Al Principio

After more than 30 sleepless hours spent in planes or in airports, I finally managed to make it to Granada in one piece. I have to say that I was quite proud of the way I used my Spanish once we got to Madrid but that was short-lived. On my way through security there I forgot to take out my laptop from my backpack. So, the man working at the computer asked me to remove it to rescan the thing. Unfortunately, here they're called "ordenadors" and not "computadoras" so I just kept thinking he was telling me how I should order/ organize the stuff in my backpack. With that one miscommunication under my belt, I stayed fairly quiet in the cab ride from the airport, hoping against all hope that my taxi driver actually would know where to drop me off and how I should enter the house. Since I had just been given a name, address and phone number, I had no clue. And here, everyone lives in apartment buildings with gates, locks, and weird numbering. So, the taxi driver ended up calling my host mom twice to figure out how to get in. But, finally, after lugging my two suitcases to the second floor (with the help of my roommate from Seattle), I arrived.

My host mom, Nati, was waiting with her daughter and granddaughter for us. Judging by the number of Portland, Oregon magnets on her refrigerator and Oregon cookbooks, I'd say she's hosted quite a few exchange students before. Nati is talkative, super nice, and fairly easy to understand. Needless to say though, the next few hours spent unpacking, talking with Nati, playing with her granddaughter Lola, and trying to understand Spanish game shows (a cross between Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Password, and Wheel of Fortune), I was so exhausted who knows what I said in Spanish. Probably the highlight of my day was finding out that cereal is eaten here and that the last week at home I spent hoarding Cinnamon Toast Crunch was unnecessary, but in hindsight still well worth it.

This morning after a breakfast of yogurt and croissants with cheese we headed off to our school. It's about a 15 minute walk if we don't get lost which is nice. Basically Granada looks exactly like a Spanish city should: lots of shaded plazas and cafes, tree-lined broader streets bustling with people, and tiny narrow alleys in which you are lucky to avoid approaching cars and the walls of the stucco buildings at the same time. At around 3, it was time to return home for a lunch of ham (which I just typed with a "j"...looks like my Spanish is already getting better), pasta, salad,and bread and a much needed siesta which brings me to about right now. I did say I would try to post every Wednesday, didn't I? Anyway this evening, a small group of us are meeting up for our homework which is basically a walking tour of the nearby neighborhood. Even though Granada is a fairly safe city,after all the warnings we got in class,I'm thinking that my main goal should be avoiding being robbed. Sounds good, right?