Never a dull moment...

Last week was my first week of ‘work’ at my school. It consisted of meeting wonderful professors, drinking café con leche and fresh orange juice in the school cafeteria, and using the computers and free internet in the teacher’s lounge. I also attended one class, 2nd year English with students aged 15-17, which was quite fun although I am pretty sure they had no idea what I was saying. My direct supervisor, Pepe, the Bilingual Program Coordinator at the school, seems very laid back about the hours I will be working and wants to make sure we can both be flexible about what classes I attend each week. I am interested to see how this works out as he seems to think that we can just meet every Monday morning to decide my schedule for the week.

This weekend, which stretched from Thursday through Monday thanks to what the Spanish call a “puente” (bridge) which links multiple días de fiesta together, allowed us to participate in many interesting events throughout the city. Thursday Emily and I went to the city of Cádiz, the sister city of Havana, Cuba to sit at the beach and relax in the 80 degree weather. It was great. Not having a beach towel, I brought the extra pillow case that came with my sheets (actually, the ‘sheets’ that I bought in a 2x1 deal turned out to be comforter covers…currently my mattress is inside of one and the other I use as a double sheet) which proved to work just fine.

That night Emily and I decided to venture out to start Operation Make Spanish Friends, and we started at a bar called La Moderna where we had seen university aged, hippie-types the week before. Arriving at 10:00pm, early for Spanish night-life, we were surprised that the bar was closing soon after our arrival and that there was no one in the bar even as young as double our age. (Although we did not make any friends, we did meet a 60 year old man whose father was born in Wisconsin which was pretty coincidental.)

We continued our night at a bar called Cuatro Gatos where we went to see live music by a duo called Nacho and Gunnar. Venturing out on our own to make friends was a very interesting experience. I am pretty shy in English, so you can only imagine how I feel making friends in Spanish. I really have to put myself out there, mix with the people, and forget about the being shy or making mistakes when speaking. The first friend we made was a woman from Israel, who is here in Jerez to learn flamenco and who was so excited to hear us speaking English…it was a good start, but we still needed Spanish friends who could force us to speak Spanish.

After the concert we were continuing our operation when we saw someone in the bar wearing a Vermont shirt. Although clearly American, we thought it might be good to talk to him, find out what he was doing in Jerez, and see if he could introduce us to some Spanish friends. Vermont (Carlos’s new nickname) turned out to be Spanish, a Jerezano who had bought the shirt here in Spain, and we deemed him (how lucky is he?!?) our first Spanish friend! We were very excited.

In addition to making a friend, this weekend we went to see an Argentinian man give a monologue at a center for creative arts (Emily made me go), as well as a horse jumping competition. Jerez is known for its School of Equestrian Arts so it was exciting to happen upon this important part of the city’s culture.

On a different note, coming to Spain has been incredibly eye opening. Being immersed in another culture, even one with which I am already familiar, is teaching me so much about myself, my country, and my own culture. I am seeing first hand how much of an impact US politics and the economy have on Spain and Europe. Everyone that we have talked to has brought up the upcoming election and the presidential candidates, the faltering economy, and their fears for the future and hopes for change. The feelings of guilt and sorrow are always present during these conversations, when I watch the nightly news, and when I read the newspapers. How can it be that one, solo uno, country can have such an impact on others?

Fortunately, I have already met a few social workers and some professors at my school that are going to help me find some volunteer work to do while I am here. Spain, like the US, is experiencing a large influx of immigrants from both African and South American countries. This is a relatively new phenomenon here and Spain is not yet sure how to react or how to respond. I think working in the social services here will prove very rewarding and gaining knowledge about the social systems of other countries will be very powerful. I plan on starting as soon as I get a schedule at school (...I am starting to doubt that this will ever happen) and I am looking forward to experiencing this lesser-known aspect of Spain.