I think one of Pepe’s favorite phrases is “I’ll teach you.” So far Pepe has told me that he is going to teach me to use the coffee maker, cook, pick guíscanos, play the guitar and speak Spanish like an espanola…and it’s only my 4th day here. Haha.
After he showed me how to use the cafetera he showed me the birds he had in his car. He was taking them out of the house so they could get some sun. Haha. He has a ton of these tiny little birds and loves them.
After all that Pepe decided we needed to go gather guíscanos. Guíscanos are another word for níscalos. I’m not quite sure what the difference is between guíscano and níscalo but basically it all boils down to one thing…mushrooms. Now let me tell you. I have never put so much effort into, or been so tired from pursuing a food I don’t even like. We spent a good two hours in the national park picking mushrooms…hiking up and down hills trying to find them. For two hours I heard “Ven…pa’ alla…mala, no, mala.” I know these phrases very well now. “Come…go there…bad, no, bad,” bad referring to the mushrooms, not me of course. :) Eventually our basket was full and I figured we would go back home. Noooo, how foolish am I to think that! Pepe would then just add sticks to the side of the basket creating a fence so it could hold more. Then finally we were loosing light. We started to head back but every time we started to head back we would see another mushroom and then we would have to scour that area. Haha. Oh Pepe and his mushrooms. I don’t think I’ll ever have the heart to tell him I don’t really like mushrooms. I think I’m doomed to be eating them for the next 8 months.
(No, I wasn't dressed for mushroom picking or hiking, but I didn't expect to be walking around the woods when I got dressed that morning. I was expecting to get coffee and then go out later that evening. Pepe tied my hair back with some long grass so it wouldn't be in my face when looking for mushrooms. He definitely is my Spanish grandfather-figure.)
We stopped and got a drink and tapas (him a version of chocolate milk, me a type of grape juice), then we went back to his house and we had dinner with his daughter (whom I will be teaching). On the dinner menu? Bread, ham, grapes and of course, mushrooms. He also gave me a phone to use until I can buy my own in two weeks (the store is waiting to get more of the cheap ones in stock). He then took me home, with a large container of already cooked mushrooms in hand and told me when I run out, I need to go back to his house and he’ll give me more. Like I said…8 months of a diet consisting mostly of mushrooms…that’s how I foresee my future.
Now my plan was to check out the discoteca. I was a bit tired from trekking in the mountains, but I decided I still needed to go for at least a little while. I chatted with my parents online, then took a quick shower, then took my time getting ready. I knew that people don’t really go to discotecas until late, and I didn’t want to be there too early. I finally left my house about midnight. I only had a general idea about where the discoteca was located but I figured I would just follow the masses and end up where I wanted to be. Two problems with that plan…number one…really, how large do you think “the masses” are in a town of 2800? Answer: not big enough. Problem number two: I didn’t know that people don’t go to the discoteca until at least 1:30am. So, I wandered around a bit looking like an idiot, debating whether I should just go home or if I should go to Menphy’s (the Egyptian bar from last night). I decided on Menphys hoping that someone from my group last night would be there. I didn’t have any luck with that, but thank God for the bartender, Maria Jose. Maria Jose is there every night and she is my night-life angel. She looks after me and says, “Here, talk to these people here…oh, this person knows some English” or “this person wants to learn English.” Usually it’s only half true, and most anyone I talk to denies knowing or speaking any English at all. However it’s a conversation starter and I love her for it. I started off chatting with one group of guys, but it was really awkward. Later, Maria (from last night, that I thought I was supposed to have coffee with) and her boyfriend and 2 other friends showed up. Maria came over and said hello, but then went back to her friends. Then a few others showed up that I didn’t know and Maria Jose (the bartender) excitedly told me to go talk to them. This was the best advice I could have possibly received. The group she sent me over to consisted of Stefi, Eduardo and Luis.
Stefi is from Holland. She is married to Eduardo from Siles and she has lived in Siles for 11 years. She has three children, all of whom I will be teaching. She speaks English, and until this year has helped give English lessons in the town. She has done it hesitantly, because English is not her first language and she doesn’t want to teach it incorrectly, but she speaks it very well. Eduardo works in a grocery store here with his brother (that is much better and cheaper than Dia, according to all 3 of them). Luis is from Barcelona. They were there at Menphys celebrating Luis’ birthday, which was last week. The guys speak some English, but not a lot. I absolutely loved spending time with these three and I could go on and on about the topics we covered but I’ll just touch on a couple.
-Background: In Barcelona they speak Catalan. It is a version of Castellano (Spanish as the Americans know it) and French. When talking about Catalan and Barcelona, I referred to Catalan as a mixture of Spanish and French. He was kind enough to point out, that if I used that description in Catalonia (where Barcelona is), people there would likely take offense. Catalan and Castellano are both “Spanish” just different varieties. I was so thankful for the respectful way he went about correcting me without taking offense.
-Stefi has done quite a bit of traveling for work. In the past she had a very negative view of the U.S. so when she was being placed in New York for work she was less than thrilled. However, she said she was very surprised at how nice everyone was and her views on the US were quickly changed. When she first arrived she was afraid to go out in the city in the morning, fearing muggings and shootings at all hours of the day, but then realized she could go read a book in Central Park and people would greet her and it was “just like in any other village.”
We headed to the discoteca a little after 3:30am. On the way out Maria Jose told me Stefi, Eduardo and Luis were good people, that if I needed anything she was going to go to the discoteca when she closed up, and she is at Menphys every night…if I needed anything, just tell her. Such a saint! She makes my solo nights out so much more comfortable.
We didn’t get to go into the discoteca after all. They were discouraging more people from coming in, since they were trying to close at 4. We started walking back to our apartments. They showed me Mercado Gerardo (where Eduardo works) and then our paths were supposed to split. Hoooooowever, being the Spanish gentlemen they are, I was not going to be allowed to walk home alone, even in a village like Siles. We were all very close to their apartments, and mine was up the big hill. Luis offered to escort me home, but Stefi and Eduardo offered up an extra bed in their apartment and churros in the morning for breakfast. I was torn. It seemed so ridiculous to stay at someone else’s apartment when mine was maybe five minutes away walking, but I could also tell the guys weren’t totally thrilled about making the trek up the hill. So, I decided to stay with Stefi and Eduardo. Their kids were at grandma’s house until the morning, and Stefi warned me that I might be woken up by them around 9am.
Their cat Bo slept by my side/under my arm/on top of my back all night. It made me happy to have him there…most of the time. In the morning I woke up and then Stefi and I went to her mother-in-law’s house to get the kids. Her kids are Jade (7 years old), Noah (5 years old) and Luna (almost 3 years old) and are some of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen. It’s Sunday so we had a special breakfast of homemade biszcocho, chocolate, churros and coffee. I hadn’t planned on staying. I didn’t sleep very well and was cold most of the night so I was going to go home and nap. However, the kids brought me stories, drawings, games, told me jokes, put makeup on me, etc, etc. I was surprised at much I was able to understand them, because I think children are hard to understand in English, none the less in Spanish. Jade speaks really quickly when she is excited, but most of the time I can understand her. Noah likes to sing and dance everywhere. Luna is the most reserved but has taken a liking to my name. She was playing by herself but kept saying my name over and over. Laura, I told the kids that we were going to learn English, so when you come into town all of us can play games together….so you have that to look forward to. I eventually took off around 1pm because they had some friends from Madrid coming into town for lunch and the kids needed to get ready. They opened their house up to me and said whenever I needed someone, or was bored/frustrated/happy/whatever I could stop by. Stefi sent me off with a big hug and I was so happy.
The rest of today I plan on resting, cleaning house a little (dust seems to gather really quickly here), and looking over my powerpoint to see if I think it’s ready enough to present to the kids tomorrow.
Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. Wish me luck!!
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