¡España 08! Part 2: La Janda

We were told beforehand that while we were in Vejer, we would be attending a language school called 'La Janda', with a qualified Spanish language teacher, Daniel- he seemed pretty nice. There was also a class of computers that we could use during free time to email family and friends- Monique and I had an intense pen pal conversation, with lots of CAPITALS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!! EXCITING! =D Jess and I did not make a good first impression, however, getting totally lost on the first day we were scheduled for class- at 8.30am.

Getting up and ready, downing the best toast and jam I've ever had (to this day) by about 8.15, we thought we'd make a move so we'd have extra time in case we got lost. It's like we knew. I remember predicting we'd have trouble finding it, but I didn't think it'd be this hard. It SHOULD HAVE taken us about 5 minutes max?

We made our way up the street (we, thankfully, were staying on an easily located main road), past a pub (I could've sworn it was 24/7) with some crazy looking people whose faces we'd get to know quite well over the next couple of weeks, and into the big white maze- considered not much larger than the hometown of our school, Orewa- not recognizing anything from our map of the town and the directions to our school. The darn thing didn't prove much help.

It started to rain and we were now late. Texting didn't help, but we EVENTUALLY found our way (at 8.50am). We had a fun class (the 'smart' one out of the two)with our relaxed (for now) teacher Daniel- who thought my name was Justin, and Justin's name was Dustin- extending our vocab and whatnot, and when the time came for a 1/2 hour recess, or 'pausa', we ventured further into the white wash town and down to a small kiosk to buy some pokémon toys and that's where the beautiful fountain, La Plaza De España is, and the massive roundabout (more about that in 'European Drivers'). The myth behind La Plaza de España is that people of the town would put tiny fish, or 'los pescallitos' in the fountain to swim around, and in the evenings, little children would visit the fountains to take un pescallito home as a pet. Cute =) At the kiosk we also found a DVD of Vejer to remind us of the town when we came home, and also some postcards so we could start writing right away! Not to mention our recently devoted interest in a Spanish sweet, called a 'happy hippo'- it tastes sort of like a Kinder Surprise bueno bar, but in the shape of a hippo with cute sprinkles on it =) yum!

Class ended at 12.50pm. We had been told to be back around 1.30pm for lunch, and then siesta- so we had a few minutes to look around before venturing home. We came across some neat little bakeries and stores, but when it came time for us to find our way back to the main road, we got lost again. Fun times! Literally! Getting lost meant we could explore the town with a valid excuse. So we did, although we were looking for a familiar street, cause we didn't want to annoy Pepita.

Somehow, we came across a large castle (later we found out it was the most cherished structure in Vejer, and in 'the old part' of the town, as there was also a more modern part, deeper into the white maze of apartments), and an elderly group of around 25-30 on a guided tour. This was a great opportunity for us to learn a bit more about the town as well as hopefully find our way home- although we were horribly out of place. Few good photo moments =)

We found our way home soon enough, just in time for lunch, which was VERY generous. A delicious tuna salad, lentil and rice soup, a nectarine and some bread- sheesh! After lunch and during siesta when all the shops were closed, our group of friends went to a park somewhere in the town to play hackey with a rugby ball, and came across a young, chubby Spanish kid who told us he was 6 years old. He was funny- then he started throwing rocks at Vinnie, which was hilarious, until he chased Jess and spat at her. Umm...? So, after playing in the park until siesta finished, we had managed to find our way home and head back out for the newly opened shops to do some gift-hunting. I bought a gorgeous minty coloured scarf, that I still have to this day! It's beautiful =) but that was all I ended up buying. We then got an official evening guided tour by our tour guide, Nono, who taught us that ¡Todo bien, tío! is the Spanish equivalent to 'sweet as, bro!'- We took a couple of cool pictures of pretending to fall off things, fall through things, and went to a special roof top where creepers and vines are grown to create a really pretty venue for perhaps a small wedding or a psalm reading. Our dinner was at a local Italian restaurant (Vejer was full of franchises that weren't Spanish), called the 'Pizzeria'- wasn't going to be our last visit, either.

That night we also came up with both a code call in case of us getting lost again, similar to the bird call but instead screeching ¡Arriba! (Spanish for 'up') which never actually worked. The valuable code word we did come up with, however, was a way of us girls telling each other that we spotted a good-looking Spanish boy without getting cringes or smart remarks from the boys. The code word was 'Vespa'- typically because all the guys in the town were riding around on them, and we could easily say 'I see a Vespa!' and have faith in the fact that there actually was one, so the boys wouldn't think we were nuts.

The next day, we were the first ones to school! With the help of Alex and Lotta. Today wasn't the best of classes however, as we had to crying class members at different times over different issues. Jíaneca was upset because just before she left New Zealand with us, her boyfriend had proposed to her. She was only 17, and our teacher found that quite odd. Spain is still traditional, with marriage at about 30 and at the same time, the first move from living with the parents to starting a life with their newly wedded partners. Screw odd, he was shocked. At the kiosk for pausa, Vinnie and Sean lightened the mood by buying them out of one type of lolly. I think they bought about 30 of these red marshmallow lollies? They weren't even that good, but it was funny =D

And then Alexandra got upset over our discussion that the verb 'enfermar' (to be sick) was treated as a temporary feeling, using 'Estar' (in temporary concept, e.g. 'estoy triste'- 'I am sad') rather than 'Ser' (permanent concept e.g. 'soy una chica'-'I am a girl'). Why was this so upsetting? Because Alex debated that some sicknesses are not temporary, using the example of her beloved horse dying of a cancer she could not cure, and for matter of the topic got rather upset when Daniel denied her reasoning. It was a little awkward in class after that.

Over the two weeks, our participation in the schoolwork faded more and more, as we kiwis were not accustomed to sleeping from 2pm-4pm for siesta, but were still staying up quite late- I got about 6 hours sleep a night. Daniel was not happy about that. We would drag ourselves into class and pretty much sleep in our seats for the lesson. Our bad =)