12:45am, the room is dark and besides a couple rambunctious canines I am left in the silence of my room to ponder my thoughts. Spain is definitely different than Switzerland, for many reasons, here are just a couple that I have noticed so far.
First things first, I am living in a city called Alcobendas, which is an outside suburb of Madrid. Standing on my balcony you can see buildings, concrete and more buildings. A little different from the lush vegetation that surrounded me in my quaint Swiss town of Chiasso. Most of these buildings are about 5-6 stories high, each balcony is lined with flower pots, and laundry can be found dancing in the wind while soaking up the rays of the hot spanish sun. I went for a walk yesterday and I had to be very careful as to not lose myself in the maze that is Alcobendas. The streets run everywhere and each building looks very much like its neighbor. Secondly, the people here are speaking Spanish instead of Italian (duh, Leslie). Now, it is true that Italian and Spanish are similar and if I were to just speak in Italian I am sure that I could get my point across without too much confusion, but when in Spain one needs to speak Spanish! Everyday my language transition is improving, but I have a strong tendency to use italian words in my sentences along with an italian accent. I think that my brain needs some time to sort through the different vocabulary words that are jumbling around in my head like the numbered balls of the lottery.
 |
| The balcony that looks out onto the plaza de pueblo. |
 |
| Outside of my apartment, we live on the top floor on the left hand side. |
The spanish accent is also new to my ears and very different from the Venezuelan accent that I came to know during the summer of 2006. In spain the people sound as if they all have speech impediments because they use the “TH” sound in what seems like every word. I don’t mean for this to sound demeaning or rude, but this is what it sounds like to green ears. Lastly, I have more roommates this year than last. There are four of us, Sarah (25) who is Canadian, Marta (25) who is Spanish and Sara (29) who is also Spanish. Marta and Sara both have day jobs, but I am sure that you’ll get to know them quite well as the season progresses.
 |
| Sarah Crooks from Canada and I. |
Ok, now let me take you back to Tuesday, the day of my arrival. As I entered baggage claim I was engrossed in the potent smell of cigarette smoke. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I guess good ol Mpls’s Lindberg terminal was fresh in my mind. I exited baggage claim, and quickly exchanged a couple curious glances with a man in a red t-shirt. “Eres Leslie? Soy Charly.” One kiss on each cheek was given and the next thing I knew I was driving down the highways of Spain with my coach, Charly. This experience was also different than in Switzerland; with Charly we were abiding by the speed limit and even using blinkers. After I dropped my bags off at my apartment and met my Canadian teammate, Sarah, Charly took me to the doctor’s office to get my physical, since without it I wouldn’t be cleared to practice and we had practice that evening. I thoroughly enjoyed the physical test that our team doctors put me through. I had at least 7 different wires attached to my body as I ran on the treadmill; meanwhile the doctors and my coach were watching my heart rate bounce up and down on a computer screen. I have never been put through a test like this and I felt as if I should’ve been in a gatorade commercial with blue sweat droplets running down my face.
 |
| Charly and I with the Spanish flag, of course! |
Practice has been going very well and it is a fair amount more intense than last year. We practice from 7-10pm. The first hour and a half is spent lifting weights and doing some agility work. The second hour and a half is spent on the court, however these past few days we have been going a little bit longer and ending around 10:45pm! Supposedly, in Spain people don’t eat lunch until 2pm and dinner is never before 9pm. I am amazed by my teammates who live 40 minutes away from the gym and then get up in the morning to go to their various jobs.
Today, nobody had to work since it is Saturday, so after practice 4 of my teammates and I went to a friend’s house for lunch where I had the delight of trying a couple spanish dishes. The first dish was called Ensalata de Arroz, (salad of rice), which was bursting with flavor and consisted of a multitude of different ingredients such as pineapple, mango, tomatoes, peanuts and artichokes. The second dish is a typical spanish dish that is simply called, Tortilla. Tortilla is kind of like an egg bake with potatoes, I have plans to learn the art of tortilla making, one word, YUM;)
That about concludes my first week in Spain. It’s hard to believe that we are back to this again, summer flew by like it always does. As I was talking with a friend on Skype today I was able to watch a bit of the Gopher football game against Syracuse! To all of you who have tickets for this season I hope you thoroughly enjoy the new stadium. Now, there are a few newbies on this e-mail list, but the rest of you all know full well what you’re getting yourselves into. So, please let me know if my stream of hot air is taking up too much space in your inbox, honestly. I know that the new fad is to have a twitter page, but I do realize that not everybody is just dying to know what’s going on in my life. So, it’s up to you!
my address is,
Plaza Pueblo 2
apt. #4A
Alcobendas, Madrid 28100
Spain
Yes, one of the balconies of my apartment looks right down into this plaza and every morning and night you can find the benches full of people between the ages of tiny tots with their parents to Grandparents in their 80s. It seems that the plaza is where everyone gathers to get their gossip for the day, see and be seen, and munch on snacks.
buenas noches,
Leslie
No comments:
Post a Comment