Directions

2/10/09

NOBODY can give directions in Spain.

Obviously within my first month here I have gotten turned around and/or lost a few times, whenever I need to find a store or like… my house, I ask people on the street for directions. Let me tell you - not once have they been correct. It is usually always the same sequence of events: They pause…express that they really have no idea where it is… take a random wild guess and send me on my way… stop me after I have gone 2 steps and admit that they really don’t know if what they told me was correct … point to another random person on the street and tell me to ask them. 

Repeat formula. 

The best part is, EVERY TIME the place I am looking for has been no more than 5 minutes away from where I asked them, and in one case, was literally two stores down.

The other day I accidentally walked down a different hallway and got off the metro at a different exit than I usually do so I asked a woman which way to Plaza Kennedy. This woman told me I was way off and that I would have to walk so far to get there. Luckily I have had enough experience with Spanish direction and also knew that there was no way that getting off at a different metro exit could place me THAT much farther away from the Plaza, so I politely thanked her but continued to walk in the opposite direction that she told me and found the plaza not 5 minutes away.  I have no idea why people don’t know where they are.

I had my intercambio meeting today and it was awesome. We went and got coffee and talked for about an hour before I had to get home for dinner. We spent about 80% of the time speaking in Spanish and it was great to actually be able to carry on a conversation, she said she thought I could speak and understand very well and she helped me clear up a few things I didn’t understand from my Spanish class because I have my first exam tomorrow. Then we talked in English for a while, which was also good because I love FINALLY being able to help someone else struggle through a language. She is actually better than I thought she would be, she understands a lot, but she hasn’t spoken English in the last 8 years so she still needs help with a lot. During our convo she also made me speak with a country accent at one point so she could hear it (but really probably so she could laugh at me, which she did). Let me just say, it is no easy thing to go from speaking in Spanish, to English, to a Southern drawl.

I got mail! Seriously so excited to receive letters today.