9 Months

When I began this blog I purposely withheld a lot of my opinions about Spanish people and their culture, knowing that in all likelihood my opinions would change over time. Now I have lived in Spain for 9 months. I have a much better perspective now that I have travelled and explored, and I can honestly say I have come to love this country and its inhabitants. However, this was not so in the early months of my adventure.

My initial impression of Spain was utter repulsion. The people are messy; they throw their McDonalds wrappers on the ground despite the trash cans on every corner, they noisily spit their sunflower seed shells as they walk, the men spit constantly, hawking and coughing, indoors and out. I have been spit on three times--twice by accident, I think, and once on purpose by a show-off teen. I've seen fathers teaching their children to pee on public buildings. I've seen a man cover one nostril and expel the contents of the other on the street. NOBODY cleans up after their dogs. The people seem rude. Those walking on the sidewalk do not budge to make way for anyone and I am often elbowed, pushed, shouldered out of the way and into a street full of incoming cars. The children know no respect and shove and scream. The men can be exceptionally crude and lewd to a lady walking alone. Cigarettes litter the streets and people smoke everywhere despite all the emphysema coughing. And forget covering the nose while sneezing! The people are loud. Conversations are shouting matches and everyone interrupts everyone else, speaking all at once and fighting for volume. They love the horns in their cars and use them dozens of times a day, sometimes for minutes at a time! They stare. They catcall. The weather is unpredictable and often depressing. The residents sometimes smell BAD.

When I first arrived the smells sickened me. The scent of body odor on the bus or the metro, the smell of sewage, the smell of frying pork fat, of dog poo baking on the sidewalk, of cigarettes and fried sardines...overwhelmed me. I never realized how clean and sterile the USA really is until I lived and breathed these scents.

I am used to all this now. I don't notice the cigarettes much, or the horns, or the volume, the sunflower seeds, the staring. I can tolerate the interrupting and the terribly behaved children and the catcalls. I've adjusted to the scents and now find it natural, real, proof that we are living (though I have never and will never learn to spit in the street).

I find myself in love with this country now. The land is beautiful, however unforgiving, the history is rich, the people love to laugh. The people enjoy, as they say.

I have met some incredible people. My student Alfonso taught me to pay attention to "the smell of the flowers burning in the sun." Rodrigo brought me special Spanish desserts to celebrate different holidays. Everyone is always eager to help, offering advice, informing me about Spain, making destination recommendations, lending me books, kindly critiquing my Spanish. I teach Sosa, a man from Nigeria who immigrated to Spain for a better life and to send money home to his family so that his siblings may get the education he never did (Craig and I are teaching him to read and write in English). I've taught business men, strong young female executives, teenagers, newly engaged couples, lawyers, pharmacists, biologists, university students, engineers, accountants, teachers, literature lovers, pilots; each one interested and engaged me, taught me something, modified my opinion of people in Spain, helped make my experience intriguing and special. And that is just my students...never mind my FRIENDS!!!

I find myself now armed with a better global perspective, more open, more calm. I have been living in a socialized nation and know firsthand how it works, and I can juxtapose it with my capitalist homeland to better formulate my beliefs and help find solutions for the future. I have witnessed the damage of this "crisis" in a different way, living in the country with the highest unemployment rate in the western world--nearly 18%. I can see the impact of the American media on kids and teens across an ocean.

When I was new in Spain I wasn't shocked by the fact that I was stereotyped as a stupid, McDonalds loving American, but I was offended by the perpetuation of these stereotypes by loud, stupid American tourists and drunken exchange students. I have learned to take pride in my nationality despite this in order to break these expectations. I feel that if I can break this stereotype in the mind of one person, I am making a difference.

I am homesick for Spain, and I have yet to leave.

Now I am saying goodbye to my students and embarking on a new journey. A lot of the goodbyes are casual, easy, but with a lot of my students I have spent a lot of one on one time. I know their childrens' names and what subjects the kids struggle with in school. I know what makes my students nervous about work and English, I know what allergies they have, what sports they practice on the weekends, their pet peeves. I know their religious beliefs and what they upbringing was like. I know whose brother is divorcing, whose boss is a jerk, whose child is in the hospital. I have spent nearly 100 hours alone with each of these students and we have become something like friends. I've had to say goodbye to my darling 13 year old private student over her tear-filled Coca-Cola, who finally passed an English exam after endless hours of assisted study.

But goodbye is necessary. This week, Craig and I will be travelling to Saint Jean Pied du Port, France. Here we will begin a 780 km hike on the Camino de Santiago Compostela, the way of Saint James, the ancient pilgrimage route. We will be walking an average of 30 km per day, carrying our clothes and sleeping bags on our backs, traversing the French/Spanish Pyrenees mountains, the plateau plains of Castilla y Leon, and the rainy rolling green hills of Galicia, among 780 km of other Spanish country side. http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/camino-frances/

I will be doing my best to occasionally find a computer to update!