It's been a pretty overwhelming week and a half, but I am starting to feel more settled. I now have a class schedule, a job, and a decent sense of direction in the city. Figuring out classes took many more hours (on the most confusing website I've ever seen) than I expected, but it has all somehow worked out. I am taking the short story class, Politics and Society in contemporary Spain, the Sociology of Social Development, and a short course on the History of Terrorism (really interesting class, also in which the professor mentioned Chicago on the first day because of the Haymarket riots at the end of the 1800s wooo that's all these kids are ever gonna think of Chicago now but it's cool). After that course ends I'll take the other short course on Techniques of Expression. I wrote my first little paper for our Spanish culture and civilization class that Ramiro teaches last night, and remembered that I am actually in school here and need to snap into that mentality! Luckily my classes are all interesting, so that's been helping a lot. In my Politics/Society class we have been discussing the transition after Franco, and we watched this music video from the 70s of a group of Spaniards singing about living in peace and freedom (please watch it, soo entertaining:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icKDGBIhdIE). I am really enjoying the experience of going to school in only Spanish, since previously Spanish class has always been a separate part of the day. Now I'm learning about terrorism and social development in this language as well.
Parque del Retiro: Stefanie, Alex and I spent a Thursday afternoon getting lunch, then walking around for a lovely couple hours. We wandered around the Prado museum area, through the park and some other neighborhoods. I also went to the Reina Sofía (amazing contemporary art museum walking distance from my apartment) this weekend, and saw some amazing Picasso and Dali. The park is still amazing, ahhh I want to go as much as possible!
Oh ya know, just a random pretty waterfall in the Parque.
There is randomly a beautiful ancient Egyptian temple in Madrid near Plaza de España, called the Templo de Debod. It's from the 4th century BC and was brought to Madrid in 1971. We asked a Spaniard to take our picture and she got really into it, doing a little photo shoot for us in English including this one where she said "one more, like this, yes!"
Sunset at the overlook by the Egyptian Temple.
A group of about 10 of us went out to salsa club Azucar for Eliana's 21st birthday! They played salsa, merengue, bachata, and reggaeton and we danced for so long..Such a fun night!
Corte Ingles, the super mega store that literally runs this city. It has EVERYTHING, and it has to have like 5 separate buildings every time there is a location. "Rebajas" are sales, which were going on all over the city throughout the month of January (I do love a good rebaja). Guess they can't fit appliances, their travel agency, their grocery store and their entire department store's worth of goods in one building...
On the home front...Over the weekend, something exciting happened in our house--Daniela lost a tooth! A few days before, when it was loose, we talked about what happens when you lose a tooth. Eliana and I told her that in the US, a fairy comes, and she taught the two of us something new: when Spanish kids lose a tooth, a mouse comes in the middle of the night to bring them a gift. His name is Pérez (cute, no?), and he has written Daniela several notes. Anyway, the night came when the tooth finally made it's departure, and Daniela couldn't wait for what Pérez would bring her. She told her mom at dinner to respond to the note she had written him, if she were to see that he hadn't responded (if he was too busy with other children's teeth that night). Before she went to sleep, she cut two slices of cheese, and even carried Caramelo the hamster's cage from its usual place into her room (so that the rodents could have some bonding time, I think). Adorable..and he even brought her 5 euros! (can I lose a tooth please?)
Also, Eliana and I have realized a few things: that living in someone else's home can be harder than you might think, and that Spanish women can be extremely intense. In Chile, my host mom was extremely easygoing and relaxed. I guess I felt a little jolt of the difference in the situation when the other night there was a small, but informative incident. Eliana innocently asked for olive oil, something very simple and common here, at the dinner table, and Gloria snapped a bit, going on a long discussion about why she couldn't start having olive oil at every meal (which was strange because olive oil is almost like water here, she uses it in basically everything she cooks). Daniela even called her out on it, saying "mom, sometimes you make a point but then you go on too long about it!" However, she immediately toasted to good communication and openness, which we definitely appreciate. It was really just this one situation that was handled in an odd way, but we could tell she sensed it right away, and apologized. It was just one of those situations where we realized that we are still getting to know each other and our role in the household.As a psychologist and an actress, I can see where Gloria's intensity might stem from, but a few of my other friends on the program have gained this sense of intensity (with a dash of craziness) from their host moms as well. Sometimes, the intonation here can make a simple conversation sound like a harsh argument, when it's really just discussing laundry or what's for dinner. Honestly, I think a lot of it is simply a cultural difference, and we still really respect and like Gloria so much! She is genuinely interested in getting to know us better and in making sure that we are comfortable and happy, and she is great to talk to. On Eliana's birthday, we celebrated with a wine and some homemade desserts, which was so loving of her. I am keeping in mind that my experience in Chile was completely different than this experience,and that host families interact with their students in many different ways.
Anyway, a nice thing about our program is that we are allowed to sign up for up to 3 extracurriculars, if we want to take a dance class, etc (I joined the gym on campus and that counts as one activity too). A friend of mine from my program (there are about 20 of us, don't think I've mentioned that yet), who also sings back at Wash U, and I were interested in finding out how we could continue to sing during our time in Spain. We got information about auditioning for the choir, and received an email the day we were supposed to go to an audition at the university's other campus, which is still on the outskirts of Madrid and not far from the main campus we go to in Getafe. However, the timing was weird--the audition was on a Friday at 6 p.m. After arriving, talking to the director and answering her questions about being able to sight read, previous experience, etc and then singing a few warmups for her, she just kind of nodded and said "Muy bien Sarah", and told me I could go in and participate in the rehearsal. It was really nice and we sang some beautiful pieces set to Lorca poetry (he's great).Unfortunately, I learned that the rehearsals are always Fridays from 6-10 (fo real?), which will just not work because of conflicts from either traveling independently or on day trips with our Wash U class. Oh well...At least I can say I was in a Spanish choir for a day, right? I'll miss singing this semester but I'll look forward to going back to it at school.
This past Saturday, I also officially got my first job in Spain! Before I came, I knew that a few people on my program in the past had been able to make some money teaching English to adults or kids in Madrid. Our program director, Ramiro put me in touch with a friend of his who has two daughters that are 8 and 6 years old. I took the metro up to the northern part of the city (I live in the Southeast area) to their apartment to meet them, and left knowing that I will be doing a combination of babysitting and teaching English to the girls for two afternoons (a total of 6 hours) a week (only a little different from my school job at the Wash U Career Center..ha). Only one of the hours will really be 'structured', and their dad Julio said the rest can be more informal with me speaking to them in English. He also encouraged creativity, such as teaching through creating a skit or learning the lyrics to their favorite Hannah Montana song, which I am happy about. Their apartment is pretty far from where I live, but I'm no stranger to a commute to work and school, so it won't be too bad. I started yesterday, coming straight from my class which ended at 4 to arrive at their place around 5, and we had a great time playing Simon Says, dancing to their English children's music CD, etc. I also taught them some new vocab, and we worked on numbers from 10-20. I drew pictures of the words in their notebooks which they then colored in, and wrote out the words for the 8 year old, Victoria (her sister accidentally called her 'Vicky' out of habit to which she replied 'they didn't give me the name Victoria for people to call me Vicky!') who is of course more comfortable with spelling and reading. For Jimena, the younger girl, I drew the pictures and repeated the words for her to practice. I arrived home a few minutes after dinner started, a little before 9. They are a really warm family and I am looking forward to going back. It will be a challenge but also hopefully really fun, so I am looking forward to the experience.
That's a recap of some of what's been poppin' lately. Tomorrow afternoon I am heading on my first international trip since being here, to London! It's crazy to think that I can just hop off to London for the weekend. I am going with two friends from my program, but I am going to stay with friends who are studying there. I'm planning on spending one night in Oxford and then two nights in London. It's a quick weekend trip, but I am really excited to see it and to see my friends!
