By Aaron
Lost in Translation:
Freshly Madrileños once more, Joni and I got back into the groove of Spanish life and language this week. Starting with our time on the plane the reintegration to being surrounded by Spanish speakers went pretty smoothly, and overall I'd say it may have even helped to be mostly cutoff from the language for about a fortnight. There was, however, one frustrating moment in Joni's quest to call a doctor. After cross-referencing online lists of English speaking docs in Madrid with providers who accept our insurance, Joni called a number. After a brief (and successful) conversation with the woman who answered, Joni was told that this office did not, in fact, take our insurance. Not to be detoured, Joni called another number - which appeared to be for a hospital rather than a specific physician. But after a couple minutes of letting the phone ring, she hung up in frustration. "How long is it going to ring? They probably won't accept our insurance. And I probably won't even be able to communicate with them!" We've since been put into e-mail contact with a personally recommended doctor...which may prove useful.
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| A beautiful sunrise welcomed us back to Spain! |
Once we returned to Spain, I joined Joni on a walk to her class at Ignacio's house as my hours have shifted around this trimester. It was great to get to a new part of the city (for me) and to be able to better envision the neighborhood that is home to one of Joni's more entertaining students. We've been enjoying the 60 degree weather after surviving the frozen Midwestern
Memorable Meal:
When we were in Goshen, Gregg and Lavonne cooked up a divine curry dish. I don't know what all was in it, but the result was fantastic. We really enjoyed chatting with these good friends as they graciously prepared us a hot meal. Fingers crossed that we'll see them again soon... We also got some extra company from Bracton and Bri when mealtime came around!
En la clase:
As noted previously, my workload is shifting as students' schedules change frequently - though I've been promised more classes in the coming week. In addition to her returning classes from the fall, Joni has a few new classes:
- A brother/sister pair of high school students, who Joni calls "quite possibly the nicest teenagers I've ever met, and also very serious/quiet."
- A brother/sister pair of elementary school kids. The girl is the older of the two, and has been described by Joni as "a bit demanding and obsessed with crafts" to which I responded [no comment].
- The mother of the aforementioned teenagers, who is preparing for the Cambridge exam and "runs an incredibly tight ship of a home...but in a good way!"
Stories will surely be forthcoming, stay tuned.
Final Notes:
It was a week of adjustment and acclimating to our unconventional-yet-familiar environment. We're nearly adjusted to the sleep schedule, though we did have a few restless nights of surprising friends in the states with calls at 3AM Madrid time. As seems to be the case in such moments, we felt we did not maximize our inordinate amount of free time to it's fullest potential. One of my many new year's resolutions is to sleep less, and this week was full of far too many nine-hour nights. I know the research is varied, but I recently happened upon some that claimed adults need only seven to function at a high level. That's what I was accustomed to in the states, and honestly I feel more drained than rested after a night of anything more than about eight. All that to say we feel the promise of a new year and we're excited to see what the future will bring.
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