Sunday, May 30

We woke up early to have our complementary breakfast, which was surprisingly big and yummy for a European breakfast, even though there were only pastries and cereal. Then, I ventured out to meet my family, and carried 3 HEAVY bags down the stairs to the metro, down more to the actual train, then up and down stairs to switch trains, then up 3 flights to surface again at Principe Pio station. There, I was greeted by Irene de la Paz and her husband (Jaime?) and their daughter (Lydia?). They asked me easy questions at first, so I said I understood them well, which was obviously a bad mistake because now they talk so fast I can’t tell what words are what or if they even end! We walked towards their place (which is actually really far) and they told me in one breath the names and ages of their children. This is what I understood of it: oldest: Jaime, 15; middle: Lydia, 10; youngest: Alejandro, 8. But I thought the dad’s name was Jaime, so now I’m not sure who is or if they both are.

Upon arriving at their home, I met the two other kids (and by the way, everyone gives two kisses on the cheek here, but there is no custom for which cheek is first…I was so disoriented that I missed quite a few people’s faces by a mile). Overwhelmingly, the grandparents were here to meet me too! And the grandma was talking SO FAST! They told her to slow down and she didn’t seem too happy. Both parents speak pretty good English, or maybe they can just translate for easy stuff, because we haven’t talked much yet.

Soon after I arrived the grandparents left, and I was shown around the apartment where I was given my room and closet with 7 hangers. Now I’m feeling really bad because I brought way too many clothes and my suitcases are so heavy and my arms hurt from carrying them all over Madrid, why didn’t I pack lighter? Mostly because I thought I was being smart by packing it in so well…great.

I felt awkward because I didn’t want to ignore them but I wanted to unpack. So instead I sat down and watched TV with them. The show was kind of similar to America’s Funniest Home Videos, but more stupid and cut closer to the funny part. It was good though because there were no words so I could understand what was happening. Lydia kept giving me Haribo candies too, which were yummy!

Then they announced that we were going to an American restaurant for lunch, which they were really excited about! I wonder if they thought I’d be more excited about it. Except not really, because it was strange to see a menu that said “authentic American” and had pictures of things on burgers that I had never seen before. We sat down, I opened the 6 page menu, and the waitress immediately asked me what I wanted for my “main course.” I hadn’t even had a chance to look, so everyone ordered and then she came back to me right away! I thought meals were supposed to be slow here! After ordering, it was. We had tapas, but really appetizers in this case, and then our real food. I ordered my steak “muy hecho” which means “much made.” Hopefully my family took note because they ordered theirs rare. And they really wanted me to order a dessert, but I just couldn’t at lunch! Turns out lunch is the biggest meal of the day though, so maybe I should from now on instead of after dinner.

After lunch I took the metro back to Puerte del Sol to meet with the group and the students who landed today. We did another of the same tours Mass had taken us on our first day (which seemed like forever ago but it was really only yesterday) and this time we continued to El Parque de Retiro and El Prado. It was a lot of walking but so worth it. I feel oriented at least in a majority of the city. In the park there were people dressed up as Minnie and Mickey Mouse making balloon animals. It was really out of place but people dress up all over the streets. And they always lift off their plush Mickey heads and text or something so I don’t understand how the kids believe they’re real. And it’s local kids, not even tourists.

We went back to Sol and walked through the open air market, which had live music, tons of people, and all varieties of fresh food. They had sangrias for 2 Euros, and we got a tapa of olives with our order. The music finished soon after we ordered and the crowd cleared out like a forrest fire! It was crazy being packed one minute and then deserted!

I arrived back at my apartment at 9 for dinner, but we didn’t eat until 9:30, which I’ve heard is early. We had “frittata de Espana,” which looked like a mashed potato angel food cake, and it was really good! Things are looking up food-wise! We also had pork, but it was thinly shaven off of a pig’s leg. Most houses have the pig’s leg hanging in the kitchen, but I haven’t seen one here so I’m assuming they just bought a cut of it. But it was delicious too! They wanted me to eat dessert afterwards too, which was an option of fruit: apple or banana, or yogurt. I was stuffed so I said so, and they were shocked. The other thing that was weird was that they ate SO quickly! And they just talked and talked and talked and sometimes the dad would stop to repeat a synopsis, but in reality I didn’t understand that either.

After I went to bed, I heard the whole family up again, it seemed like, which I couldn’t imagine since the little boy is 8! I was exhausted and couldn’t stay up if I tried, so I went to sleep almost immediately.


Monday, May 31, 2010

I woke up and after trying to take a shower, which is in a tiny box with two sides of sliding doors, I was dreading being here 6 more weeks! Ay caray! And then it seemed like no one was up and the night before she had showed me where to get my breakfast in the kitchen, which I forgot to note she pointed out “galletas” (cookies) but they were Oreos, and peanut butter, and Bimbo bread. Nothing too substantial! So I made myself a peanut butter sandwich knowing I would have to survive until 1:30 or 2, which is when lunch is. Here is how the eating schedule works:

Morning: something small, such as coffee and milk
Desayuno (Breakfast) at 11, usually a break during school and work: I don’t know but something else small to mingle while eating
Almuerzo or Comida de mediodia (Lunch) at 2 or 3, a HUGE meal, usually 2-3 courses, dessert, 3 drinks (coffee, water, wine)
Merienda: kind of like another American lunch, smaller snack-y things
After work bar stop: drinks and tapas (appitizers)
Cena (Dinner): usually 9 or 10, but today we ate at 10:30 so who knows! Usually smaller than lunch but still big! And fruit or yogurt for dessert.

So after eating what I thought was my breakfast (I never saw anyone in the kitchen) we left in the car (because it was my first day going to the school, from now on I’ll take the metro) and we dropped of the kids at school and I thought the dad was telling me where to go too, but turns out we went to a bar for breakfast instead. They wanted me to eat churros in chocolate, which are good, but WAY too sweet for breakfast. And then they were disappointed when I didn’t drink the extra chocolate left from dipping the churros. I thought I was going to have a diabetes attack then and there. But somehow I survived and was dropped off at the station to meet the group. Even though we were supposed to be there at 8:30, we waited for people until 10, so people here don’t really worry about being on time. Then we walked probably a mile or two to school (Universidad de Nebrija) with Celestino Ruiz, the crazy 71 year old man who talks for ages, repeating himself several times in Spanish before switching to English and then repeating it several times then. He kept telling us to be “Animo!” which means alive, a wake, and let’s do it all in one word. Then he’d say, “I’m not calling you animals, hahaha some of you think I say animal I say animo!” and then he’d tell us about what it means. People say animo y el torro, which means “let’s go for it!” and when you face your fears, the bull, you realize it’s only a goat. He told us this entire thing three times. The first time to encourage us to wake up, the second to tell us to embrace our fears of being here and to step outside of our shell, and the third I don’t know why, but he went through the whole explanation like we had never heard it! But he’s actually really funny so I don’t mind his endless chattering and passionate speeches. I did when I was hungry though. We went to our class where they talked about excursions and extra classes and contact information. Then Ruiz talked about our disease as Americans of always being afraid of the new and different and how we spread the disease but should instead stop being American. But yesterday my mother told me “Eres blanco, rubio, nunca parece Espanola,” which means you’re blond and white and would never pass for a Hispanic girl. But they like me better than the neighbor’s exchange student because she is “oriental” even though they further explained that she is American and from Oregon, but also a Chino. They talked about that a lot. And then the waitress at the restaurant yesterday did Lydia’s hair, at the table, and it was a bun on top of her head and they laughed and said she looked “japonesa” and she got mad and wanted to take it out. I learned tonight at dinner all about their feelings on immigration, health care, etc, but more on that later.

Even though I loved the school and I’m really excited for class, I felt so defeated, tired, and like crying because I though I didn’t like my family while everyone else was so excited. But now, after tonight, I can see I was just tired and my family had been trying to give me distance to unpack and settle in.

We had lunch at the school for this day only, and they brought us platefuls of food: salad, some meat on bread, frittatas, queso, etc. Then, I made my way home because I knew they had lunch for me there, and when I got home, it was only me and the grandparents. I didn’t want to shut myself in my room, so I sat down at the TV and the grandmother started talking about who knows what. Then the prince of something came on and she got all mad and kept saying that she hated ETA, which is some terrorist group from the 90s trying to break away from spain. But there hasn’t been any violence in a long time, just debates. Then she led me to the kitchen where she had prepared sopa de lentejas, which was lentel and potato soup, yum! But then she wanted me to eat bread, even though I tried to explain we’d already eaten. She told me she didn’t understand what I was saying, so she proceeded to tell me to eat and continued talking in rapidfire Spanish. Then, she pulled an egg out of the fridge and asked me if I liked. I said yes, but I’m full, so she made it anyway. She heated aciete (oil) and then threw the egg in and the took it out really quickly. It was pretty much a raw egg heated and cyrstilized in a shell. It was fine, but I ate half and she kept telling me to eat, eat more bread. Then she asked if I wanted more soup so I said sure and that was a huge mistake. Even though I said a little, she ladled me 5 more scoops! All I wanted was to take my siesta and stop eating! And the whole time she talked. I understood maybe 20%, and probably 10% of that is what I filled in, so who knows if that’s accurate. I think she is from Cordoba (it’s really important to establish yourself first from region, then country), and her husband is from here. Then she told me some story about a redhead at a door and a boyfriend (I’m not sure if this is her story or a friend’s or her daughter’s) and something happened and she laughed so I did too. Then she told her about her pool. And about her son, who has 7 kids. That’s all I understood of that, and then she told me she had 7 siblings, and she told me about how each of the has died, I think, but I’m not sure. Then she showed me how to use a towel, which my mother showed me the day before. Do they think I’ve never used a towel before? How strange. And they wear their shoes in the house, all day.

When they left, I took a much-needed nap. Then, I woke up and decided to hang around here, where I watched Hanna Montana in Spanish with Alejandro and Lydia. They told me all about Disney in Spanish, and the next show, Patito Feo, based in Argentina, which is Alejandro’s favorite, and we watched it for a while and there was a scene where the parents were in a sauna with towels on…I’m not sure that would go in America on Disney channel! Then we talked about Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and other famous people. And “Zapit” is Spanish for “change the channel” which is from English “Zap it.”

Dinner was so much fun! We all sat as a family again and I talked a lot more tonight. I asked them about different regions of Spain and they imitated accents of the regions for me. They told me about school and politics and health care and George Bush. Did you know there’s a prince and princess of Spain? I learned that tonight, and they liked imitating Sarah Palin’s voice too. Then, they told me Lydia is a “mosquita muerte” which means dead mosquito but I guess it’s endearing and it means that she looks innocent like a dead fly and then she’ll bite! Haha…Lydia and I get along very well! I hope that doesn’t mean I’m a mosquita muerte” too. Oh, and on the metro I saw the news and they use “bailar con” in the same way we use “to flirt with” an idea. I thought it was cute!