Four weeks in!

Hola a todos:)

To start this post off, I must tell you something that happened on the way to "el centro" (the student center) just now. My professor for my culture class is something you would see off of a comedy. He is a skinny, probably around 80-year old man with a terrible come-over, who seems to always fit a sex joke into his lectures. On the way to el centro, Shelby and I see him. As I am about to say, "Buenos Tardes," he COMPLETELY takes me by surprise and says in a very Spanish accent "Whats uuup?" Neither Shelby nor I were capable of responding. We just died laughing.

So where to begin?! I guess we'll start before Tropical Storm Isaac. As you know, we have been very limited in our cooking wear, so this is how we have been making scrambled eggs:

Yes in these little tiny coffee cups. Who know they would turn out to be so useful?!

However, we discovered we can make scrambled eggs with coffee cups, and we can make pancakes and toast by putting olive oil straight on the burner and then throwing them on! SO, this is what we got... our first REAL breakfast!! :)

Pancakes, toast, eggs, grape juice and coffee. BOOM. 

 -Remember. Little things. :)

Shelby and I had also been talking about how boring our dorm room was. So we bought a glass jar of amazing apple juice, because the bottle was so cool. After the we drank the juice, we went walking around San Germán and picked a bunch of flowers. This isn't even all of them, this is just all that could fit. We were pretty dang proud of ourselves! Haha.

First dorm decoration 

Annnd I guess that leads us to Isaac!

Two weeks ago on Wednesday, two of the girls that work at the "front desk" or whatever of the dorms, came into our room, woke us up, and told us that there was a storm coming and that we had to be out of our rooms by four. They also told us we would be there until FRIDAY. They gave us ten dollar "tickets" to go get food at el centro.  They told us they we had to get our food before 2:30, when el centro would close.

Side note: Communication is NOT the university's strong point. It has been a constant frustration since the minute we got to campus!

As I was saying, we got up and decided to go get food first and pack up and move out later. We started throwing a few things together, when some other ladies came up and told us actually to be out by 1. So,  we didn't have to get food first, so we showered and got ready, threw a few things in a bag, locked the door, and headed out. We went to the boys dorm, where we would be staying, threw our stuff in the lobby and headed to el centro.

When we got there at 1:10, there were only a few older men there working and they kept shaking their heads and saying, "está cerrado." So we tried to explain that we were told it was open until 2:30, but they refused to let us in. We had just been kicked out of our dorms and thrown into a room without a fridge, with a little bit of dry cereal, so this food was pretty important to us. I contacted one of the coordinators I knew (who had told me 2:30) and we sat at el centro until she had made enough calls, and finally 2 ladies came out with a couple bags with chicken, rice, beans, cheesecake, gatorade and water in it. Por fin!! Gracias Surmari!!

So we stayed there, playing pool, walking around, being bored, waiting until Friday. We even had a four hour game of hide and seek throughout campus one night. On Friday, Shelby and I were about to pack up and leave when we discover that we had to stay until Sunday! Madre mia! We literally walked 45 minutes away to "La plaza oeste" to get some food and underwear, etc. I even bought a cheap dress because I ran out of clothes and they were sweaty and raunchy.

This is an example of our days in the boys dorm:

Lacy, enjoying our time hiding from Tropical Storm Isaac

Shelby and I were also supposed to have our grad class on Saturday morning. We were concerned because we didn't have our books or anything, none of our homework done and the girl dorms were locked up. So we asked the coordinator, Linda, about it. She said with completely certainty that classes began on Monday because all of the students went home. Come to find out, as we hung around and did nothing on Saturday, that no...we actually missed our GRAD class that meets once a week.

Scoreboard? Communication- 3 Puerto Rico - 0

It was really good to get back, to have a working refrigerator, a functioning toilet... oh wait. We STILL don't. Haha.

As you know the avocados here are absolutely amazing. We decided the only thing that would make us feel better is some good guacamole. Here we have four avocados (yes only 4...they are ginormous), onion, tomato, adobo (Puerto Rican seasoning), salt, pepper, and some lime. Literally the best/cheapest guacamole of my entire life.

Found a pot for $1.99...Now to get a bowl....

So we got through another week of classes. Still pretty stressful, but I think I'm handling it better than I did when I first got here.

I went to a bible study in Spanish on Wednesday that was pretty cool. I kept up pretty well. I got ahold of Spanish bible and I would have been able to keep up better if there was any lighting. It was still cool. I started getting the hang of the songs. I wish they'd pass out lyrics or something!

Also on Sunday, I went to a local church, off of campus. This was a lot harder for me to follow. They were on this stage thing and they were talking into a muffled microphone and I was pretty much lost. However, here is a story you might enjoy... This is what I hear during the service:

"Blah.. blahh blah blahh.... blah blah.. blah.... Courneeh Peteersuuun???" My heart STOPPED. I hit Drew on her leg..
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Drew? Did you hear that???? They just said my name!!"
Everyone at the church service started looking around. I didn't know what to do! I just froze! Alvero, the guy sitting in front of my turned around and gave me a look, so I put my hand in the air and waved a little. Hahahah Oh shoot. I'm laughing right now thinking about it. She said something in microphone I didn't understand. I looked around. "Nombre! Nombre!" the people around me said.
"Oh! Courtney!" I said. Didn't she just say that?
She asked me if I understood Spanish. I gave her a shrug. "Mas o menos..." I told her. She welcomed me and Drew and tried talking to us in broken English for a minute. Inside, I was like BEGGING for her to return to her announcements. I guess that's a thing they do to newbies? Ahhh finally she started talking about something else and all eyes were off us. Thanks for putting me on the spot CHURCH.

On Thursday, the other exchange girls and I, (minus Christine) decided to dress up and go to a nice restaurant. We went and got tapas and this place called "Tapas Cafe" It was such a fun girls night out. We got a glass of wine and some amazing food. It was fun getting dressed up with my ladies.

Here's a little intro to the other gringas! (again, minus Christine)

Shelby Baker, originally from the suburbs of Chitown
My roomie, and another Spanish TESOL lady at UNI:)

Drew- Love her!
Originally from California
Goes to school in Texas to run track:)

And miss Lacy:) :) Muah!
From Wisconsin!
Also studies in Wisconsin

That leads us to today! I know the Iowa - Iowa State battle is this weekend so I decided to represent my hawks!!

Whoop whoop!!

My mom is coming in 2 weeks! I getting really excited. We have a lot of fun things planned. Oh my boyyyyfraaaaand gets here 4 weeks from Saturday!

I have my first Spanish Lit homework due today and my first quiz in my Language and Reading class and I am Freaking out. That's right. With a capital F. Haha. Dame suerte! (Wish me luck ;) )

Miss you all! 

Keep in touch! 

Clases

Aye Dios mio. I have survived my first two days of classes! I had two yesterday, Spanish Literature II and Language and Reading. They were both okay. I am still having a hard time keeping up in class, but I think I got the jist of it. For language and reading, she was talking about the different sounds and she called on my like 10 time because I was the only non-native Spanish speaker in the class. Thanks doctora! Pick on the Gringa why don’t you?!

While I was in class, I think I was having a mild panic attack. I bit off all of my nails…Yes, all nine of them! Also I was pressing so hard on my notes that my writing almost went through the paper. Oye, I need to take a chill! I am seriously laughing thinking about that. I was so scared of getting called on.

So today, I first had a Puerto Rican culture class in the morning, and then at 4:30 I was SUPPOSED to have my only class that was going to be taught in English! Phonology. We are there for a couple minutes and then a lady comes in to tell us this class has been cancelled because there weren’t enough students signed up for it. SO that means we have to be entered in a graduate level course that meets every SATURDAY for three hours! And we don’t have class on Fridays so its literally right in the middle of the weekend. Oye!

Oh well, so far things have been gettin better poco a poco.

Yesterday we actually cooked some real food that she learned when she lived in Spain. It was absolutely incredible. We cooked carrots, onions, cilantro, garbonzo beens, garlic, garlic powder, spinach (we hope), salt, pepper, water, and olive oil in a pan.

Que Rico!

Shelby and I have been moved to three different rooms in this darned dorm and none of the toilets have worked. So this is how we flush:

J We seriously take bags that we have accumulated and fill up the tank one by one to get one flush. We have tried to sync our peeing schedule actually. Pretty affective if you ask me.

Not a lot of other news to report here! I miss everyone, but I think this will turn out to be a good experience. Btw- my texting works here, so you guys better keep in touch! J

Hasta luego!

                                       

poco a poco

Thought of the day: Nothing is really anything except by comparison. Examples that support my new philosophy in which I have learned in Puerto Rico so far:

·      Iowa is not “hot”

·      Florida is not “humid”

·      My shower today was hot when thinking about yesterday’s shower

·      -but cold compared to showers at home.

·      Molly doesn’t talk “fast”

Okay enough rambling.

So Sunday after I tried posting my failed blog, We went to a pizza place and grabbed something to eat. We went in and ordered a “Medalla,” the local Puertorican beer (for only a dollar might I add), when an old guy (who I call “el viejo”) decided to chat our ears of for about a half an hour about everything in his life. Some of it was very interesting. Some of it was very lame. By the end of our conversation, Shelby and I had free Lasagna, a couple free beers, an offer for two motorized bicycles, and an empty apartment. Not bad. I guess we reminded him of his daughters who live in Nebraska. He keeps his apartment empty in hopes that one day they will retire and come live in it. It turned out to be a very interesting night, but we’ll stop there for my mom’s sake.

This post might be very lame. For some reason my camera says “memory card wright protected” every time I try to take a picture. So I finally got the honker I got from Craig’s list up and running.

Yesterday was also interesting. (I think I have said that about every day so far.) We started it by putting out a fire in the kitchen. We smelled something burning, so we followed it down to the third floor and dumped water on the stove and opened the windows so the fire alarm would stop going off. So strange. Las extranjeras to the rescue!

The lady who owned the pizza place, Margarita, fell in love with us on Sunday and made us come back from karaoke last night. It was so much fun! Are Puerto Ricans born knowing how to merengue? (I think that’s what they were doing). Most of the people there were special needs that were on a field trip to go out dancing. They all had better moves than this Gringa!

Food has been a little frustrating. We just got a fridge last night so we didn’t buy anything cold when we went grocery shopping the other day. I opened the fridge today and laughed to myself at the ridiculousness of it all.

  

Also, I stopped and laughed while we had lunch today. If I was more aware of everything going on around me, I would never stop laughing. This was our lunch:

Yes a little plastic coffee cup of chicken and rice soup and a little plastic coffee cup of…well… coffee.

I also had my first breakdown. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing well keeping up in the conversation, but with one particular guy… Oh.  My. Gosh. It was like he was speaking a different language! Wait. That phrase doesn’t apply here. Um, It was like he was from a different planet! That’s better. Hopefully the language aspect gets a little easier or I learn how to handle better. Whoops!

Another interesting thing that I have never done before: laundry in the shower. I’m going old school…. Until I can find out another place to do laundry. I can already tell its going to be crazy going back to Iowa. I feel like everything is going to seem so easy!

I went to the supermarket today. Check out these avocados!! They're absolutetely amazing.

 and this is how they sell bananas... still part of the tree. lol

and now time to sleep... or try. Its hard to be optimistic right now.  lol night.

Days 1-3 in Puerto Rico...Oye....

Hola a Todos!

Well, I made it to Puerto Rico in one piece! And that’s about the end of my good news of my Puerto Rican travels.

Okay, that might have been an exaggeration… But it’s not far off. Where to begin? Well, we started in Chitown on Wednesday night. 

Our journey began in Chicago with Girodano’s Pizza. Not a bad start.

Mmmmmm…..:)

The next morning we got the airport in the morning and our family sent us off. Flight to Atlanta was A-okay. Flight to San Juan was A-not so okay. After getting in our seats and waiting a while to take off, our pilot informs us that there is a storm over us, and we have 50 planes ahead of us to wait for. Hummm…

So we finally make it to the airport and find a cab to the cheapest hotels we were able to book. Wrong hotel at first, of course, but we get there.

Our hotel in San Juan

Hotel in San Juan

After we get settled in our room, we decide to check out the city of San Juan. It was very different than we expected. We couldn’t really find any places to go to get a drink and some food (after 12 hours of unintentional fasting), but finally we find somewhere. We met people, practiced a little bit of our Español and hit the sack.

Friday morning, we got up at 7, had breakfast and tried to figure out how we are going to get to the other side of the Island (San Germán) by 1 for our orientation. Our morning could be summed up in one word: frustration. After walking for about 2 and a half hours and talking to every car rental place in San Juan, we decide our best option is to get a cab for a hundred bucks each.

Our temporary dorm

Our bad luck really begins at this point in the story as our 2 hour drive turns into a nearly three hour drive. Countless times, our cab driver would pull over and yell, “Oye Mami! Como se va a la Universidad Interamericana?” And once again we would get lost. Not to mention he drove 20 miles past San Germán in the first place.

My bed

The dorm "decoration"

Living...space?

So we finally get to our room. After many efforts, we fail to find our coordinator, Zulma, so we go check out our room. This is what we discover: 

• we begin classes Monday
• neither one of us has a set schedule or books of any sort
• we don’t have a fridge
• it’s about a hundred degrees and humid as a sauna
• we don’t have air conditioning
• we live a pretty far walk from the nearest grocery store
• the lights in our bathroom don’t work
• the shower water is freezing (and barely works)
• we don’t have a key to our room
• we don’t have shower curtains
• I don’t have sheets, blankets (not that I would need it) or a pillow
• we don’t have internet; 
• the town is a ghost town. 

We go down stairs by the bathroom and steal one of their toilet paper rolls

After several of these realizations, Shelby I sit, staring at each other repeating “what do we do…what do we do?” We decide to go for a walk and find something to eat. It has been day two of 12 hours of unintentional fasting. We walk and walk, trying to figure out the town. Everything is closed. We finally reach an open restaurant; I can almost taste the food when I get a call from a Puerto Rican number. It’s Zulma. She has been waiting for us. She instructs us to turn around immediately and go back to campus. So much for food!

We finally find Zulma, meet a couple more “estudiantes intercambios” and she takes us on a tour through campus in a van with windows you can’t see out of. I still have no idea where the buildings are. She takes us to a different part of town, where we can get a couple needed things from the grocery store and we can finally eat! She takes us to “El Meson,” a pretty good sandwich place. It’s right next to McDonalds, KFC, Payless and Kmart. Who woulda thought? When we said our names were Shelby and Courtney, this is what we got:

So we finally got food, got back to our dorms, and passed out. At like 8. Which is like 7 in Iowa.  Oh I should probably mention, when I DID try to take a shower (after a couple days of sweating), it worked for about 60 seconds, started sputtering and then shut off completely. After this, I think I just laughed and thought I’d try again in the morning.

So yesterday, we got up (pretty late), and Shelby turned on the shower, in which yellow water came out, which I’m pretty sure was from our urine still sitting in the dysfunctional toilet. OYE! Finally a little bit of clearish water came out and looked something like this:

Our shower?

Then we met up with Zulma and she tooks us on a trip to walmart to get some groceries and other essentials, like toilet paper, hangers, sunscreen…. Oh and most importante: a coffee pot! I was so tempted to buy a few of these. They were just too cute:

Oh and side note: They have a guard stand about ten feet high in the middle of the walmart parking lot for an officer to watch for people trying to steal cars. Yikes (sorry mom)

Oh and while we’re on the subject, if you go to a bar for a drink in Puerto Rico, you must be patted down to make sure you have no guns or knifes on you. (Sorry again mom. )

We also found out that we would be moving to a different room that had a fridge! And hopefully a functioning toilet. (which we now know also doesn’t work). After this, we explored the town a little bit. The town is built on seven HUGE hills. Like crazy incline. This is a little short cut within the university that goes (part way) up to our dorms:

Another bright side! We found a new pet in our roomJ We named him Patricio. Don’t know how he got in our room, five stories up. Don’t wanna know.

Patricio!

And so we went out and had a couple local beers before calling it a night last night. Now I find myself sitting at burger king on my computer. It is the closest place that has internet.

Us walking to Burger King today!

SO in conclusion, things are getting better everyday. My dad sent me an encouraging text that really made me think. He said God has a reason for me here. The people here live like this everyday, and all the complaining I have been doing made me realize how spoiled I am at home. This IS going to be a good experience for me. I can do anything for four months. Prayers appreciated!

Adios!