Stealing Internet in My House

So I decided to steal some internet from a neighbor in my house. Usually the signal isn't strong enough but it's working quite well today.

Here's the what went on early last week (I haven't had much time to sit and write let alone upload to the internet):

MONDAY

We had to be at the University for a placement test and orientation session at 9:30. I had arranged to meet Carly, Jordan, Julie, and Becca at the bottom of the hill to walk to school at 9:00. Jordan didn't show up so the four of us girls started our trek uphill to the university. The easiest way to get to the part of town containing all the schools is to walk through a long tunnel. Once we got through the tunnel the university was supposed to be on our right, couldn't miss it. Then tunnel was fine for walking, not too much exhaust and not to much of an incline. When we got to the other side of the tunnel we ran into a bit of an issue. All we saw was a yellow high school. We made the mistake of following the kids in book bags which led us far far away from where we needed to be.

Whenever anyone describes this city they tell you that it is like a tongue. On the very tip and sides of the tongue is the ocean, downtown is at the back of the tongue in the throat area, and the university is somewhere in the middle and the housing districts are at the tip (and scattered all in between). Rather than heading back towards the throat when we exited the tunnel, we started walking to the tip. When we finally caught a glimpse of the beaches we realized our error. I asked a local woman for help and she pointed us in the right direction. We then had to walk all the way back to the tunnel, all up hill. When we finally found the university district we had to ask another group of students for help finding the building. By this point it was past 10:00, we were over thirty minutes late. Other members of our group began calling asking where the four of us had gone. Upon arriving in the building we found ourselves in yet another maze. Once in the building we had been told to walk through the triangle tunnel and up the stairs. We only found round hallways and no stairs. Finally a very nice man came up and asked if we were Carolinas (what they call the students from NC). He whisked us upstairs to the classroom where orientation had started without us. Our program director Gonzalo poked fun at us and then gave us some more information about the home stays. Hopefully next time I walk to class it won't take me over an hour to get there!

We learned that it is considered rude to walk around barefoot in our homes. At a minimum you should be wearing socks, though slippers are preferred. Lucky for me I am always too cold to be without socks so I haven't made this mistake yet. He then told us about the things we "had the right to" in our homes. These included: one shower a day, three meals a day, a bedroom, and laundry service once a week. We learned that the average Spanish income is one-half of that in the United States. Because of this we are encouraged to conserve energy and take short showers (hot water is a luxury that isn't cheap).

The placement test (50 questions about grammar) was then distributed. One by one we were called out for a brief conversation portion as well. The mood was quite informal, a lot of giggling and joke making by Gonzalo. I realized during the test how much grammar I had forgotten in the two months since classes have ended. I think I probably placed in to the lower level of classes. I always get really nervous trying to speak Spanish to adults so my oral component was pretty disastrous.

When we were done with the test we were free to go for the day. Many of us had left our cell phone boxes/chargers with Greta, another program director, and had set up a time to meet and retrieve them after the test. Greta was running a little behind so we all hung out in our student/computer lounge until she arrived.

Nate and I then set out to find a café with wireless internet. Instead we ended up walking several hours around the beach area. The ocean was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining and there was a breeze blowing. It was fantastic to see a truly blue sky for the first time since leaving home! Somehow we ended up back at my house when wandering to find a bus station. Being on familiar turf, I knew where a café with internet was. We went to the café only to find out it closed in twenty minutes for Siesta (this is true of almost every store and is still sort of annoying to us since we never remember). We sat for twenty minutes and then headed home for lunch.


For lunch I had a soup made of tomato broth and garbanzo beans. I had seen the beans on the counter at breakfast time and had been dreading the idea of beans all day. Turns out that I really like garbanzo beans. After soup I was served pork chops and potatoes. Julia showed me several more types of beans (lentils and kidney) that I would be eating in the near future. When I told her I didn't like kidney beans she told me, "I prepare them differently, you will try them". I found this funny and decided I would keep an open mind.

I met back up with the full group at 4:00 for coffee. The hours after siesta and before dinner are generally considered coffee and chocolate hours. I ordered the special: coffee and a chocolate croissant of some sort for 2.50 Euros. When the waiter brought out our order, I almost fell out of my chair. The croissant was a colossal roll filled (over flowing) with whipped cream and drowned in chocolate sauce. Our whole group was in fits trying to figure out how any one person could ever eat that much of something that sweet in one sitting. I took a bite and then passed the plate around the table so everyone could have a bite. When it got back to me there was still half a croissant left (and everyone had a rather large bite). I took two more bites and then could take no more.

After coffee we all went out to the water front to take pictures of the beautiful landscape we had only just discovered in the morning when the clouds had cleared. There are breath taking mountains on the other side of the bay which are currently snow capped. By this point in the afternoon the wind had picked up and become hurricane like gusts. The spray coming off of the bay dampened us several times. The group split in two along the way when Jordan decided to hang back and talk to some locals and Seth and I decided to take more pictures of the bay area. The three of us then hung back even longer while we waited for Nate to catch up. Then the four of us walked along making jokes and taking funny pictures of one another. We met two guys who had been studying south of here from Germany and Belgium. They were nice and wanted to meet up with us later at the bar. We swapped numbers and went on our way.

After our walk home I went home and had dinner. Julia's daughter Suzanna had gotten home from a trip to Madrid so I got to meet her. Suzanna and I took Timon, the dog, out for a walk. Suzanna may be my saving grace at home. She speaks enough English to help me with really difficult concepts but doesn't speak it to me unless it's important. She speaks really slow and clearly which is awesome because I can pretty much understand every word she says, even if I don't know what the word means. She gave me some helpful hints for learning vocabulary- not hanging out with Americans, carrying a small notebook to write words in.

After dinner we went out to the Celtic Bar, a really touristy Irish sports pub. One of the host family referred to this place as the foreigner bar. It had a really nice atmosphere, and we weren't the only ones in the bar! I had a pint of Paulander, a really good wheat beer.

The next bar we went to was a total dud. It was filled with old men sitting around smoking who looked rather annoyed when our noisy group showed up. The beer sucked and it was expensive. By this time I was getting really tired and creeped out by the guys who were sitting behind us who wouldn't stop staring at us. Nate said they asked him if we were "easy" to which he assured them otherwise. None the less when we finally got up to pay the three creeps were blowing air kisses and trying their best to talk to any one of us. Steven and Jordan walked with the girls who lived in our part of town since we were a little on edge over the forward advances.

One thing we have learned since being here is that the Spanish men are WAY more forward. It's not even just the more than exuberant (almost a sport) cat calling. I thought American fraternity boys and construction workers were bad, they've got nothing on these men. One girl from our group, Sabrina, is the sweetest most innocent looking girl in the world. Walking home by herself in broad daylight she was harassed by a man who tried to follow her into her home stay. She had to yell at him several times and it kind of shook her and everyone else up.

TUESDAY

We had the day off today. I woke up around 10:00 and got up to eat breakfast. Much to my pleasant surprise hot water arrived. I have attributed this to the magical presence of Suzanna. I took my first warm shower (it's still not as hot as I would have at home) and felt much more refreshed. I then took off to the plaza where the group usually meets up thinking that we had agreed to meet at 11:00. I was wrong about the group meeting up so I decided to hunt for my hair dryer.

Hair dryers are hard to come by in Spain, or so I thought. I looked in three or four cosmetic stores (picture Ulta) and looked in the windows of a few salons: nothing. I then passed by a kitchen appliance store with a hair dryer in the window display: success! The first store I went into was not self service and I wasn't feeling up to asking for help in Spanish. I then crossed the street to find three or four more stores with hair dryers! I was in blow dryer heaven!! I bravely picked a store and went in while rehearsing a Spanish conversation in my head. It took me a long time to choose a blow dryer, there were probably close to twenty models to choose from! I ended up picking up a travel dryer with dual wattage settings. I happily approached the counter to pay-- here starts the melt down. The man asked me for 19 Euros, the price of the dryer. All I heard was "ldsajfe" (gibberish). He said the price three or four more times with only a blank stare in response. Finally I figured out what he was saying when he walked to the shelf and pointed to the price repeating "19 Euros". Feeling completely stupid and suffering from a bruised ego, I quickly paid wanting to get out of the store ASAP. Wouldn't you know the sales man then tried to explain to me that my blow dryer came with a two year warrantee! I only know this was his intent because the lady standing in line behind me did a very successful charade to act out his every word. I thanked them both profusely and ran out of the store with my tail between my legs. I some how managed to purchase a mirror for my desk and an umbrella as well before returning home. All in all it was a successful outing, and I am overjoyed to be able to have dry hair before leaving the house for our long walks through the city!

Before going home I stopped into my favorite coffee shop for some precious minutes of internet surfing. It's amazing how disconnected I feel without internet at my fingertips. I can live without my cell phone, but not email. I had trouble getting the internet to work properly at first (sitting at a table to far from the router) but did finally get to talk to Cormac on Skype for a bit.

When I got home for siesta/lunch, Suzanna and Julia were getting the table and food ready. I helped set the table and then wrote in my journal for a bit. Lunch was awesome! I got to speak Spanish and eat really great food. I had a vegetable soup for an appetizer (soup as an appetizer is a near daily experience). Before I had finished a quarter of my bowl they had both down their whole bowls. I then got told that I was a slow eater and then poked fun of me through the rest of the meal for this. Then Julia spent five minutes telling me what a good eater I was (it reminded me of when I was younger and would eat at the Defeo's house for breakfast). The main course for me was chicken and French fries. Julia and Suzanna had shrimp and some sort of stringy seafood. I tried it and thought it was pretty tasty (a little spicy though) and told Julia I would eat it next time she made it. I have been really surprised how much I have tried and liked while I've been here. To finish off the meal we all had a piece of fruit (a banana).

I took a twenty minute nap before heading to the plaza to meet the group for coffee. We all met up and had no where to go. We walked around a different part of town than we normally do to kill time. When it started raining we ducked into a coffee shop to pass some more time. None of us really feel comfortable spending large periods of time in our home stays yet. This is partially due to the fact that we are too tired to speak Spanish and party because we haven't really felt out the boundaries and expectations of our homes.

After coffee we again set off walking, though this time in a smaller group. About six of us took off for the beach (a common place to go when we have no place to be). It took us a long time to get to that end of town and it was pretty dark by the time we reached the water. The city is gorgeous at night and the beach looks much different at night when the tide is high. Becca, Seth, Jordan and I caught a bus (my first!) back to the top of the hill where our homes sit. I was so tired when I got home I struggled to stay awake through dinner. I climbed into bed and passed out really quickly.