Temporary Hiatus

Hello to the 5 people who read this!

Due to complications with trying to get internet in the piso, posting will be very sporadic (if it happens at all) over the next two weeks. That is, unless Movistar decides to stop taking a siesta and to come install our line. ¡Lo siento mucho! I promise to be back ASAP.

Esther

In honor of my first Spanish class ending this afternoon, this post is all about Esther, my profesora. Esther is someone that you would probably have to meet in person before you could understand the whole “experience.” She is very blunt, direct, silly, funny, and knows a heck of a lot of Spanish grammar. She is also well versed in current events and loves to spark a good debate on a hot topic. Having her as a profesora definitely made Spanish class more interesting, that’s for sure. So to attempt to share the Esther experience, I give you ten interesting Estherisms:

1. La silla eléctrica – Esther’s favorite way of interrogating people. She would make you come to front of the room and have everyone in the class ask you a question or two. But they had to be fuerte (strong). For example, she asked one girl’s visiting boyfriend within ten minutes of meeting him whether he liked to sleep in pajamas or nude. Classic Esther.

2. Por faplease – Esther’s own brand of Spanglish. She whipped this fun little phrase out one day in class and it just sort of stuck. Except instead of meaning please it’s more like a “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

3. Hacer rock-and-roll – Esther’s favorite question to ask us in the morning if we look tired. ¿Hicisteis mucho rock-and-roll anoche? (with a knowing look of course.) It sounds kind of bland through a blog post, but trust me, she made it entertaining.

4. Jetlag – One day when Caitlyn was particularly tired looking, Esther asked her if she still had jetlag. This was about two and a half weeks into class. After Caitlyn gave a sleepy moan as an answer, Esther responded, “Of course you are, I understand. But it’s jetlag between Cañadio and the university!” And then she laughed…a lot.

5. La leche – Spanish slang for the best/worst. For example, you could have a fiesta that’s la leche (a crazy good fiesta) or a calor that’s la leche (a disgustingly hot heat wave.) In our class, Italian Marguerita was la leche. Esther on Marguerita: “Marguerita, eres (you are) la leche. You talk when I don’t want you to and won’t talk when I want you to. Eres la leche.” In this case, the best translation would probably be: "Marguerita, you're unbelievable."

6. Ruski – Ruski was the nickname of Ulrike, a German girl in the class. From day one, Ulrike was crazy weird to say (I still can’t say it right, it’s deceptively easy on paper). So, Ulrike was promptly changed to Ruski, and soon everyone in the class was calling poor Ulrike Ruski. Ruski also let slip that she had a novio (boyfriend) back in Germany- bad idea! Esther quickly changed his name from Marcel to Marcelino Panetino and asked to see a picture of him every day. And of course this information earned Ruski a stint in la silla eléctrica.

7. Joder – Esther’s favorite interjection. Imagine "Hoe-dare!" with lots of H and emphasis on both syllables individually. I'm pretty sure this word is not at all a polite word in South America, but it Spain Spanish it's commonly used as an expression of amazement.

8. Josh in the baño – Josh was often tired in the morning. So naturally, when he was tired he was kind of out of it and didn’t always have a quick response to some of Esther’s questions. One particularly drowsy day, however, Esther got a little curious: “Joshua, do you smoke some marijuana in the bathroom every morning before you come to class?”

9. Elena and the World Cup – One day Esther decided to teach us about some of the more strange traditional Spanish foods. One that was particularly interesting- mashed up lamb/cow brains. Apparently, this is a very common food for Spanish people to feed to young children because it’s easier to digest than real meat. When Elena (the Dutch woman in our class) protested, saying she could never feed that to her children, Esther responded: “But who won the World Cup, Holland? Super brains, super babies! Ha!”

10. Clinton – Esther’s preferred nickname for me. For the first part of class, I never said anything about it. Then one day in conversation class we played the classic “two truths and a lie” game. Of course, one of my stories was that my mom had named me Hillary because she admired Hillary Clinton so much for being such a strong, intelligent leader. When this turned out to be the lie and I told Esther that in reality, my parents couldn’t stand her, she thought it was very amusing. She still calls me Clinton, but now there’s an added, “Your mother would kill me if she heard me call you that! Hahaha!”

And that’s Esther in ten fun facts.

Our class plus some of the English students:

More Pictures!

More pictures of Santander! The second half of the album is all new.

Around Santander

Funny

Just a few of the signs and places I´ve seen around here that made me smile...

First of all, proof of the cheap pan:



Secondly, the buffalo meat of Spain:



Where I will go to shop if I ever feel homesick for the good old USA:



For some reason I find the bluntness of this one funny:



The mini Target of Spain:



And lastly, for my Apple obsessed brother, "Todo vuelve a cambiar. Otra vez.":

La Plaza Cañadio Take 2

So you all saw how la plaza looked at 3:22 AM. Here´s how it looks at 3:22 PM (during siesta!)....

Day Tripper

The past two days were full of sunshine and beautiful places- two things no one can really complain about. On Monday we all took a mini-trip to a fairly remote beach to the south of Santander, La Playa de Mataleñas. It is quite a hike from town, but completely worth the effort. The path to the beach follows the coast along a cliff and offers some spectacular views of the ocean and town.

From Around Santander

The beach itself is nestled in a cove surrounded by cliffs.



To get to it, you have to climb down lots of stairs- most likely equal to a few stories in a building. The water was blue and clear, just a little chilly. (This isn’t the Caribbean, after all…) Unfortunately, when the sun goes behind the cliffs it gets pretty chilly from the wind blowing off the ocean, so we could only stay for about two hours. But they were two well spent hours!

On Tuesday we took an afternoon trip to two small towns near to Santander, Comillas and Santillana del Mar. Both were very picturesque and old, of course, but here are some highlights.

Comillas

La Universidad Pontificia Comillas: This university is apparently the cream of the crop when it comes to studying the Spanish language. It offers high-level degrees in Spanish (and other disciplines) and is very prestigious. It is also very scenic and situated in a cool spot- perched above the town on a very big hill.

El Capricho de Gaudí: This very strange house was designed around 1883 by the famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí. Whoever lived here must have liked sunflowers a little too much. Also, Gaudí just designed some pretty strange buildings. Check out some of his other work here.

Santillana del Mar

Many people believe Santillana del Mar is the prettiest town in Cantabria (the province that Santander is in.) I can definitely see why they think so, with its very old buildings and cobblestoned pedestrian streets. It also has a neat old church in the center and some beautiful gardens. Like most well known picturesque places, however, it is a tad touristy. Nevertheless, we had a fun time wandering the streets, browsing the tourist shops, sampling the local cheescakey dessert (una quesada), and giving the sidra another chance (see Ribadesella). Turns out it is only slightly less gross when you oxygenate it (escanciar) like you’re supposed to.

La Plaza Cañadio

The proof that Spaniards like to stay up late and I'm not weird- a picture of the Plaza Cañadio at 3:22 AM last night/morning:



ha! proof!