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Published: September 12th 2011
There are a lot of times where I find myself in what I consider to be a sticky situation in Cadiz. For example, yesterday was September 11, and the U.S. Embassy in Madrid advised us all to stay inside, and not draw any attention to ourselves as Americans. However, yesterday was the annual Airplane Extravaganza in the new part of Cadiz and the whole town was there. The other Americans and I decided to go to the air show and I wore white and blue to show my allegiance to the U.S. and honor those who were affected by September 11th. We spoke English, we didn’t try to blend in, and we craved American food. We simply wanted to be American yesterday. It was a liberating feeling to say the least. I was curious to experience September 11th in a foreign country and see if any of our families (here in Spain) would ask us about it. Only one family (Brian’s family) mentioned it, but they were very interested to know details etc.
As I sat on the beach and watched the airplanes flip and twirl over my head for nearly two and a half hours, I felt oddly
patriotic. It was almost like I pretended that Cadiz was putting on the show just to honor the Americans (such an American egocentric thought I know). When I got up, I found myself in another sticky situation… this one was a bit more literal. Someone had thrown their sticky, red, chewed –up gum next to where I was sitting and when a little boy not so subtly nudged me to move over so he could sit down, I sat in the gum. Luckily, my shirt was long enough to cover up the large wad of gum stuck to my butt, but it was frustrating to say the least. I couldn’t even go to a bathroom to wash it off or find some peanut butter to get it out of my clothes, because both of those things are rarely found in Cadiz.
The day didn’t get much better after that. As we wandered around for nearly two hours trying to find a place that had an open table to eat, we all became frustrated because it was nearly 4 pm. The irony of the situation is that before I came to Spain, I was told that Spaniards sit around and
talk to each other for hours after they eat instead of getting up and leaving right away, which was something I looked forward to. I thought that it was so much nicer than how we do it in America. Now I see why we leave when we are through eating in America, so someone else can sit and eat! We eventually found a place and got our food an hour later.
New Cadiz felt like an entirely different town than Old Cadiz and I am thankful that I live and go to school in Old Cadiz. We stayed in New Cadiz all day so we could watch the first Cadiz Futbol (soccer) game of the season. The game was at 8 PM and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It made me realize how much I miss having school spirit, tailgating and seeing a flood of orange and black on game day in Stillwater. One thing that is unique to the United States is having school spirit. The Universities here don’t have sports teams or clubs or basically any extracurricular activities. There are no school colors or fight songs, and it really concerns me that it
Brian
Brian sporting a Cadiz futbol jerseywill be hard to meet people at the university if the only thing we have in common is a class. I had been having a bad case of the blues over the weekend and everything that happened yesterday day was just making things worse and making me feel overwhelmed. I even began to feel smothered from being in a group of 8 people all day.
Luckily, the night was not all lost. Devin and I took a bus back from the game since it was late and far away from our house. After the bus dropped us off at a plaza, we discovered a new place to eat in a random street between the Plaza de San Fernando and our houses. It had hamburgers, fries, and pizzas galore. I think it is the only place in Cadiz that offers food to go as well as sit down. We took one look into the restaurant and darted inside for a hamburger. It was delicious. Team U.S.A had a victory last night… and victory never tasted so sweet.
Today we are back to speaking in Spanish. We are wearing nicer clothes to class than we would back home, we are
eating whatever is cooked for us by our families and we are trying to blend in again. We will continue to absorb and become part of the culture for the remainder of the time that we are here. I have never felt like I fit in anywhere… not in Owasso, not in Oklahoma, not at the University of Arkansas. I came here to find out exactly who I am as an individual and where I belong in this giant world, and yesterday was the first time I realized that being an American is a big part of who I am and although I want to travel as much as I can in my lifetime, America will always be my home.
Until next time, adios amigos.
Jerica
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