18 years ago, on this very day, I spent my first hours in Valencia having a beer at Burger King with my sister and her roommate; quite the way to celebrate a week of Fallas. As a 17 year old, I was a bit new to all the debauchery, but I learned quickly. Even my parents (gasp!) allowed me to imbibe more than just a mere glass of wine with dinner. The fiestas were immense…and the week went down as one of the very best experiences o my life.
Yesterday, I had a chance to look at my sister’s scrapbook from that spring, and had some pleasant (albeit frightening) memories as I looked at old photos of me walking around Valencia wearing Sid Vicious and Clash t-shirts.
As you know, my sister, who was studying in Valencia that spring of 1988, has since made Valencia her home for the past decade and a half. I, on the other hand, am marking my 30th day in Spain. I no longer wear skater shoes, but other than that, my dress code hasn’t changed all that much; I still have that Clash shirt…
Well, the past 30 days have been incredible. No, I haven’t made it on to the front page of the newspaper yet, but I’m looking for my own Kinky Friedman….rock it up, Pablo.
First off- the vacation period is over – I’ve been running pretty hard since I landed in Spain. That said, it’s a bit of a slower pace for me, and a pace that I’m very fond of. There is ALWAYS time for coffee.
Second- I need to once again express my respect for those who have immersed yourselves in another language…wow. I spent the first two weeks here frantically hoping nobody would talk to me in Spanish, just so I could avoid yet another moment in “deer in the headlights” mode. I just couldn’t seem to understand what anyone was saying.
But, with a little encouragement from friends and myself, along with just a small bit of alcohol (“small” for the purposes of this story is roughly equivalent to the consumption habits of bryan on any Greenville Avenue St Patrick’s parade….which leads me to wonder about the level of enthusiasm for a travel book I might have to write one day entitled, Europe on Fifteen Pints a Day. Hmmm.) I’ve started to gain some traction.
At any rate, I have got a long way to go language-wise, but I’m making progress.
I joined a gym my second week here, and it has helped me to establish a routine. I’ve since lost 10 pounds, thanks in part to the daily trips to the gym, not to mention the improved diet.
The conditions of my residence visa required me to file some paperwork with the government within 30 days of my arrival, and though I didn’t deliberately try to wait until the last minute, I did hit a couple of obstacles. Long lines in scary places of the city at the immigration office just aren’t all that fun….and make the local DPS lines an afternoon at the beach. I can report, though, that aside from the unpleasantness, I now have my little temporary ID, and in another few weeks will get my actual photo ID card.
As I said earlier, there wasn’t much of a vacation period, I began teaching classes my first week in Spain. Currently, I’m teaching four private classes. All my students are officers in the military. This punk had to back off the anti-military stance just a tad, but we’re all getting along fine, and I’m actually enjoying the teaching experience.
The other teachers at the center where I work all seem pretty cool. One is some guy from Philly who happens to be a skater. If anyone of you happens to see Mike Wallace at the Old Monk, let him know that the report is skating in Valencia is excellent, but Barcelona is even better.
I’ll elaborate more on the teaching experience and my fellow teachers at some point in the future, but one of the funniest moments I’ve had since my arrival happened with the director and another teacher. The three of us were sitting in the office area of the main room of Casa Americana (where I work), and Alan was streaming some songs sung by Richard Cheese…who does lounge covers of various popular songs, including “Enter Sandman”, “Creep”, “Me So Horny,” etc. We were just discussing the fact that perhaps we shouldn’t play the 2 Live Crew song again, lest it offend any of the adult students sitting in the lobby, when a Slipknot song came on, and before we could do anything, “Come on motherfucker, everybody has to die!” blares throughout the room.
We all sort of stood there and tried to act like nothing unusual had happened. Then, I burst into peals of laughter as Alan scrambled to skip to the next song. OK, so maybe you had to be there, but the absurdity of it all was great. I’m certainly in the right teaching environment.
A quick comment on coffee and cigarettes. Yes, I’m still consuming both. However, I’m now only paying 1.10€ for a coffee, so feel free to remind your local Starbucks that they’re ripping people off. Cigarettes cost less, of course, but I’m actually smoking less, too. (Now is not the time to read anything into that statement….I’m merely pointing out a personal observation.)
All in all, adjusting to a new life seems to be going ok, as I fully expected. Last Friday I sang at a wedding ceremony, and at some point, I may have to play piano at a few choir concerts, and no one is more surprised than me to be doing this kind of thing. Nothing else I’ve done is really out of character, though. I’m still likely to jog across town in a a dew rag, soccer shoes and shorts to pick up my nephew from school, and, yep, I just developed yet another crush on a waitress here at the Irish bar I’m sitting in. Bryan is Bryan, regardless of the country.
So as I start my second month here, I continue to smile…
Keep the faith
bryan
13/03/06
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