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Aventuras y tareas de los estudiantes de City Colleges of Chicago
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Pase mi primer dia en Salamanca muy bien. Vivo con una familia que es grande por que la Señora Ascensión, Choni, tiene seis hijos. Antes de venir nos platicaron que una familia grande se consiste de la pareja y dos niños. Choni tiene dos chicos y cuatro chicas. Dos de las cuatro hijas son hémelos. Pero domas viven los dos jovenes, Andrea y Evan. También tengo un compañero de cuarto, Sam, que es de Indiana.
In Spain there is a seven hour time difference, which makes it hard to get a hold of family. One major difference between the two countries is the times we have some thing to eat. For breakfast it is usually the same, however, lunch here is served around two o’clock and dinner, la cena, is served between nine and eleven o’clock. Aside from the time difference, in the US lunch usually consist of something small and dinner the food portions are a lot bigger, followed by dessert. In Spain, I noticed, it is flip. Lunch is more hardier than dinner.
After lunch, people “se hechan una siesta,” take a siesta, which means take a nap. During this time, around two to five in the afternoon, the stores closed. It doesn’t mean you have to take a nap, but rather use the time to unwind from the day. The only people here that don’t take a siesta are the ones that work in the bank. They instead take a thirty minute brake to drink a café.
En el primer dia de clase tomamos dos examenes. Uno era demaciado difisil, y en el otro era oral donde necesitabas hablar con una profesora. Durante el dia nos paseamos por la Plaza Major, que es tan bonita. Todas las tiendas en la plaza son bien caras. Pero las medicinas en Espana son bien baratos. Tambien hay muchas tiendas con rebajas. Y cuando te paseas por las calles puedes ver los jamones colgados en las ventanas.
I don’t know if its because of hospitality, but they serve too much food. Once your plate is half empty they add more food. I don’t want to be rude, but no more food. Today for lunch I had macaroni and two chicken breast with some sort of sauce....it was good. There are no similarities between Spanish and Mexican food. One thing I notice was that they don’t use tortillas, but every meal has bread.
Today I learned a “gesto,” a gesture. You have to use both of your hands. The fingers have to point up to the air. Then open and close your fingers. This means, there are going to be a lot of people. I learned it from a professor who used it while talking about San Fermin. The running of the bulls. I also learned the one for another drink. For this one you need one hand making a fist with the thumb sticking out, moving it side to side near your mouth as if going to take a drink
Hoy fue un dia muy largo. Mis clases fueron demasiado difisil. Estoy tomando cuatro clases: Luenga Espanola, Communicativas Globales, Destrezas Orales, y Cultura Espanola. Las maestras hablan muy rapido y usan vosotros mucho. Tambien dan mucha tarea. Muchas de las temas todavia no son tan fimilares, pero estoy intentando de comprender. Prendi la palabra: probablemente.
Today I’ve learned the opinion of a Spaniard on immigration. They have very strong opinions over the topic. One thing that was brought up was social security, which allows anyone to see any medic or receive medical treatment. They find it unfair that the immigrants can be treated without any cost, while they have to pay for the service. Another topic were jobs and how there is no competition since immigrants will work for lower wages. Aside from this, the person I was talking to refused to work with them.
There were also a lot of stereotypes. They think that immigrants are dirty, lazy and don’t
do good work. They also have bad names for them. In the end, they fell that their government doesn’t really take care of its own people. While I respect there opinions I don’t necessarily agree. Immigration is a sensitive topic and one I really care about back home. Being a part of the immigration rally in Chicago was something I’m very proud to a part of.
Hoy clase fue un poco mejor. Aprendi de los costrubres de los bares. En los bares, cuando tomando una cerveza o un cafe con amigos, no se puede pagar solo nuestra consumcion. Se debe pagar lo que han tomado todos. Pero otro dia van a pagar los otros. Tambien aprendi de un “sin pa.” Es algo que los jovenes hacen. Es un sin pagar, cuando vas a los bares o un restuarante te vas sin pagando.
Today I’ve learned two new “gestos,” or gestures. This one is called, hacer la pelota or ser un/una pelota. In this case pelota means ball. Thus, to make the gesture you have to pretend to dribble a ball. It is usually used on someone who sucks up to get what they want. Like a teachers pet can be seen as, un/una pelota.
The other “gesto,” or gesture is called, Tener mucha cara. You have to tap your face with your hand. It is used when some one knows something is not fair and still goes on like nothing is wrong. For example, if a mother makes her daughter fix her sons bed, even thought the daughter works all day and the son doesn’t do anything. By him, the son, knowing that is not fare and still lets his sister clean his room, tiene mucha cara. Its another way of saying you have the nerve.
Yo pensé que las familias latinas fueron demasiado cerca y como los españoles, es algo muy importante, pero tenemos diferentes vistas. En mi cultura los jóvenes se van de casa cuando tienen como 18 anos. Y si no vas a la escula estas trabajando. En España los hijos viven con los padres hasta que se independizan. No es raro que un hijo tenga 30, 40 o 50 anos y todavía vive con sus padres. Es igual para las hijas, no se va esta que se casen y tiene una familia. Hacen esto por que cuesta mucho comprar una casa. Y cuando tienen su independí enza es importante mantener un contacto.
Meat, meat, meat. It seems that every meal consist of some meat. Jamon, chorizo, lomo....I love to eat meat but it’s too much. I’m actually craving fruits and vegetables. I was also weirded out when I found out that I was drinking “leche entera,” raw milk. Everything tastes so different here. However it’s not all bad. The one thing I really like here is the pop. Not just any pop but KAS de Limon, it’s so fresh despite that it’s pop.
The bar, for Spaniards, is a home away from home. There seems to be one on every corner. Going back to the cena, dinner, since they don’t eat until 9-11 at night they usually have tapas or pinchos as snacks. It’s also a social thing because they go to neighborhood bar where they are already known. My teacher said there are not many therapists in Spain. The people tell their problems to bar tenders and waiters. I am actually surprise at the places you can buy alcoholic beverages. Even in places like McDonald’s.
En el mismo tema de familias, hoy en la plaza vi unos abuelos con sus nietos. Igual como en latina América no es raro que los abulos cuiden a sus nietos. Hacen esto para ayudar. A los abuelos que hacen esto se les llaman “Canguro.” Como un canguro que cuida a sus hijos en su bolsia. Además, cuando una person mayor no se piede cuidar mas, es el trabajo de la familia que lo cuide. Esto es otra prueba que la familia es importante.
Here the people don’t dress to different. The boys, all the boys, have mullets and wear capris which in the United States only the girls wear. Some of the American boys were weirded out by this, but I guess that is what is in right now. The women don’t dress too different from other girls. I have a hard time telling them apart from American girls and actually have to use the accents to tell them apart. I think the only people that dress a bit different are the people in the upper class. They wear their best clothes and jewelry to go out.
Before coming here I was told the professors were going to have these traditional dresses with a big pearl necklace, this was not the case. Many of the teachers are really young. Some of the students are older. They dress the way the young girls dress. Many wear jeans and a small shirt where they bellies show. Even some of the older teachers dress the same way. That is one thing the United States and Spain share, they are obsessed with youth.
A mi me encanta como los españoles se saludan. En una familia latina también se dan un beso en la mejilla. Los Espanoles siempre se dan dos besos entre mujeres y entre hombres y mujeres. También se sigue con un abrazo. En los Estados Unidos más o menos se estrecha la mano domas. Las despedidas son un poco similares a los saludos: dos besos y un abrazo. Pero se pude durar varios minutos. Mi maestra dijo si necesitas ir domas dices “pues nada” para despedirse mas rápido.
This whole week I’ve been a little sick and the medicine has been making me real sleepy. The Spanish food is really good, but I really want some real Mexican food. Today I had “albondigas” which are like meat balls. They are little similar to the Mexican “albondijas” but they are made in a gravy while in the Mexican version, there are made in a soup like way with vegetables. And I really need some tortillas with my food. I even called home today to tell my family what I want when I get back home.
My host mom, Choni, is a little upset at Sam, the boy from Indiana, because he has not been eating his food. One of the things that the Saturday morning tutoring taught us was to eat the food on your plate. Even if you don’t like it try to eat as much as possible or say that your not feeling well and go to your room, but never throw food away. Choni says that it is “un pecado,” if that was the right word. I wonder if because I’m Mexican that it has been easier for me to adjust. Unlike Sam, I guess, it’s not strange for me to eat things like rice, beans, “fideo,” since I eat more Mexican food that American foods. Sam on the other hand, wants a really good burger...
Esta fin the semana que paso, un grupo de nosotros fuimos a Avila. Avila es famosa por sus murallas. Cuando estavamos allí nos separamos. Yo me quede con Gaby, Marta y la mama de Marta, Pilar. Primero hacia mucho calor, entonces lluvia y se puso muy frío. Estábamos mojados, cansados y con mucha hambre. Aunque lo pase muy bien, Avila es muy aborrido. Nos regresamos temprano y fuimos a Valor por chocolate y churos.
While Avila was boring, I had a really good time. In the town, the people are really to themselves and don’t speak much to outsiders. Anyway, it was funny because we lost in the wall city for a long time trying to take cover from the rain and not try to fall asleep. Around lunch time we went to a little store for food before everything closes for siesta. Well because it was raining everything was wet, there was no where to sit and eat. We all walked to the plaza because there was shelter from the rain. It was a bit crowded, so we had no choice but to sit on the floor. So there we are sitting on the floor with our pocket knives cutting the bread and the cheese, passing the pop and the patatas and eating our chorizo, lomo and jamon. As we were doing this, the people were just staring at us and slowly walking away. After walking around for a while we decided to take a taxi to the train station and call it a day.
Marta’s mom is so kool. She is actually a therapist in Barcelona, where she’s from. She is so nice and just as much of a clown as Marta. She was like the mom away from home and got along with everyone. I had the chance to go out with them a couple of times. We even went to see the flamanco show together. She was really patient and help everyone with the pronunciation of words. I had some extra help and learned a few words in Catalan. Before she left on Wednesday she gave us her number if we ever decide to visit Barcelona.
Hay unas cosas que todavía necesito costumbrarme. En España si significa si y no significa si. Hay muchas reglas en como se usa esta costumbre. Cuando alguien te ofrece algo, por ejemplo comida, siempre se necesita decir no, aunque la quieres. También es costumbre siempre ofrecer las cosas mas de una ves. Cuando te la ofrecen por la segunda ves necesita todavía decir no. Por la tercera ves es cuando es correcto decir si.
What do you do if you really don’t want anything? This is where this custom can become an issue. This happened to me a couple of times during lunch time. I’m eating my food and everything is good. My host mom see’s me eating my food and notices that I’m nearly done with my food. So here she comes trying to offer me more food and I reply no thank you. She offers it again and I reply no thank you, the food is good but I’m fine thank you. Before you know it, I have more food. Its bad enough that the portion are pretty big.
What makes it worst is the postre, the dessert. So here I am full after a second helping about to burst and then it happens.
-Quieres postre mijo?
-No gracias, estoy bien.
-Estas seguro, tengo natillas, helado, flan, fruta...
-No gracias, estoy seguro, estoy muy lleno.
-Ten aqui esta.
-Joder (I say to myself)
Madrid, Madrid, Madrid. Esta fin de semana fui a Madrid con Alison y Stephanie. Es muy diferente de Salamanca. Ellos si son abiertos. Hay mucha gente diferente caminando por cualquier tiempo del dia. El primer día fuimos a comer pinchos y encontramos unos de los mejores restaurantes de pinchos en todo España. La problema es que no se como se llama. El segundo día fuimos a Reina Sofia. Y el ultimo día fuimos a Estadio de Madrid donde juegan futbol.
Before leaving Salamanca I thought it was fairly open. Coming back from Madrid, I noticed that Salamanca is really conservative. First of all, there is a big difference in the population size. No matter were you went there was always people. El Rastro, which is like a flee market I guess, was like the Taste of Chicago on 4th of July. No room to walk, let alone stand.
As far as the way people dress, it was mixed: casual, punks, trashy, ect. You can expect to see anything or anyone in Madrid. For example, prostitution. I think it is accepted, because no matter what time it was, eight or two in the morning , there was always prostitutes out. And the guys that talked to them where either really young or really old. The are also a lot of sex shops. Between Granvia and Sol there must of been like 4 or 5 of them. I don’t think you’ll find one in Salamanca.
The train system is said to be really good in Madrid. I personally wouldn’t know seen as we only took one train to get around the city. The light blue line, I think it was the number 8. But there are two train systems in Madrid by the Reina Sofia museum. It looks really nice. It must be a private train or something.
The Reina Sofia museum was really good. We actually finish the whole museum in one day. After an hour I was so tired, it was too much stuff to watch. it was really overwhelming. The Pablo Picasso exhibit was great. The Guernica is a beautiful painting that took process before reaching it final state. Salvador Dali’s work was just as good. The work left you speechless, it was so incredible. I always said to be a great artist you have to be crazy. Or para hacer genio hay que ser poquito loco.
We even seen this other artist who had their own floor to display he’s work. Carlos Pazos, CP. I would put him in the contemporary side. His work plays with object, space, sexuality, obsessions, fetishes and the overall meaning of things. The following day we visited one of Madrid’s soccer stadiums, but we did not go in. We left tired, with more stuff than we came with and we only seen a small part of Madrid.
Dicen que en España siempre necesitas tener algo en los pies. Mi maestra de cultura nos dijo que es importante siempre tener zapatos puestos. No importa donde estas. Puedes estar en tu propia casa y debes tener unas chanclas o algo puesto. Es unos de los costumbres que siempre me fijo si lo estoy haciendo. Si no lo haces te puedes ver como un mal educado.
Otra cosa que aprendí en la clase de cultura es que nunca se debe estirar, stretch. Especialmente enfrente de compania porque puedes dar un mal mensaje. Tampoco se puede ser cuando estas en un lugar publico. Siempre es importante sentarte bien, mirando derecho. Algo que los estudiantes estrageros nunca hacen. Y (yawning) es otra cosa que nunca debes hacer enfrente de la gente. Cuando necesitas hacer uno de estas cosas, se deben ir a otro lugar y hacerlo en privado.
Toledo fue muy pequeño. Las calles estaban muy pequeños que no podíamos caminar. Nos necesita vamos parrar in la entrada de la gente para que los carros pudrían pasar. El museo de greco también estaba pequeño. En 20- 25 minutos terminamos todo el museo. Y la plaza fue peor. Era el tamaño de mi yarda y tenia McDonalds.
With 40 minutes of getting lost we actually went from one point of the city to the end. I thought Toledo was kinda expensive. When Alison and I were buying shoes we meet this older lady. She was telling us to be careful of the women in Toledo. She was sort of implying that they were bitches. And the daughter, who was in the register said that wasn’t true. And the old lady was nodding her head yes.
While being out there we were amazed by the ceramics, which we later found out they are famous for. The train station was covered with tile. Tile that was colorful, bright and well detailed. So, we bought some bowls and ashtrays. Plus i tried marza pan for the first time, it was ok. We also went to some restaurant where I had sopa castillano, bistec con patatas and flan. In the end we got bord and left early to Madrid.
En un mes que estuve en Salamanca fue al cine tres veces. Eso es mucho para me. Es algo que no ago tanto. Vi “Café Solo o Con ellas,” que se trato de cuatro hombres que estan en diferentes lugares en sus relaciones. Fue muy cómico por se notava los costubres espanoles. El actor que me gusto mas fue la abuela que le encantaba a Franco. Tambien vi a “Harry Potter y El Orden del phénix,” una película que no podía esperar de verla en los estados unidos. Y vi “Bajo las Estrellas,” el que fue mi favorito.
Before returning back home I made sure to thank my host mom Choni. Alison and I decided I would be a good idea to buy our mom a plant and flowers. I think she was mad I didn’t eat dinner with them the last day. I had made plans with Alison to take Marta. I’m always going to remember my Spanish family, especially my mom for never eating only café and cigarettes. Evan for never wearing clothes. The whole time I lived there I only saw him dress once, but he is always in his underwear watching his soccer games. Last, Andrea for always beating her brothers ass and making him cry. I remember they were fighting and Choni said watch this. She got her chankla and told the kids, stop or I’ll hit you. The kids just started laughing and continued fighting.
Since coming home I have notice the imprint that Spain has made on me. Like when my mom picked me up from the airport, to greet her I gave her two kisses instead of one which I usually do. When ordering things I ask for them in Spanish, then I have to stop myself and say everything in English. And even though I said I was tired of meat, I can really go for some “Jamón,” in a bocadeo with queso manchego and lomo. My mouth is actually watering right now. And I really miss hanging out with everyone, going to the Plaza Mayor for some helados de limón, tuti fruti, mango y cheso, don vito, fresa, chocolate, café, cucuruchu, dulce de leche, and nata. Berlin at night with Alison and Aubrey. Marta and Gaby the coolest teachers. My other mamí Pilar. Going to school. Tutoring sessions. Frijolita. And the list goes on and on. I hope everyone had just as much fun as I did, because I know this trip has impacted my life.
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