So I'm Talented

Monday January 21, 2008

Today is just one of those days when you wake up and you know that the basic things that you do today are going to be hard. I think I ran into my chair, the bed and a doorway all before 8am. Talented, I know. On the way to school I realized that it was the second week of classes already, and yet it has seemed like 2 months. Today was our first day of class with Victor, but we also had the other native speaking teachers today as well. I like Monday-Wednesday classes better than Tuesday-Thursday classes. Having Spanish literature and then Spanish History back-to-back is not the best. Today we talked about some grammar stuff in the first class, the difference in schedules in the second class and began to talk about sexism in Spanish culture in the last class. Our first class with Yaye was a good time. She used an example of an 80’s Spanish rock group with lyrics to talk about being an individual and to look more closely at the words themselves. She is a really good teacher and even though her class is almost two hours long, she doesn’t make it seem like it. And I learned a new word because of it: mallas, “leggings.” Ahh, you have to love the 80’s. After class we had a little class discussion and it really brought things into perspective here in Spain. A lot of the time its easy to think and focus about the things that are wrong and what I miss, but hey, I’m in SPAIN! It’s always good to take a step back and to recognize what I am thankful for and how everything is relative. Today I finally got my birthday card from my family and it made me happy, so I hung it on our bulletin board for everyone to see. For lunch we had pasta with a meat sauce that was good and then we all laid down for siesta. When we woke up Sam went running and Allison and I headed to the bank again to try and cash my travelers checks. It was definitely not open, and frustration set in again. I hate feeling dumb and lost, and here…its kind of all you feel. So Allison and I decided to shop around for a while to calm the nerves, also because it was a gorgeous day. We stumbled upon the bookstore that our teacher Victor had told us to buy a book (for class) from earlier that day. I went straight up to the cashier and asked for the book by title and author and it was the first time a Spaniard has fully understood me and my God did it feel good. To make things even better, they had a copy of the book as well! After we left “Casa del Libro” we went to find other bookstores to get Allison a copy of the book as well. We ended up in some religious bookstore, which was pretty funny because we didn’t notice for a while until we had a light bulb moment. After finding and trying 2 other bookstores we came to the conclusion that the bank and the bookstores were in a secret chain out to get me, and we came home. We did homework for a while and then took a study break and headed to Lidl, a German grocery store that has food for less and they may also have chocolate that’s to die for. I bought some cheap chips that I thought were chips that tasted like salsa, I was incorrect and they tasted like cheese and you’re supposed to dip them in salsa-hence the picture on the front of the bag. The chips won that battle. I also decided to try Cola Siti from the store today, which is the Sam’s Choice of Spain. I thought I would give it a try since one 2-liter of Coke is equal in price to 4 2-liters of Cola Siti. It basically tastes like diet RC Cola, it was kind of a train wreck, but at least I tried. We came home and did more homework and now we are waiting for dinner…its already 10:00pm, hopefully its ready soon.