It´s decided . . .
I´ve turned British. I´ve been mistaken twice for someone from Great Britain. I don´t think I sound that much like the people in my class, and I´ve really tried really hard! But, I guess I sound a little british. Oh well. I´ll probably pick up all kinds of accents while I´m here, and come back to Michigan with people wondering what nationality I am :) Sweet!
Today is homework day. I have to work on materials for that lesson tomorrow on "So would I, Neither would I!" I have no idea. I know it will come to me, I just hope it does when I have time to make the stuff for class, and have access to the supplies I need.
Today I walked to class (bomb free) and took in the strange oxymorons that surrounded me. No, not Morons, OXYmorons. Like, the guy who´s job it is to sweep up cigarettes, smoking. And the nicely dressed business man, tie, suit, polished shoes and all, walking out of his apartment and hopping on a firey red crotch rocket, strapping on his helmet and going speed racer down the avenue. Funny, I thought :)
Also, they sweep the streets here. No. I don´t mean that they have a machine that comes out and brushes up the sidewalk, like we do. Nope, they have a person who´s job it is to take a broom and sweep teh sidewalks. THEN, when he´s done, there´s a person who´s job it is to mop the sidewalk. No joke. And then, after working all night to get the sidewalks clean, the people wake up in the morning and let their dogs out, who proceed to go and wash the street again in a whole new way. It´s a bizarre ritual.
The sidewalks here are something else. They are done in paving blocks, like patios. And each section of town has their own ornate little block, square, round, octagon, etc. Each with it´s own design. The entire wide, long, sidewalk is done in these neat, curving designs. And then cars drive on them. Because they need to make a phone call, so they pull of the street and park (parallel) on the sidewalk. And motor bikes drive over them to get around traffic. And the blocks break. And what do they do? Well, replace them of course. But not with plain blocks, like we would do back home. But the same, unique, ornate blocks that they use in each individual section. It´s neat!
This is what I´m talking about - the appreciation of what is soley theirs. The cultural pride that runs deep in the heart of this country (and they do consider Catalunya a country, not a section of Spain). The Catalans are an interesting bunch. It´s intersting to sit back and watch them struggle to keep everything that is theirs, everything that makes them who they are, when, at the same time, there´s this influx of people from America, Germany, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, etc. All who bring their own cultures and ideas. All of who start to mingle and mix and disturb the individuality of the Cataln culture. It´s interesting to watch the people struggle with that. They want so badly to tell us all to go away, but they´re just to darned nice :) And that´s why we come. They are creating their own destruction. It´s a good and a bad thing, both at the same time.
But I have an assignment to creat. A lesson to make, materials to put together from out of the blue, shopping to do (for groceries) and my folder to organize. It´s a busy night. No going out for me. This weekend we´re heading to Andorra I think, which should be nice. Another stamp for my passport! But first I have to deal with today . . . drat. (there it is. There´s the British in me coming out!)
Today is homework day. I have to work on materials for that lesson tomorrow on "So would I, Neither would I!" I have no idea. I know it will come to me, I just hope it does when I have time to make the stuff for class, and have access to the supplies I need.
Today I walked to class (bomb free) and took in the strange oxymorons that surrounded me. No, not Morons, OXYmorons. Like, the guy who´s job it is to sweep up cigarettes, smoking. And the nicely dressed business man, tie, suit, polished shoes and all, walking out of his apartment and hopping on a firey red crotch rocket, strapping on his helmet and going speed racer down the avenue. Funny, I thought :)
Also, they sweep the streets here. No. I don´t mean that they have a machine that comes out and brushes up the sidewalk, like we do. Nope, they have a person who´s job it is to take a broom and sweep teh sidewalks. THEN, when he´s done, there´s a person who´s job it is to mop the sidewalk. No joke. And then, after working all night to get the sidewalks clean, the people wake up in the morning and let their dogs out, who proceed to go and wash the street again in a whole new way. It´s a bizarre ritual.
The sidewalks here are something else. They are done in paving blocks, like patios. And each section of town has their own ornate little block, square, round, octagon, etc. Each with it´s own design. The entire wide, long, sidewalk is done in these neat, curving designs. And then cars drive on them. Because they need to make a phone call, so they pull of the street and park (parallel) on the sidewalk. And motor bikes drive over them to get around traffic. And the blocks break. And what do they do? Well, replace them of course. But not with plain blocks, like we would do back home. But the same, unique, ornate blocks that they use in each individual section. It´s neat!
This is what I´m talking about - the appreciation of what is soley theirs. The cultural pride that runs deep in the heart of this country (and they do consider Catalunya a country, not a section of Spain). The Catalans are an interesting bunch. It´s intersting to sit back and watch them struggle to keep everything that is theirs, everything that makes them who they are, when, at the same time, there´s this influx of people from America, Germany, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, etc. All who bring their own cultures and ideas. All of who start to mingle and mix and disturb the individuality of the Cataln culture. It´s interesting to watch the people struggle with that. They want so badly to tell us all to go away, but they´re just to darned nice :) And that´s why we come. They are creating their own destruction. It´s a good and a bad thing, both at the same time.
But I have an assignment to creat. A lesson to make, materials to put together from out of the blue, shopping to do (for groceries) and my folder to organize. It´s a busy night. No going out for me. This weekend we´re heading to Andorra I think, which should be nice. Another stamp for my passport! But first I have to deal with today . . . drat. (there it is. There´s the British in me coming out!)
posted by Chandi at 8:03 AM
1 Comments:
You have the luxury of learning two languages while you are there. Catalan and Spanish. Good luck. Their pride is part of the charm, and there is a lot of both.
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