Spanish snafus

Have you ever had an embarrassing language snafu? Well up until this past weekend I didn't think I had committed any but turns out all of my friends and I had been committing a rather big one regularly. We were all taught, as I'm sure you were if you've taken any Spanish that "Entiendes?" means "Do you understand?", and if you just go by the dictionary definition that is 100% true and perfectly correct. Now that we have that established lets move on with the story, one night Allison, Kenzie and I were out with some Spanish friends and feeling good about our Spanish, chatting up a storm when one of us, I don't remember who asked Lucas, "Entiendes?". His response was laughter, we of course were very confused because we didn't understand what we had said wrong, we had used the correct verb and conjugated it correctly. Once he calmed down a bit he explained to us that in this particular region of Spain to ask someone "Entiendes?" is to ask someone if they are gay. At first we just thought he was teasing us, but we asked Miguel what it meant and he agreed. Determined not to make the mistake again we asked what we should be saying instead, it turns out "Sabes?" which literally translates to "Do you know?" is more appropriate and will save us a lot of awkward moments when talking with Spaniards.

Another interesting language quirk I have encountered here in the general populations inability to pronounce "Jenny". They do just fine with "Jennifer", occasionally adding a 'Y' in front but that is to be expected, what baffles me is the utter failure when it comes to "Jenny", it consistently comes out as "Yani". After two and a half months (wow I've been here a long time!) of confusion and wondering, I finally broke down and asked Miguel if there is a reason for this. To my surprise, it wasn't just that the syllables are hard for the Spanish mouth to pronounce no, he told me in a very straightforward manner, that my name is vulgar. I was shocked by this and asked him to elaborate, he told me that Jenny is the "vulgar gypsy form" of Jennifer, so the Spaniards don't use it and don't like to say it. Just as a little but of background information, the gypsies have a really bad reputation in Spain, as the do in the rest of the world, and are the lowest of the low in society. The have a reputation for stealing and cheating and many of them are so poor they live in boxes and as Miguel also told me "go out in their pajamas", I'm not sure that they are doing this by choice but the Spaniards look down on them for it. Since this night I've been using Jennifer when I meet new people and I've been getting much more positive results.

Well I hope you enjoyed my stories about some of my language struggles here in Spain, I was at a loss about what to write about for this blog because I didn't do much today other than get some coffee with friends while we finalized the final details of our trip to Barcelona tomorrow, and pack. However, my mom suggested I share these so I did.

Anyways, I'll be taking a short hiatus from blogging because I won't have internet from Sunday-Wednesday because I'll be traveling but as soon as I return I promise to tell you all about Barcelona with lots of pictures! Try not to miss me too much. Hasta luego!

Está lloviendo.

It rained pretty much all day today here in the usually sunny Sevilla, which really put a damper on my plans to lay by the river all day and do nothing. Instead I bummed around all day, took a little walk around the city which was hard because everyone had their umbrellas out and they walk just as recklessly if not more so with them. Then later I did a little bit of catching up on my homework and I plan on turning in a little bit early tonight.

Last night I went out to Calle Betis, the street that has all of the bars on it in Trianna, the neighborhood across the bridge from where I live with Allison, Allyson, McKenzie and our Spanish friends. We met up at a bar called Demo where Lucas' brother was in a DJ competition. The bar was really fun and different from where we usually go. There were definitely a lot more Americans, we saw some people we knew from CIEE but there were plenty of Spaniards as well, and we didn't even stand out because we were there with our very own Spanish friends.

McKenzie, Me, Allyson, Gonzalo, Antonio, Lucas and Allison.

Las chicas :) 

Me and McKenzie.

Soy una maestra

The way my class schedule is here in Sevilla makes it so I have just one class every Monday and Wednesday and three on Tuesdays and Thursdays, this makes for some very dull mornings on Mondays and Wednesdays because my friends all have class until after lunch. While it was still a little chilly out I would try to fill my morning with window shopping, this was a bad plan because I usually would end up buying something, so to save my bank account a little pain I decided to volunteer at an elementary school here. 

The school I volunteer at is a Catholic elementary school, called Colegio Sagrada Corazón Esclavas del Divino Corazón del Jesús, sounds like a happy name right? Since it is a Catholic school all of the kids wear navy/green/white uniforms, the little girls always have bows in their hair and it is beyond adorable. My job at the school is to help out in an English class. Originally I was supposed to be helping in a classroom with kids who were about the age of fourth graders, however, there was a change of plans and I ended up in "infantil" or kindergarten. I don't regret the change at all, they are the cutest kids! It's funny too because I am at least three feet taller than all of the kids and a good foot and a half taller than their teacher. Have you ever tried to do the cheek besos with someone who is significantly shorter than you? No? Well it's not easy. 

The kids are so little that the are unable to read and write in English, so all of their tests are oral. On my first day in class they were testing on their knowledge of "eyes", "ears", "nose", "mouth"and "happy", "sad", "tired", "mad". They stood up in front of the class and said the corresponding word as the teacher pointed at the body part or made the emotion. It was funny to me that even after seeing many of their classmates go they could still get the words wrong. Another thing that surprised me was that the supposed English teacher can't really speak English, in fact it is much easier for me to communicate with her in Spanish, but she knows the basics and they're so little I suppose that is all they need. 

Some of my favorite things I've gotten asked (all in Spanish of course) are: 

• "Can you talk?' I'm not sure if they meant in Spanish or English but it was still cute. 
• "This is my book, Sofía la golondrina" that means sparrow, and it wasn't a question but she was so cute showing it to me.
• "Teacher Yani" That is how they pronounce Jenny. 
• Lastly, two little girls brought me flowers in from recess, again not a quote but so precious. 

I feel so lucky to have found this volunteer opportunity while in Spain because I really feel like it fills in a little something of what I had been missing without even realizing it. I had subconciously been missing volunteering at Sherman Middle School, back in Madison, where I help 6th grade non-native English speakers with their homework. I can't wait to go back and use my new Spanish skills there! While the two experiences are drastically different I feel appreciated and like I am making a difference at both schools, which I love. 

I know this was a slightly boring post but I hope you all enjoyed it anyways! Nos vemos! Un gran beso :) 

The one with all the pictures

Today I spent the better part of my evening with Zoe and Gilana planning our trip to Dublin/London. Shockingly, booking the flights wasn't the most exciting part of the evening for me, what I was most excited about was that I was in someone else's house for the first time in two and a half months! As, I've mentioned before, the Spaniards don't socialize "en casa" the do it "en la calle" so although I've heard a lot about my friends homestays I've never been inside. Gilana's host mom is very cool about this though and doesn't mind if she has a few friends over, which was awesome because in Sevilla it is hard to find the free, reliable internet that we needed to look at flights. The point of this whole story is that while I was in Gilana's house I finally had the chance to grab a few of the photos she had taken during our time here, since she never posts them on Facebook! I think they super cute and fun, so I decided to share them with ya'll.

Gilana, me and Zoe on the beach in front of the Mediterranean Sea in Morocco. 

Me and Gilana running down to the Atlantic Ocean in Morocco. 

Me being silly on the beach.

Panting because it was a long run back up to the top...

Zoe, Me and Gilana at a rest stop in Morocco.

Senior picture moroccan style?

Trying on some hats at the rest stop. 

Gilana, Zoe and me in the torre on our Cádiz trip.

Freiduria translates roughly into fried food store.

A mountain of fried sea food. 

Yummy! Sea food on the beach. 

Close up of our pescado frito. 

Me and Gilana on the beach. 

Far away version. 

Zoe, Me and Gilana in Córdoba. 

I'm the horse whisperer (Córdoba).

I'm a Spanish popstar

Well kind of anyways. For my Cultural Expression interest group we had to participate in a music video for a local band. Yes you heard me right. I, Jenny, was in a music video and it wasn't even the worst thing that has ever happened in my life. In fact it was actually a really fun day and it led me to meet some of my closest Spanish friends to date. 

The day started out a little rough, we were filming in the CIEE palacio or where we have class everyday, and we had to be there at 9 AM, on a Friday! Thursday is the main day that college students go out here in Sevilla, and they stay out late, if you go home before 4 or 5 AM you're doing something wrong. Needless to say, rolling out of bed and making the walk to the Palacio wasn't quite what I wanted to do, I would have preferred to sleep in until noon, but you can't always get what you want. 

The premise of the song/video is a guy who has a really controlling girlfriend and he finally realizes it and has flashbacks on how bad their relationship really was. My friend Allison, who is about the sweetest person I've ever met had to play the mean girlfriend and I was her snotty friend. The video started with the two of us having a conversation and the guy, Lucas who is a member of the band, trying to jump into the conversation and us not letting him. They weren't going to use the sound they just wanted our mouths to be moving but they wanted it to look natural so they told us to have a conversation in English but we didn't know what to say! We were talking about these silly Spanish guys we met last night and how cute they were, then Allison jokingly said that her "boyfriend" wasn't that cute and that we could find her a cuter one that night. After that take Lucas told us to "ten cuidado" or be careful because he understood English! It was so funny, and a little awkward because we had been joking and talking nonsense the whole time. 

After that scene we moved on to a plaza just behind the cathedral for the group dance number. We all did a short choreographed routine while Lucas lipsynched to the song, he isn't the singer he is the drummer. Then it was onto the spying scene, as he walked down the street I got to lurk behind him and '"call" Allison to update her on his whereabouts. There were a lot of close ups of my face, which I wasn't too fond of. Finally we ended in the park where Allison had to walk up to him, yell and tear him away from his group of friends, her attempts at a mean face were hysterical, we almost died laughing during every take. 

In the end they must have gotten enough of what they wanted because we called it a day, and the movie will be debuting on our trip to Madrid in April. Don't worry, despite the embarrassment I'm sure this will cause me I promise to post the video here once it is released so you can see me in my popstar glory. 

I know I mentioned that I made some of my best Spanish friends from the music video experience and that is the truth. Lucas is very nice and he introduced us to a number of his friends. Allison, McKenzie and I have been hanging out with them, mostly Lucas, Miguel and Antonio at least once a weekend since we shot the music video. It is such a fun way for all of us to improve our language skills in a way that doesn't feel like a chore. When I hangout with them I hardly notice that I am speaking Spanish, which is fun and makes me feel like I truly belong in Sevilla. 

A day at the beach in Cádiz

Check, check, check it out. Bloggin' three days in a row, I'm on a role. However, there appears to be an inverse relationship between the temperature here and my desire to blog, as the temperature goes up my blogging ambitions go down. So as the weather becomes ever warmer I have made a vow to try to keep up with my blogging, not only for you all but for myself as well, because this blog will serve as a remind of all the adventures I had here in Spain for years to come. So without further ado here is a little bit about my trip to Cádiz two weekends ago, oh how the time flies.

This trip to Cádiz was the last "free" trip, that CIEE offers, I'm sure the cost is included in program fees but I like free things so I'm calling them free. I managed to go on all of the free trips and honestly none of them were disappointing in the least. It was a nice way to ease into traveling, having everything planned out and having CIEE staff to field any problems we may have had. They always put us up in nice hotels if it was a weekend trip, provided us with food and local tour guides. These trips were the perfect length and a great way to see parts of Spain that I may not have traveled to otherwise! I was very excited to travel to Cádiz, because it is a beach town, and you all know I love the ocean.

Cádiz is pretty far south, and is on the Atlantic.

After a very comfortable bus ride, we all got our own row of seats because they offered so many other days to take this trip that we only had about 25 people on a greyhound bus, we pulled into Cádiz around 11 AM. I was a little disappointed to see that is was foggy and a little windy, I was worried it was going to cramp my style and prevent me from enjoying the beach but thankfully as the day wore on the fog burned off and the sun came out. 

Cádiz is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain, it has been around for over 3,000 years. On our tour through the city we started in the area called "Old Town" and got to see remnants of old cathedrals, the old city walls and even some roman ruins. Much of the city is new, as in built after the 18th century because the city was attacked my England in 1702 and was devastated by the British cannons. They have since reclaimed some of the land back from the ocean and have (obviously) rebuilt. Cádiz also recently celebrated its bicentennial of independence as an autonomous provence of Spain, it was the first one to do so.

View of the pretty, white beach town from the torre of the cathedral.

Another thing that is interesting about Cádiz is that it is the only city in Spain that handles tobacco directly and turns it into things like cigarettes. Sevilla had the monopoly on tobacco trade with the Americas until the 18th century when the Rio Guadalquivir's water levels lowered and sandbars started to appear. The Spanish government decided to move their main port from Sevilla to Cádiz which has direct access to the Atlantic, this decision converted Cádiz into one of the wealthiest ports in all of Spain. One fact we learned about tobacco was that the women were in charge of handling the highest grade of tobacco because they are naturally more dexterous and could more skillfully roll cigarettes.

Old tobacco factory in Cádiz. 

Statue dedicated to the women of the tobacco trade.

Then we headed into the Plaza de San Antonio for a short rest break before heading up into the torre (tower) of the Catedral de Cádiz. The cathedral of Cádiz is much less grand than the one in Sevilla, and it was never completely finished due to a lack of funds. It only has two towers instead of the intended four and it has empty alcoves, outside and inside, where statues of saints should be. Nonetheless it was still pretty and the view from the top was to die for.

Plaza de San Antonio. 

One of the torres of the cathedral.

View of the cathedral, you can really see the missing statues on the torres.

Cupola of Cádiz Cathedral.

Ocean view :) 

Palm tree oasis in the middle of the city.

After our ascent of the torre we went for a walk around Cádiz we visited the flower market and a number of other local markets. Walked through some pretty gardens and even got to see another one of the special trees that Cristobal Colon brought back to Spain from America. Mercifully, before all of the walking became to much we arrived and the beach and were told we now had free time until it was time to leave.

Gilana, Zoe and I had all neglected to bring lunch so we headed back into the city to find some pescado frito or fried fish, which Cádiz is known for. We asked our tour guide for a recommendation and he sent us to the most wonderful place, it was full or locals and very busy! After waiting for about twenty minutes we got more fish than we could eat for 15 euros and took it back to the beach where we had to fight some seagulls for it but it was worth the trouble. My favorite was the chocos which is fried cuddlefish and tastes like calamari but not as chewy. It came with a lot of varieties of shrimp and fish but some of the stranger things we tried were a whole fried squid, some bone-in anchovy-like fish and most disgustingly, huevas. From the name we should've known it was going to be weird but it was basically fish eggs stuffed in an intestine and fried. Not my personal favorite but I tried it. Then we spent the rest of our time enjoying the view and laying on the beach because it was too cold to swim. I did dip my toes in and collect some seashells though!

Such a pretty beach. 

It was kinda high tide...

Me and Zoe on the beach. 

Cute little boats. 

I had such a wonderful time in Cádiz it was a great relaxing day trip with awesome friends! I hope reading about my trip to the beach brightens up you week, I know thinking back on it as I wrote this blog sure brightened up mine!

Previously unpublished photos from my trip

So when I was having my internet troubles and couldn't upload the pictures I wanted for my Morocco blog I found out that Facebook now allows you to post album links to share your pictures with your family and friends who don't have Facebook. I think that this is a really cool idea and I know my parents said they would want to see more pictures of my time in Spain so I'll post all the links below with a short description of what each one is!

Click the link below to see pictures from my first weeks in Sevilla and my trips to Córdoba and Granda. Warning includes a lot of scenery, silly poses and Pantera.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150754312606258.498223.565661257&type=3&l=242633fc2c


Alright, below are my Morocco photos, I know I've posted this album before but in case you want to look again here you go. This one involves an abundance of animals and food.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150821741351258.506751.565661257&type=3&l=5e14e469ae

Up next are my photos from the fabulous Ronda. If you ever get a chance to travel to Andalusia I highly recommend a stop here! This is probably my most outdoorsy/athletic album to date.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.10150848212821258.510592.565661257&type=3&l=9d68114eca


Last but not least my day trip to Cádiz, and let me tell you this album is full of ocean and beach goodness!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150821795336258.506759.565661257&type=3&l=92dd0fddb4

I finally figured out how to make the web address into a link so you don't have to copy and paste it anymore! Also I made it so when you click on it the pictures will open in a new tab so that you don't have to worry about losing the page you are on! I hope you all enjoy the extra pictures!