Una noche

Anoche, salí con Marybeth y otras compañeras para beber, bailar, y jugar (party). Era mi primera noche en las calles de Alicante, y que hermosa! La atmosfera es fantástica: hay mucha gente, hay luces que iluminan los edificios, hay palmeras, hay venderos de rosas, hay música que emanan de los pubs y discotecas, ¡es mágica! Al principio, fuimos a un pub que se llama “The Little Duke” (mi y nueve otra chicas). Era las once de la noche (muy temprano), entonces no había mucha gente en la pub. Era un poco extraña para mi entrar en el pub sin identificación y pedir una cerveza como era Coca-Cola. Más tarde, cerca de la medianoche, andamos al Barrio. El Barrio consiste de algunas calles llenas con pubs, discotecas, y cervecerías. Durante la noche, es muy muy activa. Fuimos a un bar y conocemos a dos chicos que se llaman Alex (Alejandro) y Jorge. Algunas de las chicas han los conocidos del pasado. Alicante es suficiente pequeño (especialmente el Barrio) que es muy común encontrar amigas sin hacer planes. Luego, fuimos a  una discoteca para bailar. Era divertida. Le música era un combinación de música castellano y americana. Nos visitamos también otro pub por un ratito, pero la música era buena para bailar. Regresé a mi casa a las dos por la mañana (muy temprano según los normas aquí). Lo siento Michael, pero no bebí. Una noche voy a tomar una cerveza para ti. He probado la cerveza de Marybeth, pero no me gustaba. Pero, he probado su “margarita” y me gustaba esa. Y Mom, no preocupes: Marybeth me coaccionado tomar un taxi con ella, pues, estoy tomando las precauciones. (Pero, era muy caro, 4.90 E por ocho bloques).                      

Prohibido Fumar

Finalmente, yo lo hice. Yo di un paso en el pis de Hannah. Por suerte, yo llevaba mis zapatillas con suelas de goma.

Pero, creo que tengo suerte todavía. Solamente cinco días antes de cuando llegué en Alicante, España ha pasado un derecho que prohíbe fumar en todos los edificios. Entonces, todas mis clases, viajes por autobús, comidas en los cafés y restaurantes, y aún los pubs, son libros de fumas. El único lugar donde necesito ser rodeado los fumas son a las paradas del autobús donde casí cada persona esta fumando. ¿No es muy mal, eh? Estoy sorprendido que hay tantos alumnos en la universidad que fumar. Cuando camina por la universidad a las nueve de  la mañana, hay chicos y chicas fumando. ¡Que lastima! No quiero un chico español que fumar. Pues aquí, como en estados unidos, estoy exigente en mi selección de los chicos elegibles.      

¡Perros, Peras, y Peros!

Perros: Sí, perros plural. Esta semana hemos sido bendecidas con otro perro. ¿Qué significa esto? Dos cosas: 1.Más pis. 2. Más cortezas. No miento, los dos perros han hacer pis en el suelo. Hannah, porque…no sé porque. Dandi, para marcar su territorio. Pero, soy optimista y encontré un efecto positivo: ¡con tanto saltar y retozar, voy a aprender como bailar en España sin lecciones!

Peras: Ayer, fui a la oficina de mi mama y comemos en un restaurante/café de un otro amigo. Realmente, esta amiga es la madre de su otro amigo que tiene el café pequeño donde comemos la primera vez que yo vine. Por la comida, fui servido una ensalada con salmón ahumado y una tortilla con aguacate (en España, una tortilla es un omelet). Y mi postre, una pera enlatada con miel y canela. Pienso que vosotros previereis la comida que mi mama comió. Ella tuvo uno canelones (pollo con una salsa bechamel envuelto en una crepe) y un crepe con chocolate. Entonces, se comen bien aquí. Ya he desarrollada un gusto por caballa enlatado. ¡Y adivina que! He probado los langostinos y me gustan (y estaban crudas, como un cóctel de camarones).   

Peros: No hay “peros”. Me encanta todo y cada día es una aventura que yo no puedo predecir. Esta semana, mi curso intensivo es difícil y tengo dos o tres horas de tareas cada noche. Pero (bien, busque un “pero”)…pero, las tareas son nada cuando estoy sentado con mi hermana en la sala, mirando las fotos en la red de nuestras novios (Justin Beiber, Taylor Lautner, y algunos jugadores del equipo de fútbol.)

   

Hasta luego, Mary

Ir de Compras

¡Ir de Compras!

Una nota más positiva: Enero es el mes de rebajas en España. Durante todo este mes, hay rebajas en casi todas las tiendas. Aún las pizzerías tienen rebajas. Entonces, no pudo resistir ir de compras. La ropa que ya compré es como sigue:

Botas grises: 10 E

Bolso para salir por la noche: 3 E

Unos pares de malles: 1.50 E

Pashmina: 5 E

Bufanda de rosa y azul: 2.50 E

Botas negras: 6 E

Suéter rosa: 4 E

Camisola morado: 2 E

Suéter marrón: 4 E

El tasa de cambio es $1.00 USD= $.74 Euros, o $1.00 Euro = $1.36 USD.

Pues, los precios son muy bien.

Hannah y Gretel

¡Mierda! Cuando me levanto esta mañana y pasa por el pasillo, yo vi que Hannah me regaló una pequeña sorpresa. Y, cuando he regresado a mi casa hace diez minutes, era otro regalo para mí. Esta vez, es diarrea. ¡Que repugna! Por esta razón, tengo un nuevo nombre por Hannah y es Gretel, porque cuando anda, deja un rastro detrás de ella.  

Entonces, ahora estoy en mi cuarto y la puerta está cerrado. Tengo miedo para salir de mi cuarto. ¿Qué debo hacer? Por favor, consejos.

Hannah

Hannah

Decidió que yo necesito hablar sobre mi nuevo perro. Sabes que se llama Hannah, pero hay más que pienso que tú debes saber. Ella es una excrementara, y si había un premio para hacer piso, ella ganaría este también. El primer día que yo estaba en mi nueva casa, mi madre me advirtió que, a veces, Hannah hace piso en el piso. (A este punto, estaba muy agradecida que yo he llegado mis zapaterías conmigo). Mi madre no bromeaba. Esta noche, el perro hizo pis en el suelo de la cocina. Durante la noche, ella hizo pis otra vez y excrementó en el suelo y porque era oscuro, yo casi di un paso en su desecho. ¡Durante mi pequeña paseo a la pasada del autobús, Hannah excreto 3 veces! ¡Cuando regresó de la universidad la misma día, fui saludado con mas caca! Yo sé que vos queréis los detalles, entonces le diré: yo casi lo unté mientras abriendo la puerta. Luego, cuando entré la cocina, era más caca. La casa huele de caca también. ¿Posiblemente era tan pronto cuando dije que tenía suerte con mi familia? Afortunadamente, mi madre me aseguró que esto no es normal y el día siguiente lo mandó al veterinario. Desafortunadamente, el veterinario le dijo a mi madre que sus “accidentes” son un resultado de ansiedad. (Sus “padres” se divorciaron hace poco tiempo.) Entonces, ahora, soy ansiosa. Cada vez que veo el perro, tengo miedo que ella va a excrementar. Ninguna persona puede decir que soy una cobarde, sin embargo, porque yo permito que ella se siente en el regazo todavía. Hace casi dos días que Hannah ha excrementó en el suelo. ¡Deséeme suerte!     

Espero que esta pequeña historia traduzca suficiente bien para comprenderme.

Si no, dime y yo lo puedo traducir.

Mi familia

Yesterday I was introduced to my familia and they’re great! I have 3 sisters: Irene (14), Andrea (11), and Eva (8). My mama’s name is Mercedes and the dog’s Hannah. She is divorced, so the girls go to the dad’s house 3 days a week. When they picked me up from orientation, they took me immediately to the beach when I told them I hadn’t seen the sea yet. The sand is beautiful and the water clear. I can hardly wait until it gets warm. Then they took me to their apartment (everyone lives in apartments here). It’s a big messy with 3 girls, but they have generously given me my own room and bathroom. I keep trying to tell them that it’s not necessary, but so far no luck. Shortly afterwards, I met mis abuelos (grandparents). My grandpa kept talking to me about the war and I had a lot of trouble understanding him, especially with the girls talking and interrupting. I did, however, catch him saying that I, like other Americans, don’t know anything about our patria (homeland). Sorry to disappoint you all, but I guess I am not improving our reputation as ignorant Americans. Sorry! He didn’t seemed too upset by this however, because he mentioned perhaps taking me and my sisters on his navy boat when the weather improves. Irene is such a sweetheart! I can’t wait to spend more time with her and learn more about the Spanish culture through her. She loves the twilight series and has the books, the movies, and a poster of Edward and one of Jacob in her room. She talks slowly for me and I can understand her best out of everyone in the family. Andrea talks so fast even her sisters can’t understand her, and with food in her mouth I don’t have a chance. Haha, she’s sweet though and I think with enough reminders she’ll learn that she needs to talk to me much slower. Eva is too cute for words. She mostly just smiles timidly at me right now. The girls left the first evening for their dad’s however, so I haven’t spent a lot of time with them. They come back tomorrow though. My mama is very accommodating and very patient. She has to repeat a lot, and even then I don’t understand much. She already knew about my lactose intolerance and that I don’t eat red meat, so she had food already ready for me that I could eat. Being a vegetarian is very rare in Spain, but she has been so polite and understanding about all my food limitations. I went to the mercado with her today and we got more food: soy milk, tea, turkey, chicken sausages/hotdogs, corn flakes, and tuna. The mercados here are so different than in the states. They’re much smaller and have much less variety of foods and fewer options. For example, you have about 4 types of cereal to pick from, and 3 types of tea. When buying tuna, there isn’t tuna, albacore tuna, tuna light, tuna in water, tuna in oil, tuna in a bag, flavored tuna, etc. There is just tuna in oil. It makes shopping easier I suppose. (Tim, I think you’d love it, you’d get so much less flack for getting the wrong brands and types; light, natural, low sugar, reduced fat, no salt added, calcium fortified, diet, etc. does not exist).

Today was my first day of my 2 week intensive course. We had 4 hours of class followed by our final 2 hours of orientation. The intensive course has so far been manageable and I think that with my motivation, I will be fine. We have a mini paper due Thursday though and our mid-term this Friday, so we go through material fast. Of course, this is how I learned Spanish in the first place.

Okay, now more about food. (Mom, I feel like I you writing in Pennsylvania). Breakfast in Spain is small, usually some toast with jam and café or tea. This is eaten early, around 7:30, before leaving for school/work. Sometimes there is a mid-morning snack around 10:30 or 11:00 which can be a small sandwich with jamon and cheese, or more bread with tomato. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and is usually around 2 or 3pm. The other students and I all ate lunches packed by our mothers and we couldn’t help but compare what our madres had made us to see which madre loved their kid the most, haha. I enjoyed a tuna fish sandwich, apple, kiwi, rice cakes, cashews, and water. I wasn’t going to trade! After class, which wasn’t over until about 4:30pm, Marybeth and I, and 2 other students from Whitman took the bus back to the city and walked around for a bit and stopped at a café for some café con leche. I tried it and actually kind of liked it! I’m afraid to have more, I don’t want acquire any expensive addictions!

Tonight I had arroz verde (rice with cooked vegetables of green beans, celery, peas, onion, and mushroom). It was tasty, but I am going to have to get used to the vast quantity of olive oil that is in everything. (My tuna sandwich had an entire can of tuna in oil and this rice dish had a layer of oil that settled because it couldn’t absorb any more). With so much ham and cheese and wine and oil I don’t see how the Spanish women are so thin, especially with madres that are constantly pushing more food.

Well, I better finish stop writing so I can begin to think in Spanish again and finish my homework.

Buenos noches!  

  

In Espana!

After writing this I realize that this is long and probably more information that most of you want to know. Feel free to skim as you please:

Only two days have passed since my arrival in Spain, but I feel as if a week has gone by. There is so much to say I don’t know where to start! I guess at the beginning…my flights were long, turbulent, and delayed (in Madrid). I managed to keep what I had eaten in my stomach; however I felt like I was on a boat for the entire day and night that I arrived. I was stuck in Madrid with 6 other students in the program, and we were very worried that the plane would never come. When we asked at the desk for more information, they said they didn’t know anything, and weren’t even sure if a plane was coming! After two hours of anxious waiting, we boarding the plane….well, almost. We got as far as the skybridge, waited for ten minutes, and then we were told to retrace our steps to the gate again. After 15 more minutes we re-boarded for a second, and fortunately, last time. Oh, how I love to travel!

Luckily, the shuttle came late in order to pick us up and we made it in time for a dinner of tapas at La Hacienda de Jamon. The restaurant décor consisted of a ceiling covered with huge pieces of hanging ham. There are 64 estudiantes in my program, so we took up the whole restaurant. We sat in 3 large tables, and now that I think of it, it was very like the opening feast at Hogwarts. We were treated to ham, cheese, fresh bread, ensalada rusia (a combination of egg salad, potato salad, and tuna salad), ensalada mediterraneana, and a dessert which is a combination of flan & rice pudding. Like espanolas, we finished around 10pm (a bit early, actually).

Yesterday (Saturday), we went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. For the first two nights we stayed in la residencia (dorms) of the Universidad, which is also a hotel. In the cafeteria I enjoyed fresh-squeezed orange juice, French bread with jam, and tea. Deliciosa! We then went into the city of Alicante (the campus is on the outskirts, about 20 minutes away by bus). I hate to make you all so jealous, but it’s beautiful! We say the Plaza de Toros which starts having fights in March or April, the tram station, el barrio (a part of town with a lots of bars and restaurants and a great nightlife – so I hear).

We also went into the Mercado central where we played a fun game of “guess what animal and what part of its body this piece of meat comes from?” Some of my favorite answers were “cow heart in a bag”, lamb’s heads (eyeballs & teeth intact), pig’s feet, and the skin off the face of a pig. Having visited the open markets in Peru and Thailand, I had prepared myself for the sights and smells, but I think some of the other girls (one vegetarian in particular), were a little surprised and overwhelmed by this spectacle. For lunch we sampled 3 types of paella that came in huge pans, double the size of an XL pizza. Marybeth says they need a special cooking contraption/oven in order to prepare it. The saffron flavor, combined with the fresh seafood and vegetables made it sensational, even though it was drowning in oil; I guess that’s what the bread is for.

This time change has been a struggle to adjust to. I felt exhausted this day and feel asleep on the bus ride back to campus, oops! Luckily, we had just over an hour of free-time so I was able to take a siesta. Even with a nap, I had to make an effort not to let my face fall into my plate at dinner, another feast extending for 2+ hours. Right now I love these long dinners because I don’t have other things on my mind that I need to do, so I am free to relax. I hope I can keep this attitude and appreciate life like an Espanola where life comes first and work comes second (the opposite of what I’m used to in the U.S.).

Okay, Mom. You were right. I admit. The Spanish love love love their jamon. Almost as much as they love their cheese and bread and café con leche. This has been a bit of a problem when the tapas that arrive at the table are pork meatballs, fried cheese, sliced thin ham and cheese, something like a hushpuppy filled with cheese or ham or both, kepaps of ham…etc. I managed to find enough food to get by though. The bread is fresh and delicious, as is the olive oil. The ensalada mediterreana is mostly romaine wedges with tomato, corn, and tuna. Today I had chicken kepaps, white asparagus, and last night I enjoyed a Spanish sandwich called “tortilla Espanola” which has inside it a thick slice of potatoes/eggs (kind of like an omelet). Once I scraped off the copious amounts of mayonnaise, it was delicious!

There are so many aspects of my experience that I want to relate to you all; the weather, the other students, the staff, the students helpers who are native Spanish-speakers, my problems with language, etc. There is really too much to tell! So quick, recap:

Weather = sunny by 1pm, cold at night, cold rooms indoors! Wish I had brought long underwear & looking forward to sunbathing as early as March!

Most exciting of all, today I met my familia!!! But, I am much too tired to tell you about it so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow when I hope to write again. You should know however, that they are great and that I am safe and happy and excited to tell you more.

Buenos noches, Mary  

T minus 24 hours!

The countdownn has officially started. I will be on board flight 1238 this time tomorrrow; my first of 3 flights that will take me Alicante, Spain. Have I finshed packing? No. I am using the excuse that I have been working to justify my lack of preparation. No worries though, I will be on that plane tomorrow morning, even if that package I am anxiously waiting for in the mail today does not arrive (cross your fingers for me). I'm nervous and I'm excited. Most of my excitement at the moment, however, has been sparked by my recent revelation that, while it snowed two inches yesterday in Bellevue, Alicante was enjoying a 68 degree F day! (Maybe I won't have to wait until May to lay sunbathe on the beaches).   - Hasta luego

Course Schedule has arrived!

My course schedule has just been sent to me (only a few weeks late, so I can't complain). I wonder if Spanish people operate on "island time"? 

Here are my "academic selections":
Intensive Cycle (first 2 weeks)   SPAN 3502 ALLA Comprehensive Advanced Spanish ReviewRegular Cycle (directly after intensive cycle)   SPAN 3014 ALLA Advanced Spanish II   SPAN 3011 ALLA Advanced Conversational Spanish   HISP 3005 ALLA The Camino de SantiagoDirect Enrolment (through the Universidad de Alicante)   UA 8530DE Sociología del Mundo Musulman