Cuando me levanto de la mañana todos dias camino a mi escuela, La Universidad de Salamanca. Despues de clase, camino a mi casa, la casa de Pilar. Como la comida y ducho en el baño. Entonces camino a Plaza Mayor. Hablo con mis amigos y compro helado de fresas. Camino a las tiendas and fumo cigarillos. ¡Camino mucho todos los dias en Salamanca! ¡Estoy muy cansado!
Monday morning I showered for the first time in Pilar´s house. I had absolutely no hot water. It felt like what we would drink as ice water in America. I was almost in tears. When I came back to Pilar´s for lunch, I explained how I tried to shower but the water was too cold. Pilar laughed at me because she has a key to turn the hot water tank on. She turns the hot water tank off after each use in order to save electricity. Pilar is EXTREMELY careful about wasting the electricity.
After dinner one night, I went into my bedroom to write and I turned the light on. Pilar came in and said, "¡No luz, no luz! ¡Abierto la ventana!" It was 9:30 at night and it was still sunny outside. Turning on the light is the first thing I´m used to doing when I´m at home. Also, it´s never sunny out still at 9:30 at night! I think I´m already getting used to this though. When I was writing last night Pilar came in and offered to turn the desk lamp on because it was late and starting to get dark. When I get home I hope I am more conscious of how much electricity I use.
Aventuras y tareas de los estudiantes de City Colleges of Chicago
miércoles, 4 de julio de 2007
Suscribirse a:
Enviar comentarios (Atom)
18 comentarios:
Thanks for all your help this morning Erica.. love you for it.
BLOG # 2 ERICA
El restaurante en La Plaza Mayor, Las Torres, fue muy delicioso. Mi amiga Shelley y yo comemos anoche. El camarero fue muy guapo y muy simpático. La comida fue excelente. Comé ensalada con aceitunas verdes y emparadas. Shelley comé ensalada con pollo. Bebemos vino rosado. Las Torres no fue caras.
I really liked this restaurant in the Plaza. The salad I ate was called "Mimosa". The waiter explained that "mimosa" means "to feel tender". He was really helpful and patient with us. It is kind of weird to me that you don´t really have to tip anyone anywhere like you do in America. Someone told me that in Spain when you become a waiter, you become a waiter for life. That´s the career they choose and support their families with.
Speaking of families, last night I sat in the little plaza by my house before I went to bed. It was interesting to sit and watch the little kids playing outside so late at night. In our country they would be in bed already. The most interesting part was the simplicity of the children. In America kids refuse to live without video games or computer games. Here, without that, they were having a blast. They were playing a game like "Marco Polo" where one kid runs around with his eyes closed yelling "¡Hola!" and the other kids try to get away while shouting "¡Aqui!" They were racing around the plaza and even chasing each with something as simple as a twig. It was really cool to observe.
El 1 de julio de 2007
Cuándo yo llegué en España, la cosa de fisrt que vi fue el aeropuerto. El aeropuerto en Madrid no es tan grande como el aeropuerto en Filadelfia ni O´la Liebre (Chicago). Comparado a esos tres, el aeropuerto en PhiIadelphia es el más grande. Pienso que el aeropuerto en Madrid está en el proceso de es modela de nuevo, porque vi bastante de pedacito de trabajadores de construcción. Allí´nada de s para más decir acerca del aeropuerto; ´s no lo mirando´el lo mejor de s en este momento.
Después de que salir el aeropuerto, un autobús viniera a tomarme y el grupo a Salamanca. Llegamos en el campus de Salamanca después de 11 de la mañana. Cuándo nosotros salimos del autobús, nuestros miembros de la familia de anfitrión estuvieron allí, se preparan para tomar los estudiantes. Mi nombre de la madre del anfitrión es Julia Rodriguez Morchon. Ella es una mujer mayor que tiene un hijo y a una hija. Veinte minutos más tarde, otro autobús llegó. Había estudiantes que bajándose del autobús. El shooked de la madre del anfitrión entrega y abrazó a una joven mujer, y yo dije a yo mismo, ¨Don´T me dice que tengo a un compañero de apartamento?¨
De nosotros entraron el coche y su hijo se marchó. Después de que quince minutos de manejar, nosotros llegáramos en el apartamento. Salimos del coche y fuimos adentro. Su apartamento E muy agradable. Es decorado con tantos colores, los retratos, y arrincona repleto de libros. Para el primer tres y un medios días, yo sentía incómodo, porque ella habla a mi compañero de apartamento más que yo. En el tiempo, yo pensé que fui excluido. ¿Espero que ella me dará acaece, porque cómo hace mi madre de anfitrión consigue para saberme?
BLOG # 3
Hay era muy divertido. Fue a escuela y cuando llege a la casa de Pilar, conoce Sergio. Sergio es el nieto de Pilar. El tiene tres anos. El es muy lindo, pero muy loco! Pilar grito "Sergio es muy malo, nino muy malo!" frecuentamente. Sergio rio y sonrio.
(The laptop I'm using won't let me use accents or tildes)
I was hoping to have kids in my house when I arrived in Salamanca. I think you can learn alot from them. This little boy was so cute but so bad! Every time Pilar would say something he would do the opposite. She tried to spank him when he wouldn't listen but he just laughed at her. He asked me if I spoke Spanish and that made me laugh! I tried really hard to speak the language with him, and for a 3-year old he was very patient.
After Pilar's I went to Carrefour. I had to buy a bookbag for my trip this weekend because all I brought was my laptop bag. That place is enormous. My friends and I joke around and call it "Walmart". It's like a super K-Mart because they have everything you need. It was a cool experience to be in a different country and not go to a store a tourist would shop at. It's a store that the common people from Salamanca would shop at because it has your basic necessities. I will admit it was really far though, and because it was so late I had to take a cab back to the plaza to meet for our tutoring session.
BLOG # 4
Estoy muy contenta. Mis amigos y yo vamos a Pamplona este fin de semana. Vamos a ver corriendo de los toros. Estoy muy excitada participar en la festival de San Fermines. Vamos a viajar en el tren los viernes. Llegamos a la medianoche y regresamos a las seis de la mañnana los domingo. Salamanca es muy bonita, pero estoy esperando ver Pamplona también.
I´ve heard from many people that Pamplona is gorgeous. Technically, we will only be gone for one day but I am hoping to see alot while I am there. This is a chance of a lifetime. I am so excited that I have this opportunity. I also heard that you have to wear close-toed shoes in order to watch the bulls run. You also have to tie a red scarf around your neck. I plan on buying one tomorrow.
I´m really glad I changed my classes too. I feel more challenged now that I DO understand some of the things that my teachers are saying. They are really nice people, very patient and helpful. Most of them seem really young, so the classes are a bit more fun. The only negative thing so far is that there is alot of work to do. This trip is a huge commitment. It is a challenge in itself.
BLOG # 5
El fin de semana pasado mis amigos y yo fuimos a la festival de San Fermines. !Fue muy divertida! El tren fue muy largo, y dormimos mucho. Llegamos a las siete en la manana, y corriemos a la festival. Habia dos mil personas en la calle. Vimos el correr de los toros. Entonces caminamos, bebimos cervesas y bailamos en todas las calles. Comimos en una cafe en la plaza en Pamplona, y caminamos a la estacion de tren. !Fue el mejor tiempo de mi vida!
I would have to say that being in Pamplona yesterday was one of the best days of my life. It was like a 2 million people party in the streets. That has to be the biggest festival in the world. The only word to describe it is "wild". It's like an all-day bar crawl almost. Some of the men had instruments and were playing music all day long and singing about alcohol in the street. Some people had canteens of Sangria that they were pouring in everyone's mouths. Needless to say, everyone's white clothes were pink by the end of the day. Then again, there really is no end of the day because the partying literally NEVER stops.
The one thing I did notice is the amount of garbage all over the place. The people that slept in the park didn't clean up their area at all. I couldn't believe the amount of garbage in the park or in the streets themselves. It will probably take a week to clean up after the partying is over. Even the bathrooms were the grossest bathrooms I've ever encountered in my whole life. The people are so drunk that they just don't care about anything. This goes along with the fact that there are 2 million people there though. Despite this, I definitely would go back for this festival again in my life because I had a blast.
BLOG # 6
Yo quiero Salamanca. Me gusta caminar todas las calles y me gusta sentir en la cafe mucho. Mi cafe favorito es Birdland Jazz cerca de Plaza España. Mis amigos y yo bebimos cafe con leche y hacimos nos tarea. Escribo mucho en mi cauderno sobre mi viaje. Estoy excitada por mi madre venir a Salamanca los martes. Vamos a Madrid y Barcelona este fin de semana.
This cafe is my favorite in Salamanca. It is relatively close to my house. I can sit here for hours writing and drinking coffee. I like the way its decorated too. I like sitting on the balcony so I can watch the street and the people. I noticed that hardly anyone has a leash on their dog when they walk them. I think it is cool that this is such a simple, laid-back, trusting place that you can walk your dog down the street without a leash.
I am also very excited for my mom to come to visit me. She hates to fly so it is a big deal that she would venture this far from the States. I have been trying to get as much work done as possible so I can hang out with her a lot. We are going to do a lot of sightseeing and traveling this weekend. There are a lot of museums and monuments that I want to go see and take a lot of pictures for my presentation. I definitely can´t wait to go to Picasso´s museum.
BLOG # 7
Ayer estaba muy contenta. Estaba caminando a mi clase y vîo mi mama en La Plaza Mayor. Ella llorô porque ella estâ muy contenta venir a España visitar a mi. Despues de mis clases, caminamos a Pilar´s. Mi mama no habla español y Pilar no habla inglês. Fue muy interesante. Reimos mucho. Entonces comemos tapas en la restaurante Las Torres y bebimos Sangrîa con el camarero guapo. Caminamos a La Papelerîa pero estaba cerrado.
After we went to the Papelerîa to see if I could buy a new journal we walked to the University. My mom was in awe at how beautiful the buildings and the cathedral were. She already took almost a whole role of film. She says life seems so simple out here. She still can´t believe she came this far but she´s glad she took this opportunity to come to Europe. It´s funny because earlier she thought the cab driver shorted her a few dollars. I explained to her that it is just because she did not realize that in Europe the smallest bill in paper is a five.
After we walked around Salamanca by the school we came back to the Plaza Mayor. We sat at a restaurant that had a live band playing outside in the Plaza. They had these lavish costumes on with black tights and elaborate velvet suits. They were excellent. They involved the crowd and especially the children. They sang with alot of instruments and in such harmony it was literally beautiful. I wish they would play in the Plaza every night but I´m glad my mom and I were able to watch for awhile.
BLOG # 8
Ayer despues mis clases, mi mama y yo salimos Salamanca. Fuimos a Madrid. Llegamos a las seis de la tarde y fuimos a Tryp Ambassador hotele. Madrid es muy bonita. Caminamos todos los calles. Teniamos muy hambre y queremos la cena de Americana. Caminamos al restaurante, Hard Rock Cafè. Comimos y la comida fue muy deliciosa.
Madrid was really an awesome experience. After walking around a lot we jumped onto one of those tour buses. It was really the only way to see the entire city quickly since we were only there one night. When we got off the bus we realized our hotel was right around the block from the Palacio Real. That place is amazing. It is a huge, pure white palace flooded with bright white lights. Even the plaza around it is so elegant and when you walk through it these beautiful white flowers on the tree smell so potent and nice.
When we got up this morning the breakfast buffet at the hotel was amazing too. I hate to admit it, but it tasted really good to eat an American dinner that night and an American breakfast yesterday morning. Afterwards, we took a cab to the El Prado museum. I loved it there. You can literally hang out there all day long if you wanted to. There were featuring work by Pintar, which was beautiful. I also got to see work by Francisco de Goya, whose statue is right outside where you buy the tickets. El Greco´s work was very good too. He´s very talented. I am really glad I was able to experience the El Prado.
BLOG # 9
Fin de semana pasada mi mama y yo fuimos a Barcelona. Viernes pasado cogimos el autobús a todos los calles. Vimos las montañas, el mar y monumentos importantes. El monumento de Christopher Columbus fue fantastico. Las montañas y el mar fuen muy bonitos. Entonces fuimos a el museo de Picasso. Fue muy interesante.
The museum was excellent. It wasn’t very expensive and it was easy to find. They were featuring photos taken by a friend of Picasso’s, Lee Miller. One half of the museum were photos of Picasso in his daily life and routine. They were photos of him with his friends, grandchildren, some with his work. It was really interesting. Every room featured a little biography with him too, in many different languages. They also had a TV screen that showed a painting of Picasso’s with another TV screen double-imposing the two pieces of artwork. It’s hard to explain but it was cool to see the repition in his objects that he painted.
Then afterwards we were walking down the street looking for somewhere to eat and we ran into a church, Santa Maria del Mar. It was one of the most beautiful churches I’ve even seen. They don’t have such beautiful, old churches in my neighborhood like that. We bought a candle and lit it in honor of my grandma. It was such a peaceful place. We sat down to say a prayer for a minute and it brought my mom to tears. I like that you can take pictures inside too. It would have been cool to attend a service there.
BLOG # 10
El sabado pasado mi mama y yo visitamos el Temple de Segrada Familia. Este iglesia fue muy, muy bonita. Fue muy grande y pagamos ir a dentro. Había muchas personas en todos los calles. Había un mercado al aire libre cerca de iglesia. Compré una blosa y un imán por mi refrigeradora. Entonces, caminamos la calle, Las Ramblas.
The Temple of the Holy Family was so beautiful on the outside. I knew already that it was a church that was still being built as of 100 years ago, but I thought the inside would be done. We paid to go inside and it was all construction. There were tools and wood everywhere. I thought the outside was absolutely gorgeous though. The inside will probably be just as gorgeous when it’s done. We saw some of the stained glass too. It probably won’t be done in my lifetime though.
The Ramblas was a cool experience too. We originally thought it was two streets together that cars couldn’t drive down. We also thought that it was lined with expensive stores. It was the complete opposite. It was a very wide street with an outdoor market. Those are my favorite. That’s where you can find the coolest jewelry and best souvenirs to bring home without spending a lot of money. I bought a few necklaces. You can’t find necklaces like that anywhere else though.
BLOG # 11
El domingo pasado fuimos a la playa, Barconoleta. Había mucho calor y sol. El mar fue muy calor y la arena tambíen. Comimos al café cerca del mar. Tomamos el sol todo el día. Anoche salimos a Madrid en el avión y cogimos en el trén a Salamanca. El fin de semana pasado fue muy divertido pero estoy muy cansada.
I forgot to say before that in The Ramblas we also saw a Michael Jackson impersonator. It was awesome! He had on short black pants so that his white socks where exposed, a white t-shirt with a red button-up over it, and a black hat. He even had the white tape around his fingers. He was definitely worth waiting around to see his show. There are also a lot of artists that line up on the street to paint or sketch your portrait. They also have live statues which I thought was really cool.
When we went to the beach the Mediterranean Sea was unbelievable. It was really hot and being in the water it was like taking a bath. I’m not going to lie, I was a little shocked at all the topless women but you get over it quickly when you realize that it’s the norm for them. We walked along one of the beaches from to start to finish. Towards the middle the sand was kind of rough and it was like getting a pedicure. I’m really glad I got to go to Barcelona and experience the Mediterranean Sea. I don’t know if I was supposed to but I took some sand home in a film container for a memory.
BLOG # 12
Ayer mi mama, Alison y yo fuimos a la catedral nueva y la catedral vieja. Caminamos hasta arriba del todo. Sacamos muchas fotografrïas. Fue una vista preciosa. La panorama fue increïble. Entonces a las siete, mi mama, Shelley y yo caminamos a el Rïo Tormes. Attrevesamos el puente. Fue muy bonito.
It was really cool to walk to the top of the cathedral. Walking up to it was like walking through a medieval castle or something. The stairways were very steep and narrow. The views from the top were incredible. Salamanca is a very peaceful city. There was one thing that did bother me: from the top you could see the garbage that people threw onto the rooftop below. That´s exactly why these Spanish people must think that foreigners, especially Americans, are so ignorant. They´ve seen the top probably many times. It´s only visitors that go up there and have to almost ruin something so beautiful.
The river was also very peaceful and beautiful too. I´ve never been to that part of our city. We walked to the other side of the Roman bridge and then down again the bridge with cars. Then we went to San Esteban church. I can´t even describe it. The front of the church is completely covered in gold. When we walked in there was a service happening so my mom was able to participate and receive communion. It was definitely worth all the walking and on the walk back we realized that it really was only a few blocks from the plaza.
BLOG # 13
El fin de semana pasado mis amigos y yo fuimos a Lisbon. El trén fue muy largo, siete horas. Portugal es muy viejo. Es más sucio que España. La gente fue muy antipático a veces. El barrio fue muy misterioso. Se llamamos “the hood”.
Portugal was okay. It seems like such an older part of Europe. It seems like they just didn’t really fix anything up since that big earthquake they had. Part of it was that we stayed in kind of a bad neighborhood. I booked the hostel but there was no way for me to really tell how the neighborhood was through the internet. It just seemed close to the water. The area we stayed in was definitely creepy. There were bums just laying in the middle of the sidewalk. They weren’t even begging, they were just laying there and their bodies looked like they were deteriorating. It kind of made me nauseous. It did make me feel better that there were cops all over.
The nightlife was crazy. There’s a couple blocks just filled with bars and people drinking in the street. The creepy thing is tons of guys approach you with drugs. They are especially insistent when you decline their offer. The bars are cool though. They are very small because people seemed to buy a drink and stand outside. Then we met these young kids from the UK, Seb and Louie. They were really cool and we had really good conversations with them when we were hanging out.
BLOG # 14
Ayer me levantó muy tarde. Mis amigos y yo caminamos todas las calles en Lisbon. Compramos en los mercados. Fui a la playa cerca de Río Tejo. Fue muy bonita. La agua fue muy frío pero el sol fue mucho calor. Entonces salimos regresar a Salamanca.
The beach was really pretty. I wanted to make it to the water so bad so I could bring home some sand for my Uncle. I was a little naïve first because there were a lot of older men standing around fishing. I got over that feeling when I saw a man there with his young daughters so I went in the water by them. It was kind of funny talking to this man because I was trying to speak Spanish or English and we didn’t understand each other. He was really patient with me. By the beach there was also a beautiful view of the bridge with this famous statue of Jesus that I think weighs like 40,000 tons or something.
When it was time to leave we were all dreading the seven hour train ride. It turned out not to be so bad because we met an American girl, Hannah. She was backpacking through Europe and cut her trip three weeks short, due to not getting along with the girls she came with. I kind of felt bad for her because she had to travel alone for almost two days to get back to Amsterdam. We also met two girls backpacking from Germany, Aya and Liljan. They were also really nice. All of us hung out all night in the café on the train and took pictures together before we got off the train at Salamanca.
BLOG # 15
Plaza España es mi plaza favorito en Salamanca. Es cerca de mi casa. Es muy bonita. Hay muchos arboles y muchos floras. La gente en la café son muy simpático. Bebo Fanta naranja y escribo todo el día. Hoy, hace much calor pero estoy contenta.
I like sitting here and watching the people because it’s really quiet and peaceful. Life seems so simple here. The Plaza Mayor is nice too, but there is always so much going on there. Here you can order something to drink and sit and write for literally hours without interruption. I just like sitting here and writing. I never get to do this at home because I’m always so busy. It makes me wonder though: if I did have time at home would I actually sit in a park and write or sit at my house and watch TV?
I wanted to go to Toledo today but we got back from Portugal so late that I didn’t get up in time. I wish they had a direct train or bus to Toledo but they don’t. I was going to do some shopping for my friends and family but I’m kind of glad that all the shops are closed. It makes people sit and socialize with friends or family or write or something. Spain seems to be a very passionate country. When you see a couple they are so loving towards each other. I like that everything is done as a family. I also noticed that the Spanish take very good care of the elderly. I think that’s really important.
BLOG # 16
¡No me gustan cucarachas! Hay cucarachas todos los habitaciónes de mi apartmento. Las cucarachas son muy feos. Son muy grandes. Pilar pone veneno el en piso pero las cucarachas no comen. De noche tengo miedo. A veces no puedo dormir.
So there are cockroaches all over the street when I walk home. Two weeks ago I noticed them in the hallways and on the stairs. One week ago I noticed them inside my apartment. It doesn’t make sense to me because Pilar’s place is so clean it seems like you could eat off any surface. When I told her I could hardly sleep at night she walked me around the apartment to show me where she puts the poison. She told me they eat it and then they die. It seems to me they don’t eat it and die, because they are all over the place. I think I have developed a radar for them because I can spot one even in the dark at her house. It really creeps me out. I think it’s the only reason I want to go back to my house in Chicago.
I don’t really know how to describe my day today. I went to Zara to buy myself a pair of jeans and I got pick-pocketed. Luckily, the girl did NOT get away with anything. I was looking for my size and I noticed a girl standing extra close to me. She had a large pile of clothes in her arms. I walked away to look at something else. A few seconds later I felt a tug at my purse and I noticed her next to me again. She was standing so close to me she was like on top of me. She had the pile of clothes as a decoy so I wouldn’t see her hand inside my bag. I heard something fall and I looked at the ground and it was my wallet. I stepped on it so she couldn’t grab it, then I picked it up and when I turned around she was gone. I was so freaked out I was shaking. I went to go tell Shelley about it and we saw the girl walking up the stairs. I don’t know why I didn’t run after her but I think it’s because she didn’t get away with anything. I realized I am so stupid because I bought someone a gift at a store before that and I forgot to close my purse. I’m not going to lie though: when I think about the situation now, I wish I would’ve punched the girl in the face.
Publicar un comentario