I forget how to say it in the English

Yes that is a direct quote from yours truly. My speaking skills are in serious decline and half of my sentences in English end in you know… because I can’t think of how to articulate what I want to say so I leave it to the other person to figure it out.  Hopefully everyone I speak to has ESP because I really can’t express myself anymore. Try not to laugh at me when I’m back in the US. Well after the family left, my life resumed to normal (well what is normal for me living in Spain.)  On Wednesday, I went to teach Marina (the four-year-old who I’m tutoring) and she was not in a good mood. This was not a good sign for me since it’s already difficult enough to try to get a 4 year old to pay attention for an hour when she’s not grumpy.  At first, the lesson went pretty badly because Marina was resolved not to learn. She was not responding to any of my attempts to engage her in a lesson and was basically pouting and not listening. I was getting pretty frustrated so we went to talk to her mom (the program director) to try and resolve the issues. I explained that I thought it was really hard for a 4 year old to learn in such a structured situation and my program director agreed. She said I didn’t have to teach her real lessons just play and talk in English so that she hears the accent and hopefully picks up some words. If only I had known that before! That is definitely not how she presented this tutoring gig at the beginning when she stuck Marina and I in a room with a little table and a book that was supposed to help me teach her.  After this revolutionary news that I didn’t have to force Marina into a situation she didn’t want to be in at all, the rest of the tutoring session went really well!  We played dress up and I threw in as many English words as I could and we laughed for most of the rest of the time. It was nice to finally interact with her on a more equal level and not feel like I was the bad guy. I love little kids and that’s why I signed up to tutor – I miss being a camp counselor or preschool teacher – but at the beginning, tutoring sucked all the fun out of hanging out with a four year old since she was not enthusiastic for most of the time.  Now I actually remember why I like little kids – they are so happy and enthusiastic and curious – and I feel so much better! And little kids speaking in Spanish (and frequently extremely well-dressed) are quite possibly the cutest kind.That night I had my first intercambio – where you sign up to talk with someone half in English and half in Spanish so you can both improve.  I don’t generally like being in forced socializing situations but it wasn’t too awkward and good practice.

On Thursday, Maureen left for Barcelona so it was just me in the house with Mati and Luiqui.  Even though I really like having a roommate and having someone to go through the awkward/lost-in-translation moments with me at home, it was nice to be alone for a weekend. I felt like I could connect with Mati and Luiqui as my own person instead of just being “one of the American girls” in their minds.  That night Mati actually sat down to dinner with me (usually she floats in and out of the kitchen while Maureen and I eat) and we had a really good conversation about cultural differences and how times have changed since she was younger (a theme of many of our conversations here.) After dinner, I went to see Si la cosa funciona (Whatever Works) with two friends. It was so much easier to understand than the last dubbed movie I had seen! I was worried because usually Woody Allen movies have subtle jokes or wordplays or something that would be hard to understand dubbed, but it was really straightforward and easy to follow.  It was a pretty good movie and also made me feel better about improving in Spanish, so overall a success.  On Thursday I had also asked Mati to show me how to cook a stew (which is what she makes for almost every lunch) so on Friday morning when I woke up she was waiting for me. She had already started a little bit because evidently I had slept in so late (10:30 – not late to me at all) that she had begun. Still, I didn’t miss much because she had waited to add the main ingredient (chickpeas yum) and I got the step-by-step process of how to make the stew.  It was so exciting to finally get an explanation for some of Mati’s cooking because I had wanted to learn how to cook Spanish food from the beginning. Also, the stew was time consuming but not too difficult to make and is a template for a lot of different stews – same main ingredients with a little variation and you can make a different stew for every day of the year.  Also, stews make for great leftovers so hopefully next semester I can make one on a Sunday and have food for the week, at least that’s the plan! While the stew was cooking in a pressure cooker, Mati brought out a bag of green beans, handed me a knife, and we cut off the ends together. It was nice to finally help out – it made me feel like less of a guest and more of a part of the family – because usually even if I offer to set the table or anything else, I'm told no it’s not my job.  While we were peeling, Mati decided that some of the green beans were too hard for her liking, but since there was nothing actually wrong with them I asked if I could eat them. I think she was a little surprised that I like raw green beans, but once she found out, she left a little pile for me to eat when I wanted. It was so cute even though I didn’t know when I would actually remember my little bag of green beans in the fridge.  After peeling the green beans and finishing up the stew, we ate it for lunch – and it was delicious! Hopefully I can come close to recreating it back it the States (of course I wrote down the recipe after I had watched it.)  After lunch I went to the Alcázar again (I think it’s my favorite place in Seville) with a friend and then we wandered around the center for a while before coming home. I was so tired that I really didn’t do anything that night, which is lame but a restful night was very necessary.  

Carmona

 

...Especially since that night a friend and I decided to go on a day trip the next day to Carmona! Carmona is a village less than an hour away from Seville by bus that has some Roman ruins and a fortress. I didn’t really know what I was getting into before I left – just that I had wanted to go on a day trip to somewhere nearby so I can see as much of Andalucía as possible. Carmona didn’t have much going on but it was really pretty.  There weren’t very many people in the street and practically no tourists – a nice change from most of the places I had visited.  We started off heading to the gate at the edge of town, which had an incredible view of the countryside that seemed to never end.  The fields of brown and green earth stretched out before us.  Then we walked down the road a little and came across a farm with a big herd of goats.  There was a big dog protecting them that kept barking at us but we hung around for a bit because they were so funny to look at, especially the male goats with their twisting horns and long beards.  You definitely get the sense that life is a little simpler in Carmona than in Seville.  We also wandered to one of the old fortresses that is now a parador, a type of hotel set up by the government that are very luxurious and are usually in converted castles or other types of old buildings.  Even though we were obviously not staying there, no one bothered us as we explored the patio and the terrace, which were both beautiful.  The parador had a spectacular view – and a brilliantly blue pool – so if anyone needs a hotel suggestion for Carmona, you’re all set!  Apparently we were in Carmona on some cultural patrimony holiday or something because every museum we went to was free. The museum of the city was not super exciting because it forced you to read really long signs to learn anything – not something I was particularly in the mood for.  The fortress was nice to visit to get some more good views.  The best site we visited was the Roman amphitheater and necropolis.  There were lots of interesting tombs and remains of pillars and drawings.  Also there was a very small museum with some artifacts from the site, which I liked a lot because there was some context to the objects instead of the normal archaeological museum where you see cool ancient pots or sculptures but can’t really picture or understand where they came from. For lunch we ate in a little plaza with kids running around playing soccer and groups of elderly Spaniards chatting.  We had the perfect amount of time to see what Carmona had to offer before heading back on the bus (which had all these stops on the off-ramps of the highway) and getting to Seville in time for a short siesta.  That night I went to a documentary that was part of the European Film Festival held in Seville for two weeks.  It was about woman who advocate for raped and abused children in South Africa, so it was really heartbreaking and difficult to watch. Still it told an important story and was well edited and made me think, so it was definitely worth seeing.  Afterward, we went to a Mexican place because I think what a lot of us miss about food in the U.S. is ethnic food. Here, they do tapas and Spanish food very well but not much else. The guacamole was pretty good but the portions were tiny and of course, I still miss Anna’s tons. Maybe that will be my first meal in the U.S., I still haven’t decided what I want.

oh hey, goats!

 

view from parador

 

                                                                necropolis

On Sunday, Mati and Luiqui left for el campo (somewhere little outside of Seville where they go every Sunday to spend time with friends) and I was alone in the house. It felt so weird to have it completely to myself but I enjoyed it and broke the “always wear shoes” rule.  So when Maureen returned in the afternoon, I freaked out when I heard the door open because I thought Mati and Luiqui were about to walk in and find me with no shoes on.  After that, I decided to wear shoes... just in case. That night we went to see Sevilla FC, one of the two soccer teams in Seville (and definitely the better one) play against a team from Valencia.  Luiqui is a huge fan of the team so he told us to bring him happiness as we left for the game. It wasn’t a really important match so tickets weren’t ridiculous but the stadium was still almost completely full.  It was such a fun atmosphere. It felt a little like Fenway just in that everyone there was really into it, cheering on the team or standing up in fury when there was an “unfair” call by the ref.  The stadium was buzzing with energy and the people in the special fan section were going crazy waving their flags and jumping up and down.  Also, the whole stadium kept breaking out in songs during the game including one to the tune of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Maureen got a hot dog and there was even yellow American mustard (it said American on the packet), so we felt right at home.  It was interesting because there was no half-time show or anything during the break, just people eating sandwiches brought from home or going to buy a beer.  The game was actually pretty close so it was also fun to watch from a sports fan perspective.  When Sevilla scored the first goal, the fans went crazy, so that was amazing to see. And then they won!!!! I don’t always have the best luck at Red Sox games (I think one year they lost 4 out of the 5 games I went to) so it was great to leave the stadium on a high.

stadium before game starts

 

fan section

 

GOOOOOLLLLLL!

 

American mustard!