La Feria--Day 1

Today I got my first good look at la Feria here in Zafra. It is rather amazing when you consider its history. It is the 559th fiesta de San Miguel; that means this celebration has been going on since the 1400s! I really wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. We studied la Feria in Seville in one of my Spanish classes, but one of my teachers had told me that it was only loosely similar. Basically, thus far, it seems that la Feria is a combination rodeo/state fair/bazaar/party (like club atmosphere)/carnival/Chinatown surprise (Emma & Chelsea, get the reference?). There are lots of booths where you buy anything ranging from mattresses to fur jackets to sausages & cheese to knives to agriculture equipment to children’s toys to artisan goods to practically anything else you could imagine. Competing with these are the infinite number of temporary restaurants and food vendors selling lots of Spanish food and hamburgers, which definitely seem to made with ham rather than beef here. Here are some examples of booths that I saw yesterday: 

Probably more appealing to me were the animals. We didn’t get to see very many of them, and we didn’t see any of them do anything exciting (maybe today!), but I still loved them. We mostly got to see the cows (not black & white like my favorite, but still awesome) and the Iberian pigs, which are one of the things Spain is famous for. There are ginormous and black and still very cute, though they are not pink. At the same time, it makes me kind of sad knowing that most of them are grown so big only to be killed so that their humongous legs can be cured and eaten by some Spanish family. I know, such is the way of life, and I love chorizo, so I am not going to complain too much. But look at that cute, little (I mean, big) pig!

 

Spanish Misunderstanding

Here goes a typical Spanish transaction/interaction for me...I go into a bookstore to look around. I decide I want to buy a notebook. I go to the register to pay. On the back it says 40 euro cents, so I take it out to pay. I give the very cute Spanish guy my 40 cents and he says something about one. I think I need one more cent for tax or something, so I go digging in my bag for it. I finally hand him a 2 cent coin because i can't find a one cent coin. He is looking at me strangely until I realize he is saying that I've already paid and he has no idea what I am doing. I say yes in agreement and walk out, leaving behind my extra two cents, all the while realizing that there is no one cent coin anyways...if only I looked more foreign people would understand that I am only a clueless American!

La red (The Internet)

Those of you who would like to speak to me relatively in person, like on Skype or Facetime or messaging, will unfortunately have to continue to wait.  It may seem like all that I talk about is the fact that I do not have Internet, but I have realized that I am an addict.  There, I said it, so I guess I am taking the first step to recovery.  When I go more than a few hours without it, I get grumpy, a little twitchy, and feel the pains of withdrawal.  Seem a little extreme?  Well, at the very least, I have decided that having Internet is like taking a shower for me.  It isn't exactly necessary, but me and everyone around me is much happier when I do it every day.  It doesn't help that I desperately need it for the classes I am taking on line.  Basically, this is how I feel going without regular Internet for the last 10 days...

Let me explain a bit why it is so difficult to obtain Internet in this lovely country that I am swiftly developing a love/hate relationship with (though in truth, I mostly love it).  To get pretty much any type of Internet, with the exception of those terrible USB sticks, you must have a residence card.  To get the residence card, you have to travel to another city with the right documentation and then it may take 20+ days before you receive what is know as the NIE card.  It would have been tolerable, if we had been told this right away, but not everyone, including the people working at various stores, knows this.  Therefore, they let you sign up, tell you it is processing, to come back, and then WHAM! They hit you up side the head with the truth, that it just can't happen for you until you get that little card.  All that hope, up in flames.  The only good news I have is that we may be able to have our landlord "co-sign" with us, so that we can get internet in the meantime.  Only time will tell.  Wish me luck with satisfying my addiction!
 

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY SHOUT-OUT TO EMILY!!

Happy Birthday, Emily!  Wish we were at the lake right now, soaking up some good ol' American sun :) Not that el sol espanola isn't pretty great!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT-OUT TO EMMA!!

Happy Birthday, Emma!  Love you and wish we could be together today!!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! And Logistics

I had my first day of school yesterday at IES Cristo del Rosario. For the most part it was uneventful, but it was still very exciting. My schedule is still not quite set, but tomorrow I am meeting with the whole bilingual section department to fix it. There are seven English classes in the bilingual section, 3 first year classes, 2 second year classes, 1 third year class, and 1 fourth year class. In addition to those 7 classes, I will have four content classes. So far, it seems like those classes will include natural science, arts, and something else.

I arrived at the school around 10AM to meet with my mentor, Chus, and tour the school. Just to see how a lesson goes, I sat in on a 2nd year English lesson. I was surprised by how good they were. They were learning about possessions. I had to explain the difference between a wallet, a purse, and a bag, which is a lot harder than you would think. Then Chus had to leave to take care of some family things, so I went with Antonio to tour the school and attend his last two classes. The first one was 1st year bachillerato, which is the first year of school after the 4 years of obligatory secondary school. It wasn’t bilingual section, so the students were of a lower level, and I won’t be working with them again most likely. It was kind of scary because Antonio just had me stand in the front and answer questions. I answered questions ranging like do I have a boyfriend (No), do I like Spanish boys (don’t know yet, but they smoke :/), do I like Spain (yes), and are cheerleaders in the U.S. what they seem like in the movies (no, lol). Then I had to ask them questions for them to answer in English, which was even harder. Finally the students begged to help me practice my Spanish, and I actually did alright :) The next class I sat in on was the 1st year bilingual section, so like 12 year olds. They seem so young and adorable. The class followed the same format, but the students were much more comfortable asking me questions. I am glad that I will have so many opportunities to work with the younger ones; I LOVE THEM ALREADY!

After school, Marissa and I tried to get phones, but the store only had one, so she got it. I went back today, and they said they are out indefinitely. I really don’t want to spend €50 on a cheap phone, but that might be what I have to do. We also tried to figure out what to do for internet, but the problem is that we really can’t get a 12-month or 2-year contract and many places want you to have your NIE card, which will take at least a couple more weeks. We ultimately settled on a modem with 5GB/month, but we needed a bank account with our passport. This morning, after stopping by the school to work on my schedule, I went to the bank and managed to open an account (ALL BY MYSELF!), though I need to go back with a phone number and my NIE card. Unfortunately, still no internet because when I went back to the store, they wrote my information down and told me Friday, but Friday is la Feria, so everything is closed. I think we are going to go back tomorrow and try to figure things out. ¡Qué complicado! It is a pain, but in the end, I will have internet at home and will be able to communicate with the outside world!

El fin de la semana

We have had a fabulous weekend here in Zafra getting to know our town and each other.  Rebecca stayed at our flat this weekend.  We are very lucky that we can host guests; there is an extra trundle bed that stores underneath mine.  We stayed up soooo late last night, like 3:30 AM, just talking and sharing stories.  Rebecca is a hilarious story teller, very animated.  She also tells stories like my sister Katie (shout-out to you, Sister!), where the story starts about one thing, but then ends up about 50 other things before finally circling around to the original point.  We had our first home-cooked “family” dinner, cooked by yours truly!  We ate tortellini with marinara sauce and salad, served with tinto de verano, which is this cheap wine-like drink that is fizzy (sprite-like) and the alcohol-equivalent of a light beer.  One of the strange things about Spanish homes is that many of them do not have dining tables.  It is much more popular to sit around a table in the living room and eat, which is what we did.  I think I am going to be the flat chef, since I like to cook and Marissa prefers to clean.

 

 We went out and walked around the town, trying to find places where we can buy cell phones yesterday, but it is all very confusing.  I don’t want to get one and then realize that I could have gotten a cheaper phone and “plan” elsewhere.  I say “plan” because I will actually be getting a pay-as-you-go phone, but there are still a large variety of rates and types.  It is looking like we will be going with Vodafone, which is Spain’s equivalent of Verizon; I actually heard they are owned by the same company.  

I already think we have found one of “our places.”  It is around a block from our flat and has good food, relatively cheap food, and free Wifi.  Considering how Internet starved we are right now, that is pretty much the clincher right there.  We have already gone by twice, though today we had to find somewhere else because it was closed.  That is one of the things about Spain, nearly EVERYWHERE is closed on Sundays.  I was really thankful we found another place up the street because I had some homework to do.  If we don’t figure out Internet at the flat soon, I have a feeling we are going to become experts on all the places around town that you can get free Wifi at.  

School starts tomorrow, and I have no idea what to expect.  My mentor, Chus, is being very Spanish about the whole thing, so I feel a bit overwhelmed.  I am fairly sure that I am supposed to go to school and walk around meeting teachers and getting to know the place and that is it.  I also think that tomorrow may be the only day that I am expected to go to school this week.  My schedule is not set yet because they are supposed to meet on Wednesday to finalize it.  Zafra’s Feria starts on Thursday, so I won’t have lessons at least on Thursday, Friday, or Monday and possibly Tuesday as well.  I have no clue what I am going to do with myself if I have all this free time, but I guess I will get to see a lot of Feria and walk around town a ton.  I’ll let y’all know how it all pans out!