Nikkole Marie

Now there are probably about 20 people in my class and apart from one other american every single person is from a different country. There is a girl from Finland,  Belgium,  Italy,  Turkey, England. Also a guy from the middle east, and one from Scotland. Those are just the ones I remember! I love it! I find them all so fascinating. I just want to be all of their best friends. 

We have a 30 minute break around 11 and some of the girls from class invited me to go get some coffee with them. There were four of us. The Belgian,  the Italian  the Turk  and the American (ME). They all of course speak perfect English, no surprise there, what European doesn’t speak at least 5 languages? They were so much fun to talk to. In fact, I think we are all going to get lunch after class tomorrow! Unfortunately most of the people in my class including these 3 girls are all staying a short amount of time. from 2 weeks to a month. But that’s okay I suppose because I don’t plan on sticking in the class for long. I was placed in A-1, the class for beginners but I have my eye on A-2! and then of course all the way up to B-1, B-2, C-1, C-2 (the most advanced). Watch out! I plan on coming home fluent! 

Then after class there was a welcome lunch for all the new students. Here I met more cool international people! I made quick friends with a french Australian, a new zealander, and a Norwegian. So cool!! Also the food was delicious. Someone needs to stop me before I get fat! 

Then it was back home. I got home around 4 which gave me an hour before work. I had just arrived home, taken off my coat, and sat down (excited to relax for a moment) when the bell rang. Alina had come to practice English. Although I was looking forward to some down time before work I was happy to see Alina. She showed me the way to the store and the papeleria (paper store) to pick up a few things I needed. Although she came to speak English she was so excited that I was finally learning Spanish she made me practice. I was also so excited that I was finally learning Spanish that I didn’t care and we talked the whole way to the store and back in Spanish! She was impressed with how much I was talking considering I am usually very shy with Spanish and said I was much better than she thought I would be. Which means I am either on my way to being fluent OR she was just saying that to make me feel better. But either way it was fun talking to her! She is so great!! I think she also enjoyed watching me be the one to struggle this time around and her being the one with the knowledge of the language. hahaha. Languages are hard but I am having lots of fun. 

Now I am just getting finished with a regular night with the kids. We all get along really well and that is exciting. They also love that I am learning Spanish and they have taken it upon themselves to be my personal and private tutors (Laura and Isabel that is)! Kids make great teachers though. Most adults usually get the jist of what you are trying to say and just carry on without correcting you while most children will laugh at you and tell you how wrong you are and then correct you until you get it perfect. It is a bit humiliating at first, but effective. 

So tomorrow obviously begins day 2 of what will be many until I am fluent so lets just pray it continues to go smoothly. 

God has blessed me with the best of everything so far and most the time it just doesn’t seem fair. But I am so thankful to be here and to have this opportunity! 

Yesterday was Saturday and it was my first full day off which meant I wasn’t about to miss my first opportunity to go into the city. So that is exactly what I did. I messaged my friend Alina (Alina is a family friend who I am also helping teach english ) to see if she would be my tour guide into the city. She kindly agreed and we headed into the heart of the city at 1. Alina is Romanian and she moved to Spain 7 years ago. So she speaks fluent Romanian and Spanish but English is still very hard for her. I have to admit I was a bit worried about bringing her into the city with me because of the language barrier but I figured it would be better to have a companion with me. I was very curious to see how our day would play out. 

As we were on the metro to Madrid Alina pulled out a piece of paper covered in writing, front and back. She had prepared conversation topics and useful phrases along with the translation from Romanian to English. I had to hold back a chuckle because I thought it was funny but it was also very sweet and I was actually very glad she did, it turned out to be quite helpful. My favorite phrase she asked me from the paper was “Are you have good time?” 

Now I know I have been to this city before and in fact we didn’t do a single thing yesterday that I hadn’t done or seen before but this time arriving in the city was a whole new experience. We made our way out of the metro and up to the busiest street in Madrid. Gran Via. It is quite the sight and feeling to go from the muggy underground up to the big beautiful buildings of Madrid. It didn’t take long for Alina to get sick of me saying “This is sooo cool!!” She even said a few times “But haven’t you seen all of this before?” I had but it was still SO COOL! 

The first stop we made was to McDonald’s. How Spanish of us! Not. Alina had asked me if we could go to McDonald’s because she doesn’t like to eat healthy.  I don’t care for McDonald’s but it wasn’t so bad. I should note, however, that it was the prettiest McDonald’s I have ever eaten in. During lunch we talked about futbol of course. Turns out she is a filthy Barcelona fan but I told her we could still be friends. In fact we are going to watch the big Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game together on Wednesday!!  

After lunch we made our way down Gran Via to Plaza de Cibeles, which is this plaza and giant fountain. It is significant to me because that is where Real Madrid and the Spanish national team celebrate their major victories. So Cool! Then to Parque del Retiro. I can not convey to you the size of this park. It is absolutely huge it should have its own zipcode. Yesterday we chose to explore only part of the park. The lake in the middle and the crystal palace. We spent the majority of our day at the park just getting from one side to the other. We even took a rest stop halfway through for chips and a drink. Then we decided to go to the train station. Alina wanted to show me the giant plants and the turtles inside. Then it was back to Gran Via to take the metro home. It doesn’t sound like we did much or stayed long but to relate to you again just how big the park is and just how much walking we did we were in the city for 8 hours yesterday. 

Alina made sure I found my way home okay before she took the bus back to her home. Right as she left me I had the pleasure of learning how to use my keys here in Spain  There are 2. 1 for the door to the apartment and 1 to the gates outside. Turns out if you turn it a certain way you lock it, lock it real good. I had locked myself out and could not figure out how to make it work. Luckily the neighbors came to my rescue and even more luckily they spoke really good English  So don’t you worry I made it home safe and sound (exhausted) and I now know how to unlock the doors properly. 

So that was my big Madrid adventure yesterday. I have the day off again today and I am about to go watch a movie and eat lunch with the family. Everything is going so well.