Milestones

It's my second-to-last night in Salamanca and I can't believe that I'm actually a little sad. How is this possible? After enduring two summers of no air-conditioning, people treating me like I'm an idiot (speaking to me in English as if I became enrolled in this program by pure magic), and spending 48 hours/week in class, I thought I would only be more than happy to hop on the bus on Saturday morning. I am extremely happy to go home, of course. First and foremost to see my new husband and begin my adventure of living with a guy for the first time in my life. Second, to taste the sweetness of normal beet sugar rather than cane sugar (it's not sweet!). To not eat rabbit at lunch. To feel cold air blowing on me in the house and in the car. To not pass hookers on my afternoon walk.

Despite all the things I have missed and can't wait to have back, I can't help but feel sad. I've spent the last three summers in Spain, not to mention a year here when I was younger. This country feels like a home to me more than ever place ever will besides, of course, HOME. I will miss getting up before sunrise and running, feeling as though I'm in the movie Vanilla Sky where the world has ended and Tom Cruise is the ONLY person in the street. I actually was in Madrid for the premiere of Vanilla Sky, which comes from the Spanish movie "Abre los ojos". (It is totally dead around here at 6:15 a.m. Unbelievable. And dark at that. Until quarter to seven. How is that possible in the summertime?) I will miss the rigorous schedule and constant studying. (I know, I am sick.) After I started packing tonight I felt a little strange having only one exam to study for. I certainly am not stressed out enough. I actually went to the bar in the dorm after dinner. I can just about count on one hand the number of drinks I have had since the end of June - that is how much work there has been to do.

I cannot wait to take a break next summer and finally experience the relaxing summer than I have not yet had since I started teaching. Triathlon training, cooking, basking in the glory of my recently completed thesis... It just feels strange, and a little sad, that this is the end of my Spain days. On the other hand, I finished my Master's in Spanish. Hell yeah.

Wedding photos

Our wedding photos are online! To view them click here. You will need to create an account. The access code is: christineandnikolaijankovich

Eggs and ham...I mean, pigs

I got an e-mail from my mom today letting me know that another wedding gift arrived at her house. I am *super* excited that Leslie and Jamie sent us the egg poacher! One of the hundreds of wedding e-mails I received during the planning process was from Williams-Sonoma, featuring this new item. I immediately forwarded the e-mail to Nikolai to tell him how much I loved it and that I wanted to add it to our registry. Yaaaay Jamie and Leslie! Thank you so much! I can't wait to come home and use all my new gadgets!

The second highlight of my day was finding an adorable pictures in my friend Elena's tabloid magazine. I swooned over the picture and asked if I could have it. I ignored the strange looks from my friends as I happy ripped the page out of the magazine. When I got back to my room I Googled "pig in green boots" and it was the first find. Aww! Check out the article too. This is adorable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2105763/Meet-Cinderella,-Pig-in-Boots.html

I can't figure out how to post a link yet! It is not working.

Brain at Capacity

One day of exams down, one to go. Today was Art, Spanish Grammar and Linguistics. I am beyond mad at myself for making two idiotic mistakes. One on the grammar exam and another on the linguistics test. I cannot believe I put that the word for peanut comes from Arabic. I KNOW that it is "indoeuropeo" (throwing out a Spanish term just for you, Leslie). Dumb, dumb, dumb. I am sure that as you are reading, unless you are a utter perfectionist who thinks it is acceptable to have been studying for days on end to the point of a severe hand cramp, you are wondering, "Why does it matter? Who cares where peanut comes from?" The stress lies in the fact that our grade for each class comprises a miderm grade, a final exam grade and a very small participation grade. With the exception of the grammar exam (which had a mere 10 questions on it), each exam is 20 questions. This means that, essentially, my GPA for this Masters degree is based on these tests. Which is why I am killing myself to memorize every little detail. I'm taking a short break from studying Literature and Society/Politics. You should see the little sayings, songs and poems I'm coming up wiht to help me remember this material. For example, "MNHL" stands for "my new house lover" (I hate the word lover, but please bear with me), which represents the authors of the second phase of Modernism - Martinez, Nervo, Herrera and Lugones. Yes, this is what I am doing with my time. I'm drinking Coke Zero for inspiration and my breaks today have consisted of going to our evening class (cinema) and writing this blog. One it's all over, it's right back to it since I need to stay on top of the material each day so that come exam time it doesn't get worse than this. We receive an incredible amount of material and input each day. It is harder for the Americans because we need to pay attention every moment so we don't miss anything. There is no spacing out when it's not in your first language. The native speakers, I'm sure, wonder why we crazy Americans would put ourselves through this. All I have to say is HAH - at least we ROCK the grammar portion. They are all DYING, while my friends and I totally get it because we understand the rules behind everything.

Has anyone made it this far in reading???? On a much more positive note, Nikolai sent me a fun package of treats today! Applesauce, popcorn, tuna... All to help me when I am sick of the dining hall food.

thoughts & few pictures

The teachers I am in Salamanca with are very different from me. Granted, I have my small Salamanca "family" of a few close friends who I eat, study and sit with in class, and last night was an awakening as to why I hang out with the people I do. Last night made me realize that bigger differences exist between not only me and the many native speakers (there are only five non-native Spanish speakers in my class), but also between me and the "married" people on the program. Why does the work require quotation marks? Because apparently this program, rather than being an amazing educational experience, serves as a mere escape from reality for many people. There are quite a few married people on the program who do not wear their wedding ring and quite obviously try to hide the fact that they have a spouse and, in some cases, a famiy. Last night a birthday celebration turned into midnight in the plaza with a few classmates. I will spare the many details of a conversation I had with one of the girls, but share a very important event that resulted from the evening. I called it a night around 12:30, but everyone else went out. Well, the girl I'd been talking to all night, sharing stories about marriage and her and her husband's decision to start trying to have a baby when she returns from Salamanca,apparently had a visitor last night. My friends and I saw them leave our dorm together this morning. She made eye contact with one of my friends as she left the building, but she looked down and ignored my friend. I cannot stop thinking about this. It makes me sick that this is what people are doing on this program. I felt like I was the only person last night, other than one other man at the table, who had these wonderful, happy stories about my relationship and wedding. I'm keeping my distance now from certain people and using my remaining weeks to concentrate only on my classes, my yoga and running and the things that I want to do here (photos I want to take, etc.). It is strange to feel left out because you are doing the right thing!

Best day EVER

Seeing as how I should be studying, I thought it would be the perfect time to not only update my blog with Spain posts, but also belated wedding posts. Thanks to my friends, I have some great pictures of what turned out to be a more amazing day than I could have ever imagined. Thank you for all the pictures and wonderful post-wedding e-mails!

So much since the last post...

So much has happened since the last time I wrote, obviously. I have eight days knocked off of the remaining five weeks of my Masters program. The trip is much better this summer, considering a) I am not sick and b) it is not yet 105 degrees. Today we went on our first excursion of three. We visited three towns about an hour outside of Salamanca - La Alberca, Mogarraz and Miranda del Castanar. The towns are said to resemble the small towns of France. They were all very similar, in my opinion, with cobblestone, narrow streets; old, old buildings; a church (we visit a church in EVERY Spanish town I visit); and beautiful, huge flowers on balconies and alongside buildings. In Miranda del Castanar we saw the very first Spanish plaza where bullfighting took place. The same town also has an amazing shop full of soaps, jewelery, olive oils and wines.

Fun fact: Spain in the largest producer of olive oil in the world. Many people believe it is Italy, but the truth is that Italy just markets the product better, which is why the large bottles of olive oil we buy in the grocery store are often from Italy. I bought two bottles for my food-loving husband - one that goes well with pizza and pasta, and the other for vegetables and bread. I also bought soaps for my mom, a pair of earrings, a bottle of wine and a block of walnut turron. Apparently I will be leaving my clothes (and hole puncher - don't ask) behind in Spain to make room for my "recuerdos" (souvenirs). My Spanish must be getting better, as it just took me at least five minutes to come up with the word souvenir in English. Either that, or my English is only getting worse.

The weekdays are booked with classes from 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. with a break from 2-4:45 for siesta. It is not much of a break, once I walk all the way back to the dorm, battle the crowded cafeteria and get ready for the evening class. I've managed to keep up with running while I'm here, amazingly enough, as it's not too hot yet and I can squeeze a workout in at night. My friend Susan (she is from Napa Valley and teaches in a bilingual elementary school) found a yoga studio near the university and we are going to a class together tomorrow evening. Yes, I crammed a yoga mat into my suitcase. Right next to the hole puncher.

Five weeks and counting

I updated my wedding to-do list yesterday and realized my nonchalent answer to "What's left to do for your wedding?" is actually much, much longer than "Oh you know, just the slide show." Yikes. Should I be worried? Tomorrow I must leave all wedding worries at home because I'm going to party it up with the ladies!

To-Do List 5.15.08

Decide on guest book
Finalize table card names & make them
Choose, print and frame various pictures for guest book table
Area behind stage? Photos blown up as posters? (N’s job.)
Buy pens for guest book
Programs
Marriage license – call them first
Slide show
Decide on music for slide show (esp. for N’s pictures)
Buy earrings (Christine)
Buy necklace for Marnie
Gift cards
Wrap attendant gifts
Buy and write cards for attendants and parents
Shower thank you cards
Order thank you and place cards
Stickers (possibly for hotel bags)
Shop for hotel bag items
Assemble hotel bags
Buy and assemble baskets for hall bathrooms
Tags for attendant gifts
Order address return labels?
Pick up maps!
Flowers for church (Home Depot – Mom)
Fun quizzes for the tables?

Candy Girl

i devoured diablo cody's Candy Girl in one day. i raved about how well it was written; i couldn't put it down. i googled her once i finished the book and learned that she wrote Juno, which was nominated for four Academy Awards. i prided myself on spotting a great writer, as if i am the one who discovered her. as i lie in bed on snow day, getting over a cold, i thought, "that could have been me! i should have stripped for a year and written about it!" nikolai was not thrilled to hear of my remorse over letting my prime stripping years pass me by. read Candy Girl. it is fantastic. it's the perfect mix of mainstream suburban, bad girl and surprising wit.