I can't believe I've already been here for a week! The little guide to studying abroad from Columbia says after our first stage of cultural adjustment, Cultural Euphoria, we will experience Cultural Confrontation during which "confusion sets in and daily tasks are challenging and frustrating." A taste of this confusion has set in and I'm beginning to understand the initial difficulty of completing simple daily tasks.
First we've got the food situation. Being a vegetarian is not too difficult yet but the food that I am offered is a bit different from what I'm used to at home. There's surprisingly a lot of fried foods here...my Senora keeps making me fried zucchini and eggplant slices which are pretty good but heavy. Last night she offered me and my hermanas onion rings, mozarella sticks, and "toritillitas" (basically omlettes), and tonight put out a plate of egg rolls to compliment our potato, peas, beans, and carrot stew-soup-mush (which was actually pretty good.) So, although my palette is somewhat confused at meal times, I find my Senora's mix-and-match style of cooking kind of cute. I'm craving baked tofu from Whole Foods, grilled salmon, steamed broccoli, and my signature Nussbaum bagel but at least I was finally able to find pretzels (the bag actually says Brezel...which is awk). Unfortunately the pretzels aren't Happy Herberts low sodium spelt but they are satisfying nonetheless. Sadly there is no sign of "zanahoritas", or baby carrots, and my Senora doesn't think they exist, although she was quite amused when I told her I used to eat them all the time with my bunny. On the bright side, the clementines are amazing and the coffee that I drink at home and in cafes has been top notch so far.
Then we have the cell phone differences. To start with, my background is no longer a cuddly bunny but rather some strange pattern of neon colored hearts. Phone usage in general is much more expensive here which is a bummer...something like .35 a minute and .35 a text. There is no such thing as free nights and weekends or unlimited texting so phone calls are kept short and sweet and I've taken up nail biting again in an attempt to occupy my fingers during the sudden lack of texting that has taken over my life (speaking of which, I have yet to find a nail salon here...uh oh). When I got off the metro yesterday (on my way to rescue Jess from her demon Senora...which is a completely different story) my phone had turned itself off and was asking me to enter a Pin Number before I could turn it on and use it that I obviously had not thought to memorize. After a sad and unsuccessful attempt to figure out how to use a pay-phone I realized I didn't have any phone numbers on me and had to suck it up, hail a taxi, and return to my home to look up the pin. And thus marks Pissy Moment #1 of my trip.
Now we have the siesta. Spain basically shuts down for three hours every afternoon. Which is great if you can plan to spend the time eating lunch and then resting or napping but not so great if you have plans to be productive during this time. Today Jess and I needed to buy a book for class tomorrow and found that every single "libreria" was closed for siesta time. We must have walked at least a mile trying to find an open one...and then trying to find one that actually had what we needed. My whiney side came out and at one point I'm pretty sure I stated that I hated all of Spain for not having a Barnes and Noble (Spain and I have since made up so don't worry).
Other than a few minor obstacles things are going well. I'm happy to be settled in my new room and my schedule is starting to work itself out. Classes are good so far, I have four on Mondays and Wednesdays until my two classes at the Universidad Autonoma start in February. I really love my Senora, Blackie is indeed very cuddly (and extremely spastic if the doorbell or phone rings), and my hermanas are great. I know I've only been here for a week but I can already sense that it's going to be hard to leave! But I shouldn't waste time thinking about leaving, I've got a trip to Barcelona to plan. : )
