This post is dedicated to the fact that WE FINALLY HAVE INTERNET!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYY!
The man finally came to install it Monday afternoon…took him about 30 minutes and he was done! Not sure why that couldn’t have happened like 2 weeks ago, but oh well! Since Monday was the first day we had it, no one really even talked to each other. We pretty much just all sat around on our computers, absolutely addicted haha. Tomás had been in Zaragoza all weekend and he came back to find internet…"Madremía! Madremía! Madremía! Tenemos internet!" (Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! We have internet!) Rooms, you’ll be happy to know that, just like us, Tomás and I were messaging back and forth from our respective rooms because we were too lazy to get up and actually talk to each other hahaha.
So, as promised, I’ll finally be writing some about my roommates! Anddd at the end of the post, I’ll finally post some pictures of Almería that I took over the past couple of days.
ROOMMATE PROFILE #1
NAME: Martín Bonillo García (left)
AGE: 23
HOMETOWN: Arboleas, Almería
STUDYING: Engineering
LIKES: Drinking, going to the gym, watching Dexter and Prison Break, Real Madrid, ping pong, pissing Tomás off so that he can beat him at ping pong, English day at the piso
DISLIKES: FC Barcelona, losing to Tomás at ping pong, not getting enough sleep
Martín is the person Jose put me in contact with about living in the piso. I started talking to him over the summer and he seemed really cool, so I agreed to live with them. Once I had arrived, we immediately got along really well. He had already somewhat gotten accustomed to talking to me online, so he knew that he had to use simple words and speak slowly. For the first week or so, he was my translator for Tomás because I couldn’t really understand Tomás at all haha.
Out of our group of friends, we're basically the only ones who don't live with our parents, so botellón always happens at our place. Martín is the responsible one who (usually) makes sure everyone is quiet enough so we don't disturb the neighbors. He's also the only person I have beat at ping pong so far (4 times total out of probably like 50...so sad).
Martín and Tomás both want to learn to speak English, so Martín had the idea to start English day in the piso! We have a little calendar hung on the wall in the living room that has our schedule of when we'll speak English and when we'll speak Spanish. We alternate so that every other day is English day. At the beginning of my time here, they were really good about sticking to it, but in the past couple weeks, they've been really lax about it. Personally, I'm glad that we're not speaking too much English, but for their sakes I should probably start making them speak English so they can get some more practice too.
Martín and Tomás both want to learn to speak English, so Martín had the idea to start English day in the piso! We have a little calendar hung on the wall in the living room that has our schedule of when we'll speak English and when we'll speak Spanish. We alternate so that every other day is English day. At the beginning of my time here, they were really good about sticking to it, but in the past couple weeks, they've been really lax about it. Personally, I'm glad that we're not speaking too much English, but for their sakes I should probably start making them speak English so they can get some more practice too.
ROOMMATE PROFILE #2
NAME: Tomás Hernández Boix
AGE: 20
HOMETOWN: Carboneras, Almería
STUDYING: Psychology
LIKES: Drinking, stealing, going to the doctor, the words “primacho,” “exagerado,” and “calidad,” touching the water on my knee, telling me I have vigorexia, being my running buddy, socialism, starting debates with me knowing that I can’t win because I can’t explain my side well enough
DISLIKES: When I cook broccoli, waking up, going to class, George W. Bush, LA GORDA! (the fat girl that always seems to find him and flirt with him when we’re out)
Tomás is probably one of the funniest people I have EVER met. I am constantly laughing when I hang out with him. He was the first person I met when I came to the piso for the first time, and like I said, I couldn't really understand a word he said haha. He's got a really strange accent (I think it's pretty common in Carboneras) and a really strange vocabulary. He uses words in ways that literally no one else from Almería uses them (except people in our group of friends to make fun of him). His three signature words are "primacho" (often written "primaxo"...they use the "x" in writing for the "ch" sound...for example noche = noxe), "exagerado," and "calidad." Primacho is a combination of the words primo (cousin) and macho (basically man or dude). Both of these words are used to mean "man" or "dude" in different parts of Spain, so Tomás (or the people of Carboneras, I'm not sure which) has strategically combined both words to create his own term. However, we all use the word as his nickname. He is THE Primacho. "Calidad" literally means "quality," but Tomás uses it to mean cool. "Exagerado" or as it's written and pronounced here in Almería, "exagerao" essentially means extremely. Since I told Tomás that extremely is the English equivalent of "exagerao," he's now obsessed with that word too. He randomly throws it in, even when he's speaking Spanish and people always look at him really funny when he says it. His signature phrase to describe something that he really likes is "calidad exagerao." Say that to any other Spanish speaker that's not from Carboneras or in our group of friends and they will look at you like you're crazy! Here's a note Tomás left one day for Martín...perfect example of his lingo!
Also, Tomás is a raging kleptomaniac. He LOVES to steal things. He doesn't ever steal anything valuable, but when we are out, he always makes it his goal to steal something for the piso. So far we've got a total of 2 stolen chairs, 2 napkin holders, TONS of napkins, olive oil, tongs for picking up ice cubes, and probably 12 or so salt shakers...that's his favorite thing to steal. Here's a VIDEO from last year of Tomás stealing a tree for the piso so that they could have an "árbol de navidad" or Christmas tree....HAHAHAHHAHA!
LAST hilarious story about Tomás! A couple weeks ago, he bought new tennis shoes to go running with me. He was all excited to wear them for the first time because his last pair of shoes had been making his knees hurt. However, he didn't realize until after our run, that they were a size too small and THIS was the result...
He said, well about halfway through the run, my toes were hurting but I thought it was normal. HAHAHAHH! As you can probably tell, I never really get bored living with these guys and I never really stop laughing!
ROOMMATE PROFILE #3
Translation: "Primaxo, In the end, I'm not going to go to class because I am extremely tired. See you later"
Also, Tomás is a raging kleptomaniac. He LOVES to steal things. He doesn't ever steal anything valuable, but when we are out, he always makes it his goal to steal something for the piso. So far we've got a total of 2 stolen chairs, 2 napkin holders, TONS of napkins, olive oil, tongs for picking up ice cubes, and probably 12 or so salt shakers...that's his favorite thing to steal. Here's a VIDEO from last year of Tomás stealing a tree for the piso so that they could have an "árbol de navidad" or Christmas tree....HAHAHAHHAHA!
LAST hilarious story about Tomás! A couple weeks ago, he bought new tennis shoes to go running with me. He was all excited to wear them for the first time because his last pair of shoes had been making his knees hurt. However, he didn't realize until after our run, that they were a size too small and THIS was the result...
Tomás's foot after being cleaned with iodine BAHAHAH
The bloody insole of his shoe. Blood actually seeped through to the outside of the shoe
He said, well about halfway through the run, my toes were hurting but I thought it was normal. HAHAHAHH! As you can probably tell, I never really get bored living with these guys and I never really stop laughing!
ROOMMATE PROFILE #3
NAME: Endika Alabau Sarasola
AGE: 21
HOMETOWN: Bilbao, Pais Basco
STUDYING: Nursing
LIKES: Drinking, sleeping, Athletic Club Bilbao (the soccer team from Bilbao), playing soccer, cooking
DISLIKES: The house rules for ping pong, having to climb in the back hatch of his car because the door handles are both broken (sound familiar Jim? Hahaha)
Endika was the last to join the piso. He didn't move in until the beginning of October, so he's been here a couple weeks fewer than we have. Our search for a 4th roommate was a long one..Martín and Tomás printed out flyers and hung them at the university and they got a lot of response...however, most of the people who came to look at the piso were WEIRD. We got really lucky that Endika showed up because he fits in really well with us. He's really nice, fun, and he brings some different perspectives to the piso since he's from a completely different part of Spain. He's from País Vasco or Basque Country--yes, that's where all the crazy ETA terrorists who want to secede from Spain are from. Since he's from there, when he first got here, Tomás kept telling me not to piss him off or I'd find a bomb in my room hahahah.
This is Endika's first year in Almería, just like me. His sister lives here, so I guess that's why he decided to move. He's studying nursing and has a REALLY weird schedule. He only has class Thursday, Friday, and Saturday every other week. Thursday he has 5 hours of class, Friday, 10, and Saturday, 5. He's got tons of free time but also an unfortunate schedule for being able to go out on the weekends.
He's also got a gym membership at the same gym as me, so sometimes we're gym buddies!
So, funny story about him. Sometime in the first week he was here, he got into a fight with Martín about the way we play ping pong here in the piso. If you miss your first serve or the ball hits the net, you're allowed a second chance. If you miss or hit the net on the second serve it's a double fault. Problem is, Endika plays where if the serve touches the net, it's a replay. He claimed that these were the official rules and that if we weren't going to play by the official rules then he wouldn't play. Annnnnd, he hasn't played since haha.
We also have a snunk rule...that is, if you lose 11-0, you have to buy your opponent a bottle of alcohol. I mayyy or may not have had to buy Tomás a bottle of rum last week haha.
That's all for now on the roomies but next post, I’ll try to do some friend profiles too!
In the world of work, after another week of classes, I have come to the realization that this system of me pretending I don't know any Spanish can never fully function how it is designed to unless all the teachers are bilingual. For example, when I go to classes where the teachers speak zero English, I can’t very well pretend that I don’t understand Spanish for the following reasons:
1. The teachers don’t know English to serve as my translators. When I’m in class with Yolanda, Valeria, or Virginia, I can pretend all day because they know how to explain to me in English what the students are saying. However, in the other classes, it’s nearly impossible because if they need to tell me something, we’d have to step outside the classroom so that they students didn’t see me conversing with the teacher in Spanish. Here’s what happened Monday that made me realize this will never work. I was in Encarna’s 3rd grade class. She doesn’t know any English. She told the kids to ask me questions in English, but none of them are confident enough in their English to try and she couldn’t very well help them. I was playing dumb, as instructed, so I wasn’t going to help either. Since they were silent, she told me to ask them questions and they could answer me in English. I started asking about families, pets, etc. When the kids were trying to answer me, they would ask Encarna, “Teacher, como se dice pájaro (bird) en inglés?” She had no idea how to answer any of their questions, and since I figured it would be counter-productive to just sit there and watch them struggle and get too frustrated to answer any of my questions, I started helping them with vocabulary in English. I didn’t know if I was supposed to do this or not, but I think that in the long run, it will be more beneficial for the students to learn at least some vocab even if it does mean I have to show them that I understand some Spanish. While in theory it’s a good idea for me to pretend I don’t understand, like I said before, it could only really work in a school where every teacher was bilingual.
2. Some of the teachers are too stubborn, closed-minded, and embarrassed to support the system.Lola’s class (5ºP), Marcos, one of the other teachers brought me in and introduced me to the class and Lola said to me in Spanish, basically, “Don’t speak English to me…only Spanish.” Great example to set for the students…you’re really encouraging them to speak English. And telling them to make an exception for you is like telling them it’s acceptable for them too. Luckily, 5th grade is a good class and they’re still excited and eager to speak English with me. While this is not true of most of the teachers, I can tell that a few of them are quite reluctant to speak any English at all. For example, the first day that I was in
Yesterday in Infantil 5 with Isabel, I really had to break the rules. She doesn’t speak a word of English either and the students are only 5, so they know next to nothing in English (they can introduce themselves and count to 10 but besides repeating, that’s all they know how to do right now). I don’t think it’s gonna do anyone any good for me to just talk to them in English and have them sit there mindlessly. It’s really hard to engage 5-year-olds as it is, and when you’re not speaking their language it’s even worse. Since I figured the 5-year-olds weren’t gonna run around the school telling everyone I can speak Spanish, I went ahead, at Isabel’s suggestion, and spoke both English and Spanish with them so they would get more out of it. I can tell that class is going to be hard because, although it’s only 30 minutes, you really have to be doing something with them constantly. They’re very zombie-like…not yet curious enough to take an idea and run with it, and for some reason, they’re not as easily distracted as 1ºP. Also, the class is at 9:30, so maybe they’re still half asleep.
This was my first full week of work as last Monday and Tuesday were holidays and then I had an appointment at the Oficina de Extranjería on Wednesday (only had to work 1 day again!).
My appointment at the Oficina de Extranjería on Wed (Oct 13th) was ridiculous once again. I think it gets worse every time I go back. I had an appointment at 9am to get my fingerprints done for my TIE or residence card. Should have been a really quick, in and out, kinda deal. So I get there, get my number, wait about 10 minutes for my number to be called, but for some reason, the guy who I talked to, did not understand that I was there for fingerprints even though my name was on a list that he had at his desk for appointments AND I gave him the printed out sheet of paper that had been given to me last time I was there, explaining that I had an appointment for fingerprints. He sent me back to the desk to draw another number, and I had to wait like 2 hours before I talked to anyone. And the worst part of it all is that I ended up talking to the very same guy I talked to the very first time I ever went to the Oficina de Extranjeria and he had no idea why I had been referred over to him. He sent me back to get ANOTHER number. At this point, I was so mad. However, at the orientation a week before, a man named Damian, from the Oficina had come to explain everything and tell us that if we had any problems at all, to just come find him. So, I found him, told him I was an auxiliar de conversación, and he sent me straight to the guy I was supposed to see…I didn’t even have to wait!
But don’t worry, it doesn’t stop there! I had everything I needed except I hadn’t paid the tasa, or fee, for processing my TIE. This guy sends me to the bank to pay 10€, get a form stamped, and come back (not sure why we can’t make this service available in the actual office, but that’s another problem entirely). HOWEVER, you can’t pay the tasa if the form doesn’t have your NIE on it, and conveniently this fool had forgotten to write my NIE on the form. So I had to walk allllll the way back to the oficina, get him to write my NIE (which luckily I had since I had been to the oficina a few weeks before—I ran into 2 of the Americans I met last time I was at the office when we were out the other night and they told me they weren’t able to get their paperwork processed because they didn’t have their NIE’s), and walk allllll the way back to the bank. Finally, I returned to the office with my stamped paper and was able to get my fingerprints done and paperwork processed. Now, I have to go back in 40-45 days to get my card! By the time I got back to the piso, a total of 5 HOURS had passed. How ridiculous for a process that should have taken 1 hour MAX. I’m sure there will be another update about me going back to pick up my NIE and TIE since I’m sure something will go wrong—it always does.
Out of all my classes, so far, my favorites are 1st grade and 5th grade. First grade is the class I get to spend the most time with. There's only 11 kids in the class and they are so sweet. I've already got quite the collection of drawings and things that they have given me. They're really lucky because Valeria is their teacher and she knows TONS of English. It's good that they're getting exposed to so much English at such a young age. To be completely honest, I think that their level of understanding of English is better than most of the other classes.
Fifth grade is also a really good class. It's bigger--probably about 20 kids, but they seem genuinely interested in learning English and they always participate. My favorite student is named Gonzalo. He's Argentinian (or at least his parents are, I'm not sure if he was born there or not), soooo smart, and his English is really good! The first day when I was in their class and I said I was from Texas, he raised his hand and asked me a question about the new Dallas Cowboy's Stadium! Most of the other questions were like, what's your favorite color? animal? season? How long did it take you to get here?, etc. I was impressed with not only the fact that he knew Dallas was in Texas and that he knew about American football, but also by the phrasing of his question. He's going to learn a lot this year!
To finish the post, I'll add some more pictures! ENJOY! A more complete album will be located on facebook...I'll include a link in a later post for everyone who's not on facebook!
View from my bedroom window
View from the bedroom again
Volleyball/SU collage
Family/Galveston collage
TEXAS
KT, I brought your license plate with me!
The reason my bags weight 59 and 70 lbs
View from the balcony
We live on the 7th floor
The papers Tomás rolls his cigarettes with...SAD :(
Sunset over the city from my bedroom window
Barely missed sunset at the beach
Paseo Maritimo looking west
Paseo Marítimo looking east
This is where they have sand volleyball tournaments during the summer
Paseo Maritimo from the jetty
| Gran Hotel Almería and the Fuente (fountain) de los 102 Pueblos (towns) de Almería |
Fuente de los 102 Pueblos de Almería
The sun over Playa Zapillo
Looking east...as you can see it's starting to get cold and beach season is coming to an end
Looking west
Ashley, the duck shoes live on!
The beautiful shore
Paseo Maritimo from the jetty--daytime
The port
2 comments:
This was a great post, Ali! I really enjoy learning about your life over there! IM SO JEALOUS! haha
OooOo your roomies are hotties :] ill be booking my ticket VERY soon lol Tomas sounds really funny! I liked his note and how in the world did that happen from his shoes?? they must have been like 5 times too small.
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