2.23.2012

Hello all!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted. Life has not changed too much. Classes are going well. On Monday and Tuesday of next week we do not have school because Tuesday is a holiday in Andalucia. Many of my friends are travling to other places during this time. As of now I am not going anywhere, but we'll see what mischeif I can get into. Today I signed up to volunteer with Residencia La Milagrosa, a place where children can come and get help with their homework. I'll be tutoring one day a week starting the first week of March. The lady who runs the program seems very nice and I'm excited to get involved. I also met with my intercabio for the first time. An intercambio is a Spaniard (or in my case, an Italian woman who speaks fluent Spanish and moved to Granada to marry her boyfriend) that I meet up with to practice my Spanish. In turn, I get to help her with her English. She is very nice and I think she is going to be able to help me a lot with my Spanish. Over the past two weeks I've gotten to skype with a lot of people. It's been great to talk to so many friends from Ohio State and also the lovely Mackenzie Touby. Funny story...but first some background context. On Monday night I skyped with my friend Maddie Gutkoski. I decided to do so in the kitchen in an attempt to not bother my roommate who was sleeping. Later that night I was going skype with the guys from the West campus action groups. Seeing as how there was a little bit of time in between each skype session, I decided to look over a couple of class notes for a few minutes while I waited. As I was doing this, my host mom's niece entered the kitched, gave me a weird look, and promtly left to return to the living room. This bring us to Tuesday evening. It was then that I was attempting to skype with Mackenzie. Again, trying to be a nuisance to my roommate, I decided to look for another place in the apartment to talk with Mackenzie. Seeing that people where in the kitchen and the living room, I decided to pop a squat in the foyer, which was as usual, not lit. Suddenly my host mother appears and begins "yelling" at me (please, note, the following is a translation from the actual conversation that occured in Spanish):
"Jamie-son, why do you choose the wierdest places in the house to study? I know you were studying in the kitchen last night. Why do you do that? You have a desk in your room"
Me:"Uhhh...what? No, I'm not studying. I'm talking to my cousin on skype."
Mom:"Ok. But last night you were studying in the kitchen. Why?"
Me:"I wasn't studying in the kitchen last night. I was using skype last night, but I didn't want to bother Chris because he was sleeping."
Mom:"I know you were studying last night. My niece saw you. You have a little light in your room that way your can turn off the big light so the other person can sleep. Why don't you use it?"
Me: "I was looking at a few notes from class while I was waiting for my friends to get on skype. I promise I wasn't just studying in the kitchen. I was using skype."
Mom:"Ok. I just want you to be comfortable and if you need something I want to ask me."
After that whole ordeal that Mackenzie had just witnessed, my host mom proceeded to walk away. It was thefirst experience I had with my host family not understanding the things I do (or at least, the first time they've voiced their concern). Looking back, the whole dialogue was really hilarious and at the end it was really sweet for my mom to tell me that she just wanted me to be comfortable. It made me feel like I'm not just a visitor.
All in all, I've had a great two weeks here in Granada despite catching a bit of a cold. I'm loving that I'm becoming a bit more integrated into life here, especially since I've been feeling really detached from the country and its people. I'm going to sign off for now, thanks for reading friends!