A stag do, English breakfasts and black sand: Tenerife part two

Last few days in Tenerife.  Check out the next post for a photo album!

This is the one of the meals we had on the shore. It's so easy to sit on the beach shore and eat dinner.

Day 3: Fish and Chips
Thus starts the British saga.  The night before we were eating supper on our terrace, when the guys on the terrace next to us needed an opinion on an outfit their friend was wearing: pink fluffy vest, pink boots, pink shorts and a pink cowboy hat.  Where would you find an outfit like that? A stag do, of course (or a despedido de novios in Spanish/ bachelor party in the states).  We now have a list of common phrases from the UK that Matt, Mike, Sean, Aaron, Paul and Chris taught us, such as quid (pounds), penny floater, cheers, throwing shapes.  Finally, we’re learning how to speak “proper” English.  Someday, when we go to England, we’ll fit right in, with our awful British accents and all.

And how could we have a true Tenerife experience without trying fish and chips? (It was surprising how many restaurants advertised English breakfasts!)  We found a hole-in-the-wall place, Miami Bar, and proceeded to eat the best meal I have had in my entire life.  Fresh fish, fries, salad and a cold beer.  There was a football (soccer in the states, footy in the UK) game on, and the guys in the back would yell every time someone scored a goal, no matter which team it was that scored.  At the very end of our meal, one of the cooks walked around with a plate of homemade fries for us to try. (He grew those potatoes himself!)  This is exactly what you should do when traveling.  Find some place that may not look so attractive on the outside.  Chances are the food will be good and the people will be friendly.

Here are those potatoes that we tried! With the red and green sauce on the left.

Day 4: Beach, beach and more beach
It was day four and we still hadn’t gone to the beach.  We decided that needed to change.  So, we hopped out of bed and made our way down to playa de las americas.  It was perfect weather, a little breezy and absolutely sunny.   Picture this: black sand (even though it was more gray than black), huge waves (it is the Atlantic after all), beach umbrellas scattered all over the beach (although you had to pay to use the chairs that were under the umbrellas), and people selling massages, fruit and doughnuts to all the sunbathing people (why doughnuts??).  I thought about selling massages myself at a better price to pay for our meal that night, then decided against it.  There were only a few of us (me and some of the stag do guys) who were brave enough to venture into the water, and even though it was cold at first, you just had to get used to it.  It was refreshing!  You didn’t even need to swim, just float, because of all the salt in the water.  My favorite part of the entire trip was body surfing those waves.  Next time, I am absolutely learning how to surf.

There it is..the Atlantic Ocean right off the coast of Tenerife.

Later that night we ate at a tiny restuarant on the shore and met the coolest server ever, Sherry (like the wine).  He was from Pakistan and has lived and worked in Tenerife for a long time (around nine years or so).  Servers in Tenerife tend to stand in front of the restaurants and “encourage” people to try out their restaurant.  It could get a little crazy.  One guy was carrying an axe/wood concoction and tried to herd Sara into the restaurante.  I’m not exactly sure what he was wearing…we didn’t stick around long enough to find out. Sherry taught us that Mondays are chicken days, Tuesdays are salad days and Wednesdays are fish days.  When he realized that Sara was eating chicken and it was Sunday, he quickly said, “Y domingos son días de pollo también.” (Sundays are chicken days too).  He also taught us that if you have been drinking too much (hypothetically) that it’s a good idea to take a tequila shot with a hot pepper in it when you first wake up.  Well, that may work for him, but I’m not trying it! On the way home, we got ice cream bars.  If you haven’t tried them, you need to try Magnum ice cream bars.  Life-changing.

mmmm..blueberry banana.

Day 5: And here’s a four star hotel…here’s another..
The last day was our most ambitious.  We wanted to check out even more beaches, but the weather didn’t look promising..for the first time on our entire trip! (And I thought it was going to rain every day).  So we got a café and waited at an outdoor cafetería, shivering until the clouds blew over.  Then we kept walking to another cafetería and got a smoothie/burgers.  Ok, I know it sounds like we ate alot, but you have to understand..being at the beach really does increase your appetite.  After walking around for a while, we ended up at the same beach we were at the day before, ate the most amazing veggie burger (food again!) and headed back to the hotel to attempt to get rid of some of that black sand that ended up all over us.  (The next day, we found more sand in our hair..how does that work?).

We were heading out that night to find a Spanish bar, and who did we happen to see?  Our bus driver, Juso!  He told us to hop in the bus and gave us a tour of all the hotels on the island.  We drove and drove and he said, “éste tiene tres estrellas, y éste tiene cuatro estrellas, y éste…” (this one has three stars, and this one has four stars, and this one…) If we learned nothing else about the island, at least we know which hotels are the most expensive.

I could survive if I had to live here..

We all agreed that we definitely could have stayed another week.  But we had to leave.  Early.  We got to the airport before I realized how much stuff I had in my suitcase.  Why was it so much bigger than it was before?  And RyanAir, our airline, really did mean one piece of luggage.  One very small piece of luggage.  It took me a few tries to get my suitcase to fit in the suitcase size checker (all luggage has to fit, or you have to check it).  I’m so thankful for those understanding security guards.  They helped me flip over the suitcase and stuff it into the checker so it would fit.  And even though I had to throw away a bag of chips and a plastic peanut butter container, it was worth not paying the 50 euro to check the bag!

The first two days were the busiest.  The last three were relaxing.  And it seems like I learned more Spanish than ever before because of all the random people we talked to.  It wasn’t hard to start conversations at all. The people who live on the Canary Islands are very open and willing to share about their lives.  Plus when you’re friendly, people will give you free chupitos.  (You can look that word up if you need to).

It was a little disappointing to come home to the cold and rainy weather after five days in the sun, but I got to run in the rain, go to Madrid (and take the train on my own for the first time!), try food from Morroco (french toast and fresh milk), go grocery shopping (which doesn’t happen because my host mom cooks for me) and generally enjoy some quiet time before school starts again.  Aunque…todavía le hecho de menos Tenerife. (Although…I still miss Tenerife).

Huelgas, german tours and a volcano: Tenerife part 1

Sitting here on a balcony looking over a bustling city, I feel like I have come home.  Sometimes you have to go away from somewhere and come back to really appreciate it.  Well, it worked.  After five days in the Canary Islands, the sunniest place in the world, I’m starting to realize how much I love Spain .

My coffee was very strong this morning thanks to Semana Santa.

Semana Santa
This week is Semana Santa (in other words spring break).  What do people in Spain do during Semana Santa? Well, I’ll find out this Sunday when I go to one of the annual processions in Madrid.  For now, all I know is that everything is closed this week.  I couldn’t even buy milk for my coffee this morning.

If you want to read about a typical Semana Santa celebration check out my blog this Sunday.  In the meantime, look below to see how I celebrated Semana Santa in the most beautiful place in the world.

Special edition of El País. It's all about la huelga general.

Airport: too early for a huelga
We had been reading about la huelga (the strike)  all week long.  People were concerned.  All of Spain was supposed to shut down.  And we had a flight leaving that very morning.  Thankfully, we had a chauffer to drive us to the airport (Sara’s boyfriend, Alberto).  Even if we didn’t, there was a “servicio mínimo” that required a certain percentage of public transportation to continue.  Once we got to the airport, we found out what a huelga was like.  Definition of a huelga: people blowing whistles, wearing huelga t-shirts, waving huelga signs and shouting, “Huelga, huelga.” Like I said, it was far too early for a huelga.  On the plane, I read a special edition of El País to find out what all the fuss was about.  “La huelga pretende meter presión al Gobierno central para que cambie una reforma laboral.”  Basically, people aren’t happy with reforms that President Mariano Rajoy has made, such as making it easier for employers to fire their employees.  According to the PP (popular party) the huelga didn’t change anything.  But you can decide for yourself by clicking here to read more.

La playa de las americas. My first view of the beach.

Day 1: Guaguas
We arrived in Tenerife at a very early eight in the morning.  We had no idea where to find a bus to take us to our hotel, then realized that in Tenerife the word for bus is “guagua.”  So that’s why we couldn’t find it.  By that point we were starving so we devoured some digestive biscuits and peanut butter while waiting for the guagua.  As soon as we saw the guagua we all jumped up like crazy people to make sure it wouldn’t leave without us.  Don’t worry, it didn’t.  The very first thing we did when we got to the hotel: explore.  We got coffee right next to the sea and watched all these people walk by in their shorts and bikinis like it was summer or something.  We found out later that it’s only chilly in the morning, by afternoon it does feel like summer.  I decided then and there that I loved it here.

The three of us girls! Sara on the left, Andrea on the right. Instead of saying "cheese" the English gentleman who took our picture meowed..is that what they do in the UK?

And guess what we saw on our way back to the hotel? Another huelga.  Lovely. The only words I could think of to describe it?  Clown parade.  Seriously.  Everyone was blowing whistles at different times, shouting “huelga” without any coordination and walking right in front of our path.  We needed to cross the street, but how were we going to get by this clown parade?  Try to walk through the huelga, brilliant idea.  As soon as there was a break in the action, we raced in front of five guys carrying a banner.  That’s when the weirdness started.  “Huelga, huelga, huelga!” was all I could hear.  I felt like I was in a random dance rave with a bunch of disgruntled workers from a labor union.  They started to surround us, and it seemed like we would never escape.  “Sara! Andrea! Help me!” I yelled to my friends.  We finally made it to the other side, and stood there in shock for five mintues.  Ok, so maybe I’m exagerating a bit, but once in your life, you’ve got to experience a huelga.  Five hours by the pool in the sun and shopping at Mango Outlet, or “omelette” whichever you prefer, pretty much sums up the rest of our day.  What a day.  And a great start to Semana Santa.

I think this was the typical Canarian dress back in the day. We must have tried at least 15 different sauces. She kept offering them. How could we refuse?

Day 2: German tour of Mount Teide, the volcano
Eight in the morning on Friday seemed like the perfect time to take a tour of the largest mountain in Spain.  The pamplet we found promised a tour, complete with a typical Canarian lunch and an informational show.  Hmm.  Informational show? It was only ten euro, so we decided to risk it.  We drove for about two hours, and the tour guide started to speak in German and translate to English.  Where was the Spanish?  Apparently, there were more tourists from Germany and England than anywhere else.  And all retired…there were no youngsters on that bus.  We drove into a city close to Mount Teide and found out why the tour was only ten euro.  The informational show was all about blankets.  Fluffy, bear blankets.  Don’t get me wrong..I love blankets, but two hours about blankets?  The best moment of the day: when our tour guide came over and asked us where we were from.  When she found out we were from the states she said, “Oh, well we can’t actually ship to the states.  You guys are young, so how about you go explore and come back in two hours?” Yes, please!  We walked all over the city, tried papas arrugadas (potatoes with red and green sauce) cactus jelly and found a beautiful garden.  In all, way more enjoyable than a blanket show.  And we still got our free meal, a German sausage and potato salad.  Definitely typical Canarian food.

Mira! Look! I'm standing in front of a volcano!

We talked to the bus drivers, Juso and Mundo, who were from Tenerife, for a while before we started our journey. (Actually, they argued over who was the better driver, better looking etc.) “No tenéis más ropa?” Mundo asked us. (You don’t have more clothes?)  What a silly question, we thought.  Then it got cold.  Just so you know, there are two distinct areas in Tenerife, the north and south.  The south is where all the beaches are… and all the warmth.  The north is completely covered with pine trees.  As soon as we passed the clouds, it started to get cold.  Cold and windy.  It seemed like we were in a different world as climbed higher and higher through the forests.  And then we saw the volcano.  It was huge.  It seemed like a desert on the moon, with all the rocks, sand and craters.  The tour guide kept saying, “Look at all the different colors!”  We kept thinking, “What colors? Gray and black?”  On the way back down the mountain, we drove by the place where “Clash of the Titans” was filmed and a few observatories (can you imagine seeing the stars that close?).  And, finally, we got back to the hotel.  We had no idea the tour would be so long, but everything we got to see was worth the ten euro.

To find out how the last three days in Tenerife turned out, check out my next blog post.  There was just too much to write about to fit it all in one post!  Until then, cheers. (British phrase that means thanks, bye and a number of other things).

Para el amor de la poesía (for the love of the poetry)

This post is especially for Cindy Ducar’s Spanish class, so you guys can see what you think about analyzing poetry in Spanish.  Let me know what you think!

“Ahora mismo, en vivo de Alcalá de Henares, en este momento de 2012, os presento La Reina de Poesía: Maripoesía leyendo un poema de Pablo Neruda!”  (Right now, live in Alcalá, in this moment of 2012, I present to you the queen of poetry, Maripoesía, reading a poem by Pablo Neruda!)

He's a very distinguished-looking poet, isn't he? His poems are so romantic..I'm a little bit in love.

My friend AliciaKae introduced me, and everyone jumped out of their seat applauding.  It was a very dramatic reading.  There were tears.  There was laughter.  It was truly a poetry slam.

Ok, so maybe I’m making some of that up (even though I did perform the poem like a true previous speech team member).  And maybe our professor, Elena, is a little intense, with all the papers we have to write.  But I must say, I have learned quite a bit about poetry from this class than I ever knew before.  This Tuesday especially.  We had to apply everything we learned from class and analyze a piece of poetry to present to our class.

“Querríamos..Pablo Neruda!” I said when she first asked us which poet we would present on.  (We want Pablo Neruda!) What I knew about him: He was from Chile, wrote love poems and my friend Becca Steciew saw his house when she studied abroad in Santiago.

So, we picked a random poem and decided to start the project three days before it was due.  Bad idea.  It took us at least 10 hours to figure out what the poem means, even though we had a fun time trying to figure it out.  Here’s the poem.  It’s in Spanish.

Hemos perdido aun
Hemos perdido aun este crepúsculo (twilight)
Nadie nos vio esta tarde con las manos unidas
mientras la noche azul caía sobre el mundo.

He visto desde mi ventana
la fiesta del poniente (sunset) en los cerros lejanos (far away).

A veces como una moneda (money)
se encendía un pedazo de sol (piece of sun) entre mis manos.

Yo te recordaba con el alma apretada (clenched)
de esa tristeza que tú me conoces.

Entonces, dónde estabas?
Entre qué gentes?
Diciendo qué palabras?
Por qué se me vendrá todo el amor de golpe (all of a sudden)
cuando me siento triste, y te siento lejana?

Cayó el libro que siempre se toma en el crepúsculo,
y como un perro herido rodó (rolls) a mis pies mi capa.

Siempre, siempre te alejas en las tardes
hacia donde el crepúsculo corre borrando estatuas.

¿Qué significa? what does it mean?

My friend Becca took this picture of one of Neruda's homes when she was studying in Chile.

Este poema habla de la perdida del amor.  Neruda quiere expresar la futilidad del amor, como el crepúsculo y cualquier cosa en la vida que tiene que terminar.  Eventualmente el amor va a desaparecer, aunque hay esperanza porque con cada día nueva viene el poniente.  (This poem talks about the loss of love.  Neruda wants to express the futility of love, like the twighlight and any other thing in life that has to end.  Eventully love will disappear, although there is hope, because with each new day comes the sunrise.)Cada día empieza nueva.  Una oportunidad para aprovechar cualquier cosa que quieres hacer.  Cuando decidas a hacer algo, comprometéselo. Este finde, me he quedado en casa en vez de viajar.  Me encanta cada momento.  Los momentos de paz a veces son los mejores momentos a aprender de si misma y pensar.  (Every day is always a new beginning.  A new opportunity to take advantage and get the most out of whatever you decide to do.  And when you decide to do something, committ to it.  This weekend I stayed home instead of traveling.  And I am loving every moment of it.  The quiet times are sometimes the best moments to learn about yourself and think.)And to write poetry.  Because I have decided that someday, along with singing opera and acting in the theatre, I will also write poetry.  If you want to hear Neruda reading his poetry click here.  If you want to hear me reading his poetry, well, you will just have to buy a plane ticket to Spain.

Sunny Sprinkles

Team Kebap! From left to right, Una, me and Nico with Alesia in the back. (or Russian Gridiron, Sunny Sprinkles, Grandmother Willow and Cookie Cutter) These guys are the fiercest Kebappers I know.

Kebap.  “Obscure meat product in pita bread, accompanied by salad and chilli,” according to urbandictionary.com.  I like their other definition, “Hungarian fast food usually served with french fries.”  Kebap day is Wednesday.  This week it couldn’t have come any sooner.  We even got nicknames today.  Mine is Sunny Sprinkles. (Thanks Una.)  We also have Cookie Cutter, Grandmother Willow and Russian Gridiron.   This is the best club ever.

It took a lot of work, a lot of kebaps that I had to eat, but I am going on my second week on the team and I’m loving every moment.  (If you’d like to join, you can be an honorary member.  You just have to sing the Kebap anthem and eat Kebap at least once a week.  For more details contact me on Facebook or by email).

Class, class and more class
Earlier that morning, I had another class with Helena.  Pilates. My abs will never be the same.  As I walk to school, I keep reminding myself to walk with better posture.  If you just picture yourself walking really tall or try to smell the flowers on the trees as you walk by, you will do just fine.

After a lively discussion about English grammer in a Spanish grammer class, we needed a break so that’s where the Kebap came in.

This is Kebap. If you've never had one before, you need to go get yourself some Kebap. Trust me, it's worth it.

After Kebap, I  got to play with Gonzalo, the four-year old.  We played cowboys and indians and read books about “Nacho,” a little boy who likes to eat breakfast and brush his teeth.  We’ve read this book a few times, and every time we read the part about Nacho brushing his teeth, little Gonzalo has to run to the bathroom to show me his toothbrush.  We also played wtih Pokemon cards.  Gonzalo wins every time.  I’m not sure how that happens.  Is it because he’s really good at card games, or because I don’t understand Pokemon?  We finished up our “English lesson,” by playing with a soccer ball in the hallway. He kept yelling, “Goal! Goal!” every time he got the ball past me, which happened alot. Someday I think Gonzalo will be a soccer player.

Later tonight, in my English class with the labor union, we learned how to order in a restaurant, and I realized how completely different it is to be a server in the United States and a server here in Spain.  Here a tip is optional because servers are paid on a salary set by the government.  Well, in the U.S. I wouldn’t think too highly of someone who left me less than a 20 percent tip.  At least they know the norm for the states, just in case they ever get me as a server.  Anyway, I got to act out the part for the server, while they were the guests.  Everything was going well, until David pointed out that I “forgot” to bring their dessert.  “Oops, right away, right away,” I said.  He laughed and said remembering the dessert is important if I want to get a good tip.  They learn so quickly.

This tweeting bird, from Twitter, is more effective when he's direct. He's talking directly to the consumer.

Get to the point!
While I was searching for makeup at a local shop (I only went to this shop because they were handing out coupons for a free gift) I decided I needed help so I asked Dori if she could help me find the right color of foundation and blush (after I told her I am from the states and to please have patience with my Spanish).  When I showed her the makeup I normally used, she was very blunt.

“Me parece más bonita así,” Dori repeated several times while testing out the store’s makeup.  (You look much prettier like this.)  Hey, I did buy the makeup and will probably go back if I need anything else.  Maybe there is something to be said about being direct.  If people communicated more directly, maybe marketing would be more effective.

My host mom is the same sometimes.

“Pero, no piensas que comes demasiado chocolate?” my host mom said when I asked her how to make a chocolate cake/cookie recipie to take with me to a Bible fellowship. (But, don’t you think you eat too much chocolate?)  She thought I was making the cake for myself.  Suffice it to say, I’ve been cutting down on chocolate since then.

At the moment, I am heading to a café to finish making plans to go to Italy or Barcelona in two weeks.  Ciao!  Look out for another exciting blogpost tomorrow.  In the meantime…try some Kebap.

English 101…from a Public Relations Major?

(This blogpost will only be in English, because tomorrow’s will be completely in Spanish!)

Clara and Rodrigo are hard at work. I have so much fun with these two!

Recently, it seems like all I do is attract people who want to learn English.

On Tuesdays I teach Clara, 13, and Rodrigo, 11.  On Wednesdays, I teach/play with little Gustavo, 4.  Later Wednesday night I teach six adults who truly need to learn English to get a job, or to succeed in their current job.  On Thursdays, I teach Marina, 17, and Victor, 11.  And the other day, I got offered another “teaching position,” for Rodrigo’s best friend Roberto.

Hm…funny, I never pictured myself teaching 12 students when I decided to major in PR.  But, according to Susana and Pilar, my advisors for the Wednesday class, English teachers are in high demand in Europe, especially in Spain.

And it’s not just English.  In a previous blogpost, I mentioned how one of my students, Marina, can speak quite a few languages and is currently teaching me French.  Most students here learn two other languages besides their native language.  Why? Maybe it’s because Spain is in Europe and the United States isn’t.  Still, you’d think that kids would start learning a different language in preschool.  It’s definitely easier on the kids.

Gustavo: the little one
Gustavo’s mom, Gema, was so proud when he learned how to say nose in English.

Marina is the coolest!

“Necesita aprender más vocabulario,” she said.  (He needs to learn more vocabulary.)

Well even though it’s alot easier to play with his puzzles and bowling set (he is four anyway) I still think he’s learning.   When Gema was searching for a parking spot and couldn’t find one big enough (parking is sometimes a free-for-all) his little voice piped up from the backseat, “no problem!”  Later, after she had driven around the block three more times, he changed his mind and said “sí problem.”

Class with the c.c.o.o. (comisiones obreras)
Every Wednesday, I get to teach English to six people at the comisiones obreras (labor union).  After about only six classes with Sofía, Adrés, David, Exuperancia, Amalia and Angela, I’ve started to consider them part of my family.  At the beginning of the semester I have to admit I was nervous.  I thought they would laugh at my attempt to speak Spanish.  Guess what?  They were as nervous to speak English to me as I was to speak Spanish to them. Who would have thought?   After two months, we’re all a lot more comfortable. Actually, one of the students used to be a teacher, so she helps me out when I just can’t explain something completely in Spanish.  I’m so thankful for Sofía.

Last week, we learned phrases about giving directions, “How do I get to the museum?” “Turn right,” or “turn left,” or “go straight until the corner.”  This week, we’re going to pretend to be in a restaurant.  I will be the server (as always) and they will ask me about items on the menu. As long as I can explain the annoying presense of the server at the table (it’s not very polite to bring the check over before you ask for it here) I think we will be just fine.

Rodrigo and I have so much fun playing the games on this show's Web site. Check it out if you're teaching English to 11-year-olds.

Communicative or traditional?
Right now there is a huge debate/division in my class about which teaching method is better, communicative or traditional.  Pilar is a firm believer in teaching people how to defend themselves in the new language by learning phrases without necessarily understanding the grammer behind them.  Susana thinks that grammer is crucial, and people need to understand why the phrase is formed how it is.  Me?  I think that both ways are important.  And so do my students.  Whenever we learn by playing games, it seems like the subject sticks with them better, even though I try to answer their questions about why I pronounce “later,” “laider.”  I didn’t have a good answer for them.  “Um…that’s just the way it’s pronounced?”  All I know is that listening to “I will survive,” so Clara can fill in the words on the sheet of lyrics is way more fun than giving her a grammer lesson (she gets enough of that in school!)  Also, that “Inn between the lions” is my new favorite kids show (best Web site with games ever).  Sometimes, when you have fun learning, you learn more.

Teaching = learning
Usually, when we’re in conversation, a Spanish word or phrase comes up and I quickly jot it down to study later.   So, when I talk about my students, I really mean teachers.  Even though I practice English with them, I’m learning more about my own language, Spanish and even better, life lessons.  I wouldn’t give up this experience for the world.  And my student’s dad taught me how to make a chocolate cookie cake.  I wouldn’t give that recipie up for anything.

In the end, I love public relations.  I love designing and writing, and I can’t wait to get back to Sunshine to finish up my PR internship in May.  But I think, after I try out public relations for a while, I might just have to give teaching a whirl.

Cinco días sin azúcar (Five days without sugar)

(If you want to read this in English, skip ahead to the next bolded section!)

El suizo que no puedo comer..porqué estoy mirando esta foto??

Algunas veces la cosa tan linda del mundo es recibir una carta de tu madre.  Sencillo.  Pero tan impressionante. Después de dos meses, encuentro que le hecho mi familia de menos, más que había pensado.

Pero vamos a enfocar en un tema más ligera.  Anoche, después de beber una taza de suizo (la mejora bebida chocolate de café continental) y dos chocolates, mi amiga y yo decidimos que no vamos a comer azúcar esta semana en total hasta viernes.  Incluyendo nutella, galletas digestivas, cereal o cualquier cosa que contiene más de cinco gramos de azúcar.  Es fácil, no? Sí, hasta que recibí una carta de mi madre con una foto de una manzana acaramelada y chocolate. ¿Cómo lo sabía?

También he decidido que voy a hablar español lo máximo que puedo el resto del tiempo aquí en Alcalá.  Claro algunas veces tengo verguenza de hablar por los errores de gramática o cualquiera cosa que sea, pero la cosa tan importante es hablar.  Sólo hablar.  Es más difícil que aparece.  Tienes que intentar hablar, pensar, escribir y escuchar al español todo el tiempo.  Por eso, trato de hablar con las personas que viven aquí y con mi familia.  Enseño algunas clases del inglés en las comisiones obreras (un sindicato) y creo que la cosa que me ayuda es explicar el inglés a estos estudiantes en español.

Puri, uno de los estudiantes del inglés dice, “Tenemos que practicar.  No nos importan los errores!”

Cosa interesante que he aprendido hoy: La película, Chico y Rita es un animación pero todavía he llorado al fin. El diseño animado es una cosa maravilla.

Su sobrina, Irene, dice que trata de hablar en inglés todo el tiempor para aumentar su fluidez.  Piensa en inglés, habla con todas sus amigas en inglés y habla con sus padres durante cena en inglés, a pesar de que ellos no quieren que lo haga.

Mi hermana, Helena, dice que la voluntad de una persona va a determinar el resulto.  Mi voluntad es como un edifico de acero.  No voy a moverme y voy a tener éxito.  Eso es mi resolución.  Esta semana voy a escribir algo cada día que he aprendido o he encontrado interesante.  Además no voy a comer azucar hasta viernes.  Entonces, en vez de comer chocolate, voy a distraerme por escribir.  Vamos a ver como pasará estas días.

Roughly translated to English!

The suizo that I'm not eating this week..why am I torturing myself??

Sometimes the best thing ever is coming home from school and finding a letter from your mom on your bed.  Simple.  But so important.  After two months, I’m finding that I miss my family more than I would have thought.

But, let’s focus on something a little lighter.  Last night after downing a cup of suizo (best chocolate drink ever at Cafe Continental) and eating two chocolates, my friend, Alesia, and I made a pact to stop eating sugar until Friday this next week. This includes nutella, digestive cookies, sweet cereal or any other product that contains more than five grams of sugar.  Easy, right? Right, until I got a letter from my mom with a picture of a candied apple covered in chocolate on the front.  How did she know?

I have also decided that I am going to speak Spanish as much as possible the rest of my time here in Alcalá.  Yeah I might get embarrassed by grammatical errors once in a while, but the most important thing is to speak.  Just speak. But it’s a lot more difficult than it seems.  You have to have the intention to speak, think, write and listen to Spanish all the time.  Because of this, I try to talk to people who live here and with my host family.  I teach English classes in a labor union, and I think that it helps me learn Spanish the most when I have to explain English to these students by speaking Spanish!

Interesting thing I learned today: Even though Chico and Rita, the movie we watched in our Spanish Film class today, is a cartoon, it can still make you cry. Animation is an amazing thing.

Puri, one of my friend’s English students says, “We just have to practice.  The errors don’t matter!”

Her niece, Irene, says that she tries to speak English all the time to become more fluent.  She thinks in English, talks to her friends in English and talks to her parents during dinner in English, even though they don’t really like her to.  It’s amazing to see how committed she is to speaking the language.

My sister, Helena, says that willpower determines the result.  My willpower is like a building made out of steel.  I am not budging, so I’m going to succeed.  Here’s the plan.  This week I’m going to write something every day that I have learned or found interesting.  Also, I am not going to eat sugar this week.  But on Saturday, I am having a party with cookies and nutella.

Granada: city between the mountains and the sea

“Jolin, que sitio bonito!” said the lady at the post office when she saw my postcard from Granada.  “Jolin, querría visitarlo!”  In English, “What a beautiful place! I would love to visit it!” with a few colorful exclamations thrown in.  And she’s right.  Granada, with a mix of historical and cultural significance and laid-back ambience is one of my favorite cities in Spain.  Okay, who am I kidding? So far, Granada is my favorite city in Spain.

Just posing for a picture with the city of Salobreña behind us. Also pausing for a quick breather after climbing what seemed like two miles of stairs.

Over the river and through the mountains
On the way to Andalucia (the south of Spain where Granada is located) we got to drive through the mountains. (If you want to follow my journey click here to see a map of the trip from Madrid to Granada.)  And these weren’t just any mountains.  These were olive tree covered mountains.  Apparently, Spain is famous for producing olives.  (I’m surprised I’m just finding this out now.)  Anyway, picture a huge bus driving on the side of mountains so steep you could look over the side and see the base of the cliff.  Nervous? Me? No way. I kept scooting closer to the side of the bus closest to the cliff to see as much as possible.  Our bus driver (who smoked cigars and spoke in the most gravely voice I’ve ever heard) had it all under control.

We got serenaded after our buffet meal. They were college students selling their cds to make a little extra money. And we thought the cd they set down on our table was a present!

All-you-can-eat buffet in a four-star hotel?
After dropping all our stuff off at Hotel Carmen (a four-star hotel with the most amazing buffet) we toured the city. Something about this city was different.  The architecture. The people. The ambience.  Earlier on the bus, Javier, our proffesor/guide, explained that Granada was one of the last Moorish strongholds before the Muslim population was forced to either convert to Christianity or be expelled to Africa. Well, the Muslim cultural influences from the time period are still flourishing today.  We toured a some of the cathedrals before just walking around the streets looking at all the vendors selling scarfs and purses on the street kind of like an open air market.   After trying on 30 different perfumes at an aromatherapy shop, (I have such a hard time with decisions!) we sat on colorful cushions at a café and devoured an almond flavored nut bar along with our vanilla and cinnamon tea.  We proceeded to stuff our faces at the hotel buffet, and decided that the orange mousse was by far the best.

Ah. The beach was just perfect. We probably took about a million of these shots. Photo shoot? Yep.

La playa (the beach)
Salobreña.  Someday my vacation home will be in Salobreña.  Or maybe I will just live there. (Only if my family moves with me, of course.)  When Javier said that the tropical environment allowed avocados and tropical fruit to grow there, I knew this was the place for me.  This deceptively small city looks like Greece.  Clean, white and full of bright blue pots.  Basically, it’s a city of contrast.  After climbing to the top, which seemed like a five mile walk (like I said, deceptively small) you can see the snowy mountains on one side and the beach on the other.  We finally made it to the beach.  Just sitting on the shore, watching the waves crash, smelling the sea air and listening to the kids playing in the waves was one of the best moments the entire weekend.  Except for the time when we ordered a salad with avocado, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese with little pepper things, swordfish, calamari and caramel Snapps to finish it off.  Yep, that moment runs a close second.

Flamenco dancer in action.

Can you dance flamenco?
After being anywhere near the beach, there is no question about it.  You need a nap.  Plus, we had to conserve energy for the Flamenco concert later that evening.  After ANOTHER buffet-style meal, we hopped on a bus that drove through the streets of Granada. We stopped at one of the neighborhoods, Albaicín to walk around.  Because the streets were only big enough for one car to drive comfortably, every now and then someone would yell, “Cuidado, coche!” (Careful, car!) and we would all flatten ourselves against the wall like pancakes.  After hopping back on the bus and waiting two hours for the buses going the other way to pass us, we finally made it.  Flamenco.  I had been looking forward to this moment ever since my last blogpost about flamenco.  We all ordered Sangria and watched the most intense, powerful dancing I’ve ever seen.  Then I decided it would be a good idea to try out this intense, powerful dance.  Check out this video of my 30 seconds dancing Flamenco to decide for yourself if I should be a Flamenco dancer when I grow up.  But really, who cares about that?  It was so much fun! On the way home we belted “I will survive” in our mini bus.  At one point, we drove by a beer commercial being shot.  Later that night we searched for discotecas (dance clubs) and found two that were open and playing 70s music.  And that pretty much sums up my night.

Singing opera in a garden. Mary, next to me, is crying because of the sad opera story. (Actually, it's just the sun in her eyes).

One of the ponds to help people cool off in the Alhambra during the hot summers.

The Alhambra
Next day we went to the Alhambra.  Javier told us that there are three things to remember about the architecture.  When the architects constructed the Alhambra for the last Muslim Emirs (important rulers) they used three different forms of art because the human body was never used in artwork.  1) inscriptions 2) nature and 3) geometry.  The amount of detail in all the architecture was almost overwhelming, but the gardens were so clear and beautiful.  You could almost see the entire city from the open roofs.  Halfway through, I got to sing some opera in one of the gardens.  It was a magical moment.  Especially, when we all started singing The Sound of Music’s “Do-Re-Mi” together after.  That was truly magical.

Home, sweet home
We finally got home after six more hours driving and watching Two Weeks Notice on the bus…in English!  I think it was a much deserved break from thinking in Spanish.  We came back to a carnaval celebration in the center of Alcalá.  One lady wore a costume made entirely out of bottle caps, some people were dressed like cans of Fanta orange pop, one man was even dressed as a “Just married.”  Don’t ask me how he figured that one out.  The little boy my host mom watches was dressed like a duck.  This weekend, everyone was wearing costumes.  We just wanted to sleep.

Peace. Pure peace.

The next day, I realized that I needed this trip.  In Granada, I finally got to take a break and enjoy all the little moments.  Hey, guess what I just realized? We can do that every day, no matter what we’re doing.  Like my friend Alesia says, we don’t have to wait until we’re 60 to enjoy all the beautiful things God created for us.  Life is too important to wait for that perfect moment.  When that paper is finally done.  When you’re done with school.  When you’re done with grad school.  When you’ve started your family.  When your career is successful.  Enjoying life shouldn’t be a vague hope or thought in the future. No matter what you are doing, it’s so important to enjoy the present moment.  The time is now.

¡Cumpleaños Feliz!

After 22 years of living life, I think I’m just starting to realize how important it is to enjoy life and spend time with the people you love rather than working on homework.  Seriously, in five years, will I remember the people I spent time with or that paper that I spent hours laboring over?  I’m thinking it will be the people.  And that works great for me.  I get homework done faster and enjoy life more.

This is the weekend before my birthday, in Granada. Keep checking the blog because the next blog post will be all about our trip to the south of Spain!

Saturday, I got to celebrate my birthday…in SPAIN.  I kept smiling all day at the littlest things, like the fact that the sun was shining and it felt like summer.  My host sister, Helena and I walked all the way to Alcalá Magna, the local mall complete with H&M and a grocery store, to look for some comfy walking shoes and ended up finding a pair of boots for only nine euros.  My host sister said, “Most times, you end up leaving with something completely different than you had in mind.”   True, and after two more months of all this walking, I will never need to drive again!

First surprise:  My host mom made a cake for me to share with the fellowship in Madrid later that day.  It was beautiful. I can’t believe she put so much thought and heart into this cake that she wasn’t even going to get to eat! There was a slight miscommunication about what time we were supposed to meet our ride to go to fellowship..so picture this:  I had a cake balanced in one hand, a bag with a Bible, a notebook and pretzels in the other hand, speed-walking down the street in heels to make it to the gas station on time.  We proceeded to belt Celion Dion on our way to Madrid.  And I won’t lie.  That was one of my favorite moments of the day.

Second surprise: After our teaching and songs, the fellowship had a few presents for me, pair of pants, a red shirt that says “dream” on the front, a small pair of sparkly blue earrings and a birthday card that plays “happy birthday,” in high-pitched, piercing notes every time you open it.  That birthday card was my favorite.  The two little ones, Obed and Esperanza, could not get enough of it.  Finally Cerafin, one of the believers, asked me to please hide the card somewhere they couldn’t find it.  The fellowship sang about five variations of Happy Birthday before I opened my presents and again before I blew out the candles on my cake.  I’m pretty sure these people like singing.

Oh just hanging out on a beach in the middle of winter with my friend Alesia.

A birthday feast: Emerance, the fellowship coordinator’s wife, is so sweet.  Every week, she prepares a huge meal for everyone to share, complete with Fufu, rice, fish, buñuelos (beneights) and platanos.  Can you say abundance?  This weekend was their last fellowship in Madrid because they are moving to the United States to live and work in Iowa.  Let’s just say there were smiles, a few tears, and a lot of giving thanks as we sent them on their way.  We stayed until 11 p.m. hanging out with the kids while the adults watched a soccer game in the living room.  And when I say “hanging out with the kids,” I actually mean “acting like kids.”   I used the pretzel sticks I brought to pretend like I was a walrus. My mom would be so proud.

I got home around midnight and got to skype with my family! I am so thankful for my friends and family all over the world.  It was a wonderful day filled with abundance and blessings, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend it than with such awesome people.

Best picnic in the history of classy picnics.

And that’s not all.  Sunday, my friend Alesia and I decided to head to Madrid again (about a half hour train ride from Alcalá) to hang out in the Parque of Buen Retiro because it was such a beautiful day.  You can’t get much better than 70 degrees and sunny!  We went to a grocery store in Madrid and bought juice and sparkling water, olives, crackers, cheese, apricot jam, guacamole, chips, chocolate.  Can you say best picnic ever?  We even bought a whole pack of spoons, plastic cups and lime green napkins.  We used so many napkins.  Apparently, people in Spain have something against wasting paper, so we all use fancy cloth napkins.  I can’t even explain how or why it brought so much joy to my soul to use as many napkins as I wanted and then to throw every single one of them in the garbage.  Wasteful? Maybe. Satisfying? Absolutely.

After finding the right train (trusting in God really helps wonders) I got back to Alcalá with plenty of time to finish a ten page paper for my Spanish movie class.  Hey, like I said, there are some things that we just have to get done, but will I really remember how late I stayed up to work on that essay about Almodóvar’s film?  Nope. I’m going to remember laughing with Alesia in the park that one day with the random picnic and the lime green napkins.

A day of flamenco and opera.

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Granada, Spain stuffed with the most delicious food I have had so far here.  Hotel Carmen, you are my favorite.  Tomorrow, we are headed off to see some Flamenco music and dancing.  But before that, I thought I’d give you some background.

Check out her posture. This gitana dancer has got to be strong. The real pictures of Flamenco dancers are coming soon!

Last weekend my friends and I got the opportunity to hear some Flamenco guitar music at our university.  Did you know that Flamenco music is actually gitano?  Gypsy music.  According to Roshan Samtani, our guide to all things gitano, people haven’t really studied Flamenco music  so this field of research is still relatively new.  He did live with gypsies for years and years.  I guess he should know!

Flamenco focuses on the rythm and the feeling of the music rather than the content.  It’s so raw, powerful and precise.  The precision is all about the beat.  We tried clapping the rhythm while Roshan played at the end of class.  Let’s just say it was the best rhythm section this side of the Pacific Ocean.

According to Roshan, music is fundamental.  It maintains and perpetuates historical memory, bonding us and bringing us together.

“Music isn’t just something to listen to at bars,” said Roshan, also a writer and teacher.  “It’s something so much deeper than that.  It’s a symbolic system.”

After learning about the history of Flamenco, I had a few questions.  Why do we listen to music?  And why do we choose to listen to certain types of music and not others? What is it that makes a sound beautiful?  Questions to ponder…while you listen to the video of a cantante gitano (a gypsy singer) below.  If you want to find out more about Roshan, check out his Web site by clicking here.

The Audition
So where does the opera fit in?  Well, I decided to audition for yet another choir (along with the University choir I’m in along with teaching English, classes, homework, traveling).  Later that day, I hopped on a bus to find the cultural building halfway accross the city where I was going to audition.  After getting a little bit lost (even after a month I still have yet to work out the bus system!) I finally asked the bus driver where to find calle (street) Octavio Paz.  I wandered around for a bit, again asking at least seven people where to find another street.  Finally, I found the center! And wound up sitting next to Ursula, the self-proclaimed “best soprano” in the choir.  I think some of her confidence gave mine a boost because I rocked that audition!

But in the end, I decided that one choir in Alcala is enough for me.  (Check out my previous blogpost about breathing for more info) And while you’re finishing up reading the post, listen the song below that I learned in one day before my audition, just the first minute or two.  It gets kind of intense after that.

After learning to singing classically for so long, I find it difficult to wrap my mind around singing Flamenco.  How can a cantante gitano sing all over the place and still make such a strong and beautiful sound while keeping the rhythm? Well, I guess my brain is getting a workout.

I am beginning to realize how important music is to bring cultures together, no matter the musical genre.  We talk about music to make connections.  (OMG I love Lady GaGa! You do?! Me too!)  Music helps us learn. Earlier today I used a partially filled page of lyrics to Whitney Houston’s famous “I will always love you” to teach my student how to listen to and understand music in English.  Music also makes us feel.  My family tells me when I sing, I’m happy.  Well lately I have been singing all over the place. I won’t lie: I even tried to sing some Flamenco. (Although I think I’ll stick with opera).

So here’s my question for you: why do you listen to music?

Cómo respirar (how to breathe)

“Take a deep breath, ok?” my host sister Helena said. “Breathe into your back and let your ribs expand.”

Mi hermana, Helena. She's the coolest.

Sounds easy, right?  No, not easy at all.

Earlier this week, my hermana (sister) taught me that I haven’t been breathing to my full potential.  She plans to teach private Pilates lessons, and in exchange for a little help with English, she is teaching me Pilates in our spare time.

She is also teaching me how to take a break.  Lately, I feel like I have been trying to fit too many activities into my already busy schedule.  “I have to get the most out of my time here!” I tell myself.  But when I come home after a 12-hour-day doing everything from running in the park, talking with my tutor, going to class, teaching English to make some extra money and going to a choir rehearsal, it doesn’t give me much time to just soak everything in.  How will I ever become fluent in Spanish if I can’t even breathe?

Relaxing = important key to success.

Sometimes your body takes drastic measures to get you to relax.  Right now I’m sitting on the couch while my host mom makes soup to help me feel better.  When my host sister went on a hunt for Tylenol she said, “A veces estar enferma es una señal que necesitas parar.” (Sometimes not feeling well is a sign that you need to stop.)  Boy is that ever true.

My host family is awesome.  Besides making soup for me, my host mom corrects my Spanish and makes sure I can find the right bus.  But even more than that, she makes sure that everyone else in the house speaks at a pace I can understand and that I benefit from her homeopathic medicine knowledge.   My host sisters act like my sister in Ohio.  They tease me almost as much as she does.  Last night we stayed up until 2:00 a.m. talking about everything from wine to cockroaches.  All in Spanish of course.

Just keep speaking, just keep speaking.

Hanging out with the household helps me have a merry heart! So do Obed and Esperanza, the cute kids above.

All of the believers at the Way Bible fellowship in Madrid tell my friends and me to keep speaking more Spanish.  “Necesitáis hablar más en Español,” (You need to speak more Spanish!) Cosmos, a believer from the Congo, tells us over and over.  And he’s right.  After speaking Spanish in my house, in school, with my students and to myself (when no one’s watching), I feel like I’m finally starting to get the hang of it.

Humor helps, especially when you make mistakes.  I may have told someone in my choir that I am going to the school of “Los Mariscos” (school of the shellfish) instead of Los Maristas (a religious order), but hey, I’m still learning.

“Reirse de uno mismo, cómo mucho humor a ti misma” is my new refrain. “Laugh at yourself.”  Well it’s definitely true that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.  I’m feeling better already.

How do you know when your Spanish is improving?

Along with the medicine and soup, hugs can only help! Helena says, "La cosa más importante es amor" (the most important thing is love).

When you don’t need to listen to every word just the overall meaning of the sentence.  When you don’t have to think as hard when you are talking to someone.  And when you can tranlate a song from French into English even though your first language is Spanish…that’s when you’ve really arrived  (although my english student Marina is the only person I know who can do that).

Pretty soon, you are reading signs in Spanish, ordering bread at the bakery in Spanish, telling a random person on the street “Look it’s snowing!” in Spanish and actually understanding her response and thinking in Spanish.  But the most important thing that I’m learning, little by little, is to take time to breathe.