"I'm Leavin' On a Jetplane..."

Trip home

First leg: Bus from Jerez to Madrid; June 21-22, 2010, 21:55 to 5:55

Almost didn’t make it. Waited until 3 hours before to buy my bus ticket, thinking…Monday night, no big deal. People should be working and not vacationing quite yet. HA forgot I was in Spain for a minute there. It was the last ticket. Booya (phew!)
Jessi 1 – Procrasination 0

My seat was in the back next to a Congolese man. He spoke French and his native Congolese tribal language. I speak English and Spanish. We communicated well enough for him to make a proposition – if I would be his Spanish girlfriend and accompany him through Madrid. Tempting, but I bought him a Coca-Cola instead.


Second leg: Barajas (Madrid airport); June 22, 6:30 to 11:05

The repressed memories are resurfacing. Not being able to find the baggage claim nor my parents that had come to visit me and the resulting shame from having to ask in English after 3 months of Spanish immersion (Study Abroad 2007). Arriving in Madrid, again, couldn’t find the baggage claim or where in the world – I mean, airport – I was supposed to be (Upon arrival for Teaching Assistant year 2009). Being homeless for a night and sleeping on the cold, hard airport floor before flight to Paris. Actually, the real homeless people had it better because they found the cardboard boxes, sigh. (Semana Santa 2010). 150 euros for my overweight luggage…pa-leeease! (Upon departure from Teaching Assistant year 2009) Barajas- ¿porqué me jodas siempre?


Third: Flight Madrid – Washington D.C., 11:05am to 2:50pm (calculate 7 hours for time change)

Went from lacking to luxury! I watched movies, tv shows (incl. Father Ted, mmhmm Emma, if you happen to read this ever), played computer games (not on my computer, either!), and stuffed my face full of airplane food (honestly, I don’t know why people complain about it). I sat next to someone who neither smelled nor proposed. It was probably the best 9 hours of this lengthy trip.

Fourth: Washington Dulles Airport, 2:50 to 6:06pm

For those of you who know the story about how disappointed I was when I got back from Salamanca underage (20 ½) and thirsty…I got my beer this time! Sam Adams summer ale – good, draught, and American. It came with an American price as well: $7.34, ahh, so expensive! (And don’t worry, I didn’t forget the tip) All the sudden the culture shock sets in. I keep saying ‘perdon’ to people I step on. I’m paying sales tax on my purchases. Not all is bad though. For example, I bought Skittles! And ate the whole bag within 5 minutes. American accents; so far I’ve racked up Texas southern, hick southern, ebonics, Latin American Spanish, western surfer-ish and everything in between. (I am notably lacking New England and the Northwest, though). And then there are the cultural nuances that I just can’t explain.

Fifth: Flight from Dulles to Charlotte, NC Douglas Airport, 6:06 to 7:31pm

Short.

Sixth: Charlotte Douglas Airport 7:31pm to present

More America, lo bueno: killed two birds with one stone (steak + quesadilla) and ate them for dinner.
Also FREE Wifi! And that is how I bring this blog to you in real time (almost).

I have been writing it as I go along today instead of from stale memory tomorrow, when all of this will feel like a weird dream. That’s my excuse, by the way, if some of the entries are a little off…I’m REALLY tired and currently in hour 30 of my trip, only 4 or 5 of which have been sleeping hours.

What I have to look forward to:
Flight Charlotte Douglas to LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS! 10:30 – 11:28pm.
*sigh of relief* that carries all the frustration, confusion, illusion, contentment, and excitement that I have felt for the past couple of days.

Trip TOTAL: 33 hours and more euros/dollars than I would like to count.

FLASHBACK: Just before Christmas

Just to give you some background info since this post is a little out of place and context...I wrote this directly after the meet-and-greet luncheon with my co-workers at school. They put off scheduling it for so long that it ended up being a pre-Christmas luncheon instead. It lasted from 3pm until about 6:30 or 7pm and consisted of 3 courses, a few midday rounds of wine, and was topped off with a shot. Knowing the context it's in, it can still be a little confusing because of the references to the book I was reading at the time, the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca, and just my generally disconnected, stream-of-consciousness tone. Regardless, it's a memorable piece for me because I wrote it in the moment and it marks one of my "checkpoints" in my Spanish experience where I felt significantly more immersed and successful within this foreign language and culture.

Spain’s “Three Cups of Tea”: Copa de vino, café, chupito.

“Here (In Pakistan and Afghanistan), we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything…”

Quote from Haji Ali in Greg Mortenson’s book “Three Cups of Tea”

We’ll say it a little more relaxed for the Spanish version: Here in Spain, we drink así to get to know one another better; after a glass of wine you are an acquaintance, after a cup of coffee you are a friend, and after the post-luncheon shot, I guess, you are drinking buddies. Anyway, this is how the lunch with my fellow teachers went down.

We Americans have this idea that, with a glass of wine it is a little easier to speak Spanish. Therefore, with the growing friendship between my coworkers and I and the extra confidence boost that the ‘riojita’ offered, my Spanish was very good at lunch today, and that fact was confirmed by the rest of the teachers and is not just a figment of my imagination.

What’s more, I am that much closer to being a part of Spain. I don’t mean as a Spaniard, but as an essential part, nonetheless. I ate typical jerezano food and I enjoyed the beautiful sunset across the Spanish plains from the punto de vista of a viña, that is to say, the Spanish plains. It is the sight that Federico García Lorca epitomized in his poetry.

From now on, I will not avoid addressing teachers because I don’t know their names. I will no longer be intimidated in the teacher’s lounge when they are making announcements and I have no clue whether they apply to me or not. Because now I am, officially, a drinking buddy amongst my fellow teachers.


Spanglish translations:
Así- so, like this
Riojita- rioja (type of Spanish red wine) + -ita (diminutive)
Jerezano- typical of Jerez de la Frontera, the city I live in
Punto de vista- vantage point
Viña- vineyard

What?! Halfway over you tell me?

Alright, so I said that I would keep my blog up and I haven't. Shame on me. It's been about four and a half months now, and the only excuse I had was valid through October and no later...the fact that I didn't have a computer 'til then. I'm not really sure why I chose now to begin my blog again. Maybe because I don't want this year to pass by without jotting a few memories down...maybe I'm in need of something to keep me occupied before the rain kicks me into a serious SADS-type mood...or maybe it really is just better late than never. Whatever the motivation, here I am now!!

I'll start off with an incredibly brief synopsis of what has happened this year. Then, believe it or not, I did write some journal entries/blogs of specific events in anticipation of publishing them, so I'll go ahead and post those as well. After that, I promise I will write about my future experiences in a timely manner. Scout's honor. (And if I don't, well, I was never a girl scout anyway ;)

So, here are the places I have traveled so far, starting with the most recent:

Granada, Spain (Jan 15-18)
Barbara, Maddie, and I
at the Alhambra


Caceres, Spain (Dec 23-26)
Christmas Dinner with my roommate Monica's family

Barcelona, Spain (Dec 11-13)

Emily and I on top of Gaudi's Casa Battlo

Tangier, Morocco, Africa (Dec 4-6)
Zoco market in Morocco. I came back with a tea set, a blanket, and a few other handmade trinkets!

Gibraltar, British territory (Nov ??)

Can you guess which ones are Kim and I
and which one is the real monkey??

San Lucar, Spain (Oct 23-24)

The boardwalk along the coast







Lisbon and Fatima, Portugal (Oct 9-12)

The CIEE crew (minus Mark)
on the beach in Lisbon
Our first trip together!

I have also been, relatively frequently, to:
Cadiz, Sevilla, Arcos de la Frontera
All are cities in Andalucia and within an hour train/bus ride away from Jerez (my city).

Upcoming Trips:
Paris! (Easter week a.k.a. our Spring Break)

The Hopefuls:
Amsterdam (Easter week, in addition to Paris)
Ronda, Spain
Salamanca, Spain, to revisit my alma mater (well, I guess Spanish universities don't technically have alma maters)
Cordoba, Spain
Switzerland to visit Isabel
and Fez, Casablanca, and/or Marrakesh, Morocco

Alright, since I'm a working girl now, the rest of this will have to wait. I have to get to sleep so I have enough energy to work with the chil'rens tomorrow.

Buenas Noches

I'm finally in Spain!

El día primero:

Well, the first two days were kind of rolled into one considering that I’ve pretty much been awake the whole time. The traveling was exhausting. I sat in the airport alone for 3 hours until I found a person from my program and we spent the last couple of hours together, which made time go by faster. A seven hour plane ride doesn’t sound too bad, but it’s worse than you would think. It’s funny, though, we took off at 8:50, had dinner at 3am, had breakfast a few hours later and finally landed at 9:35am. It seemed like forever!
Today definitely had its ups and downs. After we got settled in the hotel, Gina (my roommate) and I went to the Plaza Mayor (the town square) and had lunch. Spanish food is so different I don’t even know what to order. Today I had un sandwich bacon con huevo – an egg and bacon sandwich. It tasted like breakfast, but is pretty much a staple for any meal. Apparently the main Spanish foods include meat and eggs. In fact, tortillas in Spain are omelets, not flat bread. Then we rested awhile before our program meeting. The jet lag didn’t hit until after I had a nap, then I couldn’t function until I had a coke. I had my first real conversation with the bartender at the hotel who served me my coke and Spanish olives (gross). We spoke Spanglish, but he was really helpful and patient with me and my Spanish. I almost missed the bus tour of Madrid because we were talking, but I did make it and Madrid is so beautiful! It is a perfect balance between classic unified architecture and industrial, progressive city. There are a lot of elaborate fountains and statues and such that add personality and culture to the bustling city. I didn’t learn much because my brain was exhausted from listening to yet another Spanish lecture, but tomorrow we will get a more intimate tour of a couple of the main attractions of Madrid – el museo del prado and el palacio real. More about that tomorrow.
I didn’t experience much culture shock today because it has not yet felt much different from the States. All of us program members have been speaking English to each other today because our bodies and brains so tired from traveling and from listening to three long Spanish lectures. We had to have a transition day, I guess. Tomorrow, though, we’ve agreed to try to speak more Spanish and less English. It gets so frustrating sometimes because of our lack of vocabulary knowledge. I feel like I absorbed a lot today regarding the language, though, and hopefully it won’t take long for me to be comfortable speaking to Spaniards in their own language. It’s really intimidating at first because they speak SO fast and it takes so long for me to process what they are saying and then respond. I’ll get the hang of it eventually.
My program friends and I finished off the night with a glass of wine and we’re turning in early. It’s about 10:45, not much time after dinnertime in Spain, but I am about to go to sleep. ¡Buenos noches!