Oh Madrid…
I just finished up another week at
school, and am amazed at how quickly the days fly by. Now it’s February! I have a new roommate named Tracy from
Colorado who is very nice and sweet. She
went to Boulder College and has blonde, same as my cousin Georgia. When we’re out together, her blonde hair gets
us unwanted attention. I do feel bad for
people here in this program, whether they speak good Spanish or not, who stick
out visually. You are treated
differently before you even open your mouth, in positive and negative
ways. Some Spaniards are extremely helpful and
compassionate when you run into a language barrier. Others quickly dismiss you and get visibly
frustrated when you stumble over words.
We all know this can be the case in the United States too…something I
will be more aware of when I return home.
That being said I reallllllllllyyyy
miss customer service from home. For the
most part I have totally adjusted to life here and don’t struggle
day-to-day. However, trying to get
something done/completed/accomplished?
Good luck. Maybe the economic
crisis isn’t helping, but they rarely go the extra step to help you in pretty
much ANY public interaction. At
restaurants, after they take your order, good luck trying to flag them down for
salt, pepper, a drink refill…they come by give you the check and leave. Just remember not to eat out if you’re ever
in a hurry.
In other news, school is still
going well and I am getting closer to my students! My favorite class is definitely Art of
course, and English is my least. I enjoy
reading aloud to the class and answering vocabulary questions. I hate dealing with grammar, the English
teacher I work with takes care of grammar.
It reminds me of how frustrating it was as a kid, all the rules that
there were exceptions too! Anyways,
there have been a couple of instances where I have been trying to explain to my
students a vocabulary word they don’t understand. It takes me a minute or two in order to think
about how to explain what the actual definition is! (Disclaimer:
I do not stand in the front of the class and go “Ummmm, like, I don’t
know how to explain it! We just say
that” and look like a clueless young-adult.)
I was trying to explain to my students what a “Tantrum,” was when it
came up in a reading, so I said “When a person freaks out.” They continued to give me a questioning look
and say, “What does ‘freak out’ mean?” I
was stumped for a few seconds thinking, “How do I explain this, To ‘freak
out?’” This isn’t the hardest word I’ve
come across to explain, but slang words always throw me for a loop, because I
assume they understand what I’m saying.
I paused and said, “For example, when someone throws a fit?” Continued blank stares. It came down to me demonstrating by stamping
my feet…they enjoyed this charade. I
also tried to explain “Viral Video” when we were talking about YouTube. Fun fact, In spanish, calling someone a
“Freak” is our definition of nerdy.
My
weekends consist of hanging out with the friends that I’ve made and trying to
speak Spanish with the locals. One of
the friends I’ve made is extremely outgoing and probably invites one person
from every country to his parties. I’ve
met people from Holland, Australia, Scotland, England, Estonia and Greece. The first time I met “The Greeks,” I assumed
they were Spaniards and tried to listen to their conversation between each
other. They were speaking so fast and I
couldn’t understand a word! I felt upset
for a minute because I thought my Spanish had improved to where I can at least
understand what someone is talking about!
I was then formally introduced and they spoke in Spanish to me, I asked
them how they had been able to speak Spanish so fast and well to each
other. They replied, “We weren’t
speaking Spanish, we were speaking Greek.”
PHEW! No wonder I couldn’t
understand anythinggg they were saying.
We fondly call these parties a “United Nations” gathering.
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