Primer dia de clases!
This morning my roommate, Melanie, got up to go running. Before she returned, I got up, and discovered the electricity was out and it was very, very dark. Then, a minute later, someone knocks on the door. I go and look out, and it's Melanie! Her key won't work. So I scramble to find mine in the dark, come to try to unlock the door (you have to have a key from both sides) only to discover Pilar's keys are still hanging in the keyhole, and that's why she couldn't use her key. So then she stumbles in in the darkness, and we try the lights again. So we go to wake Pilar, who shows us the fuse box. Turns out that for some reason the braker tripped while Melanie was out. Weird. Very weird. Definitely a great start to the day, though!
I have two classes MW, one class TTh.
One of the classes is basically whatever we want it to be. Attendance doesn't count if we're sick or whatever, we can read something different if what we're reading is boring, the final will be "as easy as possible..." love it. This will make the trip much more enjoyable. And with tiny classes (6, 7 people) it will be a lot more interesting.
After classes, today I got a little more "culture." I went with my host mom, Pilar, to the bank, because I needed to use the ATM, but didn't know how. We were waiting in line, and then it appeared to be our turn, so I start walking up, then the man starts talking to me in rapid Spanish, and Pilar is responding, and I'm just standing there, then she turns to me and explains it's not my turn, he was waiting for something. I felt quite silly... especially after he's looking at me like I'm crazy, and she says, oh, it's okay, she's only been here two days.... haha! At least after that he was much more friendly and sympathetic, once he knew why I was blatantly ignoring his instructions to "wait a minute"!
After the bank, we went shopping for almuerzo. Almuerzo is lunch, but it's the equivalent of dinner in the US. It's the BIG meal. Three or four plates. Everything in Spain closes up between 2 and 4 or 5, and everyone goes home to eat and take a nap during the hot part of the day. Literally. Nothing is open. At all. Anyway, Pilar and I went to the "fruteria" which is the fruit market. It was a little shop full of produce - vegetables and fruits. Just like the produce section of the grocery store.
After that, we stopped in the "papeleria" which literally is the paper shop. They have magazines, books, notebooks, pens, postcards, erasers, pencils, paper, everything paper related. Melanie and I are going to go back there sometime soon... they have some little notebooks with 101 Dalmations covers that will be perfect for recording random vocabulary in.
Today after classes, we also stopped at the "pasteleria" which is the dessert shop... :) We're celebrating a couple of birthdays tonight at FHE, so we bought a cake that has shaved chocolate on the top. I think it might've been a tad overpriced.. but it looks reaaaaaallllly good.... so that's okay... :)
As you can see, in Spain there's a lot of little specialized stores, especially in smaller towns like this. They do have supermarkets, of course, Correfours is similar to WalMart, only a bit smaller. But most of the town is apartment buildings, where the street level is little shops, then all the apartments are on the upper floors. I really like the setup. It's a lot more personal than going to WalMart all the time. You see your neighbors more, get to know the shopkeepers, etc.
Viva Espana!
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