Valencia: Ciudad de la Paella



Valencia

 This weekend I decided to make a spontaneous trip to Valencia. Well, it really wasn’t that spontaneous; it just took me a while to decide whether or not I was going to go. A couple of the Fulbrighters living in the city of Valencia invited everyone in the region to go to “La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias,” or “The City of Arts & Sciences,” which is a very famous tourist destination in Spain comprised of an art and science museum and Oceanogràfic, the largest aquarium in Europe. I really wasn’t sure whether or not I’d go based on the fact that I had no idea where to go to catch the bus to get to Valencia and I didn’t want to wake up at 6:00 in the morning just to catch it. At the last minute I decided to drag myself out of the piso and go to the Valencia. Essentially, I went because I really wanted to socialize with the other Fulbrighters and make friends; especially since I am one of the only Fulbrighters living in a town alone.



"La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias"



I arrived in Valencia at around 11am and met everyone at Starbucks. I must say, after being in Jávea for over two weeks, it was so nice to be in a city. I had never realized how much I missed hearing the sound of cars, smelling smoke, seeing people everywhere and being in an environment with an abundance of shops, chain stores and tons of buses, metros, and taxis. An escape to Valencia was just what I needed.

After talking about my experiences with everyone else and happily consuming my caramel macchiato, I made my way to Oceanogràfic with the group. Spending the day at the aquarium was very nice. I’m not going to lie, I’m not the biggest fan of animals, so I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else did, but it was still nice to see new things and get out. I must admit, however, that I did enjoy the dolphin show. I never realized how cute dolphins were. They are now probably one of my favorite animals along with panda bears. Hey, maybe I can like animals after all! La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias is beautiful; I loved looking at the architect of it all: with its big meticulously-crafted buildings and the perfectly-colored water that surrounds everything.  I would definitely like to visit again. Maybe next time I will visit the museums.



Oceanogràfic



After Oceanogràfic, we were all pretty tired, so we went back to the other Fulbrighters’ piso and rested for a couple of hours. Later that evening, we went out to have dinner and, joined by others, we went back to the piso to watch a movie. We were actually planning to go out that night, but we were all still tired so we stayed in. As much as I tried to hide my sleepiness, I started falling asleep as soon as the opening credits appeared. I spent the night there and slept great.

My trip to Valencia was very quick but it was definitely a good opportunity to spend time with fellow Fulbrighters.  I’m really glad that I pushed myself to go.

Hola, España

Today marks 2 weeks that I’ve been in Spain and I am already starting to feel well-adjusted to my new life. I also feel quite accomplished. In these two weeks I have successfully: settled into my new region, opened up a bank account, bought a telephone, moved into my apartment and I’ve started teaching and developing lesson plans at my school. I have even made a couple of acquaintances along the way. My first week in Spain was a little rocky; when I arrived, I did not know where I was going to live and how I was going to survive the first couple of weeks. It seems that a little determination, some help from people (Thanks mom) and a lot of faith in God can get you anywhere!

My first week in Spain went a little like this:



Don Quixote: Madrid

 My trip to Spain started off with a mandatory orientation in Madrid. Unfortunately though, because of bad weather in Atlanta which resulted in a delayed flight to Miami and a missed layover, I arrived to orientation a day late and missed registration day. Orientation was a great opportunity to meet other Fulbrighters and get a glimpse of what was in store for us. The workshops lasted for about 2 days and consisted of us getting lectures from members of the Fulbright committee in Spain and also a couple of members from the U.S. Embassy.  We also had a few sessions with the director from each of our regions about to what to expect in the classroom and how to develop good teaching strategies.

Orientation ended on Friday morning and mostly everyone went to their perspective regions.  Unlike everyone else, I decided to stay in Madrid for a few more days, partly because I wanted to open my bank account before I left and also because I really wanted to explore the beautiful city of Madrid before I went off to the country. And beautiful it was. There is something about big cities that I just love: there are tons of people everywhere you go, many different modes of transportation and an abundance of things to do. While in Madrid, I took a tour around the city, went to a museum, saw a movie at the theater and went bar-hopping with some other travelers that I met. I really enjoyed my time spent there and I will definitely go back a couple of times before I go back to the states.



Plaza Mayor: Madrid

 There are some things that surprised me while I was in the city. One thing was the number of people that smoke. It’s almost impossible to come to Spain if you cannot tolerate smoke because it is everywhere. Although I hate smoke, I just one of those things that I have had to accept. Another, more positive, thing that surprised me during my first week was that most of the people that I encountered where so incredibly nice to me. Being a foreigner, and especially a foreigner of African descent, I had no idea how locals would react to me; but, everywhere I went I was treated with kindness. Whenever I asked someone for directions (which was pretty much all day, every day), people stopped whatever they were doing and helped me. One man, a construction worker, even stopped his job, went into his truck to get a map, and meticulously showed me exactly where I needed to go. Lastly, a thing that surprised me about Madrid was that most of the people that I encountered were foreigners, most of them spoke Spanish and pretty much all of the younger crowd spoke some English.



Jardines de Sabatini: Madrid



My second week in Spain went like this:  

The bus ride from Madrid to Jávea was very long and very tiring. It was about 8 hours to be exact (the same amount of time as my plane ride to Spain from the states).  Unfortunately the bus that went directly to Jávea was full for that day, so I had to take the bus from Madrid to Alicante and then from Alicante to Jávea. While on the bus from Madrid to Alicante, the sweetest thing happened. I was sitting next to a sweet, old Spanish lady who was on her way to Benidorm. The bus stopped for a break and I was the only one that did not get off of the bus. Why didn’t I leave? I stayed because I was so tired and I wanted to continue sleeping. I didn’t need to use the bathroom and I wasn’t really hungry. 10 minutes later, when everyone got back on the bus, the lady that was seated next to me handed me a bocadillo ( a Spanish sandwich) and a bottle of water and said that I needed to eat something. She had also bought the same for herself. I’m not sure whether I looked like I was having a bad morning or if it was her way of welcoming me to her country but I was amazed at how sweet that was. Although I wasn’t really hungry, I ate it and could not thank her enough for being so kind. I will always remember that moment as one of the most generous actions shown to me by the Spanish people.  

I arrived in Jávea around 6 or 7 that evening. I took a cab from the bus stop and went straight to the hostel where I had reserved a room for a couple of days. I ate something, took a shower, and prepared for my first day of school in the morning.

I decided that for my first day of school I would wear my black slacks, a white shirt, and my sparkly, dressy cardigan that I loved so much from Gap. I had no idea what time school started, but I planned to be there at around 8. Well, it took me a little longer than I expected to get ready so I didn’t leave my hostel until 8. After getting lost on the way to school and having to stop for more directions, I finally made it there at almost 9. It turns out; I was just in time because that’s what time school started.

I imagine that my first day of school was much better than some of the other Fulbrighters’ first days. Once there, I was greeted very warmly by all of the teachers. I followed several of the teachers around to their classes and introduced myself to the children. Most of children’s reactions towards me were amazement; they weren’t only amazed because I was from the United States, but I’m sure that I also looked differently than anything they have ever seen. Honestly, I wonder if any of the children had ever seen an African American person before, outside of T.V.  The children seemed pretty excited to have me there. After one class, a group of 5^th grade boys even came up to me and asked if I had a novio (boyfriend).



Mediterranean Sea: Jávea



I believe that my first day went perfect. Later that night, the teachers invited me out to have drinks with them at a chiringuito down by the beach. “Chiringuitos” are beach bars that are built in preparation for summer time and then once winter time approaches they are torn down. We went to this really nice bar and had drinks and tapas. I got to know each of them, and I was really surprised at how talkative I was that night (It must have been the Sangria). While at the chiringuito, one of the teachers told me that she and her roommate had an extra room in their piso that could be rented out. I agreed to go with her and look at it after school the next day.

On Friday evening, I saw the piso and absolutely loved it. It is very modern and exactly what I needed. I have my own bedroom and bathroom, internet and cable, and two Spanish roommates. The rent is fantastic. And, the best part of it all: the piso is only 5 minutes away from the school. I felt very lucky. After I saw the piso on Friday, I immediately moved out of the hostel and into my new apartment. I emailed my mom and dad to tell them the good news and I started to clean my new place.

That weekend, I was invited out once again to go out with a couple of the teachers. We went to have drinks at a bar and then went out to a great Indian restaurant. Then on Sunday, the director of studies at the school invited me to her piso to have a big Spanish lunch that was cooked in my honor. She made “Fideua” which is just like paella but it’s cooked with pasta instead of rice, and it was delicious. And because I am in Spain, I tried some things that I would never have tried in the U.S. The director of the school was also there. We had a great conversation and I agreed to give her daughter private English lessons.

This was a great start to my year in Jávea.

Welcome

Hello! ¡Hola! 你好！

Welcome to my blog!

I’ve decided that a great way to keep my family members and friends up-to-date on all of my adventures in Spain would be to start a blog. Not only a blog where I could talk about my experiences here, but also where I can discuss certain political, social and cultural issues that I come across. I am hoping that from this blog you will not only be entertained by my adventures, but also more culturally informed and maybe even inspired.  

Let me give you a little background information on myself and what I am doing here…

I am here from the great United States of America as a Fulbright Fellow. If you live in America and don’t know any information about the Fulbright Program, I strongly encourage you to check out their website, http://www.iie.org/fulbright, because this is one of the best, if not the best, international programs out there.  The Fulbright is a program sponsored by the United States Dept. of State that provides funding for students, scholars, teachers, and professionals to undertake graduate study, advanced research, and teaching in universities and primary and secondary schools. Each year, this program sends over a thousand of these individuals across the world hoping “to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries”. As a scholar in the U.S. Student Program, I am an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Jávea, a small town in the Valencian community of Spain.

Being a Fulbrighter has so many advantages and I am so happy that I was chosen to be a part of such a prestigious organization. The ten months that I will spend here in Spain is fully funded by the Fulbright program and they have made sure that all of their grantees are able to live comfortably. However, with great rewards come great expectations. The Fulbright has invested in me to be a leader, to be an innovator and to cultivate new ideas and I am so excited to fulfill my purpose here.  I look at the time that I will spend in Spain as an opportunity for me to travel to many different places, share my language and culture with others, learn more about the people of the world, and also involve myself in a project that I am very passionate about. Therefore, my time spent here Spain will be very fun but also very productive.

And now more on my responsibilities:

1.      First and foremost, as an ETA in Jávea, my primary responsibility is to be an amazing English teacher. I work at a small primary education school where I teach children of 8 different grade levels. The youngest kids are in infantil, ages 3-5 (what would probably be pre-k in the U.S.), and the oldest are in the 6^th cycle, ages 11 and 12. As an ETA I hope to give my students a different view of the U.S. than what they see in the media and also introduce them what I think to be some of the best things about American culture. And of course, I hope to greatly improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing English abilities.

2.      Secondly, as a Fulbrighter, I am also expected to come up with an independent project that I will work on outside of the 16 hours a week that I am in school. I plan to work on two projects: one that is community based and another more personal project.

For my personal project, I plan to do more research on the literature of Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-colonized, and therefore the only Spanish-speaking, country in Africa and I became very interested in the literature of this country while taking a class in college. I also presented some work that I did on the literature earlier this year at the College Language Association Convention and I would love to expand upon my theme and share my research at the next convention. Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, a very famous Equatorial Guinean writer with whom I have had the pleasure to meet, lives in Spain, and I would love to get in contact with him.   

As for my community based project, I hope to involve myself in some kind of community service, whether it be cleaning up the neighborhood or teaching English to adults.  I would love to do whatever I can to help out the community and show Spaniards that Americans actually care about other people and about the things that go on in the world.

3.      Lastly, It would be silly for me to live in the Valencian community and not absorb all that I can of the Valencian language, especially since I am always surrounded by it.  So, while in Spain I am also taking Valencian classes 3 times a week at a school for adults.  Therefore, by the end of my time here, I hope that my Spanish will be almost flawless and I will be at least proficient in Valencian. I have also studied and fell in love Mandarin Chinese for a year before coming to Spain and I plan to continue studying Chinese while I am here so that I will not lose what I have learned.  As you can see, I am in love with learning languages.

There are also things apart from my grant that I plan to accomplish while in Spain, such as:

• Studying for the MCAT and preparing for medical school. For those that don’t know, I was pre-med in college and I am just as passionate about medicine as I am about cultural exchange. I plan to attend medical school in the next couple of years.
• Being an amazing maid of honor. My sister is getting married next summer and I plan to fulfill as much of my maid-of-honor duties as I can fulfill while I am abroad.
  

And lastly, how great will my experience in Spain be if I did not learn anything or change as a person? I hope that by the end of my time here, I can say that I am at least a little more patient, responsible, optimistic, interesting, sociable, and knowledgeable about the world.

I hope that you have fun reading my blog and that you feel as though you are on this journey with me. As you can see, I write a lot and I hope that you do not develop a headache from reading all of my lengthy entries. Feel free to leave comments if you would like.

Love,

L. Oaks