¿No eres española?

Hola!

This past week I was in Madrid for a conference (I’m actually a grown-up now!) for the Language Assistant program. We didn’t start any official business until dinner the first day so I had the whole day to go out and see Madrid. The city is so vibrant and full of life.

I LOVE IT. I must have walked at least 10 miles… my feet were ACHING. But it was totally worth it. I went from my hotel all the way to the financial district (lots of nice looking Spanish men in suits… mmm hmm! haha) then down to the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library) and back up to the Prado. I was there over winter vacation my sophomore year of college so I didn’t go inside but it is still so cool to see. I did go inside the Museo Reina Sofía, which is another famous art museum.

Although I’ve been there before, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see my favorite Picasso painting, Guerníca. It is breathtaking-- around 10 feet tall and 25 feet wide-- a representation of the bombing of the town of Guerníca in the Basque Country during the Spanish Civil War/World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(painting)). The first time I saw it, I literally shed a tear. Same effect this time.

After the museum I slowly made my way back, trying to take everything in (and give my feet a break!)… I have to say that being somewhere so wonderful made me resent living in Valladolid, just a little bit. Especially because every person I talk to tells me how much they don’t like it, including people who live there! Right when I got to the hotel even, the guy checking people in from our program asked me where I was working and when I told him Valladolid he was like “Ooooh, that’s too bad.” I felt especially disheartened when I asked a fellow Language Assistant (who was assigned to Asturias- lucky!) if he'd been to Valladolid during his travels through Spain. "Oh yeah, I got beat up there." What?! Ugh.

Nevertheless I am still trying to keep an open mind. It’s been a little more than three weeks and I am finally getting settled. I've now been mistaken for a Spaniard a grand total of 5 times. ("¿No eres española?" means "You're not Spanish?!"). Holler! Three of these people told me that I have a Catalan accent (the region of Spain where Barcelona is), mostly because of the way I pronounce my "L"s. I thought that was weird because I've never been to Catalunya, but then I realized that people who speak Catalan pronounce the letter L much like speakers of U.S. English, so really it's just my American accent. ANYWAY, before get too much into lateral consonants and reveal how much of nerd I am (see http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/ if you share my love of linguistics hehe)... I'll get back to settling in.

First things first-- the living situation: I decided that I would be much more comfortable here if I changed apartments. The two girls I was living with are very nice but I need to live in a more sociable environment, like with students, for example. I only work 12 hours a week (hah!) and I can say with a good amount of certainty that this will be the last time that ever happens, so I really need to take advantage and get out and see and do; meet new people and have a good time. That was very difficult living with two women who don’t go out, or even really talk that much. After a lot of searching I found a new apartment in the same neighborhood, which is nice because I really like the area and it’s close to the school where I work and fairly easy to get downtown. I'm living (much to the chagrin of my mother) with two guys, one from Zamora and the other from Ciudad Real.

Victor, from Zamora, is an engineer. He finished school two years ago and works at for one of the big telecommunication companies in Spain. The other, Jose, is my age and in the School of Education at the University of Valladolid. The apartment is great and they guys are so fun. I’ve really enjoyed hanging out with them the couple of nights.

Now that that’s falling into place: work. The truth is I’m also resenting the fact that I had to be in Valladolid on September 15^th. The people from Ministry of Education in Castilla y León made it very clear that that was to be our first day of work, even though in all the other regions it was not until October 1^st (down south) or after, like for those attended the conference (most of the northern and eastern regions). I’m not happy about it because I was expected to start working before our training date (last week), which makes no sense because I’ve had no idea what it is exactly that I’m supposed to be doing at the school, and neither does anyone there. So, I’ve just been winging it, which I’m pretty good at J, but it shouldn’t have to be that way. I met an American girl at the hotel who is working in another town in Castilla y León and she told me that the teachers at her school gave her those two weeks off until the training so she could get situated. Huh? My school expects me to cover the classes of absent teachers so they don’t have to pay for substitutes. Anyway, I’m glad that the training conference is over because now my role as a “Language Assistant" is a bit more clearly defined and I can sit down with the staff at IES Ribera de Castilla and figure out what is I will be doing this year. Then I can get settled in that regard as well!

I'm in the process of starting some other jobs on the side, including private English lessons, working at a language institute for little kids and waitressing. But, more on that to come. I miss you all a lot! Hugs from Spain!