Most of Tuesday was spent lost on Valencia’s bus system. It
was the first official day of classes (not just orientation) and our lovely
host mom (Lorenza) took us to school via the bus. After “dos besos,” which
means two kisses, we were on our own
with only her long spiel in 100 mph Spanish about what route goes home, what
stop we need to get off at, and a million other questionable words that I just
replied “sÍ” to.
 |
| Me and my loaded bus pass! Heading to school... |
So, after class Katie and I took the route she suggested,
and panicked and got off crazy early. Once again we were the girls holding the
giant map on the residential streets of Valencia, which by the way is a gigantic city. Later today, we rushed
behind Lorenza again to a bus stop in a completely different part of the city
to board yet another route leading to the beach. On the way home from the
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (you read correctly), we boarded our bus on the wrong side of
the street and spent 20 extra minutes watching kids in their school uniforms
hop on and off the bus.
 |
| The beautiful Mediterranean! |
Have I mentioned that I made it to Valencia? As an update, I
am all settled in with Katie in our host family’s home on the ninth floor of an
apartment building in Valencia. Our room has two twin beds, a balcony with a
table and two little chairs, a rack for all our cosmetics (YES), a wardrobe,
and space for our two giant suitcases. The only thing we’re lacking is Wifi,
which I’m too frazzled to discuss at this moment.
 |
| Our beds! Mine is obviously the un-cluttered one... |
Our host mom, Lorenza, is from Columbia and speaks not a
word of English. She also has a lot of trouble not speaking overwhelmingly fast
and loud. It’s actually entertaining to listen to, but I can understand only
about 3% of what she says. Our host dad, Miguel, is hilarious and knows a very
small amount of English, but loves to learn new little words. To better
communicate and help us, he tends to dance around acting out what he is saying,
which makes learning WAY more fun. He also has claimed the rolls of both our
chef (which he prounouces “jeff”) and our teacher. Miguel says Katie and I have
10 days and if we can’t communicate with him by then, we will only get water
for lunch. :) Well, at least that’s what
we think he said….
 |
| Our wardrobe! (Right side is mine) |
Life is getting crazy over here on the coast of the
Mediterranean, friends. I wake up every morning knowing I have to actively try
to understand and respond to only Spanish
words. What a wake up call!
 |
| Our completely full cosmetic rack... #Impressive |
No comments:
Post a Comment