Interesting things of the week:
-My host-dad knew who Lady Gaga was…
-My family didn’t realize the music they listen to is American music…Shania Twain was playing at the mall and they just thought it was Spanish music, along with Katy Perry’s Hot N’ Cold, Backstreet Boys’ Incomplete, and sooo many others. A lot of our old songs are their new favorites
-I was invited to their house in Leon for Semana Santa (Holy Week, Easter).
-As a group we go to Madrid this Friday, and then I think on Sunday of this week Matu is taking me to Madrid again to give me her own tour since she went to school there for many years before she was married.
-I think I need to take a video of Raul talking in order to fully explain why I cannot understand a word he says.
-You can order a waffle at any point of the day here, from almost every store. It’s ridiculous.
-Bizcocho means cake. Like really really good cake. I love eating meals 8 hours apart if it means I get coffee and cake at 6pm!
-No tengo clases manana!!
Como siempre,
Besos,
Lindsey. (pronounce len-say).
Monday, January 18, 2010
Día Cuatro-Estoy más comoda aquí ahora. – Domingo, el 17 de enero.
So I didn’t have time to write yesterday (Saturday), I didn’t realized I would end up as busy as I was! We had a tour of Toledo at 10am. I ate breakfast by myself, I made toast with margarine and drank milk just like my host-dad suggested the first day I got here. Matu told me later that she got up to make breakfast for me, but I had already left, she really does spoil me. The tour was interesting, but it was in Spanish over a microphone, so I couldn’t hear a lot of it. We took a bus around for a bit, then did a walking tour of the part of Spain closer to us. There are over 80 churches in Toledo, and over 40 convents! We saw a nun, who our tour guide talked to for a bit. She didn’t want any pictures of herself taken. We saw where Paco _____ a famous Spanish guitarist lives, and also where all the extremely rich and powerful live in Toledo. It’s obvious where they live because their houses are built in isolated areas where it’s difficult to build houses… Toledo is so beautiful, and this tour just managed to increase my appreciation of Toledo’s beauty. All views of the city are amazing, no matter where you look at it from.
After the tour I hung out at the Fund for a little bit, then I took the bus home. I actually ended up meeting someone else who was taking the bus with me, Emily, and we ended up chatting and made plans to go out together that night with everyone else. Emily lives pretty close to me, as do a lot of other girls, I just don’t know exactly where they all are yet. I thought I was going to be late for lunch with my family, as it was already after 2pm, but I got home and they still hadn’t started eating yet. I’m still getting used to the eating schedule. They push food on me so much, they always say “Tienes que engordar!” which means “you need to fatten up!” I eat as much as I can, but 1. I’m not used to eating sooo much at lunch time, 2. I’m not used to eating a huge piece of bread with both lunch and dinner, seriously I could fill up on the bread alone it’s so large, 3. I’m not used to eating a huge bowl of soup + noodles with lunch and dinner, I am full after this “appetizer” 4. They eat about 5 courses, dessert is always fruit. For lunch we had fried chicken, an interesting vegetable soup which looked like a brown, gritty-ish paste, but actually tasted like vegetables, fried chicken, halved mushrooms with ?ham? and tossed in some sauce, bread of course, fruit, and Coca-cola. I mention the coca-cola because José kept trying to convince me that in the US we don’t have coca-cola. He actually loves doing this a lot. I asked if they had Pepsi here and he said yes, but then refused to admit that they were almost the same thing, haha. He also made fun of my jeans, which have the designer “holes” in them. He kept asking me if the holes were from rats, bahaha. When we eat it is always with the tv on, which is actually common in a lot of the families which I found out by talking with friends.
After lunch I went upstairs to siesta (my first!). Matu came in at around 5 and asked if I wanted to go shopping with her and her sister, Milagros. I agreed and minutes later Milagros was driving us to Luz Pajo, the huge mall they have here. There are probably 100 clothing stores and a few movie theaters inside, along with other things that I didn’t even see. We went to a few of their favorite stores, and boy are they thorough. I’m a pretty rapid shopper, I just skip through the store usually looking at things I like, but they went through every single rack, touching every single item, and once in a while talking about one of the items for a few minutes. I think we spent about an hour in each of the stores we entered. I have never spent so long in a store before. I didn’t get anything, and we ran out of time to get coffee (they were surprised….I was not!). Driving in Spain is…relatively scary. They have mostly roundabouts (I think I’ve seen one stoplight) and yield signs, and few stop signs (again, I’ve seen only like 2).
After shopping we came back home and ate salmon which was actually not bad, I was shocked. Of course this was accompanied by pesto (the red salsa thing I forgot the name of earlier), bread, soup, fruit and other things I think I am forgetting. Like always I was told I don’t eat enough and that I needed to become fat like my sister Olga. Yes, they say that. Even her boyfriend Raul says she’s fat right in front of her. I think it’s like a family joke? They say it so often, it has to be, but I still feel bad for her.
I took the 10:30 bus to the plaza where I met Emily. We walked to the Fund together to meet up with Elizabeth and whoever else. A lot of people were sitting outside the bar nearby drinking wine so we went and joined them. Emily and I tried verano tinto I think it’s called. It’s like sangria, and has red wine mixed with sodas, and is delicious. We call it the American drink because all Americans love it, haha. Everyone else was heading to a hookah bar, but we didn’t want to go, so Emily, Elizabeth and I went walking around Toledo looking at the bars and trying to choose one that looked like it had young people in it. Our plan was to just sample the city and what it had to offer. We walked into I think 2 different bars and ended up walking straight out again. I was shocked at how many bars had only older people in it! One bar we walked into had a birthday party going on, so that was a no, too. Finally we got to Pícaro. This bar was sweet looking. It had 4 levels and disco lights going and a dj, although no one was really dancing. Emily and I tried a mojito, which was really tasty, but expensive. We ended up leaving after only a little bit, since there wasn’t much to do there, and we walked to the Plaza where we found a large group from the Fund. A lot of them were Puerto Ricans and had gone to the salsa club, but it was empty. They had also been to one of the discotheques, but that was also boring they said. We decided to all stick together and try to find a discotheque that was hopping. Eventually we got to Camelot (after a ton of walking…I am still not used to walking Toledo yet. My legs, calves and butt are always so sore because you are either walking steeply up or down, there is hardly any flat ground.). Camelot is a discotheque in an interesting stone building. It was pretty full, and our large group made it very full, haha. We had a good time dancing to the, surprise, surprise, American music, and talking with a few of the Spaniards. Here we tried vodka caramel which was surprisingly very tasty. We asked one of the Spaniards what his favorite drink was and he replied whiskey with coca-cola, which we were told is made extremely strong. Gross. I don’t think I can ever be a true Spaniard if I have to drink that. We decided to pass on trying that, ahah. We eventually left Camelot in search of another discotheque, Circulo, which we found but required 6 euros to enter. So we just went back to Camelot, where this time we met a group of about 6 or 7 spaniards who we took pictures with and talked with a bit. Once we left, Emily and I caught the late bus (the Bono bus it’s called) without any problems. It turned out to be a great night, the people we were with were so much fun, and now I know where the salsa club is, and we’ve made plans to go there soon for sure! (the Puerto Ricans all know how to salsa, so I’m actually going to learn!).
Today I woke up at about 1pm and ate lunch (soup, bread, garbazo beans + potatoes, and they had meat to eat…but by then I wasn’t hungry and it looked super sketchy, almost uncooked. After lunch Olga asked me if I wanted to shopping with her and ______. I didn’t catch the last part. I said ok anyway, figuring she said with Matu, or her cousin (Milagros’ daughter) but then Raul showed up and we ended up driving to a small town near Madrid which has the only shopping mall open on Sundays, as every store is usually closed on Sundays. Raul is hilarious. He talks soo fast I normally don’t understand him, and he always has tons of energy, which is completely contrasted with Olga’s usual silence. Shopping with them was much better. We moved a lot quicker through the stores, and although I didn’t get anything I think I know what items I want to buy in the future. We had coffee after (chocolate expresso with whipped cream on top) and also a bizcocho, a cheesecake with a raspberry topping that was delicious. The mall we went to had even more stores than the one in Toledo. It also had an attached skiing ramp. Yes. The ramp is enclosed and has snow and trails, and everything. I couldn’t believe it. We left at about 7:45 in horrible horrible traffic. It took us probably 45minutes to get out of it and actually start moving. On the way back Raul told me to not tell José about “prisa”. I had no idea what he was talking about until finally I realized he meant speeding. Haha. I don’t understand a lot of what is said still, but definitely I understand much more than I did the first day or two. We stopped to get Olga’s cousin (I forget her name) and then stopped at a pizza store to pick up two pizzas. One of the pizzas was really good, with a white cheese and maybe white sauce on it. I couldn’t tell if there was sauce or not. It also had onions and bacon and other thigns I couldn’t identify. The other pizza looked exactly like the one we had the first night I was here. I stayed away from it until Matu said “oh you haven’t tried the other pizza! Eat it! You don’t eat anything! You need to fatten up!” So I was forced into having half a piece of that pizza which tasted exactly like I had anticipated, yuck. Of course Matu wanted me to, in addition to my 2.5 large pieces of pizza, eat bread and pesto and fruit, but I managed to convince her that I was indeed very very full. After dinner we watched a movie or a really long show about 7 teenage friends who were all pregnant, while Olga’s cousin played a game on her Nintendo DS. She’s like 30…haha I found this hilarious.
So I didn’t have time to write yesterday (Saturday), I didn’t realized I would end up as busy as I was! We had a tour of Toledo at 10am. I ate breakfast by myself, I made toast with margarine and drank milk just like my host-dad suggested the first day I got here. Matu told me later that she got up to make breakfast for me, but I had already left, she really does spoil me. The tour was interesting, but it was in Spanish over a microphone, so I couldn’t hear a lot of it. We took a bus around for a bit, then did a walking tour of the part of Spain closer to us. There are over 80 churches in Toledo, and over 40 convents! We saw a nun, who our tour guide talked to for a bit. She didn’t want any pictures of herself taken. We saw where Paco _____ a famous Spanish guitarist lives, and also where all the extremely rich and powerful live in Toledo. It’s obvious where they live because their houses are built in isolated areas where it’s difficult to build houses… Toledo is so beautiful, and this tour just managed to increase my appreciation of Toledo’s beauty. All views of the city are amazing, no matter where you look at it from.
After the tour I hung out at the Fund for a little bit, then I took the bus home. I actually ended up meeting someone else who was taking the bus with me, Emily, and we ended up chatting and made plans to go out together that night with everyone else. Emily lives pretty close to me, as do a lot of other girls, I just don’t know exactly where they all are yet. I thought I was going to be late for lunch with my family, as it was already after 2pm, but I got home and they still hadn’t started eating yet. I’m still getting used to the eating schedule. They push food on me so much, they always say “Tienes que engordar!” which means “you need to fatten up!” I eat as much as I can, but 1. I’m not used to eating sooo much at lunch time, 2. I’m not used to eating a huge piece of bread with both lunch and dinner, seriously I could fill up on the bread alone it’s so large, 3. I’m not used to eating a huge bowl of soup + noodles with lunch and dinner, I am full after this “appetizer” 4. They eat about 5 courses, dessert is always fruit. For lunch we had fried chicken, an interesting vegetable soup which looked like a brown, gritty-ish paste, but actually tasted like vegetables, fried chicken, halved mushrooms with ?ham? and tossed in some sauce, bread of course, fruit, and Coca-cola. I mention the coca-cola because José kept trying to convince me that in the US we don’t have coca-cola. He actually loves doing this a lot. I asked if they had Pepsi here and he said yes, but then refused to admit that they were almost the same thing, haha. He also made fun of my jeans, which have the designer “holes” in them. He kept asking me if the holes were from rats, bahaha. When we eat it is always with the tv on, which is actually common in a lot of the families which I found out by talking with friends.
After lunch I went upstairs to siesta (my first!). Matu came in at around 5 and asked if I wanted to go shopping with her and her sister, Milagros. I agreed and minutes later Milagros was driving us to Luz Pajo, the huge mall they have here. There are probably 100 clothing stores and a few movie theaters inside, along with other things that I didn’t even see. We went to a few of their favorite stores, and boy are they thorough. I’m a pretty rapid shopper, I just skip through the store usually looking at things I like, but they went through every single rack, touching every single item, and once in a while talking about one of the items for a few minutes. I think we spent about an hour in each of the stores we entered. I have never spent so long in a store before. I didn’t get anything, and we ran out of time to get coffee (they were surprised….I was not!). Driving in Spain is…relatively scary. They have mostly roundabouts (I think I’ve seen one stoplight) and yield signs, and few stop signs (again, I’ve seen only like 2).
After shopping we came back home and ate salmon which was actually not bad, I was shocked. Of course this was accompanied by pesto (the red salsa thing I forgot the name of earlier), bread, soup, fruit and other things I think I am forgetting. Like always I was told I don’t eat enough and that I needed to become fat like my sister Olga. Yes, they say that. Even her boyfriend Raul says she’s fat right in front of her. I think it’s like a family joke? They say it so often, it has to be, but I still feel bad for her.
I took the 10:30 bus to the plaza where I met Emily. We walked to the Fund together to meet up with Elizabeth and whoever else. A lot of people were sitting outside the bar nearby drinking wine so we went and joined them. Emily and I tried verano tinto I think it’s called. It’s like sangria, and has red wine mixed with sodas, and is delicious. We call it the American drink because all Americans love it, haha. Everyone else was heading to a hookah bar, but we didn’t want to go, so Emily, Elizabeth and I went walking around Toledo looking at the bars and trying to choose one that looked like it had young people in it. Our plan was to just sample the city and what it had to offer. We walked into I think 2 different bars and ended up walking straight out again. I was shocked at how many bars had only older people in it! One bar we walked into had a birthday party going on, so that was a no, too. Finally we got to Pícaro. This bar was sweet looking. It had 4 levels and disco lights going and a dj, although no one was really dancing. Emily and I tried a mojito, which was really tasty, but expensive. We ended up leaving after only a little bit, since there wasn’t much to do there, and we walked to the Plaza where we found a large group from the Fund. A lot of them were Puerto Ricans and had gone to the salsa club, but it was empty. They had also been to one of the discotheques, but that was also boring they said. We decided to all stick together and try to find a discotheque that was hopping. Eventually we got to Camelot (after a ton of walking…I am still not used to walking Toledo yet. My legs, calves and butt are always so sore because you are either walking steeply up or down, there is hardly any flat ground.). Camelot is a discotheque in an interesting stone building. It was pretty full, and our large group made it very full, haha. We had a good time dancing to the, surprise, surprise, American music, and talking with a few of the Spaniards. Here we tried vodka caramel which was surprisingly very tasty. We asked one of the Spaniards what his favorite drink was and he replied whiskey with coca-cola, which we were told is made extremely strong. Gross. I don’t think I can ever be a true Spaniard if I have to drink that. We decided to pass on trying that, ahah. We eventually left Camelot in search of another discotheque, Circulo, which we found but required 6 euros to enter. So we just went back to Camelot, where this time we met a group of about 6 or 7 spaniards who we took pictures with and talked with a bit. Once we left, Emily and I caught the late bus (the Bono bus it’s called) without any problems. It turned out to be a great night, the people we were with were so much fun, and now I know where the salsa club is, and we’ve made plans to go there soon for sure! (the Puerto Ricans all know how to salsa, so I’m actually going to learn!).
Today I woke up at about 1pm and ate lunch (soup, bread, garbazo beans + potatoes, and they had meat to eat…but by then I wasn’t hungry and it looked super sketchy, almost uncooked. After lunch Olga asked me if I wanted to shopping with her and ______. I didn’t catch the last part. I said ok anyway, figuring she said with Matu, or her cousin (Milagros’ daughter) but then Raul showed up and we ended up driving to a small town near Madrid which has the only shopping mall open on Sundays, as every store is usually closed on Sundays. Raul is hilarious. He talks soo fast I normally don’t understand him, and he always has tons of energy, which is completely contrasted with Olga’s usual silence. Shopping with them was much better. We moved a lot quicker through the stores, and although I didn’t get anything I think I know what items I want to buy in the future. We had coffee after (chocolate expresso with whipped cream on top) and also a bizcocho, a cheesecake with a raspberry topping that was delicious. The mall we went to had even more stores than the one in Toledo. It also had an attached skiing ramp. Yes. The ramp is enclosed and has snow and trails, and everything. I couldn’t believe it. We left at about 7:45 in horrible horrible traffic. It took us probably 45minutes to get out of it and actually start moving. On the way back Raul told me to not tell José about “prisa”. I had no idea what he was talking about until finally I realized he meant speeding. Haha. I don’t understand a lot of what is said still, but definitely I understand much more than I did the first day or two. We stopped to get Olga’s cousin (I forget her name) and then stopped at a pizza store to pick up two pizzas. One of the pizzas was really good, with a white cheese and maybe white sauce on it. I couldn’t tell if there was sauce or not. It also had onions and bacon and other thigns I couldn’t identify. The other pizza looked exactly like the one we had the first night I was here. I stayed away from it until Matu said “oh you haven’t tried the other pizza! Eat it! You don’t eat anything! You need to fatten up!” So I was forced into having half a piece of that pizza which tasted exactly like I had anticipated, yuck. Of course Matu wanted me to, in addition to my 2.5 large pieces of pizza, eat bread and pesto and fruit, but I managed to convince her that I was indeed very very full. After dinner we watched a movie or a really long show about 7 teenage friends who were all pregnant, while Olga’s cousin played a game on her Nintendo DS. She’s like 30…haha I found this hilarious.
Día Dos. El 15 de enero.
Today was much much better in every possible way. I woke up on time, an amazing feat since I depended upon a pretty sketchy alarm clock to do so. Matu had breakfast “el desayuno” prepared for me before I even got downstairs. She asked if I would prefer my milk warm or cold. I jumped on that and assured her that cold was perfectly fine! She even had Nesquik to make it into chocolate milk, which I found interesting since I didn’t know they drank chocolate milk in Spain. She had a huge postre (torte) waiting for me, and also a loaf of thick almost cheesecake-like bread. I filled up on the large piece of postre she insisted on cutting for me, so I didn’t have a chance to try the other bread. The postre was interesting, not really the taste I was expecting. It looked like cream cheese in the middle, but it tasted a bit different than that. Also, the bread portion of it was very sweet.
At 9am we had written exams at the Fundacion. My host dad, José (I finally asked what I should call them this morning) rode the bus with me and walked me to the Fundacion. I am soo glad he did because I still can barely find the Fundacion from La Plaza where the bus drops me off. The streets of Toledo are windy and crazy, and still make little sense to me. During our walk to the Fund my host dad pointed out the Cathedral and other buildings. Also, today I saw my first open-air fish market. Well, let’s be honest. I smelled it way before I saw it! There were like 3 fish markets and one open-air fruit/produce market we passed on our walk.
However, before lunch started these markets had closed down and been washed out (we realized they wash them after seeing the wet roads and wondering if it had rained…it took an embarrassing amount of time to figure out that the roads were solely wet near where the fish markets had been..oops).
After the written exams we had a little break before the oral interviews began, so a bunch of us went wandering around Toledo in search of much-needed coffee. We eventually found a café bar and went inside, only we ended up ordering orange juices after seeing that they were hand-squeezed. The best orange juice I have had in a while, 1.2 euros. Also, we found it difficult to order anything at restaurants because they don’t have menus. They will have a sign that lists maybe 3 items, and that’s it. However, looking around it’s pretty clear they serve much much more than 3 things. Ordering coffee would have been interesting to do, since we didn’t really know what to ask for. Finding out what to order is going to be one of the hardest things to do here, I think. We eventually wandered back (there are stores everywhere here!) and I did my oral interview which turned out just to be picking classes. I got into all the classes I wanted, and it turns out I only have class Tuesday through Thursday. However, Wednesdays I have a class that goes until 9, which actually, still ends before dinner begins in my family. Soo different than the US.
After oral interviews Kyle, Lis, and I went wandering around Toledo again, and I got some great photos (even if I did look like a tourist. It had to be done sometime).
There are so many stores that sell swords and nothing else. We counted over 7 when we walked around. We actually ended up getting a bit lost, but it was to our benefit as we found a lookout area that overlooks another huge artistic building (either a cathedral or it’s the building for the military, not sure yet) and the whole landscape. It was beautiful! We did find our way back, just in time to stop for a cerveza with lemon, that tasted like cerveza mixed with lemonade. We also learned that every drink is served with a tapa (small dish of food, in this case a sandwich with chips and olives). We sat and talked, and Kyle and Lis tried the vino as well, which I am told, is delicious. We then had orientation, which was long and a bit boring but we got through it and then had our Fiesta Bienvenida at the Fund where they served many varieties of tapas, and sweets, and seafood mixes on hard bread chips, pasta salads. I loved the dulces (I didn’t try the flan because I have before I didn’t like it, and there were sooo many choices I just had to try other things!) I had a piece of cake? I don’t really know what to call it that tasted sort of like caramel and also another cake? That was made of chocolate and coffee flavors. Delicious. Then, we had a “tuna” as Matu called it, come in. It was a group of 5 guys adorned in traditional garb that played guitar and other instruments. I think the band is similar to that of a Mariachi band. One kept getting girls to dance and actually I was chosen! I have a picture, no worries.
After this a few of us sat around talking for a bit, debating whether to go out to the party everyone else was going to. Everyone was still tired though, and I felt I should get back here so we didn’t. I think tomorrow I am going to go salsa dancing with some girls I met though! I got home at around 11, which is really quite early for Spaniards. Matu, Olga, and her boyfriend, Raul were downstairs watching tv when I got home. I talked with them for a bit before heading to bed. Raul is a fan of the Madrid Real soccer team, and hates Barcelona’s team apparently. He kept showing me pictures of soccer players, but I couldn’t really understand what their names were since he talks so darn fast.
Today was great, and relaxing. A great day for accustoming to life here, although I did not get the chance to siesta, but hopefully tomorrow ;)
PS: Spanish keyboards are indeed different. It took me two long minutes to find the @ button and then figure out how to get it to work. Some numbers here have 2 symbols on them, so there is a special key you press to get one, and then just shift to get the other.
PPS: My address here:
Lindsey Anderson
Estudios Internacionales
Fundación Ortega y Gasset
Callejón de San Justo, s/n
45001 Toledo, SPAIN
Hasta manana!
Today was much much better in every possible way. I woke up on time, an amazing feat since I depended upon a pretty sketchy alarm clock to do so. Matu had breakfast “el desayuno” prepared for me before I even got downstairs. She asked if I would prefer my milk warm or cold. I jumped on that and assured her that cold was perfectly fine! She even had Nesquik to make it into chocolate milk, which I found interesting since I didn’t know they drank chocolate milk in Spain. She had a huge postre (torte) waiting for me, and also a loaf of thick almost cheesecake-like bread. I filled up on the large piece of postre she insisted on cutting for me, so I didn’t have a chance to try the other bread. The postre was interesting, not really the taste I was expecting. It looked like cream cheese in the middle, but it tasted a bit different than that. Also, the bread portion of it was very sweet.
At 9am we had written exams at the Fundacion. My host dad, José (I finally asked what I should call them this morning) rode the bus with me and walked me to the Fundacion. I am soo glad he did because I still can barely find the Fundacion from La Plaza where the bus drops me off. The streets of Toledo are windy and crazy, and still make little sense to me. During our walk to the Fund my host dad pointed out the Cathedral and other buildings. Also, today I saw my first open-air fish market. Well, let’s be honest. I smelled it way before I saw it! There were like 3 fish markets and one open-air fruit/produce market we passed on our walk.
However, before lunch started these markets had closed down and been washed out (we realized they wash them after seeing the wet roads and wondering if it had rained…it took an embarrassing amount of time to figure out that the roads were solely wet near where the fish markets had been..oops).
After the written exams we had a little break before the oral interviews began, so a bunch of us went wandering around Toledo in search of much-needed coffee. We eventually found a café bar and went inside, only we ended up ordering orange juices after seeing that they were hand-squeezed. The best orange juice I have had in a while, 1.2 euros. Also, we found it difficult to order anything at restaurants because they don’t have menus. They will have a sign that lists maybe 3 items, and that’s it. However, looking around it’s pretty clear they serve much much more than 3 things. Ordering coffee would have been interesting to do, since we didn’t really know what to ask for. Finding out what to order is going to be one of the hardest things to do here, I think. We eventually wandered back (there are stores everywhere here!) and I did my oral interview which turned out just to be picking classes. I got into all the classes I wanted, and it turns out I only have class Tuesday through Thursday. However, Wednesdays I have a class that goes until 9, which actually, still ends before dinner begins in my family. Soo different than the US.
After oral interviews Kyle, Lis, and I went wandering around Toledo again, and I got some great photos (even if I did look like a tourist. It had to be done sometime).
There are so many stores that sell swords and nothing else. We counted over 7 when we walked around. We actually ended up getting a bit lost, but it was to our benefit as we found a lookout area that overlooks another huge artistic building (either a cathedral or it’s the building for the military, not sure yet) and the whole landscape. It was beautiful! We did find our way back, just in time to stop for a cerveza with lemon, that tasted like cerveza mixed with lemonade. We also learned that every drink is served with a tapa (small dish of food, in this case a sandwich with chips and olives). We sat and talked, and Kyle and Lis tried the vino as well, which I am told, is delicious. We then had orientation, which was long and a bit boring but we got through it and then had our Fiesta Bienvenida at the Fund where they served many varieties of tapas, and sweets, and seafood mixes on hard bread chips, pasta salads. I loved the dulces (I didn’t try the flan because I have before I didn’t like it, and there were sooo many choices I just had to try other things!) I had a piece of cake? I don’t really know what to call it that tasted sort of like caramel and also another cake? That was made of chocolate and coffee flavors. Delicious. Then, we had a “tuna” as Matu called it, come in. It was a group of 5 guys adorned in traditional garb that played guitar and other instruments. I think the band is similar to that of a Mariachi band. One kept getting girls to dance and actually I was chosen! I have a picture, no worries.
After this a few of us sat around talking for a bit, debating whether to go out to the party everyone else was going to. Everyone was still tired though, and I felt I should get back here so we didn’t. I think tomorrow I am going to go salsa dancing with some girls I met though! I got home at around 11, which is really quite early for Spaniards. Matu, Olga, and her boyfriend, Raul were downstairs watching tv when I got home. I talked with them for a bit before heading to bed. Raul is a fan of the Madrid Real soccer team, and hates Barcelona’s team apparently. He kept showing me pictures of soccer players, but I couldn’t really understand what their names were since he talks so darn fast.
Today was great, and relaxing. A great day for accustoming to life here, although I did not get the chance to siesta, but hopefully tomorrow ;)
PS: Spanish keyboards are indeed different. It took me two long minutes to find the @ button and then figure out how to get it to work. Some numbers here have 2 symbols on them, so there is a special key you press to get one, and then just shift to get the other.
PPS: My address here:
Lindsey Anderson
Estudios Internacionales
Fundación Ortega y Gasset
Callejón de San Justo, s/n
45001 Toledo, SPAIN
Hasta manana!
Hola Toledo!!
January 14, 2010
What a day. My flights were all on time and they actually managed to get both of my bags to Madrid, so all in all, a mostly good experience…Well, that’s besides getting searched by TSA and having my carry-on bag taken apart and searched. And the good experience doesn’t include having my carry-on bag checked while sitting at the Chicago airport terminal waiting for my flight, which was apparently too full to fit everyone’s carry-on. I still am in shock that my bag made it to Madrid.
After customs we went out of the Madrid airport and easily found Yuki who was waiting with a “Toledo” sign for us. We then boarded a coach bus and took off for Toledo, an hour-long bus ride. The ride was mostly uneventful, except for noticing that there are “Muebles” stores everywhere. How anyone could sell that much furniture was beyond us. We also saw quite a few Mercedes-Benz dealerships, although one had some…classy…dumptrucks outside of it. Spain definitely wasn’t what I thought it would be like, observing it during that bus ride. It’s very dry, and hardly anything was growing except for a random shrub here and there. The towns and suburbs seem to be very spread out, with lots of wide spaces in between them, but then the apartment buildings are all crammed together, usually connected.
Once we got to the Fundacion we checked in and then had lunch. I’m not quite sure what I ate. There was a yellow soup with potatoes, calamari, and other fish in it, I was not this dish’s biggest fan. Then there was another gravy-type sauce with chunks of what turned out to be bread in it, once again, not my favorite. There was also meat served with the meal, a type of pork-chop in a red sauce, which looked spicy but actually was pretty tasty and not spicy at all. They also served a cup of fruit soup (very good) and salad (with oil and vinegar as the dressing…not my favorite yet). There were also other pasta salad things that I did not have room to try.
After the meal we met and received a tour of the Fundacion. I’m planning on posting pictures later.
Right before we met our families (remember I was going on very, very, very little sleep during this whole day) we had a meeting where family information was gone over. A lot of topics were covered, and to be honest, I was way too tired to even keep an attention span or be able to translate the speaker’s rapid-fire Spanish…soo I’m doubting I got as much out of that as they wanted us to, but neither did anyone else.
I was so frightened to meet my parents. And go figure, I was the first to be called. A tall (about my height) guy (in his 50s? 60s?) stepped forward. I walked down the stairs (because we were previously upstairs) to meet him and got to do the infamous Spanish cheek kiss greeting, which actually didn’t go as bad or as awkwardly as I thought it would. We then went into the cafeteria again for treats, coffee, water, etc. Turns out my host-mom’s sister also does a homestay for this program, and so I was able to meet her and her and her student (Anna) sat at our table with us. We sat for quite a while chatting. It was almost impossible to understand what my host-dad was saying at first. His accent seems pretty thick (to me). But, eventually I got a little better at understanding, however speaking was a different matter. I think I was way too tired to even try speaking Spanish, so none of it came out right. The conversation flowed ok, and then we took a taxi ride to our apartments. The taxi ride was crazy. The roads in Toledo are so tiny that a car can barely fit through or make a turn. I thought we were going to scrape sides with so many things the whole time, but somehow we didn’t. I live exactly where I was looking at on Google maps! It’s a cute, 2-floor apartment with 3 bedrooms. I think this is the first time that I have ever had my own room. The first floor has a bathroom, kitchen, living room/dining area. Up the stairs to the left is my host-parent’s bedroom, and to the right is my bedroom, Olga’s (my 29 year old host sister) bedroom, and a bathroom. Olga and Matu (what I’m supposed to call her, not Matutina) work until 9 so it was just host-dad (not sure what I’m supposed to call him yet…oops) and I from about 5 until then. He’s very nice and showed me pictures of their past homestay girls and talked everything from US politics to the Haiti disaster to Spain’s history to their sheep farm in Leon. We still had a lot of confusions as he speaks no English except the random words he’ll cry out when I’m saying them, and I speak sketchy Spanish as of right now. However, overall, I would say that conversation went relatively well. Then we had a very awkward conversation about whether I should wear shoes in the house (I ended up not, and then getting made fun of by Olga’s boyfriend) and whether I wanted to continue talking, nap, or unpack. I chose to unpack. Once I was done he showed me around the neighborhood a bit, telling me where my bus picks up and drops off, and also where to buy school supplies. We continued to have awkward conversations until Olga returned with her boyfriend. Shortly after, Matu arrived home and, after opening the gift I gave them, set to making dinner. She said dinner would consist of pizza (“Do you like pizza? Yes.”) and soup (“ Do you like sopa? Yes.”). Well when dinner rolled around we ate soup, it consisted of tiny noodles, tinier than macaroni, and had a salty taste to it. I actually really liked the soup. Then we had pizza. Spanish pizza is nothing like American pizza. I still can’t believe of all the things I ate tonight that I had trouble getting pizza down. Pizza?! We had French bread with this thick sauce stuff (I forget the name) consisting of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and some mystery ingredient that we never did get to translate right. This had an interesting taste, but was actually pretty good. Much better than the pizza by far. They then ate the cheese I brought (they just cut it off in one huge portion for each person to gnaw on…). I helped as much as I could with dishes before Matu chased me to bed (I am exhausted). My room is cute, a bright pink comforter on a pretty small bed, a desk and chair, and an armoir in the corner for my clothes. I like it. J
I don’t know if it’s because I’m so exhausted or because my family is nice enough to be like my family from home, but I do feel a bit homesick tonight. No time for that, though! I have to get up at 7:30am to get ready and catch my bus to school by 9!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
One week left before I leave for Spain! My flight leaves at 4pm on the 13th of January, goes to Philadelphia, and then arrives in Madrid, Spain at 3:15am our time, 10:15am their time. I'm a little worried about how long the flight is going to be...and how tired I am going to be when I get there. From Madrid we take a bus (3 hours long I think) to Toledo. Well, to outside the walls around 'old Toledo'. From there we get to carry our luggage inside the walls of Toledo and meet our family at the Fundacion...We'll see how that all goes :)
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