Whining

Center

Street to the market of Alcalá

This week the weather have been really warm. When it got warm I have heard Spanish people whining about the hot weather and before the warm weather it was too cold, just like whining what I can hear also in Finland. I like the weather at the moment.

Inter beat Barcelona on Wednesday in the semi final of champions league. Elimination of Barcelona made supporters of Madrid very happy. Many supporters went to the statue Cibeles where normally victories of Real Madrid are celebrated but this time to celebrate the victory of Inter. The final of Champions League will be played in the home stadium Real Madrid and seeing Barcelona winning there would have been too much for supporters of Real Madrid.

Style of Spanish males

Spanish men do not dress up better than Finnish men in my opinion even the Finnish men have the reputation of dressing very bad on the contrary of the fame of good looking Spanish men. Men tend to have their jeans lowered so you can see their underwear. Maybe it is also fashion in Finland now. Among Spanish men it is quite popular to wear (fake) diamond earrings. Shaping or having sideburns is also more popular in Spain. I could not have the sideburns because my beard is not thigh like the beard of Spanish men. You can also see a lot shaped hairline which leaves stubble and I do not like it. Unfortunately I have not taken photo of anyone who meets all the criteria I mentioned now.

The last match of the league

Today we had the last match of the league against Zona sur BK from Leganes. We won the match 0-2 and finished second by collecting 24 points in 16 matches. I Played in 15 matches and collected 19 points 11 goals and 8 assists. Next is coming up playoff matches against Fuengirola. We have to play our home matches in Escorial because we could not reserve our regular home arena. It is a pity that we had to change because the whole team prefers playing on the parquet more than on the plastic mat in Escorial. Ball bounces on the plastic mat because it is sticky and it makes passing harder.

Laughing in Spanish

When you are having a conversation for example in Messenger with a Spanish person you will notice that they express laughing differently. Spanish person writes in a chat "jajajajajajaj" when he/she laughs. When much more common way all over the world is to type in "hahahahah". Spanish people laugh with "j" because in Spanish it is pronounced like "h" in English or in Finnish.

I broke my glasses on last Friday when I was playing volleyball. The glasses divided from the middle when those dropped to the floor. I got them now back and repairing cost 18 euros.

Lesson in English

After for a long time I had lesson in other language than in Spanish. The lesson was in English and I realized that following a lesson in English is easier than in Spanish. I have to put more focus on lesson in Spanish to understand what professor is saying. The professor is German and his English good. Few times he switched accidentally to German during the lesson.

On Friday I was invited to a Campus Europea reunion to tell about my experiences of the exchange year. I was in the reunion almost an hour and answered to the presented questions. I hope that solutions were found to improve the program.

Products

Cheese

Ham

I snapped photos of the products which are sold in Spanish supermarkets. You can of course find cheese also in the Finnish supermarket but cheese in Finland does not have a peel. You cannot find the big pieces of ham like in the picture in Finland. When you buy ham from the meat counter the price of one kilo gram varies from ten euros to sixty euros. The best quality ham cut by hand with a knife is very expensive. Strange to see that meat is not stored in cold and lasts eatable.

Mobile phone

My mobile phone

I have not yet mentioned yet that I bought a new mobile phone even it was almost the first thing I bought when I arrived to Spain. It was not possible to get just a sim card and put it to the old phone therefore I bought a new mobile phone. It cost 20 Euros included with 10 euros money for use in the sim card. All companies sell prepaid subscriptions and more talk time can be loaded in many places for example in the supermarkets. Later on I have found out that there are also smaller companies which offer also just sim cards without obligation to buy a new mobile phone. Calls and text messages are more expensive in Spain than in Finalnd. One minute call costs the double price of one text message. In Finland one minute call is the same price as one text message. In Finland telecommunication companies send usually monthly bills which people pay in the Internet bank.

Celebrity spotted

Today we had Floorball match against Adil from Leganés. My friends came to support and other regular supporters said that they were so good supporters that they should come again. We won the match 4-3 and ensured the second place in the league table before the last match.

I spotted Xabi Alonso who is middle fielder of Real Madrid when I went for a walk first time to the park Retiro in Madrid. He was able to walk in peace because people did not go to ask his autographs or take photos with him. Only one paparazzi was hiding from him and taking photos.

Learning more Spanish

To improve my Spanish I Have said to my friends to point out my mistakes which I make. Especially I am trying to focus on pronunciation of 'Z' and 'C' for example in words like zapato and gracioso. I feel a bit annoyed when my mistakes are pointed out even I want them to be pointed out. I just have to get over it and not to get upset. When I write Spanish I forget the articles. Now I feel that I can follow the conversation between Spanish people better than before. I have still a lot to learn to master Spanish.

Surname

Spanish people have two surnames. One they got from their father and other from their mother. When they get married they keep the fathers last name and change their mothers last name to the last name of spouses father. There are some very common last names therefore it is possible to have two times the same surname for example Martinez Martinez.

Procession

Procession

The Catholic church is the most practiced religion in Spain. During this week which is called the holy week there are each day a bit different procession symbolizing the events of the Easter. People gather to see the processions to the roadside. To the procession participate people of all ages some are playing horns and drums. For me everyone looked like members of Ku Klux Klan because I had not seen before that this kind of costumes are part of Christian church.