Settling into Routine

Spanish Classes

I finally started Spanish classes with LAE. I am taking classes twice a week on Tuesday and Thursdays in the evening from 7:30pm-9:30pm. When Erin and I took a placement test with the Universidad de Jesus Maestro, I was given a placement of A2, the second lowest placement. That result was a combination of my writing/reading test (my strongest area) and my oral/comprehension test (my weakest). For LAE, I only took a reading and writing quiz so I wasn’t as surprised to end up in B1. I was nervous about this though, since I had scored lower at the other institution due to my weakness in verbal communication. However I had an amazing experience during my first class. The whole class is spoken in Spanish and I was really alarmed at first because the teacher was speaking so fast (not as fast as our landlady though). However, I was able to answer her questions about me: “What’s your name? Where are you from? What are you doing here? Do you like it? How often do you work?...etc.” Which helped me start to settle in. This course is the type of class where you just jump in whenever you signed up, so we immediately started on subjunctive, which I haven’t used in so long and was honestly still confusing for me when I learned it. While I know the endings that go with the verbs and correct subject, when to use it was still confusing to me beyond saying (in Spanish) “When I was a child…” = “Cuando era una nina…” Not that I am magically fluent and comfortable with subjunctive now, but I definitely felt much better by the end of the class. I was hoping for a bit more review but I will do that myself over the weekend. I talked to my professora after class, her name is Angelica, and told her in broken Spanish that since the test was only reading and writing and that’s my strength, I am worried about this class because my listening and speaking skills are not very good. She was so kind and reassured me I did fine today and that things will get better and I can always retake the class it’s not a problem. I just nodded my head, thanked her and I guess I’m staying in the B1 level class! I really liked taking this 1.5 hour long class and being forced to really use my Spanish to communicate anything I wanted to say – especially since I’m living with my two friends, we speak English all of the time. I use my Spanish when conversing with Spanish people but that’s mostly for everyday errands like groceries and ordering food so it was really good to be able to practice using Spanish in other contexts. 1.5 hours was definitely enough time as I was quite tired by the end of that period of time. Even one class period made me feel so much more confident in my Spanish abilities and I had a nice conversation at the taco place on the corner of the street with the guy making me tacos – we talked about how corn tacos are better than wheat tacos and he laughed at me for wanting all of my tacos to be the same instead of mixing them up (but the chicken is sooo good!). I am the worst at speaking Spanish of my co-workers (they are fluent) so this was a really good confidence booster. One of my co-workers Sarah was talking to me about how she was timid to use her Spanish but that’s what really helped her become better at Spanish was just practicing, and just from this one lesson I can really see that.

Volleyball

Every Saturday there is a training/open gym with Centro Voleibol Madrid. It reminds me of the open gyms at the YMCA at home, except that this isn’t just an open gym. It really is a training – they truly work you out for that first hour. The first time I went, for the next three days after I struggled sitting down, standing up and walking. Like…there’s the good type of pain that comes from being sore, and then there’s the actually painful type of pain that comes from being sore – and the latter is what I experienced after that first workout. I’m used to running two laps around the gym…the first day we ran 5, and the next day we ran 10 laps with shuffling, high knees, butt kicks and karaoke mixed in. This is obviously a great way to get in shape, but man did it really kick my butt that first time after not having truly worked out in MONTHS. I really love going though. I am starting to recognize and know people there. Even though my Spanish is limited and most of the other people’s English is limited, we are still able to talk a little. And volleyball is fun, so no matter what we have a good time. I trained with the team that practices one day, but afterwards I went back to the mixed training team. Even though the mix group has a lot of beginners, I found it more fun. The team was really nice, and it was so nice of them to let me play with them, but I am going to the trainings to play for fun, not to re-learn how to play volleyball. Plus, I can’t really commit to being on a team because I won’t necessarily be here every weekend for practice and games. I also don’t want to pay 250 euros up front because I don’t have that! Paying 8 euros every time I come is better to me. I met a girl named Danielle from UCLA who is also in the Auxiliar program, so we struggle with the Spanish communication together. Thankfully there usually is someone who can translate, and if not we just observe and see what other people do, and then do the same. I think it’s cool to learn the terminology for volleyball in Spanish.

• Pasar – to pass

• Matar – to hit literally, to kill. Like…when you have a really good hit it’s a “kill”

• Rematar – to serve

• To set…haven’t gotten that one quite yet

I’m really proud that I’ve learned 1 of the coaches names: “Martin”. And 4 of the names of the people I’ve been playing with: “Luis”, “Victoria”, “Moses” and “Justin” – as in “Justin Beiber” according to him. Names aren’t my forte and with the language barrier I miss a lot of what is being communicate or feel restricted in my communication, so that is especially why I’m glad about this. I’m having a really fun time and it’s something I look forward to every Saturday. I’m nervous when I have to go alone, but each training starts with a game of monkey in the middle, or tag – “pilla pilla” – or some other fun warm up. This confused me and Danielle at first (why are we doing this, this is volleyball practice we thought), but then we realized it really is a good way to warm up and break the ice with people. Volleyball is one of the highlights of my week!

Private Lessons

I have picked up private lessons on the side to make a little extra money. On Wednesdays I tutor a little girl and a teenage boy for 2 hours. We spend half of the time practicing English conversation and the other half doing an activity that I have planned for us. They remind me of the younger and Spanish version of Avrie and Gabe -- I love it. On Thursdays I have English classes with a 13 year old girl -- all the parents want us to do is talk so I really enjoy it. Apparently her parents are sending her to some type of academy like camp this summer in England, so they want her to be able to hold conversations in English which is why they really just want me to do casual conversation with her.

Cooking

As you can see from the picture above, I am cooking to feed myself and not dining out every night even though Spanish food is really good and cheap! There are a couple fruit stands on the way back from work, so I usually pick up some cheap fruits and veggies on my way back. I have had great difficulty finding cheap cans of black beans (although apparently Willa just found some up the street!) so I am trying to learn how to make dried beans! The above picture is my first attempt...I repeatedly read on the internet that I could make dried beans in 1-4 hours...WRONG. The beans above were softer...but not that soft. I find it really interesting what you can and can't find in different countries. Corn tortillas have been hard for me to find, especially the small ones I'm used to in Los Angeles. There are less flavor choices of yogurt, and I've only seen cheddar cheese once in a store. On the flip side, I've found really cheap and delicious tortellini in the store, I've started eating asparagus more, and in general I'm eating a lot healthier here since fruits and veggies are the cheapest things to buy!

-below- Apartment from the outside