"la elección del mundo"

On Tuesday, November 4 as I climbed into José Ángel's car on our way to El Robledo for the day, there was the usual Spanish salutation of "Good morning" followed by the equally customary "How are you" that sounds more like "How are jew?" in his wonderfully slurred English-Spanish mix, that I purposely do not call Spanglish not for fear of copywright infringement but rather due to it's more Iberian and less Mexican / Central American source. But on this Tuesday, the fourth of November, 2008, he added an extra solitary word, with the inflection of curious interrogation: "Obama?"

Living in Spain during this period of election speculations and preparations has had many advantages and disadvantages. Namely, I'd like to state that one advantage is that there was (and still is) never any lack of investigative journalism done on the subject of what's the latest in United States politics, and thus even if Friday night's Presidential Debate isn't spoken about in the newspaper until the Sunday morning edition, you know it will make the front page and be given at least three pages of space for review and opinion. The main disadvantage is not that what happens on Saturday Night Live is only given but a paragraph's summary in print or broadcast journalism (in fact, that such things are reported at all is something to consider), but rather that being six hours ahead all the time meant having to decide whether or not to sacrifice the time in between midnight and six AM, Wednesday, November 5 in order to watch the minute by minute coverage of the results as they came in. Whilst I was anxiously checking washingtonpost.com at 1 in the afternoon on Tuesday, I had to frequently remind myself that people were only just going to the polls with their Starbucks coffee and Dunkin donut (or donuts, if they wanted to be generous to their fellow line-waiters).

Thus, upon waking on Wednesday the 5th, to the sounds of my iPod playing "Hail to the Chief" (not by poetic happenstance, but rather on purpose), I rushed to the living room of my apartment as soon as I could, flipped on TVEspaña 1 and let the results come as they would.

Furthermore, if the coverage and attention given this election by the Spanish press and public is any indication, the status of the United States is certainly one of great importance, or, at the very least, great interest, for better or for worse. As a few of the professors at el Valle remarked on Monday during our weekly professor's luncheon, the election is not just for the United States, it is "la elección [más importante, supuestamente dado las opiniones de ésta gente] del mundo" (the [most important] election [given the opinions expressed by those present] for the world). It is worth echoing an observation already mentioned that to look at today's edition of El Mundo makes one feel that he or sshe has not really left home as, because they can see page after page dedicated to the summary, discussion, and minutae of the election results and the people who made it possible (if not for the obvious difference that all such information is conveyed in Spanish and not in English). In particular, the Op-ed section today either centered around speculation about what will be the first moves of the President Elect, how he will have to go about proving that he can bring the change he has promised, or was simply just thinny veiled elation and relief upon receiving official word of the new face of the United States.

I've even learned things -- if not just rediscovering things -- about the political history of my own country here through this press. It's a neat thing for anyone here to experience... assuming of course, that this "anyone" comes from the United States.

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Before I log off and go to bed, I feel I need to say one other thing about this week that I couldn't think how to tie into the the above discourse, though it is related. While sharing some tapas on Monday night with a few British friends in the Plaza Mayor, I was approached by a man who asked if I was from the US. When I answered affirmative, he told me that he worked for the local branch of a national radio network, Cadena Ser, and that they had been looking for Estadounidenses living in Ciudad Real to come in and speak on the topic of the election's outcome this Wednesday evening, but that so far he had been unable to find anyone. Long, lucky story short, they interviewed and recorded me last night at 7:00 PM local time and broadcast it this afternoon at 1:00 PM. I was unfortunately not able to listen in, having still been in classes with the kids, but I was told by the mayor of El Robledo (the town where the school is located) that it was a very nice interview (the station told me they'd send me a link to find the online archive feed, but I haven't received anything from them yet. When I do, I'll be sure to post it with a translated transcript).

My, my, my... first local broadcast news and meeting the President of the region, now a one on one interview on the local branch of their national public radio system. What's next? A guest appearance on Física o Química, the number one hit teen drama on the air in the country right now (and also the subject of what I had planned to talk about -- though still can next time -- before deciding that election-based content was clearly a more important matter to discuss)? One can dream, eh?

All right. A picture or two of the last few days, and then I'm out. Chau for now,

-Nick.





watching the results, early wednesday morning on TVEspaña 1

The Mothers of Pueblo Nuevo de Bullaque

Today I write from the smaller of the two schools that I work out throughout the week, named Pueblo Nuevo de Bullaque after the small pueblito in which it is located. There are only about 25 kids, ages 3 to 12, four professors, and thus the three classes that meet are smaller, more intimate, and mixed in terms of the grade levels.

I only go in on Wednesdays and work with each of the three classes, pre-k and 1st grade, 2nd and 3rd, 4th through 6th, and then, after the little recreo (recess) period, I meet with a handful of the parents and hold an English 101 session with them.

At first, that last bit was the most daunting and vergüenza-inducing bit of my week (vergüenza literally means "shame" but here, "hestitation" or fear"). The first day I arrived at the school, I was informed that I would meet the parents that same day. Immediately my mind went racing to figure out how to gague their prior-understanding, what topics to cover, and at what pace to move through the material. It obviously wasn't the most well-structured agenda and we bounced around quite a bit, but at the end of it I had come away with some important notes for the next class.

1) When they told me that they wanted to learn the most basic English, "o sea, lo más básico de lo básico," they meant it word for word --or perhaps even letter for letter.

2) I should plan it by topics that relate to topics that they would most likely need to use.

3) I should plan more than we will be able to cover in that one hour session.

It's only been three sessions, but I feel that the more recent two have been great improvements to the first. Today we reviewed salutations and good-byes and began to work on vocabulary and simple questions about the family (who's who, where do they live, how many ________ do you have, y ya está -- that's all), and I really came away from that lesson feeling that I had really done well and that a comfortable atmosphere had begun to develop within our little study group.

It's a very rewarding feeling to feel like you've helped someone, but I think there's more to it than that: I think they're helping me too. In "lo más básico" of terms and ways, after all these years of having it the other way, they're now helping me to understand how difficult it is to understand English and what it really means for one to speak too fast in his native tongue. Additionally, I'm learning how to properly form certain Spanish phrases, acquiring some new ones, and dropping some bad habits I've formed in my own acquisition of the language. There's a third and final part here that I haven't yet been able to articulate... I'll post it when it surfaces. Suffice to say, at the risk of sounding repetitive, it's a very good feeling and a rewarding experience.

On the whole, it's been a good week. Some teaching, some running in the park near the apartment, some football watching, and some good cooking. It's good to feel at one with the universe, even if you can't always say what's on your mind in the local language.

chau for now,

-Nick