No pasa nada...

This week my new classes began! I am doing an internship in a local school most likely helping teach english (the actual school part starts after a 2 week prep), taking history of contemporary spanish art so we get to learn about Dalí, Picasso, and some other gems, taking history of flamenco (I'm not sure if it involves learning to dance flamenco, but I hope so), and then also taking the next level spanish class and german 1b (a slight up from 1a). I also don't have classes on Fridays which is awesome. The next level spanish class is level 9, which is the highest level they have, which is supposed to mean that everyone in it is fluent... but I'm definitely not fluent, so I'm not exactly sure how this will work out. On another note, my teacher of this class has been to Champaign-Urbana 5-6 times! Small world.

My classes went really well and I would have to say that German could end up being my favorite because everyone else in the class is Spanish. It's kind of weird, but also fun to learn german in spanish.  I also met two other girls taking gap years in my art history class! Well met is a strong word, it's really hard to sit for 2 hours straight without a break and then the teacher went over the 2 hours because decided we should all go around and say our names, where we go to school, and what we are studying with less than 5 minutes left (and 20-30 people). Anyway, there isn't a word for gap year here (probably because every year for spaniards is a year of not doing anything.... loli'msofunny), so we call it a year of sabbatical and two others said they are doing this also (sabbatical is slightly more ambiguous though so I'm not entirely sure if both of them are coming from high school). I will probably talk to them/find out more this Monday though since after Wednesday class everyone bolted.

I'm also starting to figure out/look more seriously at what I will be doing next semester and it's amazing what sending a few e-mails can do, because I suddenly feel like I have too many options that I won't know how to choose! But regardless, I'm excited to see that I have so many possibilities (including but not limited to the possibility of tracking bears in the andes, monitoring sea turtles in the caribbean, and much more). I also am thinking I will apply to be a counselor at Concordia language camp this summer which could be cool to get paid to basically go to a fun camp and speak spanish. And of course I'm very excited to be going to Germany!!

Anyway, you are probably wondering about the title of this post. No pasa nada. Translated by google as "it's okay," translated by bing as "nothing happens," translated by all of Spain as a way of life. No pasa nada. Basically, it's all good, we don't care, don't worry, no pasa nada. In case the meaning is unclear, I will give a few key examples of no pasa nada situations that have happened to me these past few weeks.

-I walked into the office to ask about my schedule and they told me I was supposed to have paid my housing bill a month ago. Had they e-mailed me about this? no. Would I have known had I not coincidentally been in there? nope. No pasa nada.
-A new lady moved in to the extra room and will be staying here indefinitely while recovering from being in the hospital. Did we know she was coming before she got here? nope. No pasa nada.
-Rafael doesn't seem to sleep here or really live here anymore, but occasionally makes appearances during the afternoons. Do Liz and I have any idea what's going on? nope. No pasa nada.
-We didn't get our schedules for the next 3 months until the day before classes started. No pasa nada.
-All of my teachers try to correct my pronunciation of Illinois. No pasa nada.
-Liz and I still don't know for sure if we are going to can tomatoes with Gloria this weekend... no pasa nada.
-My teachers encourage us to miss class if it's because we are travelling somewhere cool. No pasa nada.
-15 minutes late to class? probably getting there at the same time as the teacher. No pasa nada.
-Tortuga is currently lost somewhere in the house. No pasa nada.
-I was very disturbed to find a tiny turtle (not tortuga) exoskeleton among the dead tomato plants on my balcony... no pasa nada.
-Gloria only ever gives Luna milk and never water in her little dish. I really want to tell her that cats are lactose intolerant... maybe that's why Luna is always such a little brat. No pasa nada.