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J & J Books and Coffee

J & J Books and Coffee

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I have always been an avid reader, but since moving to Madrid my appetite for good books has been almost insatiable. I find that after a long day of working and speaking entirely in Spanish, my brain needs its English fix to rest and unwind a little bit. While my reading comprehension skills in Spanish are pretty solid at this point, I seek comfort in the relaxing nature of reading in my native English. One of my hobbies in New York was collecting second hand books so I was able to bring a few over when I moved here, but after the first few weeks I desperately needed to replenish my supply, and that is when I discovered J & J Books and Coffee.

J & J Books is a café/bar/bookstore located in the Malasaña neighborhood. Among other things, they host various events during the week such as intercambio nights and quiz nights that provide a fun, casual environment to meet other expats as well as Spaniards looking to brush up on their English. 

The bottom floor holds a large collection of second-hand, English-language books.  The quantity of books is vast and impressive and is divided by category (romance, mystery, biography, classics, teaching English, health, etc.) to ease navigation. The website also includes a browse tool that enables you to see what books they have in their catalogue (by author, title or subject), but I know in my case I tend to enjoy the process of browsing the shelves and seeing what´s out there.

Discovering this store has been such a treat for me. Few are the days when I leave there with less than four or five books to devour.  Given that J & J buys books from its customers as well, they often have many new releases on hand but those tend to move fairly quickly.  Enjoy!

J & J Books and Coffee
c/ Espiritu Santo, 47
Metro: Noviciado
 

Speaking English with a Spanish Accent

Speaking English with a Spanish Accent

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When I first moved to Madrid I was really nervous to start my job. I had nightmares about suddenly freezing up when my boss asked me a question in Spanish, or having a client try to explain something to me that I would simply not be capable of comprehending. To assuage my fears, my novio Raúl told me not to worry because when in doubt I can just answer in English.

That sounded simple enough, I thought, so when I started working and finding myself in those dreaded situations where I just could not come up with the word I was looking for, I said the word in English and hoped for the best.  Much to Raul’s surprise, I was met with many confused glances and blank stares.  I told him the words I said in English, and he was shocked that my Spanish colleagues did not understand, especially since I was primarily using financial terms that are often said English, even in Spain.   This continued as such until I discovered the nifty trick of saying the word in English, but with a Spanish accent.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be saying words such as Blackbeddy (Blackberry), oosernamay, (username), weefee (wifi), and tocks (tax), but this is my new reality and my life is so much easier as a result. I even started saying my last name with a Spanish accent (saying Leench instead of Lynch is really just so much easier for everyone).

My new system had me feeling great until the last time I was home visiting my family.  Over dinner one night, my father gently told me that I was developing a bit of a strange accent in English.  I was slightly horrified but mostly amused.  Here I am having trouble with my Spanish pronunciation and speaking my native language with a foreign accent. I can´t win!  (As an aside, I am sensitive to the fact that people who speak languages other than English need to do the same exercise so people like me can understand!)

Fortunately I have come to terms with my new accent and decided it can only make me more mysterious and exotic to my fellow Americans when I am back home, in the same vein as other US expats such as Madonna, Gwyneth and Angelina.  Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

Has anyone else taken up Eengleesh since moving to Madrid?