This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
MemoirAndUtopia |
|
0 Comments
October 6, 2010
There is really no easy way to talk about Spain right now because it is pretty hard on me physically and mentally. I visited with friends in Sweden and Denmark and now have seen a new part of Spain so thus far the trip has been worth the Skymiles I used. I did anticipate problems here because I was originally assigned to work in two towns, Haro and Santo Domingo (SD), quite distant from each other and from Logrono, La Rioja’s capital (where I’ve been crashing with other American teachers of English in my program, “Auxiliares de Conversacion.” Aux from now on here) We must find our own housing so I have to visit and search all three towns to determine which is the better place to live. Pilar, our boss, said I’d been dropped from SD but yesterday I was told I’m still expected there. I’ve never visited SD but Haro is a 45-minute, $5 bus ride away from and 30 percent more expensive than Logrono. Rent alone there costs over half my monthly stipend of 700 Euros. It is beautiful and seems a refuge for those fairly well off and angry at the new, wine export financed construction and growth in Logrono. But there are few elevators in buildings and the city is packed with steep hills—no fun for my heart or my hips. Everyone here is saying I’d be crazy to live anywhere but Logrono. At least it’s flat, and the wine cheap, varied and abundant. One glass costs fewer than 2 Euros. They seem to have made assignments without regard to paperwork, i.e., medical doctor statement that they required from us. For example, Paul, a strong 35 year old was placed in one school in Logrono while my handicapped butt got two distant pueblos. Gotta go get my phone fixed. Peace for now. Thursday, October 7, 2010, 8 a.m. Last night all of us La Rioja Aux had a completely useless meeting with the bosses—there are about 100 of us each his/her own native tongue in Spain. But I did complain about my placement and a native female teacher from my SD school said her boss had told her about me as he complained to Pilar. She offered for me to share her three bedroom apartment with her current married female roommate whose hubby live in their regular home in another town. It’s across the railroad tracks at the edge of Logrono and the distance even to the supermarket is two city bus stops. She’s from Logrono and this is an opportunity to really connect with local culture so I think I’ll take it at about 200 Euros per month. It is brand new, good quality construction, has wifi and she already has good furniture and dishes, etc. I may even be able to ride with her to SD if I’m forced to teach there. Friday, October 8, 2010 Yesterday I accepted the teacher’s housing offer and celebrated with a bag of peanuts and chocolate biscuits and olives with anchovy inside and a bottle of Cava that cost only 1.65 E! I met a banker who will be in DC in April and a guy who works at the kid’s museum across the street who want to do coffee and practice their English. The celebration was also because I got emailed permission to—within 24 months--reprint stuff in my Black Harvard/Black Yale book. Skip Gates also sent whom to get his permissions from. I really have enough to publish the book now! Saturday, October 9, 2010 I noticed something unexpected while in bed just now. Yesterday I moved into the room in the SD teacher’s place. Raquel is her name and she is renting an apartment her parents own. They are pressuring her to buy the apartment below her twin sister’s in another building. While she is unsure if she should she will likely do it because her parents say it is a good idea as young people are greatly subsidized in such things by the government. She finished undergrad and speaks good English and some French and Italian, I think. She’s taking a high-level math course to prepare for the Civil Service Exam next year. Her dad teaches college psychology and has a garden where he grows pears, figs and other things. Her parents make their own sausage (they used to kill the pigs too) and have only recently stopped making their own wine. Many adults here buy multiple apartments then rent the rooms out. While not an artist, Raquel has an eye for design that I admire. She has many cute little girly knickknacks and wall hangings she made herself. But she does not like wine or other La Rioja specialties so I have accused her of being an alien, not from Logrono and this makes her pout. She’s a very lighted hearted person who tells blue jokes and laughs at herself as she bumps into doors and forgets directions. Her boyfriend is from Morocco and has an economics degree from there but live and does farm labor in SD until he becomes completely legal. She is intrigued at the notion that she finds Moroccan men very handsome. Last night Raquel invited me out with 2 girlfriends who have ballet and gymnastics as hobbies. We ate pizza and drank a very nice Lambrusco while they laughed at my misunderstanding everything they said in Spanish. Apparently the gymnast’s “novio” was not also her “padre--” and all night long I’d thought she let us in on a strange, dark secret. Raquel spent a lot of time outside on the phone with her boyfriend and return with a question he wanted answered by me about what American don’t like. I answered offhandedly, just blowing the question off. Some how her Moroccan cooking came up and I again informed her that I did not like Moroccan food whereupon she gasped and said, “I thought you said you didn’t like Moroccans!” What in the world had she told him? So, this morning, as I lay on my belly in bed I could hear my heart beating loudly and in the distance. Even my many irregular beats rang out. And I do mean “rang” I held my breath, I squeezed my chest to control the beat and the ringing responded in perfect time. When I rose off the mattress, however, the ringing stopped and I soon noted that the bed itself and the mattress springs are all metal and together they amplified my heartbeat. I’d never heard of that happening to anyone before. |
Archives
September 2020
|