Haircut and Conversation
I mentioned to my host sister the other day that I wanted to get my hair trimmed, and my host mom said she'd make me an appointment at her hairdresser. I don't think I've ever been to anywhere nicer than MasterCuts, but I might be willing to pay more to have today's experience and a much better hair cut again in the future. An assistant did the hair washing (I could have managed a bit more head massage!) and drying at the end (what a luxury!) and then the hair stylist did the actual cutting. Extroverted Alex made a rare appearance and I was particularly willing to share stories about my experiences here. It was a very pleasant conversation and I think I would go back even if I didn't like my haircut, although luckily I do. The stylist has been cutting my host mom and daughter's hair for years so he knows the family and was able to relate to some of the stories. And of course he read the article in the newspaper the other day with my misquote! I made it very clear that is not what I said or meant! I also had a long conversation about National Parks in the US with the assistant, and she I think she knew more about them than most Americans do! She did pronounce Brice as "BREE-say" though so it took a minute for us to connect on that one. Another superlative: the most meticulous job anyone has ever done blow drying my hair. For the first time in almost two months, my hair feels wonderfully soft... I just wish my straightener worked here so I could have that more often! And I'm very proud to say I didn't have trouble hearing her over the hair dryer, which made me nervous when she started. Drowned-out Spanish is not easy to understand. The stylist came back to look at my hair once she was done drying (I could see in the mirror that he was on Facebook while waiting; either it was a very slow night or they're trying hard not to contribute to the 25% (!!!) unemployment here) and he insisted that I come back and he'd trim the front layers a little more if I decided I wanted them shorter. I was even able to use one of those annoying 50 euro bills that ATMs always give you, even though they're much to large to be useful... Well, for coffee, which is all I normally buy, at least, and I got a tiny bit of change back, which will be useful for coffee.
Host Family and Essay
Great day with them. My host brother Guillermo is home for the weekend from Madrid since today is a holiday there and they don't have school, so conversation at lunch was a bit faster paced but more animated. All the boys (the two other sons also) are hard to understand because I'm not as accustomed to their speech, but I'm learning. I found out that they don't have prom or homecoming here at all, but they have the impression that dances are super important in schools in the US because they're always in the movies. I had an essay for my literature class due at 5 pm which needed some final editing, but I was enjoying myself a lot so I didn't rush away from the table even though I probably should have. I didn't come to Spain to analyze poetry, though; I came to met people and improve my Spanish! Eventually we finished and I conveniently cornered Guillermo into proofreading my essay. Some sentences didn't make a ton of sense to him because they were written in English in my head and then translated verbatim to Spanish and therefore had a distinct American sound (for example, I use a ton of gerunds in my writing, while Spanish prefers the infinitive, but they're not exactly interchangeable so I had to go with the former!). Still, I think for the most part it made sense and he caught a bunch of gender/number agreement errors and missing accents... Both so easy to miss for me! And he helped me create a very nice subjunctive sentence--satisfying since subjunctive is the worst!! I turned in my essay at 4:58 (Capstone, anyone?) and then we hung out in a companionable I'm-doing-my-own-stuff-on-the-computer sort of way. I updated my roster for fantasy football the week and was looking up the words to ask him if there was a similar fantasy futbol concept in Spain when I turned to look at his screen and that's exactly what he was doing! The coincidence made me laugh. ESPN really has a great interface compared to the one he was using though.... and luckily, since without their point predictions, I'd really be at a loss.
A brief background to the rest of the story...When we got here in September, the program coordinator told us that if we wanted, he could help us find places to volunteer. A number of people expressed interest, and the opportunity he suggested was teaching English to interested parties, but for pay, which didn't really seem like volunteering. My host dad tried to explain the idea to me and it boiled down to the fact that you're volunteering (willing to/choosing to spend time) to teach other people, but that doesn't mean you're making a donation. Gradually, families started contacting him that they wanted an American to come talk to their kids for authentic English practice. After my host mom found out that her friend had asked for someone but my name didn't get picked out of the hat, she said I should have a weekly "conversación" with my sisters. We spent an hour talking in English today and it was such an enjoyable change because for once I didn't have to struggle to communicate with them! I'd consider talking in English to them more often if I want to tell them something and I just can't find the words in Spanish except I'm sure my host dad would get mad at me! "You came here to learn Spanish!" I got to ask them lots of questions about school and their family (these seemed like subjects for which Esperanza had sufficient vocab) and I feel like their lives make so much more sense to me now... Very beneficial for all of us!
I mentioned to my host sister the other day that I wanted to get my hair trimmed, and my host mom said she'd make me an appointment at her hairdresser. I don't think I've ever been to anywhere nicer than MasterCuts, but I might be willing to pay more to have today's experience and a much better hair cut again in the future. An assistant did the hair washing (I could have managed a bit more head massage!) and drying at the end (what a luxury!) and then the hair stylist did the actual cutting. Extroverted Alex made a rare appearance and I was particularly willing to share stories about my experiences here. It was a very pleasant conversation and I think I would go back even if I didn't like my haircut, although luckily I do. The stylist has been cutting my host mom and daughter's hair for years so he knows the family and was able to relate to some of the stories. And of course he read the article in the newspaper the other day with my misquote! I made it very clear that is not what I said or meant! I also had a long conversation about National Parks in the US with the assistant, and she I think she knew more about them than most Americans do! She did pronounce Brice as "BREE-say" though so it took a minute for us to connect on that one. Another superlative: the most meticulous job anyone has ever done blow drying my hair. For the first time in almost two months, my hair feels wonderfully soft... I just wish my straightener worked here so I could have that more often! And I'm very proud to say I didn't have trouble hearing her over the hair dryer, which made me nervous when she started. Drowned-out Spanish is not easy to understand. The stylist came back to look at my hair once she was done drying (I could see in the mirror that he was on Facebook while waiting; either it was a very slow night or they're trying hard not to contribute to the 25% (!!!) unemployment here) and he insisted that I come back and he'd trim the front layers a little more if I decided I wanted them shorter. I was even able to use one of those annoying 50 euro bills that ATMs always give you, even though they're much to large to be useful... Well, for coffee, which is all I normally buy, at least, and I got a tiny bit of change back, which will be useful for coffee.
Host Family and Essay
Great day with them. My host brother Guillermo is home for the weekend from Madrid since today is a holiday there and they don't have school, so conversation at lunch was a bit faster paced but more animated. All the boys (the two other sons also) are hard to understand because I'm not as accustomed to their speech, but I'm learning. I found out that they don't have prom or homecoming here at all, but they have the impression that dances are super important in schools in the US because they're always in the movies. I had an essay for my literature class due at 5 pm which needed some final editing, but I was enjoying myself a lot so I didn't rush away from the table even though I probably should have. I didn't come to Spain to analyze poetry, though; I came to met people and improve my Spanish! Eventually we finished and I conveniently cornered Guillermo into proofreading my essay. Some sentences didn't make a ton of sense to him because they were written in English in my head and then translated verbatim to Spanish and therefore had a distinct American sound (for example, I use a ton of gerunds in my writing, while Spanish prefers the infinitive, but they're not exactly interchangeable so I had to go with the former!). Still, I think for the most part it made sense and he caught a bunch of gender/number agreement errors and missing accents... Both so easy to miss for me! And he helped me create a very nice subjunctive sentence--satisfying since subjunctive is the worst!! I turned in my essay at 4:58 (Capstone, anyone?) and then we hung out in a companionable I'm-doing-my-own-stuff-on-the-computer sort of way. I updated my roster for fantasy football the week and was looking up the words to ask him if there was a similar fantasy futbol concept in Spain when I turned to look at his screen and that's exactly what he was doing! The coincidence made me laugh. ESPN really has a great interface compared to the one he was using though.... and luckily, since without their point predictions, I'd really be at a loss.
A brief background to the rest of the story...When we got here in September, the program coordinator told us that if we wanted, he could help us find places to volunteer. A number of people expressed interest, and the opportunity he suggested was teaching English to interested parties, but for pay, which didn't really seem like volunteering. My host dad tried to explain the idea to me and it boiled down to the fact that you're volunteering (willing to/choosing to spend time) to teach other people, but that doesn't mean you're making a donation. Gradually, families started contacting him that they wanted an American to come talk to their kids for authentic English practice. After my host mom found out that her friend had asked for someone but my name didn't get picked out of the hat, she said I should have a weekly "conversación" with my sisters. We spent an hour talking in English today and it was such an enjoyable change because for once I didn't have to struggle to communicate with them! I'd consider talking in English to them more often if I want to tell them something and I just can't find the words in Spanish except I'm sure my host dad would get mad at me! "You came here to learn Spanish!" I got to ask them lots of questions about school and their family (these seemed like subjects for which Esperanza had sufficient vocab) and I feel like their lives make so much more sense to me now... Very beneficial for all of us!
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