Updates. Kind of.

I know, I've been horrible at this. I am going to try to give some highlights, though. Maybe a picture or two some day. It's just so time consuming to do all of this! haha. Anyway:

Toledo is great-- I love it. My internship is great, and I'm having fun. I'm quickly learning that I am fairly capable of speaking Spanish, and at the same time I'm quickly learning that I have quite a ways to go. This is a good thing. At this point, I'm pretty sure the most helpful thing is just being able to practice it all the time. Oh, and it helps that the accent in Toledo is much easier to understand than that of Sevilla. It's much easier to decipher when you have a chance to hear the whole word! This is also a good thing.

Just because I don't know where to start, I'm going to share some random thoughts/stories from the last couple of weeks:

• This morning, an old lady was sitting on her front step, and when I walked past, she got up, approached me, and asked me to clasp her necklace because she couldn't. Of course I helped her out, but man... what a weird request. It was almost like she was sitting there, waiting for somebody to walk past. .... I'm just glad I could help.
  
• People aren't calling me Raquael here. It's weird. But I guess it's ok. The way they pronounce Rachael is kind of endearing. I was just trying to make it easier for them! (exception: there is one lady who calls me Raquaelita. I love this even more than Raquael.)
• I have been teaching an English class. It is a lot of fun. It's super informal, and mostly I just review and re-pronounce words that they already know. But it's funny. And I'm learing new Spanish words as well. Sometimes when I don't know a Spanish word, they explain it, and then I can say it in English. This is helpful!
• People here like Obama. People keep talking to me about him. And they keep saying "Yes We Can!" ... (Or, in my English class, when I taught the word for weekend, "Yes Weekend". I had to explain that these were different statements.) :)
• The last name English is not well suited for living in another country, in another language. When I called for a taxi: "Cual es tu nombre?" --"Rachael English" --"No, tu nombre..." --"Mi nombre es Rachael. Raquael. Mi apellido es English." --"No, no hablo Ingles." --"Esta bien. Mi apellido es English." -- Then he just gave up and asked where we were. When the taxi finally showed up, the little fare tracker thing said "Son ingleses." ... HA. ridiculous. I almost felt like I was being discriminated against.
  Also, when picking up my bus pass: "Cual es tu nombre?" --"Rachael English." --".......Tienes tu pasaporte?" --"Si". (Woman proceeds to look at it.) "....donde esta tu apellido?" (I point to the name English) --"aqui.." --"Es tu apellido?" --"Si, es mi apellido y mi idioma. Que coincidencia!" ......and then we both laughed.... She had no idea.
  
• I am working in a garden. This has reinforced the fact that I know next to nothing about gardening. And I know even less about gardening in Spanish.
• I will be in Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls!
• I am going back to Sevilla with Jessie, a girl who studied with me in Sevilla! By total coincidence, thanks to the modern miracle of facebook, we found out that we are both in Toledo for the same amount of time! It's rather unbelievable really. Toledo is pretty darn small. So, we've been hanging out and planning our trip, and it's going to be amazing. To the very last drop. I can't wait to go "home"!
• I like Toledo a lot.
• The above bullet reinforces the fact that I am in love with Spain.
• I want to live here. But I am also really excited to live in Pittsburgh for a while. I am completely torn. I am trusting that if God wants me to be here, he'll let me know how to do it. Because, at this point, I have no idea how to go about it.
• I have a bus pass with my picture on it. This means that nobody can assume I am a tourist. Also, I go to work every day. And I don't carry that damn red map. ...I live here.
  
• I am beginning to think that the smell of cigarette smoke is endearing.
• It has been excessively, unnecessarily hot here. The average is probably 95-100. So not cool. (no pun intended)
  
• Children in Spain are still the cutest children I have ever seen in my whole life. Oh my gosh, it's so much cuter to hear a child say: "Mama! Mira! Compramelo! ..Porque no?!" instead of "MOM! LOOK! BUY ME THIS!... WHY NOT?!" ... See what I mean? :)
• Siestas are the most incredible invention, ever.
• Did I mention that I love Spain?

I will write more tomorrow. This weekend I am staying in this ginormous building with approximately 5 other people. The school took a big trip to Andalusia, but I didn't go. They were going to Cordoba and Granada.. I've been to Cordoba twice, and I'm going to Granada, and I didn't want to pay 210E ($300 or so) to go. ...Alas, I will be spending the 4th of July alone. I might make use of my new bus pass and go to the cine tomorrow afternoon. We shall see. Other plans include finishing my book (The Poisonwood Bible), writing in my actual journal, which I have neglected almost as badly as this blog, writing in my class journal, which I have written in, the night before it's due. So you see, some things never change. :)


hasta luegito,
Raquael