EL MAR: ¿PODEMOS SURF?

As usual, our day started with Spanish classes. In our first class, we continued to review the past tense and began to set up an investigation scenario for practice. In our second class, we finished our research from yesterday and presented our cities. During the work time, I got the opportunity to talk to the teacher, in Spanish of course. I learned some more about the city and culture. In the United States, we learn about the siestas (naps) in Spain. In reality, it isn't as common as we make it seem in the states. Stores will be closed in the afternoon because people often return home to eat lunch with their families, but it typically isn't used for napping. We also talked about the difference in daily schedules. Meals, for example, are eaten at very different times here than in the United States. Spain is also one of the countries with citizens that run on the least amount of sleep. They go to bed very late and wake up early. She was fun to talk to, and it was really great Spanish practice.

After school, Makaela and I used the maps our teachers had drawn us to find some new markets and vegetarian restaurants. We thought about purchasing vegetables and bread at a hidden supermarket, which was more for locals, to make our own sandwiches, but we found the food to be fairly expensive. Instead, we returned to yesterday's supermarket. I had a similar meal to yesterday, but this one had chicken in it. Although it wasn't vegan, it was good. I also managed to find a green smoothie (or juice). It had spinach, lettuce, pineapple, and apples. It was a nice shot of veggies for the day.

After getting fueled, it was time to find the surf shop. On the way there Makaela and I stopped to look at the waves. Suddenly I felt nervous, which I surprisingly wasn't feeling before. The waves seemed a little big to me. None the less, it was a perfect day for surfing. It was too hot to walk around, and the water probably wasn't as cold as it has been. Once in the shop, we were given wetsuits to put on. There were five of us surfing in total, all girls. No one had surfed before, other than me having had two lessons and another girl from Iceland who surfs more often. Putting on the wetsuits demonstrated our beginner level. After spending about five minutes desperately trying to pull them on, a young boy walked in. He looked at us, pointed to his, pointed to ours, said no, and then walked out. Slightly confused, we poked our heads out, asking if we had put them on correctly. We had not: they were inside-out. Sweating and laughing, we all peeled them back off, then struggled to pull them back on. Already exhausted from simply putting the wetsuit on, it was time to grab our boards and go to the beach.

When we walked out of the store, high winds were blowing dust and sand in the air. The waves were breaking on the beach and were either huge or none existent. The instructor explained it would pass within twenty minutes and the waves would be good. He went on to explain some of the basics of the board, surfing, and what we were going to do. He spoke in Spanish, then in English if we didn't understand. To my surprise, I fully understood everything he said in Spanish. We practiced how to stand up in the sand a few times; then, he helped us get in the water to paddle out.The paddling was hard and the waves were big. Over and over I rolled off the board and swam under the wave because I couldn't paddle over it fast enough. We started to notice just how crazy the ocean was, and only two people were wanting to try to ride a wave at that point. I was not one of them. We began to notice lifeguard jet skis circling the bay and checking things out. The sky seemed to grow darker and there weren't many people left in the ocean. Worried, we kept asking him if we should turn back. He said to trust him, it was okay, and to keep paddling. At a point, he took a few girls back because one had an issue with her contact. In that time, there was another round of pummeling waves. Wave after wave I swam under. They seemed to come in groups. There would be a surge of huge waves, then a period with none, and then another surge of huge waves. The instructor pushed a few girls into some waves, but they found themselves not knowing when to stand. He kept trying to instruct us and have us paddle out. Learning how to surf is hard enough. Learning how to surf in another language is another story. Finally, he decided we should all go in. On the way back, he gave me the opportunity to take one. He pushed me in, and I started to pushup to begin to stand. I wasn't fast enough and didn't know how to stand, so the wave rolled past me. Now in the section with waves crashing into the beach, it was difficult to run to shore. None the less, we made it, and I never felt the coldness of the water.

Afterward, one of the girls in our group was talking to the lifeguard while we were wrapping the leashes around the boards. Turns out, the instructor wasn't advised to take us out at that time because it wasn't particularly safe. They canceled on Tuesday though and didn't want to cancel again. We now have another lesson on Sunday morning from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm. Hopefully that one goes better, and we actually get to try to surf. Today was simply a battle against the waves.

Exhausted, Makaela and I took the bus back. We briefly talked to some locals on the bus, and they helped us figure out which stop to get off on. The people here are all very nice and helpful. Returning home, I talked to my host family for awhile about my past few days and what I've learned. My host mom told me my Spanish is good, and, while it is still difficult, I do feel like it is getting a little better. I am understanding much more and still doing my best to speak it correctly.

Tomorrow we are visiting Zumaia, a town in the Basque Country. It should be another day filled with sand.

Wetsuits

The surfing company

Surfboards

Notice the lifeguard jet ski..

The waves got to my hair...

Green smoothie!