World Cup and Fencing

The World Cup starts today and, I fear, will account for much of my time. However, I am going to excuse the hours I plan on spending in front of the TV by telling myself that watching the World Cup in Spain is actually a cultural experience. For me not to watch the World Cup would be like a foreigner, staying in Columbus in the fall, not witnessing an OSU football game- I would miss out on a unique and core aspect of Spain's culture. I was fortunate enough to be in Spain during the final days of the last World Cup, and I remember that when Spain played France (I believe in an effort to qualify for the championship), Pamplona's typically crowded streets and parks were dead. The silent anticipation felt volatile, like OSU campus when the football team is in the middle of a National Championship. I'm looking forward to the similar sense of culture and purpose, especially since I'm predicting that Spain will go far!

During the spring and summer in Pamplona people live to the upmost outside. Kids are constantly playing soccer in the plazas, the park, and even sidewalks. Young and old alike walk about and sit pensively on benches. In my daily walks and runs I see people standing in clusters and sitting on benches chating with animation. Mercedes, the mother of Rafael, left the house the other day to go for a walk. 5 hours later she returned. While in the U.S. such a disappearance might have caused worry or even panic, in Spain, one does not go on a quick walk without expecting some social encounter to delay the termination of the walk for an hour or more. This constant activity and sense of energy in the Great Out Doors is one aspect of Spanish culture that I would adopt and bring to the U.S. if I could.

Last weekend I accompanied Conchita to the end of the year festival that David and Kevin's school put on. There were some aspects of the festival that one could find in the U.S.: an inflated castle, an ice cream stand, and water balloon fights. There were, in addtion, many soccer, basketball and running competitions among teams from each grade that maintained a high level of entertainment for me. Finally, there were exhibitions by the jai-do and fencing classes. After the fencing demonstration, an announcement was made offering audience members an opportunity to try fencing themselves. Naturally, I jumped at this opportunity, but then I observed that the oldest person lining up could not exceed 7 years of age. I had a brief vision of fencing against an obstinate 6 year old, which concluded in my jabbing him so hard with my sword (completely unable to shun my competitive nature despite the circumstances) that the entire crowd booed me, so I decided to remain on the sidelines. Conchita, familiar with my affinty for any activity, encouraged me to line up, but I pointed out that I would not be comfortable competing against a child. She waved this aside and proceeded to the woman that was helping the instructor and requested that I fence against the instructor. Well, this was not exactly what I had had in mind. Ideally, I would be taking on a boy my age and would defeat him soundly. I was not as keen on being demolished by an expert, or worse being handed the match. However, by this time the situation was beyond my control, so I went with it, trying to appear as comfortable as possible. When I put on a chest plate with room for breasts, the observing crowd that had been dispersing began to thicken once again. Children stared at the older girl that was going to partake in this violent activity.

The competition did not go too poorly. The instructor was generous enough to look like he was making an effort, although I found out later that he had fenced with his weaker hand. I lost 5 to 1. We were given 3 minutes in which to fight, and I was shocked (as I typically am with any activity I am not familiar with) at how fencing in a contained area tried my conditioning as much as it did. And as always I was really happy that I had tried it.

In the upcoming weeks I am going to try and include pictures in this blog, and hopefully I will eventually figure out how to include more than one.

Adios For Now!

De La Cuidad De San Fermin

Greetings from Spain!!!

I'm on the move again. Saturday, May 29 I left Columbus for Pamplona, Spain, where I will be spending the next couple of months.

I arrived in Madrid early Sunday morning where I was greeted by Rafael, Kevin, and David Martinez. There are 9 members of the Martinez family, although when they left Columbus 10+ years ago there were but 5. The oldest of the 7 children is Adela who became my closest friend shortly after her arrival to the U.S. in kindergarden. Through this connection our families became well acquainted and since they left the U.S. after my second grade year, we have maintained that connection. Members of both families have crossed the Atlantic in order to improve either their spanish or english communication skills.This is my third venture to Spain and 5 days ago my ability to communicate felt woefully similar to my first visit 4 years ago.

When I first came to Spain in 2006 I had had only 2 years of Spanish and conversations were possible only under the assistance of constant interpretation. This time I arrived confidantly with 5 years of Spanish under my belt and decent test scores to back me up. My swagger faltered slightly when I met the 3 Martinez waiting for me and I could recall naught but the most basic Spanish: ''Hola'' and ''¿Como estas?''. No problem. Surely this blankness of mind was due to the sleep I could not obtain during my 8 hour flight. ''Just give it time '', I told myself.

Next thing I knew I was in the village of Rafael's ancestors meeting mothers, great aunts and second cousins, and my confidence gave out like the wind. Here were these generous faces gazing at me expectantly and I could only smile blankly and stutter on.

After a couple of hours I accepted that I would have to struggle as if I was working with only a few years of the language. I settled into the background, observing the family and attempting to take in as much Spanish as possible. This was fairly easy, for our next order of business was to go to an outdoor mass in honor of the last day of the month of Mary at which several villages gathered and celebrated. I'm sure that this has to be the best mass children of the villages ever attended, for they were permitted to play at the perifery of the service and throughout the duration of the mass there persisted subtle shrieks of glee.

Internal tension again mounted when we returned to the Martinez house in the village for lunch. I knew I would be expected to voice opinions and desires and generally participate in conversation. Older members of the family began to gather in the kitchen and with each addition there was a crescendo of noise, for each time a voice was added voices near had to escalate slightly, and like a wave oscillating between 2 equal forces, so went the chatter as each group had to make itself heard over the one next to it. I strained to understand the basic ideas of the 7 different conversations for fear that I would be asked a question regarding the subject matter of any one. I relaxed as I was not expected to work as hard as I had anticipated and was consequently able to enjoy the excitment and merriment of the chatter. I was permitted to take a nap before we drove the 3 hours to Pamplona and had only to say adios the remainder of the day.

Fortunatly, in the 5 days that have passed since last Sunday my Spanish has begun to catch up with me and I am much more capable of understanding conversations and slightly more capable of contributing to them. I have started to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows in Spanish and due to my history with the book, I have been able to reintroduce words to my vocabulary and learn new ones. In the meantime, I read Anne of Green Gables in English (the Martinez own a good selection of childrens books in English). I was completely sucked in and since I finished, have gottan myself a library card and obtained the second and third books in the series in Spanish. Harry Potter will be on hold for a while.

Hasta la semana proxima-

Nora

P.S. I apalogise for any spelliing aarors- this computor corrects only Spanish and ass of yet I have not been able to figure out whterh checking anglish is posibñe.