Rape a la Marinara

Spaaaannnnnniiissssshhhhhhhh! Who would have thought that everyone here would be speaking Spanish? Because I hear it all the time, it was actually easier to write this all in Spanish first then translate it to English. I’m glad I haven’t wasted my money.

First, the title. I went out with some of the Americans that are part of the program on Saturday. By Saturday, I mean it was Sunday morning around 12:30am. We didn’t really know of any clubs or bars to go to, so we sat at a restaurant and ate some more dinner. We all speak Spanish pretty well, but, as you can imagine, a lot of the food was never on any of our vocabulary lists. We just decided to wing it. I asked the waitress to bring us her two favorite dishes, which we shared between the six of us. She brought us mushrooms in some kind of oily sauce and fried potatoes with this sauce that reminded me of Dorothy Lynch but less strong and…mayonnaise. I’ve seen one person eat potatoes with ketchup. It actually wasn’t bad. Anyway, one of the things on the menu was Rape a la Marinara. I asked my madre the next day what it was and apparently it’s some kind of fish. I think Angler Fish because I don’t think anyone eats Angel Fish, which is what I actually thought she said. I also don’t think anyone eats rape with marinara sauce in Spain, but I’m not positive. I’ll see what I can find out.

While we were eating, a guy with an afro and a hippie (hippie is “jippi” here and it was really funny when I heard it pronounced for the first time. For those of you who don’t know Spanish, j is pronounced like an English h, so it’s the same but it’s funny with an accent.) a hippie chick came up to us and invited us to this bar that was having a 70’s night, so we were introduced to the bar scene. We went there for a while then to another bar called Maná Maná pronounced like that Sesame Street song. You know? Almost all of the songs in both places were in English. Smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere, even certain parts of the airport, and butts go on the floor of the bars.

I think it might take me a while to get used to the Spanish sense and use of time. First of all, there are five meals per day: desayuno, almuerzo, comida, merienda, y cena (breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, and dinner). Desayuno, brunch and linner are really small. Also, I made up the word linner because I’m awesome and creative. It took me a while to decide between that and lupper. Which do you think is better? Approximate times: breakfast (830-9ish), almuerzo (12), comida (between 2-4), merienda (6-7), cena (my family has had it anywhere from 9-11ish). To me, Spaniards eat muuuuucho for lunch and dinner—more than I would normally have, anyway—and really fast. I was expecting the opposite when it comes to the speed. I don’t know how all Spaniards are so thin. My sister eats probably twice as much as me but is súper skinny.

Second of all, the need to be doing something doesn’t really exist as it does in the States. I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s like social and personal life comes before the professional life. I was talking to my madre (in Spanish, so this might not be exactly right) and bosses will usually work with their workers to find a way to get the job done that the worker likes but still gets the job done. There aren’t bureaucratic nightmares and things done solely for the sake of tradition like I know my mom and dad have to deal with sometimes. If the worker needs a break, they take a break. If the work is done for the day, they go home. Everything is so chill. Not to mention, the siesta everyone takes in the afternoon. “Only the Chinese work in the afternoon” when all the other shops close for a few hours before reopening. This is too hard to explain, so I’ll just talk about my family.

I have a mom (Nuria), an older brother (José 22), and a younger sister (Elena 14). I’ve said two words to the brother, but talk to my mom and sister a lot. I help Elena with her English sometimes especially in her videogames and she helps with Spanish idioms like “¡Qué mono!” Literally, this means “What a monkey!” but in context is more like “How cute!” It’s said to animals and babies, but don’t let a mother hear you call her baby a mono unless there is a qué in front of it. We eat very healthy…healthily? No sé. Saludable. Even the desert is healthy: yogurt or fruit. Funny healthy food story: we eat a lot of vegetables that I’ve never seen. For example, we were eating some white, mushy vegetable. I said, “This tastes like asparagus.” The response to which was, “It is asparagus.” “Oh.” Silence….It was raining in my mind.

We live about three minutes from the University compared to about 30 minutes that one of the girls from Iowa has to go every day. Plus, it’s an easy walk which was helpful when I had to find my way by myself after walking it just once. I’m sure a lot of you know that many European cities (and even older American ones) aren’t exactly set up in a logical way. The roads seem to go wherever they please and streets signs are hidden if they’re there at all. Not to mention all of the buildings are tan, old, and, to a foreigner, the same as the building next to it. It’s really confusing but I really love it. Getting lost is the best way to learn, I think.

The first two days, I honestly hated it here. But my Spanish has already improved sooooo much that I feel much more comfortable. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable are the birds. They’re EVERYWHERE!! Alcalá is known for two things: the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes and the storks that live year round in the plazas. There are a lot of other kinds of birds, too. I hate birds. Storks are big. Storks are also birds. I hate storks. However, the belief is that if you’re pooped on by a bird, you’re going to get married soon.

A lot of the TV shows are American with dubbed voices. My madre likes cop dramas like Criminal Minds and CSI. The Simpsons are more popular here than in the States for sure. It’s on a lot. La chica de ayer is a Spanish cop drama based on an English (as in England, not the States) series. What I’ve gotten from it so far is that the main character has traveled back in time and there’s this complicated loved triangle between him, his mom, and his dad who looks like a woman with a mustache. Oh, he solves crimes on the side. He doesn’t really seem too preoccupied by the fact that he’s in the past, though. Then again, that may have been the only thing with which he’s preoccupied. I don’t speak Spanish. The point is that there’s an actress that looks like that chick from Legally Blonde so I don’t mind watching it.

I don’t know if this applies to all Spaniards, but I know my family talks to themselves, and they aren’t shy about it. At first I thought they were talking to me even though they were in a different room. Still, it’s really hard to tell because, other than not knowing what’s being said more than half the time anyway, they don’t really change their volume, pitch, or tone when they switch from an A-A conversation to an A-B conversation.

Apparently the housing director thought I was a smoker for some reason, so I was intentionally paired with a madre who smokes. It really doesn’t bother me at all, but it was a funny conversation when she offered me a cigarillo and I said no thanks. She was just so super surprised because Teresa (I dunno who that is exactly) told her I “smoke like a French person” in the words of my madre. Yep. Every once in a while I get the feeling that Spaniards don’t really like the French. It’s more playful than hostile similar to the way Americans sometimes make fun of Canadians. But the Spanish won their freedom from France in a war, so they have a little bit more justification than Americans who don’t like Canada. For example, if a word for something is French, like champagne, Spanish deliberate has another word for it, which in this case is ‘cava.’ The word ‘champán’ is still a legitimate word, but…well you get the idea. I’m pretty sure this is the case. It’s either this or ‘cava’ is champagne made in Catalonia and ‘champán’ is champagne from France. Once again, it was explained to me in Spanish so I probably missed some key connecting words. There was another reference to the French that was really funny, but I can’t remember it now. You can chuckle anyway. It’s ok.

I’m starting to be able to finish other people’s sentences, which is making me really happy. Ok, well, it’s happened like three times, but still, it’s impressive, right?

The most recent adventure was Madrid. We went on a tour with my program, CIEE. It was basically walking three miles, sweating a lot, and not actually going anywhere cool, just knowing where we can go later. Afterward, I found my way across Madrid with a friend to meet Noelia. That was fun. Then we had some cena in her house. I feel like my Spanish is much better when I’m talking to Noelia and Nana, her compañera, but I don’t know why. They have this beautiful view of a major bullfight ring and an apartment that was surprisingly gigantic and, of course, muy bonita. She invited us to León this weekend and to a go hiking in a national park. I’m excited. Then I’m going to Sevilla next weekend to spend Corpus with Piper. Then the Asturias (mountains) the following weekend. This is getting really long….

There’s no internet in mi casa so I go to McDonald’s. They give you 30 minutes of free Wifi (pronounced wee-fee) with a purchase. Honestly, I could write for ages about this experience and everything I see, hear, feel, say, think, smell, taste, learn, appreciate, hate, love, discover, and on and on with verbs with varying degrees of synonymity to “experience,” but I don’t think I could do it justice. You’ll just have to come here yourself.