I realize it has been a while since I posted anything, but I think that is just because I am settling into life here and the adventures are not so dramatic. Every day is still a new and interesting experience, and I am loving the city and the people.
I finally found boots, and I have definitely become accustomed to walking everywhere all the time and to taking the metro many times a day.
I joined a gym, and have gone to two Pilates classes which are really fun, and one yoga class which was impossible to follow. The Pilates is doable. I can look around, and look at the teacher, and basically figure out what the instructions are. This is not, at all, the case in yoga. The yoga class is all about meditating and holding positions and closing your eyes. We would be lying down, and the teacher would be speaking constantly in a soothing monotone. I'm sure it would have been very relaxing if I had any clue what she was saying, but I did not. I wasn't sure if she was instructing us to leave our arms at our sides and pretend they don't exist, or if I was supposed to be doing something. It was awful, and stressful, basically the opposite of what yoga is supposed to be.
Friday, we kicked off our weekend by going to a little bar which was supposed to have live music. We got off at the Lavapies metro stop, and began walking. We were immediately confronted by man after man trying to sell us on one of two things:
1) Dinner. That is apparently the area of the city with an entire street of various Indian restaurants. It smelled and looked awesome, but was not really what we were looking for at that moment.
2) Marijuana dealers. There were men every five feet who were clearly selling and smoking pot. It was an assault on the senses, and we were basically constantly dodging people, and the occasional car, on the small street.
The bar turned out to be a bit of a bust. The music was a guy with his guitar and four or five women trying to sing American songs from printed out sheets of the lyrics. One song they did was "Kiss" by Prince, but they only did the first verse, repeatedly, until they got it and then they stopped. It was very weird, but also amusing. Plus the place makes an awesome Mojito.
Friday and Saturday, Jade and I went out to an Irish Pub, so we did not have the most Spanish weekend. It was fun, we met an Irish stag party, which was hilarious, and the second night we met two guys who work for an airline company, and fly planes to test out all the equipment before flights. Later Saturday night, we were approached on the street by a group of aggressive, young Belgian boys, who were hilarious and a little eager.
The night life here is interesting and a little strange. People constantly call at you on the street, and try to entice you to come to their club/bar/restaurant. It is just a constant flood of "Hola guapa!" and "Bonitas!"
Sunday Jade and I went to the Prado Museum, which was ridiculously crowded, and I am sorry to say I don't have much to report from there. It was cool, but I did not devote the time or energy to it that I should have. I will likely go back again, and I will also try to go to some of the more modern art museums which are more my scene. Afterwards I got an awesome hot dog with fried onions, pickles, and mustard, from this tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant called It Dog.
Classes are good. I am in the second level of Spanish, despite never having taken a Spanish class in my life. I went to the 101 class on Thursday, and my teacher told me and two other students that we needed to be in 102, not 101, and that after class we should go talk to the woman in the office. I did so, and then chose to go check out the 102 class before making the official switch to confirm I could handle it.
The professor instructed us, in Spanish, to write a composition about our past semester. I was a little confused and panicking so asked the professor, in Spanish, if I could talk to her in the hall for a minute. I explained to her that I had never taken a course in Spanish, but had been told I should be in 102, and wanted to check it out first. I also asked her to clarify what I was supposed to write. She brushed off my concerns, and we went back into the class.
As we wrote, I used maybe two verbs, over and over, only spoke in present tense, and guessed on a bunch of words. She assured us that this was just to gauge our level of Spanish knowledge, but I still felt lost. I asked, in Spanish, how to say certain words, but the professor just got angry, told us that we could only speak Spanish in the class, and said that she could not translate for me. When male students inquired about specific words, she answered, but when I asked she was very mean, and kept brushing me off. I ended up working around words I didn't know, and wrote as much as I could.
The woman was thoroughly unpleasant, but luckily she is not our professor. From Monday on we have had a male professor who is awesome! He is super chill, and just wants us to try our best to speak as much as possible. He keeps encouraging us not to be scared, and just to talk and communicate our point. There are about fifteen minutes at the start of each class where he just has us speak about whatever we want for a few minutes each, and not worry about grammar or perfect conjugating.
My biology professor is ridiculously enthusiastic and likes to say "super duper" every five minutes. And my Sexuality in Spain professor is a very small young woman who is a delight, though she does struggle to communicate her point sometimes.
So all is well, and my Spanish adventure continues.
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