The People

The nuns are becoming quite predictable. There's the one who's dressed in an authentic nun suit with thick glasses; she tends to be concerned about laundry. "Remember to put two cups of detergent! Don't forget the softener. The softener! You know?" Two days ago I did my laundry but I didn't want to hang it up on the lines or leave it in the machine, so I put it in a big plastic bucket and took it with me downstairs. When I was coming up the stairs the next morning she saw me and started talking about detergent and softener. I told her it was already washed, but she said mumbled something like "It's already washed? But it needs detergent!" So she followed me up three flights of stairs to say "Give me that," and I couldn't so no to a nun. She put the clothes in the washing machine and showed me the proper settings and started the machine. At least now I know the proper settings. Then there's the one that serves the food. She says "Que te proveche! (bon appetit)" and "Did you just wake up and NOW you're eating breakfast?" (accompanied by an incredulous and amused look)" since I usually first eat at 1100-1150 am. Most predictable is Sor Carmen, who tries to talk to me the most. She likes to ask "How was your afternoon? And your classes? Are your students learning a lot?" She says things like "Here you have the bread. And here you have the soup. Take more if you want." Then she hangs around for a minute watching you eat before saying "Bueno....." and walking away. I've started boiling water in the microwave in the mornings to make tea. She has said multiple times "Those herbs are for losing weight? Because you're eating less" though I tell her no.

The teachers are definitely more interesting than the nuns. Asuncion has a very teacher-like personality, with her teacher wool sweaters and consistent eager disposition toward students that often results in long commentaries complete with corny gestures when responding to students. She tends to gravitate discussion toward the effect that mealtimes can have on our health, food comas, and ethnic foods. I have her class once a week, and on two occasions she made the topic of discussion food related and ignored the textbook. The next week she had us play a crossword game where we had to give clues to complete the crossword, but last week we talked about a student's visit to Poland and then she brought up food portions and food times and their effect on digestion.

Adriana is actually the youngest-looking teacher. She has colorful outfits, curly hair with bleached streaks and a wider face. She likes to have half of her students talk to me while she teaches the other half so her classes are more complicated than the other teachers'. Her students are closest in age to me.

Pablo is big boned and bald. He made me guess his age and I said 50 but he said he's really 41. He is intense, serious, and his classes are strictly by the book and methodical. He likes to pick on a person randomly and ask a question related to the page we are covering and then move on to a different person, giving his classes a jerky and disciplined feel.

Hilario is an older, mostly bald guy who uses very teacher-like language: "That's right...very good....OK kids, today our friend Oliver will...." Every so often he tends to talk out of the right side of his mouth as if he were a stand-up comedian. Hilario's clothing is either bright clothing that would glow under a black light or shirts tht people buy as travel souvenirs that range from Rajasthan to Los Angeles, Harlem, Jamaica and New Orleans. He tends to announce in Spanish "I'm going outside to smoke" and then return smelling very smoky. All in all he reminds me of a cross between Robin Williams and Dennis Hopper.

Anne is Scottish and it's often pointed out by students and the other teachers tht she can pronounce "R's" that occur in the middle or end of a word. Her defining habit is finding something to gripe about, such as students coming late or not understanding the lesson and complaining about it in a way that doesn't sound overly bitter or annoying. She's lived in Spain for over 20 years and is fluent in Spanish, but her Spanish sounds very peculiar because it preserves the Scottish intonation pattern where the second to last syllable dips in tone. She's more interested in my weekends and my life than other teachers.

Last of all is Juan. When I first got to Almansa he would take me on walking tours and do stuff with me over the weekends. Although he is 45 he looks 10 years younger, probably because he's ridiculously hip. His British accent is more posh-sounding and more developed than the other teachers and he frequently asks me if the certain phrasing of a spoken sentence of British English is the same in America. He is ridiculously hip because he wears flannel button-up shirts over T shirts, short sleeved shirts over long sleeve shirts, mentions flower power, free speech, The Flaming Lips, Wilco and the White Stripes, and the last three times I saw him at the library he was watching The Colbert Report. I don't have classes with him this semester.