I win!

So I've been living here 2 weeks. Here's a report card:


Successes
1. Buying fruit: this is harder than you would think. Here, produce stores have a counter with the shopkeepers and most of the fruits and veggies are behind them. You tell them what you want and how much of it. Pointing doesn't really cut it. Basically, I when I see what I want but don't know the name of it, I pick a veggie I know the name of and direct the person based on the relative location of what I want. For example, “la cosa a la derecha (to the right) de la berenjana (eggplant)” translates to “zucchini” in Kellish. It is like this for fish, bread, and meat/cheese shops. Everything you want is in a separate store (that is, if you want better quality and less lines than the supermarkets), so it's kinda like a treasure hunt. It's hard to be lazy here! But so far, I've come away with everything I need and nothing more!

2. Listening in water polo: Normally, when a coach talks for more than 1 minute, I start to zone out. No offense to any coaches I've had, I just can't help it. Now that I don't speak the language the drills are being taught in, I am the most attentive I have ever been in my life. I often even know what we are doing better than the girls that are from here and can explain it to them! I don't really know how usefull this set of vocab is gonna be for the rest of my life, but it is helping my communication skills a lot.

3. Finding our local spice shop: Best. Idea. EVER. First of all, it smells amazing in there. All the spices are in huge uncovered boxes. There is an open air one nearby, but having all those smells in 1 room is beautiful. They have pretty much every spice you could want and loose leaf teas. It's great because you know how when you are looking at recipes and you're like “ugh, I don't wanna buy a whole thing of cardamom, I'll never use it again”? Well, at this wonderful place, you can just buy 1 teaspoon and continue on your merry way!

4. St. Augustine: I've pretty much decided to go to grad school in San Diego. This means coming back at the end of April (NOT success!), but I looked very closely at the programs I have yet to hear from, and this is the best option. I am really excited to live in So Cal and have been talking on Facebook with people who will be in my class. Technology allows me to find a roommate online!

5. Columbia: Javi has officially been accepted to Columbia (the University, not the country. There was a confusing mix-up with that)!!! It's not exactly close to San Diego, but if I were to guess, I'd say it's closer than Spain. We are waiting to hear if he gets into UCSD, but this is a huge accomplishment. ALSO, Señor Smarty Pantalones got an award for getting the 2nd highest grade in his graduating class!


Fails
1. Laundry: I've gotten it figured out by now, but the first load of laundry I did took about 3 days to dry. Mainly because we don't have a dryer and it was raining. Clothes do NOT dry well inside! Now, I know that in order to do laundry I have to closely watch the weather report. I never realized that clean socks could depend on weather.com's predictions. I want to take pictures of our cute new home, but Javi won't let me because apparently it is embarrassing to have drying laundry visible. In fact, our balconies have a covering over the rails so no one can see our clotheslines. I thought this was weird because since no one has a dryer, who cares if we see each others' undies? It shows that we are actually doing laundry! I don't think this is so much of a cultural difference as it's just that I don't care about things like this. In the US, I'd probably be that hillbilly with my clothes drying in the front yard.

2. The doors: Someone decided it was a good idea to put the door handles in the dead center of the doors. This person was not a physics student. The only way to close them is by slamming them and using momentum. So the first day I left the apartment, I couldn't figure out how close the door. This made me feel great about myself.

3. Old ladies: They are MEAN here! As I described before with the various stores, you are served by the “take a number” technique, and these women have all kinds of tactics to get ahead in line. They take mulitple numbers for their friends, crowd around, completely ignore the system, actually push people . . . it's frightening. I can imagine how hillarious the scene looks, wth all of them swarming around, and me, at least a foot taller than all of them, getting carried away to the back of the store. Javi has learned ways to overcome these struggles, but I am still afraid of them and normally just go shopping early to avoid the chaos.

4. Bars: Cocktails do not exist here. When you go to most bars, you ask for a beer. Literally, you say, "give me a beer" and they give you the 1 kind they have on tap, which is like Bud Light equivilancy. Last night, we found a trendy looking place with 2 bars and lots of people, most of which were not drinking beer. Sounds like a good sign, right? Kinda. Turns out, they were popular because they were one of the few places that made well drinks. I asked for a margarita, which sent 3 bartenders back and forth between the 2 bars and took about 10 minutes. I got lemon juice and tequilla in a martinini glass. Enough said.

I'm "winning" by 1 points! I really love it here. We are planning on traveling a lot, so more to come soon!