Tuesday February 19, 2008
We had the biggest thunderstorm last night, I think that the thunder and lightening shook the entire country of Spain as a whole. I, being the amazingly light sleeper that I am, woke up randomly and frequently through out the night. It wasn’t much of a surprise to me when I didn’t want to get out of bed today. Not only was it because of the rain, but because we were to have our first history exam today. I spent all last night studying for it, I actually feel asleep studying for it. I think the diffusion of the information into my brain worked quite well because I knew all of the answers to our essay test today(I think). After class and lunch today I headed to call Meridith for the first time since being in Spain. I haven’t talked to her in forever because she always has to work on the weekends when I have time and access to the Internet; therefore I decided to pay her a visit. It was good talking to her and knowing that she is going crazy without me as well. My second task of the day was to find by myself (oh Lord) the street and location of the office where I was to get my new International Student I.D. For some odd reason, I found the agency without any problems, I used a map and it was great, the only problem was that the agency was closed when I arrived. I decided to head back to the plaza by school and a lady in car stopped me. She asked me for directions, and I gave them to her. Keep in mind this is all in Spanish. What a success! After making a complete loop, apparently I didn’t fully understand where I was, I ended up back in front of the agency. Luckily there was a woman who had just halfway opened up the shop. I waited out-front and another girl showed up. She was clearly and American and from Wisconsin, the worst kind in Spain, and she was waiting as well. A guy walked up to us and asked us if we were waiting and why we were waiting. I was taken back because he was speaking English, but I came to find out that he worked for the agency and was from the United States. He told me that they did make new cards but that I had to return on Thursday or Friday because their machine was broken. I proudly threw in the line that I would be out of the country then (Paris!) and that I would probably have to come back next week instead. Afterwards I headed home and got stopped for a second time for directions. Two ladies came up to me and asked where a Plaza was, I told them that I wasn’t sure and I didn’t really know and then they realized that I wasn’t from Seville (as if the blond hair and rocky speech didn’t already give it away). I was just proud that I look like I know what I’m doing and that I look approachable. Overall, the events of the day aided in a win for Team Emily. I finally got home around 6:00pm and then had to leave for my ONG. I changed the dates of the next three weeks because we will be traveling the next two Thursday’s and then at a play, Don Juan Tenorio, on the third Thursday. Tonight my ONG went really well. I swam laps with Maria for about the first 30 minutes and then David, the director of the physical therapy program, decided that we were going to learn how to dive today. The first kid, Jose Maria (yeah, that’s a guys name), went up and aced it. Then we came to Maria. She put her hands down on her feet but wouldn’t jump, put her hands down again and still wouldn’t jump, therefore Jose Maria took it upon himself to push her headfirst into the water. It was one of the slow motion moments for me. She didn’t change her form the whole time. Let’s just say that it was the most awkward cannon ball-esk headfirst tuck-and-fall dive that I have ever seen. I had to laugh, I didn’t know what else to do. It was a good night overall and for the record I made to the pool and back, using public transportation, all by myself! When I got home, we had the most amazing Spanish lasagna ever created over some light dinner conversation. The conversation was about a misunderstanding that I had with David at the pool earlier in the night. David asked me where I was traveling in the next two weeks and I told him Paris and Conil. He understood Paris well but when it came to Conil, not so much. Apparently Conil is close to a “bad word” in Spanish and he thought that I had said that word instead! Lets just say that from his facial expressions alone I knew that I had said something awkward and wrong, go figure. After we jumped that hurdle together the rest of the night went smoothly, minus the diving lessons. When I came home I asked my host sister about the word that David had “heard” from me (after failing to find it in the dictionary). She busted out laughing at me and at the situation and tactfully explained the definition. Needless to say, the word is not a word that I would ever say in English, let alone in Spanish, and I would have been a lot more embarrassed if I knew what the word meant when I had apparently “said” it earlier. I find it enjoyable that my dealings with the Spanish language are humorous and awkward for all involved. Ahh…yet another great day in the Spanish life of Emily.
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