All Things Spanish

Adjusting to the Spanish life is something that I have actually had a relatively easy time with! Sure there are still those little things that I miss on a daily basis, hugs for example, I really, really miss hugging people (and I am just talking things right now, adjusting to life with out my friends and family constantly by my side, not so easy), but for the most part, this transition has been a smooth one.

What are these mannerisms that I am having to get used to you might ask? 

1. People cutting you off on a daily basis. Now this might just be an exchange student thing because I still don't have the whole language thing down, but I am getting there! Slow and steady! 
2. People constantly grabbing your things. If your iPod or phone is sitting on the desk in front of you (very common in school here), you can be sure as hell that someone is going to take it and either start taking pictures of them self, or simply looking through your personal notes, pictures, Facebook account, emails, etc. This is just their way of getting closer to you.
3. On a similar note, if you are writing anything at all in your free time at school, whether on paper or on your iPod, the people here will do their very best to read it and, without any guilt or shame, ask you what it means if they do not understand. Again, this is just their way of getting closer to you.
4. Dressing by season rather than the daily weather report. Now personally, I wear whatever the heck I want, always checking the weather first. But on a 85 degree day in October you can bet that there will be more people wearing scarves and boots, than shorts and a t-shirt. As an AFS volunteer said before I came to Spain, "The Spanish are a bit hipster. They take their fashion very seriously."
5. Someone is always touching you. It could be accidentally pushing you in the hall, which might I say us students in Pine Plains do very gracefully and respectfully compared to the students here, but maybe that's because I am close to the city and that is just the way they learned to survive. Or making a grab at your necklace (yes I am talking about the one you gave me Marina, its the only one I have, I love it to death and everyone here does too) without asking you first. So they are basically just reaching for you all the time and you don't know why. LOTS of touching.

That's all of the things I can think of right now, but Mama Thompson asked about dance so here is how that is going ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................AWESOME! 

Here I am taking a Street Dancing class, which oddly enough they call Street Dancing, rather than something in Spanish. Now I figured, going into this class, that it was going to be a lot like hip-hop. I was right, and also very wrong. Even though there are a lot of aspects that are similar to hip-hop, there are also new movements that are new to me and VERY hard to learn, walking and convulsing at the same time for example. Ya... I haven't really got that one down yet... In this dance class we also learn the dances at a different pace than I am use to. In my dance class at home, we take about 5 months to meticulously learn and perfect one or two dances. Here, my very first night we completed one whole dance that we will be performing, then forgetting in a little over one month. So that's a change.

The people in my dance class are so so nice! There was actually another girl who joined the class at the same time as I did, so we always smile and laugh with each other about how insane it is that we are learning a whole other dance, on top of the one we learned in one night, that everyone else is so so good at and we are doing our best not to trip over our own feet. And everyone is always so willing to help and give each other positive criticism. Its just a really happy, fun environment and I always leave with a smile on my face. Oh and did I mention I can wear jeans to dance class? Its crazy and I don't even really like dancing in jeans, but since I can I am doing it!!!

This dance class I am taking is located in a theater school (I feel so cool saying I study dance and the school of theater in town, just saying) and so the recital is a whole big mash up of singing, dancing, acting and all things theater! The show takes place on two separate dates in two separate cities, which is also pretty cool, and the theme of the show is Dracula. This means that I will be dancing with fake vampire teeth in my mouth. Ew. The other day in class we filled these teeth with a mold thing that tasted GROSS, and one of mine didn't even work, when we pulled the tooth off, the tooth came, but the cement preferred my actual tooth... so I have to do it again :( not looking forward to that. On the actual day of the show I will do my best to take lots of pictures and post a whole bunch, I know I haven't done that in awhile, sorry 'bout it.

So ya that's my life for now! Hope you are all doing well! BYE!