A Change in Plans

I am changing plans. By the end of this week I was supposed to be headed to Barcelona, instead I'm headed to Salamanca. Salamanca is a east and a little north of Madrid. I am spending a month there and then will head on to Barcelona. There are several reasons I am changing, which I have already explained to a few of my friends and which left them throughly confused, so I'll spare the details. It's nothing bad though, I just wanted to change it up a bit more. So, at the end of this week I head there. Salamanca is quite a small city and has a reputation as a student city. It also has a reputation of speaking the "purist" form of Spanish, so that should be interesting to hear their accents. So we'll see what Salamanca brings for me.

That is all the news from me for now.

A Look at Spanish Television

Spanish television is crappy. There are about 5 channels that you get without cable (which is more than in the US) but they are really terrible. The shows are terrible, the news is on all the time and there are about 5 commercials that are showed on every channel. The dubbed shows here, with the exception of things that are on CBS (CSI, 11th Hour, Cold Case, etc) all seem to be all from the CW. That means a lot of “Smallville” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. If you thought these shows were bad in English, try ‘em in Spanish. One of the few local (aka not imported/dubbed) shows that they have is what seems to be their version of a David Letterman/Jay Leno late night show. I’ve actually only watched it three times and every time I’ve cringed at how terrible it is and the only reason I watch it is because nothing else is on and my roommates and I like to make fun of the people on it. The first night Hugh Jackman was on. He doesn’t speak Spanish so he was wearing an ear-piece and then they would translate whatever he said over a loudspeaker. However, he didn’t really say anything because it wasn’t really an interview. There were two host and him and they were just doing science experiments. He was just standing there awkwardly smiling. If you have you ever seen someone who has been accosted by an old person and is just listening to them go on and on about something with an awkward “get me out of here” smile, then you can picture what Hugh Jackman looked like because that was the way he was smiling. The second night was the fat guy from Lost (which just made its Spanish debut) and much to my surprise he spoke Spanish. I couldn’t believe it but I know nothing about him but never would have thought I would see him on Spanish TV speaking Spanish. The third night was a double-whammy of pure American culture torture. It was Miley Cyrus AND her Dad, Billy. If you think Miley Cyrus is annoying in English, imagine her doing and interview where she is being translated over a loud-speaker. She never shut up long enough for the translator to actually say something so it was mostly just her rambling on in English with someone speaking over her in Spanish. I don’t even know why they even attempted to interview her. They also did science experiments with her as well as had her feed a pony. It was odd but this time the awkward-ness was from her Dad hovering around the whole interview. My roommates will not let me live it down that they are from the US. Lastly, to top off this whole show, it has two ants that are puppets that pop up through holes on the desk of the host and also “interview” the guests. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse it does. But just like all bad TV, it’s like a car crash and I just can’t look away because I’m always wondering what they’ll do next.

Another curiosity about Spanish television is commercial breaks. Commercial breaks are five minutes long, sometimes I think longer. I know they are at least five minutes because they will show you a little timer when they cut to a commercial break. I think this is great during the movies because there are less breaks, but in general, commercial breaks are just annoying anywhere. What is really odd (and annoying) is when they have these commercial breaks. In the US there is a little pause in the show or storyline and it cuts to commercial. Here, it just cuts to a commercial. A character can be mid-sentence and it will cut to a commercial. It really makes watching something in Spanish quite difficult.

All this to say, I miss US television, but it is good that the television here stinks because then we don’t watch it all day.

A Serious Look at Recycling and a Not-So-Serious Look at Man Purses

I appreciate a good recycling system. I wouldn’t consider myself a tree-hugger, but I do think that everyone should be responsible with how they use the Earth’s resources. That being said, I really appreciate Spain’s efforts to recycle. On pretty much every block you can find large bins to recycle glass, plastic and cardboard boxes or cartons (like the ones juice comes in). It makes it so easy to recycle that I think that most people here do it. They also had these bins in Granada, so I think it is a national drive to recycle.

In addition to recycling, I have learned, in my time here, that Spain is the world’s number one producer/consumer of wind-energy. Spain sees this as their main resource to offer to the United States. Not the energy itself, but more the information and knowledge that they have come to know from using wind-energy. They see that with the Obama Administration, as they try to renew the relationship between the two countries, they can become allies in the “War on Climate Change”. (I think I just coined that term so when you see it on FOX News, just remember you read it here first.)

It just makes me think that if Spain, much smaller country than the United States, can make it so easy to recycle, how is it that the United States can figure it out?



On a lighter note, I have also observed that Spanish men really rock the “man purse”. Walking down the street, it is not uncommon to see a guy with a “man purse” every few minutes. For those of you who don’t know what a “man purse” is, well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. A purse, but a bit more manly looking. If you still aren’t sure of what a “man purse” is, I would suggest that you watch the Friends Episode which I think is called “The One with Joey’s Bag”. I don’t know what they put in their purses because I know what is in mine and I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t need what’s in mine. I know it’s not papers and stuff because I haven’t really seen any that are big enough for that. It’s not just among young men either, I’ve seen a few older men with them too. It really is surprising to me, because I don’t know many guys in the U.S. that would use the “man purse”. However, it works for the Spanish men, and to them: rock it! :)

Spanish is a rich language.

Spanish is a rich language. I hear this about once a day from my professors. It’s their nice way of saying Spanish as a million different ways to say the same thing or one word means a million different things. Take the verb “echar”, here is the list of some of the meanings from my dictionary: to throw, throw away, throw out, issue, emit, publish, discharge, dismiss, swallow, smoke, turn, play, to utter, to put on, deal….the list goes on. And this list doesn’t include phrases like “echar de menos” which means to miss someone or something, or “echarse a” which means “to begin to”. It’s as though if they don’t have a verb/word for something they just go with “echar”.

Then there is “ser” and “estar”. Anyone who has studied Spanish will tell you that “ser” and “estar” are the downfall of every student. Both words mean “to be” but with the same word following it, it can mean two very different things. For example, “Ella es buena” uses “ser” and means “she is a good person”. “Ella esta Buena” uses “estar” and means “she is good-looking”. Let’s just say, using “ser” or “estar” in the wrong context can cause a lot of embarrassment.

There is also many words for the same thing. For example: coat. How many words can you think of for coat? Coat. Jacket. Raincoat. Dress coat. Ski jacket. Most of the terms all end up being something followed by “coat” or “jacket”. Now let me teach you all the words I have learned for a jacket or coat of some sort: abrigo, cazadora, chaleco, chaqueta, impermeable, gabardina, anorak, Americana, un Rebecca. None of these sound alike and the Spanish are very specific as to using the right word with the right type of item. For example, I have a Columbia jacket. I just called it a jacket., but here it would strictly be classified as an “anorak”.

Spanish is a tricky language. There are days where things like this just frustrate me, where I can’t put together one correct sentence and I wonder if I will ever be able to respectably carry on a conversation. Then there are other days where I have moments of brilliance, where I use the right word, the right verb and the right tense and it all flys out of my mouth at a speed that afterwards I wonder to myself “Where did that come from?”. When things like that happen I remember why I wanted to learn Spanish - because I like to be challenged now and then.

:)
Andrea