Clothes Pins & Dentures

The rain in spain doesn't stay mainly in the plain. It actually rained once when I was in Madrid and it has also rained a few times in Cabra (where I live in Southern Spain). I’ve had to run upstairs to the roof to grab my clothes off the clothes lines because it had started to rain. There are no dryers in Spain. Only washing machines. Everyone hangs their clothes on lines with clothes pins. :) Sometimes I feel like I’m in a movie… or dreaming.

This is the end of my 4th week in Spain and my 3rd week teaching in Cabra. I teach 4 days a week from in a primary school (ages 3-12). I teach some English classes and some classes of Math, Science and Arts & Crafts, but in English. Most of the children are eager to learn and get very excited when I walk in the door. The younger classes are more difficult than the older classes. I have to change activities constantly to keep their attention. They love singing. I’ve taught each of my classes 2-3 different songs in English and we practice them each time I go into the room.

This week I sat in on a few rehearsals for a chorus at the centro filharmonico in Cabra. The group has been rehearsing a traditional zarzuela (Spanish opera) and it was so much fun to watch. They even gave me music to sing along. I’m glad reading music is the same in Spain. Yes, it’s all in Spanish but at least the notes are the same (except they use fixed “do” here).

Tonight I went to watch a different choir perform. This choir had only 9 voices. The choir director works at my school and asked me to come so that I can possibly sing with them in the future. I hope I get to because it was outstanding. The entire night was dedicated to teaching the audience about the history of music, and showcased the wide range of repertoire from each time period that the choir performs. The choir members spoke about the different time periods and how one influenced the next through the new developments of the composers from their respective time periods. Each piece represented the evolution of music from Medieval times all the way to the 20th century. I would have loved to have been a part of the preparation for this concert. The only piece I had sung that they performed tonight was the Rachmoninoff “Ave Maria,” except it was sung in Latin and I’ve only sung it in English. Still, it took me back to significant times I had sung it with different groups, first with the Lee Singers at Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga during my Freshman year of college, then to Israel with the Glenn Draper singers at the Sea of Galilee. It was amazing to be sitting there in Spain, hearing the beauty of this piece once again.

Spain really is beautiful. Everything is so old and history and tradition is so special to the people here. Enjoying life and relaxing is also of much importance. That was the second thing that was hard for me to adjust to in the beginning- slowing down and taking in the world around me every single day, enjoying my meals, enjoying the company of others, reading, walking, etc. The first thing that was hard to get used to was not having my cell phone always ready and available to call or text people. I’ve been alerted to the fact that my cell phone gets in the way of the moments in which I’m living, but I never grasped that fact so fully until I got here and wasn’t able to use it. Honestly, it’s like a breath of fresh air and life is a little bit sweeter when I walk down the street and can hear my thoughts instead of someone else’s voice on the other line. (No offense.)

I do get homesick. I miss the luxury of knowing that my shower will always be hot and being able to contact someone without having to subtract six hours (or 12 if you’re Emma and live in Hawaii). I miss throwing clothes in the dryer real fast to get the wrinkles out. I miss going to the library and knowing I will be able to understand the text of the book I want to take out, or not having to worry about shutting the lights behind me when I leave a room (as I sit here and write this in the dark…), or being able to say quickly what is on my mind instead of making a person wait 10 minutes for me to spit out one sentence. At least my Spanish is getting better because of the pressure to speak and learn quickly.

I must tell you about my landlord. First of all, he reminds me of the guy from “Life is Beautiful.” He’s so happy and jolly all the time. He and his wife said they will be our parents away from home, which is so comforting to know. They are both so sweet. Claire (one of my roommates) and I go to his work occasionally (he makes dentures for people) and sit in this room while he and his oldest son and his brother work on making fake teeth. We just sit there and practice speaking to them in Spanish. It’s so humorous to me to watch them take the molds of people’s (missing) teeth and scrape and polish and do whatever people do to make new teeth. We talk to them about where they’ve been and sports and things we are interested in doing while we are in Spain, places we want to visit, things we studied at school, places we’ve been in the states, etc. It’s a great time. The office is the bottom floor of this huge house (owned by the parents of my landlord, who is the oldest of 7 males) and the house has rooms with lots of beds for when all the brothers come home to Cabra to visit and bring their wives and children. (Again, so humorous to me.) He showed us this one room that looked like it was the bedroom of the seven dwarfs. That is exactly how the beds were lined up. Yes, just like in the movie. One of the rooms has a piano in it because one of his brothers is a piano teacher and a professional player. He performs all over Spain. I am welcome to play there to practice whenever I want, and I have!

Almost every day I get lost and almost every day I find a new street. Don’t worry, I always find my way home and this always happens in daylight. The streets are so tiny here. Most of them are one way and cobble stoned. I live in a piso with one of those terraces with the wrought iron railings. I remember seeing these in Italy and thinking that I would want to live in a place like that some day. It’s so quaint to me and yes, I do spend time out on my terrace, reading or eating or watching the events of a car accident unfold, sadly.

Things feel right. I’ve been wanting to live in Spain ever since I dressed up as a flamenco dancer for Halloween one year, when I was little, and heard of my mom’s experiences traveling in Spain. I sort of always knew I would get here some day but didn’t know when. Sometimes when I walk down the streets of my town, I feel like I’m dreaming. Other days, it feels so normal and I feel like I’m exactly where I belong at this point in my life. Even though my emotions go up and down with being sad from missing people and not being here for singing purposes, or being on highs from seeing tons of new places and learning Spanish, over all, estoy feliz. :)