This polideportivo (outdoor public sports center) has a golf course in the middle.
Okay, not all of my life is that good. On Tuesday, I had to go to more orientation. Which means I heard the obscure story about the girl waking up with her finger cut off and the drunk guy who walked into the river and drowned himself twice each. Awesome.
Aka, more doodles.
Wednesday afternoon I went to get my empadronamiento form filled out. This is basically like registering in a census and it's required to get your NIE (Número de Identificación Extranjeros) card. I made my appointment according to my class schedule, which of course got changed again. So I ended up with an awkward 3 hour gap between my last class and the appointment. After doing my devotions at our school café, I decided I would go find the building and go to another café and read my book until the appointment.
Is the coffee addiction finally coming to claim me?
Gotta love that my school has their own sugar packets.
Gotta love that my school has their own sugar packets.
On my walk there, I thought about using my Spanish as a second language to pretend like I thought the appointment was at doce (12) instead of dos (2). But instead I figured I would just be honest, check-in, and see if they could get me in sooner. When I arrived, I clearly explained (in Spanish) to the receptionist that "Yes, I have an appointment but it isn't until 2:40. But I was already in the neighborhood and it doesn't make sense to go home and come back so I will just wait." To which he responded, "Do you (e)speak English?" To which I responded, "Sí...." This continued into a banter of him telling me multiple times in English that it wasn't time for my appointment and me explaining multiple times in Spanish that I knew and I would just wait, no pasa nada. Buuuuuut, I ended up being seen 15 minutes later. I think he felt like he did his good service of the day by helping the girl who messed up doce and dos. Little does he know...
On Wednesday night, I transferred by stein night tradition to a tapas tradition and went out to a fabulous tapas restaurant with Napala and Erica. Everyone there already knows Erica... Napala and I are determined to join the regular list.
Papas bravas and ali oli, wild mushrooms with jamón, and calamari. Mmmmmmmm. (Excuse the quality... in an effort to blend in I use my phone camera instead of my SLR.)
That is the extent of my non-school related activities, but I do have a bit to tell you about what it is like to give a lesson about yourself (approximately) 16 different times. Mind you, each introduction includes about 35 minutes of questioning. I've never had so many people so interested (or at least pretending to be interested) in my life before. (Why would I? Life in Hershey or Holland doesn't exactly scream attention.) But it seems that once the teachers decide to diverge from their lesson plan, they have no plans of returning to it. Instead they walk around and single kids out to ask yet another question. Here are some of my favorite exchanges...
- Does everyone in the United States have a gun? Noooooo. In the United States we have what's called "the right to bear arms," which has nothing to do with wearing a short sleeve t-shirt, but does allow people in the U.S. to have a gun. However, there are a lot of people who don't like this and wish that people weren't allowed to have guns. As with anything, there are multiple perspectives. And there are plenty of people who do not have guns.
- How did you get a job in (e)Spain? Because it's REALLY hard to get a job here right now. Well I was very blessed to get a job here. But actually, part of the reason I got a job here is because of the economic crisis that you are in. The government realized that it can be hard for people to get a job so they want to make people better prepared. Thus, they decided to hire people like me so that you guys can develop really good English skills and get good jobs when you enter the work force.
- What's your favorite number? Well, I don't think I have one but when I did it was 16. I think that's because I thought 16 was cool because I could drive when I am 16.
- Do you like Justin Bieber? Only if I'm with other people who like Justin Bieber.
- What is your favorite NBA team? I can't say that I have one; I don't really watch basketball (cough cough I NEVER watch basketball cough cough).
- Who's your favorite Spanish football (soccer) team? I didn't have an allegiance before but now that I am in Madrid don't I have to say Real Madrid? (Smiles come across every student's face... right answer, Amber.)
- How old are you? I don't know if I should tell you that!
- Okay, when were you born? Fine, I was born in 1990. (They all freak out: What?!? You are too young!) I am not too young. I graduated from college and have been living independently (kind of) from my parents for about four years. It's different from Spain, where people live with their parents until they are in their late 20s and don't graduate until they are 24-25. One way is not better than the other; there is a strong sense of family that is developed from spending so much time together. But since I lived 10.5 hours a way from my parents, I had to take care of my laundry, cook for myself, take care of myself when I got sick, etc. So now I think I'm old enough to be here!
- What would you do if you were rich? I would travel all around South and Central America. I have been to Spain 3 times now and if I had the money I would use it to see some other Spanish-speaking cultures first hand.
- Did you bring any chocolate with you? Not this time... after Christmas I will!
And there you have it. I am still getting over a cold, but I am pushing through to head up to Santander this weekend. A bunch of other Fulbrighters are working up there so Napala and I are going to visit a few and see the city before it gets too cold! I'll update with pictures when I come back!
Much love,
Amber
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