This is Ste's wife Rach,

I would like to ask if anyone can give me any ideas, me and a friend have a few hours free every morning and are looking for some interesting things to do not too far out of Madrid. We have a car and have only been here seven months, our spanish isn't brill but we can get by.

hi Rach.

survey says...

1) have breakfast.
2) brush teeth.
3) shower and/or wash up.
4) yawn and/or stretch.

etc...



saludos,
jer...

Does 'scratch nuts' come between 'have breakfast' and 'shower' or after?

It seems to me, if as you say your Spanish level is not so good, the most logical thing for you to do every day until it is noticeably better, is to practice, practice, practice, and keep on practicing in the knowledge that you will never stop practicing and learning more & more of the vocabulary, if you are ever to be able to communicate properly with people.

You should really get into it now, in the early days, and absorb as much of the language as you possibly can, by getting audio or video tapes, where they repeat over & over again, giving you the chance to stop the tape and practice what you�ve just heard with your friend, and you can both set yourselves a task, of selecting a town outside Madrid, and going there to practice a few lines there, and also by listening to other peoples conversations, and writing down what you can hear & understand as quickly as you can, then go back & translate what you can from it back into English.

This I think will keep you both very occupied for quite a long time, and not only can you study the language in order to be able to communicate better, but you can also learn many other things about the environment that you now live in while doing that, it�s history, culture, etc etc.

I think you should have been doing this already, as it is the most obvious thing to do once you have decided to live in Spain, and you have wasted the last several months thinking about what to do with your spare time each day.

I, religiously every day go on line and go to a few Spanish websites to read the News reports, ( Noticias ) and also the website for Radio Nacional de Espa�a � R1, R2, R3, R4, & R5 and have listened to various other chat shows in Madrid, and have found this to be invaluable, and quite necessary really, and have learned quite a few things about Spanish society by doing so, and I recommend strongly that you too put in some time doing that in the mornings or late at night as I do, and get into the habit of writing down something about the subject that you have been listening to on the radio, it will help you to memories things much more easily.

I will also recommend getting a book in English about Spanish history, and start learning a few things about the country and how it�s people/s were transformed into the Spanish Iberian people that we have today, over the course of the last twenty thousand years (20.000) or more that people have been living in communities on the Iberian peninsular.

I personally have found that being able to demonstrate local and National knowledge to Spanish people that you meet, really does Impress them a great deal, they really love that, to hear that even though you might not have the full grasp of their language, if you speak what you can really well, and amaze them with your knowledge of their country, they will just love you for it, and you will get loads of invitations to dinner, because you have Impressed them so much with your interest in their country, history, culture, foods, way of life, etc.

So get busy, you�ve got a lot to do, and remember, you are going to be studying �Holistically� which is much more interesting than just sitting in a class learning just verbs & conjugations parrot fashion.

Have fun, and good luck.

Muy buena suerte.

i don't know anything about travelling outside of the city though i know a few board members out there do, so maybe they will get back to you soon.

as for me, i love nothing better in the morning than going to a fresh food market..my favorite is Anton Martin (metro.Anton Martin), though San Miguel, by Plaza Mayor is also wonderful. You can see all the hustle and bustle. Lots of crisply colored piles of fruit, legs of ham hanging sliced open deep maroon, fresh fish glistening wet and icy, vats and vats of olives in every size and shade of green. I love watching the old woman manuever their carts from stall to stall haggling over the firmness of a tomato or the worth of a bag of onions. In Anton Martin you have a bar on the bottom floor where all the little old men congregate to wait as men are wont to do while women shop. It is so exciting for me, maybe because I've experienced nothing like it in the US, maybe because it just feels so Spanish to me, local, authentic.

Another fun thing you can do...but not until May 15th...is visit the public pools. They are all over town and wonderful retreats from the summer heat..not to mention good exercise. Maybe there is a post on them somewhere on the board.

You can also get your shopping in before the lunchtime and early evening hordes descend. Have you been to Lefties yet? It is a treasure trove but you really must get there early or suffer maddening crowds and snakey long lines.

Good luck and have fun. Post more of your adventures when you can.
Candela

things to do in the morning? je je je je je je j e je je je :b: :b: and that is all I dare say on that subject less Jer' boot me for naughty thoughts.......but I'm sure madsue would concur, we all know what a perve she is..... :jeje:

jejejeje :jeje: TJGuy, typical of ya to pick on madsue when she is not online to defend herself (she is in UK for a while).

just a follow-up on the swimming pool idea mentioned by Candela. i found the following thread on the subject...

� It's Hooooot! Pools and Water Parks in Madrid!

saludos,
jer...

p.d. best of both worlds, you could do the TJGuy idea in the pool in the morning

TJGuy = Naughty :jeje:

Thanks for the info!

Once the weather improves, the pool where we live will be open so that's some mornings arranged! We also bought "bono passes" for zoo / parque de attraciones / waterparks / telefirico etc. for 40Euros each in January, which is free entry all year: once the water park opens, we will sepnd some days there.

Again, thanks for the info.

R

quote:

Once the weather improves, the pool where we live will be open so that's some mornings arranged!

hey Rach, sounds like an invite to me

multimadrid pool party at ste and Rach's place!!! :cheers:

saludos,
jer...

getting audio or video tapes, where they repeat over & over again, giving you the chance to stop the tape and practice what you�ve just heard with your friend,

I`m sorry Iberian, but you have to be kidding!!!! Rach you are in SPAIN!!! Get out and enjoy yourself, go to your local bar/cafe for coffee or a drink before lunch, go to the markets or just get out and walk....you will meet people and learn spanish at the same time. The most important thing is to immerse yourself. You could also take some kind of class like spanish cooking or exercise...I wish I was in your place!!! Have fun and take advantage of where you are!!!

Well yes I suppose you are right really, it is very boring, tedious and crazy to force yourself to learn another language properly when living in another country, if you really are not intrested in the language.

Of course we must all go out and have fun etc, and enjoy everything that a Place like Madrid & Spain in general has, this is a fundamental principal by which Madrile�os & most other Spanish people live, and one should be as you say Imersed in that culture & way of life.

But I still think that at the same time, if one is living and or working in anothers country, one should make the effort to speak the language as well as possible, and for many years living in London I noticed that every time I came accross a Spanish person, that had just arrived or had been in the country for just a number of weeks or months, I was highly Impressed by the fact that they were Speaking and conversing fluently enough already to have a reasonable conversation, and I think that really does make a difference to how one is going to cope/get-by in another country, and the studying of the language cannot be pushed to one side in favor of just having fun & enjoying oneself, one will have fun in a place like Madrid anyway, that is totally unavoidable in cities like Madrid or Barcelona etc, I think Rach will have NO difficulty in finding fun, enjoyment & relaxation and all the other amazing things that there are to see & do in Madrid, it's just a sheer joy to be there, to go shopping, to have lunch, or just walk in the Retiro, all this can & will happen anyway while living there, but the language, learning that properly can't really be avoided for too long.

I have a friend living in London, from Andalucia, and she did not start to take classes in english until she had been here a couple of years, and then after just a few classes she stopped and did a little bit of waitressing out of desperation, and had serious problems for a few years after that, because of that, and then struggled for the next 6 years to find employment, before finally getting a proper job, and although she can speak quite fluently now, and has worked for about 2 years now, she still has problems with the language, and still complains to me often that she does not know what to write in some types of letters & e-mails, and constantly tells me that her grammer & vocabulary is crap, and she is so stressed out by it, even after being here 10 years, with 5 years of coaching from me, and she still has to get me to dictate to her what to say in many replies to various departments & people etc.

And so I must stand my ground on this one, and say again that it is vitally important to get a grip on the language as soon as possible, and put some effort in to it, you will have plenty of time to have fun and social activities, but without the full grasp of the language, there will be problems later.

Of course, if someone is only intending to stay for a while, maybe a year or two, then perhaps they might not want to bother, in which case that is understandable.

Sorry, just my 0.2� - dos centimos worth.

Don`t get me wrong Iberian, I totally agree that learning the language and learning it properly is important...I am a certified translator myself and learned spanish as a second language, but I can tell you when I studied in Spain I learned a lot more by getting out and talking with people than any other way. To sit home and listen to conversational tapes with your english speaking friend can not possibly teach you more than a real conversation with a real spanish speaking person. If you said go to spanish classes I would say that is a good idea....I have friends that have lived in Mexico for 20 years and still have the worse pronunciation so you are right just conversation isn`t enough, but unless you buy tapes on phonetics you won`t get it from tapes either. I am more into active learning that sitting home with a book learning, I guess those kind of differences are what make the world go around, right? :ks:

Way to go Gringa, yes you're right, classes and socialising are the way to proceed, rehersal in the class, and then going out and getting some live practice with many different people, as I have done many times.

I have on many occasions found myself getting into some pretty amazing convo's with all kinds of people in Spain, young & old alike, and considering how limited my vocabulary was, and the fact that I had to scratch around inside my brain for the words to reply with, we actually managed to exchange some pretty intellectual detail, and that surprised me a lot at first, because I thought I was going to bore the pants off of people, if I tried to make conversation with them, but I found that that is not always the case, as many people are very accommodating when they can hear that you are having difficulties, and they hold back a bit & slow it down for you.

I remember the first times that I tried to make complaints in various places, that was an interesting experience I can tell you, and then I learned how to make various complements in a few places that I got really good service & food etc, and that works really well, they really like that in most places, although I've had a few miserable ones too, and some just blantantly ignored me and turned away, obviously they don't like being complemented by people who sound funny or have strange accents.

Well anyway, so that's enough of that for now, I think Rach should have some classes, but must also go out and speak to people as much as possible and even find herself an Intercambio or two.

Remember, you're in Madrid, have fun & enjoy.
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Nigel

...And then there are some people (present company excepted, I'm sure) who can work work work, but they just can't absorb language like others can. Some have a "gift of tongues." Others have to face the frustrating fact their Spanish will never impress anyone or get them invited to dinner. They may know the politics of Juana Loca or the polemic of Cervantes, but really communicating abstractions and ideas using Spanish just ain't gonna happen for them.

Rebekah
(I already have 1.5 languages, and apparently no room left in my brain for any more!)