Achievement unlocked

Are there phrase transitions in language learning? It seems like children can practice the various parts of skills needed for something and the suddenly put them together in a rudimentary way. I think that happened to me, at least when it comes to understanding spoken Spanish. In the past few weeks, I have had multiple conversations with strangers on the street, and I almost always knew what was going on. In the past I understood maybe half of the conversation, and could not do much more than nod and interject a "Sí" or "Claro." But now I am giving people directions and having conversations with little old ladies at the bus stop. I can make eavesdropping in the Metro my new hobby - after all it's language practice!

Speaking is more of a slow, steady effort. I did quite well on my midterm exam, so I'm planning to continue studying the same way. Language practice with friends three times a week, Disney movies on the weekend, and flashcards as often as I can bear them. 

In other news, Madrid is delightful in the fall. I have discovered what might be my favorite park nearby, Juan Carlos I Park. It has everything: lakes, gardens, olive groves, and for now, gigantic animal sculptures that will be lit up for Christmas.

Festivals

´Tis the season of festivals here in Spain, apparently. I think they are a great way to learn about culture and history, so I´ve been participating when I can. And since they all seem to involve standing in crowds, my new-found height is put to good use. 

Almudena Day

Yesterday was a Madrid holiday, in honor of one of the two patrons saints, Our Lady of Almudena. She disappeared or reappeared at miraculous times (I´m not quite sure of the details). With some friends from class, I attended part of the outdoor mass held in front of the palace, and then I got to see my very first pageant. Living in a very Catholic country, I am sure these will soon bore me, but it was fun to stand in the large crowd and watch the statue, carried on an ornate platform by a team of churchgoers, slowly glide by. We trailed the procession for a while, the peeled off to head to the main plaza. Almudena is also turns out to be patron saint of bakers, and there is a sweet bread filled with cream associated with holiday. The city was handing out free servings, which we eventually secured, but only after some semi-heated arguments with little old ladies about whether we were cutting in line. (Which we were most definitely NOT doing. But Spain is turning out to be a country that takes standing in line very seriously.)

Halloween

Since everyone has been asking, I´ll just say that Halloween is barely a thing here, and is very much seen as an American import. I saw a handful of kids wearing costumes, but mainly it´s the equivalent of Cinco de Mayo in the US - an excuse for adults to go to the bar and drink, with or without costumes.

A royalty sighting

October 31st was important for a different reason - it was the 18th birthday of Princess Leonor, who will inherit the Spanish throne after her father dies. Democracy is quite new here, and one of the ways they protect it is the tradition that the heir publicly swears loyalty to the constitution in front of the Parliament on their 18th birthday. I happened to be downtown that day and got to see her procession from the palace to Parliament - she is in the antique car, accompanied by the royal guard. I was just tickled pink by the whole thing, both because the presence of a royal family is so foreign to me, and because I live in the capital and can just stumble upon things like this. 

All Soul´s Day

November 1st is All Soul´s Day, a national holiday. I don´t have any family graves to visit or tidy, and the only other activity seemed to be attending mass. It turns out that my interest in experiencing local traditions doesn´t include attending outdoor masses held in cemeteries if it is cold and rainy, so I basically skipped this holiday.

Luz Madrid

A few weeks ago, they invited a lot of artists to create light and music installations for local landmarks. A video would capture this much better, since the lights were timed to change to the music. It was cold and rainy that day too, which seems to be a theme in November.

Who am I?

Someone I have been, and continue to be - a person who likes to drink coffee on the terrace

I've been thinking about identity a lot during my move to Spain. Identity is a construct that was studied a lot in my field. Although I'm no expert, it is I can roughly describe it as the type of person you see yourself as. You construct this picture from how other people treat you, what arenas you are successful in, whether people in that group treat you as one of them, etc. Some of my identities are a white person, cisgender female, a physicist, a good cook, a cyclist, a person good with money, even a Trekkie.
I knew that moving to a new country would mess with some of those identities. For example, I think of myself as an intelligent person who is mostly good at navigating the practical components of life. When I arrived, I could barely speak, so no one else could see those smarts, and I had so many experiences, such as not understanding the bus system or not knowing how to get internet installed, that I felt like someone who didn't know how to adult. I also expected that my American identity would become far more salient, although that turns out to be not quite right - I'm not an American here, I'm simply a foreigner, in a group with many other people who can't communicate well and don't know how the system works. Plus, it turns out that many people think I'm French, even if they haven't heard my first name.

But other identity changes were completely unexpected. For example, I see myself as a navigator, since I'm always the person in the group with the map telling everyone where to go next. But here, I seem to have lost my sense of direction. I don't know if it's the multitude of non-parallel streets, or if it's because most street signs are either high up on building sides or non-existent, but I get lost about a hundred times more frequently than in other countries I have lived in. Similarly, I have always been a short, petite person. I didn't even think of this as something that could change, except if I gained weight. But suddenly, in Spain, I am almost of average height for a woman. I can see the tops of many people's heads! And because the Spanish are also very thin, I feel of average weight or maybe a little over. There's nothing wrong with being tall or short or skinny or fat, it's just that I hadn't realized how culturally constructed it would be.

All of these changes are less disorienting as the months roll by. I already feel better about my ability to navigate things like the bureaucracy or the Metro system, and someday I will feel as confident about the subjunctive case as I do about quantum mechanics.

Visitors

Yay, my parents came to visit me! When I told my Spanish friends that my parents were coming for ten days, they were horrified that my parents were coming for such a short time. I guess to a Spaniard, a vacation is a minimum of two weeks. We Americans can't imagine using so much of our precious, rare vacation time at once. Even the retirees can still think this way.

Unfortunately, my father arrived with a cold that knocked him out. He spent more than half of the vacation sleeping. I was sorry for him, but also grateful that we didn't have once-in-a-lifetime plans. It was fine for him to just rest at their nearby Airbnb apartment while my mother and I checked out all the parks that would have bored him.

I am really pleased that I encouraged my parents to come visit so soon after I arrived. Now that they have seen my house and my neighborhood, they feel more connected to me. For me, their visit helped transition Spain from location where I am frequently bewildered and lost to a place where my friends and family visit me at home.

In the Royal Botanical Garden. The flowers are much prettier here in the fall, 

when they don´t have to battle the heat.

 My mother loved chocolate and churros. I will be indulging in this regularly during the winter season.

My father managed to stay awake and upright for a trip to the railway museum. Unfortunately, Madrid specializes in art and history museums, and is quite light on the machinery museums, so we will have to venture further afield for his next visit.

An immigrant at school

Now that I´m a few weeks into class, I can definitely say this was a great choice for me. I am learning a ton, and it turns out that having a regular schedule, even if it is packed, is less stressful than all the random socializing and life admin that I did in my first two months here.

My Spanish class has about fifteen people, ranging age from their 20s to their 50s, and largely largely from Europe and Asia. Unsurprisingly, there are a fair number of people from Ukraine. I think I am the only native English speaker, but it is likely that everybody in the class speaks English. Since we're all very good about only speaking Spanish, I may never know.  

All of our talking exercises give us a chance to get to know each other. Some people have come here for schooling, at least four are getting doctorates or higher degrees in science, and others seem to have come for better jobs or a better way of life, or just because a significant other moved here. I suspect that I am the only person not working a full-time job, although perhaps that is because I´m in an evening class.

I read today that immigration to Spain has increased significantly in recent years. In the last 25 years, the population of foreign born residents has jumped from 2% to 15%. It is amazing that they have been able to integrate all these groups so well, and that Spain has a relatively low incident of xenophobia and pushback against immigration. I don´t know all the reasons for this increase, although they fast track citizens from former Spanish colonies, who make up a large percentage of these numbers, and the economy boomed in the early 2000s, making an increase in workers popular to both immigrants and employers alike.

In any case, I am very glad that all the students in my class came to Spain, because they are a delightful bunch and make learning past tenses (we´re up to four so far) more fun. 

Back to school

When I tell Spaniards that I am retired, they are generally confused and perhaps think that I don't know what I'm saying. Early retirement is rare in the US, but it is almost impossible in Spain, given how taxes work here. So I often tell them that my visa doesn't allow me to work and that my job this year is to learn Spanish. That is turning out to be truer them I expected.

I was able to enroll in one of the intensive Spanish classes offered by the local government. I attend four days per week, 2.5 hours per day. Add in my two languages exchange partners, and I'll be spending almost thirty hours per week either learning or commuting to my lessons. After a year and a half of retirement, this feels like a huge constraint, especially because the evening classes mean I won't be able to do many social activities. But I'm hoping that if I put my head down, I can make some serious progress by the end of the semester.

Yesterday was my first day. The teacher is great - I think it might be a universal retirement that people teaching immigrants be enthusiastic and encouraging, the same way kindergarden teachers are. The students in my class come from all by over Europe and China, but I am the only native English speaker.

I am normally nervous starting new things, but not yesterday.  Classes can be intimidating because I have to talk to new people and there are exams that I want to do well on. In this case, I am already living a daily language exam, and school can only make it easier.

First day of school photos are compulsory, 

even if you are 48.

Everything is new

 Rain!

I don't know if this is typical, but the changing of the seasons came very suddenly. A few days after I returned from Asturias, we had a few drops of rain and suddenly the weather was in the high 20s instead of the high 30s. Last weekend I found myself walking (with an umbrella, thankfully) in the pouring rain! It was delightful! Everyone has returned from holiday. It's not yet quite the kind of autumn where you're kicking through leaves and eating warm soup, but now that seems like something that could happen someday.

The end of summer means a return to normal life in the city, and I hope to set up something like a regular schedule. The first step is trying to enroll in Spanish classes. The key word here is "trying".There are many private schools that cost a fortune, but in return they make it easy for you to enroll and give them money. In contrast, the government run schools are affordable but come with bureaucracy. I spent three days reading and filling out the forms, and this week I take two two-hour placement exams. At the end I'm not even sure if I'll have be allowed to enroll, because I'm still not sure if I have followed the correct process.

Not following the correct procedure is more or less my life right now. As a new arrival, this constant state of uncertainty is really challenging. Along with the language, I'm learning the culture, history, geography, and bureaucracy. Let's say I want to buy something at a new grocery store. I might get lost on the way to the store (this happens all the time since I moved here). The store might not be open at the time I thought it was, or it might turn out not to be a grocery store. They might not sell that product in Spain. I might not have enough money on my transport card and then not understand how to pay cash on the bus. Almost all of these things have happened at least once, and this is just the grocery store, not even anything important, like a visa or applying to a school!

I am educated and have lots of time and (relatively) lots of money. This gives me an intense amount of respect for immigrants all over the world. It is really hard for me, and yet my experience is comparatively a walk in the park.