Odds and Ends

I just finished a gigantic paper and gigantic test so now I get write!!!!! Hooray!!!!! I´m getting a little homesick here, but I´m ok. One of the problems is school, but we just got over a big hump and that stress is over, and the other problem is our family. My host dad is still in the hospital and it is pretty obvious that they don´t want us around anymore. They have to feed us and put up with us being in their house and they are sick of it. We just feel awkward. Well I guess there is a third problem and that is Europe in general. It can be a pretty frustrating place at times, and it can make one a little grumpy. Just the cultural differences and the way things run here makes you miss America. And the food, the food could definitely improve. That is part of the reason why we know they are tired of us, their like for us is directly proportional to the amount of time they spend on our meals, and they have been getting pretty bad. But not to worry, Ricardo comes home next week and school is getting easier, so our family won´t be stressed and neither will I.
Our teachers can´t really make up their minds about how difficult they want our classes to be. My lit class has a different syllabus every other day, usually for the worst, but today the happy change was the cancelation of our final test. Now our final will be to bring in poems and read them to the class. Today we went to the changing of the guard and it was interesting for about 5 min. They had all of these guards riding around on horses and in carriages that were towing cannons. They would interweve around and around each other in circles and it was a little repetative. My favorite was the head guy who did circles by himself in front of us and then would force his horse to walk sideways. His horse was pretty ticked about it. So after all of the horses went away it was just people so we went to our favorite cafe for lunch and then went shopping. Then we had to go to dreaded class and to cheer ourselves up we went shopping again after that. We took the train to a city we had never been to because we´d heard some good things, but we had no idea where to go. We were trying to figure it out when this random African guy walked up to us and started speaking to us in really good English. The border is really close so there are tons of African immigrants here. I was kind of wary of him because men are constantly whistling or kissing at us and basically just being intolerable so I was afraid he would give us the typical ¨Blonde I love you¨ ¨Hey girl¨ or ¨Americana!¨ cat call in broken English that the Spaniards are so fond of, but he was really nice. He asked us if we were looking for the mall and gave us directions, asked us where we were from, and then told us to enjoy his home town as if he was the mayor or something. He was really a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of Spaniards. They are such a cold people! Or they are just plain crude/rude. The other day Kristen and I were hurrying down a street and this creepy guy old enough to be our father asked us to have coffee with him. We always get senile old men approaching us and asking us weird questions. We have no tolerance left for these people. The coldness is usally pretty evident when we go shopping because the salesgirls can be absolute terrors. They think we are all incompetant drooling morons because we can´t speak perfect Spanish and they treat us accordingly. My friend asked one where to find a specific blouse and the girl purposely misled her, and maybe it doesn´t sound that bad, but these stores we shop at usually have 3 to 5 levels so you can get sent on some wild goose chases. I had a bad experience with one girl today. I was trying on clothes and granted I was taking my time, but I wasn´t occupying a dressing room for no reason. I left my dressing room to show my friend my pants and the salesgirl tried to let someone into my room. I told her I was still using it and she answers very snottily that I can´t just hang around, I have to let other people through. Well, yes, I´m not from Mars, I understand how dressing rooms work, but if you insist I´ll just wear this unbought clothing right out of the store. But some people, like that nice man today, really redeem the country. Like in Salamanca we went into a cd store looking for a specific type of music and the saleswoman spent ten minutes with us showing us different cds and playing different selections for us. Another time I was in a different store looking for a cd, and a different saleslady looked through every row of discount cds to help me find the one I wanted. You really learn to appreciate that kind of thing here. Today a man heard us speaking English and he walked up to us and said, ¨God bless America!¨ and then excitedly asked us what part of the states we were from so he could see if he´d been there. My absolute favorite episode occurred when my friend Robynn got bombarded by a pigeon. We were walking into a cathedral and we passed a beggar in a wheelchair. There are tons of beggars here so you kind of have to learn to just walk by them, even though you feel terrible about it. So we reach the door and Robynn gets splattered with crap and we are all digging for tissues to try and get her cleaned up. In the midst of all of this, the man in the wheelchair quietly approaches, offers her a tissue and directs her to the nearest bathroom. He was so kind to us after we had passed by him without even a glance, it was a very touching experience.
I can´t think of anything else good that we´ve done lately, so I´ll just share some random obervations about Spain. Speedbumps: Spanish streets have speedbumps about every 50 feet, so good luck trying to get anywhere in a hurry. Some of them also have dividers all the way up the middle, so if you want to make a left turn, you have to go to the end of the street, enter a roundabout and then drive back to where you want to go on the other side of the street. Some of the crosswalk signs here have a little man who actually looks like he is walking. His legs move when you are allowed to cross, and when it gets towards the end of the time, he runs really fast. Typical Spaniard: typical Spaniards are shorter than I am dark-complected and have very large noses. They also all speak in the same nasally voice. We will always here our host dad talking behind us and then turn around just to find some random man. They really all sound exactly the same. They also all say the world ¨Vale¨ about 100 times per sentance. Chocolate: Spaniards are obsessed with chocolate. Everything has chocolate in it. My favorite is the granola cereal we eat every morning that contains milk and dark chocolate flakes. Cereal boxes: all of the cereal boxes here are obsessed with telling you how healthy they are and all the reasons why you should eat them. But, in my experience, Spaniards don´t really seem to care that much about their health because the only things they seem to like doing are smoking, drinking, and driving recklessly. Cigarette cartons: all of the cigarette boxes here are printed with giant warnings that you can read from about 10 feet away. Common ones are ¨Smoking can kill,¨ ¨Smoking causes impotence and lowers sperm count,¨ and my favorite, the one I wish everyone would consider, is ¨Smoking greatly endangers your health and the health of those around you.¨ There is a sucker company I have seen that makes fun of this. The box is shaped kind of like a cigarette box and has ¨Sucking can´t kill¨ printed on it just like the cigarette warnings. It cracks me up. Ice cream: They have ice cream/candy/pop stands here about every twenty feet. Just stick your hands out in both directions and you are sure to hit one. Siesta: Spaniards have a siesta from 2 to 5 every day. Stores are usally closed at this time. This is very frustrating because most stores open at 10 to 12 in the morning and close at 7 so it is basically impossible to buy anything. Things are open longer hours in Madrid, but here in Alcala I have no idea how stores stay in business. One day, I was craving a bacon egg an cheese buscuit so I wandered into McDonalds at 10:30 in the morning. The man told me to leave and said that they didn´t open until 12. I was really sad to be thwarted by one of the most American institutions every. You should be able to rely on McDonalds! Even if it is mediocrity it is familiar mediocrity! Milk: milk here comes in boxes and doesn´t need to be refrigerated. It really sucks having warm milk on your cereal every day. Couples: Spanish couples are rediculously overly-demonstrative. They will make out and grope in public without the slightest bit of shame. Once I saw a girl on the bus trying to give her boyfriend a hicky. Every morning we ride the bus to school with a couple of 16 year old that are almost constantly making out. I´m guessing they have a pretty high teenage pregnancy rate here. Nuns: they have nuns everywhere here. Once, I asked one for directions and she grabbed ahold of my arm. She told me I was pretty like the virgen and kept kissing me on the cheeks. I was really happy when another nun drove by to pick her up because I´m pretty sure she was trying to kidnap me and force me into the convent. Ants: we have an ant infestation in our kitchen. Someone in the house likes to kill them, but then doesn´t clean them up. Yesterday I walked down to breakfast and the table was littered with mooshed ant corpses. But on the bright side, our family has finally started covering our food when they leave it on the counter! Every cloud has a silver lining.
Well, I´m exhausted so I am going to bed. See you all very soon!
Gianna