I am moved into my apartment! I went shopping today for groceries, laundry detergent and small little things that I needed like hand soap and a hand towel for the bathroom. It was hard not to buy a lot of things like rugs and little pretty baskets to organize my stuff. I really wanted to but I realize I can´t bring it with me when I leave and it is not like I have a lot of extra money for that stuff. Everything is walking distance, I went to the grocery store for the basics and the best thing is right across the street from our apt is an open air market similar to Pikes Place Mkt in Seattle on a smaller scale with fresh produce, meats, seafood, and clothes. It is really cool to walk around in hard to resist buying things. My Spanish will be much better after this as my neighborhood is pure Spanish people, in the tourist areas they have things in Spanish and English but not in my area. Plus a lot of people speak a different dialect which is Catalan a variation of Spanish. The first night went fine, it was a little weird as everything is separate since I have been staying at hostels everyone shares everything with you but in the apt everyones has their own stuff. Like today I bought salt, which is only like 20 cents for a huge bag obviously I would share but everyone has there own salt on their shelves. Oh well I guess it prevents any fights. The girl is from Belgium, Anachein, and she is really nice. I hope we can cook together as I love to cook with people and share meals which is what we did at the hostels it feels good. The other guy the hairdresser Jean Luca, is from Italy and he is nice too, he was acting a little weird but Anachein said it is because he doesn´t speak very much English and he is afraid of making mistakes when he talks to me since English is my mother tongue. I love talking to people who are learning English and the expressions they use. Jean Luca was trying to tell me today about an area that was dangerous and he said the people are not beautiful there. I thought to myself ugly people, I have to be worried about ugly people? I don´t laugh though because I don´t want him to be self conscious I think it is great to hear him talk. I am going to call her An because it is way to long to type out her whole name, she said I know I make a lot of mistakes but I don´t care this is the only way I will get better, which is a great attitude. I am trying this approach with my Spanish, I am able to understand and actually answer people before it hits my brain, I have done this several times and amazed myself, they speak so fast but this woman asked me a question and I said the correct answer before I had even processed it. It was crazy! I would love to really know the Spanish language, I am just getting by right now. The third guy Bart, I haven´t met yet as he left for the holiday but he is from the Netherlands.
I have been hanging out at my school tonight watching the other students teach their classes which is what I will be doing in a few weeks. It was great the students loved learning and they were all older than 50, this one woman was so fiesty asking great questions, it was fun to watch. It is so inspiring that these older local Spanish people are so excited to learn English. I was amazed at how much they understand. I got to sit in on all of the lesson and the feedback from the teacher who watches and grades the lesson and I am coming back tomorrow for the same thing for the lower level class. I have an internet cafe around the corner from my place but right now I am still at the school using their computer for free. My teacher is almost done finishing up his last minute work so I don´t have much more time but I wanted to let everyone know I am doing great and keep the emails coming! XOXO Marci
