Alright, things have been looking up lately! Wow, aside from the fact that I had 3 mind blowing sneezes (literally, and not in a good way) in a row just now. The bilingual department meeting are at least in Spanglish now instead of entirely in Spanish. Students have started to respect us as actual teachers a bit more than before (not all of them, however). We've been cooking delicious food at home that involves no pork products whatsoever. The science teacher thinks all of my ideas are made of gold and wants me to teach her everything I know. I taught an entire science lesson and it didn't totally bomb. In fact, it might have been more like "the bomb" than a bomb. Nice!
Here are some cultural differences about Spain/U.S. that I have noted recently. First, there is an utter lack of what I like to call "floor pencils", here in Spain. When I student taught in the U.S. last year (with the same age group that I'm working with here), I was able to collect about 10-15 pencils and other writing utensils off the floor at the end of each day. When students asked to borrow a pencil, the only ones I ever supplied were recycled floor pencils. Why bother providing new school supplies when the items on the floor work just as well? Whenever I ran out of floor pencils and a student would ask for a pencil, I would suggest that they check the floor. They always looked at me as if I was crazy. Little did they know, this is where every single pencil I ever lent out had come from! I guess they are much better about using pencil pouches here.
Secondly, the greetings here are much different than at home. For instance, a shop owner might say something along the lines of "hello beautiful, what would you like?" and that is totally normal. To us, the greeting "hello beautiful" by a complete stranger warrants a slap in the face or at least walking away from the offender. Here, totally fine! They also do a peck on each cheek as both hello and goodbye greetings (not the shop owners, only someone you've actually been introduced to). Sometimes, however, it is two kisses on each cheek. Man, I've made awkward blunders a number of times with this one! It's a bit strange if you are pulling away while someone else is leaning in to kiss your cheek! On the other hand, it's a bit strange to have a stranger's face pressed against your own upon first meeting! Sometimes I find myself extending a hand to do the standard American handshake, but then I look like a fool because this is not normal and seems very standoffish to the folks here.
Last weekend, we had a group of 10 of us at our apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. It was wonderful! The food was fantastic and we managed to have a lot of gluten-free dishes that my roommate, Bert, could eat (she has celiacs). I couldn't have asked for a better substitute for a family Thanksgiving.
On Thursday I got to chat with my family via Skype while they were all gathered at my aunt and uncle's house. I'm pretty sure the advanced video chat technology blew my grandma's mind! She actually said, and I quote, "It's like you're a real person!" At this, I wanted to throw in some brilliant Pinocchio quote like, "I am a real boy!" but I decided not to confuse her since Skype is already far beyond her mental and technological capabilities!
Tonight (Saturday), I went to another Thanksgiving dinner hosted by folks from Jen's church. It was fun but the food wasn't nearly as good as the meal at our place. However, it was lovely having Imilce (the daughter of our landlords) and a couple of her friends join us. I love when you never know what language will be spoken at any giving moment! We speak Espanglish very well! There was also a bit of Sign Language and French thrown in, because Spanish and English would be far too simple, right?
Apparently my Spanish has been improving since I arrived in Madrid (sans class, might I add). Imilce told me so, so it must be true! Also, I've had a number of students tell me that I speak Spanish very well. Granted, I'm never supposed to speak anything but English with them, so they probably shouldn't know this detail but oh well! I do think that I'm speaking faster than when I arrived (which implies that I have to think far less mid-sentence) but I'm not sure that my vocabulary is growing as much as it could. I just started reading "La telarana de Carlota" (aka Charlotte's Web) in Spanish. The students at Bert's school just finished reading the English version so I was able to borrow an English copy. This way I can read it in Spanish and when I get stuck on a word, I can simply look at the English version for guidance. Yes, I do realize that this a children's book but I don't care! I'm still proud of myself for reading it. Peter Pan and Harry Potter are both still a little above my head when it comes to Spanish vocab and verb tenses so I'm hoping to work up to those levels! Adult books are probably out of the picture for now...or forever?
Imilce's parents (aka our landlords) are out of town for a few days so she's having a bunch of friends over for lunch tomorrow. The three of us, Jen, Bert and I, are invited! I'm excited! More Espanglish!!! We also need to put up our Christmas decorations soon. We bought a *cough cough* fake tree. Whatever, our apartment may not smell like forest but we'll still have loads of holiday cheer and a kickass holiday party come December!
Well, that's all the scattered thoughts I have for now! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and for those of you in areas with snow, I hope you enjoyed the white holiday blanket! I'm off to Paris for a few days next weekend where it has just snowed also! Thank goodness for Spanish holidays...I don't exactly know which one but no matter because I get to go to France! So EXCITED!!! I get to see Aurore et Ines! They are such sweet gals!
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