¿Chino o Español?

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Last night was freezing! They told us that it gets cold at night, but I was not prepared for it. My blankets were really thin, so I woke up in the middle of the night to put on socks, my sweatshirt, and lay my coat over my legs for an extra layer. ¡Qué horrible! We woke up at 9:00 to eat breakfast. There’s not much to say about it because it’s basically the same as a normal breakfast: we had toast, fruit, yogurt, and tea. They did have an assortment of various cold meats and what I assume was cheese. It’s very different from China, where everything was foreign.

We were supposed to meet at the Hotel Melia at 12 for our orientation session and meeting our families, so we left at 11:30 to give us time to find the place. Turns out it was just down the road. A lot of students stayed at Hotel Melia, but it was more expensive, so we opted for the cheaper place. I was a little nervous because there are forty-four students in the program, and I knew none of them. In China there were only eight of us. It was a lot less intimidating then.

But we sat down on some couches and waited for twelve to roll around. The group got bigger as people slowly trickled in. I found out a group had already gone out last night, there first night there. I couldn’t believe it! I had been so exhausted; how could they have done anything but sleep? But they were out until four in the morning having a good ol’ time. Some were still hungover, and I think one guy was still a little drunk. No thank you, not for me. Especially since we were meeting our families today; I wanted to make a good impression and didn’t think I could do that half awake and hungover.

They moved us into one of the meeting rooms and we met Veronica. All that I’ve heard about her is that she’s awesome. It’s true. She’s awesome. She’s very straightforward but has such a fun personality to go with it. That definitely made me feel better about going into this semester. She explained enough about what to do to get through the next few days, waiting for our orientation classes to go into detail, and sent us off with our host families. A lot of students are by themselves, but I’m roommates with Courtney. I wasn’t sure at first, but I think I’ll like her. It was awkward at first and we didn’t talk much, but as the night progressed, we both loosened up. I can’t decide if I’m happy that I have a roommate or not. I haven’t had one for a year, and I’m used to having my own space, but having another person to split the attention of our host mom is comforting. It’s not all up to me to make conversation.

Our new mamá is Maria Luz, and she is the sweetest lady! The first thing she did when she saw us was grab us, kiss us on both cheeks, and exclaimed “¡Ah, qué guapa!” I’ll admit I completely blanked and could not speak a word of Spanish the whole taxi ride to her apartment. Courtney thankfully kept up the conversation. Even though neither of us understood her completely, she cheerfully chattered on and on. She lives with her husband Paco, both of whom are in their seventies with two grown sons. She showed us our room and gave us time to unpack our things. She got us for lunch at 2:30. By this time we were starving, but we’ll have to get used to eating lunch so late. She made pasta with tomate sauce and ham. Again, I’m comparing this to China and it’s totally different. In China all the food was foreign; here, it’s basically the same as at home.

After lunch was siesta time, but Courtney and I finished unpacking. We planned on leaving at 5:30 with Maria Luz so she could show us how to get to the Centro de Lenguas Modernas (hereafter refered to as the Centro). We met her friend who is also hosting two girls from the program outside the apartment and walked together. I was so lost right away, I was scared I’d never remember how to get to class. The streets in Spain are very different than anything I’m used to. It really is like in the movies: narrow, cobblestone streets, curving roads with no pattern or grid, and tiny alleyways that cars will sometimes zoom through. We took so many turns, and there aren’t many (or any) street signs to remember on the twenty minute walk to the Centro. It was a little slower since both our host moms are older, and it was raining. After that long walk, we arrived, looked at the building, and turned around to go right back home. Marie Carmen, the other host mom, invited us over for tea. This was a breakthrough for me, and later I learned, for all of us.

I was feeling very overwhelmed by Spanish up to this point. I was having difficulty understanding people and I could not respond for anything. The words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth. Even when I started to make out the Spanish accent, speaking still wasn’t working for me. It didn’t help that I hadn’t taken a Spanish class for seven months, but the real reason was because of Chinese. After four months intense study, that language is stuck in my head, and I cannot replace it with the language I know better. I have to put forth an enormous effort to translate easy words like ‘often’ and ‘I’ and ‘eat’ from Chinese to Spanish. When I think of a word in English that I want to say in Spanish, the only thing available to me is Chinese. So my sentences come out like this: “Nitu changchang…comes a menudo a las er…dos?” (Bold is Chinese). When Maria asked my age, I responded, “Tengo veinte y yi.” I couldn’t even think of the word for “one” for five seconds! I was not expecting it to be this difficult, but I’m going to have to work really hard to replace Chinese with Spanish. That scares me a little though because I’ll lose all the progress I made in China.

But back to tea. We sat at Carmen’s table and chatted. Or rather, Maria Luz and Carmen chatted while we listened. It was amusing at time because we four students would quietly discuss and rehearse how to phrase a question, then one of us would ask Maria Luz or Carmen. But slowly over tea, we all relaxed and began to speak more fluently than we had. And we were all understanding more as they talked and we listened. This afternoon tea had broken through something for all of us and we were able to look at the rest of the semester with something more than anxiety.

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