fresh squeezed NALGENE FULL of orange juice. That’s 8 oranges, just FYI, which I squeezed um, basically all morning. I sacrificed my hair for fresh squeezed juice in insane quantity.
Yesterday I wandered to the Marcadona (Super market). I had to buy some Napolitanos (croissants with chocolate in the middle, aka- godsends) for my classmates. I had to do this because I was caught speaking English and the punishment is to bring a treat…I, of course, think that English should be spoken more often if this is the PUNISHMENT. And since I believe in spreading the word of god, of COURSE I brought my friends Napolitanos! A whole pile of 8 napolitanos costs an unfortunate 1 euro (unfortunate for my increasingly pudgy tummy), so I bought a couple packs for my class of 11. Just some hechos (facts) about Supermarkets spanish style. First off…they keep practically nothing in the refrigerators and forget about freezers. Their milk was kept un-refrigerated in vacuum packed cartons (refrigerate once opened). The eggs also didn’t make it into the refrigerator but no worries, ice cream, yogurt, and flan made the cut. Spain confuses me somtimes…. I like the Marcadona: You come in and buy small portions (as many as you can carry home a few blocks), everything is quick close and cute. I just really enjoyed that particular experience. It’s like home only a little different and the differences are fun and interesting.
I went running today (inspired somehow by yesterday’s hike up a GIGANTIC MOUNTAIN hill). Let me tell you what it’s like to run by the Mediterranean: um, AWESOME, duh. Despite being incredibly out of shape it was quite amazing. And despite my ridiculous consumption of goodly confections, it wasn’t all that rough on account of all of the walking we do here (which I’d say averages out to a good 5 miles a day).
I’ve had some weird encounters with habitantes, recently. I was walking around town with Cris the other day when at a bus stop a particularly large fellow passed out on me. Good god. I felt for the man but he weighed twice what I did. Luckily there was a billboard behind us that he ended up falling on when my body didn’t do the trick. Oye. I left a spanish lady to tend to him since I’m severely lacking in medical vocabulary and knowledge.
So then my other raro experiencia was tonight at Carpe Diem (Hugo’s bar) where I was minding my own business, using my computer as usual. Sometime between me checking my email and fiddling around on facebook, this previously friendly/normal man became EXTREMELY drunk. I first noticed when he began dropping his cellphone (which finally broke). It was a razor and I felt for him because the razor phone here costs 130 euros which is about 190 dollars…. He sure didn’t care though. He was SLOSHED. Next thing I knew he was plunging from his seat on the quest for his lighter (which he had now dropped 2 times in a row). Fearing that another old spanish man was going to fall on me, I scooted away. I probably could’ve handled both of these situations with a little more empathy but…I didn’t know what to do and…this isn’t even my country. I lack patriotic duty….yea. He kept dropping his cigarettes on the ground too rather than putting them in the ashtray. Needless to say Hugo asked him to leave.
Okay, here’s a thinker: everyone says that Spaniards are so friendly and besitos galor. Well, let me tell you, they really are friendly! But …not really in the way I expected. Most are completely UNFRIENDLY when walking past on the street. They stare but don’t smile (not even if smiled at), and I think that is what provokes the most loneliness in me. That is always what I’m referring to when I say that I feel alone but surrounded. It is that there are so many people that seem to physically engulf your space but who interact as though they’re invisible. They are so cold. And yet when you meet them they are instantly warm and friendly in most cases. I just miss smiles. I wore a skirt today and drew a lot of ridiculous attention from all walks of life, old ladies especially. They don’t even pretend they aren’t staring. They just. Stare. I don’t know if the skirt wasn’t working or if they liked it. I’ll assume the latter for my own well being.
I got plenty of whistles this afternoon as well in my skin-tight running getup. I don’t think that the international sign language is as international as everyone thinks because I tried it out on a guy and he didn’t get it. I’ll try a certain Spanish gesture tomorrow…. I just get so sick of the masochistic crap. Mayte had to come home and clean up our whole house because Paco was disgusting (and Cris is just lazy and spoiled). I would’ve cleaned more had I known what and where the cleaning supplies were. I did what I could (aka- almost ALL of the dishes). While cleaning Mayte explained “you know men. They just can’t clean.” To which I replied, “I’ve seen plenty of men clean house.” Okay…that’s what I wanted to say, but the technical translation was “I have seen a lot of men that can clean the house (he visto muchos hombres que pueden limpiar la casa).” Blah. Stupid hombres.
Speaking of (sorry I’m so chatty today), I met an EXTREMELY attractive guy at Carpe Diem tonight who Megan and I had been pining over for a few days now. Unfortunately he’s AN IDIOT. We were all on our computers together and he’d turn to me every five seconds asking how to spell. He was like, “okay, if I want to say there is a party tonight would I use t-h-e-i-r or t-h-e-r-e?” If it has taken him 21 years to NOT figure out the difference between there, their, and they’re, then I’m not sure how on EARTH he’s going to learn spanish. His hotness factor was completely killed.
Tomorrow I have my third oral presentation. Suck. I hate presenting with a passion. And what’s even worse is that my serious lack of internet access makes researching anything next to impossible. But I managed to throw a few things together so now I’m off to practice. My love to everyone!
-Zoe