Wednesday, March 16, 2005, 1:04 p.m.
A little about the new job: So, the new job is good ... the commute is way rough; it's an hour and a half each way, and it's a metro, another metro, a train, and a bus, with connections to make between all of them (in other words sometimes I'm running to catch them ... and sometimes I miss them, like today, which meant I had to take a taxi to work which cost 7 euro, for a class that I only earn 15euro for). That means, for example, that I traveled for 3 hours in order to teach for 1 hour today. But the students are very nice, so once I'm actually AT work, it's nice. I feel like more than anything this has confirmed the pact I made with myself long ago in Japan to AVOID A COMMUTE if I ever get a 9-5 job. Commuting sucks, as I have now learned on long, chilly October afternoons in Japan and cold March mornings in Barcelona. Also, for some reason, both jobs were teaching English in industrial areas, which in themselves are kind of depressing, I'm not sure why.
Another note about my work: As I mentioned, Wrigley has bought out the company and there is a sign up outside that says "Stop labor terrorism." Apparently Wrigley is planning on firing FIFTY PERCENT of the people working there - and nobody knows who or when. I said "See you next week" to one of my students today and they said "Maybe." I feel really bad for them; they aren't like 25-year old workers who can just crash with their parents while they look for a job. They have children and mortgages and many of them have been working there for more than 15 years. I heard Wrigley is doing it just to increase profits. That could just be a rumor but given my enormous faith in the generosity of American corporations and their willingness to do the right thing, I'm thinking it probably is. It sucks.
I was really sick yesterday; horrible sore throat, very tired, headache, the works. I'm feeling a lot better today but I am still wondering why I keep getting sick. I don't usually get sick very often and since being in Europe I've been sick - as in, seriously sick where I had to take a week or more to recover - at least 4 times. What's the deal? Luckily while reading Nicole's diary it appears to be either a being abroad thing or a being in Europe thing ... I'm not sure, but either way it made me feel better to see how often she has been sick!
Small things I have noticed about Spain (this list will be added to and possibly compiled):
- they eat pumpkin here the same way they do in japan - as a real vegetable. here, they make yummy soup out of it -- just pumpin, puréed, with a little salt. it's really good. Why don't we in the U.S.?
- they eat bread like the french - NOT tortillas.
- paella is for tourists, unless you are from valencia, when you actually eat it as a food. the rest of spain (well, catalunya ... i don't know about madrid) doesn't, apparently, eat it.
Things I really like about Spain:
- the speakeasys
Things I really don't like about Spain:
- people smoke. lots of people smoke. ugh.
Language spot:
#1 When the Spanish want to say "Speak of the devil [and the devil appears]," they say "Hablando del Rei de Roma [y por la puerta asombra]" (Speaking of the King of Rome, [and through the door he surprises you] ... only it rhymes in Spanish so it's better).
#2 Este sera en Español porque no le importaría a alguein que no lo habla. En Latina America, se usa el pasado preterito (estoy casi seguro que es eso). Por ejemplo, "yo le DIJE a el que voy a venir." En España, casi siempre se usa haber + verbo (no me recuerdo a este momento lo que es en palabras gramaticas). Entonces, "Yo le HE DICHO a el que voy a venir." Para todo -- he visto, he leido, ella ha compradolo, etc etc. Era difícil para mi cuando he llegado, porque he estudiado en costa rica y estaba acostumbrada al pasado preterito ... pero bueno, when in rome. :)
Interesting/relevant poem I got out of one of the english-teaching books at work:
The Responsibility
by Peter Appleton
I am the man who gives the word,
If it should come, to use the Bomb.
I am the man who spreads the word
From him to them if it should come.
I am the man who gets the word
From him who spreads the word from him.
I am the man who drops the Bomb
If ordered by the one who's heard
From him who merely spreads the word
The first one gives if it should come.
I am the man who loads the Bomb
That he must drop should orders come
From him who gets the word passed on
By one who waits to hear from him.
I am the man who makes the Bomb
That he must load for him to drop
If told by one who gets the word
From one who passes it from him.
I am the man who fills the till,
Who pays the tax,
who foots the bill
That guarantees the Bomb he makes
For him to load for him to drop
If orders come from one who gets
The word passed on to him by one
Who waits to hear it from the man
Who gives the word to use the Bomb.
I am the man behind it all;
I am the one responsible.
On a more light-hearted note, here's a quote I liked: "My hopes are so high your kiss might kill me; so won't you kill me so I die happy?"
