I’ve officially been here in Nijmegen for two weeks now, although to be honest it feels like it has been a lot longer. The past two weeks have flown by, and I know time isn’t going to slow down any time soon. I spent the first few days here just figuring things out, buying everything I needed (like a power adapter and a towel), and catching up on some sleep. My first weekend here some of the girls and I took a day trip to Rotterdam where we did a self-guided walking tour of the entire town. It was a lot of fun, but after walking almost 12 miles in uncomfortable shoes I was so ready to just get home.
Last week I finally started analyzing the data that I collected in Palenque last month. Unfortunately it has turned out to be harder than I expected. Due to the surroundings where I collected the data, there is a large amount of background noise on my recordings. My recorder picked up things like the sound of rain, the dogs barking, children yelling, and just people in the same room as me having conversations with each other. For the most part I can still hear my participants if I really concentrate with the volume up the whole way, however, a few of them spoke pretty softly, which mixed with the background noise makes for a difficult time. Not speaking the language has also proved to be a bit of a problem. While I can understand some Lengua Palenquera, especially when I know what they are supposed to be saying, I definitely have still been having a bit of trouble making out some of what is being said on my recordings. Although it takes quite a bit of time, it has been very interesting to listen and see some of the responses I got from my participants.
After a long work-filled week last week, Amy and I made a last minute decision to go to London for the weekend. We spent three days exploring the city and taking pictures and having a really fun time. My bank account, however, did not have as much fun as we did there since London is expensive and the US dollar is pretty weak against the pound at the moment. It was fun being back in an English speaking environment as well, especially because I absolutely adore the English accent.
Now I’m back in Nijmegen doing more work this week, but this weekend were heading out again to go to the islands of Mallorca and Ibiza in Spain! I can’t wait to speak some Spanish and relax on the beach all weekend!
Note: I tired to upload some pictures for your viewing pleasure, however it keeps telling me that I don’t have permission to upload files. It’s the thought that counts. Maybe next time.