"El Huelga General"

I didn't have classes today because the University was closed for the nation-wide labor strike (el huelga general). All the restaurants, banks, and stores were closed. The public transportation system shut down. The strike was expansive. Amparo (my host mom) explained a lot of the history and politics of the strike to me, but I didn't understand a whole lot of what she said. This is more clear (it's in English ;): http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10925022-spanish-workers-strike-against-labor-reforms

Today I got to meet Amparo's two daughters who each have one daughter. Carla is 2 and the daughter of Rosa and her husband Ramon, and Alicia is 14 and the daughter of Amparo Jr. (not positive that's her name, because I don't understand spanish, but I'm pretty sure) and I haven't met her husband, from what I've gathered, he is a chef. Carla is adorable and full of energy. Today we watched an animated movie with a princess and a unicorn. I understood a fair bit of the movie, so maybe my Spanish is almost as good as a 2-year-old. Cool.

Alicia, the older granddaughter, is really cool. I was able to converse with her more easily than anyone else I've talked to so far. I'm reading "The Hunger Games" and turns out she just finished reading the series, in Spanish of course. The movie is already out in the U.S. but she told me it's coming out in Spain sometime in April and I think we're going to go together!

When I arrived in Barcelona, I brought a couple things for my host mom as gifts, including pancake mix and maple syrup from Vermont. She didn't know what the pancake mix was, and the best I could do to explain it was compare them to crepes. And she was even more confused about the maple syrup. I said it was sweet, and she thought it was honey. This type of miscommunication is constant. It's usually pretty funny. Sometimes she laughs at me. With the maple syrup, I was laughing at her. This afternoon, we couldn't leave the house, so we were all hanging out (Amparo, Rosa, the two granddaughters and me) and she asked me if I wanted to make the pancakes. I said sure!

So I made made a bunch of pancakes while Amparo took notes on what I did. This was a lot of pressure, especially because I can't cook at all. So I made a bunch of pancakes, with Alicia's help (again, she's so cool!). Somehow they turned out okay (phew!) but Amparo was still very confused. Thankfully Rosa knew what was going on because I couldn't explain. Apparently she lived in California for a few months, I think on an exchange program in college, kind of like me! It was very entertaining to watch them eat pancakes and discover the wonders maple syrup. I think they enjoyed it and Amparo said she's going to make pancakes sometime.

Last night, I met up with 10 other kids on my trip for dinner at a restaurant west of the University, in a newer part of the City. We had a table outside and sat around talking and eating for two hours. Before going on the trip, I was nervous because I didn't know anyone else on the program. I'm relieved to find out that nobody knew a whole lot of other kids on the trip, so we're all in the same boat. It's an eclectic group, with kids from all over the U.S., a number of varsity athletes, all different majors, all different clubs at Dartmouth. It's amazing how quickly you bond with people when you're out of your comfort zone. Here's a picture from dinner last night.

Every Friday we have a class field trip instead of classes. Tomorrow we're going to "El Museo de Historia de la Ciudad." I'm excited!

Unrelated
 I have been keeping a list of things that are remarkably different in Spain. This may be a little eccentric, but these are things that I've found interesting and notable:

 • All of my classes observe something called "cuarto de hora academico." Our grammar prof explained this to us on the first day. In Spain, if you have a class at 9am, the first 15 minutes are free to go to the bathroom, make a phone call, get something to eat or drink in the cafeteria, finish your homework, etc. So the professors would begin teaching at 9:15. I think it makes a lot of sense, because then kids are leaving to go to the bathroom in the middle of class.
• There is a big bicycle rental company here. There are literally thousands of bikes and you see people on them everywhere. And the rental bikes all have headlights that go on automatically at a certain time of night so bicyclists are more visible. Makes a lot of sense to me.
• I got a cup of tea in the school cafeteria on Monday, and it was literally the smallest cup I have ever seen. Probably 4 ounces. And it's the same in cafes, the coffee and tea cups are microscopic. I'll have to take a picture.
• In my classes, every single student is looking at the professor the entire time. This is very different from Dartmouth (or anywhere English-speaking, really) when people are looking at their notes, the ceiling, the floor, the walls, other kids, or gazing off into space. I believe this is because we are all working so hard to understand the professors, who speak exclusively in Spanish, that we are entirely focused on their faces. Some kids on my trip have taken Spanish for less than 6 months. You only need 2 terms (or the high-school equivalent) to be able to go on this program. It's nice that we are all on the same level (relatively) in terms of Spanish.
• There is beer in every vending machine and, according to one of my friends, there's even beer available at McDonalds. Huh?
• The subway and tram doors don't open automatically, you have to push a button. And the buses don't stop unless you pull the cord. Otherwise you'll miss your stop. Learned both the hard way :)
• After lunch and dinner, Amparo and I usually watch some TV, which is a fun challenge for me to understand. At night we watch movies, and most of the movies that we've watched have been American movies that have Spanish voiceovers so the mouth movements don't match the words. It's pretty weird, but you get used to it.