Today marks the end of my first week in Madrid. What an experience! Having already spent a year in Spain, I am very familiar with the "locura" that is Espana. However, this past week has made me think about my life in the States, and mi vida en Espana, and how they are at times literally worlds apart.
As soon as I touched down in Spain, I felt as though I was picking up where I left off. I talked with my taxi driver as if he were one of the homies, until I arrived at the residence hall we were staying in for orientation. All of us, about 60 total, were arriving at different times; conversing and trying to figure out how the hell we were going to find a piso (apartment) in only 5 days. I immediately noted that this was not a "study abroad" kind of experience. Unlike study abroad, most of the people in my program speak spanish pretty well, are well traveled, and have a true desire to learn more about the spanish culture. I was put at ease by this observation, frankly because my study abroad program was saturated with typical rich American white kids who probably learned only two words of spanish, and pissed away their parent's money on Calle Betis...hanging with the rest of the Americans. Most of our time the first week was spent looking for housing on the internet, and running the city to see apartments between sessions. Frustration. Why in the world would we come to Madrid, a huge foreign city, not knowing where we were going to live for the next year?! Well, because that's the Spanish way, "que no pasa nada." I had to keep thinking to myself "tranquila."
In the midst of the housing hustle, I had to endure the shock of orientation. It was not bad at all, just interesting. In a typical Spanish manner, in April we were sent a paquet saying, congratulations.....see you in Spain! This was followed by a few emails which read, don't forget your visa and when do you arrive. Needless to say, spaniards are not very detail oriented. At orientation I found out I was teaching 6th grade; which was a relief because I thought I was teaching high school. I also found out that I would be teaching many subjects, in English, not just English as one subject. We were told that we would have a lot of freedom in implementing new things in the curriculum, and displaying our American culture. Ok, cool. I thought about all the fun ideas I had for my students, and how I want to start an Amnesty International student group there....and how I would bring good ol' America into the classroom!.......(I'll come back to this point)
During the week, I was taking notes in my head about how "laughable" Spanish lifestyle is. I love it! Most of the things that I observed this first week would NEVER occur in the US. Examples: snatching numbers off light posts to look for a roommate/apartment...and then going to see it alone in a completely random neighborhood; waiting 3 hours and the bank to open an account, because the man only uses two fingers to type and has a 1980 printer; going to three different branches of the same bank, only to hear 3 completely different excuses as to why you can't open an account; carrying a huge red hand fan in purse at all times; fanning frequently; staying out until 7am drinking and walking the city (with or without your kids), becasue it is a "cultural tradition"; sitting at a restaurant talking 3 hours after you finish a meal, and still not be given a check....I could go on, but this is only the first week's occurences.
All of these things, in my opinion, are "laughable." In the States, they would be unacceptable. To me, this aqui, es la vida buena! Enjoy the moments, que no pasa nada!
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