Speaking Spanish

I have realized that although I am understanding more and more Spanish as the days pass, there is one little problem.  I understand about 90% of what people are saying, but the other 10% is the important specifics.  So I may respond that yes I would love to see a certain movie without knowing I had committed to a specific time and date.  I guess this is what happens when you keep smiling and nodding to almost everything someone says.  I finally have started asking people to repeat something if I don't understand all of it.

There are also many grammar rules which after learning in high school I managed to avoid having to use in college.  In my Spanish literature classes, I didn't have to remember the proper way to describe the weather, which was fine with me since I never really could remember the proper way to say it's hot or it's cold.  Or when to use por as opposed to para.  Or the appropriate way to say "4 years ago I did...."  Or the difference between ser and estar.  But since they are actually phrases I use frequently as opposed to the literary vocabulary I was using, it's forcing me to actually learn them once and for all.

When I've talked to the English teachers at the school, we've agreed that the grammar rules for verbs are harder in Spanish than in English because there are so many tenses, and each pronoun has a different conjugation.  But in English, the pronunciation is harder.  In Spanish the rules of pronunciation are pretty cut and dry, but in English "e" could be pronounced a variety of different ways depending on the context.  For example, take the word "bear."  The -ear is pronounced as the word "air" whereas if you remove the b from "bear," "ear" is pronounced "eer" similar to "beer".  Very confusing.

The last thing which is tripping me up, is the pronoun vosotros.  Vosotros is the informal plural "you" which is a pronoun that is only used in Spain.  Because it is specific to Spain and not used in any other part of the Spanish speaking world, when we learned verb conjugation in middle school the teachers always said not to worry about the conjugation because we would likely never need it.  To address a large group, the formal plural "you" was always used.  Unfortunately, I am now in Spain, and the most appropriate way to address the students is vosotros and I am very shaky as to the proper conjugation.  Another thing that I will have to learn as I go.  After only a little over  2 weeks, I can tell that I have already improved and I am more comfortable speaking Spanish.  When I come back, I will be completely fluent!

Strike 2!

I've been working in the school this week, but only in the secondary school, not in the primary school.  I've mostly been observing classes, helping with dialogue practice in class and discussing with the teachers what we can do during the rest of the year.  On Wednesday, I helped in a 7th grade English class and a 10th grade English class.  In the seventh grade class I introduced myself and answered any questions they had about me or America.  They wanted to know if I lived near Barack Obama, or if I had ever met anyone famous, unfortunately since the answer to both was no, I think they were a little disappointed.  The younger class was much more excited and willing to speak English, but hopefully as time goes by the older students will be more excited about speaking English.

Today when I got to school, I was informed there was another strike, but this time it was the students who were on strike!  It seemed so strange that there is a union for the students and they can decide to go on strike!  A lot of the students still came in today, but there were a few classes where the entire class was missing.  Although it was unfortunate that there wasn't too much to do, it did mean more time to enjoy my cafe con leche.  I asked the teachers what the students wanted from the strike, since it seemed so foreign to me that the students could go on strike.  The teachers joked that their demands were to sleep in and not go to school.  I tried to look online but I'm not quite sure what it is that the students want.  Hopefully the strikes will stop soon and we will be able to continue without being interrupted by a new strike every week!

Climate of Laxe

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous!  Unfortunately I never really know what the temperature is because everything is in Celsius and I don’t know the conversion to Fahrenheit, but it’s been pretty hot here.  Last Thursday I was able to walk along the beach in the sun with my feet in the water.  This weekend when I was in Pontevedra, I only packed cooler weather clothes and I was dying walking around in jeans and a t-shirt.  Both Monday and Tuesday this week I was able to walk along the beach for a few hours after work, and there have been people in the water and lying out in the sun.  I feel like I’m in the tropics!  The teachers have all been telling me that this is not at all typical of Laxe.  By this point in the year, Laxe is typically gray, cold and rainy.  I’m hoping the weather will stay like this for a while, but Galicia is actually struggling with a drought so they really need the rain.  Maybe it will just rain in the interior of Galicia where they have the drought, and I can have the sun and the warm for a little longer!

First day of school

Monday was my first day of school and it went pretty well.  For starters, since I only work about 12 hours a week I don’t have to go in until 10:30.  And it’s about a 20 minute walk from my apartment, but it’s all right along the beach!   I’ll have every Friday off, and a lot of the national holidays in Spain are Mondays, which will be great for travelling.  I sat in on a few English classes to get a feel for the structure and the level of ability.  It was interesting, since it’s pretty much structured the same way French or Spanish classes are structured in America.  There’s a textbook with exercises, a workbook and an accompanying cd with pre-recorded dialogue for listening exercises.  However, their resources are all from the UK so the language is a little different.  For example, we would say “Do you have a brother?” “Yes, I have a brother.”  An exercise in the book was “Have you got a brother?” “Yes, I have got a brother.”  I have to stop myself from thinking that that is incorrect English, otherwise I’ll correct them and they will all be confused.  Another exchange was “Are you keen on sport?”  Keen is a word I don’t think many Americans have used, unless they went abroad to Australia and things were heaps keen.  Also on the cd, the actors are all from the UK or Ireland so I have to work a little to understand their accents.  I’m worried that if these are the accents the students are used to hearing they won’t understand me.  I’m sure I’ll have much more to say about my time at school after I’ve been working for a little bit.

A weekend in Pontevedra

After a few day hiatus I’m back, and with so much to say.  This weekend one of the teachers invited me to go with her to visit her family in Pontevedra.  The city of Pontevedra is a city of the Pontevedra region of Galicia.  It’s a little under 2 hours from Laxe, and a pretty drive.  I was really lucky that Patricia invited me to go with her because there’s not much happening in Laxe on the weekend, especially since the majority of the teachers who live in Laxe go away for the weekend. 

Old mill

We arrived in Pontevedra Friday afternoon, and Patricia showed me around the city of Pontevedra.  Like most cities in Spain, there is an older part which is always my favorite part to see!  I think I took a picture of almost every old building we walked past, and I’ll be putting those up on Facebook soon.  We walked through the city with two of Patricia’s friends from home who had plenty of questions about America.  One of their questions was about how healthcare worked in the US, and other than that it’s changing (which they already knew), I really didn’t know any specifics.  I should probably brush up on my current events so that I don’t sound incompetent if anyone else has questions.  On Saturday Patricia took me sightseeing a few places near Pontevedra.  We went to a state park with a little river and waterfalls.  

There were even a few really old mills along the river which was neat.  She showed me more old mills along another river, some of which were in ruins, and others which people had turned into summer homes.  In the afternoon we went to see some beaches 20 minutes from Pontevedra.  They were pretty crowded for October 1^st.  While Spain is a more moderate climate than the US in general, the north of Spain is not tropical like the south.

Converted mill

Patricia’s family was very kind to take me in this weekend.  They were very generous, particularly in making sure I had plenty to eat.  There was always so much food, and they were always insisting I eat more.  In Spain, the main meal of the day is the midday meal.  They explained to me that it’s better for the digestion to have the largest meal in the middle of the day, so you have more time to digest before going to bed.  That’s why they have the siesta, so they can rest after their large meal and then go back to work.  I am just solving the mysteries of Spanish customs right and left!  But I have not yet adjusted to this new schedule of eating.  I am used to a smaller meal midway through the day and a larger meal in the evening.  When I have a large lunch, I have trouble eating very much in the evening.  But that is not a valid excuse in Spain.  I try everything and I eat a fair amount of everything, but the Spanish women are similar to Italian women “Eat, eat. You’ve barely eaten anything! Are you sure you don’t want a seventh helping? I can make more food.”  I’ve started preparing for meals the same way I believe an Olympic athlete probably prepares for a competition.  I try to go in with a game plan so that the food doesn’t defeat me.  By the time I return from Spain, you’ll all see me taking on Man v. Food.  Anyway, the food this weekend was delicious!  If I could eat nothing but churros con chocolate, tortilla Espanola and jamon serrano for the rest of my life, I would probably be content.  Although I probably wouldn’t end up living that long on account of the cholesterol.  There was more pulpo (octopus) and it still weirds me out a little that the suckers are on it.  Sometimes I picture that the tentacles are going to suction to my esophagus or something, but I eat a little bit every time anyways.  I also tried Spanish barbeque.  There was grilled chorizo, veal and ribs.  The barbecued ribs didn’t have the same barbeque flavor sauce like the US, but it was still very good. And I didn’t come home empty handed, Patricia’s parents sent me with homemade coffee cake as well as lemons and apples they had grown themselves!

Getting to know Laxe

On Wednesday I felt more comfortable.  I moved into my apartment and unpacked.  I went to the supermarket to buy a few groceries.  I had to buy bottled water because Patricia told me that I should not drink the tap water, and that I shouldn’t even use it to make tea.  So I bought water and a few other groceries.  They even had fuji apples, so I bought a few of those too.  On Wednesday, school ends at 2, so I met up with the other teachers at a café for a glass of wine and then Patricia made me lunch at her apartment.  We had fried eggs, bread, fried potatoes, asparagus and chorizo (Spanish sausage).  It was absolutely delicious! 

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, it was warm and fairly sunny so they showed me some of the beaches nearby.  It was interesting at one of the beaches when you walked along the wooden path on the one side was the beach and the sea, and on the other side was a farm.  The beaches were beautiful and fairly empty since the summer season is over.  I said that I love to collect sea glass in the US and they told me there is a beach “La Playa de Cristales” in Laxe which is full of sea glass and they said they would take me there sometime.  We went to a park that overlooks the ocean and watched the sun go down which was absolutely beautiful. 

Sunset in Laxe

I went back to my apartment after watching the sunset and watched a movie on itunes on my computer and went to bed.  I wasn’t even hungry for dinner since every time I’m with the teachers they’re insisting I eat, eat, eat, so it was nice to be able to go to my own apartment and take a break from so much food. 

Today I’m taking care of some practical things.  I went to the bank to take out money this morning and this afternoon the teachers are taking me to a town a little ways off to buy a cell phone.  I sat in my apartment to write all of these posts so that when I went to the café I would have a fair amount battery life left in my computer.  Each day I feel a little less homesick than they day before and a little happier to be here.  I’m looking forward to when I start working in the school as well as connecting with other Americans.  

My first day in Laxe

My first day in Laxe

Tuesday I went with the teacher to the school.  I don’t start teaching until next Monday, but I went so that I could learn about the school and figure out where I was going to live.  On Monday Mariluz, who picked me up at the airport said I should try to live in A Coruña because the majority of the teachers from the school lived there and commuted every day.  Also, she said Laxe is pretty depressing in the winter.  It would have been nice if they had mentioned this when I asked where I should think about living over the summer so that I could have worked on finding a roommate or apartment.  Anyways, the teachers thought it would be better if I stayed in an apartment in Laxe for the first month and I could work on finding an apartment and roommates in A Coruña.  There’s an orientation next week in Santiago for all of the language assistants in Galicia, so my plan is to talk to people there and find information about renting an apartment and finding roommates.

One of the teachers took me around Laxe to look at apartments, which was very helpful.  I ended up narrowing it down to 2, both with beautiful views of the ocean.  One was very modern and the other not so much.  But the modern one, I would have been the only one living in the building and the older one, the woman who owned it lives here with her family, so I chose the older one.  It’s perfect for me for just a month.  And the woman who owns the building worked in England for 20 years so she speaks English.  Even though I’m trying to speak mostly Spanish, it is nice that I could speak English to her if I needed to.  Her name is even Emilia, which is the Spanish Emily.  There are a few things about the apartment which confuses me.  The stove is gas, which would be fine, I’ve used a gas stove before, but you have to manually light the stove every time you use a burner.  I have not yet used a burner and I’m a little nervous to do it.  Also, I couldn’t get the water warm when I showered today.  So I took a very, very short shower.  Anyways, back to my first day.  As I said, I went to the school but they didn’t really have anything for me to do until the teacher came to look at apartments with me.  As I said it’s a longer day on Tuesday, but it’s broken up by a siesta, and there are different teachers in the morning and the afternoon.  Mariluz teaches in the morning, and Patricia, who showed me the apartment, works in the afternoon so she wasn’t there in the beginning of the day, but she came in later in the morning to take me apartment hunting.  I got a tour of the school in the morning which was practically empty because the teachers in Spain are on “huelga” which is a strike.  A lot of the teachers came in anyways, but the students technically have the day off so there were less than 20 students in school on Tuesday.

We went to a restaurant for lunch where I tried more Galician food, more pulpo, of course, as well as some new dishes.  There was a seafood salad, which wasn’t really my favorite, it was cold seafood in some seasoned oil.  We also had raxo which was some type of cooked meat.  I’m pretty sure it was beef, but not positive.  I really liked the pimientos which were cooked peppers that had been roasted in olive oil and salt.  It wasn’t that spicy at all, which I liked!  We also had tortilla Española, which varies depending on where you order it.  This had more egg, less onion and potato, which I prefer less egg and more onion and potato, and I like a drier tortilla, so not my favorite tortilla, but still good.  We went back to Patricia’s apartment for a little bit before the afternoon classes started since one of the bilingual teachers I will work with is there in the afternoon.  She turned on the tv and they watch a lot of American shows dubbed in Spanish.  Although I have to say Will & Grace is not nearly as funny without Karen’s voice.

After I met with the bilingual teacher, Patricia took me back to her apartment so I could take a nap while she finished the day at school.  After the school day ended we went to a café which has a beautiful view of the ocean.  They had Earl Grey tea and they also have wifi so I came back here to update my blog.  I'm actually the only person in here right now, although since it's 1pm in Spain, I guess that's pretty early for Spaniards.

Later we went to dinner and I tried more food.  We had jamon serrano, which I already knew I liked so I was happy to have that again.  Jamon serrano is very similar to prosciutto.  We also had more calamari, and two types of mariscos (seafood/ shellfish).  We had mejillones(mussels) in a spicy tomato sauce and almarines(clams) in a butter lemon sauce.  I ended up staying at Patricia’s apartment the first night since I hadn’t unpacked anything in my new apartment yet.

The view from my apartment