Back in Grammar School

Saturday January 19, 2008

Well I made it through my first week of class! It wasn’t that difficult, considering I only have one class right now and hardly any homework. My class is three hours long though, so it’s always a little difficult to get through, especially since it’s from 3:00 to 6:00 and I always have to rush there after my 2:00 lunch. It’s nice to be able to sleep in every morning though. My poor roommate Bridget has to be at class at 9am and it’s about a 35 minute walk from our apartment. She is not a morning person either, so I kind of feel bad that she has to get up while I’m still sleeping. However, there were a few mornings I decided to get up early too, just to get to the palacio early enough to use the computers or the printer.

My class has been fine, though not my favorite subject ever. It’s an intensive grammar session, so literally all we do is review grammar rules, fill out worksheets and practice speaking. The speaking is good for us, but with everything else I feel like I am back in high school. I know review is good though, and there are definitely a few very large gaps in my knowledge. For example, there are apparently four different past tenses, but I only ever learned two of them. I am able to use the other two, but I never really learned how to or learned the reasons for using one over the other. So that was a good lesson. I have definitely made good friends in class already too, which is nice. One thing that really makes me laugh but I definitely appreciate is the fact that CIEE has hired several Spanish university students to come to the palacio at a certain time and hang out with us during our break time when we’re not class just to speak Spanish with us and encourage us not to speak in English. It’s very amusing, and probably the easiest job in the world, but it’s a really good idea and I am glad they do it. There are three girls in particular that I have been talking with every day, and they are so nice and easy to talk to. We exchanged numbers yesterday too, so hopefully I will get a chance to hang out with them outside of the times they are getting paid to talk me!

Outside of going to class for a few hours every day, I have really been just trying to enjoy having free time to walk around and get to know the city a little better. I do a lot of walking, partly because I enjoy it, and partly because I am trying to fight off all the food my Señora has been constantly feeding me. The walking is great exercise, and I can feel it in my calves, but I can’t believe how much I miss dance right now. The other day I woke up kind of late and didn’t go for a morning walk but by around noon I was getting so restless and felt so cooped up Bridget finally just said to me, “Maia you have been PACING the entire three-roomed apartment for twenty minutes! Lunch isn’t for another two hours GO OUTSIDE.” I happily obliged and pretty much powered walked around the city for an hour and a half trying to burn off some energy. I have been trying to find a place where I can dance regularly, and I know my Señora has been looking around too which is so sweet of her. I don’t really mind if I take classes, or if I just find a studio where I can go and use up some energy. I suppose once the regular classes start I may not have the same amount of free time, but either way I really miss having a place to dance whenever I want to. However, there are so many other amazing things here; I know it’s worth it.

Tomorrow is Sunday (already!) and I am very excited because Mercedes is going to take Bridget and I to something called a convivencia. It’s apparently out in the countryside just outside of Sevilla, and from what I gathered, it sounds like a Catholic outdoor mass followed by a Lutheran potluck and a hippie style drum jam complete with music and singing and dancing. Confusing, I know. In any case, it sounds like a lot of fun, and I am excited to see more of the countryside and hang out with Spaniards all day. The weather was perfect today, and it should be the same tomorrow: sunny skies, temperature around 65 degrees and a slight warm breeze. I love it! So I am excited for that, especially since it’s an opportunity for me that isn’t being offered through CIEE. A lot of my friends are in Granada this weekend with CIEE, but Bridget and I decided to go next weekend with the second tour group so with could go with Mercedes to the convivencia.

I will bring my camera tomorrow and take lots of pictures for you all to see, even though it will be extremely American of me. I don’t mind being labeled as an American, because obviously that’s who I am, as long as people know that I can and do speak Spanish, and that that’s the reason I’m here. I am glad I have made a few Spanish friends already, and I try to hang out with them when I can instead of all Americans, just so I am forced to speak more Spanish. However, there are a few Spaniards that insist on speaking to us in English so they can practice and they we continue to speak in Spanish and what we end up with is a strange Spanglish because we are all speaking in English and Spanish at the same time and trying to explain things in both languages and helping and correcting one another constantly. It’s very confusing and makes my head hurt but at least it’s not a total language barrier. I also learned very quickly that a date with a Spaniard is way more nerve racking than with any English speaking person because the difficulty of trying to figure out what to say is multiplied by about a hundred when you’re worried about the culture and customs and your own ability to say whatever it is that you think you are wanting to say. That was fun.

Well, anyway, I think it’s time for me to close my computer now. I don’t have internet right here so I will have to save this on a flash drive and put online later. I finished my café con leche and I think I have been sitting for too long in front of my computer by myself not talking to anyone for comfort levels of the Spaniards’ at the table next to me. I think they’re concerned about my social habits. I don’t think anyone does anything alone here, it’s amazing. In any coffee shop after 4pm the average number of people crowded around a tiny single person table is about 3.7 people plus 1.3 strollers. I’m usually left with just my table and the chair I’m sitting on after about four minutes since everyone else always needs an extra chair for their grandma’s second cousin or fiancée’s best friend that just showed up.
Okay, well I will try to get this up soon. I hope you enjoyed reading it J Hopefully you are all still doing well, please keep me updated! I miss you all terribly, and I am thinking of you!
Love, love, love,
Maia Jo