Thoy Tho-ee (Soy Zoe)

Soy Zoe - My name is Zoe

This is how most of my introductions go in Spain with people:

Me: "Hola, soy Zoe."
Other Person: "¿¿Qué??"
Me: "Tho-ee."
Other Person: "Ohhhh, ¡Zoe!"
Me: Yup.


It's actually becoming a pretty funny inside joke with myself. Plus, who am I kidding? I love the lisp! I want it so bad. Of all things, it came out yesterday a couple times when I said "facil" and "gracias." I was so proud of myself.

La lluvia 

Well, it rained in the city that apparently never has rainfall. At first it was a sprinkle on Thursday and I didn't see what the big deal was. It was still 75 degrees out, I was in a sundress, and I watched people walk around with umbrellas thinking to myself...if only you people knew what the Pacific Northwest was like. But then come Friday, it down-poured for a good portion of the day.  My mom called this the "gota fría" which means "cold drop" but refers to a storm that happens when different air pressures and temperatures meet, causing an intense storm. We didn't get the worst of it here in Alicante (I watched the news and saw worse flooding in other parts of Spain) but the streets do flood with water since there isn't really a drain system [that I've noticed]. The storm was pretty cool, complete with lots of thunder. I went out and walked around in it, getting completely soaked. I kind of a felt like a little kid again. It's interesting how people respond to rain here; in Portland it would just be, "well yeah, put your raincoat on and deal with it." But obviously since it's such a random and rare occurrence, of course people wouldn't know how to respond. Nobody knows how to drive, what to wear, etc. Guess it's just like when it snows in Portland... ;)

Las protestas

I witnessed a student protest on Thursday in the middle of my grammar class. Tons of students filled the building I was in. They were yelling, chanting, and waving signs. My professor explained that there have been a lot of cuts in the education system, especially with universities, and naturally students are upset. She said they had the right to march through our classroom if they wanted to. Luckily they didn't, since we were reviewing for our exam the following day. It was interesting to see the protest, and see them actually come inside the building instead of staying outside. That was new to me.

 La clase de gastronomía

My cooking class began yesterday. Our class went to the central market of Alicante to see all the fresh produce and meats. Our professor explained that everything we saw yesterday morning had been on a tree, walking around, or swimming the day before. Everything is incredibly fresh. He explained that Spaniards go to the market several times a week, sometimes every day for freshness, as well as for economic reasons (being on daily budgets). He talked about how food is really connected to culture, which should be really obvious but I hadn't given it too much thought in the past. He explained, for instance,  that Mexican food is colorful and spicy much like how Mexican people are; Italian food is simple, easy, and homey much like Italian people are; and Spanish food is simple, fresh, and inviting like Spanish people are. I laughed at this but it's true, food is really linked to culture in many other countries. As I've said before, Spaniards love ham and I learned yesterday that many Spaniards eat all of the pig: ears, face, hands, feet, brain, eyes, sexual organs, you name it. They also eat a lot of seafood, which thrills me. The fruit is amazing here, always smells and tastes so fresh. I haven't really noticed the quality of vegetables here. They don't eat as many (at least as we do in my immediate family in the U.S.). Their bread is really good and fresh, as well as their pastries. Alicante's famous dessert or sweet is called Turrón which is made from almonds and honey. The texture is most comparable to peanut brittle. It's really light and really good!

Pig heads

My cooking class is only in October but we will be doing several different activities this month like learning to make paella and go wine-tasting. Monday (tomorrow) we have one lecture class that will cover vocabulary and go deeper in to the gastronomy of Spanish cuisine.

La comida

I'm convinced that my family read last week's blog about being tired of white toast in the morning because coincidentally I only had white toast once this week. The rest of the week I had wheat toast or chocolate croissants. My mom made paella yesterday, her paella is so good. I think I could eat it everyday, along with tortilla española. I told my host parents about my trip to the market. They said they'd make me rabbit (a delicacy) and pig face sometime (because apparently it's to die for). Not sure how I feel about this, but I've always been one to try new things...

My host mom's paella

On Friday I went to a tea place and a Chinese restaurant with Kiersten and her host siblings. The tea place was so cute and tea was delicious. It happened to be their one year anniversary so everything was free (tea, cupcakes, cake, cheesecake). The cakes weren't very Spanish (actually, they were very American) but it was nice to have a little taste of home...for free! The Chinese restaurant was an interesting experience. It was owned by Chinese people but food was a little different from what you'd find in the States (the quantity was the same though--huge!). You order a main dish (I chose sweet and sour chicken) that comes with a salad or spring roll (chose the spring roll which was the size of a burrito!), a huge plate of fried rice, dessert of flan or ice cream, and a shot of some purple liquid (passed on that and just stuck with the flan...). The food was good, even the flan (which was super weird to order in Spain, let alone in a Chinese restaurant). It was all only 6 euros too, not too bad!

Mis clases/la semana que viene

On Friday I took my grammar exam and am now done with grammar for this semester. I think the exam went well. It helped that my professor told us we all had done extremely well this month and she already knew our grades without us taking the exam and should consider it a "practice review of what we'd covered this month." So I don't think I could've done too horribly, I got a 100% on everything else in the class. So that's exciting.
My schedule completely changes now that we are entering October (I can't believe it's October already!). Now that my grammar class is over and I don't have class from 12-3 p.m. anymore, it opens up time for my internship which is about to begin. Tomorrow, one of my program leaders is taking me to the "colegio" I will be working at so I can meet the English teachers that I will be working with. I've heard so many great things about the teachers, the school, and the experience. I'm excited to see what I will be working on. I will be working approximately 16 hours a week in October and November (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday). I need to have about 112 hours by the end of it and I'm supposed to keep a blog with entries every week. At the end I write an 8-10 page paper in Spanish about the experience. I'm excited to get started!
I also begin my Social and Cultural Realities class this week (Monday and Wednesday 3-5 p.m.) as well as keep up with my two university classes. I also should be hearing about which kids I will be tutoring for pay pretty soon and will be working with them for an additional 4 hours a week. It's going to be a busy next two months but I'm looking forward to it. Plus, I don't have class, my internship, tutoring or anything on Fridays. So I can use them to relax and travel!

Mi familia

My host family is stoked that I will be working at a high school, especially now since coincidentally both their kids graduated from the school. When we figured this out the other night, they brought out pictures of the school and teachers, and even gave me their daughter's English workbook to help me start preparing lessons. My mom walked with me to the school yesterday to show me how to get there. It's about a 20 minute walk from my house. Not bad at all.
I've reached the point where my host family feels okay to joke around with me. So meal times are quite entertaining. And my mom loves to gossip with me which is fun. Even though I miss having my host siblings around, it's kind of fun being an only child for once in my life ;)

Frases de Ingles

Instead of Spanish phrases this week, I thought it would be funny to share some of the "common" English phrases from the workbook I was given. They're quite amusing.

• "Who is throwing water?"
• "It is very sad to be drunk."
• "Your cat scratched me."
• "This lady fainted."
• "The baby is naked."
• "You have a hole in your sock."
• "What a long beard!"
• "Ha, ha! It is a joke!"
• "I make soap bubbles."
• "Zebras look like horses wearing pajamas."

Well, you get the idea...

Apparently we say these things really often.

And that's all for now, ¡ciao!