La Alhambra, as seen from Mirador San Nícolas

Palacio de Carlos V

River along main Road in El Albayzin

View of Granada from La Alhambra

Granada

 Last weekend, I took my first trip outside of Madrid to Granada. After a five-hour bus ride directly south from Madrid, I arrived at Granada at 7 PM (or 19, as it is here.) It was somewhat humorous as the day I was on the bus was Thanksgiving in the states. I stayed at the same hostel in Granada as the one I stayed at when I first arrived in Madrid, Hostel One. I figured that since I had such a positive experience in the Madrid Hostel One, I'd give the one in Granada a go.

The first night I was at the hostel, it was a ghost town: me, my Australian roommate, and two Canadian girls were the only four people staying there that night. Needless to say, the first night wasn't real busy, I just got acclimated to my surroundings, did a little walking around, then hit the hay.

The next day, I went to La Alhambra, a famous Islamic palace in Granada. The palace was beautiful, both the architecture and intricacy of the buildings and towers as well as the gardens interspersed throughout. One of my favorite parts of Alhambra was Palacio de Carlos V, the emperor's summer home. When I went inside, I was standing in the middle of a huge, stone circular structure with no ceiling (what I imagine a bull-fighting ring would look like.) The Nasrid Palace also had amazing architecture. The views from the palace were astounding as well, looking out over much of the city of Granada.

The next day, I went to El Albayzin, a mountainous area of Granada that is very hilly and runs perpendicular to La Alhambra, so has great views of the palace. To be honest, I enjoyed Albayzin more than Alhambra. At the very top of the hill was a lookout point named after San Nicolas (Mirador de San Nicolas.) Although the trek up to this lookout point was steep and very windy, the spectacular view was totally worth it. I spent at least 2 hours admiring the amazing view and exploring what was around the plaza. Eventually, I got lunch at a cafe nearby and sat on the wall overlooking Albayzin, Granada, and La Alhambra. Throughout Albayzin, the moorish influence on the small town was omnipresent.

That Saturday night, there were a lot more people at the hostel. Thus, we all went out to a local bar and got tapas. I had always known that Spain was famous for its tapas but, up until this point, I honestly didn't see what was so amazing about these little dishes; you put one type of food on top of another, serve it in small portions, and it's a tapa... okay. Not until I was in Granada did I truly grasp the concept of tapas. In Madrid, I'd always had to pay for the tapas. However, in Granada, the tapas come along with any drink ordered. It didn't even have to be an alcoholic drink: as long as you ordered a drink, a tapa came along with it... with no extra charge! These were legitimate tapas too- octopus, french fries with sauce dabbled on top, croquetas (croquettes), etc... Only when I came back to Madrid last Sunday did a friend take me to a bar where free tapas were served along with a drink.

One more experience of note while I was in Granada occurred on the way to Albayzin walking through an open-air market. I noticed a fair amount of people gathered around a board, many signing and writing messages on the board. I got closer, read some of the messages people had written, and saw that is was an anti-domestic violence campaign. The people running the campaign saw me and proffered me a pen. I took the pen and wrote something in Spanish along the lines of “we cannot put up with any type of violence, especially domestic violence.” After I'd finished writing, a worker handed me a shirt and pen with the insignia of the cause written on both. The shirt is black with a palm on the front (stop signal), across it is written “no a la violencia de genero.” The woman also pinned a little purple bow to my jacket, showing I'd supported the cause. It really doesn't sound like much now that I write it out but it felt great to show my support of a cause in another country in a foreign language. I left Granada on Sunday and started teaching again the next day.

On a similar note, I have now reached the 20 hours necessary to receive my TEFL certificate. I've passed the theory, children, and business courses as well as written a reflection paper towards the end. Now that the 20 hours are complete, the 20 lesson plans just have to be approved by someone at TEFL then I will be eligible to receive the certificate. Wednesday was the last lesson with my adult student. I will have one more lesson each with my four children students next week.

I leave for Barcelona on Saturday, December 8^th and then will continue on to Paris on the 13^th, travel through Italy around the 19^th and then come back to Madrid on the 28^th so that I can spend New Years with friends I've made here. I look forward to completing my last classes and further exploring Spain outside of Madrid.   

Powerful Sign

Left: My dad went to work so as to not lose his job.

Right: My dad didn't go to work so as not to lose his dignity.


A sign hanging in Puerta del Sol.  As Fernando explained to me, if a worker went on strike, he didn't get paid and it took a day off his vacation days.  On the other hand, each individual guild encouraged the workers to go on strike so as not to "lose their dignity"

Graffiti after Paro General that speaks for itself (can't read what it says below)

Museums, Open-Air Markets, and More

 Last Friday, I went with Andrea to see “Skyfall”, the newest James Bond movie. It was dubbed in Spanish so I had to pay real close attention the entire time to follow the plot line. I actually was able to follow a fair amount of the movie. There were points when I was a bit confused but, overall, it was a success. Javier Bardem was amazing as the villain!

The grading system in Spain is so different than it is in the states. Here, the lowest passing grade is a 50 (out of 100)! At first when we were doing evaluations for the observed classes of our peers in the TEFL program, I felt odd putting, say, a “six” for one of the criteria- in the US, that would be failing!

Last weekend I went to el Museo Reina Sofia, one of the three famous museums in Madrid (along with the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza.) I got there around six and, once again, the museum entry was free. The museum itself is huge: I got lost multiple times going through its huge arches and rooms. “Guernica” by Picasso is housed in the museum as well as various paintings by Salvador Dahlí. Standing in front of such a famous painting was incredible; I've seen Guernica in movies and ads as well as on postcards but seeing it with my own eyes was great. Unfortunately, you were not allowed to take photos of it, but at the least I'll have the memory of seeing this beautiful piece of art in person.

In another room were pictures of military dictatorships throughout Central and South America and Spain: Perú, Argentina, Chile, Spain, and a couple others. I was particularly drawn to this room given that I wrote my thesis on the desaparecidos (“disappeared ones”) in Argentina during the military dictatorship. In this exhibit, I saw signs of many of the topics I wrote about. Most prominent were pictures of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo holding signs, pictures of their loved one's faces emblazoned on the surface. In the same room were photos recreating the repression in all these dictatorships: naked bodies piled on top of each other in every which way, another of four naked people with their back towards the photographer, palms against the wall as if the individuals are being held up. For those who know Spanish and are interested, here's an article on the exhibit:

http://vozpopuli.com/impresion/16229-el-reina-sofia-exhibe-600-obras-de-arte-contra-la-represion-en-america-latina/tipo-Noticia

The other day, I went to a pub with Andrea and Andres (flatmates) to meet up with some friends of Andrea. Some of them were from Spain, others from Portugal, a few from Mexico. We were chatting in an area towards the back when a man came in and started talking to all of us. He had this little toy where you fold it one way and another and it ends up looking exactly like it did before it was folded at all. I'd never experienced these solicitations of people selling random stuff in privately owned restaurants. Rather, it happened all the time in Argentina but this was the first time I'd seen it in Spain. After he left, everyone there noted that he was from Argentina! It's weird that I didn't pick up on the accent, especially given that it's so distinct.

Many of the students I've met through Andrea are here on an Erasmus scholarship. From what I understand, Erasmus is a program in all EU countries that sends college students to other countries within the EU. I suppose it makes sense that such a program doesn't exist in North America as the majority of the citizens speak English. In any case, it seems like an amazing way to gain more intercultural understanding.

Last week, I met with Lawrence, a friend of a friend back in the USA. At this point, Lawrence has lived here fourteen years and now works doing translations between Spanish and English. When we met for coffee, he kept telling me how there's a better quality of life here. One aspect of Spanish life he mentioned which I found particularly interesting was Spain's notion of citizenship. He explained that, if an individual is in the country for more than... I think it was 5 years, the Spanish government embraces that individual and will grant him citizenship. I'm sure it's not quite that simple but that's the gist. Quite different than immigration reform and the continuous debate surrounding the issue in the USA, where officials will deport “illegal aliens”, as it were, in a heartbeat.

There's a famous open-air market every Sunday called “El Rastro” in La Latina, the neighborhood where my flat is located. I've gone the past two Sundays with some friends and it's really cool. Both Sundays we've gotten there towards the end so the stands were closing up. However, the tostas in this one particular shop are definitely worth has slipped my mind. Regardless, the line is always out the door. Although it is a housed restaurant, it is only open when the Rastro's going on. Tostas are essentially bread with various toppings: anchovies, brie cheese, jam, meat, whipped cream, the list goes on. Both times I've gotten a tosta with brie cheese and homemade jam- SO good! Perhaps I'll branch out and try something else soon (to be fair, this is made somewhat harder given I don't eat red meat.)

On Tuesdays, I teach two siblings, one ten, the other fourteen. The lesson is an hour total, I see each for half an hour. I make two lesson plans as a four year gap makes quite the difference in terms of EFL classes. This past Tuesday, while in the middle of teaching the ten year old brother, his mom came in and told me that the older sister was speaking with a teacher at school. Thus, I would be spending the whole hour with Agustín. In the TEFL course, they taught us to always prepare extra material in case the lesson goes faster than anticipated. Luckily, I did bring extra material... but not enough for half an hour! Another tip I got from the TEFL class was to always “milk” an exercise—approach it from all angles (speaking, reading, writing, listening) so as to maximize it's use. Luckily, I was able to fill the 30 minutes.

Last weekend, I went to a discoteca, the first I've been to here in Spain. The discoteca was called “Joy” and it was actually pretty cool. It was essentially the same as the boliches I went to in Argentina: a raised platform with a DJ, huge crowd on the floor dancing or mingling about, a bar towards the entrance... Just as in the states, girls got in for free while guys paid a cover. As in Argentina, much of the music played was pop songs from the USA.

This past Wednesday there was a huge paro general not only throughout Spain but in Portugal and Greece as well (the countries in which the economic crisis is the worst.) The paro on the metro system about a month ago was nothing compared to the one yesterday: the majority of shops were closed, metros ran every half hour and many people were marching at various points during the day.

I didn't actively march, however I did see the effects of the manifestaciones afterwards: beside each ATM, people had written such words as “culpables” (“guilty”) or “asesinos” (“assassins”). In a particularly powerful piece of graffiti, someone had drawn a stick figure hanging on a noose. I also noticed the effects of the demonstrations when riding the metro: people were should to shoulder. To give you a sense of how packed it was: usually there's always a rail within reach for people to hold onto if standing. Yesterday, however, I had to push the palm of my hand against the roof of the car in order to stabilize myself, since all the handles were out of reach. I watched the news later that night and it showed huge crowds of people congregating in an area I had walked through earlier that afternoon.

A new flatmate moved in earlier this week. Her name's Maria and she's from California as well- small world, indeed. She's here on the auxiliares program, an arrangement between the US government and that of Spain to have native English speakers from the US come to Spain and help in English classrooms. She seems really nice and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.

At this point, I have taught a total of 15 hours with my three clients out of the required 20. I have three lessons next week and then four the next week, so I'll be finished by the end of the month. I'm taking a long weekend next weekend to visit Granada, Spain. Granada is famous for “La Alhambra”, an Islamic palace built in the mid-10^th century. I'll be leaving Madrid this coming Thursday (no clients on Friday), returning Sunday afternoon. No doubt I will have much to say about the palace upon returning as well as a handful of photos.

Salem or Madrid?

 Soon after my last post, there was a subway paro. Although, the strikes here are much different than those I've experienced in the states. For example, I remember when the supermarket cashiers in LA went on strike, strikebreakers came in so that the markets could continue to operate. Also, the strike occurred for several weeks. With these subway strikes, it only happened during peak hours and only on certain days: it was only one the Monday and Friday of last week and the same two daysthe week before that. So the metros still run, just less frequently- every 20 minutes as opposed to every five minutes. Believe me, it makes a difference. One friend who's been here longer than I have told me that, during a previous paro on the metro, she was shoved off the metro car due to lack of space! Luckily, nothing that crazy happened to me. I have a client on Mondays from 6-7, the paro didn't stop until 8, so I had the good fortune of experiencing it right at its peak.

The metro continues to be my primary transportation. The whole system is second nature to me now. One point worth mentioning: the larger subway stops are so intricate. To transfer at “Cuatro Caminos”, for example, I spent 10 minutes going up a stairwell to then walk three minutes down a hallway just to take two escalators down, followed by another walk (some subway stops have people movers), went up again, etc... It made me wonder about the team of architects who created this whole maze. It would be amazing if, someday, Los Angeles could get on this metro bandwagon and have a functioning system, not only in downtown and Hollywood, but through all neighborhoods of the city.

When buying a ticket for the metro, you can either just get a one way ticket, a ticket with ten trips for twelve euros ($15.50), or an abono mensual (essentially a monthly pass for as many metro rides as you like.) However, these passes are not that easy to come by. To make things even more difficult, the metro system was in the middle of changing the entire abono process when I began my quest to get one about a month ago. Before, the old abono ended when the calendar month ended, regardless of the date it was purchased. Now that the change is being implemented, the abono mensual runs out a month from the date you buy it.

In any case, everyone was telling me I just had to go into any estanco shop (estanco= “tobacco”, these little shops are on every block in Madrid.) I went into multiple estancos, however, as Madrid was in the midst of changing the abono, they all gave me a number to call to set up an appointment to go and get the abono. I called the number twice, both times the person on the other end hung up on me.

Eventually, I went to an estanco and the woman behind the counter kindly called the number for me and helped me set up and appointment. Thus, last Thursday, I went to the Moncloa subway stop and met with a representative from the company who sells the cards. Finally, after multiple phone calls, a couple of pieces of paper with the same number on it, and persistence, I successfully got the abono.

Rewind to when I first mentioned the tobacco shops: smoking is so prevalent in Madrid, I would say equal if not more prevalent than in Argentina. While the woman at the estanco was helping me make the calls, people continually poured in to buy a new pack of cigarettes or some other form of tobacco. I noticed that, on the lid of each cigarette pack, was a warning: “perjudicial a su salúd” (harmful to your health.) Not to be deterred, a steady stream of people continued to come in and out of the tobacco shop.

Another reflection on living in Argentina versus living in Spain: you can drink the tap water here. In Argentina, my host mother Ana had a water filter in the house and made sure I always used that water. There was also a gallon of purified water every day at my school in Argentina. On the other hand, I can go into any restaurant here with an empty water bottle and ask for “agua del grifo, por favor” (“tap water, please”).

Finally, I've noticed more language differences between the Castellano spoken in Argentina versus that spoken in Spain. In Argentina, “che” is a very common word used when speaking with friends or when joking. Here in Spain, “hombre” (literally, “man”) is used instead. In addition, Argentines say someone is “de buena honda” if he's an all around great guy. In Spain, they say “majo,-a” instead.

It's beginning to get really chilly here. I woke up the other morning to take a look at the weather on my phone: 0 degrees celsius (32 fahrenheit.) It's warmed up a little since then but I was talking to my roommate who's from Spain, he said this weather will last until at least early January.

About a week ago, I finished my washer cycle and, as we don't have a drying machine, hung out the laundry to dry on the clothesline outside. It had been drizzling a tiny bit earlier in the day but had finished when I was hanging my clothes towards late afternoon. The weather was great for the rest of the day. I woke up the next morning, however, and it was pouring! There was really nothing I could do at that point, as my clothes were soaking wet on the clothesline, so I went to a nearby store and bought a tendedero (indoor clothesline.) Later that day, the rain stopped and I was able to put my damp clothes on the tendedero. Of course, there's not enough space in my room to put the indoor clothesline, so I have to leave it in the common area. Luckily there are only guys in my flat...

On certain days, the rain has been really heavy. Earlier this week, I left my flat in the morning with a light drizzle outside. As it wasn't pouring, I figured a raincoat would be fine. After all, I did go to school in Salem for four years! What I forgot to think of was that, while at Willamette I would only be walking 5 minutes from the University Apartments to Ford Hall, here I'm walking from the metro stop to the client's household... which is not always that close. I had a client that afternoon and, on the original sheet I'd gotten with their information, it said I could get off the gray line at Legazpi or the orange line at Delicias. Prior to that day, I'd always taken the orange line to Delicias. This day, however, I figured I'd mix things up a bit, try the other route. How bad can it be?

Long story short, I ended up walking around in the rain for half an hour, trying to find where the actual street was (remember, I was coming from another station). Eventually, since my shoes had long since soaked through and the jacket sleeves below my raincoat were starting to get wet, I hailed a cab to take me to the correct address.

About a week ago, I was walking down to exit our building and heard shouts, occasional horns, and the like, outside. I asked the doorman what was going on, he informed me that there was a fútbol game between Spain and Portugal later that night, so the Portuguese team and fans were marching towards the fútbol stadium, a pep rally of sorts. Although, it was more than just a march- there were police escorts at both ends to ensure it didn't get out of hand.

Recently, I went to Palacio Real (Royal Palace) with my flat mate Luis. El Palacio Real is the official residence of the Royal Family but, nowadays, it is mostly a museum, the Royal Family opting to live in a suburb of Madrid. The palace had amazingly beautiful architecture and you could go into many of the rooms of the palace, a brief description of what that room served as in each one. In another part of the palace was tons of armor that the Spanish army used from the 1400's onward. The designs on the shields and armor were so intricate. There was even armor on display for the horses ridden in the wars, also very intricate. Luis and I got to the palace with an hour left to spare until closing time so, unfortunately, we had to take a quick tour through the rooms. Nevertheless, it was definitely worth seeing, a brief insight into the history of Spain.

Last Friday, I went with my Italian flatmate Andrea to a pub where we met some of his Italian friends. Although there were not only Italians; there were two women from Mexico who met us there as well as some Parisians. I was struck by the plethora of languages being spoken; although I don't speak or understand Italian or French, this melting pot of languages all being spoken at the same time interchangeably by one large group of people was great.

The next day, I met a friend on Calle Gran Via who I'd met at the hostel I stayed at when I first arrived. As I was walking towards our meeting point, I began to hear drums banging and bunch of commotion.  Approaching Gran Via, I saw that police cars were leading and bringing up the rear of a protest against the current economic crisis in Spain. The protesters took up two solid blocks and, as I walked along Gran Via, I saw that certain perpendicular streets were closed and policemen were directing traffic. The protest definitely made it a bit more difficult to find my friend but we did eventually find each other and headed off.

That night, I went to Mercado San Miguel with the same friend. This market is famous in Madrid for its good food and amazing architecture. It's an outdoor market housed in a see through structure with many little stands to get paella, ice cream, tapas, and really anything else you can imagine. The market has a few tables but people tend to just stand around the perimeter and enjoy their meals or snacks. In fact, this seemed to be part of the charm of Mercado San Miguel. The paella I ate there was great, I hope to go back at least once more before leaving Madrid.

Daylight savings happened last weekend as well. Thus, it now gets dark a little after six PM. The four children I teach all have their lessons in the late afternoon, so it's now dark when I get out.

As I've been walking around the streets of Madrid, I have seen many shops with a big sign saying “Museo del jamón” (literally, “museum of ham”). When you walk in, there are at least twenty dead pigs just hanging from the ceiling. As I don't eat red meat, I find the sight quite disturbing, smell's pretty bad too. As one of my flatmates explained to me, the waiters simply have to cut a slab of the animal off any of those hanging from the ceiling and serve it up. You can get food other than ham there but it is quite the sight to see all these dead animals just hanging above the customer's heads.

I have one new client since the last post who I've now seen twice. Her name's Cristina and she is 32 years old. She works for a consulting firm here and has an intermediate level of English but wants to better it for work purposes. At this point, I'm tutoring four children (only two lessons- the kids are paired up with a friend or sibling) and Cristina but hope to pick up at least one more client.

Halloween is not celebrated here to the extent it is in the USA. Only as it got dark did I see some people dressed up. I did see a fair amount of costumes on the subway when I got on around 11 PM. I ended up going to an Irish pub where one of my friends from the TEFL program works. The bar was all decked out with rubber bats, cobwebs, and the like, many of the patrons dressed up.

Although, yesterday was a Federal holiday in Spain, All Saints Day. Since it fell on a Thursday, Spaniards take today off as well. When a holiday falls on either a Tuesday or Thursday, Spain takes this puente (literally, “bridge”). Rather, the holiday is on that Tuesday or Thursday but then the Monday or Friday is taken off in addition, thus acting as a bridge between the holiday and the weekend.

That's it for now, Madrid continues to be amazing, I will write when I next get the chance.   

Bird's eye view

Overlooking Calle Toledo from my balcony

Puerto de Toledo

TEFL Classes Done!

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted! My TEFL classes ended yesterday so now I'll have more time to post on the blog. The classes were really intense; the format changed a bit for the last two weeks. The class was divided into two groups these past two weeks, one group had teaching children EFL Monday & Wednesday, teaching business EFL classes Tuesday & Thursday. Then last Friday and yesterday, we had “observed” classes (the one on one class I mentioned in the previous post.)

In the first class last Friday, I taught Rafael (the student our group was teaching) about technology slang in the USA because he works in IT. The first class last week was a bit rocky, yesterday I did speaking and listening, focusing on phrasal verbs in an article about the recent release of the iPhone 5. It did strike me during the first lesson a week ago that Rafa (as he prefers to be called) knew about the first presidentialdebate and even Joe Biden by name.

In any case, now TEFL is over and I can focus solely on teaching English and exploring Spain (outside of Madrid as well.) I had my first tutoring session this past Monday with Beatriz and Irene, two 5 and 6 year old girls. I taught for an hour and focused on colors, the alphabet, and numbers through 12. For children this age, one really just teaches or helps with vocabulary and repetition. So, for example, next class I'll start with a brief review of trouble points (the letters were the hardest for them) and then go into farm animals (or any other broad category such as that.)

I also have two siblings named Elisa and Agustín. Elisa is fourteen, Agustín is ten. I'm seeing them for an hour block, half an hour for each. It will be interesting to see what it's like to teach kindergartners (who mostly do what they're asked) as opposed to teenagers who are more analytical and rebellious. As of now, I'm thinking I'll play “Losing My Religion” by REM for Elisa and talk about that for a bit, ask about her favorite music, and just generally learn about her likes and dislikes. I will do something similar with Agustín except without a music video, probably will throw in basic emotions as well. I'm a bit nervous- what do you teach in 30 minutes? When I had the lesson with Beatriz and Irene, the time seemed to fly by... and that was an hour!

In other news: I found a flat! It's a great location- right between two metro stations and located in La Latina. Further, I have a little balcony that faces Calle Toledo, one of the bigger streets in La Latina. I look over a market called “La Paloma” (The Dove). It's not so much a market as a collection of vendors with their own little stands, all selling different foods; there's the vegetable and fruit stand, a couple meat stands, etc...

The bed in my room's a little small... in fact, my feet touch the end and hang off the edge if I'm on my back but it's not too bad. There's a public library right down the street and beautiful sculptures, especially the arch for Puerto de Toledo; there's a roundabout right near the metro station and in the middle a huge stone arch. I have three roommates: Andrea, Andres, and Luis. They're all guys and are from Italy, Colombia, and Spain, respectively. They're all really nice and it's great because the only language we have in common is Spanish!

There are a couple noteworthy points about the apartment. Firs of all, the shower is located in the corner of the bathroom and has a curtain that goes around... one side. So there's still one side of the shower that's exposed and open. Luckily the spigot is handheld so I can take it down and just make sure that I don't point it in the direction of the exposed part. Nevertheless, it struck me as odd when I first moved in.

The oven is ancient! Alright, maybe it's just a difference between technology in the USA vs. that in Spain. First, you turn a metallic switch on the wall so that it's perpendicular to the floor. Then, you light a match and turn on the gas. At that point, you put the match near the circular portion on the oven where the fire comes out and it lights. Fernando, the person I'm renting from, explained this to me all in Spanish towards the beginning... but I still had a bit of trouble the first time I tried it. At this point, I'm completely used to it but it took a couple explanations.

Finally, the washer in the apartment is insanely small. I had one week's worth of dirty clothes and had to do two loads because it didn't all fit in one. Words can't describe the tiny size of this washer but, take my word, it's really small. There's no drier so we have a clothesline outside and the clothes are dry after a few days. The first time I took the clean clothes off the clothesline, my towel was stiff as can be. It had been hanging over the line for a couple days and was clean but, as there was no drying cycle, it didn't get soft again.

Last weekend, I went to a bar with Andres and met Andrea there. It was around midnight and the streets were still packed! There were even vendors selling various things with quilts laid out on the pavement. The three of us went into a packed bar and stood at the counter. Andres explained to me that I should throw my dirty napkin where the bar meets the floor when I was done with it. I looked at him with a surprised look. Then, I looked at the floor and, sure enough, napkins were all around the bar! Andres then explained to me that, in the cheaper bars in Spain, this is a sign of the bar's quality. Rather, the more dirty napkins that are crumpled on the floor, the better.

Before I found the flat, I was considering doing an exchange type program wherein you live with a local family for a minimal fee and, in turn, help the children or even the whole family with their English. I went to the office of the company that organizes it all multiple times but nothing came of it. What was my point here...? Oh yeah, I met the family that I was going to live with and walked around El Retiro park for a bit as I got to the meeting point early. El parque retiro is a famous park in Madrid. It is enormous and has beautiful statues and scenery. I have yet to spend a prolonged period of time there but, nevertheless, it was great to get a little taste of it.

About a month ago when I was still at the hostel, I paid a little visit to the hospital (don't worry, everything is completely fine.) I had fallen over uneven pavement while crossing the street and saw that my jeans were ripped and there was a pretty sizable cut on my left knee. Despite applying constant pressure, cleaning it, etc..., the cut would still not close. Just to be safe, I went to the ER... in another country, where another language is spoken. The woman at the reception desk was speaking a mile a minute and I had to ask her multiple times to speak slower. Luckily, the nurse who saw me spoke English. They didn't have to stitch it up, just put some cleansing lotion on it and gave me discharge instructions.

A bit of levity for a change of pace: Back when I was at the hostel, I ordered a banana smoothie at an ice cream place.

“Me gustaría un licuado de banana, por favor”, I said, as I'd said many times in Argentina. The man behind the counter here in spain looked at me with a blank look on his face. “Algo que bebe que está hecho de helado”, I attempted to clarify.

“Oh, un batido de plátano, vale”, he said. Yet another difference between Argentine Spanish and the Spanish spoken in Spain.

While walking around La Latina on my apartment search, I stopped for lunch and ordered Gazpacho, a cold, tomato soup famous in Spain. Some people love it but, I wasn't a big fan. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful- I'd probably order it again if I wanted a little bite- but it definitely didn't live up to what everyone had said.

On the topic of food: while still on the search for a room, I came across an Argentine restaurant! They had all kinds of empanadas, dulce de leche, everything. Clearly I stopped and the empanadas were good... but nothing compared to the ORIGINAL empanadas in Argentina.

Two Friday's ago, many students from my TEFL program met up at a friend's house for her birthday party. It was great- the majority of the class was there. After drinking at her house for a while, we went to a karaoke bar. I found it funny that the majority of the songs were not in Spanish: someone sang to Michael Jackson's “Thriller”, another person sang “Losing My Religion” by REM.

The subway system in Madrid is amazing! At first, I would always get lost when riding it. As there's no subway system in LA (well, not really) and I was still getting used to where everything was, I found it really confusing. There are 13 different lines in the subway system here and transfers at the bigger stations. As I found out later, there's actually an application on iPhones that will plan the straightest route for you if you enter the starting and ending metro stop. Clearly that made things a lot easier.

At random points, people get on the cars and start playing the accordion and a number of other instruments. At the end of their piece, they come around and ask for money. I find the etiquette in the subway systems interesting; to get from one level to another, there's always escalators going up and down as well as a staircase in the middle. There's rarely anyone on the staircases but, on the escalators, people stand on the right side and those in a hurry can walk up the left side.

I've finally gotten used to the euro system. Although, one aspect of the monetary system here that's sort of annoying is the number of coins there are! There's coins that would be the equivalent of pennies, nickels and dimes (in terms of the number written on them.) However, there are also a 2 cent, 20 cent , 50 cent, 1 euro, and 2 euro coin. At times, my pockets are bulging with coins and I have to ruffle through all of them at the cash register to find what I'm looking for.

Addresses in Madrid are so hard to find! Various times I've been walking around looking for a specific address, having to double back as I'd missed the address when first walking by it. The addresses are not painted on curbs here as they are in the USA, more often they are printed in a tiny size and sort of hidden in a really odd space. Or, even better, they are not there at all. For example, stores tend not to have the address printed anywhere.

October 12^th is a national holiday in Spain, the Day of the Armed Forces. Talking to my roommates, I learned that there would be many planes flying over Madrid as well as a parade with soldiers marching. This year it fell on a Friday and all the stores were closed. We had TEFL classes, nevertheless. Further, we gave our first “observed teaching” class. This being the case, I didn't see either the parade or the planes.

I discovered a really good drink here in Madrid. It's called “Tinto de Verano” and is a mix of red wine and lemon juice. Translated, it would be “red summer.” I'm not the biggest fan of red wine as I find it really strong. However, the lemon juice dilutes the acquired taste of red wine and makes it more palatable for me.

I went to a Pilates class on Thursday located two floors below my apartment. I was sure to tell the teacher that I have some limitations due to my back but that I wanted to give it a shot. The teacher asked that I set my mat up towards the front so that he could keep an eye on the positions and make sure they were alright for my back. Halfway through the hour class, I realized his observations of what I was doing were different than what I knew I could and could not do. Rather, I know that I can't do certain positions so I have to modify them. From his point of view, he probably thought I misunderstood what he said to the rest of the class given the certain language barriers between us. Thus, at points he came over and altered what I was doing. I was sure to tell him “no puedo hacer esto” to ensure that he knew that I did understand, it was just a question of physical limitations.

When the class ended, I asked the teacher if every class had more or less the same format.

“Oh no”, he said to me. “This was an advanced class.”

Great, I thought to myself. I had come to the Pilates class a week earlier and spoken to the owner, who suggested I come to next Thursday's class. Needless to say, there was clearly some sort of misunderstanding wherein she thought I should go directly into the advanced class.

I continue to have a great time in Spain and look forward to the two remaining months. Tutoring children is great, perhaps I will take on an adult or two as well. I also can't wait to travel around the country and see other cities.   

More Observations from Spain

     TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) classes started this past Monday. The walk from the hostel I'm currently at to the building where my TEFL classes are located is only 15 minutes, as opposed to the 45 minute walk from Ana's house to my classes in Argentina. Although, I'm moving to a home stay on Tuesday (more on that later.) The teacher, John Bousse, is really engaging, using a teaching style that captures my attention. He varies the mode of learning (group work, individual, etc...) as well as dramatizing the beginning of lessons to capture our attention. For example, he told a story of one of his teachers who rolled himself up under the desk, changed into a Superman outfit below the desk, and told the students he was about to do something the class would never forget. The teacher proceeded to “fly” around the classroom, out the door, into his car, and drove off! The students, unsure of what to do, waited a while before leaving the classroom. John made it clear that this would probably not be the best lesson plan (or lack thereof) these days, but, nevertheless, effectively captured the students' attention.

     The schedule's of the TEFL course is really rigorous. Classes start every day at 10 AM and end at 4:30, with a half hour for lunch and two fifteen minute breaks, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The first week is all TEFL theory: listening, reading, writing. Our first assignment was to prepare a ten minute presentation on any subject we wanted. Since I gave my Spanish thesis presentation just last year, I translated the material to English and presented that. It felt weird giving the same presentation in English; I felt that it should have been in Spanish since that's the language in which I first gave it.

The presentations varied so much; one was about flamenco dancing, another about the aesthetics of shoes, yet another about the vitality of the Boston Red Sox to bostonian life. The presentation styles also struck me; I had an outline to which I referred while others gave the presentation without any notes at all. I learned after that the true point of the exercise was to get a better sense of time management when teaching; always prepare extra material in case you're under time and, alternately, know which sections of the lesson plan to cut if you see you're going overtime.

     We also learned about parts of speech, sentence structure and a bunch of other grammar subjects. It's insane how much English grammar I'm unaware of; since English is my first language, I don't say to myself “oh, that's a gerund phrase!” or “that's a modal verb telling the likelihood of an event!” (must, should, etc...) Before we learned all of this material, we had an initial placement test on grammar to see were we stood before learning it... Needless to say, the results were less than ideal when I got the test back.

     We have two quizzes each day based on the two chapters of reading we've done the night before. They're really short, ten minute quizzes. On one quiz, John asked us to write whose presentation we liked the best. This struck me as a bit odd as I didn't realize we were competing against each other for the “best” presentation.

     I also found out that, at least at the start of our teaching, five TEFL classmates will sit in on our teaching sessions (student and teacher, a 1:1 ration). This I was not prepared for. I feel as though I'll get real nervous teaching with the knowledge that five or so classmates are sitting in the back, basically evaluating me!

     While waiting at O'Hare Airport in Chicago for the connector flight, I met Emily, a girl who turned out to also be going to Madrid, teaching English as well. Last Friday night, we met up at La Latina, a metro stop in Madrid, with some of her friends. We went to a bar and a dance club. Her friend was from Great Britain, also in her program. I got back to my hostel around 4:30 AM after a great night out. This aspect of life in Spain is definitely like life in Argentina: dinner is at 9:30, thriving nightlife, siesta here as well, etc...

     The other day, I was in Puerta del Sol, the center of Madrid and, alternately, of all of Spain. As I was walking back, I felt a woman take my arm and say something like “hola, quieres pasar tiempo juntos?” (“Hey, do you want to spend time together”)

I looked up and she was, indeed, a prostitute... at 3:30 PM! She was very attractive and had high heels, all made up. I politely pulled my arm away, saying “no, gracias.”

Definitely not an everyday experience! That's definitely never happened to me in the states and I found it really bold and odd that a woman (or man) would walk up to a stranger in the middle of the streets and essentially put out like that. That's prostitution for you!

     There's a really quirky and funny guy at the hostel named Luke. He started referring to me as
“Senator.” Now every time we cross paths he says something to the extent of “What's new Senator” or, in the morning, “good morning, Senator.” At another point, there was a group of us in the kitchen listening to “Hotel California” by The Eagles. “Welcome to the Hostel Malasaña” (name of the hostel I'm at), he sang.

     The Spanish here is really different than the Spanish that I spoke in Argentina. Rather, it's the same language but there are certain nuances that differ. The biggest difference is the verb conjugation for “you.” In Argentina it's “vos sos” (you are), here it's “tú eres (you are, what is used in the majority of Spanish speaking countries.)

     Along the lines of the informal “you”, it seems that Argentine's are much less formal. For example, while in Argentina everyone told me to use the informal the majority of the time. You really only use the formal if you're speaking with the mother of your girlfriend, they explained to me. Here, people tell me to use “usted” (formal version of “you”) until the person says to use the informal version. Of course, if I'm speaking Spanish to someone around my age who I've just met, I'll use “tú.” Otherwise, it seems “usted” is the more usual from.

     More specifically, I've found there are various words and expressions that differ. In Argentina, “dale” meant “given”, basically saying you agree with what is being said or even just indicating you're paying attention. Here, it's “vale.” When I was meeting with the woman to set up the home stay, I kept saying “dale.” Eventually, she said “that must be from Argentina. Se dice 'vale' aqui.” Another difference is “de buena honda” in Argentina, “majo,-a” in Spain. The two are used to refer to an all-around great guy/girl.

     Last weekend, I went to the Plaza Segundo de Mayo with some friends around 11 PM. Although I was told that drinking alcohol outdoors was illegal, there were at least ten people walking around selling beer. What's more, there was a police car on the perimeter of the plaza... and they did absolutely nothing! Needless to say, the drinking laws seem less enforced here. Along similar lines, I never get carded when I go into bars (compared to the USA, where asking for an ID is more common.)

     I went to a Real Madrid game last week. Real Madrid is the local fútbol team of Madrid and, currently, is one of the best franchises around out of all sports. I was able to buy a ticket at the stadium and kept my wits about me and, similar to when I went to a fútbol game in Argentina, the passion the crowd showed for the game was amazing. To give an idea, fútbol (soccer) is here what football is in the USA.

     I also joined a gym last week. I arrived in Spain on the 18^th and hadn't done any form of exercise since then so my lower back was getting really stiff. The rooms at the hostel are pretty small and it's a multilevel building so there's really nowhere to do it here. In any case, I got a one week membership to a gym right near my TEFL classes and it's been great to be able to do yoga there.

     A one week gym membership... seems odd, Eli- wouldn't you at least get one month? This brings us back to the home stay. I'll be moving on Tuesday to the house of a local, Spanish family. There are two parents and one daughter and, while I'm there, I'll get free room and board in exchange for help with the daughter's English homework as well as generally speaking in English with the family. The sheet says it has to be at least 3 hours of English per day which totally fits with my TEFL course, hopefully this doesn't become too much when I start teaching.

     I also bought a local, pay as you go phone here.  It'll especially come in handy if I do decide to rent a "piso" (flat) in Spain.  In addition, potential employers will call me on my local, Spanish phone.  

     Surprisingly, there are a lot of Chinese people living in Madrid. In fact, there are these little convenience stores all around the city (what were called “kioskos” in Argentina) and all that I've been to have been run by these Chinese people. The other day, when I asked the man at the front desk of the hostel where I could get dinner close by, he mentioned that the “chino” (referring to the store) sold frozen pizzas. The man at the main desk is from England and he confirmed that other Americans couldn't believe how not politically correct this was but, as he explained, it's completely normal here.

I had my first paella last Sunday- it was amazing! Paella is rice mixed with seafood, some vegetables, and some meat, very well known throughout Spain. I'd heard of Paella back in the states but never tried it here. I tried to avoid the meat but found the dish to be truly exquisite.

     Yesterday, I went to the Prado with Fernanda, a friend from the hostel. Entrance is free the last two hours on Saturdays so we went then. With only two hours, clearly there's not enough time to see the whole. It's an enormous museum and one could easily spend the whole day there. Although I didn't get to see very much, I did see the famous painting “Las Meninas” (“the maids”.) It was a really astounding painting with so much attention to detail. I hope to go back when I have more time, although there are also two more museums forming a triangle with The Prado: La Reina Sofia and El Museo Thyssen Bornesa. I've heard the Reina Sofia has more modern art, more along my type of art.

     When Fernanda and I left El Prado, there was a huge protest against the economic conditions in Spain. I stood on the steps of the museum and looked out over a sea of tiny dots, easily thousands of people packed together against the devaluation of the Euro. We were sure to go around the protest so as not to get caught in the middle but it was quite a scene!

     On a final note, I'm still getting used to the Euro. For some reason, I continue to say “peso” (from Argentina) whenever I ask someone how much something costs. The conversion rate between dollars and Euros is somewhat confusing; I've been told you just take a third of the price in Euros and add that on to the whole price to get the price in dollars, I've also been told an easier way it to divide the Euro price in half, add it to the whole price and then just subtract a bit. In any case, the conversion was SO much easier with the Argentine peso: one dollar= four pesos. Although the classes are hard and my experience in Spain is different than that in Argentina in that I'm not studying about the country here, I continue to enjoy my time in Spain and am looking forward to having a more permanent living arrangement come Tuesday.

Plaza Mayor

Statue in Plaza Mayor

Arrival in Spain

            The lights shoot on, awaking me from a deep sleep.

            “Who’s in bed 4?” a woman says.  She points to a bed, one of my roommates says, “that’s me.”

            “Check out time was at 10 AM, it’s now past noon!” says the woman.

            Alright, perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit.  I had already been awake for 10 or so minutes when the lights came on.  In any case, I did find the whole scene kind of funny- it was like a scene from some crime movie- “Who’s the culprit?”  At least now I know the hostel takes checkout time seriously!

            I arrived in Madrid yesterday morning around 9 and took a cab to the hostel.  Right when I got in the cab, I heard “I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, that much is true.”  Yes, the cabbie was listening to “Don’t You Want Me” by Human League.

            After I settled in at the hostel, I took the subway to Plaza Mayor, a big, central plaza in Madrid.  Along the way, I asked a father and his teenage son whether I was headed in the right direction to get to the plaza.

            “Do you speak English?” he asked me.  When I told him I did, he said “oh, so you’re an American who actually likes to travel.”  I looked at him with a confused look, not totally sure what he meant.

            “Yeah, I suppose that’s me”, I answered.

            As it turned out, the father and son were from England and had come to Spain to watch Real Madrid play Manchester City.  Real Madrid is Madrid’s fútbol (or soccer) team.  The team is really well known and, from what I’ve heard, one of the best sport’s franchises around.  A group of people from my hostel, Hostel One Malasaña, went to the game; as I had just arrived in the country that morning and was really jet-lagged, I did not go to the game.  It would have been amazing, oh well…

            In the 24 hours I’ve been at the hostel, I’ve already met 2 Argentines!  One was a “porteño” (from Buenos Aires), the other from Córdoba capital (the city were I studied.)  Having been there myself, it was great comparing notes and hearing what they had to say about Argentina.  While in Argentina, I learned the word for "peach" to be "durazno".  Here, it's "melocotón."  It's interesting how one simple fruit has different words in various Spanish-speaking countries: I learned "strawberry" as "fresa", in Argentina it's "frutilla", "banana" is "plátano", in Argentina it's "banana", etc... 

            I’m staying in a room with 2 bunk beds in the room, so not too many people.  To put it in perspective, I stayed in rooms with 5+ bunk beds while traveling with friends in Argentina.  At this hostel in Madrid, they make dinner as well as churros with chocolate for breakfast.  So far, I’ve met people from all areas of the world at the hostel: one Swede, a couple of British, a few from Australia, one kiwi, a German, etc… at dinner last night, it was real great comparing notes on our respective cultures.  We were mainly talking about the differences between a British accent ad that of the USA.

            The one thing about the hostel that’s a bit of a drag is the luggage storage situation.  I have my computer bag, backpack, and main duffel in the storage; every time I want to get something from one of the bags, I have to come up to the front desk and ask the person to let me in, as he’s the only one with a key.  I always feel a bit bad for disturbing him…

            The TEFL orientation is on Friday and then classes start on Monday.  I’m not sure how often I’ll be blogging- not sure how much free time I’ll have once classes begin but will try to update it at least once a week.