Well...I was FINALLY able to get settled into a gym here which will be a nice way to spend my mornings. Maria had to come with me to help me get it set up, but I really like the looks of everything there it is very modern.
She worked from home today so we ate lunch together at a restaurant. Same deal as before with the ¨menu del dia¨. One thing I definitely like about Spain is not having to tip! Not the waiters at restaurants, the bartenders, or even the taxi drivers.
We picked Eloisa up from school and headed straight to the park. One thing that I have found to be true is that Madrileños live in a culture where they always ¨busca el sombra¨, which means look for shade. It gets scorchingly hot here in the summer (although it is more bearable than Kansas because it is dry) and they are outside a lot so they want to be in the shade walking down the street, in the parks, etc. Maria was giving me directions to a store (El Corte Ingles - a big department store where they have EVERYTHING) and she even told me which side of the street to walk on because of the sombra! Another interesting thing happened at the park...Eloisa needed to use the restroom and so we took her to a corner of the park and she went right there. Apparently not only is that legal, but it´s common, and there were people everywhere. It is certainly a different culture but I am enjoying seeing how others do things.
Javier met us at the park and I went with him to el mercado (essentially, a market). It is underground to keep it cool and different vendors sell their food - fish at one, meat at another, produce still another. We went to each one to pick up a few things for the next couple of days. I really liked the market because everything seemed so fresh as opposed to walking up and down the aisles of the grocery stores with tons of processed foods. Of course, with my dietetics background and food safety training I couldn´t help but think about how the butcher was not wearing gloves and that he was alternating between touching meat, his face, money, etc. Of course the meat will cook off any germs but I was wondering if someone was going to get sick by using that money or if he would get sick by having raw meat by his face! Afterwards, we went to a strictly German store to buy beer. I didn´t try any of the German beer but I did have a Spanish variety called Mahao which I liked pretty well. Of course, I requested peanut butter so we stopped to get some. They don´t really eat it so he wasn´t sure whether or not it needed to be refrigerated! Anyways, for dinner we had sardines (I know, can you believe how adventurous I am being?) and white asparagus with mayonnaise (I chose to forgo the mayo...) and of course oranges for dessert. Another wonderful day here in the city of Madrid!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Day 3
I thought I was adjusted to the time change but couldn´t get to sleep until 3 am last night! My room is really just too quiet, I am used to having a fan going at all times. I am learning how to do the little things around the house like set the alarm when I leave, run the laundry and dishwasher, and use the stove. It seems easy enough but it´s just different than what I am used to! Í´m not sure if I mentioned it before but all of the laundry hangs on a line outside my window that connects our flat to the one across the way. When Maria was showing me how to do the laundry, I asked what we were supposed to do with our underwear. She laughed and said that I was supposed to hang it out there too. FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE! I think I may figure out my own solution lol. I made my first meal today using stuff I found in the kitchen which was pretty interesting...I figured a safe bet was noodles, onions, and tomato sauce. I was right! They didn´t have spaghetti sauce so I literally used tomato sauce. And, Molly, they don´t refrigerate their milk because it´s the kind that doesn´t have to be cold! Hmmmm.
Today, I picked up Eloisa from school. The school is MASSIVE, it is just a few blocks away from their flat and is so beautiful it looks like something out of a movie. I can´t believe it´s a public school! All the kids wear uniforms, though. A ritual that I find interesting is that everyone heads straight to the park after school (it lasts until 5pm during the year, 3pm in the summer which starts next week). The park is insanely packed with little kids running around, strollers, and moms sitting on the sidelines chatting. I have never seen anything like it, it´s so hectic around there! And all of the moms seem to watch after all of the kids which is nice. It´s much more a sense of community even in the big city. I started my first day of speaking English with Eloisa while we were at the park and a little girl about 6 years old was fascinated by me because she was bilingual too! So cute. Eloisa is very bright and actually knows quite a lot more English than she lets on. She understands what I am saying but will pretty much only respond in Spanish. I think by the end of the summer that will change. We had dinner around 8pm (fish...hake, apparently. I have already had that and bass since I have been here and liked them both!) and then I read Eloisa the Cinderella (Cenicienta) book I gave her in English. She told her mom that she really enjoyed it so I am glad! I guess that is all for me today, I hope you are enjoying reading this.
Today, I picked up Eloisa from school. The school is MASSIVE, it is just a few blocks away from their flat and is so beautiful it looks like something out of a movie. I can´t believe it´s a public school! All the kids wear uniforms, though. A ritual that I find interesting is that everyone heads straight to the park after school (it lasts until 5pm during the year, 3pm in the summer which starts next week). The park is insanely packed with little kids running around, strollers, and moms sitting on the sidelines chatting. I have never seen anything like it, it´s so hectic around there! And all of the moms seem to watch after all of the kids which is nice. It´s much more a sense of community even in the big city. I started my first day of speaking English with Eloisa while we were at the park and a little girl about 6 years old was fascinated by me because she was bilingual too! So cute. Eloisa is very bright and actually knows quite a lot more English than she lets on. She understands what I am saying but will pretty much only respond in Spanish. I think by the end of the summer that will change. We had dinner around 8pm (fish...hake, apparently. I have already had that and bass since I have been here and liked them both!) and then I read Eloisa the Cinderella (Cenicienta) book I gave her in English. She told her mom that she really enjoyed it so I am glad! I guess that is all for me today, I hope you are enjoying reading this.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Parte Dos
I just had to write a few more things as I can´t quite go to bed yet!
I took the Metro for the first time today (their form of public transportation) and I felt very comfortable with it after taking the El so many times in Chicago. The stations are much bigger though with really long wide hallways that connect the different lines and everything is underground. They are also very clean and many of them have been recently renovated. Each line is designated with a color and number and the signs list every stop made on that route. I have a feeling I will be using it a lot more in the near future as I continue to explore what the city has to offer.
I also met a few students participating in the Syracuse University study abroad program and we went to an Irish (go figure) bar to watch the big futbol game between Barcelona and Manchester. The bar was PACKED. And when I say packed...that is an understatement. Wall to wall people with barely any room to see the screens. It was a great atmosphere though! The audience was mostly Spanish guys but there were people from the UK too. Most Madrileños didn´t want Barcelona to win because that is their rival so the place wasn´t too happy when they won. I have never seen a bar so crazy over a sport before..not even big games back home! It did make me miss the smoking bans back home. Seems like every other person in Europe smokes!
Finally, I haven´t been able to set up Skype yet. My host family informed me that they only have 3 G of downloads each month with the Internet so I am waiting until tomorrow to ask permission. So be patient and soon we can chat :)
Buenas noches!
I took the Metro for the first time today (their form of public transportation) and I felt very comfortable with it after taking the El so many times in Chicago. The stations are much bigger though with really long wide hallways that connect the different lines and everything is underground. They are also very clean and many of them have been recently renovated. Each line is designated with a color and number and the signs list every stop made on that route. I have a feeling I will be using it a lot more in the near future as I continue to explore what the city has to offer.
I also met a few students participating in the Syracuse University study abroad program and we went to an Irish (go figure) bar to watch the big futbol game between Barcelona and Manchester. The bar was PACKED. And when I say packed...that is an understatement. Wall to wall people with barely any room to see the screens. It was a great atmosphere though! The audience was mostly Spanish guys but there were people from the UK too. Most Madrileños didn´t want Barcelona to win because that is their rival so the place wasn´t too happy when they won. I have never seen a bar so crazy over a sport before..not even big games back home! It did make me miss the smoking bans back home. Seems like every other person in Europe smokes!
Finally, I haven´t been able to set up Skype yet. My host family informed me that they only have 3 G of downloads each month with the Internet so I am waiting until tomorrow to ask permission. So be patient and soon we can chat :)
Buenas noches!
My first impressions
Hola a todos!
I have landed safely in Madrid and finally overcome that jet lag. It really only took a day but it was a rough adjustment. My first flight was out of KCI at 12:30 and I arrived in Madrid at what was 1am our time but was really 8am in Spain so just in time to start the day. I didn´t sleep at all on the plane and made it through the day until I took a brief siesta around 3:30. I had to go to bed at 9:30 because I was SO tired and tried to sleep in today too.
I thought a good way to start this blog would be to give me first impressions of the city-
The Family
They welcomed me with open arms! My room was decorated for me, including pictures my host mom (Maria) had framed of my family and friends back home. It felt very welcoming. The apartment is a flat in the city. It is on the 5th floor so we use the elevator and it is so tiny! It barely fit me and my suitcase, so if the whole family is there they need to take two trips. The two children are ADORABLE. Eloisa is 3 years old and extremely talkative. She was shy when she first met me, but she has quickly opened up. She is super smart and LOVES Hello Kitty! Francisco is 10 months and always smiling. He is much calmer than Eloisa but loves trying to push things so he can walk. Maria and I spent most of the first day together so we got to chat a lot. She is very interested in me learning as much Spanish as possible which is great! Javier is the father and the cook of the family. He works until at least 7pm so we didn´t get to share as much but he is also very friendly and warm. I feel very safe and well taken care of with this family.
The Lifestyle
Today I got to explore the city, but mostly just the area in which I live (it´s called Barrio Salamanca). I had read before that it was a ritzy area but walking around here I really see what they mean! The streets are narrow and seeing all of the cars parked is incredible...nothing but BMW´s, Mercedes and the like. A few streets over is the most "exclusive" street in Madrid - Calle Ortega y Gasset. It is lined with only stores like Dolce and Gabbana, Rolex, Prada, Chanel, etc. Nothing I can ever afford so I guess walking up and down will do! The Madrileños are stylish. I´m glad I didn´t bring a ton of t-shirts because those will definitely not do me well here. It was in the 70´s today but most everyone is still wearing long sleeves and pants! I didn´t bring much of that but it doesn´t matter to me because the weather is beautiful. I feel very safe in the city, it reminds me a lot of being in Chicago because I have already squeezed in a ton of walking. The taxis and buses are even cleaner than they were there! Once I take the Metro for the first time, that will be the real test. The only thing to watch is for pickpockets in the tourist areas and on the Metro but I bought a fully zippered bag that I can wear across my body and hold onto as I walk.
The Food
The first day here, Maria and I walked to downtown (Sol - the center of the city). We stopped around 10:30 am for a ¨cafe¨which is typical because lunch isn´t until later. She had a drink made with almonds that she said is very popular and I had a sweet lemon drink - basically lemonade but apparently with lots of sugar! It was so sweet (dulce) that I couldn´t finish it. We went to a restaurant around 1pm but they didn´t serve lunch until 1:30 (typical lunch time, usually even later) so we waited around and sipped on water. The Bardem family is really famous in Madrid, and the mother of Javier Bardem (of No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona) was dining at the table next to us! The menu was set with bread and mussels for appetizer, a first course, second course, and dessert. I chose the zanahorias (carrots) and tried some of Maria´s gazpacho. The gazpacho was delicious and is very popular in the summer. I then chose the fish for my second course and was a little surprised to see them pretty much only skinned and the heads still on with the eyes cut out! I have never eaten anything like that, but it still tasted good. I have a feeling that I will be eating a lot of seafood here - apparently Madrid is one of the top consumers of seafood in the world. Even my carrots had shrimp in them. Dessert is very common to be fresh fruit. Maria had melon, but I of course chose the chocolate mousse. Javier made dinner that night, which was a variety of sausages (including chorizo) and rice. We had crusty bread and a hard cheese for an appetizer. The flavors are very different than what I am used to and I am still adjusting. I may end up losing a little weight over here after all :) For dessert we had oranges and a sweet wine, which honestly tasted like raisins! And I can´t quite figure out what the Spanish foods in the pantry are, the family said I could write down any requests for the grocery store so I may just take them up on that. Today I went exploring and decided to have my lunch at Starbucks which was a nice reminder of home.
The Language
Not many people in Madrid speak English according to Maria, so I can´t fall back on that much. I have been taking Spanish for 9 years, which is evident in my knowledge of grammar when I read and write but it is still challenging to communicate. Madrileños speak very clearly (thank goodness I am not in Barcelona, where they speak Catalán and is a very different version of the Spanish I know) but quickly. Yesterday was the hardest for me because I took this past semester off from Spanish and we jumped right in talking only in Spanish which had my head going a little crazy when I had no sleep. Everyone is very understanding and helps me learn new vocabulary and doesn´t mind when I have to add in a little English. My host parents know English but they want me to immerse myself in Spanish so we only speak in Spanish. I think Maria could tell I was getting a little out of it over lunch yesterday and we spoke in English which was a nice break. The most challenging part is that I can´t passively listen to conversations, I have to listen intently to each word spoken and process and translate in my head and then do the same when formulating a response. I have a feeling I will improve a lot by the time I leave! I went around Madrid today to see if I could afford to join a gym while I was here and went to 3 places, communicating only in Spanish. It actually went over really well and I feel very proud that I was able to do that! The gyms were pretty spread out and I got lost a few times because the street signs aren´t on the stoplights, they are on small blue signs on the outside of buildings on the street corners. This means that it is easy to not be able to find these signs so I ended up passing the streets I meant to turn on a few times. Oh well, it was a learning experience and not too stressful because I had a map and was used to that feeling in Chicago.
I hope you enjoyed this post! I am enjoying myself a lot, and of course am missing everyone back home a lot.
Katie
I have landed safely in Madrid and finally overcome that jet lag. It really only took a day but it was a rough adjustment. My first flight was out of KCI at 12:30 and I arrived in Madrid at what was 1am our time but was really 8am in Spain so just in time to start the day. I didn´t sleep at all on the plane and made it through the day until I took a brief siesta around 3:30. I had to go to bed at 9:30 because I was SO tired and tried to sleep in today too.
I thought a good way to start this blog would be to give me first impressions of the city-
The Family
They welcomed me with open arms! My room was decorated for me, including pictures my host mom (Maria) had framed of my family and friends back home. It felt very welcoming. The apartment is a flat in the city. It is on the 5th floor so we use the elevator and it is so tiny! It barely fit me and my suitcase, so if the whole family is there they need to take two trips. The two children are ADORABLE. Eloisa is 3 years old and extremely talkative. She was shy when she first met me, but she has quickly opened up. She is super smart and LOVES Hello Kitty! Francisco is 10 months and always smiling. He is much calmer than Eloisa but loves trying to push things so he can walk. Maria and I spent most of the first day together so we got to chat a lot. She is very interested in me learning as much Spanish as possible which is great! Javier is the father and the cook of the family. He works until at least 7pm so we didn´t get to share as much but he is also very friendly and warm. I feel very safe and well taken care of with this family.
The Lifestyle
Today I got to explore the city, but mostly just the area in which I live (it´s called Barrio Salamanca). I had read before that it was a ritzy area but walking around here I really see what they mean! The streets are narrow and seeing all of the cars parked is incredible...nothing but BMW´s, Mercedes and the like. A few streets over is the most "exclusive" street in Madrid - Calle Ortega y Gasset. It is lined with only stores like Dolce and Gabbana, Rolex, Prada, Chanel, etc. Nothing I can ever afford so I guess walking up and down will do! The Madrileños are stylish. I´m glad I didn´t bring a ton of t-shirts because those will definitely not do me well here. It was in the 70´s today but most everyone is still wearing long sleeves and pants! I didn´t bring much of that but it doesn´t matter to me because the weather is beautiful. I feel very safe in the city, it reminds me a lot of being in Chicago because I have already squeezed in a ton of walking. The taxis and buses are even cleaner than they were there! Once I take the Metro for the first time, that will be the real test. The only thing to watch is for pickpockets in the tourist areas and on the Metro but I bought a fully zippered bag that I can wear across my body and hold onto as I walk.
The Food
The first day here, Maria and I walked to downtown (Sol - the center of the city). We stopped around 10:30 am for a ¨cafe¨which is typical because lunch isn´t until later. She had a drink made with almonds that she said is very popular and I had a sweet lemon drink - basically lemonade but apparently with lots of sugar! It was so sweet (dulce) that I couldn´t finish it. We went to a restaurant around 1pm but they didn´t serve lunch until 1:30 (typical lunch time, usually even later) so we waited around and sipped on water. The Bardem family is really famous in Madrid, and the mother of Javier Bardem (of No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona) was dining at the table next to us! The menu was set with bread and mussels for appetizer, a first course, second course, and dessert. I chose the zanahorias (carrots) and tried some of Maria´s gazpacho. The gazpacho was delicious and is very popular in the summer. I then chose the fish for my second course and was a little surprised to see them pretty much only skinned and the heads still on with the eyes cut out! I have never eaten anything like that, but it still tasted good. I have a feeling that I will be eating a lot of seafood here - apparently Madrid is one of the top consumers of seafood in the world. Even my carrots had shrimp in them. Dessert is very common to be fresh fruit. Maria had melon, but I of course chose the chocolate mousse. Javier made dinner that night, which was a variety of sausages (including chorizo) and rice. We had crusty bread and a hard cheese for an appetizer. The flavors are very different than what I am used to and I am still adjusting. I may end up losing a little weight over here after all :) For dessert we had oranges and a sweet wine, which honestly tasted like raisins! And I can´t quite figure out what the Spanish foods in the pantry are, the family said I could write down any requests for the grocery store so I may just take them up on that. Today I went exploring and decided to have my lunch at Starbucks which was a nice reminder of home.
The Language
Not many people in Madrid speak English according to Maria, so I can´t fall back on that much. I have been taking Spanish for 9 years, which is evident in my knowledge of grammar when I read and write but it is still challenging to communicate. Madrileños speak very clearly (thank goodness I am not in Barcelona, where they speak Catalán and is a very different version of the Spanish I know) but quickly. Yesterday was the hardest for me because I took this past semester off from Spanish and we jumped right in talking only in Spanish which had my head going a little crazy when I had no sleep. Everyone is very understanding and helps me learn new vocabulary and doesn´t mind when I have to add in a little English. My host parents know English but they want me to immerse myself in Spanish so we only speak in Spanish. I think Maria could tell I was getting a little out of it over lunch yesterday and we spoke in English which was a nice break. The most challenging part is that I can´t passively listen to conversations, I have to listen intently to each word spoken and process and translate in my head and then do the same when formulating a response. I have a feeling I will improve a lot by the time I leave! I went around Madrid today to see if I could afford to join a gym while I was here and went to 3 places, communicating only in Spanish. It actually went over really well and I feel very proud that I was able to do that! The gyms were pretty spread out and I got lost a few times because the street signs aren´t on the stoplights, they are on small blue signs on the outside of buildings on the street corners. This means that it is easy to not be able to find these signs so I ended up passing the streets I meant to turn on a few times. Oh well, it was a learning experience and not too stressful because I had a map and was used to that feeling in Chicago.
I hope you enjoyed this post! I am enjoying myself a lot, and of course am missing everyone back home a lot.
Katie
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