Just some more ramblings........

Hello Everyone,

I am in a new internet cafe. It´s pretty nice and I looooooove the music they are playing right now. Some Spanish artist singing his heart out. It is a restaurant/internet shop in my neighborhood. The only problem is that the comp is almost slower than the one in my apt. So therefore I won´t be coming back here.

Did you know that I am in the financial market right now ? Yeah, I have been aquiring more ASSets. Haha. In other words, my butt has gotten a little bigger lately. I am gonna buy more fruits and eat less pasta. But how can I ? The pasta here is so cheap and good !!

I was supposed to have received my diploma from SJSU back in August, but I think that it got lost in the mail. Of all the things that can be lost, it HAD to be my college diploma.

My roommate showed me where I could buy meats and cheeses for dirt cheap prices, so I will be going back. Being in that store was like a new adventure for me because it all looked so good and it is cheap.

Today I had one of those moments where I miss home. Not in a sense that I wanna go home. Just in a way that I am STILL not fully adjusted here. Also in a sense that I hate having to ask my roommate where things are and ask for his help sometimes. I am so used to doing everything on my own. I loved living on my own back home and not having to ask or answer to anyone.

For those of you that know me, you already know that I can´t cook or iron very well. My roommate cooks and irons like a woman. And although I am greatful that he is taking the time to show me, I still feel embarrassed when he is looking over my shoulder to make sure that I am skinning the potatoes properly or hanging the clothes correctly. At least I am learning, right ?

Anyways, I better go. My time here is running out and I better make some food. I am hungry.

 

My Sunday...............

Hello Everyone,

Today was wonderful. I taught English as I usually do on the weekends. I learned that I am getting a little screwed out of my pay, but I am not too angry. It happened because of a combination of a language barrier and simple misunderstanding. She told me one thing, and I told her something different and we thought we were agreeing on the same thing. So therefore, I will be getting less than I thought.

I could have just walked away because normally I wouldn´t work for such little pay, especially since I travel an hour just to get to her house. But this time I decided to let it go because she is having money problems and I understand that she is not trying to cheat me out of my pay. Plus she and the rest of the family are really, really nice and I am learning a lot of Spanish and about Dominican culture. So, sometimes money isn´t everything. If I just leave I will be missing out on having some wonderful friends. But I will be more careful with my next students.

Today after I taught the lesson I stayed over for lunch as usual. Then after that we spent hours dancing. Everyone got up and danced which was nice. It was too bad that I wore a sweater because the weather was beautiful and after all that dancing I was sweating like a pig.

It was nice to see the mother dance with her two boys as well as her dancing with her husband. There is a lot of love in that family. They are always very happy and nice to me, even though their lives have been rough. The boys also taught me how to dance and they helped me translate one of my favorite songs which was really cool.

I also decided to teach them the insults and swear words, and they loved that. Haha. I have a habit of teaching everyone such things. Oh well. At the same time, my dirty vocabulary is improving too.

I went to a huge shopping mall on Friday and I saw some grafitti on the wall with the usual nasty requests and I finally understood most of it. I felt so proud of myself.

Anyways it is Sunday evening and everyone and their mothers are trying to use the internet here. I had to wait about a friggin´ hour just to get online. The connection in my apartment is such a joke because my roomate´s computer was built during the Ice Age. So I kinda prefer to go to an internet shop. I come here also to chat with my family and friends back home. But today no one is on, and no one sent me any nice e-mails so my trip to this internet shop and wait really wasn´t worth it.

And tommorow I will be back on the phones, trying to send business people investment packages. I hate that job.

Ciao.

I Accomplished Absolutely Nothing Today

Hello Everyone,

Well, my English student cancelled on me this morning because she wasn´t feeling well. So that means that after I woke up and watched a little TV I went back to bed and slept like a baby until 4pm. That´s right. 4PM. And it felt good. My roommate tried to get me out of bed so that he could show me where to buy meat and food for the upcoming week at a cheap price, but I told him I was too tired. I really should have gone because now I don´t have enough meats for my sandwhiches. Oh well.

I should be getting paid next week and I have been fantasizing about what I am gonna do with the money. Right now the first thing on my list is to go to a buffet and eat. Haha ! I also plan to go to the movies, and buy a nice pair of long black boots that I found at a store for a cheap price.

Tonight is Saturday night and I am in the middle of Barcelona in an internet cafe off in one of the windy streets typing this. I am supposed to meet a friend soon in front of the Hard Rock Cafe soon.

The weekends really do fly by here, and sleeping in today really didn´t help slow it down either. Oh well.

Ciao.

Inconveniences

Hello there my lovelies,

I am having some problems with my student loans. And it blows. After I graduated I submitted my paperwork to get all my loans consolidated so that I can make a single payment with the lowest interest rate possible. But no, things didn´t go exactly as planned. My damn marketing professor submitted my grade late. Because it wasn´t submitted on time I have to resubmit everything, and I am still not considered as a graduate by my lenders. I am considered as a half-time student. Its hard to resubmit the paperwork when I am all the way over here. Plus it is very difficult to get a hold of my lenders because they have toll free numbers. And like I learned very quickly, it is impossible to dial a toll free number from a foreign country like Spain. I really don´t know what to do because I have to communicate with my lenders somehow.

I am also kinda broke. I have 20 Euros to last me for the next 10 days. That means that I pretty much can´t go out this weekend. Joder ! Luckily I have enough food to last me until my next paycheck but I really like to have coffee and a pastry during my lunch break. Yeah, my office does provide free coffee but it tastes like shit. The cafe con leche at the cafe below is so much better.

I really really can´t wait to get paid. Then I can finally go and eat at a restaurant or hang out at my new favorite bar. I am kinda confined to my apt without a single red cent right now. It stinks.

Anyways, not a whole lot to write about today. Maybe tommorow.

Ciao

 

Joys and Gripes

Hello Everyone,

Today at work today I talked to a guy over the phone named Mr. Looser. Hahaha !!! Luckily it´s pronounced as ( Loh-ser). He´s Swiss and was actually nice to talk to. Better than getting hung up on or shouted at.

At my job I am calling many different countries. Sometime people will just hang up on me after hearing me say "hello" or yell at me as if I clubbed their puppy over the head. And I will react differently according to my mood that day. Normally I just let it go, But every once in a while after I can´t take it anymore I will keep calling them back after every other five calls just to have a laugh. And since I am calling their JOB they have to answer the phone. Ah ! The joys of telemarketer revenge.

I have to say that there are a lot of men in the office. And I don´t think that they get out enough cuz they flirt with us girls a little too much. Normally its harmless, but one of the guys had to comment that I should wear skirts more often so that he could see my legs. (Yesterday I wore a short skirt to work.) Asshole. I mean, yeah. Maybe I should have worn pants. But still, I have a right to be treated with respect in the office. But luckily my old roomate told him to leave me alone, EVEN THOUGH I have kinda been ignoring him lately. That was nice of him to do because I was expecting him to join in instead of be on my side. Maybe we´ll be friends again soon because I kinda do miss our friendship. But I am still mad at him. And when I am fed up, I am fed up.

What else ? Well I am just spending my evening at home and listening to my roommate´s huge collection of American hits from the 80s and early nineties. Good music.

He made Paella over the weekend and shared the leftovers with me today. That was nice. For those of you that have never had Paella, you are truly missing out. And eating Paella from a restaurant doesn´t count. It is best when its made by someone you know. Very good stuff.

My hair is growing longer. I really should get it trimmed soon, but I am not going to the salon unless the stylist speaks English. It took me a few years to grow my hair out like this and it would be a shame to have it ruined all because of a simple language mistake. Luckily there is an English salon here in Barcelona but I am waiting to gat paid. I miss my old stylist back in the states. She was cool to talk to and she always knew what I wanted.

Lets see what else. Ah yes ! I am helping my roommate slowly improve his English. He has a little notebook and I teach him new expressions and words every day. What´s funny is that if you open the notebook to the first page you are greeted by the cuss words, vulgar words and insults. Haha. But don´t worry, I am helping him with normal words and expressions too.

As for me, I am slowly improving my Spanish even though I still have a long way to go. There is a saying here in Spanish: Poco a poco. That means "bit by bit". So many people here tell me that and that is the motto I live by right now. There is no way I am just gonna learn everything here within a short period of time. I will learn things slowly each day. And by the end of my stay I will be able to see how much I have improved. In fact, I know I have improved and I can see the results. But still, I have a long way to go.

You know what my biggest pet peeve is here ? It is other people doing or touching my laundry or sharing loads with others. I have always washed my own clothes in my separate loads. I even hate it when my grandma does my laundry. So you can imagine how peeved I must be that I have to share the washmachine with my roommate. When I put in my clothes in the wash he always sneaks up and puts his clothes in along with mine.  And when I am at work he hangs our clothes to dry and I am not around to do anything about it. And sometimes I try to do my own laundry when he isn´t around but that´s no good because I can´t figure out how to use the washmachine so I have to wait till he comes home to help me fix it. Gah !! I know, I can be so touchy sometimes.

Anyways, I better get off this computer and do something useful like clean my room. It is disastrous right now and I really should clean it up. Plus, I still have to write a long, profound letter to my friend Sandra.  Sandra, if you are reading this I promise to write you back, okay ?

Okay, Bye !!