I arrived in Conil de la Frontera early afternoon on Sunday, June 10th. The bus ride from Marbella to Conil was gorgeous. The road was right next to el mar so I didn't lose sight of the Mediterranean for a second...
There was a great view as we drove through Tarifa. Tarifa is the most southern point in Europe and it was really neat to see the coast line of Marruecos. Hay un foto debajo. I'm debating going to Morocco now or saving Africa for another year...
When I arrived in Conil the director (and founder) of Academia Andaluza, Isabel, greeted me at the bus stop and took me to my new family, Alba.
Alba es increíble! ¡Ella vale mucho! Alba is fifty something and originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was surprised that I was able to recognize that she had an accent. At times it's a little tricky to understand her but I'm pretty sure I'd have trouble with anyone at this point. She has taught me plenty about South America... potentially my next continent?
Alba has never been married but has a boyfriend named Juan. He has two daughters, Ima and Manuela; both are around my age. Their mother died 7 years ago from an illness (my Spanish vocabulary only went that far). Regardless, he's a very happy and outgoing man and Alba really enjoys her time with him. :)
What else... The school. It's tiny. Only 12 students all together. Hay cuatro personas en mi clase; una mujer de Italia (Eve), un chico de Aleman (Tim), y un chico de Estados Unidos (Jackson). This was the first school that didn't hand me multiple books. I've enjoyed the change. Our professor, Carman, didn't lecture either. Instead she instructed us to speak and as we did she would take notes of what we said incorrectly. It worked pretty well. I learned so much grammar at the other schools but never had the chance to practice my new knowledge. The change of teaching style has been perfect.
Because I was forced to speak more I found myself becoming more creative with my words. Some call this Spanglish. When I tried to describe a woman as pregnant... While mimicking a large belly I said she was 'pregunta'. Carmen and my classmates had a good laugh. Pregunta means question, not pregnant. This week I told Alba there was furniture (muebles) in the sky when I wanted to say clouds (nubes). I frequently tell Alba that I have men when I really want to tell her I'm hungry 'Tengo hombre' versus 'tengo hambre'. One letter can make quite the difference. Somedays I can understand more than others; all depends on whether or not my mind is distracted.
This Tuesday the school organized a Tour de Tapas with one of the teachers. We had to speak Spanish the entire evening. Tinto de verano (or any alcohol) really does help the learning process. I spoke a ton Tuesday night at dinner! Once I stopped worrying about making mistakes I was able to speak so carefree.
Alright, now for surfing! I have two instructors; Laura (English) and Ramon (Italian-Swiss). Laura has been living here for seven years now (?). Fun fact, she actually lived and taught snowboarding in Banff for a year! She said the snow in Canada is like no where else!! :D In Spain she started out teaching English and once her Spanish was good and she had multiple contacts, her and Ramon started their surf school. They love what they do! It's so much better when you have instructors who love what they do. But honestly, if you're office was the beach, how could you hate your job?!? Here's a little breakdown of my first week surfing...
Monday, Day 1 - Extremely frustrating.
Tuesday, Day 2 - Even more frustrating.
Wednesday, Day 3 - Worse. By day three I could stand on my board but I still couldn't 'surf'; according to my standards anyways. I didn't feel like I actually knew what I was doing. Talk about frustrated. At one point I was so mad that I decided it was best if I sat on the shore and took a breather. It helped my mood, not my surfing. Ramon knew right away that i was beyond frustrated. He managed to get a few laughs out of me and we headed back out.
Thursday, Day 4 - TINY breakthrough... for my attitude toward the sport... not my skill level. Surfing, like most things in life, is about patience. Thursday was about learning patience, knowing the conditions, picking the right wave, knowing when I should start paddling hard, when I should try to stand up...etc. Timing. It's a good thing my attitude was better on Thursday because I had a little 'accident'. Surfing in Conil is really safe. Normally. For people who aren't extremely accident prone. Since I was surfing in white water I was frequently standing. Because of this, I stepped on a poisonous fish that hides on the bottom of the ocean barely underneath the sand. Weeverfish. Pez araña. It was painful! I didn't cry because I thought I had stepped on a rock and didn't want to cry over a tiny cut. By the time I made it to shore I was wondering why on earth a tiny cut could hurt SO much! My big toe was barely bleeding but it didn't take long before it was red, swollen, cramping and burning deep inside. The only thing you can do is submerge the cut in hot water. We rushed over to a local restaurant and did just that. Ouch! My foot was extremely sensitive and the hot water felt like scolding hot, boiling water. Not fun. At Alba's house I soaked my foot for 2 hours. By the evening I was good to go out for tapas with the surfing school. :)
Friday, Day 5 - SURFING!! Me encanta! Yesterday I was surfing! Actually surfing! All it took was one time of standing up properly and riding a wave for a bit to get the feel. Ever since it's been 'smooth' sailing! I started to control the speed and even direct myself a bit by the end of the session. Had I not been so frustrated earlier this week, I probably wouldn't be enjoying it so much now. Afterwards I was able to ride almost every white water wave I chose. By the end of the session Ramon started teaching me about green waves.
Saturday, Day 6 - Surfing the green waves... I've been learning to catch the waves in the back before they break. Surfing out the back is so much more relaxing! Once you learn to get out there anyways... Once your out back there's no need to fight the waves. It's actually really peaceful sitting relaxed on your board and waiting for your next wave. The last wave I caught today I road all the way to shore. It was incredible!!! I can't wait for my next class... Hopefully I can jump in on a double session on Monday or Tuesday before I leave Conil.
I'm not sure if it's just the language learning or surfing thrown on top, but I am exhausted. Last night I slept for just over 12 hours. Definitely in need of some serious downtime before I start backpacking!
This week has been an entire test of my patience. Something I needed to work on but it's totally different when it slaps you in the face and you have no choice but to face it! This is a good thing by the way. I'm not talking about patience with other people. I'm talking about being patient with myself. I knew this was a problem when I had such high expectations about learning Spanish but my lack of patience to learn how to surf was an eye opener. I ALMOST took all the enjoyment out of the sport because I expected myself to be an expert after 6 hours. That's just not realistic. Patience, a work in progress.
Un beso y hasta pronto...
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