Lately…

Things have been a bit busy lately as I finish some planning for my upcoming trip and am applying for teaching jobs back in Indiana. It’s definitely been a challenge, though, since my internet is awful at home and I spend much of my time in one of two cafes. I swear they think I’m crazy as I sit there for 4 hours and order first a ‘café con leche grande’ and after ‘agua de tiempo’…..every couple days. The Spanish just don’t DO that.

Anyways, a few fun things to share that I’ve laughed at (and remember) in recent weeks.

•  If you’re a bus driver between small villages in Pobra, you’ve got the ideal job! Why not stop while on the route, pull over to the side and hop off for a few minutes, so you can run some errands? Yep, it happened. Twice.
• The funniest (and crankiest) old man got on the same bus one day as I was making my trip home from Ribeira after private English lessons. The bus driver pulled over for this man who, mind you, was not at any stop whatsoever but the driver was apparently feeling friendly. The poor old man had purchased something at Lidl (a store that is set up kinda like Aldi’s, but it has tons of imported stuff often from Germany for really cheap). He had two bags, one of which had broken completely. As he climbs onto the bus and hoists this torn bag, he’s cursing up a storm in his gruff, deep Spanish voice. He leaves the bag sitting next to the door where it proceeds to fall over, as he keeps complaining to the bus driver about the terrible quality of these things, colored by several choice words. I couldn’t help but laugh, especially when it took him another 5 minutes (not really) to get back OFF the bus at some random area down the road.
• Teaching the reproductive system to 15 year old Spanish students….interesting to say the least. I consider myself quite mature when it comes to things like this because it’s simple science, but when they start giggling because I have to correct their pronunciation and we repeat some words over and over again as a class, I can’t help but grin a little, too. “Penis, repeat after me. Penis. Penis. No, no…not /pay-nis/, /peeeee-nis/ like you have to go pee!” hahaha. What a class.
• I made friends with a sweet old woman at her little cart in the Saturday market last week…she rambled at me for awhile in Galician before I told her I didn’t understand what she was saying. (I swear, it wasn’t even gallego it was so strange) In the end, I bought 6 of her fresh eggs from the hens in her backyard and a super sketch bottle of her homemade tinto wine for €1. Sweet woman; awful wine. The rest was poured down a drain. (Fantastic eggs though!)
• The brief glimpse of sunshine for the first time in 5 weeks made me ecstatic the other day…I went and read in the sun for an hour. And on Thursday, it’s supposed to start getting nice again until I leave! Helloooo playa. (“beach”)
• The Spaniards love their “pet names”. Perhaps occasionally in Warsaw, you’ll hear the woman at the cash register call you “hon” or “sweetie”, but it’s extremely common here. Just a few I’ve been called: hija (daughter), filliña (little daughter in Galician), chica (girl), tía (literally ‘aunt’, but often used like ‘girl’ informally), guapa (good-looking), hombre (man, kinda like we use ‘dude’), amor (love), cariña (kinda like sweetie more or less), cielo (sky), nena (like baby), corazón (heart), bollita (not sure exactly, but I’ve been called it by one of my teachers who enjoys her pet names more than anyone I know), chula (cutie, kinda…often used for objects too), mi vida (my life)….and they go on and on. The first time it really took me by surprise was when I was at the ‘carnicería’ (butcher) getting some ‘ternera picada’ (ground beef) to make chili. The woman called me ‘hija’…I paused suddenly and had to review the Spanish in my head, only to realize that yes, she DID just call me her daughter! Then afterward, she goes “¿Algo más, corazón?” (Anything else, heart?), and I just had to laugh. Oh, you Spaniards….
•  Spinning class. Even though I’m pouring sweat and the instructor is shouting at me, half of which I can’t hear and half of which I can’t understand, I love every minute of it. Especially on 80’s music nights where he’s singing along….but not exactly with the correct words. Fun.

 

That’s all. I know I’ve been a bit pathetic since January with my blog posts. After awhile, everything has simply become ‘life’ and not so exciting to share anymore! Apologies. And special shout-out to my aunt Cindy who sent me a wonderful surprise care package with a few things, including Thin Mints! Nom nom. 🙂