viernes el 3 de febrero
Tons of people in the program are traveling this weekend: my roommate and a group to Bilbao and San Sebastián (glad I’m going there in March when it won’t be snowing!), a group to Berlin (I’ll be going there next weekend and it will still be snowing…), a group to Rome, and a group to Paris (going in late March, so it should be decent weather). I’m a giant baby about the cold here, but in my defense Mercedes did tell me she doesn’t remember it being so cold ever in Madrid, and she’s been living here over 15 years. I can hear the wind howling outside and slamming unsuspecting doors or shutters, and the building (which is on the older side) was voicing its own protests about the weather…which were very creepy in the middle of the night.
Today I went to the Reina Sofia. I went pretty much to see Picasso’s Guernica, and once I found it (which took awhile) I spent a solid half an hour just standing staring at it. Pictures really don’t come close…if you go to Madrid, make sure you go to the Reina Sofia and see it (second floor, sala 206, just to save you some time if you’re in a rush J). I toured the whole second floor, which had more Picasso, some great Dali (which I normally don’t like but had to eat my words for some of these…they just grab you), Miro, and many other modern artists/cubists/surrealists/a lot of other “ists” I have yet to understand. Luckily, I’ll be going back!
sábado el 4 de febrero
Today I had a very comically Spanish experience. First, I wanted to go to the Museo Taurino since there are no bullfights in the winter but I still want to see something to do with it and visit the Plaza de los Toros. But, it is closed on weekends. Then, I decided I’d go to the National Archeological Museum in Madrid because it was open and free on weekends according to the website. It also houses replicas of some of the oldest cave paintings found in the world (as Spain was one of the first settling places of early man when he left Africa around 50,000 years ago), and I was excited to see them (and I’m not going to make the hike out to Altamire to see the real things this trip). When I got there, the whole museum was closed for an indefinite amount of time for construction. Why didn’t it say this loud and clear on the website? I’m not sure, but after a short frustration standing at the closed gates of the museum, just had to shrug my shoulders and say “it’s Spain.” Luckily, the Archaeological Museum is on Calle Serrano, which is where all the very high-end stores of Madrid are located. It wasn’t too cold and I was well-bundled (really getting the hang of the whole layering thing now, and I never leave the house without a scarf, hat/ear-warmers, and gloves) so I window shopped for a little. Also, Calle Serrano leads right into Parque del Retiro, so I headed in that direction. When I got there, it was early enough for me to check out one of the free satellite exhibits of the Reina Sofia. It was a René Daniëls exhibit, and while I’m picky about modern art I really enjoyed it.
Tonight I went out on Calle Huertas (a really fun street lined with cool bars and jazz clubs) and then to Madrid’s largest and most well-known discoteca, Kapital. It’s expensive (although less so if you go before 1:30) and full of foreigners, but it’s really fun and definitely something you have to do while in Madrid.
domingo el 5 de febrero
As I’m sure you all know, Spanish in Spain is different than Spanish in countries in the Americas (which are also different from each other), most notably the “lisp” which isn’t actually a lisp because the regular “sss” sound also exists in Spain. When I first arrived it was very apparent, but now I don’t even hear it. Also, sometimes if you say a word that should have the “lisp”, sometimes you have to repeat it a few times to be understood in Spain. Also, “j” is pronounced much more in the throat than in Latin America, almost a little Arabic sounding. How did this difference come about? It wasn’t because a king of Spain had a lisp and everyone imitated him so he would feel better. Here’s the version I’ve been told a few times in Spain so far: in Andalusia in the south of Spain, they speak a Spanish more similar to that of Latin America, and most of the people who left Spain to live in Latin America were from the south. Of course from there the language evolved significantly in different directions, but I find this much more plausible (although less entertaining) than the king story.
Also, there is a whole series of conjugations with “vosotros” (you plural informal) which is not only not used in Latin America, but isn’t taught in Spanish in most US schools. This causes a little confusion, but for the most part it was easy to adjust to, just harder to pick up myself. If I were to address a group of people, it would be easiest for me to use “ustedes”, but in Spain this is a formal address and can come across as rude, like you are purposefully putting distance between yourself and the people you’re talking to.
There are also many differences in vocabulary and uses of vocabulary between Spain and Latin America. Many of these are more a matter of preference, for example here “to drive” is conducir and in Latin America it is “manejar”, but if I accidentally say manejar here (or in the future say conducir in Latin America) I am still understood. Some can be slightly the wrong word, but similar, for example “tipo” which can be just “type” in Latin America is “stereotype” in Spain. But some things that are not ok to say in polite company in one are completely ok in the other. “Coger” in Spain is a very commonly used word for “to take”, but you would definitely not say this in Latin America unless you meant something a lot stronger. These haven’t exactly gotten me in trouble, but it is very entertaining to talk to Spaniards in bars and find out what words we’ve been using wrong.
There are some phrases I’ve picked up in Spain that I really like. “Tranquilo/a” as an adjective technically means calm, but when you tell someone “tranquilo/a” (which is a common thing to do) it doesn’t mean calm down (which in the US suggests that someone is freaking out). Instead, it kind of means “take it easy” or “there’s no need to hurry” in a friendly way. For example, tonight at dinner I had the awkward and much-feared experience when you’ve just taken a bite of food someone asks you a question. As usual, laughed a little with my mouth tightly closed and packed with food, and then sped up chewing so I could answer, and she said “Tranquila”. I also like the phrase “no pasa nada,” which is kind of a response to “lo siento” but more a response to a slightly unfortunate but not bad circumstance. For example, when you get to the metro just in time to see the doors close and train pull away, you could say “no pasa nada, viene otro en 5 minutos” because in Spain being 5 minutes late to anywhere is close to being 5 minutes early. “Hombre” and “vamos” are two other words that kind of translate to “dude/man” and “c’mon” in English, but they express a sentiment, not an actual definition. For example, you could say “Technically Coke and Pepsi have different ingredients, but, vamos/c’mon, they’re basically the same thing. “Venga, hombre” is pretty comparable to “c’mon man” in English, and can be used to express disbelief/incredulity or the belief that whatever someone just said is really obvious (or that they haven’t said it enough, such as “Messi’s a good soccer player, right?” “Hombre, he’s one of the best in the world!”
lunes el 6 de febrero
Today in Bioethics, our discussion at the end of class turned off the topic of the ethics of distributing medical resources based on behaviors and toward differences in health care structures in the US and Spain. It was really interesting to see our professor’s reactions to our explanations of why “Obamacare” requiring everyone to have healthcare insurance (individual mandate) has been so poorly received. She found it hard to believe that the US has such a comprehensive national education system and no national health system. She asked us why, if US citizens are happy to pay for education for all and therefore believe in a right to education, we are so resistant to a single-payer (government run) healthcare system—is health not considered a fundamental right in the US? We talked about this for a good 15 minutes, each of us (it’s a class of 7 people, so it’s easy to have a lot of discussion) trying to explain in little bits and pieces the reasons so many in the US are ardently opposed to national healthcare, and why—even if they think this system would be the best for the US—so many people in the US are convinced that a change to a government-run healthcare/insurance system just has too many obstacles (both ideological, economic, and logistical) would never happen in the US.
It’s easy to read about generalizations in different countries about the general beliefs and culture of the people. It’s easy to look at a system of government different than ours in the US and say, “Oh, well the type of people must be different to do it that way; they must have different values.” But this is definitely one of the most vivid times I saw a difference of values between people in the US and Spaniards expressed in a concrete example—and an example that came about completely organically; we weren’t aiming to discover a difference in social/cultural values between Americans and Spaniards.
This is a little out of place, but while I’m talking about differences between Spaniards and Americans, I have to mention the floor of El Tigre. If I have not yet mentioned El Tigre, it is a serious omission. El Tigre is a bar in Chueca which happens to be less than a five minute walk from my house and which serves big delicious drinks with plates piles high with delicious free tapas: croquetas, patatas fritas, pan con chorizo, pan con bacon… Anyway, the floor of El Tigre, if you come around midnight or one, is covered in crumpled up napkins. This is kind of the Spain version of a place where you can throw all the peanut shells on the floor, but it reflects a habit/the idea in Spain that trash (like candy wrappers) belongs on the floor, and if you can’t find a trashcan soon, it’s better to throw it on the ground than carry it around in a pocket or set it on a table. Considering this, Madrid (both streets and metro) are amazingly clean, which makes sense because I see people employed by the city out sweeping streets/metro/driving around giant street cleaners every day. But the takeaway from this paragraph should still be…if you go to Madrid, get drinks and tapas at El Tigre.
martes el 7 de febrero
Turns out that the names for the letters “v” and “w” are different in Spain and Latin America. In Latin America (the way I learned it) you say “beh” and “doble-beh” while in Spain you say “oo-beh” and “oo-beh doble.” I learned this officially in my Spanish class today, and I was very thankful because I’d heard it a few times before and been very confusing (“have I just been saying it wrong all there years?”).
Addresses in Madrid are very interesting. The street numbers rarely go above 30, so far I haven’t seen one above 50, and street names are written with the abbreviation for calle: “C/”. Then it gives a floor (1o, 2o, etc.) and an abbreviation for a direction: izda (izquierda), cto (centro) or dcha (derecha). Sometimes there is also a number of the apartment, but frequently the actual apartment doesn’t have a number, just a floor and a direction. Mine is 3o dcha, and it took me at least a week and a half to realize what “dcha” stood for.
I went to the Prado again during free hours tonight to study for my women in art midterm tomorrow. I never thought I’d get to say a sentence like that! Poor Lindsay came with me, and I subjected her to all my knowledge of the paintings we’ve studied so far (which is A LOT). She said she thought it was interesting, which is good because it was a super helpful way for me to study.
Fun fact I learned at dinner tonight: flamenco singers are called cantaores, not cantantes like other singers.
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