Reverse Culture Shock

After 3.5 days of near heart attacks and no sleep, I finally arrived to New York, except my suitcase was not so lucky. Because one flight was delayed and the other layover was cut down to a mere 55 minutes, my suitcase did not make it onto my connecting flight in Heathrow. Unfortunately this lead to more stress- all of my Christmas presents were inside!
Anyway, 26 hours later my suitcase was hand- delivered to my home! (With everything in tact-including my wine!)

However, being home has felt like somewhat of a dream. Except I cant figure out if Valencia was a dream, or if I am in a dream right now. I feel like im in limbo- I cant decide where I belong, both feel so right.
It seems like it took me 4 months to adjust my life to Spain- and I took 4 steps forward, and two steps back. I'm torn, but Ill be ok

So let me just make some bullets of some thoughts I've encountered while I'm here re-assimilating myself to American Life

-How do I flush the toilet?
-Wait, I have more than one option for sweatpants and sweatshirts?
-It's safe to put something heavy on the top shelves of the fridge??
-No,I am not going over 55 mph- Go around me!!!
-What do you mean you're out of French Baguettes??? Where's the nearest panaderia?? pastelaria????
-OMG those people are Americans-they're speaking English!!!... oh wait....
-I have never seen so many people wearing pants down below their butts... do these people have jobs??
-Heres my part of the bill..... wait, TIP!!?!?!
-"Gracias, Hasta luego... I mean thanks!!!"
-No I am not almost done with my coffee,  what's the rush!?!?
-one kiss? whats wrong, why not two?
-dinner? im not hungry i just ate lunch!
-wait, i need to throw out my trash?

Flag Day in Spain.... or not so much...

Unfortunately, my surrogate mother here in Spain, Maria Jose has become "malita" aka sick. She lost her voice last week and the doctor told her not to go to work for 15 days!

So guess who is head honcho English teacher? Thats right... moi.

Now although I began the experience of a Spanish "solo week" feeling confident and calm... I then got sweaty-palm nervous! What do I teach? How do I follow through with classroom management? What if they don't listen to me? What if some major problem occurs? I dont speak Valenciano! And I'm lucky if the young ones know Castellano!

Stay calm Chels... you can do it. What's the worst that could happen?

Well, day one was the absolute worst!
Teaching 1st level- they were actually fine, a little tough to keep them focused, but I don't blame them because they're not used to listening to only English for an hour straight!
5 year olds- Whoa. I blocked this memory out of my brain. All I remember is a lot of little kids talking, not even noticing im in the room, then one student stepping on others and punching and kicking them! (this class almost caused me to release tears, but I held back knowing that every teacher in school has a problem with this class!
But the highlight of my day... was 6th level, first thing in the morning. Everything was going smoothly. They are really beginning to understand me and are generally helpful and understanding towards the language barrier!
Well, after learning some Christmas vocabulary, I tried to play something like "Hot Potato" with a Christmas ornament (you get stuck with the Papa Noel bell, then you say a vocabulary word we learned today)
Then before I know it, one student turns to his neighbor (another boy).... and FLAGS him. What is flagging? He pulled down the kids pants!
I did not know what to do! After recovering from the shock of having his pants to his ankles, the kid straightened up and started laughing, thank goodness! If he had cried, I think I would have too!

Que Vergüenza!

Here is a funny story that occurred today- Only in Spain!

So today, I woke up nice and early as I always do, and after doing some yoga stretches (this is not typical), I decided to make some coffee.

So I go into the kitchen and set up the coffee maker, and I start cleaning up the dishes from the night before. Then all of a sudden, I hear a *click*...

I look into the other rooms, and I realize the lights went off. Fantastic.  First reaction: get a flashlight and candles. Then I realize its 10 am and I can just open the blinds.  So my next though is: *circuit breaker*

Now, we don't have a basement, so I start walking around wondering where this box would be. Then I go to the obvious place: the front door. There it is, staring me in the face, taunting me.  So I turn all the switches, then turn them back. Nothing.
So I do it again. Nothing. Then again, in different combinations. Nothing.
Ok, time to call the Dueño. I call Nora for his number. Then luckally Margaxu wakes up and comes to help me out. So we call Paco, but his cell phone is out of service. Great. Paco is skiing in the alps or something and we're going to freeze in our cold, unheated piso.

So we call the electric company, since we ourselves haven't paid any bills, perhaps the bill didn't get paid? No, everything is fine. The lady even reset our electricity (twice) and we turned off and on the the circuit breaker again. Still, nothing.

Next step, since Paco still is unavailable to us, is to call an electrician. Because the rest of the vecinos (neighbors) have power. The man is annoyed, and tells us he'll be here in an hour. So what to do? Well we dont want to freeze, so we opt for a café at a café.


To our surprise, its hot out! Its over 60 degrees outside by noon (this is ironic because of my last post about the weather) Anyway, we decide to sit outside and enjoy our coffee while we wait for the electrician.


So finally, he arrives. (Oh but we also had to warn him, that when he comes to fix our electricity that is broken that he can't ring the bell because THAT is broken too) Anyway, he comes upstairs, looks at the circuit box... and within 2 seconds, our light turns on.


The man flipped a switch, the same switch I flipped 3 times.


"Que vergüenza!" (what embarrassment!)


Here's the best part: the man looks at us and says "That will be 130 euros"
I looked at Margaux and said "wait, HOW much did he just ask us for?"
We kind of had the fear of god in our faces Im sure, and played dumb americans, and probably looked on the verge of tears, and explained that we had done that 3 times already and its not our fault!
So finally, we did some great negotiating, and he only charged us 20 euros!!!!


So Marguax did her infamous scream out of frustration, and I just shook my head in shame.


But the way we see it, we could not fix the problem ourselves, so we  technically did pay for it to be fixed, and at least we had electricity, and heat (even though the day turned out to be over 70 degrees!)


Que vergüenza!!!!

USPS > Correos

Fulbright helps us out a lot with finances, yes, this is true. A travel stipend was even given to us, which included round trip airfare and "extra baggage fees". However, I did not want to use all of this money, because I knew I was going to go home for christmas, therefore needing TWO round trip tickets (but oops, I only have a one way back to Spain!)
So as a result, a closely followed airline restrictions concerning baggage dimensions and weights. Also, because I knew I'd be lugging my two suitcases containing my life from an airport, to a hostel, to a dorm, to a temporary apartment, to a real apartment. That's a lot of lugging I did not want to do with more luggage than hands available!

But because my parents are pretty awesome, they agreed to send me a box of more clothes when I got there and had a fixed address. Thanks mom and dad.

So my parents send my package around October 22nd, insure it for 200 USD, and it should arrive to me within 6 to 10 business days.

So, within 6 to 10 business days (after checking my mail religiously every day) I receive a notification: That my package is held in Madrid. And then they used all these big Spanish words. I vaguely am familiar with this, because the Addie received the same notification.

I march to my local Correos office, and the man tells me "they'll send it to you, just fill this out and fax it back" I ask if I need to pay... and he says nope. Just fill it out and mail it back.  I do not trust this man and his pushy answers.

So the next day, the fun starts. I bring it to school and all the profesores are investigating my mysterious vague letter. After an afternoon of phone calls, Maria Jose informs me that I need to declare what is in the box, bacause they think I will be selling my clothing or avoiding taxes.

Maria Jose assures them that no, I am a teacher here on a Fulbright scholarship, and that I am wearing my bathing suit every day because all of my clothes are in that box!

So I write my fancy spanish declaration, and wait a week. Still no sign. I check the tracking every day and still nothing.

So the friday after the writing of my package's declaration of independence, we call Inmaculada at la Aduana (customs) and she says oh sorry, we never got it, we're very busy here so I dont know how long it will take.
Then we get "well, maybe if Americans did not send over clothes here to sell without the labels, this wouldnt happen"
excuse me lady, but my clothes are from target and marshals, they are not worth enough to rip the tags off and sell them on the beach in November with the guys selling sunglasses and massages.

So after daily harassment phone calls to Inmacculada at Customs my package finally arrived.... ON THANKSGIVING!! I sure did have something extra to be thankful for that day:

 

PEANUT BUTTER!!!!

What else was in the box?

*2 jars of Peanut butter

*3 boxes of crystal light packets

*Burt's Bee's chap stick and Vaseline

*My old nose ring (the new one was too big!)

*3 dresses

*2 blazers (one new)

*2 new long sleeve shirts

*2 old long sleeve shirts

*A few tanks and tees (i requested them in September- will be put into use in the spring!)

*5 copies of the local newspaper I made the cover of (anyone in Spain want a copy?)

*Nips candies (which addie quickly claimed one box, oh and half a jar of PB)

*And maybe a few more items of clothing.

Here is a picture of addie and I utilizing my box of clothing and NOT selling it on the beach:

two of my dresses and a new blazer-thanks ma!

Also, a special thanks to Maria Jose for harassing Customs on a daily basis

To Esteban for also calling customs for my cause

to David, the father of the girls I tutor, for being willing to have the "customs guy" at his company try for me too.

To my parents for going through the trouble of sending it to me

And to my worry-wart mother who insured the box for a lot of money, making customs think I was going to sell the contents of the package for a tax-free profit!

Lesson learned:

when sending yourself clothing, do not insure it

or

either suck it up and take more clothing with you for an extra price and lug it around the iberian peninsula with you

or

avoid possible discrimination and send it to someone with a spanish name..  not someone named Chelsea Dixon

Valencia- Where there may be 300 days of sunshine, but that doesnt mean its warm!

So when people hear that I live in Valencia, they instantly think I'm at the beach every day in my bathing suit under a palm tree eating oranges. Well people, you're incorrect. Because although there may be 300 days of sunshine, it still gets freaking cold!
Yes yes yes, it may still be hitting 60 degrees in the sun some days at 3pm, but in the shade, or in the mornings it is not so pleasant...
More specifically, it is not pleasant in the mornings, on a basketball court, standing around watching kids through hula hoops at each other for an hour.
It is so chilly here... and trust me, I'm layering and trying to keep warm (because I realize I'm infamous for refusing to accept the fact that its winter)
But I promise! Today I wore jeans, a long sleeve shirt, under a short sleeve sweater, with my heavy coat, my thickest scarf, gloves, and my new boots!
Apparently, that's not enough because all these thin-blooded Valencians think I need a ski coat
"Don't you have a jacket like that?" (pointing to a ski coat)
Yes, yes I do, its in New York
"Can your mummy send it to you? You should have brought it"

Ok, lets discuss this.

While yes, I DOOO have a ski coat, I only wear it to go skiing. I never wear it at home to carry out daily activities, unless those activities consist of traveling down a mountain for some hot cocoa and clam chowder at the ski lodge.

And my mother does not want to mail me a ski coat. Its big and bulky and Correos sucks (post still to come!)

And why did I not bring this coat with me when I came? Well sorry that while packing back in August, a ski jacket was not my first priority!

Now today after freezing outside for an hour, I was chatting with my friend Libby. Here is the actual conversation:

Me: i mean, i went to college in a place where it was negative degrees fahrenheit.... and  didnt wear a ski jacket, so why would i do it when its 40 degrees?

Libby: i don't know, that doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me

Me: but then agin, i never had to stand outside for an hour everyday and watch kids throw hula hoops at eachother

Libby: what the hell are they doing with those??

and why on earth are they still having to be outside?

it's december for goodness sakes

Chelsea: there is no gymnasium in the school

so its outside.... every day of the year

Libby: what kind of school is this

Me: Lucky me gets assigned to gym, the girl with poor circulation who is always cold

lol i hate being cold, i think its the worst feeling in the world

Libby:  it is, most definitely

maybe if you were allowed to drink a warm beverage while you did it..

Chelsea: no id still be against the idea

maybe if i could sit in a sauna

Libby: hahayeah, they don't have a gym, but they'll for sure build you a sauna

Chelsea: do you know that one time i went in a dry sauna? and it was like 45 degrees outside, and i was so cold that the sauna just warmed me up... and i never broke a sweat after being in there for over 30 minutes

ill build my own sauna

 

So basically, im starting a fund to raise money for warmer clothing and supplies.... and a Sauna!!!!