A new bilingual era/ Una época bilingüe nueva

La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.

For several years, I have been reading a blog written by an American in Fuengirola, a city near Marbella, Spain. He writes all of his blog posts in both English and Spanish and now I want to do the same. I can't promise that every Spanish post will contain exactly the same information, because I'm really not that good yet. And if my Spanish speaking friends see errors and want to correct me - I welcome it. This semester, my language exchange friend will be helping me with my posts, but I want to emphasize that any errors I make are mine, not his.

In January I took a official state certification exam that lasted for more than four hours and was far more difficult than my school's exam. If you pass this exam, you receive an official certificate that lets you demonstrate your language level for a job, for example. And I actually passed! I almost didn't - because my grade for the portion on writing nearly failed me. Hence, my decision for the the blog to go bilingual.

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Durante años he estado leyendo un blog de un estadounidense que vive en Fuengirola, una ciudad cerca de Marbella, España. Escribe cada entrada de su blog en inglés y también en español. Como me gusta lo que él hace, ahora quiero hacer lo mismo. No prometo que la entrada de español vaya a ser exactamente igual que la de inglés. Sé que algunos de mis amigos habláis español, así que cuando notéis que hay algunos errores, no dudéis en hacérmelo saber. Este cuatrimestre mi amigo de intercambio me ayudará con mis entradas. Me gustaría expresar que cuando cometa errores no será solamente su culpa, ya que cometo muchos.

En enero hice un examen de certificación que duró más de cuatro horas y fue incluso más difícil que el examen de mi escuela. Cuando un alumno pasa este examen, recibe un certificado oficial que puede usar para demostrar su nivel tanto en el trabajo como en la universidad. ¡Y aunque pasé el examen! Casi no aprobé porque mi nivel de la parte escrita fue casi insuficiente. Por esa razón, he empezado a escribir un blog bilingüe.

Playing tourist

My semester of Spanish classes did not start until February, so January was an extended break. Luckily, my Aunt G came to visit and helped me fill the hours. Aunt G is a seasoned traveler, and has visited Spain many times. But she doesn't speak Spanish and had limited mobility while she was here. I told her I could act as her companion. I was thinking of the old novels from century or two ago, when well-heeled society ladies would travel and bring along their poor, spinster or widowed, relatives to carry the luggage and order the room service. Aunt G is not rich and I am not poor, but the concept still worked. As much as I could, I translated to waiters and carried groceries and navigated the metro. I even managed to communicate with the electrician when her apartment's electricity went out. It was a good excuse to revisit some of the tourist sites, and eat chocolate with churros.

Segovia, home to a Roman aqueduct, a lovely castle, and a cathedral. We took the train, which was super fast and fun, because I have only taken the bus in my previous adventures.

I don't eat at restaurants very often. During this visit, I learned the important lesson that many restaurants outside of the city center close between lunch and dinner, and if they are open, it's just for drinks. That how I ended up eating my first Burger King meal in a few decades. 

Looking glamorous together. Hopefully I fulfilled my responsibilities well enough that Aunt G will return.

New traditions

Christmas is not a new holiday for me, but I´ve had some opportunities to celebrate in new ways this year. While Christmas trees are common here (although often plastic or just a cone shaped figure of lights), it is equally or more important to have a nativity scene. These are found in homes as well as public spaces. I went to see a very large one organized by the city of the Madrid. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo to show the scale - you wait line for 10-30 minutes, then slowly inch through a space the size of a small auditorium. It contained about ten different scenes from Jesus´ birth, plus an entire village - a mill with a functioning waterwheel, a carpet seller, farmers, etc. The only strange part was that they ran the line so that time went in reverse - we started with the holy family fleeing to Egypt and ended with Mary hearing from an angel that she would give birth. But maybe Spaniards know the story so well that it doesn´t matter.

Most kids just get a small present on Christmas Eve, though, because the real action is on Three Kings Day. You´ll note that that mean that the holidays stretch for more than two weeks. The night before Three Kings Day, on January 5th, cities and neighborhoods hold parades in which the kings enter the city. I went downtown to the biggest parade. It was packed with people, maybe 10-15 people deep, everywhere. The parents bring stepstools for the small children to stand on and peer over the crowd. Each king arrives on his own float with the appropriate animal (either a camel, an elephant, or a horse) and everyone on all the floats throws massive amounts of candy, which people scoop up. I managed to catch a few to give to my friends´ kids. If you go to the neighborhood parades, the spectacle is smaller but I´ve heard that the candy haul is much bigger.

If you leave turrón and hay for the kings and their animals and have been good, the kings bring you presents during the night. Then you can spend the holiday with your family playing with your new toys and eating. The kings didn´t bring me anything, but I still celebrated with the traditional Roscón de Reyes, a sweet bread-like cake that is filled with cream. 

I can´t wait to see what Easter is like here.

Winter holidays

The rest of my holiday was spent in Ohio, with my parents and brother´s family. We mainly stayed at home, which was convenient in their very big house. We aren´t able to get all seven of us together every year, so this was a nice treat. I especially appreciated my brother´s family coming from the West Coast, saving me hours of extra travel.

Christmas breakfast with overnight cinnamon rolls and lots of fresh berries.

Teenagers found ways to get some space from the adults.

There may have been a bet regarding this stick, which was then carried through the woods for a mile. Sticks can be surprisingly heavy.

I usually plan holiday meals. This year I didn´t feel like spending all day in the kitchen, so we went to the historic indoor market in downtown Cleveland and bought tons of handmade pierogis. In the US, pierogis are usually found in the freezer section, stuffed with potato and maybe cheese. Cleveland had lots of Polish immigrants, and now you can buy awesome flavors like black bean & jalapeno, or barbeque chicken, although my favorite turned out to be sauerkraut.

Video games were played. It turns out that my father is pretty good at dodging bad guys, but VR headsets make me instantly nauseous, so I´ll be maintaining my spectator status in the future.

A break

Two and a half weeks ago, I finished my final exam for Spanish class, packed my bags and headed to the US for a break. And it has been a glorious break. I would describe coming back to an English language environment as slipping into a warm bath. I continue to revel in how easy life is when you can communicate clearly. And I turned off all the Spanish, deleting podcasts I should be listening to and ignoring all my flashcard reminders. That will all be waiting for me when I return.

In addition to taking a break from learning, I immersed myself in my friends' lives. I know that I will eventually make deep friendships in Madrid, but it is truly delightful to just bask in time together with friends I've known for years. DC has a high concentration of such people, so I headed there first. (Sorry to any DC people I couldn't missed - my time was so short!)

My best friend M and I met in Philadelphia, halfway between our respective locations, for s day trip. I am maybe 2" taller than her, and minimal height distances make for excellent hugging opportunities. Our big adventure was hearing a free organ concert at a downtown department store. Apparently this was the thing shoppers enjoyed a century ago.

Culture shock hit in a few ways, although mostly good ones. With this photo I am marveling at the size and selection of the grocery stores. I also forgot how great it is that Americans talk to strangers. Less good is the way we try to eat our meals as fast as humanly possible.

My friends N and S were kind enough to store my bicycle in their basement, which let me get in lots of riding. It turns out I still love bicycle riding, and hopefully I can finally get a bike sorted in Spain next month.

And of course it's not quality time with friends if you don't do construction projects. 

My friend E made me a cheese souffle! There is no better demonstration of friendship, in my opinion.

My friendship cup runneth over. 

What I do when I´m not studying

Things are ticking along nicely here. I have found a good balance between study and social activities. It's probably not surprising that school is turning out to be useful for meeting friends.

Inviting friends to your home for meals is somewhat rare here - that is usually reserved for family. I suspect this is similar to the situation in NYC, when people tend to meet in bars or restaurants because no one has an apartment big enough to host people. However, I love cooking food for people so I've just decided to play the "This is something we do in the US" card and I've had two small dinner parties.

 
I've been busy studying for my final exam in Spanish, which is tomorrow. Actually, there are three exams: the final for the class, a makeup exam offered in January, and a certification exam. I am hoping to avoid needing the makeup exam, but I plan to take the certification exam because it's good practice. At this point, I am pretty confident that I can do will enough to be admitted to the next class, but we will see if the gods of the subjunctive case smile upon me. In any case, I will not have to think about Spanish for the next few weeks, because I'm going to visit friends and family in the US. It's going to be amazing to just walk around and understand everything that people say!

My new friends T and A at the house of the Joaquin Sorolla, a famous Spanish impressionist painter. T and A are fun and interesting people, and, on top of that, A is really good at remembering to take pictures for my blog, so I hope to hang out with them more.

I cooked to for two days to make this Indian feast: roti, raita, urad dal (lentils), malai kofta (a cheese and potato dumpling in tomato gravy), cabbage fritters, and lassi (a mango lassi drink). That meant a feast for three people, plus delicious leftovers for days. Totally worth it.

This is a tiny baroque church where I heard a concert of English choral music. The acoustics were amazing, and the crowd of senior citizens plus me loved every minute of it. I couldn´t decide whether to focus on the music or everything that was happening on the walls.

Madrid puts of LOTS of lights for Christmas. It´s beautiful, but apparently all six million Madrilenños were out looking at them on Saturday. Overfull buses passed the stop rather than picking people up, so getting there and home was a challenge. Next time I´ll go view them on a random Tuesday instead.

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.