Spanish Kids Say the Darndest Things

Well friends, life in Madrid is continuing onward.

After about 5 schedule changes, I have finally settled into a routine and am enjoying getting to know new students and reuniting with former students. This is great on school grounds, during the school day, but even better when it happens around the city, where I can greet my students on a crowded metro and get a quizzical look back that says,

"WHAT?! TEACHERS DON'T LIVE AT SCHOOL?!"

Already this year I have seen 5 students randomly around the city, 4 more than the number of students I saw outside of school during all of last year. (Okay, maybe I shouldn't count the three that I saw at the Estudiantes basketball game as random.... The team, although pro, does originate from our school. That also makes the fact that Joe knows all of the players' injuries a little less creepy... they work out side by side in the gym.) Anyway, I'm not sure if I am just spending more time where students are (Hmmmm, in that case maybe I should rethink my hangouts) or if it is because I know more students. I'm hoping it is the latter.

Speaking of knowing students, I must admit that this was something I didn't fully accomplish last year. Sure, I got to know the 12 kids who did the entire Global Classrooms program on a pretty personal level (one of them still talks to me about the various boys she is crushing on), but with 10+ classes of 30+ students that I saw only once or twice a week, it was hard to keep track of them. And by March, I had pretty much thrown in the towel. So, in an attempt to learn names and a little extra something right off the bat, the students' first assignment this year was a note card with a picture of them (I'm pretty sure the people in Starbucks thought I was crazy as I sat for 30 minutes the other day doing flashcards of young children's faces) and answers to a strategically-chosen questions.

Here are the two most telling questions and a few of the more notable answers... perhaps it will give you an idea of what I'm working with. The answers are from students ranging from 8th grade to 12th grade and are copied exactly as written on their note cards. The italics are my own personal comments.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

Invisible because it is perfect to hid from people that want you or to kill you.
Maybe I should be asking this student a few more follow-up questions...

Flying because I would like to touch the clouds.
I don't think they are as fluffy as they look...

I would like to be invisible, I would steal a lot of banks.
Well, the banks did steal money from many Spanish citizens... I guess I can understand your motivation...

Stoping the time because I culd sleep more.
Amen...

If I could have any superpower I would have the abbility of being invisible, so that I could know how people really are.
Not a bad idea, but I think there are some things about some people I would rather leave unknown...

I would like to stop time, it would be useful to copy in exams or thins like that.
You can bet that I will be keeping an eye on you when I give a quiz...

I would want to be elastic girl, because I won't have to move for taking things.
Out of all the super powers you could have, you want the one that keeps you from having to get up to get your notebook on the other side of the room?

I can do what I want to do.
I guess it's good that you are content with your abilities, but we're talking about the prospect of a superpower here!

Know everything about everything I touch because with this power I can know if someone is sick and wich sickness do they have.
I think we have a future doctor on our hands here...

I would stop time, I think it is the most useful power due to the different situations in which I would want to be alone.
Not a bad idea; people definitely underestimate the value of alone time...

Not needing to breath.
You know, I've never really seen breathing as a nuisance...

Mimicry: I'd like to be able to copy any other power so that depending in the situation I'd only have to look for the perfect "mutant" to copy. (One at a time so not to overpower it.)
Alright, somebody figured out the way to work the system....

Ability to change my own genetic information or DNA and maybe others DNAs.
What parts of the DNA would you change?

Read other people's mind because I'm always worried about what people think about me.
You are not the only one... every day when I am teaching I try to figure out what is going through all of your brains...

To know how to be Veterinary.
Congrats, veterinarians... you have reached superhero status!

Who do you look up to and why?

I look up to my mom because she is a single mother who works, is getting her 2nd master degree and does everything she can for my brother and I to be happy.

My model is Rihanna the singer because for me is the model for any woman in the world. Also I love her stile and her music.

I look up to Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl, because of her determination to fight for education for everyone.

My greatgrandfather Fernando, because he was a doctor and during the Civil War he healed the people from the other band, althought he could be killed because of that.

I look up to every child that having fifty times less than I do is happy, and to Clara*, because she made herself my best friend. 
*Name changed for anonymity

I look up to someone.

Britney Spears, because she's fabulous!

I look up to Korean bands because I really like their skills.

I don't have one, but I admire people who see things as they are.

I look up to my cousin, because now she doesn't have a work, because is very difficult to find it, but she is continiusly searching for a work. Sometimes she is sad, but when you have a problem, she helps you with a smile on her face.

My idols are Mick Jagger becuase he is so old and is always dancing and moving from side to side in the concerts.

One Direction and my mother.

I look up to people like Gandhi or Mandela. They consecrated their life to help and protect other people's lifes and fought for their rights!

Felix Baumgaringr because he reached sound speed jumpin from the stratosphere and many people said that won't do it. He did it.

I admire Shacklebon, because although he wasn't able to cross the Antartica, he managed to lead all of the tripulation to safety after their ship had to be abandoned. No men died despite the conditions they had to endure and the low probabilities of surviving

Now, of course, this is an incomplete list. There were tons of students who wrote their parents ("because they created me") and a wide variety of athletes ("because he is the best at playing ______________"), but the above answers were a bit more unique...

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So there you have it. Now when I tell stories about my students this year, you can relate them to some youngins you know. After all, they aren't that much different than what I expect I would see in the states. I think the response of invisibility as a commonly desired superpower in 10th-ish grade students is a result you would get across a wide range of countries and cultures. And the extreme variety of answers is pretty representative of the drastically different high school personalities. Some kids want superpowers to make the world better, while others focus on how to get away with mischief. One student views Rihanna as an idol, while another student admires Malala (that's possibly the epitome of polar opposites). Throughout the school, they are defining "cool" by many different standards; it will be interesting to see how the students develop and mature their ideas over the year.

But whether I agree with each student's response or not, I'm glad I can put personality facts to their faces. Then, like today, when I find myself pushed up against a student in the metro, I can smile as she tells me about participating in strike against education budget cuts, knowing that at a young age she is doing what she can to follow in the footsteps of her politically active role models.

Much love,

Amber

Comunidad Autónoma #11: Asturias

I didn't mention it, but my trip to Galicia fulfilled autonomous community #10. That makes Asturias, autonomous community #11! I'm one step closer to achieving the year's goal :)

To experience Asturias, Erica and I made our way to Oviedo, the capital. Oviedo isn't a particularly touristy city (which we figured out quickly from all of the looks that we got whenever we spoke English to each other) and in the end there weren't too many places that we felt we had to visit. So instead we filled our time walking around the city, eating and drinking and enjoying the general atmosphere of the region.

A part of Asturian culture we found immediately was right around the corner from our hotel...

Gascona, El Bulevar de la Sidra

Yes, Oviedo has a street of Sidrerías, or restaurants that specialize in sidra (cider).  Sidra is a big thing in Asturias, where the apples are grown and converted into cider. It was in this area where Erica and I also had authentic fabada asturiana, a stew made of white (fabada) beans, chorizo, morcilla, and pork shoulder.

This was the first of many times that our Asturian dishes defeated us. Despite its deliciousness, knowing that it was only the first plate of the menú made it impossible to finish.

After eating, Erica and I had to take a lap to regain a basic comfort level. It sprinkled here and there, but the calm city was still enjoyable to walk around until we could sit down for a coffee without an overwhelming urge to loosen our belt buckles.

In the center of Oviedo

When we finally recovered and walked past a pastelería, I couldn't help but try the moscovitas, a crispy almond cookie covered with chocolate. Are we really surprised that this would interest me?

Moscovitas from Mallorquinas

In the evening, we went back to El Bulevar de la Sidra to experience sidra first hand. Over a bottle of sidra, Erica and I observed the others around us and learned a few things about sidra culture.

• The waiters serve you your sidra, and only ever a trago (or sip) at a time.
• The sidra is poured from about a wing span distance. The waiter holds the bottle up above their head as high as they can and then extends the opposite arm down, holding the cup at a 45° angle. This is to "break" the cider.

• After being given your trago, you have to drink it immediately. However, it is normal to leave a culin, or drop of sidra in the cup. You are then supposed to dump the culin, to give back to the earth what it has given you. (How philosophical!) The act of pouring out the extra also serves to clean off the area where your lips touched the glass, since it is common to share a cup with friends.
• For those unaccustomed to sidra culture, it is kind of uncomfortable to wait around in between tragos. While one could normally sip on a drink while chatting, we were left at the mercy of the waiters to be able to drink our sidra. So we just gaped at the waiters as they made their rounds to other tables and discussed how impressed we were that most of them looked away as they did the pouring. Later on, we realized that in some restaurants, Asturians pour their own sidra (but not from quite so impressive a distance) and in other restaurants there are fancy apparatuses to create the same effect with a few metal tubes. I prefer the waiters, I must say. They are more entertaining.

 What a pro!

On our second day, Saturday, Erica and I headed to Gijón, a major coastal city in Asturias. To celebrate Ali’s birthday, I took “her” along too, which you can read all about in its own blog post, here.

We took the bus to Gijón (costing us a whopping 4,70€/person for a round trip via pubic transportation) and were immediately greeted with the smell of salt in the air. That smell is one of my favorite smells in the world, bringing back memories of crossing into Ocean City and getting ready for long days with my feet in the sand. Wonderful memories. Anyway, as soon as we got there we went for a walk around the casco antiguo (old part of the city), which is a small peninsula jutting out from the rest of the city. Along the way we saw…

Boats

A nice view of Bay of Biscay, which is the large body of water above Northern Spain that leads into the Atlantic Ocean 

An observatory overlooking the bay  

 

Some cool sculptures

Street art, which brought back some fantastic memories of the alternative Berlin tour I took with Mom and Ali this summer :)

Then, in an effort to kill time until the socially appropriate lunch time, we creeped on a wedding for a bit. Since Spaniards are not very secretive with their staring, we didn’t hold back either and joined the group of wedding guests and random onlookers in observing the bride’s entrance.

In the main square

Then came lunch. Let me just say, Asturias once again impressed us. We hit up El Lavaderu, suggested to us by Annette, and we fully enjoyed our 2-hour eating experience. The food was amazing…

 I actually have no idea what type of fish this is, since I had our waitress give me the special that she recommended the most. But in addition to all you see here, it was wrapped around a potato and was absolutely delightful. 

And the company wasn’t too bad either...

These old men and women sang (without holding back… at all) on and off for the entire time that we were there.

So basically, Gijón was a success.

Later in the evening, in Oviedo, we hung out in our HOTEL (not hostel, not airbnb…) before heading out to the city for some tapas. At this point I should probably explain why staying in a hotel seems like such a big deal.

First off, Erica and I found a great deal on a 3 star hotel, located right in the middle of the city. Since it was the same price as (or even cheaper than) a hostel, we decided to switch it up a bit. And when we got there, I basked in the luxury. I had a mini fridge and somebody made my bed for me! WHAT?! Plus, the water pressure in the full bath size shower was pretty dang awesome. I was living the high life. Now I’m sure a few of you are laughing at me, but when one is accustomed to staying in airbnbs and hostels (which are great, don’t get me wrong), a hotel seems almost overly posh. I couldn't get over the ridiculousness of them changing my towel after only one night when I normally I have to rent a towel (or large piece of sand paper) for 2€. Then, when we sprawled out on our beds to watch TV, I thought about the many nights I spent with Mom in the Hampton in Holland and realized how distant that world seems. My travels in Spain have taken on such different style than my travels in the U.S. that I seem to have forgotten that they have so much in common: experiencing/observing the style of life in a different place, trying out new restaurants, and enjoying a few days out of the normal routine. I’ve been blessed with so many experiences within the United States and I know many more await me once I get back. This weekend was just a small reminder that my travels don’t end when I leave Spain. Phew! (Now who knew a hotel room would spur all that thinking?!)

Alright, back to the trip...

On Sunday morning, Erica and I got up and headed off to see the 9th century Roman Catholic churches that are located just 3 km outside the city center. The buses that pass by the monuments leave every hour, on the hour, so we headed to the beginning of the line and got to the bus stop at 11 AM. We chatted with the bus driver and when we asked which stop we needed to get off, he told us to sit back and be tranquilas... it would take us an hour to get there. Whaaaaaaaat?! It took us less than a half an hour to get to another city! But, since we had nothing better to do, we got on the bus and rode around, watching the older couples get on and off the bus as we passed through different pueblos on the outskirts of the city. Then, about 35 minutes into the trip, I began to recognize our surroundings. We were driving past the park that was only a few minute walk from our hotel! For the following 15 minutes, we drove through the city and Erica and I laughed as we realized all the different stops where we could have caught the bus. Well, you live and learn. Finally, we left the city on the opposite side and got dropped off in front of the monuments almost exactly an hour after we got on it. Then we spent a whopping 20 minutes looking at the outside of the churches and walked back to the bus stop in time to catch the same bus on it’s way back into the city. That time we decided to cut the journey short and get off 15 minutes into the ride. We figured we had gotten our full 1,10€ worth the first time around.

 Nevertheless, the morning ride was worth this beautiful view of Oviedo

San Miguel de Lillo, a 9th century Roman Catholic church

We were also quite eager to get off of the bus because of what we experienced in the last few minutes of our journey on the way to the monuments. At one of the bus stops, the driver opened the doors and immediately started talking to the woman who was about to board with her infant and young boy. He asked, rather brusquely, where she was going and when she responded, he told her that she needed to be on the opposite side of the street and to get on the bus going the other direction. Looking confused, she pointed in the direction the bus was going, saying something about how she thought her destination was in that direction. The driver repeated himself, insisting she needed to get on the bus going the other direction. Looking defeated, she retreated and put her coins back in her pocket as the bus drove away from her. After a few moments of silence, Erica and I looked at each other, confused about but at the same time very aware of what had just happened. We wanted to think that the bus driver was being helpful, keeping the woman from going out of her way. But with the way the bus driver and his friend were still joking about it a few minutes later, we both knew it wasn’t true. He hadn’t asked a single other person where they were going when they boarded. And she was the only black person that tried to board the bus. It’s undeniable and unacceptable; racism is prominent in Spain. That is why the UN published this article last year.

On a more light hearted note, once we were back in the city we took one last walk around the casco antiguo and stumbled upon some cultural musicians and dancers.

 Gotta love the bagpipes

A bit of a cultural drum line… they were quite synchronized in their twirling of their drumsticks

Check out those shoes!

 How precious… 

The drummer in the background was really getting into it!

Overall, this trip really reaffirmed my desire to see all of the different autonomous communities in Spain. The trip was extremely relaxed, knowing that we were familiar with the language really allowed us to lose ourselves in the cities. And it was fun to realize that bagpipes are typical in parts of Spain and sidra is more integrated into Asturian culture than I’ve ever seen sangria integrated into a Spanish culture. I can now compare the canned fabada asturiana that my roommate Luis loves to the “real stuff” and fully agree with Spaniards when they insist, “Se comen muy bien allí” (They eat really well there). Granted, I didn’t endure the intense rain that comes with the winter months, but I much prefer to see the families out and about, enjoying their city in these early fall days. We encountered so many hospitable people, wiling to help us and chat with us and share their culture with us. It was absolutely wonderful to share in life in Asturias. But I have to recognize that it was wonderful because I am a white, young woman from the United States. And as beautiful as life was there, there is a great sorrow that others can’t experience it in the same way.

Much love,
Amber

Happy 21st birthday, lil' sis!

Well, its difficult to believe, BUT

THIS GIRL

(Rome, 2013)

  is turning 21 years old today!!!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!

Since I couldn't spend the day with her yesterday in Grove City like all of my other siblings, I decided to spend the day with her in a slightly different way... a flat Ali (and Tami) vacation :)

To celebrate, we took the bus from Oviedo, the capital of Austurias, to Gijón, one of the largest cities in Spain.

Getting ready to get on the ALSA bus!

There, we took a walk around the city and checked out the beach. Unfortunately, it wasn't warm enough to go swimming, but we took a nice hike around the casco viejo (old part of town), which is a peninsula.

 

Looking out onto the Bay of Biscay

As we walked around, we found a few neat pieces of sculpture. It's pretty cool, but what was even more entertaining was that the skateboarding kids used it as an extension of the half pipe that was right next to  it. 

From the look of the skies, you wouldn't have thought that it started raining a bit afterward! I think Gijón was sad that I only had a flat Ali.

Since it is Ali's 21st, we had to have sidra, the typical drink in Austurias!

 In this restaurant, Ali and Tami got to pose with the world's largest sidra bottle! ;)

After a wonderful birthday lunch, we went for a café con leche and to people watch a bit.

Ali and Tami also got to pose with the world's largest café con leche! Who knew that Gijón had so many claims to fame?!

Overall, Gijón was a relaxing day in a beach city, complete with good food and wonderful company. Obviously it would've been even better with a real life Ali, but sometimes we have to work with what we have.

And last but not least, although today is Ali's 21st birthday (and thus a very important birthday), I want to wish her:

You're a pretty awesome little sister and I love you tons. Hope it's a great day on the other side of the Atlantic as well!

Much love,
Amber

A time for updates

Last year, at this point in the year, I was giving regular updates about everything from orientation and my first day of school to the new friends I had met and what I had eaten for lunch. Wow, things have changed.

Nowadays, blog posts about my daily life in Madrid seem obsolete… what once seemed like a great adventure has been converted into the norm. Going to the grocery store is no longer a major achievement and little neighborhood discoveries (like the La Ventana Ecológica, an everything ecological store next door to my apartment) no longer seem blog-worthy. (Okay, maybe that one was.) But at the same time, my life does not consist only of weekend adventures and I don’t want to present it as such. So in attempt to recapture my beginning blog spirit, here are a few life updates…

Orientation. Some friends asked me if I even had to go this year; the answer is yes. I think it’s a given that most of the sessions (about grant conditions, what Spanish culture is like, etc.) were not incredibly insightful, but orientation was nevertheless quite productive. Since I am the Global Classrooms mentor, I led a few sessions and was awestruck when the new Fulbrights scribbled down a great deal of what I said. Then I remembered that last year what the returning grantees had said was like gold. After all, why suffer through every aspect of life in a new city, country, culture, if you can get suggestions from people who have “been there, done that”? Thus, my initial fear of putting them off with lengthy, dense sessions subsided. Throughout the three days I also got a chance to mingle with all the grantees over meals, introducing myself and learning a bit about them. Like last year, we are an interesting mix, coming from all walks of life. As everyone settles in, it will be exciting to see the many different ways they make Madrid their own. (If you are interested in seeing pictures, feel free to check them out on Fulbright Spain's flickr.)

First day of school. I guess I’m not a real teacher yet because I didn’t have first day of school nightmares. Instead I was quite tranquila and got to school on my first day with little idea of what the day would look like. Not surprisingly, it started with Joe, the new Fulbrighter at my school, and I having a café con leche in the canteen… not, unfortunately, in La Plaza Mayor. (Props if you understood that joke! If not, look here to get an idea of the speech that disgraced most Spaniards and went viral. If you speak Spanish, check out this video to get a few extra laughs). Anyway, rather than give us schedules and change them 7 or 8 times like last year, our coordinator decided to just not give us schedules. So, over the past two weeks, we’ve gone as teachers beckoned and enjoyed our down time being social in the canteen. The rest of the assistants will come this week and then we’ll be a little more settled. Perhaps at that point I will be answer the most popular question that I’ve gotten from students, “Are you going to be in our class this year?!” I think most of them were hoping that I would answer, “Yes”, but I’m sure there were a few that meant, “You aren’t going to be in our class again… right?” After all, I’m pretty sure I was the only assistant that assigned homework last year… not typically the best way to win students’ hearts. On another note, I passed a former student during recreo yesterday that I swear grew 10 inches over the summer. So that’s why adults always said, “My, you’ve gotten so tall!”

New friends. To be honest, right now I’ve spent most of my time reconnecting with the friends that are still here: Mark & Annette (friends from church), Carmen (my intercambio), Erica (a fellow Michigander), Lauren & Brock (the other returning Fulbrighters), and miscellaneous friends from Karen Daft Centro de Danza. Orientation was, of course, crazy with people trying to find roommates and travel buddies but since I was already mostly settled, I didn’t really try to fit in with any of the newly formed groups. I didn’t feel the sense of immediacy. But then last weekend, sitting in my apartment at 11 PM on a Saturday night, I began to realize the reality that life was different now. Napala and Dan aren’t around to spend a relaxing evening watching Juan’s card tricks or doing puzzles. But, in attempt to leave space for meeting new people (hopefully more Spaniards) throughout the year, I am committed to not filling my schedule from the get go. We’ll see how it works out.

What I ate for lunch. Yesterday I made a pisto, something I have gotten much better at since my time on the farm, where I did a lot of cooking on the farm. This probably isn't blog worthy unless I have a drool-inducing photo though....

As I’m getting my life in order, I’m realizing how much life is about finding balance, all sorts of balance. Yes, I should reestablish a balanced diet: proportionate servings of fruits and vegetables and grains instead of whatever I can grab in between classes. But as I'm getting my kitchen stocked up again, I realize that it is just as important to have a balance of new foods and favorite foods and foods that remind me of sitting down at our wooden kitchen table with my family. With that idea, I am again trying to find balance in the idea of home being dispersed between Hershey and Holland and Madrid. As memories of Sevilla drift farther away and become “when I was studying abroad” stories, life in Madrid strengthens its status as the norm, so much so that the journey home for Christmas no longer seems worth someone coming to pick me up from the airport in NYC. Skype dates are getting scheduled once again and I have been less consistent staying in touch with people who mean the world to me. I need to find a way to hear about their lives and talk about mine without dreading the Sunday afternoons sitting in front of my computer, dealing with dropped call after another and becoming drained emotionally, wishing I could just spend a few hours hanging out on the couch at home or in LJs social studying. This reminds me of the balance of traveling and staying put, not just in and out of the United States, but in and out of Madrid, in and out of Spain. At house church this past week we talked about our priorities and what things we sacrifice for others and I realized that these past few weeks, I have maintained a pretty equal balance. Some nights I turned down working out for the chance to go out for drinks with friends, other days I turned down teaching extra private class in order to skype. Yet other days I have opted to stay at home, doing work over long lunches and going for leisurely runs in the evenings. I think balance isn’t about setting fixed priorities, but rather letting situations dictate decisions. As much as I wanted to be social and go out during orientation to hang out with the new Fulbrighters, I couldn’t. I was emotionally taxed with meeting and greeting so many different people and I just wanted to go home to get 8 hours of sleep before the sessions the next day. I don’t want to live my life always expecting that there will be another chance, but with some things there will be and if I don’t take care of myself, I won’t be ready to throw myself at the opportunities that are truly fleeting. Nevertheless, I think I also have to be aware of my tendency to stress out about all of the work that I have to do and my habit of overloading myself with unnecessary work. I remember when the Hope College chaplains reminded us gently that it was okay to say “No” and I am keeping that in mind as I turn down an excess of private classes. I need to leave time for life to happen and to remember that when it comes to work, “It will all get done” (another Hope College mantra), poco a poco, all in it’s due time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance, 

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Much love from Spain,

Amber

WWOOF! (No, this is not about dogs...)

First, a matter of business: It has come to my attention that many people have been unable to get e-mail updates regarding new blog posts. Thus, for those of you who aren't tired of my banter and want to read another year of my thoughts and memories (or just drool over my food photos), I have added a subscribition box at the bottom of this page. Type in your e-mail and VOILA! You will now get e-mails whenever I post something new. Don't worry, I think unsubscribing is just as easy.

Now onto the good stuff...

Last year, my French friend Gregoire told me about how the previous summer, he and his girlfriend worked on a farm in Austurias for 2 weeks with an organization called WWOOF, or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. And ever since I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver 2 years ago, I've told Mom and Jackie that I want to live on a farm. My vacation time in Spain, before starting orientation and school, was just my chance to make it a reality.

I arrived to the Santiago de Compostela airport on a Thursday afternoon, looking for a woman named María (not an extremely specific characteristic in Spain), wearing a green shirt and beige pants. It took me a while to find her, in part because of a change in meeting location, but also because I wasn't expecting a 26 year old young woman.

María's WWOOF description reads, "Hace muy poco que he empezado con mi proyecto aunque llevase ya mucho tiempo con las ideas en la cabeza. Fue en Abril cuando decidí cambiar mi calidad de vida y mudarme a una casa." (It hasn't been long since I have started with my project, although I have been thinking about it for a long time. It was in April when I decided to change my quality of life and move to a house.) I didn't imagine that many 26 year olds have been thinking for a while about moving to a farm or changing their quality of life. But there she was, and the unexpected companionship was just the beginning of integrating myself into a new normal. Here is some insight to my WWOOFing experience...

Day 1:

• Since it was my first day, María showed me around the place. During my tour I met the pig, 2 goats, sheep, 7 chickens, rooster, dog (Pepa), 2 kittens (Max and Leo), and plethora of flies, most of which, María calls "Chookey".

Max... doesn't he look like Bubby?!

   This was Bubby's model shot ;)

Leo


Check out that handsome goat

• Later in the evening, we went to the bus station to pick up the other WWOOFer, who María told me was a girl from Switzerland. However, when we got there, we found out that she confused Suiza and Suecia and 'Love' is a male from Sweeden. Lots of surprises in the meet and greet.

Day 2:

• I gathered the eggs... or should I say egg... from the hen house. The hens are eating organically, but are not finding enough of their own bugs yet to have a hearty diet and to be laying a ton. The food intake changed later in the week when we brought home massive bags of corn that we got from a friend and ginormous (and heavy!) bags of mussel shells that we got from mountains of compost material. Unfortunately, during the time I was there the chickens didn't change their laying habits much.

 The rooster, snacking on some some weeds

• We picked judías to sell to the frutería.

Fresh from the garden

• While we were picking produce to take to the frutería, we also picked out a few things for our own lunch...

 

2 peas in a pod

Flowers from the zucchini plant, that then became this...

Coated in an egg and flour mixture and then fried. The bigger ones are filled with goat cheese. Mmmmmm....

•  In the afternoon, we headed over to María's friends' house to pick blackberries. The friends (2 brothers) are friends of María's from university, and the three of them often talked about doing something like this while they were in classes together. Now, prompted by the crisis, they decided to turn their ideas into actions. Rather than wait for a job like the other 56.1% of Spain's youth that is unemployed (The Guardian), they bought farms. María is handling the garden end of things, while the guys raise up cows to eventually sell high quality meat. The brothers' family owns a hotel and the goal is to be able to use these farms to provide ecologically friendly products for their own restaurants. So cool!

 About to be picked 

Fruits of our labor... literally.

• In the evening, we went over to the brothers' apartment (in Santiago de Compostela, practically right next to the cathedral) for dinner. Since they love their meat, we ate MEAT. 3 kinds to be exact: one of their own 3 year old cows, a 16 year old Galician cow, and an Australian cow. It was an interesting compare and contrast experience.
• Over dinner, with the three of them bantering in Castellano (Spanish), I got lots of language practice. Even more so since the moment I walked into the room they were drilling me about 9/11 conspiracy theories and explaining how, from their point of view, the train crash in Santiago was on purpose, planned by the Spanish government just like (according to them) the twin towers were bombed by the U.S. government. Since I currently have zero interest in conspiracy theories, I shrugged it off and left them to their banter. Love (remember, that's the fellow WWOOFer's name) doesn't speak much Spanish but caught on to the topic and later said that the previous WWOOF host he was staying with was interested in the same conspiracy theory. Can't say that I expected all of the farmers to be conspirators, but I guess it all fits in with the Dooms-day idea.

Day 3:

• I made stuffed peppers like Hanah and I made at in our Mediterranean Cooking class at the Institute of Culinary Education a few weeks earlier. I didn't have a big-wig chef to help me out, but I did pick the peppers and tomatoes and mint right out of the garden before taking them into the house to make dinner. Not too shabby.
• My Spanish-English dilemma began to become even more frequent. In translating conversations between Love and María, I would often speak the wrong language, English to María and Spanish to Love. When they asked me "What?" or "¿Qué?" I repeated myself, in the wrong language, until I recognized the laughing look in their eyes and confused furrowing of their brows. We'll see if I get any better.

Day 4:

•  Between my relaxed afternoons reading in the hammock and my leisurely mornings and evenings fiddling around in the garden, I didn't think this experience could get much better. Then we went to the beach. BINGO. We went to Ribeira, where María's family has a small plot of land with 11 other families. When María was young, they camped on the land, but in the past few years, María's family constructed a little house out of an old refrigerated shipping container that is even more efficient than Ikea. After lunch with some of María's family and friends, we went for a walk, soaked up some rays, and went snorkeling. My 56€ plane ticket really paid itself off!

Just a few hundred meters away from the house

The water was so clear that I could see all of the little snails on the rocks below

 The rocks where we sunbathed... quite convenient for not getting too sandy

• Although I continued to mix up Spanish and English with Love and María, I realized that I can understand Gallego (the language spoken in Galicía) pretty well! Although I lose details here and there, I was able to interject once and a while over lunch. This came in handy when they tried to give Love a shot of some pure alcohol while telling him it was water. 

Day 5... and 6, 7, 8, 9, 10:

After a few days on the farm, I got pretty accustomed to the slower pace of life, free from e-mails and work and worries about the future. After all, watermelons and corn only grow so quickly. As I got into the routine, I stopped trying to remember the events of each day and let them blend, strung together by laughter and meals and briefly punctuated by gorgeous sunsets into the mountains and stars that really sparkle like diamonds. Nevertheless, there are a few more memories and reflections worth recording...

• When I was in Hershey, I would often tell Mom that I would take Sookie on my run with me. That was code for: I don't want to run so how about I take Sookie with me and turn around 2 minutes later? Some mornings, however, Pepa accompanied me on my 40 minute jog around the small, winding streets lined with farms. Pepa didn't get tired and want to turn around though; instead, she would bolt ahead of me and then turn around and wait while I struggled to catch up. After a few minutes I got over feeling slow (I was, after all, well versed in feeling slow when running with Ali), and it later gave me a sense of security when the dogs that we passed barked, scratched, and tried to jump their respective fences. Then, later in the week, a dog Sookie's size joined in on the run. All I could think about was how I would explain to María's grandmother that I had left her dog stranded 2 miles away when it got tired. I guess I underestimated how far a dog would go to be with the only female dog (Pepa) in the neighborhood.

 

• One thing that did not cease to baffle me during my time on the farm was María's creativity. Those of you who read my blog last year may have noticed that I was bit disenchanted with the Spanish education system, mostly because of how little creativity was built into the classes. Thus, I was amazed to see what María had done in the span of 5 months. Using scraps of wood, bits of string, leftover seeds, and a lot of google, she had gotten her garden to flourish. Yes, the tomatoes were planted too close together and some of the gates lacked proper locks, but who cares? If you can use a loop of string and a rock, why do you need to buy a piece of metal to keep the chickens' area closed? María had a clever solution for every challenge: getting the ripened pears off of the highest branches, creating a pond for her new ducks, the list goes on. Up through the last day, I fully enjoyed discovering how María had become so successful with such few resources.

These ducks were quite happy with their make-shift pond made out of some rocks and scraps of plastic

• Since it is her first year, María isn't selling much of her produce. But one of the local fruterías calls her twice a week for her to bring in her ecological products. Thus, we spent some time here and there preparing her products to be sold.

Pimientos de Padrón

Love and María, weighing the apples from the apple tree 

• A number of times, we ate with María's friends at their work-in-progress farm home. The house is made of gorgeous stones and they are rebuilding and renovating it with little outside help. However, the progress isn't moving too quickly and the furnishings are modest: plastic picnic tables, camping chairs, no electricity or running water (Yes, that means the bathroom is basically an outhouse. But since it's next to the cow's stall, you feel right at home.), and sticky fly tape hanging from wooden beams. But it was in that house, with chickens pecking around our feet and geese honking at everything in sight, that I ate some of the highest quality food of my life. Beef that had been grazing in the brothers' pastures for years and tomatoes grown from ground that had never seen chemicals were eaten off of plastic plates. Most of the meals that rich in quality that I have eaten took place in nice restaurants, on special occasions. But there we all sat and ate, with dirt under our nails, among the animals that would soon end up on the plates. And although I felt like the meal was getting far from the distinction it deserved, it felt right. It was wonderful to feel so connected to the food I was consuming.

 

Dinner

• The connection to the food also made me think of a line from "Hold on to what you believe" by Mumford and Sons: This city breathes the plague of loving things more than their creators. Living on the farm, I thought about how I rarely know where my food comes from in Madrid, let alone my leather bag, my t-shirts, my desk supplies, etc.. We all put so much focus on the things we have, but we don't love their creators enough. We don't think about the people that make the things we consume or, to take it even further, the people that provide essential services to us on a regular basis. Now that I'm back in Madrid, I am trying to be a little more aware and make more decisions based on the people who work so that I can live the way I live.
• Throughout my time on the farm, we talked about everything: guns, language, family, exercise, food, healthcare, gender equality, freedom.... One night, over a few hours of washing and cutting tomatoes, I asked María and Love what they were most proud of of their country/city. Love responded quickly, talking about the preservation of forests and the freedom that Sweds have to use even private property for hikes, camping, and berry picking. When he said, "You can pick mushrooms in another man's forest," I couldn't help but think it sounded like a Swedish proverb. María didn't take long to respond either... she is proud (and rightly so) of the quality of food produced in Galicía. Neither of them asked me and I'm not sure how I would have responded. I'll have to consider my own answer for next time I ask someone that question...

 

The more tomatoes, the more conversation

• The second to last day, I asked María if she would mind taking us into Santiago for a little bit of tourism. Having done part of the camino last September, I was eager to see the destination of so many peregrinos (pilgrims). It was neat to be in front of the cathedral and see so many people just laying in the plaza, exhausted from the journey and happy to have arrived at such a well known destination. It was also fun to watch the groups saunter in, cheering at their accomplishment, when you knew they had only done a day hiking trip. The large group of high schoolers would never have been that pleasant if they had been hiking for more than a few hours. Nor would they have looked so clean with daypacks only big enough for cell phones and water bottles.

La catedral de Santiago

 Looking over Santiago de Compostela

• When María and Love took me to the airport, I expected to get dropped off in front of the entrance. When I told María she didn't have to park she responded with a very firm tone, "No, hombre. Vamos a acompañarte." (No, man. We're going with you.) So she and Love walked me to the Ryanair desk to get my ticket stamped and then said goodbye at security. On the walk into the airport, Love spent 2 or 3 minutes trying to ask María, "Do you think we are going to make it without Amber?" I held back, seeing how the communication worked out. When they finally understood each other, she said, "Yes. We will make it. We won't talk too much, but it's okay." It felt good to know that I had been helpful, wanted, and at times, needed, during the previous 10 days.
• Even though I had only spent 10 days with María and Love, I was surprised to realize how close I felt to them. We had conversations about just about everything and were united by a common passion before we had even met each other. It was the closest to the community of Upward Bound that I have ever experienced. Furthermore, we were all in the process of changing our understanding of normal. María took on farm life, rather than waiting the crisis out in her family's apartment like the majority of other young Spaniards. Love had decided to travel from farm to farm for 9 months, improving his Spanish and English and seeing the world before beginning university. And I was about to start my second year living 6 time zones away from my family. We had all decided to redefine normal, much like the new Fulbrighters are doing now. All of this reminded me of the advice I had written them a few months ago, which I needed to remind myself of as I began this new year: Be flexible. You never know what doors will be opened, what doors will be closed, what doors need to be knocked on 13 times before being answered, and what doors are located in the middle of a labyrinth of hallways. Be persistent with your desires but acknowledge that it's likely that they won't be fulfilled in the way that you expect. A year in a foreign country has provided some of the most exciting experiences of my life, but it has also converted the exotic into normality. Be prepared to have a new normal that others won't understand. But know that you are better for it and when the challenges are conquered, you will have done what so many people never even consider trying.

Much love,
Amber

Top 5s of the Missing Month

Rather than write a long, detailed post about something you may have experienced first hand, here is a collection of "Top 5s" covering the missing month:

Top 5 Reasons My TAPortugal Flight Was Enjoyable

(Despite paying 80€ to check my carry-on bag)

1. Since they weigh your carry-on and only permit 8 kilos, boarding and de-boarding was quick. Light travelers make the awkward retrieval of overhead storage bags much more bearable.
2. I got seated next to an adorable young English boy who shared his Werther's candies with me and described the granola bar as "delightful" (insert British accent).
3. Mealtime was interesting, offering choices between "meat" and "fish", which when prompted for more information, turned out to be rabbit and salted cod. Not your usual airplane options.
4. I had my own TV, which meant I finally watched Life of Pi.
5. Since I got picked up in Newark, a stop at Wawa for a Philly soft pretzel was quite convenient.

Top 5 Typical Holland Experiences

1. Mom and I stayed with the Clarks and we had a wonderful dinner of Wiersma's kebabs. It wouldn't have been complete without the awkward conversation of Kevin grilling Jackie about her relationship.
2. I spent a lovely afternoon and evening with the Bengelinks, discussing my life and feeling at home with my Michigan parents.
3. Jackie and I hit up LJs at 6:30 in the morning. The muffins are truly better at that time.
4. The Holland Brewery was wonderful all 3 times, and provided the perfect place for catching up on everything UBmissing. (I had to do it...)
5. I couldn't resist ordering "nuggies" but realized just after calling that I didn't know what they are actually listed as on the menu. While explaing to the girl that I wanted the garlic bread knot thingies, she laughed and said not to worry, everybody has a different name for them. Phew.

Top 5 Wedding Preparation Memories

1. Mom and I fully enjoyed hitting up every flea market in Hershey and Holland in order to gather vintage looking goblets.
2. The feeling of seeing Ali in her first wedding dress was pretty indescribable. It only got beat when we saw her in the wedding dress.
3. Mike, Ali, Mom, and I all held our laughter back as we tried to compliment the awful conference-like reception room in Middletown. "It has lots of parking!"
4. Over dinner at Freeze and Frizze, we all laughed over the $54,000 wedding that another one of the places tried to sell us. Everything was included in the package except for flowers and a cake. However, it was requested that we use their florist and their bakery. When we talked about doing something other than flowers for centerpieces and cupcakes instead of cake, the woman politely said, "Flowers are kind of required and you can discuss the possibility of having cupcakes." Okay...
5. Nanny and I had a blast doing shower invitations and goodies after the bride packed up her bags for Messiah and we could work without working that she would walk into our mischief.

Top 5 Family "Stay-cation" Activities

1. We headed off to Lititz and practiced rolling our own pretzels at the Julius Sturgis pretzel factory. Then we headed over to the Wilbur chocolate factory, where Justin made Maddy, Brandt, and Amaya "sit" for the chocolate coins he bought them. Yes, "sit", like a dog.
2. Let's be serious, we ate Mom's stromboli and played board games. It doesn't get more typical Rogers family than that.
3. Mom, Mike, Josh, Ali, Tami, and I went over to Milton Hershey to do Ali's Messiah workout (or work out in the vicinity of those doing the MWS workout). Go team!
4. We hiked up Governor Dick and after 5 minutes, realized why we don't go on family hikes. "Are we there yet?!" was asked multiple family members that were over the age of 12.
5. The Jigger shop obviously has to make this list. Root beer from the tap and watching Brandt smear ice cream all over his face? How can it get any better?!

Top 5 NYC Adventures

1. The Warm-Up concert is an annual summer event held at the MOMA in Long Island City. The concert features up-and-coming rappers and since J.Cole was appearing, Hanah and her rapper self were all over it. The event was made a little more exciting by Mikella's surprise entrance via a VIP member's extra ticket and the subsequent evasion of said VIP.
2. Hanah and I literally spent a day and a half trying to find a pair of jeans that would replace my beloved, 6-year-old, spur-of-the-moment-purchase, skinny jeans. This was a necessary adventure since all of the jeans in Spain are made for people whose thighs are the same size as their ankles.
3. I took my first serious cooking class at the Institute of Culinary Education. During such class I found out that fire is no big deal, since the teacher shrugged off the burning tea towel Hanah frantically pointed out. Apparently the paella was more important than a NYC skyscraper.
4. Per usual, I fully appreciated my eating adventures: Levain cookies, diner food, Vietnamese sandwiches, and Hanah's post-yoga green juice were among the favorites.
5. Last but not least, I saw my first Fulbright friend stateside! I was delighted to see Dan's sneakers have just as many holes as they did in Spain.

Top 5 Reasons Why < 24 Hours is Worth 6 Hours of Driving

1.  If Natalie and Mikella and hadn't sucked it up and drove, we wouldn't have been able to share our 9 hours together. Mind you, those 9 hours were from 11:00 PM to 8:00 AM, meaning we had to sleep in there.
2. Mikella and I drove to Hershey together from NYC, which meant quality discussion and quality snacking on Levain cookies. When you are 23 years old and living 2 completely different but equally hectic lives 6 time zones away from each other, you make do what you have.
3. 6:30 AM breakfast at The Hershey Pantry reminded me of all of our early morning Phelps breakfasts. The difference is we didn't have to go to ballet afterward. WIN.
4. When you get a sampler at Tröegs Brewery, lunch becomes a 4 hour affair. Since Natalie was leaving after lunch, we stretched it out to include a post-lunch popcorn course, and then a cookie course... the snack bar didn't see us coming.
5. E-mails and blogs and skype are great, but if you can have a real hug, does it matter how long it takes to drive there?

Top 5 Reasons It Was Hard to Say Goodbye

1. Leaving, I knew I won't get to be around for all of the ongoing wedding preparations.
2. There's something about snuggling up on the sofa at home that is unlike snuggling up on any other sofa.
3. Sunday afternoons with Dad and hanging around with Mom become Sunday skype sessions once again. And for those of you who skype with me, you know the connection is less than ideal.
4. I didn't get to see a single Messiah Women's Soccer game in my little sister's senior season.
5. I, once again, left behind the chance for random weekends with my siblings or grandparents or out-of-town friends.

Top 5 Phrases in My "Back-to-Spain-Getting-Over-Jetlag Beach Trip"

1. Culo veo, culo deseo. (Butt sees, Butt wants.) I spent 3 days with two 5 year-old twin girls and a 2 year-old boy. Of course there was a frequent redistribution of shovels, toys, seats, food, etc. Being a child is pretty universal.
2. ¡La fuente está funcionando! (The fountain is working!) Darío (my teacher's 2 year-old son) was obsessed with the fountains that were on the sidewalk in front of the house. It wasn't always on, so every time we left the house, we had to see if the fountain was "fufionando". It's a pretty hard word for a 2 year-old and he almost got it right.
3. La ponemos en la olla... ¡y la comemos! (We put it in the pot and we eat it!) The kids were obsessed with a figurine of a chicken that had real feathers, which of course fell off every time they touched the chicken. Whenever the adults were hiding it, the grandmother would claim they were getting ready to put it in the pot so that we could eat it. 
4. Tienes que hacer caso a la primera. (You have to listen the first time.) Again, being a kid is pretty universal. Thus, Elisa and her sister were constantly reminding their kids to listen the first time. Sometimes the kids were even trying to convince each other to listen the first time.
5. ¡Los Simpsons! (The Simpsons!) Another one of Darío's obsessions was the inflatable Simpsons bounce castle. He didn't actually want to jump in it, but we went to look at it a number of times over the three days. Now I see how Spaniards get their obsessions with the Simpsons at a young age.

Well my friends, that is a delayed summary of my past month. Since being in the U.S. was its own sort of vacation, I figured I should comment on it like I would my trips around Europe. Unfortunately it is a text heavy post since I didn't take my camera out once during my stateside adventures. However, I can leave you with one picture of Almería...

An overcast day at the beach in Southern Spain

 

Stay tuned to hear about my adventures as a WWOOFer!

Much love, as always,

Amber