WEEKS 7, 8, & 9

WEEK 7: Nov 16-23

That week I left to take a trip to London to visit my friend Amy from IWU! (She is studying in London for the semester). My first big trip of the school year! Me and Amy planned it about a month before, and I was also able to take off 2 days of work to go! (One in the primary school, the other in the high school. That's one of the advantages of working at two places, haha). But first, the preparations...

The days before the trip, I was still recovering from my cold! I was kind of nervous because I still had a nagging cough, but I just bought a huge bag of cough drops and hoped for the the best! I also made sure to pack my warmest coat, my lovely Pea coat, since I was expecting it to be colder up North. And, of course, I made sure to do my weekly chore so as not to upset the roommates. But yeah, about the roommates...One thing of note happened with them that week. So...I had told them I was going to leave that Wed night at 8pm for my trip. I was going to catch a bus to a nearby town, Lerida, stay overnight there, and catch a train the next morning to the town where I was flying out of. (yeah...I kind of live in the middle of nowhere...makes planning trips quite complicated!) But, plans changed since I wasn't all packed and ready to go when expected! So I decided that instead of taking the bus, I would take a later train to give myself a few more hours to prep. My roommates didn't know this, so when I arrived back at the apartment to finish my packing, the roomies were prepping a dinner party for their friends. So yeah, I felt pretty uncomfortable since I didn't know about it and they didn't introduce me to anyone or ask if I wanted any food. But i just thought that would be something that would have come up in previous conversations...but yeah that whole incident basically told me that they don't consider me a friend/someone they want to get to know. But, apparently, between the two of them, they are pretty tight! So, I guess this is just further proof that three is a crowd...especially when you are the odd one out!

Anyways, sorry for the rant. On to the exciting stuff...The trip!

So, all my travelling when smoothly, with a few minor scares as is expected, hehe. Here is the list of things that could have prevented the trip from happening:

1. Almost missed the train going to the airport! (I was waiting on the wrong track number but didnt realize it until just before my train left! It was early in the morning and i was v. out of it. Luckily, train conductors in Spain are very compassionate.)

2. When I was about to board the plane, I was informed that I had to get my passport checked at the bag check counter since I am not a European citizen. (I failed to read the fine print on my boarding pass!) Luckily, they didn't make me go all the way back to that first checkpoint.

So...Yeah! I got to London AOK! I stayed with Amy at her apartment, which, by the way, was beautiful! Definitely what I would picture a london flat to look like. The first evening I was there, we had dinner at a little restaurant called S&M (Sausages and Mash Potatoes)...hehe. So I got to try some typical English cuisine! Very hearty and delicious. Then we walked around Leicester Square, where they have a lot of movie theaters, bars, theatres, and strip clubs/sex shoppes! We weren't out late enough to see the "working women," but we were out early enough to hear a couple of guys singing Christian songs and playing the guitar while standing outside a porn shop...I quite enjoyed the juxtaposition.

The next day, Friday, we went for tea at a fancy little hotel! We dressed for the occasion, and were treated with the utmost kindness. It was soooo....pleasant! We arrived late, but the concierge assured us, calling us Ms. Chang/Ms. Verhelst, that our table was waiting for us! So we proceeded to enjoy some delicious finger sandwiches, scones with raspberry jam, some cute pastries....and of course...a teapot for each of us! I want to go to afternoon tea everyday!

After this, we headed out to see all the famous sights. My favorite was St. James park, which is right near Buckingham Palace! We walked thru the park and saw the changing colors of the leaves on the trees, the swans in the lake, and a strange little rodent...I think it was a gopher or something! We also saw some bunnies, and I got really excited because I haven't yet seen a bunny in my town, Monzón! (I think its because there isn't enough grass around, and its very dry here). Another sight I really liked was the London Eye. We didn't go on it, because i thought I would freak out from being up so high for so long (it rotates reeeeally slow). But it had some pretty lights at night! After seeing the sight, we went to Jersey Boys, a musical about Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons. The music was really fun and it was interesting to learn more about their story...So counterintuitive that a group of tough guys would form a boy band! I just wish there was more dancing and scenery!

To be continued...NOW! Read on...

On Saturday, we headed out to the biggest outdoor market in London, Camden Market. I had been to outdoor markets before, but this was nothing like any other market I had seen! First of all, there were dozens of stands selling food from different countries: Chinese, Indian, Moroccan...All the food vendors were calling out to the people walking around, trying to get them to buy a meal at their stand! They were also giving away free samples. I of course took a bunch of samples, but was very selective with what food I chose to buy because there were so many choices! Amy and I decided on Indian food...Though I had to try many of the different dishes before I found something that wasn't too spicy for me!

Then it was shopping time...My favorite part. We browsed through scarves upon scarves, bought some pretty things, and tried not to get lost! We also tried to work our bargaining magic, which, as I remembered from when I went to Morocco, I am not very good at! But I think I got some good buys. Also, at the market, we ran into some people from IWU! I was sooo surprised. We actually saw them eating delicious-looking doughnuts and were talking about buying some, when we realized who was eating the doughnuts! It was really fun to see some more familiar faces and have a mini catch-up session with our (former) classmates.

After Camden Market, we hit up St. Paul's, a huge domed, anglican cathedral, to hear Evensong. I guess it is another church service, but I am not sure if it counts for Sunday service. Anyways, we got to hear the choir sing...It was beautiful! Though I couldn't understand the words...So many overlapping vocal lines! Anyways, the coolest part was that the soprano section consisted of little boys! I didn't realize that they still did that. But I'm glad those boys are so dedicated to their art at such a young age, because it sounded amazing!

On Sunday, Amy had to do homework, so it was up to me to plan my day and navigate! I have to admit, I was rather nervous about getting lost, but Amy gave me directions in advance! So yeah, Sunday morning, we went to mass at a normal Catholic church. It looked like a normal building on the outside, which was weird to me, but on the inside, it was really beautiful! And it was cool going to mass in English versus in Spain where I kind of space out and don't pay attention to what's going on. Also, the priest that said mass was American! I was pleased about that because hearing American English reminds me of home, and I just love the way we talk/pronounce things. (I think just being out of the US is making me appreciate the sound of the American English. I used to think it was sort of ugly, but now I really like it!)

So yes. After mass it started to rain, so I headed over to the National Gallery to see some art! I decided to focus in on the Impressionists so as not to get to overwhelmed by forcing myself to see everything! So yeah, I enjoyed hanging out there, taking in the beauty of all those lovely pieces of art! And I realized that I think I prefer going to art museums alone because you can take as much/as little time as you want looking at any given piece. So, it was nice to be able to go at my own pace. Though after a while, it started getting really crowded! So I headed out to grab a bite, then to the national portrait gallery next door to see an exhibit about famous rock artists "From the Beatles to Bowie." It was pretty cool seeing a timeline of when/where/how all those famous artists came to be. And the photos, of course, were cool to see.

After that, I headed out see the Tate Gallery, and saw some Surrealist art. I have to admit I don't really like surrealist art. I think it would be more fun to see it with a friend and theorize about the meaning of the strangeness, hehe. Then I saw the London Bridge (not too exciting!), the Tower of London (just took a pic), and the Catholic Cathedral (looked like a castle!). Amy joined me for my last London activity...going to see the movie Dorian Gray. I had read the book in high school, so I was really excited about the movie. But, it was actually kind of disappointing! The characters were not well developed, and the special effects were a bit cheesy. Nonetheless, it still totally creeped me out!

So, early the next morning, I headed back to Monzón. It was a smooth journey, except for the fact that I almost missed my train stop for my town since I had been dozing on and off!! phew!

So yes. I really enjoyed going to London! It was especially awesome to see a familiar face, catch up with Amy, and see the city with a resident guide! Also, it was nice to get a break from the language barrier that I have to deal with on a daily basis....Though in London it was sometimes hard to understand people's accents!

WEEK 8: NOV 24-29

The first week back after London. Since it was the last week of the month, I decided I better figure out what activities I want to sign up for...In all the activities I have seen, you pay by the month, so I thought, better figure it out this week so I can sign up for December! So, I went to a Salsa class on Monday night. The people there danced pretty well and were having a good time, but there wasn't much instruction happening, just open dancing-- Fun, I thought, but a waste of money if the teacher isn't teaching.

To be continued again!!...Read on...

So I decided I would check out other activities. I went to see a pilates class, and then tried one out. Then I also tried out a couple different aerobics classes. There was one that I really like! It's 1 hour 3 times a week, and they mix up the activities, so you do pilates one day, step another day, then aero-salsa the next! I think I'm gonna sign up for that come January...I'm excited that I will finally have an evening activity to go to! And the best thing is that it is a pretty good deal-- 33 Euros for the entire month, so that comes to about 12 classes (a little less than 3 Euros each class).

And now...About Thanksgiving! Since I am not friends with any Americans in my town, nor have I met any, Thanksgiving was not a special day for me! I went to work, tried out a fitness class, then hung out with some friends...Remember the "banker's daughter"? Here name is Laura. So I went with her and her friends to help them prepare a surprise party! They went all out for the party...It was themed as a rock concert, so they had T-shirts, posters, and decorations. It was fun to do something creative like that while hanging out with them! Plus I got to meet some of Laura's other friends...They are all really nice! The only thing is, that most of them smoke. Yeesh! Most of them go to the gym pretty often, too, which I think is a funny combination of habits: really healthy, and really unhealthy. But, such is Spain! So anyways, Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be a ham and cheese sandwich with an apple and yogurt. (!!!) I was actually OK with it, though. I think it would be a different story if I was here for Christmas, all alone in my apartment. Now THAT would be sad. And speaking of...in case you haven't heard...I AM COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! I just bought the tickets a bit ago! I arrive Dec 22, and leave Jan 2...Yeah, I made sure I would be home for New Years's!!! I originally was planning on not coming home for Christmas to save $$ for travel in Europe. But once I got here and realized how homesick I was/am, I thought I really want to go home and see everyone! Plus I have a 2.5 week break, and that is a long time to have nothing to do! Especially during the holidays...

Anyways...more about my social life, because I actually have one! So, yes, as I mentioned before, I have been hanging out with Laura and her friends a lot. Its cool that they have a weekly routine for hanging out...Tuesdays at 7:30 they meet at a café called "Blues Rock" that is Rock and Roll themed; Thursday they hang out at a Tapas bar; on Friday back to Blues, then they eat dinner together and go out till 2am ish. Then Saturday is the big night for partying...They meet up at midnight to chill at Blues, then between 2-4am they head out to one of the small dance clubs, of which there are 4! (But they call the clubs "pubs"...I don't really know why!) The clubs stay open till 5am, so people either go to someone's appt to hang out for a while, or wait for a breakfast restaurant to open at 6am.

People here really take their partying seriously! And I got a taste of it last weekend. On Friday, I met a girl who is the physical therapist of one of the teachers at my school...Her name is Loreto. The teacher gave me this Loreto's number (since she is about my age--in her 20s). So I called her and we went to dinner with her bf's cousin, who is actually German! So it was nice to hang out with a foreigner...I felt less self conscious about asking language and culture questions and talking about my experience here. And yeah, the girls were really interested in learning about US culture and English...And it is so much easier to connect with someone that is interested in that stuff! So I had a good time.

On saturday, I went the party I had been helping Laura prep for. We met up at 8pm for dinner at a "peña," a locale that groups of people rent out to use for parties. I think the reason why they are so good for parties is that there is nothing there to mess up: no table, chairs...The floor and walls are cement...It basically looked like an unfinished basement! And there was no heating...So, yeah. Very crude, but it worked! At the party, I got to meet even more of Laura's friends! They are really fun, and were interested in talking to me about US culture/English/how I like Spain, so I had some good conversations with people at the party and made some new friends, yay! After eating dinner at the party, we hit up the Karaoke bar....Yeah, that's right! My little town has a Karaoke bar, of which I am very happy about. Since y'all know how much i LOOOOVE karaoke. So I sang a little spanish song called "Esos ojos negros" (Those Black Eyes) by a Spanish band from the 80s. Here is a clip from Youtube if you want to have a listen!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYWOuySy-oU

So, yeah, I sang that song with a couple of Laura's friends...Even though I never heard it before! But it was really fun. Then we went out dancing to the little "pub," and got free drinks since 3 of Laura's friends work there!! =) So, yeah...we stayed out till 6am...Which meant I didn't wake up the next day till 2pm!! yikes.

WEEK 9: Dec 1-8

So yes, spent this past week recovering from all the partying that went down over the weekend! Couldn't seem to catch up on sleep...or my household chores! Oops...But since the girl roommate wasn't here this week (she stayed at her hometown since she was sick!) I was less stressed out. Bc that girl is very particular about cleanliness, which I understand, but since I am more laid back about all that suff, I really have to put in an effort to keep things tidy for her. And i dont like it, but, well i guess that's what you have to do to coexist peacefully with the roomies! Sigh.

Haha, I just realized I haven't said anything about work at all in this post! Better get on that, ahem. So...the primary school is going really well! I pretty much do the same conversation activities each class-- The kids get into partners and practice asking each other questions, and answering in FULL sentences. Its a nice way for them to practice by repetition. I don't know if they get bored with it, but it's good practice for them! I also did a little Thanksgiving themed activity with them the week before. They learned about some of our traditions and some vocab. So...Things at the High school aren't going as well. There is one class in particular that I mentioned before. They are very talkative, but the other prob is that the teacher doesn't discipline them, so they just keep on talking. And another problem is that they want to run the class! The teacher told me they were complaining that class goes too slow and they aren't learning anything. So she started speeding things up, and she told me a lot of the students can't keep up! But she isn't gonna change things because that is what they said they wanted. Also, she insists that the students don't want to do things outside of the book...So I have had problems prepping activities for them. Last week I ended up just prepaing exercises from the book, but its really boring for me and for them. Plus the teacher ended up doing most of the teaching during that lesson, and I got to see her teaching style -- she pretty much just gives them the answers and if they don't understand, she explains to them in Spanish and doesn't let them figure it out on their own! She claims they are learning a lot, but I don't know how that is possible if they aren't given the chance to talk themselves. So, yeah. Lots of tension in that classroom between all parties involved. I only have one more class left with them this semester, so let's hope things get better next semester.

And, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I now have private, individual English classes in addition to my classes at the schools! I teach 3 teachers from the HS. Their classes are pretty easy to prep for sine they use textbooks, so I don't really have to prep much besides looking over the material.  Then I have 2 other students in the evening. I like those classes a lot because I get to prep anything I want! And we meet up at a café for class, so it is very laid back, and a fun environment to practice conversation.

So...changing gears...This past weekend was a 5 day weekend! We got 2 days off, one for Constitution Day, and another for the Immaculate Conception, a church holiday...The day the Virgin Mary was conceived! (I think). For the past few weeks i had been trying to line up travel plans, since I was afraid of getting bored again. So I tried contacting other auxiliares in the area...But didn't find anyone who a) responded or who b) was available. It turned out to be Okay, though! On Friday, I went over to the provincial capital, Huesca, to pick up my residence card, which was FINALLY ready!!! I took a 1.5 hour bus ride over there...not too far. Picked up the card, no problem. And I was proud that I only used my map one time during the whole trip! Since it was my third time there, I sort of know my way around the downtown area, which was nice. While there, I checked out a cool health food store, walked around the university, which was beautiful! Then I hung out with one of Laura's friends and we went to have lunch. It was nice to hang out with someone one on one and practice my Spanish, which doesn't happen often. At work, between classes or during breaks, there are always a lot of teachers around and its more difficult for me to socialize because it involves mingling, which is tricky in a foreign language because 1) you have to know what the people are talking about in order to enter the conversation and 2) you have to  figure out what to say and say it pretty quickly. So, yeah...lots of advanced conversation skills that I have yet to acquire...(hehe I even have problems with this in English conversations!) =P So yeah. The lunch was nice, except for the fact that we ordered from the specials menu, which they don't have written down. So i had to ask the waitress to repeat things, explain them...then repeat and explain them again because it is really hard to remember the meaning of a list of food in a foreign language! I got pretty flustered since on top of that I didn't have time to think about what I wanted on my own...but I survived!! hehe.

Later on Friday I went out with Loreto to have dinner, and we met up with her friends. Again, cool to meet people, but a bit uncomfortable since they are besties and I don't know them nor do I speak Spanish slang. Rough situation...So I kind of got bored/frustrated since I wasn't contributing much conversationally. And then I got flustered when they put me on the spot since they realized I hadn't been talking. But they had a couple specific questions about the US, like if the Amish really dress the way they do on TV! Haha, I had totally forgot about the Amish phenomenon, but it is pretty interesting. It made me think that there are a lot more peculiar things about the US (or any country) to foreigners than people realize. For example, one of Laura's friends was teaching me the Spanish name for "so and so," "Joe Schmo," etc. Its Fulanito, or if there are two people, Menganito as well! hehe they are very funny names. And their version of "Eenie Meanie Miney Mo" is called "Pito Pito." Just little peculiarities that are really interesting!

Saturday was the big party night, again. We went to a free concert at midnight. The main band was a duo that performs parodies of famous songs, like weird Al, but with humor more in the style of Flight of the Concords. I had to listen super carefully to catch the meaning of the lyrics. So I got a few jokes, but I mostly needed Laura to explain things to me, and once she did, I got the jokes and learned a few more cultural peculiarities! For example, during Christmas, people put up Nativity scenes, and there is usually a shepard that is taking a dump hidden somewhere in the scene, just as a joke. I think its so interesting how Spaniards (in general) don't take many things seriously! They don't obey laws such as not smoking in restaurants (grrr) or drinking in the streets; kids don't respect teachers; and the majority doesn't take Catholicism seriously. They have many swears that I find offensive, such as "hostia," meaning host, or the Eucharist. They use this word like we use "damn." Sometimes they say something along the lines of taking a dump on the host or on God...Things that are waaay worse than what we say in English, but that aren't considered really bad swears. So strange. Anyways, I kind of want to listen to the songs online and figure out what they mean, just for cultural education. Speaking of...I wonder if I could use a Flight of the Concords song as a listening activity in one of the High school classes...What do you think?

Anyways, that Saturday after the concert, we went to the Blues Rock cafe until 4am (!!!) I was annoyed because I thought we would head out at 2am to go to the pub...I got really antsy because I wanted to dance! Plus, again, didn't participate in the conversation since there were like 9 other people there. So, when you can't talk...dance instead! But when we got to the pub, there was soo much smoke, I still failed to strike up conversations with people, the music was super Spanish, as was the way they were dancing. So I felt suuuuper out of place and headed out early...(Early being 4:30am, hehe).

Next day was better, even though I slept in till like 3pm! I dunno how I feel about completely altering my schedule just for the sake of partying, but oh well. I didn't have any other plans for the weekend besides going out at night, so I figured I might as well give in. On Saturday, we met up at Blues Rock. I didn't get there till like 1:15am. By 3am, we headed over to the club and met up with a lot of Laura's friends from the party. They were dancing salsa style, which I was really excited about! Also had some more fun conversations about cultural diffs...and learned some fun Aragon slang! At 6am, we hit up the breakfast restaurant to have a bite. And everyone was acting CRAZY! I was happy that Laura and her friend acted as the "translators" in keeping me updated with what was going on in the conversation. They started telling jokes, and I told an American joke (surrounding the classic dog name Fido), which they didn't understand! I didn;t expect they would, but it was the only joke I could remember! But they still laughed. They are so nice! =) So I headed home and hopped into bed at 8:30am...A record time!!

So, Sunday slept till 3pm, and went out AGAIN! Me and Laura were up for a chill night, going home around 2am. But, of course, if you go out at midnight and want to go to 3 different places, take a long time finishing your drinks, and keep running into people you know if the streets...Things take a LOT longer! hehe. Didn't get home till 3:30am, which was sort of early in Spanish terms!! But yeah. Just participating in their typical night life schedule made me realize how they like taking their time when it comes to enjoyable things. Like, when you go out, you don't hit up the club first. First you go to a bar, and you take your time, letting everyone finish their drink slowly and have a few cigarettes (ick!). For me, I noticed that I got super impatient with the time they were taking because I was like, Oh no! We need to get moving over to the pub or we are gonna get home really late! That kind of attitude doesn't really gel with the Spanish nightlife schedule. Yeah, so yesterday when me and Laura were telling people we were leaving they were like, stay for a while! They wouldn't let us leave! And the spanish even have a word for this, roping people into staying longer, or going to a party, or doing something fun when they originally weren't planning to: Embaucar. (Which, according to word reference, also means seduce! hehe) I also wanted to leave early since i had made plans with a couple other teachers to go to an outdoor market the next day...Which would be today! Tuesday, the second holiday.

So today was the first day all weekend I got up before 2pm! It was nice to be out and about during the day...I was beginning to think I was a vampire or something! So yeah, we walked around the market and got some good deals. I was surprised at how big the market was considering its such a small town! Again, felt uncomfortable hanging with the teachers, but at least it got me out of the house! And it was a nice change from hanging out with people at cafés/bars/pubs. I think I am starting to get tired of that...And my lungs too! I woke up today, and my right lung is really irritated-- it sort of stings when I cough. I think I need to avoid smoky places this week, if possible without offending people. But, honestly, my health is more important to me than my social life, than other people's opinions of me/of America, etc, so I think I am gonna go on a smoke-free week, just for my lungs' sake, because I am a bit worried. It was probably just the fact that I spent so many hours in smoky places over the weekend, but still...I am a bit concerned. Let's see if I have the courage to ask people not to smoke around me, or if they have the courtesy not to do it.