Menos Mal

I am all packed. This is my last blog from my bed in Spain. It has been a strange week in that it has felt very normal. I don't feel like I am leaving and not coming back at the end of the weekend. I'm sure it will hit me when I land in an airport and hear Americans around me.
I am exhausted and that's all I can feel right now. Just spent 2 hours on the phone with the airlines b/c my first flight was canceled.

Today, Thursday, it has been raining all day.
"The whole city is crying that you are leaving," Ignacio at our farewell lunch.


Things and people I want to remember:

Menos mal is a saying I learned a few months ago. It means "It's a good thing..."
Like, Menos mal that I brought my umbrella today since it rained.



Ms. Carmen!!


Ms. Carmen
Every afternoon she puts eye drops in before the bus starts moving.
I look away. Eyes don't bother me...but for some reason watching her put the drops in does.
We discuss how tired we are... talk about our day and our upcoming plans.
Usually an opportunity to correct my grammar arises.
Sometimes she grades papers.
Sometimes we don't talk much at all.
At the lunch today, a student gave out "superlative awards" that we'd all voted on. I won best non-natvie Spanish speaker. I wish I could tell Ms. Carmen.
Menos mal that Ms. Carmen sat next to me on the bus or else my Spanish would be no better off.

Vicente
Greased hair combed back... slightly thinning
Body odor...some days I smelled it more than others, but it had to be him.
He wants to be a boat captain.
He offers me gum... and I take it even though I don't like gum.
He also helps me by correcting my Spanish.
Menos mal that Vicente was my driver or else I would've been carsick every day. The other drivers were crap.

Maribel
Has a greasy mullet... the mullet is very popular in Spain for men and women.
She broke her first glasses and now has new pair.
Every day I hear her say, "no te chilles" (don't yell) to the kids
Every day I hear her name more than anyone else's
She is always smiling
Ponte la chaqueta.. she makes the kids put on their jackets when they get off the bus even though it's not that cold outside.


A hand game/rhyme Valeria and Sara taught me in the lunch line.

colorin colorado (nonsense words really)
nadie sabe que ha pasado (No one knows what happened)
una nina se ha hecho pis (A girl pee peed)
y se quedo así (Now stay like this)

You repeat and jump like this: Legs together, legs out, etc.
And if you land with your legs out.. then your the one who made pee pee.

Every time the kids would raise their hand to speak they started with "that"
Like: "That we need to use a pencil?" "That I have something to show they class."
It started driving me crazy, but it's b/c in Spanish lots of time you start sentences with "es que" or "it's that."


A student here got us all to write paragraphs about living here then he put it all together... here is what I submitted:

It was freezing in the south when I left Mississippi. I'd prepared as best I could for a twenty-something hour trip to a 3-and-a-half-month life in Spain.
Will they have our kind of shampoo there? Should I pack more? How will I sleep without my 5 pillows surrounding me?
Double check the list. Triple check.
Do I really want to do this?

Am I really crying in the Birmingham airport because my mom just left? Who am I? I've wanted to live in Spain for...since forever. Don't cry.
I don't really want to go now. It's too intimidating. My Spanish has gotten so bad.

I have neve been so tired in my life. Is that Switzerland outside this airport? How am I in Switzerland? But I wasn't alone. 3 strange faces stood behind me and piped up "You're with FSU?" when they heard me tell customs why I was going to Spain. Three hours with these three new faces waiting in the Swiss airport. "Guys, I'm so tired." Jet lag was actually a little fun.

I barely remember that day....the first few days. Or maybe I remember them, but it doesn't feel like me who lived in them. Because we've been here for 3 and half months and have gotten to know 3 x 30-something new faces. I can't believe I was ever scared to come here. Can't believe that even for a second I didn't want to get on the plane. Because now, I have no idea who I'd be if I hadn't. Living abroad would have been something I would've said, "oh I wish I had done that before I (got too old, got married, had kids)" about. But not now. I can say I've lived abroad. Learned another language and culture. Seen the Eiffel tower, Colosseum, and Big Ben. My life will fill fuller because of these 3 and a half months...because of these experiences, because of these people.

It seems like life outside of FSU Valencia has stopped. However, we have reminders that our lives are still happening without us there. Skype, Email, and Facebook -all highways in which news from home travels. Exciting news: engagements, births, weddings, etc. Sad news: broken relationships, death of a loved one. Life will not be exactly as we knew it in January.
I watched Mississippi have an absurd amount of snow this winter...and will return to its steaming hot sauna of summer. But it is good to know life has kept going. Makes us realize that we don't want to miss it forever.

And here are some excerpts from the final writing. It really sums everything up beautifully... but it's long so I just picked the main parts.

In the first days La Plaza de Virgen, with its dark-tiled floor and ode to The River, a distant walk. The Riverbed was a gutter, The City of Arts and Sciences--a spaceship, Spaniards—little people from a movie, The Staff--Faculty, Roommates--strangers, Lavin--a weird word, Café con Leche--lacking coffee, food portions--tiny, The Central Market—smelly, The Train Station—hectic, dinners—anxious, alcohol---a relief, and comfort—as lost as familiarity. Then we travelled. We went to Paris and saw Notre Dame, The Tower, and Versailles.
We realized that Virgen is close, the streets intimate, Arts and Sciences magnificent, and the running pants—still too tight. We talked about our passions and our hatreds and we travelled again. We saw the Vatican, Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, Morocco, UK, and Spain.
We saw the end in sight and we imagined hugging those who are away, but we blocked thoughts of losing those who are here. We said: “Living in Valencia has been the craziest roller-coaster of our lives. We’ve made undoubtedly some of the most lasting friendships with some of the craziest, yet most exciting people We have ever had a chance to know. This town has transformed our idea of studying, traveling and learning a language, into the experience that people call "studying abroad”. Whether the others who are not here were unable to afford the price, unable to step out of the box, or unwilling to accept uncertainty, We feel sorry that they are not able to know what we do. Tallahassee, Orlando, Miami and Iowa City will be there when we return, just as we have left them, however our lives will not be the same.

We never want to leave; for fear that We may lose what We have found. It’s impossible to imagine Our lives anywhere but here. We have become a source of life to ourselves. Gone are the days of sleep, routine, solitude, rigorous schoolwork, monotony and insignificant priorities. We’re finally living and We don’t want it to end. We are rich; beauty has found Us and wrapped Us in its cloak. It has come to Us in the form of people; people We would have never met before, and now can’t imagine living without. It has come to Us in the form of places. Places that were once only a passing thought or a figment of Our imagination, but our now places of home.”

We said this and learned this and spoke this and more. We each have stories of cathedrals, fields, moments, and people. We are different than we were---How could we not be? The life that comes from 3, the class from 4, the sass from 5, the art from 6, the selflessness from 7, and the mix that comes from Top Shelf—who would Me I and We be without each of those? The details and senses of Valencia are in the people who’ve joined us in growing intimate with Her. We all know the Smell, emitted from people, food, and streets. The Sound, breathed of nature, man, and machine. The Touch, lent by sea breeze, stone, and iron. The Sight, reflected off of ancient, new, and Us. And we all know Valencia, with legs of orange trees, a belly of paella, and eyes like fireworks.

And now I have to be done. My flight is early. I will sleep about 2 hours.
Time to go home.
Menos mal that I came to Valencia, or else I would've lived my life feeling like something was missing.

y ya está

Last Week in Valencia

This picture pretty much sums up how we have lived this last week in Valencia. Scraping by. Trying not to buy things that we're not going to finish, like dish soap. Once that was finished, we started washing dishes with hand soap. We resorted to using our tissues for toilet paper...tissues too rough to use on the nose. Then when the cleaning ladies threw the box away (which still had like half of the tissues in it) we've been grabbing handfuls of toilet paper from the bathrooms in the lobby. Roughin' it.


SATURDAY
A lot of students went scuba diving but I passed. Too cold and they had to take a 2 hour bus ride...I just couldn't travel anymore. I relaxed and walked around Valencia some.
Festivities for Holy Week were starting. In the plaza de la Virgin there was a big group of people dressed up in these fancy robes and playing drums.





That's pretty much all I can tell you about it.


Later, there were tons of people outside our towers. (I had a mini-flashback of horror to fallas)
This was a rally for people who want Valencia to be separate from Spain.

Other regions in Spain like Cataluña also want to be separate from Spain.. I didn't realize that this many Valencianos felt the same way.





SUNDAY - Palm Sunday
Outside the cathedral were these incredible palm creations.


Roommates walking to the park


Passing my bus stop


We all went to this park nearby called viveros to sit, enjoy the sun, and study. Well, they studied. I AM FINISHED!...something that still hasn't really hit me. Finished with school. Eh, maybe it will hit me when I get home.
We sat next to this french fry lookin' structure...

and this little barky dog


But he was a cute barky dog




Melissa found a four leaf clover. Jealous.
So Freddie and I started lookin... which is when Matt got a hold of my camera.


But ha! I found one!


A really lovely last weekend in Valencia.




Sunday night we all went for a Top Shelf dinner at our favorite
Italilan place. It was 10 of us plus little Chris and his parents.
Many of us had extra cheques to spend before we leave the world that
accepts cheques so we splurged. I got an appetizer, main dish, and
dessert... AND water. (Normally I bring a water bottle in my purse so
I don´t have to pay for water...ahhh free water, a luxury I am looking
forward to). We stuffed our gullets and then it was time for the
check. In Spain they never separate the bill. Never. I remember
this being very difficult for us all in the beginning...the math, the
change, the headache. But now, wow, we are so Spanish and accustomed to it. So
with a group of ten you wait until the bill comes to you and you can
add up what you owe. We all start whippin' out our cheques. I look up
and ask "Where´s the cuenta?" Then, I see what is happening. Other
people are just staring. My eyes fall on the check. It is sitting in
front of Chris's dad...with his credit card on top. Noooooooo. My
mouth falls open. He is not about to treat us ALL to this dinner. We
all had the same dumb and embarrassed look on our faces. I start
fanning myself with my cheques. I can't even say thank you at this
point.
"Don´t cry Emily" someone says.
"I'm not! I'm just embarrassed at all the food I just ordered on their tab!"
We got it together, remembered our manners, and (after trying to
give some cheques) we gave proper thanks. So nice. Here we all are with Chris's parents on the right.


MONDAY
Monday morning. A regular morning. I wait for the bus and I get on
the bus, but something was different. My bus driver, Vicente, was not
the driver. Ok. He is probably sick. But then no Vicente in the
afternoon either. I decide to wait and ask Maribel about him if he is
absent again on Tuesday.

Sometimes I get off (ahh no.. I GOT off) at an earlier stop and walk home.. only a 10 minute walk through the riverbed.
Some pictures on my way home

These trees would drop little fluffies... and it looked like cotton all over the ground.

Orange flowers



Interesting way to end a semester in Valencia = Celebrate Passover with my first Seder meal.
My teacher Julie is Jewish and she had a Seder at her house with 2 other couple from school and their kids.
The Seder plate.

Matza and hummus

Matza ball soup ... my first time

The messy end of the table
First a kid spilled some grape juice...then Julie's husband spilled wine trying to clean up the grape juice.. later someone spilled some matza ball soup.

It was educational ... in many ways. I got to refresh my memory on the plagues and the story of the slaves leaving Egypt. The script was read in Hebrew and in Spanish. The makeup of the people at our table went like this:
COUPLE #1
Julie - New Yorker
Her Husband - Italian
They speak Italian to each other, she speaks English to her kids, he speaks Italian to the kids.. and they all speak perfect Spanish.

COUPLE #2
Eran - Israeli
His wife Paula - Spanish
He speaks Hebrew to the kids, she speaks Spanish, they all know English.

COUPLE #3
Jeff - American
His wife - Brazilian
He speaks English to kids, she speaks Portuguese to them, and they all speak Spanish.

I am pretty sure my face was like this :0 all night. Wide eyed and grinning at how normal it was for all these languages to be around me.


TUESDAY
Tuesday morning, no Vicente. Maribel says he no longer works for the
company but she doesn't really want to talk about it in front of the
new driver.
The bus on Tuesday was brand new and shiny...the look and
smell... I hate this bus and its new shiny driver. Where is Vicente?
I ask Maribel again in the afternoon. All Maribel tells me is that it was a personal problem with the business and that it is better for him... At least that is all I could understand. Maribel still hasn't realized that I need her to go a little bit slower with the Spanish.
Wow. I am so sad. The bus to and from school just isn't the same without Vicente. But Maribel says he is going to meet me at the bus stop Wed. afternoon to say goodbye.

Tuesday we dyed Easter Eggs... not the easiest thing to do in Spain. First of all, they don't do it. So there are no little kits for you to buy. We used food coloring. Second, white eggs are harder to come by. Most stores have only brown eggs....Oh and they don't refrigerate their eggs in the stores, just a side note.



Tuesday night was my second Seder dinner. A girl who lives in the apartment below ours is Jewish and put on a Seder Monday and Tuesday night and invited whoever wanted to come.
I am a Seder pro.


Chris me and Maddie, the Seder hostess.


WEDNESDAY
My last day of school. Up until this day, every other day has just felt normal. I haven't really gotten sad yet, and I don't feel like I am going to. But I did have a ball of nerves in my stomach all day at the thought of saying goodbye to my kids. It also didn't help that Wednesday morning is when my bus driver showed up. I was standing at the bus stop, still half asleep, and small talking with another teacher when Vicente shows up out of nowhere! I was so shocked to see him and I hadn't woken up yet and I hadn't thought about what I wanted to say to him AND the bus showed up literally 30 seconds after he arrived. Even if I had had the time, it still would have been difficult to say all I wanted. When it comes to expressing the most sincere and deeply felt emotions, it's very difficult in another language. And even after you say it, you still don't feel like you truly communicated all you wanted.

Ricardo and his folder... lord that child is a mess.


Every couple months, the we rearrange the room. The way Julie does it seems like it would be the worst idea ever...but it's the opposite. She puts the map of the new classroom seating on the board then let's the kids just move their own desks... the only rule is they have to all move in the same direction... clockwise. I videoed it this time.


And after 5 minutes, we almost have our classroom back

We had a regular day and then an Easter/my goodbye party in the afternoon.
I made sure to get a picture of each kid...but I won't put them all here.
Laura and Pepe

Cecilia and Jose
I loved Jose. He was a student that needed a little more attention...guess those are the ones you always love, even though some days you want to shake them.


David, Inés, and Francisco


Angela and David Allan


Then they sat me down and gave me some good bye presents from the whole class.
Facundo presented me with a hat and shirt from the school. I'm showing him what a smile is... the kid rarely smiles.


Salva presented me with a zip drive from the school... my first zip drive to ever own.


Jose brought up the bracelet.


And best of all, a book of letters from each child...presented by Carmen.


Love it


Me and all my gear


I managed to hold it together for the most part. Except for when I had to say bye to Julie.
Uhhh I hate goodbyes. Then it was to Ms. Carmen. Then to Maribel.
These people... a bus monitor, seat companion, and bus driver, who I spent very little time when you look at the bigger picture of my time here.. only 90 minutes 4 days a week, but they have been some of the most significant. My Spanish would not have improved if it hadn't been for them.


I got off the bus just in time to meet the whole FSU group leaving for Monteditos. First round of drinks and sandwiches on FSU! Then we had a girls photo shoot in the plaza de la Reina.





Then in the plaza de la Virgin. What am I gonna do in a world without plazas?



Sadness


Freddie and the guy who works at Chinos... where we buy cheap beer.


Wed. night was the big Copa del Rey fútbol game. Barcelona vs. Madrid... and they have to have it in a neutral city sooooo VALENCIA! The city was full of fans in their respective jerseys all day. We went to a bar near the stadium to watch the game. On our way, we got stopped by a police man as we were about to cross a street. Why? There weren't any cars coming. Why can't we cross the street? Because THE KING OF SPAIN was passing by with all his entourage. So, we saw the king... or at least his car.
Got to the bar and stood outside in a group of people to watch it on the outdoor tv.


Fútbol fans



Then these fans were behind me (p.s. we were all going for Real Madrid)...
We were parked in front of them so they automatically started heckling us .. me..
"Rubiaaaa" ...which basically means blondy. What will I do in a world where my blonde hair doesn't instantly get me harassed?

I turned to them and informed them that I have a name... then we became friends.
Matt insisted that I be in a picture with them.
Check out eyebrows on the left.


It was so much fun. The fans around us were chanting and singing.



And Madrid won!

Fútbol, creepy Spaniards, crowds that violate your personal bubble... a perfect Spanish night to end with here in Valencia.