"No Pasa Nada" and other bits of Spanish wisdom.

Hola a todos (Hi everyone)!

I'm writing on the eve of my departure to Barcelona, having experienced my first real week of classes and feeling very wise- culturally and otherwise.  The weather here today is windy, and I got caught in a bit of rain on my run by the boardwalk on the beach today, but the outlook for Barca is 60 degrees and sunny all weekend.  The sun will be shining and smiling down on all of us at 6:45 am tomorrow on the buses...6:45. AM. We are all quite pleased about that. I think that our arrival time in Barcelona isn't until around 7pm because we will be stopping twice along the way to have coffee in one town and wine in the other.  Normally, Barcelona is about a 3 1/2 hour train ride away- for reference.  Anyway, I'd like to share some of the cool things I've learned so far- having experienced Spanish as a "teacher" and student as well. 

Today we took the time to meet with spanish students in an education class to help them improve their english (they all want to be English teachers, eventually), and got their information on Facebook, email, and whatnot in the hopes that we will get to spend some time with them on the weekends.  Their English really wasn't too good, and we spent most of our time showing them where on the map of the US we lived and telling them what Las Vegas was all about.  I feel a lot more confident in my ability to speak Spanish after realizing that Spainards, too, have trouble learning new languages.  One thing very different here is that the pressure on students to graduate in 4 years, have a steady job, degree, family, and whatnot is nearly nonexistent.  We were with a 28 year old and a 33 year old, for example, who are still making their way towards their degrees because they chose to take some time off to backpack/volunteer/travel- one even had 2 kids.  They told us that, for them, all that matters to their families is that they can support themselves and that they're happy.  It was sort of an eye opening experience for my friends and I (one of which goes to Johns Hopkins and one Penn State) to realize that they aren't defined by their educational successes or failures.  Here, when you take your final exams in May (even those to become a lawyer or doctor), if you fail you can retake them in June. 

My actual  "intercambio"- the person I meet with every week here to just hang out "bilingually" is a law student studying patent law.  He graduates in 6 months and is what we in the US would consider fluent, although his pronunciation and a few tricky grammar rules are off.  Anyway, I have found myself completely at a loss when it comes to US cultural knowledge because he has seen literally every classic US movie ever made- in English.  So, I've taken it upon myself to begin watching the US classics instead of Harry Potter for the 7th time (in Spain there are no laws on file sharing, so you can watch pretty much any movie you'd ever want for free).  Last night, for example, the Godfather.  Now all I want is a huge plate of spaghetti.  In my Politics and Terrorism class this week we watched the Stanley Kubrick movie Clockwork Orange (very strange, very gruesome) as well so I feel like I'm becoming a more legitimate American citizen by the day, despite the fact that I'm speaking Spanish.

One of the funniest things I've found in teaching english slang is the words that Spanish people like the most.  My intercambio, for example, loves the word "lame"- thankfully something more modern than all of the phrases he's gotten out of US movies from the 40s-60s.  "Buddy boy," "pal," "fella," and "madam" are a few of his (sadly outdated) favorites.  He is in his IP (international patent law) classes with a big black gay man from the Caribbean, who has taught him such useful phrases as "homeboy," "chill out," and "dawg".  Que locura! (locura, in Spanish, means anything that is crazy.  For example, "Tenemos que reunir manana a las siete menos cuarto de la manana.  Que locura!"- meaning, "We have to meet at 6:45 tomorrow morning.  How crazy!")

Anyway, for Spaniards, like I mentioned with the pressure at school thing before, life is not something that is filled with deadlines, or even being on time.  Everyone here, from people who you accidentally run into on the street, to my understanding health professional professor on the first day of class (I was 30 min late following a bus ride/accidental scenic tour of the ghetto) says "no pasa nada"- or roughly, "don't worry about it".  I equate it to Hakuna Matata in a sense, because it really does mean "no worries".  Not that everyone is the same as the barefoot man with dreadlocks who spends his days making elaborate sand castles on the beach (it's called Postiguet) in town, but you get my point.  It is arguably the most used/lived by phrase of the trip so far.  

Obvious phrase for this entry- "No pasa nada." Fingers crossed that for all the people who are late to the bus tomorrow, this will apply...

Love yall- Casey

(Sandcastle man's handiwork)