Mi Puente

An update! The past week has gone relatively well. Last Tuesday we went to a Flamenco show. It was only a half hour show but it was so cool (and very sexy!). There was only one dancer, and it was actually a guy – I had imagined that it would be a woman. I don’t have any good pictures because I was too busy being in awe of his dance moves, haha...

We only had class from Monday through Wednesday last week, because Thursday was National Catalonian Day. Friday we had no class either because in Spain, whenever a holiday falls on a Thursday, everyone takes “un puente” (I think that's what it is) - a.k.a, the whole weekend off. All day Thursday were concerts, speeches, demonstrations, etc. Most of my friends went to a free concert in the main park here, but my family invited me to go out with them for a tour of the city, and I obviously couldn’t pass that up.

They enlisted a guy Tony works with, who knows a lot of English, a lot of history, and was extremely nice (unfortunately I can’t even remember his name right now, which is pretty embarrassing). I essentially had a personal tour guide for the evening! We mostly walked around Barri Gotic and Las Ramblas, visiting different churches, plazas, etc., stopping for ice cream, for churros (delicious, delicious crispy fried pastries…de-licious), etc. We went to a few places that I had gone to before in CIEE’s tours, but also some new ones. Hopefully I can relocate the new places and play tourguide for some of my friends in the future. It’s so easy to get lost in the Barri Gotic – it’s an absolute labyrinth of streets. Anyway, it was nice to have someone to talk to in English, and someone who could translate fully to Noemi and Tony (luckily, devil-child passed out in her stroller about halfway through the trip...).

We went out afterwards for dinner – Noemi had wanted to go out for traditional Catalan food but a lot of places were closed for the holiday, so we ended up getting pizza… It was a lovely evening in itself, but it was also nice because it made me feel like my family here actually wants me to be here, and that I’m not just a source of extra income. It’s been hard to feel comfortable yet because of the language barrier, but even so, I feel that it is difficult to be suddenly living so closely with complete strangers – getting used to one another’s habits, rules, etc. – regardless of language.

It’s so funny how I can go into a restaurant or café and order something in Spanish, be proud of my pronunciation, and then have them answer me back in English. Is it that obvious? Haha. My goal is, by the end of the semester, to be able to trick someone (store clerk or otherwise) into thinking I might actually be Spanish. I’m not sure if that’s even possible, but I can hope! It’s so difficult to get the pronunciation exactly right, especially here with the mix of Catalan and Castellano. I’ve considered trying to learn a little Catalan, because from what I gather, they tend to appreciate bad Catalan better than good Castellano – but it is SO confusing. Many words are the same, even more are very similar but slightly different, and then most are just completely different. It’s impossible. I was chatting with a guy at a café, actually, and he was saying that it was nice that I could at least speak some Spanish, and then asked if I knew any Catalan – too which I responded meekly, “bon dia?” and received a giant hug and smile for my efforts. I think I will try to learn some standard sayings and some food-related words... (food is one of my top priorities in life, if you weren't aware!).

I can feel myself getting slightly better. But it’s tiring – I feel like my brain is functioning at 150% all day every day because I’m trying so hard to pick up on what people are saying, to translate it, to say something back (and say it correctly)… sometimes I wonder if smoke is coming out my ears when I have to say an especially complicated sentence.

The realization of how immersed I am in the language definitely came the other night when I started to count sheep in Spanish…

Anyway. I would like to write more but I have homework to do! Stay tuned to hear about our daytrip to Penedes and Sitges on Friday, and a burglary I witnessed yesterday :( .... !

<3