New friends

Moira invited one of her friends over for dinner last weekend. Isa is Spanish but speaks fluent French and almost fluent English. Moira, Tony, and Jordan (Moira's son) speak English, Spanish, some French, and some German. I speak English, Spanish, some Arabic, and bits and pieces of Italian. The whole evening was a mash up of different languages with everyone trying to speak in their non-native languages even if no one else in the group spoke that language! I think my conversational Spanish is improving a lot but I still find the Andalusian accent very hard to understand at times.

Mucho trabajo, poco tiempo

I have been extremely busy with my internship and unable to post lately. I have been reading through resumes, conducting interviews, and keeping in contact with recruitment agencies as well as helping with English classes. Since Cosentino is an international company it is very important that everyone speaks English so that the people in Israel can talk to the people in Japan or Spain. At Cosentino's headquarters in Spain there are English classes for people who need to improve their English. Since the teachers are all from the UK I have been floating around to the different classes to provide an American accent. The classes are very fun and have been a great way for me to meet people outside of Human Resources. The people in Human Resources have also been putting my fluency in English to work by having me interview people in English. So far I have held phone interviews with people from the UK, Australia, Israel, Singapore, Japan, and Turkey. I also help my colleagues in Human Resources by translating and proof-reading any emails or documents they have written in English.  

Thank God for Moira

    Last Tuesday I was all set to move out of the hotel and move in with a girl I had met at work. Everything was going well that day when, about halfway through the day, my new roommate emails me and tells me that her landlord decided that she couldn't have a roommate. This was a pretty big problem for me because I had to be out of my hotel by Wednesday morning. Thankfully Moira is psychic and about an hour before this whole fiasco she had told me that if things didn't work out with my roommate that I could stay in the guest apartment next to her house. So I am now living in Moira's beautiful guesthouse surrounded by orange trees. Mishap gone right.

Second Day: Starting Internship

Today I started my two month internship with Cosentino. After my botched Spanish conversation the day before I was nervous about how well I'd be able to communicate with everyone. I didn't need to worry. Apparently my conversation the other day had been a fluke. I understood almost everyone at work and they said that I spoke Spanish very well. I spent the day getting to meet my coworkers and learning about Cosentino and the Human Resources department. Everyone was very nice and welcoming. I know that I am going to enjoy working with them.

First Day in Spain

My first conversation with someone who did not speak any English was with a little old man. I was walking around the streets of Olula del Rio when I met an old man and his wife on the way back from the grocery store. They stopped to talk to me. I could barely understand a word they said. However with patience and many "repite, por favors" we managed to hold a nice conversation. Later, of course, this caused me to question my decision to live in Spain for two months while completing an internship with the company Cosentino. In the U.S. I am considered advanced in my knowledge of the Spanish language but this interaction left me feeling like maybe I wasn't as good as I thought I was. However, as I was contemplating this thought, I found an heladeria and soon forgot my worries in the joys of Spanish ice cream.