- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:My bed, San Sebastián,Spain
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Sick
Well, I knew I'd get sick sometime here. I had just hoped it would be a manageable cold. Instead, I have a crazy stomach bug, fever, and a cold. I've slept 20. Of the last 24 hours, and plan to continue sleeping tomorrow. Unfortunately, I managed to time it perfectly so I'm sick immediately before a friend of mine is coming from the us. I'm hopeful that this will go away soon, otherwise, I'll have to make my first trip to a Spanish doctor and experience socialized medicine for myself! Fingers crossed that I can take care of this at home.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thankful
I thought I'd be really sad today, but I'm not. I think it's due in large part to the fact that it barely even feels like fall here, let alone early winter. It's still in the mid 60s during the day, dipping into the (very) high 40s at night. It's also missing that Thanksgiving feeling because I'm not bombarded every where I go by ads for Black Friday and Christmas decorations. And I'm okay with that. The result is that I'm able to feel thankful instead. So instead of an update on how things are (short version: very, very busy; speaking Spanish as much as I can, Basque is almost impossibly hard, also very busy), I thought I'd say some things I'm thankful for. I'm trying to focus on those things I'm thankful for here this year, so here goes:
- I am thankful for a really great job that pays actual money to get to do something that I love to do and would probably do for free. In this world economy, having such a job is not a given and in my field it is increasingly rare.
- I am thankful for good, smart, funny and kind friends here who take care of me and are great to me even when I'm a pain in the ass to be around and can only talk about looking for jobs and going to visit my husband. I'm especially thankful that they agreed to come with me to a restaurant for "Thanksgiving Dinner" tonight. We're also trying to hold a more traditional dinner on Saturday at a friends house. In a country that doesn't really use turkey as a food item, it will definitely be a challenge.
- I'm thankful for a truly beautiful city. Every day, I pause on my way to the bus to look at the view and realize how incredible it is.
- I'm thankful for good food here (though I have only had ONE pintxo since returning from the US. This has to be remedied immediately).
- I'm thankful for my friends and family back in the US who support me. I could not be luckier.
- Except that I am because I also have a husband who could probably win the competition for World's Best Husband.
So, I have a lot to be thankful for. Even though Thanksgiving Day is a confusing thing for a lot of Spanish people (I've had to tell the story of why we celebrate Thanksgiving new fewer than 4 times), the word for it in Spanish is pretty great: El Dia de Acción de Gracias - Literally "the day of actions of thanks."
- I am thankful for a really great job that pays actual money to get to do something that I love to do and would probably do for free. In this world economy, having such a job is not a given and in my field it is increasingly rare.
- I am thankful for good, smart, funny and kind friends here who take care of me and are great to me even when I'm a pain in the ass to be around and can only talk about looking for jobs and going to visit my husband. I'm especially thankful that they agreed to come with me to a restaurant for "Thanksgiving Dinner" tonight. We're also trying to hold a more traditional dinner on Saturday at a friends house. In a country that doesn't really use turkey as a food item, it will definitely be a challenge.
- I'm thankful for a truly beautiful city. Every day, I pause on my way to the bus to look at the view and realize how incredible it is.
- I'm thankful for good food here (though I have only had ONE pintxo since returning from the US. This has to be remedied immediately).
- I'm thankful for my friends and family back in the US who support me. I could not be luckier.
- Except that I am because I also have a husband who could probably win the competition for World's Best Husband.
So, I have a lot to be thankful for. Even though Thanksgiving Day is a confusing thing for a lot of Spanish people (I've had to tell the story of why we celebrate Thanksgiving new fewer than 4 times), the word for it in Spanish is pretty great: El Dia de Acción de Gracias - Literally "the day of actions of thanks."
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Surprises
Well, turns out all of my crabbiness on Monday was mostly unfounded. I got back and have been mostly fine. Largely because it feels like I never left, which is weird. Since I had similar weird feelings of never having left in Chicago. So it's like I have two parallel lives that are fine by themselves, but when they meet each other it's very dramatic. Very weird. Maybe more on that later.
So that was a surprise.
A bigger surprise was that suddenly way more of my life is happening in Spanish. People are talking to me at bus stops. The administration at work has suddenly decided to communicate with me in Spanish. I ran into my Basque teacher who communicated with me only in Spanish and Basque (that language is going to make me crazy). I'm happy about this change, but I also feel like I really need to make the next jump up in Spanish. My class has stagnated a little bit and I need to figure out the next thing to make that jump up. Part of my plan is to go to a weekly language exchange group in addition to my current one-on-one language exchange. Another part is to do some self study of grammar so I can spend more of my Spanish class actually practicing some creativity with the language instead of thinking about how to conjugate a certain verb in the past subjunctive. I'm hoping that heading back to Basque class will also help my Spanish leap to the next stage. I can definitely communicate almost everything I want to know, but I still have to work around a lot of vocabulary I don't know and make tons of grammar mistakes. I confuse the verb tenses a lot, but am making many few mistakes in my writing than I was even a few weeks ago. That said, as you all know I am really (really) impatient about everything, so I need to figure out how to get moving on this again. I'm also reading Harry Potter in Spanish, which is a lot of fun ... and not as hard as I thought it would be. It's funny because after about six months of full-time Spanish, I'm about at the point I was after 4+ years of French.
Anyhow, life is pretty good here in Donostia. Happy thoughts are still welcome regarding the job market (especially since Peter and I have a new bargain where I am allowed 30 minutes of worrying a day, so I'll need you guys working overtime for me)!
So that was a surprise.
A bigger surprise was that suddenly way more of my life is happening in Spanish. People are talking to me at bus stops. The administration at work has suddenly decided to communicate with me in Spanish. I ran into my Basque teacher who communicated with me only in Spanish and Basque (that language is going to make me crazy). I'm happy about this change, but I also feel like I really need to make the next jump up in Spanish. My class has stagnated a little bit and I need to figure out the next thing to make that jump up. Part of my plan is to go to a weekly language exchange group in addition to my current one-on-one language exchange. Another part is to do some self study of grammar so I can spend more of my Spanish class actually practicing some creativity with the language instead of thinking about how to conjugate a certain verb in the past subjunctive. I'm hoping that heading back to Basque class will also help my Spanish leap to the next stage. I can definitely communicate almost everything I want to know, but I still have to work around a lot of vocabulary I don't know and make tons of grammar mistakes. I confuse the verb tenses a lot, but am making many few mistakes in my writing than I was even a few weeks ago. That said, as you all know I am really (really) impatient about everything, so I need to figure out how to get moving on this again. I'm also reading Harry Potter in Spanish, which is a lot of fun ... and not as hard as I thought it would be. It's funny because after about six months of full-time Spanish, I'm about at the point I was after 4+ years of French.
Anyhow, life is pretty good here in Donostia. Happy thoughts are still welcome regarding the job market (especially since Peter and I have a new bargain where I am allowed 30 minutes of worrying a day, so I'll need you guys working overtime for me)!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Madrid Again (again)
Well, I'm back. After a great two weeks in the states and a really rough morning in preparation to leave, it is 9 am in Madrid and 2 am in Chicago. I didn't sleep on the plane, even though I shared a row of 4 seats with one other guy. I was able to relax, but not to get any actual sleep.
I did manage to get a lot of work done on my sweater I'm making. I had the back almost done but put it in my checked baggage because I didn't want to have to take scissors which would be necessary for the final parts of the shoulders involving fastening off and rejoining the yarn. So, I worked on the front instead. I got basically two-thirds of the way done. I'd like to finish it soon, to see if I'd like to make another for gifts etc. The first sweater I ever made turned out to be a bit of a disaster (the yarn was really gross, in retrospect, which didn't help with the sweater0. I've also discovered how to make center pull yarn balls which are great for flying since my yarn basically stays put.
I also listened to a couple of podcasts on the flight and started a movie on my computer when they started the second movie on the plane. Normally, the second movie on Iberia flights is awful (usually gross nature documentaries with sharks tearing each other apart), but today it was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. Which I had not yet seen since they only showed it in the dubbed theatres here. So it was an okay flight. I actually wasn't feeling too exhausted 'til I sat down now. Fortunately, my flight is about an hour and a half earlier than normal, cutting my normal 4+ hour layover to less than 2 (especially since our flight landed late today). Unfortunately, I will almost certainly miss the bus from Bilbao to Donostia immediately after my flight - unless a miracle occurs, which I'm not counting on. If I miss it, I'll just hang out at the cafe in the airport 'til the next one comes an hour later.
I was sort of smug before leaving about how brave I would be about coming back this time. That was, apparently, a huge lie. I was a big baby. For the past few days I've been weepy on and off at the thought of coming back. Then yesterday, I started in giant baby mode for real. Today, all bets were off. I woke up crying and basically didn't stop until I was boarding my plane. This is a small exaggeration, but only a small one. Here are the facts, though: I love my husband. I love living in the same place as him. Living an ocean apart doesn't get easier. It gets harder. I am mostly okay and not weepy about it, but it doesn't make it easier. I know it's temporary and some day I will be living in the same house (or at least on the same continent) as him. But. This will happen much more quickly if I get a job on the terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad academic market this year. About half of my applications are in, with the rest on my agenda for this week. I'm starting to feel like I MUST, MUST get a job this year. Therefore, I need all of the prayers, thoughts, rain dances, good vibes sending possible for the next few months. I have a trip to the US booked in March, and I'm hoping and praying that I have an interview or two to attend then. I would love to come back to walk at graduation next June and be able to stay home. Or at least not come back to Spain. So, whenever you have a few minutes, good thoughts and prayers are greatly, greatly, greatly appreciated.
On the plus side of coming back, I've had more Hilarious Interactions with Americans. The most recent one occurring on the train today between terminals in the airport. This marks the second consecutive time I've been in the Madrid airport and had both my Spanish and English skills complimented within 5 minutes of each other. After giving them directions, the American family behind me commented that my English was "almost perfect!" I wonder if the "almost" was due to jet lag on either of our parts.
I did manage to get a lot of work done on my sweater I'm making. I had the back almost done but put it in my checked baggage because I didn't want to have to take scissors which would be necessary for the final parts of the shoulders involving fastening off and rejoining the yarn. So, I worked on the front instead. I got basically two-thirds of the way done. I'd like to finish it soon, to see if I'd like to make another for gifts etc. The first sweater I ever made turned out to be a bit of a disaster (the yarn was really gross, in retrospect, which didn't help with the sweater0. I've also discovered how to make center pull yarn balls which are great for flying since my yarn basically stays put.
I also listened to a couple of podcasts on the flight and started a movie on my computer when they started the second movie on the plane. Normally, the second movie on Iberia flights is awful (usually gross nature documentaries with sharks tearing each other apart), but today it was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. Which I had not yet seen since they only showed it in the dubbed theatres here. So it was an okay flight. I actually wasn't feeling too exhausted 'til I sat down now. Fortunately, my flight is about an hour and a half earlier than normal, cutting my normal 4+ hour layover to less than 2 (especially since our flight landed late today). Unfortunately, I will almost certainly miss the bus from Bilbao to Donostia immediately after my flight - unless a miracle occurs, which I'm not counting on. If I miss it, I'll just hang out at the cafe in the airport 'til the next one comes an hour later.
I was sort of smug before leaving about how brave I would be about coming back this time. That was, apparently, a huge lie. I was a big baby. For the past few days I've been weepy on and off at the thought of coming back. Then yesterday, I started in giant baby mode for real. Today, all bets were off. I woke up crying and basically didn't stop until I was boarding my plane. This is a small exaggeration, but only a small one. Here are the facts, though: I love my husband. I love living in the same place as him. Living an ocean apart doesn't get easier. It gets harder. I am mostly okay and not weepy about it, but it doesn't make it easier. I know it's temporary and some day I will be living in the same house (or at least on the same continent) as him. But. This will happen much more quickly if I get a job on the terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad academic market this year. About half of my applications are in, with the rest on my agenda for this week. I'm starting to feel like I MUST, MUST get a job this year. Therefore, I need all of the prayers, thoughts, rain dances, good vibes sending possible for the next few months. I have a trip to the US booked in March, and I'm hoping and praying that I have an interview or two to attend then. I would love to come back to walk at graduation next June and be able to stay home. Or at least not come back to Spain. So, whenever you have a few minutes, good thoughts and prayers are greatly, greatly, greatly appreciated.
On the plus side of coming back, I've had more Hilarious Interactions with Americans. The most recent one occurring on the train today between terminals in the airport. This marks the second consecutive time I've been in the Madrid airport and had both my Spanish and English skills complimented within 5 minutes of each other. After giving them directions, the American family behind me commented that my English was "almost perfect!" I wonder if the "almost" was due to jet lag on either of our parts.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Going back again ...
On the plane at O'Hare waiting for take off. Expect a slightly loopy blog update from Madrid in 8 or 9 hours.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Access Rd,Chicago,United States
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
In Madrid again
I'm in Madrid after a super easy flight from Bilbao. I really couldn't believe it when we started our decent. The flight is an hour long but it really felt like 15 minutes. Part of the reason it went by so quickly is because I'm sort of stupid. I've been working on this crocheted sweater for the past few days, and I was finishing a big section. I counted my stitches and I was 4 off. I realized right away where the problem was -- 20 lines down. So I spent the first 10-20 minutes of the flight tearing out the 20 rows and basically starting the sweater from scratch. Maybe not from scratch, but from line 5. I was about half done with the back when I found my mistake, so now I'm counting like a fiend. I managed to catch back up to row 12, so hopefully in another hour or two I will be back where I started.
I'm amazed how good my American vs European radar has become. A woman came up to me to ask a question about my iPad and I answered her in English. She was really surprised I could tell she was American and wanted to know how I figured it out. I think because I see relatively few Americans now, I can spot them as soon as I see them.
I am really hoping for a smooth and easy flight. Last time I checked, I had a whole row to myself, so I'm crossing my fingers for good luck again! It's a little hard to believe I have less than 48 hours after landing before I have another flight. The flight to Seattle is about half as long as the one from here to Chicago, but spending so much time in airports and on planes isn't my favorite pastime. Fortunately, Pete will be with me for the seattle flight so hopefully it will be more fun than traveling alone!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I'm amazed how good my American vs European radar has become. A woman came up to me to ask a question about my iPad and I answered her in English. She was really surprised I could tell she was American and wanted to know how I figured it out. I think because I see relatively few Americans now, I can spot them as soon as I see them.
I am really hoping for a smooth and easy flight. Last time I checked, I had a whole row to myself, so I'm crossing my fingers for good luck again! It's a little hard to believe I have less than 48 hours after landing before I have another flight. The flight to Seattle is about half as long as the one from here to Chicago, but spending so much time in airports and on planes isn't my favorite pastime. Fortunately, Pete will be with me for the seattle flight so hopefully it will be more fun than traveling alone!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Madrid,Spain
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