I just had the worst Christmas of my life. Worse than when my brother and sister both got new bikes and I got an Enya CD, worse than when I worked as a waitress on Christmas day until 3pm, worse than that because I expected great things.
I don´t know why I expected great things to be honest, we´re currently hauled up in my father in law´s house, feeling like teenagers, jumping up from the sofa everytime the front door opens, and not very much like an adult, married couple.
But anyway, i´d been looking forward to Christmas for a while, we´d have fun, spend time with the family, have a few drinks and just enjoy not having to work or think about the new house for a few days (two months down, two to go!)
Then I got sick. It´s not surprising really, working with kids, 1/3 of them having bronchitis, or laringitis or faringitis or something along those lines the past two weeks, my job has basically been ferrying kids back and forth checking temperatures.
So after a few days of feeling a bit crappy, Christmas day on Santa brought me a headache that lasted three days, swollen tonsils, aching joints and of course a temperature of 37 degrees.
While everyone was off enjoying their Christmas dinner with the family, I was alone in bed with a bowl of baked beans and Modern Family on Netflix.
On top of that, I was súper emotional, missing my family, the British Christmas, British TV, Christmas decorations! A plate full of prawns and some half hearted mistletoe does not a Christmas make...
Now it´s two days later, and i´m still not 100%, but trying to focus on better things, putting this Christmas behind me knowing that 2017 is a new year, with a new house and hopefully some other new beginnings for Mr and Mrs Millennial. More in the New Year.
Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
Wednesday, 3 August 2016
Some Things That Make Spain TOTALLY Different From the UK
Two years ago exactly I arrived in Spain. In fact about this time (12pm) I had landed and was waiting for my suitcases to come out of the door on the conveyor belt of handsoffthatoneismine and sweatyhandsheartracing doom.
I came on a six month TEFL internship with two suitcases and around 800€ in cash that I was so terrified of losing or having it stolen that I kept checking every five minutes that it was there, which in hindsight probably make me either look like I has around 800€ in cash in my bag, or a terrorist with some kind of exploding purse.
As I landed on that hot day in August with my address written on a piece of paper to give to the taxi driver and enough Spanish to ask someone how they are but not enough to understand the reply, little did I know that all my dreams of travelling the world teaching English were about to come crashing down VERY rapidly, for less than three weeks after my first day arriving in one piece to the most disgusting flat i´ve ever seen I met the man that would change my whole outlook on life.
When I met my husband, I decided instantaneously that this was the guy for me, that all my dreams of country hopping, living out of a suitcase, never having to worry about anyone but myself popped, but in a good way. I lost the need to travel, I stopped in the first country I went to. I also used to be the girl who never wanted to get married and never wanted kids but I suppose my sister was right when she told me "wait until you meet the right man" because here we are almost two years after we met, married and I very much do want kids...
It hasn´t been all fairytales and looking at life through rose tinted glasees though, there are tonnes of diferences between the UK and Spain that i´ve had to get (I haven´t got) used to, here are just a few...
1: KISSING
In Spain it´s custom to give two kisses, one on each cheek. Men kiss only women but women have to miss everyone! I HATE IT Being a Brit, we are not used to kissing and when we go somewhere are there is a group of people, friends or family usually we say Hi and wave in general to everyone, maybe you kiss your parents, or give a hug to your best friend but we don´t kiss 20 people hello and then AGAIN to say goodbye!
2: LATENESS
I hate being late, I´d rather be an hour early than a minute late. This doesn´t seem to bother Spanish people though, we´re going to have lunch at 2pm, so the guests arrive at 2.30/3pm, we´ll start the meeting at 5.30pm so obviously i´m sitting alone until 5.45 when the other people start to arrive and we start the meeting somewhere between 5.45 and 6pm. Come on people I wanna go home!
3: PAPERWORK
No-one has told Spain that computers can hold a lot of information and that most of the annoying things that we had to make appointments for and wait in queue´s for in the past, well we can do those things now online. I´ve been here two years, it took me a year and a half to get around to registering that I live here, I had to go four times to get my national identity card because of all the paperwork I had to take, and trying to get a metro card was like trying to get a passport!!
4: FEVER
People are obsessed here with having a fever, if you sneeze someone will ask if you have a fever, if you have a headache someone will ask if you have a fever, if you cut your arm off, i´m pretty sure that someone will ask if you have a fever! And I work with children, I take at least one every day to see if they have a fever! And if they have a rever they go straight home, however, if they vomit, but don´t have a fever, well drink some water and back to class!
5: MEAL TIMES
In Spain we have lunch around 2-3pm (we have been known at home to have lunch at 5pm) and dinner is around 9-10pm. My family can´t believe this, being from the north of England they are strictly Tea at 5pm tupe of people. And I was too and although I spent my first few weeks here in a constant state of either starving or stuffed, you do get used to it.
I came on a six month TEFL internship with two suitcases and around 800€ in cash that I was so terrified of losing or having it stolen that I kept checking every five minutes that it was there, which in hindsight probably make me either look like I has around 800€ in cash in my bag, or a terrorist with some kind of exploding purse.
As I landed on that hot day in August with my address written on a piece of paper to give to the taxi driver and enough Spanish to ask someone how they are but not enough to understand the reply, little did I know that all my dreams of travelling the world teaching English were about to come crashing down VERY rapidly, for less than three weeks after my first day arriving in one piece to the most disgusting flat i´ve ever seen I met the man that would change my whole outlook on life.
When I met my husband, I decided instantaneously that this was the guy for me, that all my dreams of country hopping, living out of a suitcase, never having to worry about anyone but myself popped, but in a good way. I lost the need to travel, I stopped in the first country I went to. I also used to be the girl who never wanted to get married and never wanted kids but I suppose my sister was right when she told me "wait until you meet the right man" because here we are almost two years after we met, married and I very much do want kids...
It hasn´t been all fairytales and looking at life through rose tinted glasees though, there are tonnes of diferences between the UK and Spain that i´ve had to get (I haven´t got) used to, here are just a few...
1: KISSING
In Spain it´s custom to give two kisses, one on each cheek. Men kiss only women but women have to miss everyone! I HATE IT Being a Brit, we are not used to kissing and when we go somewhere are there is a group of people, friends or family usually we say Hi and wave in general to everyone, maybe you kiss your parents, or give a hug to your best friend but we don´t kiss 20 people hello and then AGAIN to say goodbye!
2: LATENESS
I hate being late, I´d rather be an hour early than a minute late. This doesn´t seem to bother Spanish people though, we´re going to have lunch at 2pm, so the guests arrive at 2.30/3pm, we´ll start the meeting at 5.30pm so obviously i´m sitting alone until 5.45 when the other people start to arrive and we start the meeting somewhere between 5.45 and 6pm. Come on people I wanna go home!
3: PAPERWORK
No-one has told Spain that computers can hold a lot of information and that most of the annoying things that we had to make appointments for and wait in queue´s for in the past, well we can do those things now online. I´ve been here two years, it took me a year and a half to get around to registering that I live here, I had to go four times to get my national identity card because of all the paperwork I had to take, and trying to get a metro card was like trying to get a passport!!
4: FEVER
People are obsessed here with having a fever, if you sneeze someone will ask if you have a fever, if you have a headache someone will ask if you have a fever, if you cut your arm off, i´m pretty sure that someone will ask if you have a fever! And I work with children, I take at least one every day to see if they have a fever! And if they have a rever they go straight home, however, if they vomit, but don´t have a fever, well drink some water and back to class!
5: MEAL TIMES
In Spain we have lunch around 2-3pm (we have been known at home to have lunch at 5pm) and dinner is around 9-10pm. My family can´t believe this, being from the north of England they are strictly Tea at 5pm tupe of people. And I was too and although I spent my first few weeks here in a constant state of either starving or stuffed, you do get used to it.
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
It´s Difficult.
Living in a different country to the one you were born and grew up in is difficult, you´re away from everyone you´ve ever known, your family, your friends (who you slowly lose touch with no matter how many promices to visit) and unless you choose an English speaking country, you also lose your language, your culture and a lot of the things that you identify with being you.
It´s difficult.
My life, although it has a LOT of wonderful things in it that I am eternally grateful for, my amazing husband, my job, a beautiful house, the fact that I now speak two languages (more or less) and lots more, it still doesn´t take away the fact that it´s difficult.
At work, I speak in English, but most of the time with three year olds, it´s a lot of: "sit down" "be quiet" "go to the bathroom" "stop hitting" and the old saying "Use it or lose it" is completely true, I´m forgetting English words, every so often a collegue will ask "How do you say..... in English" and I struggle to find the word although I know what it means, sometimes it comes back to me in a few minutes, sometimes in a few hours, sometimes in a few days, sometimes never... It´s difficult.
Outside of work I speak Spanish, for more than a year me and Mr. Millennial have been speaking exclusively in Spanish (although he speaks English) and with his family and friends too, I speak Spanish. When in Rome and all that. But it´s difficult.
I find myself frustrated, upset, angry, and more when i´m lost for words, when I can´t find the word in Spanish or a way to explain what I mean. Or when everyone is talking at once and i´m not quick enough to join in the conversation. I fear talking to strangers so much in case we don´t understand each other that I don´t even like shopping in case I have to speak to a shop assistant. I feel a tightness in my chest and have to repeat the phrase about 20 times in my head before I can aproach someone, and all the time hoping I understand the response.
Don´t get me wrong, I don´t regret for one second my decision to move to Spain, it was the best thing i´ve ever done in my life, I met my husband two weeks after moving here, as if the stars had aligned and my life made sense as cheesy as it sounds.
I also love that I can speak another language, little by little i´m getting there and I know than in another year or two I won´t have the language issues that I have now (or think I have) it´s a practice makes perfect thing. Speaking with my husband I´m the most confident Spanish speaker, I speak fast, using slang, talking in different tenses, the works, because I have no fear, if I say something wrong it doesn´t matter, he corrects me, I learn. Simple. I don´t have that confidence with groups of people or strangers. It takes all my courage to speak to the parents of my kids at the end of the day.
I don´t make new year resolutions, it´s too easy to break them, so i´m making a new life resolution, to solee my confidence issues, to speak to as many people in Spanish as I can, to panic, and sweat, and blush uncontrollably and not give a shit because the other option that I have is to stay at home for the rest of my life with only my husband to talk to, and as much as I love him, I think I need to make some other friends!
It´s difficult.
My life, although it has a LOT of wonderful things in it that I am eternally grateful for, my amazing husband, my job, a beautiful house, the fact that I now speak two languages (more or less) and lots more, it still doesn´t take away the fact that it´s difficult.
At work, I speak in English, but most of the time with three year olds, it´s a lot of: "sit down" "be quiet" "go to the bathroom" "stop hitting" and the old saying "Use it or lose it" is completely true, I´m forgetting English words, every so often a collegue will ask "How do you say..... in English" and I struggle to find the word although I know what it means, sometimes it comes back to me in a few minutes, sometimes in a few hours, sometimes in a few days, sometimes never... It´s difficult.
Outside of work I speak Spanish, for more than a year me and Mr. Millennial have been speaking exclusively in Spanish (although he speaks English) and with his family and friends too, I speak Spanish. When in Rome and all that. But it´s difficult.
I find myself frustrated, upset, angry, and more when i´m lost for words, when I can´t find the word in Spanish or a way to explain what I mean. Or when everyone is talking at once and i´m not quick enough to join in the conversation. I fear talking to strangers so much in case we don´t understand each other that I don´t even like shopping in case I have to speak to a shop assistant. I feel a tightness in my chest and have to repeat the phrase about 20 times in my head before I can aproach someone, and all the time hoping I understand the response.
Don´t get me wrong, I don´t regret for one second my decision to move to Spain, it was the best thing i´ve ever done in my life, I met my husband two weeks after moving here, as if the stars had aligned and my life made sense as cheesy as it sounds.
I also love that I can speak another language, little by little i´m getting there and I know than in another year or two I won´t have the language issues that I have now (or think I have) it´s a practice makes perfect thing. Speaking with my husband I´m the most confident Spanish speaker, I speak fast, using slang, talking in different tenses, the works, because I have no fear, if I say something wrong it doesn´t matter, he corrects me, I learn. Simple. I don´t have that confidence with groups of people or strangers. It takes all my courage to speak to the parents of my kids at the end of the day.
I don´t make new year resolutions, it´s too easy to break them, so i´m making a new life resolution, to solee my confidence issues, to speak to as many people in Spanish as I can, to panic, and sweat, and blush uncontrollably and not give a shit because the other option that I have is to stay at home for the rest of my life with only my husband to talk to, and as much as I love him, I think I need to make some other friends!
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