Lessons of the Week

Lesson 1: Pay attention to where you're going so you can go there on your own.

Last week, when Elena and Carmen helped me find my way to the school, it was dark outside, which made the task slightly more difficult. We found it nonetheless, and I was fairly certain that I could find it on my own. The next day I decided to give it a try. I walked for about ten minutes and made it to the intersection in the photo with few problems. At the far end of the alley, there is a small, white sign taped to the building. To the left of the sign is a small stone staircase that leads in a roundabout way to the entrance of the school. When I arrived at this intersection, I was certain that that this could not be the correct path because I remembered walking a greater distance previous day. I decided to walk to my right and see if I had only missed by a couple of blocks. When I realized that I was seeing buildings that I hadn't seen before, I turned around and decided to try a different street. This went on for over an hour, with me pausing at every corner trying to see if I could remember where the correct street was. Throughout all of this I was never more than a few blocks from the entrance to the school, and passed the alley several times, each time telling myself that I was not in the correct location. I was about ready to head back to the apartment in defeat, when I decided to walk down the alley just for fun. I saw the sign pointing me in the right direction and realized I had been in the right place the entire time. The entire journey took me over an hour and a half when it should have only taken 15 minutes.

Lesson 2: Learn how to and remember to buy gas.

In Spain the people use butane gas to run their stoves and hot water heaters. It comes in large bottles that are bought individually from a man who sells it. He comes three times a week usually between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning. On Tuesday morning Elena had to take a test for one of her classes, and then was planning to leave and spend a few days with her family in her hometown. Had I known that Tuesday was one of the days to buy gas, I would have bought some because we were out. When she returned from the test I asked her to show me how to turn on the hot water heater so I could take a shower. She told me that we were out of gas, but not to worry because Ana would be returning the next day and would bring some from her house. Ana returned, but did not bring the gas. She left again with her family a few hours later. On Friday I called Elena to find out when the man would come again and asked her what I needed to do to buy the gas. She told me that he would be coming on Saturday and I was to wake up early and listen for him to yell "Butano" and then I was to open the door and respond with "Sube" which means "come up". I woke up early and waited, but he either didn't come or I didn't hear it. As of now we are currently without gas for the stove and hot water heater, not that having the gas would do me much good, because I still don't know how to turn on the stove and the hot water heater. Yes, cold showers and sandwiches do get old after a while.

Lesson 3: Make it clear at exactly which fountain you plan on meeting someone.

At the school, I ran into one of my friends from UW who will also be taking classes in Granada this semester. She invited me to a language exchange the following night. She told me to meet her at the fountain near the Corte Ingles, a large department store. In Granada, there are more fountains than a person would ever care to count, but I thought I knew which one she was talking about. We had planned to meet at 8:00. I left early so I would still get there on time if I got lost and arrived about 7:45. At about 8:15 she still hadn't shown up so I called her to make sure she was still coming, because it was very uncharacteristic for her to be that late. When I called her, I discovered that she too had arrived early, and was wondering why I was late. As it turns out, we had been waiting for each other at different fountains about a block apart. She thought she told me to wait at the fountain closer to my apartment, instead of the one nearer the exchange. She found me and we headed off to the exchange. Unfortunately, we had the wrong night and nobody else showed up, but we had fun anyway.

The First Few Days

After 18 long hours of flying and navigating foreign airports I arrived in Granada late Wednesday night where two of my roommates, Ana and Elena, met me at the airport. At this point, my brain was so tired that thinking in English was difficult, and I was expected to think and respond in Spanish. This Spanish is very different from the language in classes. Not only is Andalucian Spanish spoken at a very rapid rate, but many of the sounds are left out of the words, making the written form very different from the spoken form and adding to my comprehension problems. Everyone is very helpful in slowing down and over-enunciating when they receive the blank stare of non-comprehension from me. They joke that by the time I return I won't be able to speak "perfect" Spanish, but instead, I will speak Andaluz.

On Thursday Elena and Ana took me on a brief tour of the city. We took a bus from our apartment to the other side of the city, which is really not that far away. We missed the bus coming back so we decided to walk. Walking at an extremely slow pace and stopping to look at/ enter many of the university buildings the walk took about an hour and a half.

Yesterday, I felt brave enough to attempt a little exploring on my own. By exploring, I mean walking a few blocks in one direction, turning and walking a few more in another direction until I made a complete circle and ended up back at the apartment. I almost got lost a few times, but luckily for me the sidewalks have different patterns of brickwork that change every block or so, and I was able to recognize some of them from the previous day. Had I needed to ask for directions, I would have been in trouble, because I know none of the street names, and probably would have gotten even more lost. During my exploration, I discovered that not only will I have to get used to the differences in language and culture, but in the climate as well. There are palm trees here. I have never lived in a place that had palm trees placed frequently around the city.

Later that night, Elena and her friend Carmen showed me how to get to my school. On the way, we decided to stop for an ice cream cone. Ordering was a bit of a challenge because I didn't know the word for a cone, but they were able to understand what I meant and order for me. Everyone here is very understanding and helpful, which I am very thankful for.