Not news.

November 14, 2008 by · 4 Comments

Nothing monumental happened this week. As I said in an interview last week at Discover Sevilla, which I clearly bombed, Sevilla is becoming my home and things aren’t so new or surprising anymore. Seeing nuns walking down the street, arm-in-arm, is quite common. So is watching a woman breastfeed on a park bench. I assume that’s why, when I say nothing exciting happened this week, I’m being serious. Nevermind that I was hit by a car (BEFORE YOU WORRY I AM FINE!) on Tuesday morning. Not so abnormal.

I teach a class Tuesday mornings at the Universidad Politecnica to a wonderful middle-aged man named Paco. The general understanding is that I bring him a lesson, which we talk about for approximately two minutes, then he tells me he will study in his free time, then we chit-chat. He’s quite funny and very animated. I left the lesson at 11:15 and walked to the zebra crossing (there’s no zoo in Sevilla. This is British speak for cross walk). I normally use them because Spanish people drive like they’re either asleep or really drugged up, or a mix of the two, so I typically exercise caution. I looked both ways, even though Virgen del Africa is a one-way street. You never know when a teenager on a motorbike will come out of nowhere and peg you. I saw a guy in his car next to the cross walk and waited a bit before joining a group crossing. Turns out the guy was moving while he was looking backwards. I heard shouts of “CUIDAAAAAO!” and found myself spinning out of balance.

Like I real Spaniard, I slammed my hand down on the hood of his crappy yellow car and got in his face. I screamed, “COÑO! Que estabas pensando?! Que eres un gillipoyas! Por Dios, que tonta la gente!” which translates, more or less, to: “Asshole! What the hell were you thinking? You’re such a fucker! Good God, people are so stupid!” Then I stood in the cross walk and watched him drive away. Dumbies. Luckily, nothing happened to me – not even a bruise just above my knee where the bumped clipped me.

Hmm, I started clases du fracais. Christene found a dude named Laurent. He is SOOOO French! Skinny, throaty accent, long black hair. But he’s got a lot of good experience and prepared some really good homework for us. And he was patient with my awful pronunciation and mine and Christene’s endless giggles. We could only imagine if Kate were there, showing up our language skills!

And in case you’re wondering, Kike comes back in six days. I’m practically counting down the hours and fully prepared to leave work early without feeling guilty. Toma, I will say.

Filed Under: guiri atope, living abroad ·

The Second Year

October 18, 2008 by · 1 Comment

A few days ago, I had a few (and by a few I really mean 9 or 10. YIKES) cañas with my friend Aubree from Iowa City. We saw each other very infrequently last year, but seem to have very similar experiences here in Spain.

The biggest? Things are super different the second time around.

When I came to Sevilla 13 months ago, I was nervous, but excited nervous. I didn’t know anyone or much about the city, but I knew the language and the customs and that you have to take a number to buy a train ticket. I was starting a new job in a new place with new people. It was as scary as it was exciting. Everything seemed fresh to me, and I loved spending hours walking around, taking pictures. This year, I haven’t been to one museum or any tourist attractions. As this city becomes more and more of my home, I’m finding I’m spending more time making it my home rather than treating it like a place I’m visiting for a few months. Thus, like Aubree says, I’m seeing some of the icky stuff too that was kind of glossed over last year. Things suddenly don’t seem as beautiful and I’m annoyed with things I once found endearing. That said, I can also appreciate more things because I’m not running around trying to do everything. I walked on a different side of Pages del Coro and looked up at the buildings. One of them has tiles halfway up, which I never craned my neck to see before.

Actually, things aren’t working out the way I wanted or expected them to. I thought that coming here another year to an apartment, a job and a set group of friends would mean I’d jump right back in like I hadn’t even been away. It started with the huge phone bill and the hits just keep coming. One of my friends even said, “You can’t catch a break, can you?!” First off, with Kike gone, I haven’t seen many of his friends (besides his adorable little brother) and most of them are super heavily involved in their relationships. I’ve been making friends with new auxiliares, but I miss being able to speak Spanish and feel like I’m always surrounded by study abroad students. And I don’t feel like I have a really close female friend here anymore, either.

I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself at school since I’m the only auxiliar. This led to a crying breakdown on Wednesday in music class when the kids were acting up. What the hell am I doing teaching music? I´m clearly not qualified, made evident when the kids ask, “Cat, what means enharmonics?” and I say, “We´ll talk about it next week…” They complained about having to do the class in English, so I told them if they wanted to drop out of the bilingual program, they should tell Nieves right away. The teacher who was in the classroom with me mostly for crowd control completely ignored us and didn’t help me, even after I started crying. The teachers who I ride home with on Wednesday afternoon could tell I was upset, so they called my director right away. The kids told Nieves what happened the next morning before I even came to work and told her they felt awful (good). She took me out for coffee and breakfast as soon as I came in, and told me not to go to Serafin’s class. She assured be that I was well-respected and appreciated at the school, and that I shouldn´t put so much pressure on myself. Many of the other teachers had a talk with the bilingual kids, too, which is why nearly all of them apologized to me individually in art class that afternoon. I was happy for the weekend to clear my head and focus on other things.

Kike tells me I have to grow up and be a big girl. Rather than letting things slide, I’ve been letting people know I have a problem. I don’t want to be ungrateful at work, since most people are willing to accommodate me, so I´ve had to stand up for myself. I´m being proactive instead of unhappy. I told Nieves I want to be as flexible as possible, but I won´t compromise my well-being in the school or take on more than I can handle. I also quit my second job at the language academy. As it turns out, they were paying me 3E less an hour and would randomly stick students in the class. I ended up being so stressed out last week, my heart was beating really fast and my chest felt all tense and I thought I was going to pass out. I told the boss, Juanjo, about what happened and how I felt that I was working too hard for the students to not even show up. Turns out they pay per hour, not monthly, so they come whenever they feel like it. And then, they’d tell me I’d have to stay for a class with no prep! So, I´ve been telling my friends that I’m looking for language classes, and gave three hours of class last week. There’s a high demand for tutors, thankfully!

Sad news: my cuñado (brother in law) Alejandro, Kike´s 19 year old brother, is moving to London today. Ale and I have gotten really close since Kike´s been gone fighting pirates, and we´ve been hanging out a lot on the weekends. I had a bad day about a week ago, and he showed up at my house and we bought some pizza. He´s really a doll. On Friday, we had a party for him, and he bought me a t-shirt that says, “Pon un Montero en tu vida” or, Get a Montero in your life. He has an identical one! All of my friends are in lovvvvvvvvvve with him…

I’ve got class tomorrow then a day and a half to prepare for Florence! I’m leaving this Thursday night and surfing in Pisa, then heading to Florence and staying with an American woman who´s a study abroad coordinator there. Hopefully she can help me get a job here…

Besos!

Filed Under: Language Assistants Program, living abroad ·

#60

June 3, 2008 by · Leave a Comment

So, this is my 60th post, chronicling an incredible 250-day odyssey from Wheaton to Sevilla. While I’ve tried my best to tell you all the most important things and feelings, from the absolute misery of a post back in mid-October to elation in more recent ones. But the truth is, as I reflect on my first “job” out of college to the big move to falling in love for the first time and all that goes along with it, it’s pretty obvious that things have changed. I’ve done an incredible amount of growing in the last 9 months.

When I left Chicago on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007, I had absolutely no expectations. Now, I’m getting ready to leave a whole life behind – job, boyfriend, flatmates, apartment, bank and phone accounts, friends. So, as I reflect, I let you, too:

I’ve learned…
…to watch my step (people don’t pick up after their dogs)…to dance a form of flamenco…that futbol isn’t as big of obsession as they make it out to be…to also never tell people what team from Seville I prefer so as not to be ridiculed…that gordita is an affectionate term, not a way to tell someone she is fat (sorry Kike. You can call me that if you like)…so much Spanish slang that I can identify my students really well…to finally use MSN messenger…to kind of cook without an oven (thankfully Kike has one so I can bake!)…to do less planning and more experiencing…that quiet time is enjoyable

I’ve learned to love…
…seafood, even order it for myself!…even the most annoying habits of Spanish people…things with kethcup flavor, ali-oli flavor, brava flavor, mojo picon flavor…seeing patas de jamón hanging from the ceiling in bars…Cruzcampo and its lack of flavor…flamenco and bullfighting…riding public transportation…making a fool of myself…the language mishaps that end up making everyone laugh…coffee I actually like, accompanied with fresh orange juice

I’ve experienced…
…what it feels like to have fulfillment from a job…the ups and downs of a serious relationship…how hard it is to leave something or someone, even when it’s the best decesion…culture shock…six other distinctive cultures outside of Spain and countless inside…how the Spaniards REALLY party

I’ll miss…
…6% IVA incluida…having Kate right next door…tapas and other Spanish food…olive oil soaked everything…walking instead of driving…free shrimp with every beer at La Grande…the crazy Spanish adverts…seeing my kids and coworkers, especially Emilio from Consejeria…sitting by the river on a nice day…things that only come with living in Spain, like seeing cars get hit and no one doing anything about it…thinking things are so out of the ordinary but then realizing it’s just Spain and the way they do it here…hearing Spanish music on the radio…driving around in The Lame and the Furious and navigating the streets of Seville by myself…Puente Triana lit up at night

I’ll not miss…
…doog poop in front of my door…the smell of some people here…having to get dressed up to go to the supermarket…the sound of the bombona man waking me up at 9am on the weekends…sweating my brains out…tourists in the center…how slow the buses move…

What I think will be hardest to adjust to is the schedule I’ll have. I love being able to take a siesta during the hottest part of the day, offering all my shrimp heads to David and eating dinner outside when the day finally cools off. I’ve made more friends than I’d expected to and become more Spanish because of it. Things didn’t always work out the way I planned them (ahem, We Love Spain), but I hardly ever think of the bad things anymore. I’d say I was happy about 90% of the time. But then again, who can complain about a schedule that allows for naps, beers every night and traveling on the weekends? I am happier every single day that the Junta is allowing me to do the same thing next year in the same place – travel more, work with my kids, attempt to become more Spanish and escape from the working world for nine more months.

So, I expect to be home Tuesday the 10th about 2:20 pm CST. Then it’s back to work for three straight months in two jobs to make as much money as possible and to distract myself from the fact that I’m no longer in Spain.

Filed Under: la vida loca, living abroad, moving abroad ·

Reflections halfway through Teaching

February 17, 2008 by · Leave a Comment

I hate the feeling I get when something is ending. It’s a rushed, frantic, neurotic feeling like I have to do EVERYTHING all at once. The only problem is that I’ve got 3.5 months. And most likely the summer (my parents are very pro-don’t-work-this-summer-and-we’ll-help-you-out-if-you-need-it), and all of next year. But it’s strange how I’ve really been getting the ganas to travel and get out of Sevilla. Even if it’s just for a day trip (the Monteros ruined my plans for a quick jaunt to Jerez to go to some bodegas and castles). I’m planning to get up to Salamanca and Valladolid with Kike to visit his former town and mine, then I’ll be in Germany for a few days to visit Eva, and I’ve got plans with Kate and Christine to go to Galicia in May for three days. But, I’ve been a crazy person dicking around on travel sites trying to figure out how to get to Amsterdam, Switzerland, Prague, Vienna and up to London to visit my cousin. I’m on country #18 of 25, and I’ve still got 2 1/2 years!

I read a friend’s  blog, which had a recent update on Americanism. I have to admit, I feel really Spanish. I would choose shrimp and carne a la brasa over chicken fingers any day here. I relish in my midday siesta, and I stay as far away from Calle Betis as I can. It’s not that I don’t like other Americans. I just feel that I need to use this time to experience Spain. My whole weekend, I was with Spaniards – not to mention pretty much the only chick, which was actually fun. It gives me the chance to practice my Spanish and go to really great bars that aren’t in guidebooks. When I studied in Vdoid, I felt immersed in the culture because I lived with a family and Vdoid isn’t exactly a tourist draw. But being in Sevilla and having Spanish friends and looking forward to doing Spanish things has made me really love everything about the culture and the people and the language and the food. I went to McDonalds once with Eva, and Fridays once upon Kike’s request. I’m trying really hard to get into Spanish tv, like the dance program Fama. I’ve got my traje de flamenco and complementos. More importantly, I’ve got Spanish friends, which erases some qualms I had about living here next year. Which I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing.

So, America, you can’t have me back until June of 2009. Sorry.

Filed Under: Auxiliar Program, Auxiliares Norteamericanos, living abroad ·

Wonderment

November 15, 2007 by · Leave a Comment

Melissa tells me I know the city better than she does after just a few weeks, but I really enjoy just walking and listening to the sound of Spanish on the streets and kind of laughing to myself about the tourists with their maps out, trying to find their way around Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quarter. Yesterday, I was out doing a route for my new job at We Love Spain, a company that provides cultural interaction activities, excursions and parties for tourists and study abroad students. It was nearing dusk, so the sun was blinding. I had to find two language schools that are kind of wedged between Los Jardines del Alcázar and the rest of the barrio. It’s got narrow, winding streets and it’s easy to get lost because of all the small alleyways (hence mine and Helen’s hour-long trip to find a museum a few months ago!). I am happy to say I have a great sense of direction, but just finding little plazas and fountains and small restaurants is something I can’t get sick of. The streets were built to hide the sun, so they’re shady and breezing and wonderously beautiful. I have a job where I just get to walk around and talk to people, and get free excursions. That almost makes up for only getting 100 euro a month!

There are some things, like Santa Cruz, I won’t get sick of. Like the way people live on the streets. Or the shoes stores. Or bodegas that are gritty and crowded. Or hearing the flamenco school down the street clapping and singing. Or getting standing ovations from my students. Or how beautiful the countryside is when you’re riding the bus and the sun comes up. Or how fresh goat’s cheese can taste. Or the sound of the semana santa bands playing near the river. Or the sunset over the river, for that matter. Or how good I feel after spinning class, drenched in sweat and barely able to walk. Or seeing someone I know on the street in an enormous city. Or finding the old ramparts when you’re drunk and you run up and take pictures. Or having someone ask you for directions in Spanish. Or a really good tinto de verano. Or finding cheap plane fares. Or the way Nieves laughs and her whole body shakes because she’s really laughing. Or going out with coworkers and having a coffee and not paying. I could seriously go on forever. There’s a lot of things I like about Chicago, but being here makes everything so new and different and interesting.
After some time, people and things start to wear on me. I was willing to scratch my eyes out if I didn’t leave Iowa City any sooner. I had to wait 12 days to graduate and leave. When I’m back in Wheaton for more than a few days, I’m ready to head back to Iowa City. It’s a very strange paradox. I’ve been here in Spain for two months already, and I seem to just be wandering around in amazement that I could be fortunate enough to live in a city that’s centuries old and that is more and more beautiful every day. I’m already anticipating SEVERE reverse culture shock when I get back to the States (that is, if I ever get back…)

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, El Centro, guiri atope, living abroad ·

me encanta

October 30, 2007 by · Leave a Comment

I am really, really happy. Things are starting to fall into place…Melissa and I may venture into a tutoring business together under her uncle’s English study school, I have made it past the first round (somehow) to volunteer for the Asociación Contra el Cáncer de Sevilla and am now working on scheduling an interview with a psychologist, I have gotten an email back about working as a PR intern for a company called http://welovespain.net/, and I’ve had plenty published by Cafe Abroad. I’m getting along with Melissa when she’s actually here. She makes me speak in Spanish, but we often cook together and just spend a lot of time talking. I’ll miss Eva when she goes, but I’m excited to meet another person and speak lots and lots of Spanish.

My job is going well. The kids are little snots and my lessons are often too difficult for them, but they get really excited to see me. They always ask if I’ve brought my American dollar or more pictures. One little boy in my 1ºESO class brought in his new backpack to show me yesterday. It was black, red and has a Chicago Bulls emblem! I was super excited. The teachers are all really fantastic and have been giving me great advice, and they’re eager to practice their English (though I really need to work on my Spanish!). Today we’ve got a Halloween party in the gym that’s a fundraiser for the greek and latin students so they may go to Greece. Perhaps they need a chaperone?

Thursday I joined the other auxiliares at La Carbonería, a really popular tourist bar for good reason – there’s free flamenco every weeknight and the tourists are often the ones getting up and partaking! I wasn’t in the mood to drink, as I had to work the next morning, but the bar was really cool. The first room, where the flamenco is held, is like a rustic cabin with a huge fireplace and a piano. The following is partly outdoors with long wooden benches and a bar that seriously offered anything you could think of. The outdoor patio, where we sat, was covered by ivy and palm trees and had plenty of room for all 10 of us. It was great listening to the drunk boys behind us singing the alcohol song and some crazy bachlorette party. Naturally, Kelly and I ambled home at about 3:30 am. The bars here are just so different – much more relaxed and cheaper and just a better time. Maybe it’s like Acapulco – I hate dance clubs, but it was something I wasn’t used to at home, so I always wanted to go out.

My plans to see my friends in Huelva fell through, as Jessi was sick, but I dragged Eva out with me to Alameda on Saturday. The girl told me she’d had two beers and three tinto de veranos the entire time she’d been here. Cómo? I could easily put that away in like half a night. I took her to Alameda, which is the bohemian part of town, full of dive bars and crazy characters and a ton of fun. We found a place where the beer was cheapest and the clientele the strangest. Dogs were wandering in and out of the place, which was so blinding from the lights reflecting off the while tile around the bar and on the walls. We were going to go home since Eva was tired, but it was only 12:30, or 11:30 with daylight savings time, so I convinced her to have one more up the street at Naima Jazz Cafe, a small bar with live music and cheap beer.

It was easier to walk rather than take the night bus back to Ronda de Triana, but we were intercepted near the bus station by a group of people who were looking for our neighborhood. I told them we could walk with them in the direction, but we somehow walked all the way to a famous bar on Calle Betis called Lo Nuestro. Like Carbonería, this bar is mentioned in a ton of travel guides because this is where the locals go to dance sevillanas, a dance that originated here in Seville. It’s kind of like flamenco but not so moody. As Eva drank a coke paid for by our new pals, one of the women tried to teach me how to dance like a local, but I looked so foolish. The energy in the bar was phenomenal, though. As the group, all engineers from the same firm in Pamplona working on a presentation down here, left, Eva told them we were leaving and they convinced us to have one more at Al Alba. One more turned into like 5 more, as we stayed until they kicked us out. I was so eager to meet people and speak Spanish, and I did. I think Eva had a good night, too. It’s not often I can speak in Spanish 100% without reverting back to English when I need to, and having a little liquid confidence didn’t hurt, either. One of the boys told me two of his friends though I was pretty, but one was a mute nerdy dude whose name I don;t even know, and the other was a 40 year old. Mmmm no thanks. We ventured to Buddha del Mar, but it was dead and not exciting. Eva told me she needs to go out more, and I said I did, too.

Sooooo life is good. My crush from Huelva who goes to school here remembered (or perhaps found the slip of paper) about cafe abroad and has sent me an email, so maybe I can hang out with him. Tonight we have a Halloween party at IES Heliche, then I teach two hours tomorrow, going out with the other auxiliares for Halloween, then it’s time to visit Brian and Matt in Ireland! I’ll be in Dublin for a night, Galway for a night, then travel back to Dublin by bus overnight to take my flight back home early.

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Filed Under: expat life, living abroad, Seville ·
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