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I came to Spain to learn about the culture and to improve my language skills. I would say that I have achieved this goal and I will miss the challenges a lot when I go home. I feel like I challenge myself here every day and I'm much better at seeking out new challenges here. I am going to try to bring that home with me but I know that it won't be the same. I'll miss trying to figure out how to find somewhere or order something that I don't know the name of and describing it with the Spanish that I do know. It is a skill that I've been developing while I'm over here. I know that my Spanish isn't the best, but I know how to communicate despite that barrier. I know enough from high school Spanish and that class that I took here to be able to talk around words that I don't know. Theresa and I even had a conversation the other day with one of the women working at a store we were at about why she was buying a shirt and we worked together to figure out how to tell the story.
Another thing that I've found funny is that it's annoying and confusing when people talk to me in English now. I don't always understand what they say in English, but give me directions or say something in Spanish and I totally get it. I've started thinking in Spanish more. I've also started blocking people out. A lot of the younger generations will talk about us in Spanish and think that we don't understand but we catch the general gist of what they are saying and we used to just kind of glare back at them but now I just do my own thing and ignore it completely. It's gotten to the point that I am kind of off in my own world sometimes. Its partially choosing to ignore people and partially not understanding when people talk to me, but when someone says something to me I'll just kind of give them a blank look until I realize they're talking to me. Watch, that will totally follow me home and people will think that I'm slow or something.
Something that goes along with that is that people stare. A lot. It's not that they're trying to offend you, but as we were told, they are curious about us. It bothers a lot of people on the trip, but I've caught myself staring at people on the metro because they look interesting too. I figure, it's got to be the same kind of idea. I know at the beginning people stared at me because I dressed and looked different from them. However, enough people have come up to me asking me stuff in Spanish (like where's a good place to eat, or other things about the area) that I know I blend in now. I no longer look around like I'm lost and I know where I'm going so I walk more confidently. Because of that, I've come to realize that I'm stared at because I'm tall. Everyone here is SO short! I saw a tall guy on the metro the other day and I was like "Where have YOU been hiding? Making me feel like a giant this whole time..." and then he started speaking German and it all made sense. Speaking of which, the guys (like him) that speak very little English always say goodbye as "Byebye" and I find it really really funny. The women just say adios and dismiss us, but the men are usually more accepting of our stupidity when it comes to Spanish!
One thing that I learned through a strange observation on the metro: nobody here yawns. Ever. It's a thing. I asked my teacher about it and her response was, "I remember I yawned once." I kid you not. It is considered highly offensive because you are telling the people around you, teachers, friends, etc that they are boring and it is a horrible thing to do in front of people. Hiding it behind your hand is better than flat out yawning but it's better to just not let it happen. So, for the last 2 weeks I have been training myself not to yawn. You have NO idea how hard that is. I don't know how they do it. I can make it less noticable by clenching my jaw or looking down and breathing it out my nose, but I can't ever stop it completely. (Btw, thinking about yawning, I bet you've yawned at least once read this. You are a terrible friend. No worries, I'm yawning alone in my room just writing this.)
Another thing: we have a drink here that is coke mixed with red wine. For the last 3 weeks, we ALL thought that it was call "Calle Mucho" which I thought made zero sense when translated. We asked about it in class. Guess what? We've been saying it wrong this whole time. No WONDER all the bar tenders lean forward and are like "Que?" when we ask for a "Calle Mucho." It is actually called a "Cal y Mucho" named after the creators of the drink. It is popular throughout Spain, and apparently in some parts of the States, but it was created here in Getxo in the area known as Algorta at one of the street fairs! Some college students were trying to make some money and were selling wine but the wine tasted bad so they mixed it with coke and named it after themselves, saying it was a brand new drink. Obviously, it was a big hit since us Americans drink nothing but that and Tinto de Veranos (lemon fanta and red wine) while we're here.
Surprisingly enough, the music here is exactly the same. Sometimes at the street festivals the live musicians play spanish music, but no matter where I go I hear "hey I just met you! and this is crazy! but here's my number! call me maybe!" That is annoying. That and Payphone by Maroon 5. It's crazy.
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