Links
- More sweet stuff...
- Enter Sweet City
- Google News
Every Girl Deserves Her Own "Under the Tuscan Sun" Experience!
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Travel Log Numero Dos
"HAPPY FOURTH!"
The cutest thing happened to me yesterday...or at least it tickled me. First I should start out by saying that I am throwing a Happy Hour for the students here in the school at the Hotel Regina around the corner....No surprise there.
It originated as my roommate Jeremy's idea-- as we both talked about the need for something to help the students get to know each other (and he whined about still not hooking up with any hotties)--but then I just sort of took it and ran with it. Folks here don't know that I'm the party throwing Queen. :-)
I worked out a deal with the manager yesterday...well okay, I brought a friend who's English is better than mine and we both worked the deal out. I originally planned it for Friday but Jeremy thought that Tuesday would be better. I went to the manager today to tell him of the revised plans.
When he saw me he seemed extremely happy to see me and greeted me with the Spanish greeting of familiarity--a kiss on both cheeks. Although actually, I thought this was only customary between women. Anyway, for some reason it just made me glow...although it does make me wonder if something didn't get lost in the translations of the negotiations...
This is kind of funny because both Jeremy and I were both talking about how phony it seemed when the nonHispanic female students here greeted each other in this way. Actually, he was talking about it. I said I could see outsiders assimilating to this in about a year or so.
Anyway, it just tickled me that he would do that. I feel like we are so close now...;-)
Another sister arrived in the program. She came on Monday. The other sister left on Friday. Good timing. When I first saw her I didn't speak because she was occupied and I didn't want to appear overly desperate to see other black folks.
For the rest of the day, whenever we passed each other she diverted her eyes. I figured she was playing that I-don't-want-people-to-think-that-I-can't-relate-to-anyone-other-than-black-kind game. So I just thought "fine." I'll let her do her nonBlack thing.
By the second day it was beginning to piss me off. It was one thing to not want to hang out, it was another thing to feel as though she couldn't acknowledge my presence. I decided the next time I saw her I would step to her and tell her we wouldn't get lynched if we spoke...well...I wasn't going to put it that way. But she was already annoying me and we hadn't even met.
Before I had an opportunity to say anything to her Maryland, one of the older women in the program, tells me that she has a new housemate who wants to meet me. I'm thinking, "Some guy is that pressed that he has to go through someone else to try and get to me?" Impressive. It turned out, she was referring to the sister.
When I told Maryland that I had tried to greet the girl but she never seemed to want to look my way, she said she was a bit shy. I don't know. I've been told that I can be intimidating and unapproachable at times. I thought this only worked on men :-).
The next time I saw the sister I stopped in front of her and yelled Hola! De Donde Eres! (Where are you from) Probably the greeting I should've given her the first time. Sure it made me look like I was basically saying--"Yay! Another sister!" But whatever.
I guess we'll be hanging tight which works because Julia, the older British woman who had become my new best friend, is leaving this weekend. I've forgotten the sister's name but she's from N.C. She graduated from Law School at A&T or somewhere and she's getting a combined degree in public health. The school sent her here for free. Sweet.
I mentioned my roommate Jeremy. I should also mention that after days of endless boozing, partying and staying out to the wee hours of the morning. Both Jeremy and Marcelles (my Brazilian roommate) are both sick as dogs. Jeremy went first. Everyday he'd get a little worse. I'd keep asking him if he wanted any of my drugs...aspirin...antibiotics. Everyday he'd put on his machismo front and say that he would ride it out and that it was sure it would subside the next day. He continued to party. One day it was obvious that he was pretty bad. Marcelles insisted that they hang out anyway. "Jeremy," I said. "Maybe you should stay home." But Jeremy said he had already stayed home once that week and darn if he was going to let a scratchy throat keep him home again.
I came home the next day and both he and Marcelles were sitting on the couch hacking and coughing and moaning. Marcelles had obviously caught what Jeremy had and by now they were both so sick they had temperatures and had to skip class for a couple of days. I just laughed at them and told them they looked like a couple of old women. I just hope they don't pass whatever they have onto me as this is my last full weekend here in Madrid.
Anyway, this has been a great adventure so far but I feel it's time to step it up. Fore those of you who don't really really really know me (or who haven't yet figured it out) I get bored very, very easily. As some of you may know, my goal this year is to get into the habit of stepping outside of my comfort zone and to live my life boldly. Having said that, I believe there are still more challenges to take on...I'll tell you more about my next adventure in Newsletter #3. :-)
Hasta Luego and throw a Boca burger on the grill for me!
The cutest thing happened to me yesterday...or at least it tickled me. First I should start out by saying that I am throwing a Happy Hour for the students here in the school at the Hotel Regina around the corner....No surprise there.
It originated as my roommate Jeremy's idea-- as we both talked about the need for something to help the students get to know each other (and he whined about still not hooking up with any hotties)--but then I just sort of took it and ran with it. Folks here don't know that I'm the party throwing Queen. :-)
I worked out a deal with the manager yesterday...well okay, I brought a friend who's English is better than mine and we both worked the deal out. I originally planned it for Friday but Jeremy thought that Tuesday would be better. I went to the manager today to tell him of the revised plans.
When he saw me he seemed extremely happy to see me and greeted me with the Spanish greeting of familiarity--a kiss on both cheeks. Although actually, I thought this was only customary between women. Anyway, for some reason it just made me glow...although it does make me wonder if something didn't get lost in the translations of the negotiations...
This is kind of funny because both Jeremy and I were both talking about how phony it seemed when the nonHispanic female students here greeted each other in this way. Actually, he was talking about it. I said I could see outsiders assimilating to this in about a year or so.
Anyway, it just tickled me that he would do that. I feel like we are so close now...;-)
Another sister arrived in the program. She came on Monday. The other sister left on Friday. Good timing. When I first saw her I didn't speak because she was occupied and I didn't want to appear overly desperate to see other black folks.
For the rest of the day, whenever we passed each other she diverted her eyes. I figured she was playing that I-don't-want-people-to-think-that-I-can't-relate-to-anyone-other-than-black-kind game. So I just thought "fine." I'll let her do her nonBlack thing.
By the second day it was beginning to piss me off. It was one thing to not want to hang out, it was another thing to feel as though she couldn't acknowledge my presence. I decided the next time I saw her I would step to her and tell her we wouldn't get lynched if we spoke...well...I wasn't going to put it that way. But she was already annoying me and we hadn't even met.
Before I had an opportunity to say anything to her Maryland, one of the older women in the program, tells me that she has a new housemate who wants to meet me. I'm thinking, "Some guy is that pressed that he has to go through someone else to try and get to me?" Impressive. It turned out, she was referring to the sister.
When I told Maryland that I had tried to greet the girl but she never seemed to want to look my way, she said she was a bit shy. I don't know. I've been told that I can be intimidating and unapproachable at times. I thought this only worked on men :-).
The next time I saw the sister I stopped in front of her and yelled Hola! De Donde Eres! (Where are you from) Probably the greeting I should've given her the first time. Sure it made me look like I was basically saying--"Yay! Another sister!" But whatever.
I guess we'll be hanging tight which works because Julia, the older British woman who had become my new best friend, is leaving this weekend. I've forgotten the sister's name but she's from N.C. She graduated from Law School at A&T or somewhere and she's getting a combined degree in public health. The school sent her here for free. Sweet.
I mentioned my roommate Jeremy. I should also mention that after days of endless boozing, partying and staying out to the wee hours of the morning. Both Jeremy and Marcelles (my Brazilian roommate) are both sick as dogs. Jeremy went first. Everyday he'd get a little worse. I'd keep asking him if he wanted any of my drugs...aspirin...antibiotics. Everyday he'd put on his machismo front and say that he would ride it out and that it was sure it would subside the next day. He continued to party. One day it was obvious that he was pretty bad. Marcelles insisted that they hang out anyway. "Jeremy," I said. "Maybe you should stay home." But Jeremy said he had already stayed home once that week and darn if he was going to let a scratchy throat keep him home again.
I came home the next day and both he and Marcelles were sitting on the couch hacking and coughing and moaning. Marcelles had obviously caught what Jeremy had and by now they were both so sick they had temperatures and had to skip class for a couple of days. I just laughed at them and told them they looked like a couple of old women. I just hope they don't pass whatever they have onto me as this is my last full weekend here in Madrid.
Anyway, this has been a great adventure so far but I feel it's time to step it up. Fore those of you who don't really really really know me (or who haven't yet figured it out) I get bored very, very easily. As some of you may know, my goal this year is to get into the habit of stepping outside of my comfort zone and to live my life boldly. Having said that, I believe there are still more challenges to take on...I'll tell you more about my next adventure in Newsletter #3. :-)
Hasta Luego and throw a Boca burger on the grill for me!
Friday, October 17, 2003
Travel Log Numero Uno
Hola!
For those of you who don't know, I'm in Spain until August.
Where do I begin? First of all, let me just say that international keyboards are frustrating for me. Okay, got that out of the way.
Los gentes:
It's very ironic that my experience in Madrid has been like the experience I expected from France and my experience in France was more like the experience I expected in Madrid. When I went to France last year I was warned about the people being abrupt, not speaking very much English and impatient with foreign language speakers. In Spain, I've heard people are very warm, I read that many of the merchants speak English and that folks in general are accommodating with those who don't speak the language.
Both of these stereotypes have turned out to be false for me in both countries. I found the people in France last year to be very polite, laid back and most merchants spoke English and didn't seem to mind if you did as well. In Madrid, I find people to be a little more conservative and uptight. No one speaks English and they seem to get easily frustrated with those who do.
Part of the problem may be that Madrid has a lot of students who probably mess it up for others.
For those who've asked: I haven't noticed the men here too much. There seem to be many cultures here. Many Mediterranean looking men and of course many who look typically Latino. I've had very little interaction with or reaction from them. They are pretty reserved (this is not Italy). People here seem to be very focused on their “thing” and are very business like.
En generál:
Downtown Spain reminds me surprisingly of New York city. Life is supposed to be much faster here than in Barcelona. I understand folks from Barcelona have a hard time moving here and keeping up. Whatever. The pace is not N.Y., probably more like D.C. It's also expensive as the U.S. dollar continues to slip. The euro is quite a bit stronger than it was when I was in Europe last summer. Sad.
The subway system reminds me a lot of D.C. with its color-coded lines. Some of the stations are reminiscent of NYC, although many of the trains stations are very upscale. Some of the stations are huge and it can take you 10 minutes to get from one train to the next if you are transferring lines.
Dinner here is served pretty late because of course everyone must take their siestas, which oddly they seem to do (or maybe they’re just very long lunches) in France. With a routine like this, we can be assured that these two countries will never overtake the U.S. as a world power. It took me three days to finally get to the supermarket on the corner of the street where I stay because it’s never open when I get to it. Dinner is typically served at 11pm. The host families in my program have told the families to serve dinner at 9pm. Which is of course still too late for me--being very conscious of avoiding large meals after 7pm.
The city is clean. They are constantly cleaning. It’s not very easy to get around if you don’t know where you’re going, as they are very cavalier about street signage.
Mi familía:
The woman who runs my house is Esther Mendez. She doesn’t live in the apartment with my two roommates--Marcelles from Brazil and Jeremy from Reston, VA...just minutes outside of D.C. Jeremy reminds me of that guy in the jungle book. He has a very exotic look.
Esther is divorced, very nice and chatty. She is an excellent cook and is very good about serving food that I can eat. She prepared a really nice fish dinner for me the first night (I don’t know what the boys got) and a nice filo wrapped tuna dish the second night. She is, however, beginning to serve the food late though, which is a problem. I had to wait around for her to serve dinner last night so I could meet up with some people. She didn’t serve it until 9pm.
Jeremy and Marcello are very cool. We hung out last night a bit. They lost their minds and had a bunch of friends over at 2:30am the other night. They were extremely loud...although I suspect Jeremy was the one who kept trying to get them to quiet down. The landlady got on their case about this the next day. She was very nice about it, but oddly that day we were served Jasmine rice with a few paltry sardines and tomatoes. I blamed this on them and I think managed to make them feel guilty.
The apartment is steps away from the subway and has three bedrooms, a bathroom, a small living/dining area and a kitchen.
There’s no AC or fans but the windows provide a good breeze.
La programa:
The program seems to be very well organized and manages to do a good job integrating students into the format. I’m in an intensive program, which is 4 hours a day. I have two classes for one hour and forty five minutes each day. They begin at 9am with a half our break in between. Only Spanish is spoken in class and pretty much inside the school itself. Some folks are doing a super intensive program for 6 hours. Although I opted against this, I have decided to attend the evening lectures to improve my listening comprehensive. This is my greatest challenge as I am a visual learner. Even if I know the words, I have great difficulty understanding the language from a person who speaks Spanish as their native tongue.
Your experience with Don Quixote and any similar program (The Center for the Study Abroad affiliate) seems to depend largely on your living situation. Some host families impose strict rules: one shower a day, limited access to living quarters and paltry meals. My friends Charles is finishing the program in Barcelona. He is served boiled potatoes with a can of mayonnaise several times a week. I know a guy who had shrimp with champagne for his meal last night. It seems to vary. I consider my household to be very fortunate. Esther is very nice and the food is sufficient. She serves it, sits down to talk with us, corrects our Spanish and cleans up afterwards.
We can take as many showers as we want provided we follow the rules of the gas, which is a complicated process with several steps to turn on and light...which I’m surprised she trusts us to do. I think initially we were all concerned about blowing ourselves to bits. Since she lives in the apartment above us, we have lots of privacy. We’re not allowed to use the laundry facilities but for $6, Esther will wash and iron your clothes for you once a week.
In general, I’m great but still getting acclimated. Because Charles was here for the first several days, I really haven’t done too much or hung out with too many people. I’ve been invited to go for dinner tonight after the lectures. I think this is where I will get to really know the folks. The great thing is that people come in every week so there will always be new faces.
The food has been pretty salty and greasy and I’m eating a lot of carbs, which I don’t like. My exercise program is shot and it took me three days just to find fresh fruit, which is all I usually eat for breakfast. Fortunately I did bring my red tea from home and the stores do sell soy milk. However, I don’t think rice milk has really made it here yet.
Well OK! That’s about it for me.
Hasta Luego!
