Blog RSSWelcome to TheGlossophile Blog!
Welcome to TheGlossophile Blog, the personal weblog for Derron Borders. Here you can read about Derron's personal life experiences as he continues his journey teaching English abroad and as he goes on to pursue a higher degree in the field of linguistics. You may also read random blog entries where Derron discusses his personal thought's on a certain topic or rambles on about n'importe quoi! If you are interested in linguistics and languages please read Derron Borders' blog, "Glossophilia: Language and Linguistics"!
Well, I’ve been quite lousy about updating this blog and as you notice I’ve completely turned my webpage into a page specifically about me! I will eventually get back to focusing it on linguistics and languages but at the moment I don’t even have any time! I’ve been so busy these past few months getting acclimated to Spanish culture and teaching and also studying for the GRE and preparing for grad school. Last weekend (not this past weekend but the weekend before that) I went to Barcelona to take the GRE but I did worse than the first time and it was a huge embarrassment! I pray that G-d does let me somehow slip into a grad program (especially Hawai’i) despite my scores! I’ve been working since August on my statement of purpose and it has really changed a lot! I’m finishing up the last few things to apply like my Statement of Purpose, my writing sample, and my department applications to have printed out and I’ll send them in the mail tomorrow so that they will make it at least by the first school’s deadline of January 6.
On Thursday I’m flying to Madrid with a friend and fellow assistant, Alyssa, from Chicago. We are going to be in Madrid for four days and then are heading over to Morocco for eight days! I won’t be taking my computer so I won’t be in contact with anyone over the holidays!
I wanted to wish everyone a חנוכה שמח and a very Merry Christmas! I will be back on the 29th just in time for my mom’s 50th birthday!
October 20, 2009
Força, equilibri, valor i seny
This past Saturday I woke up pretty late and went on the “Auxiliars de les Illes Balears” group on Facebook and saw that one of the assistants from the US who is part of a “Castellers” group invited everyone to come watch him and the Palma team he is on perform with two other groups in the city of Manacor in the eastern part of the island. I sent some text messages around to see if anyone wanted to join me. Only Alyssa, from Chicago, responded that she would be interested in coming to watch with me. We headed to the Estació Intermodal (the main train, bus, metro station of Palma) and bought tickets to go to Manacor. We ended up going down to the platform 45 minutes earlier than we had to and since you can’t get back trough without making your ticket invalid we were stuck down there until the train arrived to take us to the other end of the line, to Manacor.
The train ride was nice and we arrived in Manacor after an hour and ten minutes of train. We made our way to the center of town as that is where the cathedral was located and where the directions told us to go. After asking a few people how to get there we made it to the Plaza where the “actualizacions” or performances were taking place. We saw the other auxiliar (assistant) Joel who was part of the Casteller team of Palma.
Click here or on the photo to see a larger version and description
Castell is the Catalan word for “Castle” and Casteller is the word for a person who takes part in forming ‘human castles’. This tradition of building human castles or towers started in the town of Valls near the end of the 18th century. The typical attire of a Casteller is white pants, a black sash called “faixa”, a colored shirt, and a bandana. The sash which is black, varies in length depending on where one is in the Castell. It wound tightly around the mid area to offer support to the back for those on the bottom and also as a place for climbers to grab onto as a handhold or a foothold as they climb up the tower. The bandanas are also used around the wrists of those on the bottom to offer support and tied around legs, chests, stomachs, and other parts of the body for foot and hand holds for the climbers. The Casteller’s motto is “Força, equilibri, valor i seny”, which means Strength, balance, courage and reason.
There are different types of Castells and they are named by the number of people who make up each level and the number of levels. Some of the largest towers have been Tres de nou(three by nine) and Tres de deu (three by ten). Many of the Castells that we saw this weekend were Cinc de cinc (five by five) and Cinc de ses (five by six). The bottom level, which is just a large group of people supporting the Castell, is called the ‘Pinya’. The top most Castellers are usually young children and they are called “enxaneta”.
It was really really cool to see this for the first time in real life. I’ve seen it on television and it was so much better in real life. I’d really like to see a huge actualizació in Barcelona sometime! There was this one group from Barcelona that did this one Castell where they built it from the bottom. The top two levels got up on the “Pinya” and then it was built from the bottom meaning that you saw the top levels rise up until there were 5 levels. Once all 5 levels were built the “enxaneta” raises his/her hand and they begin to dismantle the Castell. A Castell is not complete unless it is succesfully built and dismantled without it falling apart. Below is a video and some photos of different Castells that I saw this past weekend.
Click here or the photo to see a larger version with a caption
Click here or on the photo to see a larger version and a description
Click here to see a larger version and description
Click the photo below to watch a video I took!
Alyssa and I had planned to go back to Palma and cook dinner and make our way to Bluesville, a cafe where a live band plays. We ended up going over to another assistant’s house to have pizza with other assistants. We finally made our way out to Bluesville and by the time we got our drinks the band had stopped playing. I’ve decided that I hate crowded bars and clubs and I enjoy hanging out and talking, than going to a place where I can’t even hear myself speak.
October 16, 2009
First real week is done…
So I’ve officially ended my very first week of school this week. The only thing I can say is that I’m tired! I forgot how much 12 hours of work can do to a person! HAHAHA! Monday was a national holiday so nothing was open and it was like another Sunday. On Tuesday I headed down on the bus early in the morning to S’Alqueria Blanca. I must say that it was not as bad this time and I actually enjoyed myself a little even though at some points I felt very bored watching them color or play with “plasticine”, which is what they call “playdo” (actually the British call it this).
In my last class yesterday at the elementary school there were two German girls. One had lived here for 8 years and spoke perfect Castilian, Catalan, and German. She spoke pretty good English as well. The other girl had only been here 3 months and couldn’t say a lick of anything in any language except German. It is crazy that parents would leave their country when their child is a this age and when the child doesn’t speak the language. I think that it will seriously hinder the girl as she is about 9 or 10 years old.
On Wednesday, I got up and went and opened a bank account. My bank here in Spain is called Santander. I was under the impression that I didn’t have to put any money in to open the account but I ended up having to put in about 30€. I gave my account number to my school today so that they will be able to pay me at the end of the month. On Tuesday night I went to a Basque Cafe/Bar to eat tapas and celebrate the Canadian, Molly’s, birthday. It was fun and I met two really cool people, Kate, and Lucas. After eating our share of tapas we went to get ice cream and then sit by the Parc de la Mar just below the Cathedral. It looks amazing at night and it was my photo of the day for Tuesday.
Today was my first full 6 hour day at the high school. On Fridays, the German teacher, Gloria, doesn’t come in until nine so I had to find a ride with other people. The head of the English dept. Maria, found two teachers who work at eight on Fridays and they live very very close to me. So I got a ride with them this morning. Classes were fun today. I spent most of my time introducing myself and answering their crazy questions. In one of my classes, I was with a teacher who is 24 years old and quite good looking. In this particular class the students were aroudn 12-13 years old. She asked them to ask me questions and they were non-stop. At one point this mischievous boy who was sitting with two other boys in the back asked if I had a girlfriend after he had asked me my age. After answering to him, that no I did not, he asked the teacher how old she was. She told them to guess and didn’t tell her age, but they never really guessed right and just kept saying she was very young. Then they turned to me and the boy asked me if I thought the teacher was sexy. He started to smile and started raising his eyebrows up and down and tried to get an answer from me and the teacher and I were both laughing and trying to change the subject. It was very awkward and embarrassing and for the rest of the class the boys would look at me and do the eyebrow thing while nodding towards my female co-worker!
The last class of the day I taught the oldest students. I was given the task of teaching them the phonetics of English, which proved to be very very difficult under the circumstances. The consonants were fine as they are the same in British and American English. The vowels were more difficult and I found myself trying to imitate the British vowels, which is completely difficult. I ended up giving up and telling them the differences between British vowels and American ones.
Last weekend I put up the following ad on the loquo.com website, which is like craigslist here in Spain, to offer English tutoring sessions.
CLASES DE INGLÉS! Nativo, Titulado en Lingüística (Palma de Mallorca)
-Profesor Nativo
-Con experiencia docente
-Titulado en lingüística (entonces conzco mucho sobre la fonetica y de los dialectos y acentos)
-Para particulares y de grupos (al mismo nivel) de máximo 4.
-Para todos los niveles, todas edades
-Preparación de exámenes oficiales (IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC)
- Precio: A convenir (la primera clase es de 10€ para determinar el nivel y otras cosas)
-Zona: preferentemente cerca de Plaza de España
-Para solicitar más información o pedir una cita: derron.s.borders@gmail.com
(I’m not going to translate it) I got one hit from a guy who is applying to do a Master’s of Journalism and I’m going to be tutoring him four days a week for the next two weeks in order to prepare him for an entry English exam for the program. I’m going to repost my ad so as to find more tutoring jobs so that I can make more money to supplement my having to travel to S’Alqueria Blanca.
I also just received an e-mail not too long ago, today, that my flight to Barcelona has been moved from 6:30pm to 11:00pm on the night before I take my GRE so I’m going to have to really be prepared so I can be ready and well rested. I’m going to try and find a hotel or hostel really close to the place where I need to take it so I can just sleep enough and get up and walk over there and take it.
Well, it’s 9:33 pm and I need to prepare dinner. I don’t think I’m going out this weekend as I have a lot of GRE preparation and study to do as well as work on Grad school stuff! I need to save my money anyway and tell myself that so that I don’t feel like a big loser! I’m tired anyway and it is actually getting colder here in Mallorca. It barely got above 70 this week and the past few days have been mid to lower 60s. With the wind it makes it worse and at night it gets down to lower 50s. I’ve been sweat pantsing it here at the apartment for the past week.
October 14, 2009
Cherish the Small Things
One of the best videos I’ve seen in a very very long time…so beautiful….and you could see in the audience and judges’ faces that what she was depicting was very special to them as a culture…
Click on the image below to watch the video!
October 13, 2009
S’Alqueria Blanca
So I woke up at a pretty reasonable time today around 8:00am so I could get ready and make my way to Plaça d’Epanya so I could take the TIB Bus to S’Alqueria Blanca. As usual I got on and immediately passed out and then was woken up in Campos to get off so I could wait for another bus. I waited for about five minutes and the next bus came and I got on and this time didn’t find it as easy to fall asleep. The bus driver took his good ol time and at one point just stopped at a bus stop to talk to another bus driver. It is like the schedule here doesn’t matter. I had to be at school at 10:30 but the bus doesn’t get to S’Alqueria until 10:35 and at this point it was well past 10:40. Anyway, once I arrived in S’Alqueria and walked the measly 1km to my school (this town is really small) I got to do what I did last week, and that is sit around. I read the directions for the students to do some coloring and some other activity, which was translated by the teacher into Mallorquín and then I sat there and watched them color. I think the concept of teaching another subject in a foreign language is a great idea, but I don’t think the execution of it here is that great and they use this stupid book that is WAY over the heads of these children. I would think it would be more important to teach them in Mallorquín different types of art and let them test out Egpytian hieroglyphics or other such things.
Today in my third year they had to look at two pictures which were optical illusions. The directions called them a “trompe l’oeil”, which means “trick the eye” in French. These kids had NO idea what the hell I was saying to them and it was just a big waste of time. It is a huge waste of my time to go to this school and also a huge waste of my money when I could be conversing with older students at the high school who can form complete and competent sentences!
Anyway, enough of my bitching. I’m hungry and I need to eat my late lunch (it’s 6:03pm here!). I also need to take inventory of what else I need to do to finish my college applications. I’ve complete both Utah’s and Hawai’i’s applications and have sent my OSU transcripts to Utah. I need to do the same for Hawai’i. Texas’ website was being funky and they along with UBC require that my Statement of Purpose be finished before I can complete those applications. I completely edited and spiffied up my writing sample about “Ditching” and I’m continuously revising my SoP. I now need to cut it down to three hundred words for the applications that only require that much.
Not only do I have to worry about applications to the Graduate Schools but I need to get my stuff done for the individual departments and also work on scholarship stuff AS WELL AS continue studying for the GRE! I found out my scores were actually average and not totally terrible. I’m still embarrassed by them and thought that I would do better.
Tonight I’m going out for tapas for dinner at a Basque café to celebrate the Canadian, Molly’s birthday!
October 10, 2009
Orientation and first week of classes
Scroll down to “Departure and GRE” as I’ve split my latest posts up into separate posts according to content.
On the 2nd of October we had our “auxiliares de conversación” orientation where all the English, German, and French assistants from all of the Balearic Islands (not just Mallorca) met at the cultural center, Sa Nostra, and had a day long seminar of advice and general information that we would need to have a successful year. It was great to see new faces and meet new people and also to catch up with people I had already met before but hadn’t seen in a week or so. At the end of the orientation they served us a kind of tapas lunch, which was pretty good.
After the orientation a few of us went to a Chino (Chines) store as they are like dollar stores that carry everything that you would need and everything that you would never need. I got some hangers and some sticky tack and I need to return there to buy a blanket and some curtains for my room. That night a lot of people went out for drinks and to club but I couldn’t join them as I didn’t have keys to my apartment yet and I had to stick around as I didn’t know if or when I would be able to get back in. My roommate Ramón ended up leaving me his keys so I would have them for the weekend. I stayed in the whole weekend catching up on some much needed sleep and doing laundry. I also went grocery shopping and bought some much needed supplies. My roommates go home to their town of Alcudia every weekend so I pretty much have the apartment to myself.
While I was still in the US I registered online to take a Catalan class on Mondays and Wednesdays. I started my class on the 5th and found out that I’m actually going to be learning Mallorquín the local dialect of Catalan and not Catalan itself. The class is one and a half hours every Monday and Wednesday and it is very very fast paced and all in Mallorquín, with the instruction translating into Castillian only sometimes but even then I can’t understand her as she speaks so incredibly fast!
I didn’t start classes until Tuesday the 6th. On Tuesday I got up at eight and ate breakfast and then walked to the Plaza de España to catcha regional bus to go the one hour and ten minutes to a very tiny town called S’Alqueria Blanca. When I arrived at the school I was greeted by the principal and then taken to see the English teacher who I would be working with. Since I have two schools and I can only work 12 hours a week I’m split between the two working six hours at each school. At the elementary they have me teaching seven “plàstica” (arts & crafts) classes and one English class.
I’m a bit irritated over the whole elementary school situation as I was told that I would be able to get a ride from Campos to S’Alqueria Blanca if I was able to find a ride from Palma to Campos. Campos is where my high school is. I was informed that this isn’t possible as they car pool and there is no more room for anyone else so that I would have to take the bus from Palma to S’Alqueria Blanca and back 4 times a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A one way trip costs 6.50€ and that is way too much for me. Plus, I’m not even helping out with English classes, I’m teaching arts & crafts, which consists of me reading out the directions of the project to the kids who do not understand me only to have what I said interpreted into Mallorquín (Catalan). I’m a “Conversation Assistant” not a “give directions assistant”.
I’ve written the person who is the head of all the auxiliares in the Balearic Islands multiple times about this issue. I knew this was going to be an issue even before I went to the school. I’m currently waiting on a response from him as he is waiting for his supervisor to get back from Madrid so they can discuss it.
On Wednesday I woke up at 6am and got ready and made my way across town to get a ride with the German teacher who teaches at my high school. Ade and I both caught a ride with her. I liked teaching at the high school! It was a ton of fun talking with kids who could respond in full sentences back to me and ask me detailed questions about myself. I’m really going to enjoy teaching at the high school and I wish I could just drop the elementary school all together and just teach at the high school. My teachers at the high school are being extremely accomodating and we’ve worked out a schedule where I will teach English for a full six hours in one day by rotating Wednesday and Friday every week.
On Thursday night I went out with a group of assistance to celebrate another assistant’s birthday, her name is Jill. Last night I was invited along with many other assistants to a group of assistants’ apartment to have a little party and get together. It was really fun and I met this really great Dutch girl named Ana.
I’ve really enoyed my time here in Palma so far except that the exchange rate is $1.47 to €1 so it has been a little pricey for me. The culture is really great but the Mallorquíns seem to be a little closed and difficult to get close to or know. My Spanish, however little, has improved somewhat and I’m even starting to pick up Mallorquín, having my classes twice a week and also living with three Mallorquíns. Ade and I took an entrance exam to get into a Castilian (Spanish) course for foreigners but our level was too good to get in the class and they accepted those who needed the classes more so I’ve posted an ad on a craigslist type website looking for an “intercambio” or conversation partner where we can meet 1-2 hours a week and exchange languages. I’ve also posted an ad to give English lessons and need to make fliers and go over to the university and hang them up.
I’ve been eating really well here but getting used to the eating times has been quite the adjustment. They eat much later than Americans and even the French so it has been difficult. I’ve realized that if you don’t want to starve you really have to eat four meals to make it through the day and to eat at the normal eating hours here. I eat breakfast early when I wake up, eat a small sandwich/snack at around 11 during the break at school. I eat lunch around 3pm to 3:30pm and then dinner isn’t until 10/10:30pm. I don’t know how the kids can make it through out the day staying up that late to eat dinner and then getting up early for school. Like in the US, Monday is a holiday as well, as it is Spain’s National Day, so everything will be closed for the next two days.
Anyway I’ll try to keep up with my blog and twitter more often so that you can know what is going on! I hope everyone who is reading this is doing well!
The next day (the day after I arrived in Palma) Ade (pronounced Addy) introduced me to Adela Blackford, another English assistant from Manchester, England. They were both in the process of looking for an apartment and I started my apartment hunting that day. We went down to the center of town and had a look around and then went grocery shopping and made dinner that night. We met an Italian girl, named Chiara, who was in Palma for the week for a linguistics conference. We ended up meeting up with her the next day and getting a late lunch and just hung out.
The apartment searching was a bit difficult and I used the UIB (Universitat de les Illes Balears) website and looked at ads for apartments that were in areas where I wanted to live and also in my price range of 250 to 200 euros. It was difficult because I had to call the people and they usually spoke extremely fast. If you don’t know, talking on the phone is the hardest thing for beginner speakers of a foreign language. After looking at about 10 apartments I finally found one that was close to Plaza de España that is like the central hub of all transportation in Palma. Since my schools are outside of Palma and I have to take the bus sometimes I thought it would be best to be near Plaza de España. I was told by the people who lived in the apartment that I could move in on October 3rd as they had a roommate who wasn’t leaving until then. I ended up having to pay 110€ to stay longer in the hostel. I was going to have to pay for two more days upon the seven days that I paid for with the 110€.
On the 29th I got a text message at night telling me that the roommate that was supposed to be leaving was no longer leaving Palma and that the room was not available anymore. I had to then do another search for apartments and saw the one I’m living in on the Wednesday and moved in on the Thursday. I’m living with three Mallorquíns from the city of Alcudia. One guy named Ramòn and two girls, Lydia and Sara. The room is ok, but I’ve found out recently that I’m actually not considered in the contract and that I am there to help out with the rent. I pay 200€/month for rent not including gas, electric, water, and trash and I have the worst room in the apartment. I have a single dinky tiny bed, with an armoir and a tiny side table and a very small set of drawers. My window faces out to our narrow back patio where our washer is and I have no currents and no privacy what-so-ever. My roommates, however, have nice big full sized beds, with amazing built in closets and armoires with desks and windows that don’t open out into another part of the house.
Anyway, during those first two weeks of being in Palma I hung out with other assistants as a group of us got together on a Sunday afternoon and ended up hanging out for the rest of the day. Adela, Ade and I went to visit Inca one day and then it started to pour rain so we ended up going back to Palma. I also went through the ordeal of getting my NIE which is identification number for foreigners. I went on the first day and waited for over two hours just to be told that I didn’t have everything and that I’d have to come back the next day. I got the copies and photos that I needed and went back the next day and then was told that I needed to come back in 40 days after everything was processed. I do already have my NIE but I do not have my official identity card yet.
Because of Palma’s location there is a huge yacht industy here and there are many Australians, South Africans, and Britsh people who come to Mallorca looking for work on the Yacths. Many of them stay at the Hostel Terramar while they are looking for work as it is close to the port. I met this really cool Australian girl named Ashleigh who had just flown in from a job in Malta and was in Palma to do an interview for another job. She ended up getting a job on Eric Clapton’s yacht, which is pretty insane. I never even know this industry existed as I guess I always took it for granted as to who did those jobs. The work sounds extremely difficult but working 4-6 months on a yacht going from the Mediterranean to the Carribean and making about 2,500$-3,000$ a month (and banking it all as you don’t really have anywhere to spend it) sounds quite nice. My second to last night at the Terramar I hung out with all of the yachties and with Ida and Alyssa, two American assistants here in Palma and it was a really really great time!
Subscribe to Twitter FeedPlaces Derron Has Lived
Circleville, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Put-in-Bay, Ohio
Forge-Philippe, Belgium Géronsart, Belgium Nismes, Belgium
Dax, France
Palma, Mallorca, Illes Balears, Spain
Places Derron Has Been
