Catalunya Christmas: Life's Reflections While Sittin' On The Beach

Barcelona and the beach of life

La Sagrada Familia

Right now, I'm sittin' in the lounge of my hostel (best one I've stayed in so far) while its raining in the city of Barcelona. It's been a real nice experience to finally leave work for a couple of weeks to relax and finally see other cities in Spain, breaking the routine of teaching. The long train rides were very relaxing in themselves, as I had time to read, listen to music and think about things. I already knew coming in that Barcelona is a real touristy city. However, the negative annotation went away once I got to my hostel, met a bunch of people and hit the town with some of them. I knew at that point I wasn't really alone in the city. Many others were stopping by to see the city either alone or in groups, taking advantage of the holiday season to see the world.

Playing cards with some Parisians

I really haven't made any friends in the town that I'm living in, and I still do feel like an outsider in one of the schools that I work for, but the feeling of solitude left when I met other travelers in the hostel in Barcelona. Many of them were from Asia (mostly Hong Kong and Japan), but other Europeans were staying here as well. It was real cool making connections, learning about other cultures, sharing laughs and cultivating new experiences in my life. We even all shared a Christmas Eve dinner, chatted and shared things about our lives. In general, I learned that we are the same even though we live in different parts of the world. Traveling makes you value people and your life in general.

Barcelona Beach

Even though I hung out with many people and checking out the sights and sounds of the city, I had to take time for myself. Going off to the beach and the park were the prime spots that I took advantage of. Hitting up the park and admiring the architecture and nature of the area was a real treat away from the city. However, I took a lot of time to think about things on the beach. After being asked for
massages repeatedly by old Asian women, I sat on the shore looking out into the sea, thinking about life, eternity, friends and family. I thought to myself "just live life, things can wait". I already came to the realization that I am a worrisome person, full of anxiety and denial. However, being on the beach made me realize that I should take time for myself and see the beauty in the little things of life and not worry about tomorrow or the future. At 26 years old and in Europe, why not? This is it. This is my eternity. Even though its the holidays and I miss my family and my friends, all this has been a real awakening for me. I wouldn't have learned about myself at all if I stayed in the states. I think its a great present to myself.

Merry Christmas

 Sound clip below inspired this post.

The Foreigner Aspect Whilst Living Abroad

Short post about being in a foreigner's shoes

Starting off with a decisive declaration: the good ol' USA is a melting-pot; a nation filled with foreigners and immigrants from different countries. I have noticed this more in my time during college since I have met many people of different nationalities. Some of the coolest people I've met were from Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Brazil and other countries. In some of the gatherings I've been too, they all had stories to tell and smiles on their faces. Some would mingle with the Americans, or others would hang out with their own nationalities, retreating to that comfort zone of language and cultural identity. In any case, they were in a new world experiencing something new. In my case, in Spain, I'm in their shoes.

Spain itself is pretty diverse in race...in some aspects. Major cities like Madrid is crawling with many different minorities from Asian to African and others in between. Moving to smaller towns, however, is pretty homogenous in terms of ethnicity. For example, the town I primarily live and work in has a couple of Asians, thats about it. Also, my roommate and I are the only foreigners in the town. Plasencia, the other town I work in, has more diversity but still distinctly has an outweighing Spanish population. Linguistically, I don't have a problem speaking Spanish to locals in shops or with teachers, yet I do sometimes have trouble adapting to their speech (Mexican Spanish isn't utilized here but its somewhat understood when I speak it). However, I speak a lot of English here due to my classes and meeting up with other English teachers now and then. I haven't really retreated to only hanging out with English speakers since they are somewhat sparse in my region (and I haven't networked well with others). In Spanish, I have talked to many different people and been in a couple of different outings where I had to use it. Admitting I do feel out of place sometimes and a bit uncomfortable. However, I want that. I don't mind being laughed at due to doing something out of the ordinary in a Spaniard's eyes, as its a learning experience (yet I mind if I am treated rudely).

The whole point of this is that I can finally say I'm a foreigner and I will be for 6 more months. Also, I've always had respect for foreigners and immigrants but after living in a new country for a couple months, my respect for them has risen.  Even though some flock to their own kind for linguistic and cultural comfort, will still feel a bit out of place in spite of sharing the same land that we all walk on.

If you have a different point of view or want to share something in the same vain, comment!

Thanksgiving - First Holiday Away From Home

Year after year and basically up to this point, I've noticed that in the US we barely have time to visit family and loved ones during the year, except for holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many of us work long scheduled days, only having one day off during the week or even have two jobs. We usually use those days to recuperate from the work week. However, when a holiday comes up such as labor day or 4^th of July, some of us still work. Usually, Christmas is a guaranteed day off. Thanksgiving use to be as well but many people just see it as a day lumped in with black Friday and some people take advantage of the sales or work that evening in the madness. Up until last year, I didn't care about Thanksgiving as much. However, after eating a mock home cooked Thanksgiving meal made by my roommate, I realized that holidays and traditions such as this means a lot to people and that I somewhat lost a spiritual connection with family because of work/school and being in my own world.

During my time in grad school, I barely saw any family. With the little time that I had off, I saw them for a bit then head off same day, keeping a weekend to myself or something of that nature. I basically became introverted, until the holiday season comes up. Thats were I am with the fam, but still feeling out of place. On Thanksgiving, its usually held at my sister's place or my parent's house. Its a great vibe, yet I still feel uneasy for some reason. I couldn't value time with family. I would just gorge on food then go.

Now, yesterday was the first Thanksgiving away from any family. My roommate (travel veteran) has spent the holiday away before and wanted to keep Thanksgiving tradition going by cooking a meal. Everything was basically the same, except using chicken instead of turkey (no whole turkeys here). We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli, cranberry sauce and even pumpkin pie! At that point I realized that she had to have the meal. She had to have the spirit of the holiday even with the absence of family and friends. I can tell it meant something to her. Thats when I realized I kinda was missing out the past couple of years.

That evening, I Skyped my family and they were all happy to see me, all with smiles and weird expressions (^o^). Despite the fact of not being in Texas, I didn't feel out of place talking to them this time.

Peace

Salamanca: Favorite city (so far)

The perk of my job is that I always have a 3 day weekend, Friday thru Sunday. With that, and after a month or so teaching, I finally took my first weekend trip to Salamanca as a getaway from all the insanity of students yelling, all the 'hello, how are you' cycles and just to be by myself for a couple of days. With that, November 8-10 I went to Salamanca, home to the oldest university in the country and one of the oldest in the world.

Primero: Pasta

I took the early bus that Friday, about a 3 hour trip. Many of the locals told me that it really takes about an hour and a half but the bus ride was incredibly beautiful. I was passing through mountains and forests, making multiple stops to pick up other people heading to the same destination. I never knew that a bus could make perfect hairpin turns. The only bad thing was the rain in the morning. Once I got to Salamanca, the rain came and went, but luckily I had a umbrella with me. I walked to the Plaza Mayor and I have to say, rain or shine, it was incredibly beautiful. I hit up a cafe and had chocolate and churros for the first time. DAMN GOOD. I didn't have to check in until 1pm so I went walking around and ran into the San Esteban basilica. Usually when you see a cathedral, you've basically seen them all. However, this one was amazing. The architecture was amazing, with one of the altars completely gilded. I went to my pension afterwards, a small room near the plaza, checked in, grab some cash and went out to have some lunch (not settling for more than 10€). After the three course meal, I went back to the pension and passed out.

Cathedral lit up at night

Waking up, I saw it was basically nightfall and decided to go for a evening paseo (walk). It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a city. The streets and every old building was lit and looked like old gold/silver. Plaza Mayor, the new and old cathedrals and the university buildings were lit. It was a surreal walk. I sat in front of the new cathedral just staring at it lit up in the night, thinking to myself "I still can't believe I'm in f*ckin Europe." It hits me now and then that I'm not in the states anymore. I walked mostly throughout the evening, talking to people at the plaza and taking it easy.

Next day I woke up cold as f*ck. It was 3C degrees (40F degrees) with wind. It was so god damn cold. The shower was somewhat miserable because of it (Spaniards are cheap with heat). I went off to Río Tormes, and it was beautiful. A pedestrian path/bike path surrounds the river that lays outside of the main city. I am a sucker for parks and nature. I couldn't believe how beautiful everything looked. It was a prime time to walk around and people watch. Walkers and cyclists took advantage of the paths.

View of Salamanca from Río Tormes

I walked back up and checked finally went to the old University of Salamanca building.  It was a good and bad experience. As an academic, I would expect a little bit more from the building, especially after paying 10€ to enter. All the old lecture halls were cool to look at but it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. The biggest let down was la antigua bibiloteca (old library). I did get to see the library...but from behind thick ass glass. Big let down. In anycase, it was an important thing that I still had to see. I swung back to the pension for a nap, then went out afterwards for another evening stroll. I walked so much I eventually stepped into dog sh*t!!! The only thing that the spanish piss me off about is that they don't pick up after their dogs. It is considered good luck to step in it....my ass its good luck. But anyway, it was still a good night (after cleaning my shoes off).

The next morning I packed up and left back to Coria. I believe that it was a good, well needed trip to get away from work and people. Being alone in Salamanca had its perks but I still wished my friends were with me to check out all the cool places that I've been to.

Peace

Phones: Status and Use in Spain

I brought a couple of electronics when I arrived in Spain i.e. MacBook, iPod, iPhone and the point-and-shoot camera. All of them have been helpful and none of them have crapped out on me (knock on wood). The iPod has been in my pocket since 2008 and has helped me combat homesickness with tunes. As far as cells (or mobiles said here) are concerned, I had the option of unlocking the iPhone and using it here or opting for a pay-as-you-go/cheapo mobile phone. After a month living abroad, el cheapo has been better for me than using the iPhone.

The use of El Cheapo

Before I left for Spain, I downloaded a ton of apps that would help me stay in contact with friends and family such as WhatsApp (used to text anyone internationally that has the app) and Skype. I didn't bother unlocking the phone before I left. When I arrived, I felt lost without the function of the phone since I obviously didn't have data nor phone service in general. However, on my final day in Madrid before leaving for orientation in Cáceres, I went to the store Phone House to get a phone. I bought EL CHEAPO for €40, with €20 of credit in my sim card. The next day on the bus to Cáceres, many people had their smartphones out, unlocked with a Spanish sim inside. Many of them were either iPhone 4's or 5's or Android phones. It was basically the same sort of attitude as in the states, looking down on the device as opposed to looking whats in front of you.

The setup with el Cheapo next to the iPod

In Coria, I use el Cheapo mainly for communication between parents, students and teachers and maintaining my private English class business. Aside from that, I don't have many friends (none in Coria) to call and chat or text to see whats up. Now, the iPhone I still do use but seldom, often to text on WhatsApp to friends and family back at home and as a camera.

Social Status

Even though Spain is first world country and well developed, American products/brands are pretty expensive here. As far as mobiles go, the majority of Spaniards use Android based smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy (still expensive but cheaper than an iPhone). Most teens and young adults use them, while, I suppose wealthier people, have the iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. An iPhone 4S (my phone) goes for I believe about €300 even with a contract. The look on some student's faces when I tell them my phone was $99 is priceless. Also, most of the parents of the students that I teach seem to have many Apple products (they make bread and then some).

Smartphone or el cheapo

After a month without the functions of a smartphone while walking on the street, my life is actually really more free. I get many calls from parents and students about lessons on el cheapo. If I did on my iPhone, I would hate the thing. Don't get me wrong, I still use it to text some people and look up info but life without it is real nice. I feel liberating not looking down at it all the time and most of all I feel great not paying for data (sometimes it killed my cellphone bill in the states). I am still paying for service because I am still under contract with AT&T (evil bastards) but it is at a reduction rate of $10 a month for six months. On top of that, they did give me A LOT of credit before I left, so my bank account is unaffected. With just el cheapo in my pocket, I finally get to look up to where I'm going instead of looking down.

Over a month in Europe: Busy making dem EOs

It's now been over a month since I landed in Spain and started my life in Europe...37 days to be exact! Honestly, it's been a roller coaster ride of adjustments and sentiments towards my new home for 8 months. On September 27th (last day of orientation in Cáceres), I moved into a 3 bedroom apartment on the northeast side of Coria with another auxiliar teaching in town from Eugene, Oregon. She (yes, I said she) is pretty cool, a punk girl who's into roller derby. We usually hang out after a long day of classes on Thursday evenings talking about the classes we teach and drink, watch stuff on netflix and basically chill out. We are both exhausted after teaching from Monday thru Thursday. Whilst reading this, you are thinking WHAT THE F*CK?! ONLY 4 DAYS?! BASTARD! Well, here is my schedule:

Cathedral in Plasencia nearby the other school

Officially and legally, I only work 12 hours a week in the schools for 700 E.Os -- EOs pronounced ['i.ohz], my universal slang for the euro. It sounds too good to be true and it somewhat is. Mondays and Tuesdays, I work 6 hours in Coria. Wednesday and Thursdays is a bit different because I have to travel to Plasencia, a town 40 minutes east of Coria. Its a bigger town with many more shops and place to eat than town. Also the Cathedral and Torre is a pleasure to walk by when I'm heading to school. I teach usually between 9am-2pm at both colegios (schools). After 2, siesta time sets in when all the shops close and people head home for lunch or nap. I usually head home for lunch then to the bar below my place and have an afternoon café con leche. Depending on the day, starting around 4:30pm the mayhem starts.

Café con churros

During the early evening hours (4:30pm-9pm), I am on foot in Coria traveling to different homes giving private English classes for an hour each, Monday thru Thursday. There is a massive demand for these private classes from all ages, yet the majority are 12-15 years. They are real fun but can be exhausting, helping them with pronunciation or trying to understand what they are saying within some context. Grammar is barely touched on because they learn it in school, so their parents want them to converse with real natives and they are willing to pay (and plenty too). Its honestly a good side business to make some extra money for food, travel and other things. It also helps battle homesickness but by 8pm I'm wiped out. I head back home, eat, do some chores and pass out around 11pm (like I did during gradschool). Friday thru Sunday is freedom, relaxation and sometimes boredom but long walks or blog writing help out.

 

Peace

In the cultural spotlight

After about a week of teaching, I have became accustomed to being stared at by students while I'm standing in front of the room. But in general, I never like being the leader of a group or in the spotlight. With that said, today was the opposite.

Today I worked at Colegio Sagrado Corazón here in Coria (the other school that I work at, La Salle, is in Plasencia). I usually have an hour break from 11am to 12pm from class, which is pretty nice time to run an errand or grab some café con leche. Around 11:45am to 12:15pm, the school has a recreo period, meaning recess. Most of the younger students go out and play soccer, snack on their bocadillos (sandwiches) that their moms made them or the older students (11-14 years old) hang out and talk. I walked around for a little bit in the playground area of the school then perched at a spot to chill away from the sun since it was starting to get a little hot. A couple of students of mine came up to say hi and were gather around me asking a couple of questions. Then, out of nowhere, A MASSIVE GROUP of pre-teens and teenagers gathered in a group around me. I just said HOLY SHIT (they didn't know what that ment) and started laughing because I was the man of the hour (or 10 minutes of recess).

I was asked the usual questions: where am I from, what do I study, what do I teach, how old am I. Then I would get random questions like do I have a girlfriend or can I sing. Most of the questions were in Spanish, so I understood everything. Some tried to speak in English too, which was pretty cool. But the whole time I felt I was an animal being stared at in the zoo, like LOOK! AN AMERICANO! It was a fun but an unique experience. Being from the states, that never happens since it is a very diverse country. Coria has one latin american family and one Chinese family, thats all. The rest are Spanish. It is a real culture shock for them, I suppose, to see a real foreigner. I'm actually happy to be in a foreigner's shoes. I somewhat know how international students feel when they come to UNT. Somewhat weirded out by the culture that you live in now but people are fascinated by you because of where you come from!

Sorry, no photos. Its about the story. READ IT, BITCH! (an ode to the finale of Breaking Bad).

The opportunity I've been granted

Tomorrow morning at 9AM I begin my job teaching English. My schedule is split between two schools: Monday and Tuesday in Coria, Wednesday and Thursday in Plasencia with Friday, Saturday and Sunday off to do whatever. That isn't all. I only work 12 hours a week, split between both schools. Its obviously VERY different than home, where people work 40+ hours to keep the lights on and bread on the table. I worked at a desk job in a computer lab for about 30 hours a week, attended 9 hours of grad school classes, worked on my own research and class work during the weekends and still made time for friends, the linguistics group, and many other things. Its a major change from academic life and even every day life. In many ways, my life is unfair to other people, in the sense that they have to work extremely long hours and additional jobs to survive to where as I have time to do many things and have a monthly stipend to somewhat live off of.

However, like many of us, I came from that world. Working a lot for not a whole lot but making ends meet. I've done that earlier in my life and learned a lot from it. I am not one of those people that says "that's not for me anymore" except for retail (NEVER anymore), yet I know I want something else in my life. I can't be afraid to do different things nor be in different situations hence the reason why I'm in Europe teaching English in the first place. However, I do feel odd not doing 40 hours somewhere for $7.50 an hour, like many people I know are doing (and what I use to do as well). I guess in hindsight I'm seeing the benefits of a college education. To do this program, a person needs a Bachelor's degree or be at least in their Junior year of college. Its an advantage not many people have, even those with that degree. I'm lucky that I don't have to pay a large amount of loans back either when I return. The $7.50 an hour wouldn't cut it.

I just have to keep telling myself that this is will help in the long run and that I should take the advantage of being here. I shouldn't be afraid of the world and the work that it comes with. I know that this program is not a kick in the door for job opportunities but I hope it gives me some kind of boost and push when I get back to the states.

CÁCERES y CORIA

I left Madrid about two days ago and went on another adventure: Cáceres. Thursday morning I left on a bus to the city of Cáceres where the orientation for my region is held at. It was about a 5 hour bus trip, carving in and out the roads of west Spain, making multiple stops to pick up other heading to the city. The trip was ok for me since I have taken a couple of bus and train trips in my life (headed to the Spanish Consulate General in Houston by ways of the Megabus). There were many people heading there for the same orientation so that was real cool. I sat next to a girl from Arizona, a first year newbie just like me, and we talked for nearly the whole trip. It was good yet tiring (I wanted to sleep more!). Once we got to our destination, that was another adventure itself. The girl and I got on a bus to take us into the inner city in order to take another bus to go to the orientation, which was basically a boarding school building. We met a French girl on the way to the same place, speaking only Spanish, but I think she's actually teaching French to students here. We got a bit lost looking for the place itself, walking around for 20 minutes in the sun. I was fine, but the American girl from the long bus ride had a lot of baggage so it was hard for her to get around. But we finally made it!

There was so many people there, all waiting around for the meeting to start. Saw a guy with a Mastodon shirt on walking around (NICE SHIRT DUDE!). I met a bunch of people from all over the states, a handful of British people, and a couple of French and Portuguese. It was a real awesome and interesting. Everyone kinda becomes a kindred spirit. We are all thrown into an unknown situation, figuring out what to do the next day, where to live, what to eat. Its scary but I think being out of your comfort zone is the best way to learn about yourself. I learned that I'm too anxious and that I should be a bit more loose, not so uptight.

The orientation itself was actually pointless. The presenters of the program were somewhat repetitive, did not give us any new information, and wasted time. I met a couple of people that are working in Plasencia, another city that I have to teach at that is about 25 minutes away. They were both real cool (British girl and an American guy). The second day of orientation was actually the life saver. I met a girl that had a flat situated for her already that had 2 spare bedrooms in Coria! I jumped on the opportunity. 150EURO! Piss cheap! Too good to be true though. Only time will tell. It honestly was pure luck for me. I think there are still some people that are looking for a place to live. I'm so lucky and grateful to find a place so quick. I don't know what I would have done.

Llegué a Madrid

ESTOY AQUÍ

This wont be the "to go to" blogs for advice on how to live abroad and do the Auxiliares de Conversación program, even though some tid-bits will be explained. This will be written in the point of view of a first timer's experience living abroad. I never new my mind would be blown this much.

I left the 19th of September and arrived the next day in Madrid. With a layover in JFK, the flight to Spain was about 6 1/2 hours to 7 hours long. It was very hard to sit still the whole way but I have managed to make it. When I arrived, I had a scare at the airport when I thought my luggage was lost. However, I just didn't look at the other conveyer belt and saw my bag by itself. I was incredibly frightened and didn't want to know what to do if that had happened. After that, I went out and hit up the Madrid METRO lines, which were incredibly fast and packed as well. I knew the routes decently and had a map on my phone for reference. I was still incredibly tired with only a few hours of sleep but I had to push through to get to my hostel. After 3 trains, I finally got out of the train, went upstairs and saw something I never thought I would see before: EUROPE. It hit me hard when I knew I wasn't in America anymore.

Five days in Madrid before I leave for Cáceres (where I have to teach) for the rest of the experience. Today was pure walking around and exploration. I took the advice from the spoken word show of the great Henry Rollins: Books are great for the meantime but knowledge without mileage equals bullsh*t, if you want to know you have to go. After checking in my hostel, I went out, bought a bottle of water and just explored. I wanted to know what Europe is aside from reading about it in the books of dead writers. I want to know who the hell I really am too. A linguist? A literary critic? A person who is just avoiding real work in the states? Whoever I am I will find out. This first month will suck because of the solidarity but it will give me loads of time to reflect, write, study and hopefully leave my personality completely vulnerable.

PS: I may make a Flickr or some kind of photo account to post up all the photos instead of clogging up my Facebook account. 

The start

This will be the first post of many about the trip to Spain and travels within the country as well as Europe. Many friends and family members already know that I will be living in Spain for about 8 months teaching English starting in October and ending in May. But not many know about the route that I went down to do this.

At the start of the new year, I honestly had no idea what to do after I finished my Master's degree in Spanish. After two years, I have finished my course work in May and now waiting to take my comprehensive exams in August (procrastinating studying by writing this blog). I didn't know what to make of my life after this degree because I know I will not pursue a PhD in the field nor teach it. The degree I have worked for and will obtain is a literature degree, offering very little career wise unless I go into a doctorate. Even though I love the language as well as reading and writing, literary theory and criticism is not what I wanted to as far as a career in academia is concerned. Taking graduate Linguistics classes helped me see this. I immediately wanted to start a career by studying language, but I was (and still am) bounded by the Spanish MA program until its finished. But, I have no idea what I was going to do after it was all set and done. Either apply to other programs for Linguistics or say screw it and teach Spanish. The second option is way more difficult because my lack of teaching experience.

Around Fall 2013, one of the students in the Linguistics program told me about his time teaching English in Granada before starting his master's degree. The program he did it through was called CIEE, a real cool program to teach English overseas and spend time abroad. I looked into it and knew that I needed something like this in my personal life, to live out of the country, and personal life, gaining teaching experience. However, I would have to pay about $2,000 for this program, yet it would cover everything. I showed this to my sister (a big supporter of mine when it came to school and life in general) and she did her own research on the subject. She found out that the Spanish Ministry of Education offers the same program, minus the price tag. I jumped on the opportunity, downloaded the application forms, got a letter of rec from one of my professors and sent everything in March. I didn't hear anything for a long time and I honestly lost hope until the second week of June when I opened my email and the offer was there to accept. I was at work, I lost my mind and I yelled:

I'M GOING TO SPAIN!!!
The rest, everyone knows...

I'm going to teach at two schools in Plasencia (Cáceres), in the region of Extremadura. I'm leaving for Madrid on September 19, arriving the next day. I will spend at least 8 months of my life in Spain, with an option of reapplying and staying longer. This is the biggest thing I am gonna do in my life. Homesickness, culture shock, complete independence and Spanish lexical differences will hit me hard but I know that this is an experience I will never regret.