Hmmm, it´s been awhile.

We decided to have a cultural week.

Wednesday night we went to see a Flamenco lecture and show. It was only about the music, not the dancing. This 20-something guy gave a PowerPoint presentation for at least and hour about Flamenco music and it was pretty boring. I can't listen to someone talk in English for that long, let alone Spanish. Afterwards, this old gypsy woman and her musicians came out and did a performance. That was pretty cool, and the whole thing was held in a very cute cafe in the Arab quarter. So I ended up glad I went.

Friday we headed to Ronda as a group, but just for the day. It was really gorgeous. (Literally...there´s a big gorge that cuts right through the middle of the city!) It took us three hours to get there by bus, then we stayed for about three hours, and then rode three hours back to Granada. I thought about staying for the whole weekend, but in the end it was not worth the effort and euros. On the way home, I mentioned to Jorge (our trip director) that when we arrived in Spain we never went through any sort of customs or passport control, and then he seriously talked to me for 40 minutes about why Europe is different from the United States. As an example, he cited the first time he came to the States in 1980 and had to drive 20 minutes to get an ice cream. He´s quite the Chatty Cathy, and I still don´t understand why I never got a stamp in my passport.

As for my classes, they are pretty good. Right now I am taking a grammar class and a Spanish culture class, and the professors are both really funny and interesting. In the culture class we just finished learning about bullfights and now we're on Flamenco, so all the info is really useful for living in Spain. But these classes end on the 11th. I have some work to get done before then including a 10 page paper and 20 minute oral presentation on the Spanish education system. Speaking of which, yesterday Kiersten and I spent an hour trying to find the public library. We asked several people where it was, and no one seemed to know. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be the ugliest industrial-looking building amid an entire neighborhood of historic churches. All the people working there wore white lab coats and it was filled with row after row of what appeared to be the same encyclopedia. I felt like I was in some psychological horror film. I asked a librarian if they had WiFi, and she said no and directed me to the public internet computers. There were seriously 6 of them and you had to sign up in 5 minute intervals. It was pretty frustrating.

Last night I went to my first Spanish club. It was €10 just to get in and it didn´t get crowded until almost 3am. I don´t know how these Spanish kids do it...

There´s a bullfight today in Granada and some friends and I got tickets. Jorge told me to bring a towel instead of tissues because that´s how much I´m going to cry. He told me there are three things he doesn´t approve of and holds them in equal regard: Spanish bullfights, English fox hunting, and American boxing. (This was all during the 40 minute talk on the bus back from Ronda.) Then he said I will probably leave after the first half-hour screaming and crying. Sounds pretty dramatic... Actually, I have yet to meet a Spaniard who enjoys or even approves of the bullfights. We´ll see how it goes.

In other news, I saw The Office season premiere. I give it a B+.

La ley y el orden: UVE

Tonight is the first SVU of the season and I'm so sad I'm missing it. :(

Un poco más

While I'm still working on updating my Webshots, I thought you might appreciate this photo of Alfonzo and María Pepa that I took today for the German girls. Happy Monday! :)

Más largo que un día sin pan

After much planning, we decided to spend the weekend in Almería, a coastal town two hours southeast of Granada. It’s a pretty little town, and all the main roads are very quaint and personal. There’s a lot of Arab influence there, which is similar to Granada and most of Andalucía. Actually, Almería is somewhat of a desert, and they sometimes film American-style westerns there, and it is the city with the least amount of rain in all of Spain.

Knowing this, you can imagine our delight when it rained until 10:30 on Friday night.

It had been raining since 4 am in Granada, and the twenty-minute public bus ride to the big bus station took an hour. Luckily we bought our tickets on Thursday, because we ended up running for the tour bus and just making it on time. We arrived in Almería at 5:30 pm, and I think we brought the storm with us. The ensuing torrential downpour is best described as apocalyptic. Not wanting to spend the whole night in our two star hotel, humming highlights from our favorite Broadway musicals, we ventured out into the storm. The water was up to my shins on the street, with a heavy current, and it was flooding over the curbs onto all of the sidewalks. The umbrella I bought that same day was practically useless as the rain was coming in sideways (to borrow a phrase from Forrest Gump). All the townspeople just stood in their doorways and watched the weather and us nutty americanos making our way through it. Once we were adequately soaked to the bone, the weather started to clear up and we ended up getting tapas and sangria at a little bar off the main road.

Saturday we got up super early and took a one-hour bus ride to the resort town of San José. It was very pretty, with the usual whitewashed houses up and down the hills and the mountains framing the sea. We rented bikes for half the day in attempts to ride through some of the Cabo de Gata Nature Reserve next to the beach. We biked up the hilly paths along the coast, with the sea always in view. It was one of my favorite activities of the trip thus far. When the road ended at the side of a mountain, we hiked with our bikes around the side of it. It was actually pretty rugged and somewhat dangerous – just a typical day in my life, as I’m sure you know. Down below, we saw a secluded beach in part of the reserve and climbed down to it (we had come prepared with our bathing suits under our clothes). As we descended, it became increasingly obvious that bathing suits were entirely optional. So there we were, americanos with mountain bikes and exercise clothes and backpacks and camelbacks, on a Spanish nude beach. Awkward.

We actually stayed at the beach for awhile, though we kept our eyes towards the sea. Needless to say, it was pretty silly.

We took an 8 pm bus back to Almería and had a really good night’s sleep. On Sunday, we walked around to see some of the Arab ruins in the city and left Almería around 4:30. I seriously fell asleep in the middle of my homework at 10:00 last night – but the exhaustion was worth it. It was a very good weekend.

Question of the Day – should I spent 100 euro ($140) to join a gym for three months?

C-C-C-Cambios

Good news! We booked a flight for our Fall Break!

The plan changed many times. Our first goal was to do Prague, the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia, and Istanbul – but we quickly realized that was nearly impossible to do in 10 days on a budget. Then we thought we’d mix things up with a Glasgow and Prague vacation. Multiple search engines, three travel agents, and much heartache later, we conceded defeat and dropped Prague from the agenda.

As of now, we’re headed to Dublin (for about $100 round trip!). The plan is: countryside by day, Dublin by night. After 3-4 days, we’ll head off to some other location. (Currently on the list is Oslo, Norway… But we could be swayed towards another site by compelling information and cheap airfare.) When I got home I was pretty excited to tell María Pepa and Alfonzo – they seem to think that I have family there. Alfonzo said that if I share ancestors with people, then we’re family. It makes me think of when Kathy Griffin invited all the Griffins in Ireland to share a pint with her…

Also, three German girls came to stay with us. They’re students, but only here for a week. I was not at all warned, ran into them in the hallway, and was thoroughly confused. They don’t speak much Spanish, and I’m sure they’re questioning what kind of American I am because I won’t talk to them in English en casa. They ate dinner before me because there’s not room at the table for all of us, and then María Pepa was upset because all she had left for me was half a personal pizza. I was pretty much ecstatic with the news and told her how perfect that was because it’s really not necessary that she feed me so much at dinner. She shook her head. I told her I was still full because we eat so much for lunch. I wish you could have seen her face – it was like a combination of bewilderment and incomprehension. Alfonzo was pretty amused and told me I was going to have to start running in the park. I agreed, but I was definitely not laughing about it. In the end, she made me half the pizza, two slices of Italian bread with salt and olive oil (which she puts on seriously everything), tomato-ish sauce, and this lunchmeat with dates and nuts in it, and a flan. Meanwhile, she literally ate some of the pizza crusts and an entire tomato, cut in half, with salt and olive oil.

Although María Pepa seems to be the worst, all of the kids are having trouble with how much food they’re served. My friend Dawn decided to tell her mom that she wanted to lose weight. Her mom told her that was perfect because the food she makes has little to no fat in it, and then proceeded to give her a third helping of chicken.

In celebration of our Ireland plans, the five of us decided to go to Hannigans (where else?) and say “slancha” over pints of Guinness. (Actually, we went to “Big” Hannigans this time, which is the by the same owners, but in a more ritzy part of town.) I was in a good mood and decided to invite the German girls along. Either they didn’t understand me, or they didn’t know why I was inviting them to an Irish Pub in Spain, so they just giggled a little and declined. They’re loss I figured. This morning I was talking to them over breakfast and learned they are sixteen. I was horrified. I wonder what they think of me inviting children to a bar? Maybe I should tell them I used to be an RA...

Well, I better go - Dawn and I have launched a full on project to start volunteering at an elementary school down the street and we have to go meet some professoras.

Abrazos!

Nunca me acuerdo de ningún título...

The winding roads that ascend through the Sierra Nevadas are enough to make anyone car sick. Still, it’s worth the ride for both the scenery and the quaint pueblos set deep into the mountains. Our first stop on Friday morning was the tiny white-washed village of Alpujarras. There, townspeople pick “higo” fruits right off the trees and wash their clothes in a communal basin for lack of electricity in many homes. On one side street, we found a drinking fountain that guarantees marriage within a year of drinking from it. Thankfully, I brought bottled water.

From Alpujarras, we scaled deeper into the mountains and arrived at Trevelez – the town of the highest altitude on the Iberian Peninsula. After a quick picnic (María Pepa packed me two hoagie-length sandwiches, two apples, and an entire package of crackers – enough to feed the entire group) we hit up the shops in the town center. It was very small and every store, from bakeries to ceramics shops, offered a variety of dried pork legs, which hung morbidly from the ceilings. Around 1:30, we stopped into a restaurant to have a Coca Cola Light and the use the baño. Besides us five americanos, the only table was occupied by two old men and an ugly little dog that could walk on its hind legs at command. An hour and two complimentary beers later, we were all fast friends. Carlos and Alberto were pretty excited to show off the rat-creatures best tricks, and the restaurant owner and his wife seemed to think we were all hillarious. The real fun came after we told them about the marriage fountain we had drank from in Alpujarras. Everyone jokingly encouraged us to consider Carlos, who despite being about 70, is apparently quite a catch because of his dog, house, and lack of children. Apparently, Alberto is the town major, and he was full of stories. Very seriously, he admitted to me that he likes Americans better than Russians (though he prefers Castro to George Bush), then said something about the FBI that I couldn’t understand, and then told me about the time he met Robert Kennedy on a train going to Madrid. Before we left, he gave us his e-mail address in case we ever need anything.

Finally, we made it to Almuñecar by Friday evening. It was a little beach town with a substantial elderly population and very little noise. Actually, it was very similar to Torrenuevas, the beach I went to with María Pepa, and I am starting to get the idea that many Mediterranean villages are this way. Our hotel was pretty amazing, and I lucked out by getting one of only three rooms that directly look out over the sea. We spent a lot of time out on the balcony there, especially because the water was full of red jellyfish on the day we arrived and so we couldn’t swim. I spent the whole next day at the beach, which was made of stones instead of sand, and I learned how to search for sea glass.

On the way home Sunday morning, we stopped in Nerja to see its famous cave. It was actually pretty gi-huge-enous. I had a hard time believing it wasn’t some fake exhibit that you run into at Disney World… Sadly, we left right afterwards to make it home for lunch, although I would’ve stayed to see what I’m told is one of Spain’s best beaches.

As for me, I just finished the John Grisham book I was reading and I’m still working out plans for Fall Break, so I’m kind of up-in-the-air about things. Tonight is trivia night at Hannigans, and we plan on arriving early enough to win this time. Hopefully, we won’t have to do sports this time.

Abrazos

Fotos, Bicis, y Viajes

After many frustrating days, I've finally managed to get some photos online. Here's the link:

Liz's Spain Pics

So enjoy.

Yesterday I went on a bike ride organized through the Universidad. The bikes (or "bicis" as they're called) were made of crap. Maybe I'm just spoiled by my own multi-geared, comfortable bici waiting patiently for me back in Delaware. Our leader was this guy named Ulises, and when I saw him dressed all in spandex I started wondering what I'd gotten myself into. Actually, it was a very nice ride through the southern barrios in Granada - we even got to see the Campo de Futbol. Then at the end we had to go up this huge hill, and I started feeling like I was back in a Cheltenham gym class...

We are going on an excursion this weekend to Alpujarras and Nerja, so hopefully I'll have some cool pictures on my return.

¡Tengo WiFi!

So, María Pepa broke her foot…

Well, she didn’t break it necessarily. She and Alfonzo (shall I call him Alfy?...no) went out to visit a friend after we got back from the beach with promises to be home by the evening. They left me enough food for a week. Then they come putzing in at 10 pm. Very dramatically, María Pepa’s hands slap against the walls in the hallway for balance as she turns the corner with Alfonzo saying “poco, poco, poco.” There she is in her little wedge heals, with her right foot wrapped in an ace bandage up to her knee. Alfonzo’s behind her carrying these arm-brace crutches, and making fun of her. From what I understood, she banged it on a drawer while cutting the plastic wrapper off the pizza she left me for dinner. Hours later, she was immobile. As she tells me this, Alfonzo is (mockingly) hobbling around and hitting her in the behind with one of the crutches. Needless to say, it was pretty silly.

So while the padres were at the hospital, I was out exploring the Albacín. Also known as the Arab Quarter, the Albacín is a hilly neighborhood at the top (not north, I think east) of the city. It’s the location of Sacramonte, a series of caves set into the hillside occupied by gypsies that try to read your palms and steal your money. [Wasn’t that informative? I should write for Wikipedia…] There’s a great view of the Alhambra from there – we got some money shots which I hope to post later today. I’ve met some kids who like to go exploring like me so we’ve been having fun together seeing different parts of the city.

Last night was trivia night at our favorite Irish Pub, Hannigans. We showed up late and missed the first two rounds, but we only finished 5 points behind the fifth place team. The sports questions killed us…

Today it’s raining. I’m finally connected to the wireless internet at school so I am pretty psyched (how’s that Dad?) not to have to pay exorbitant prices at the Ciber-Café. Also, I am finally writing this on my own computer!

In other news, I’m starting to plan out my trips for free weekends and Fall Break. Any suggestions? I'm thinking Eastern Europe...

¡Qué rica, la vida mediterránea!

You don´t know beaches until you´ve been to the Mediterranean. I´m serious. In Spain, the sea is incredibly calm and that perfect cool-but-not-tropical temperature. The Sierra Nevadas surround you from every direction (in fact, the drive through them to get to the beach is reason enough for going). There´s no trash anywere, or obnoxious people under the umbrella next to you. Just 40 feet out, people kayack and ride peddle-operated rafts. All the babies speak in Spanish.

I speant most of the day by myself on the beach reading. María Pepa stayed at the apartment replacing the pipes to the stove, watching a guy fix the railing on the veranda, and cleaning every inch. (She´s very handy. She´s also a hysterical driver...and by hysterical, I mean horrifying. It´s a small miracle we made it back alive.) I only went in the water twice and could have stayed in all day if I wasn´t trying to keep a close eye on the backpack with all my worldly belonging back on shore. At the end of the day, I was dark enough to maybe pass as a Spaniard (if you ignore the freckles, blue eyes, and incredibly burnt back...).

María is still feeding me incredibly too much food. Also, my comprehension is still poor. Last night she told me something about "mesa" (which is table) at 8:30, so I thought that´s when we were eating. As it turns out, she was actually saying "misa" (which is mass) and I was seriously in my pajamas when we were supposed to leave... I´ve decided that it´s the accent I´m having a hard time with, plus the fact that she speaks really fast and under her breath half the time. But I´ll catch up soon I´m sure.

*Scoop and Labradoodie Corner*
Every other person here has a white toy poodle. Yesterday I saw two meet on the street and greet each other in Spanish - very cute.

Well, classes start tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Abrazos

Noches en los Jardines de España

Apparently my dad is having fun translating these spanish headings so I´ll keep using them for awhile.

Well, after a morning visit to the Barcelona aquarium, and some drama at the airport regarding everyone´s luggage exceeding the domestic flight weight limits, I was off to Granada on the fifth. We arrived at 10:30 pm, but didn´t meet our families until 12 because some kids´suitcases didn´t make it onto the plane (luckily not me).

I live at the bottom of the city, right across the street from a big park and Federico García Lorca´s house. My family consists of Alfonzo and María Pepa Ruiz, each of whom stands (at most) about five feet tall. They´re older and walk around the house humming and singing under their breath - kind of reminds me of Pop-Pop. Granada is a small city of about 250,000 (plus 70,000 spanish and foreign students). The main streets look like any other modern city, but every back road is historic and quaint and cobblestoned. There are little cafes and plazas hidden everywhere, and you can see the Sierra Nevada mountains on the outskirts of town.

My first interactions with the family were pretty awkward. I thought they were pretty quiet and uninterested in conversing with me. I kept asking them questions at lunch just so that it wasn´t so quiet. But by my first dinner, the situation was a lot better. I told María Pepa that I liked the park and she said that she and I could go walking there some afternoons. (In the mornings she works in a dry-cleaners. Alfonzo is retired.) They are both very curious as to why I don´t have a boyfriend and seem somewhat convinced that I will find one in the next few days... Lunch is the biggest meal here, and my chicken and potatoes could have fed three people. Then, at dinner, María Pepa made me two ham and cheese sandwiches, a salad, and flan. I told her it was really good, but too much. She responded by asking what my mom would say if I didn´t eat enough. Feeling guilty, I ate both sandwiches. This afternoon she and I are going to the beach and staying at one of her friend´s house until tomorrow afternoon (but Alfonzo can´t come because another student is coming to stay with us later today). All the other UD kids are jealous. She also told me she hopes well be good friends.

The apartment is on the seventh floor and is somewhat small. My room is seriously 6´x6´. I have a bed, a small table and chair, some shelves, and a closet. When I want to get in the closet I have to move the chair and table. I have a window which looks out onto a tiny courtyard at the center of the building, and there´s a huge print of bleeding Jesus after he was taken off the cross above my bed... Also, María Pepa takes her job very seriously and is constantly rearranging my room, but it doesn´t really bother me except that I lied and told her I didn´t have a towel (because I brought my own only for when I travel), and I´m pretty sure she´s found mine in my room. Our University of Granada building (the Centro de Lengua Modernas) is a good 20 minute walk away, and all the students there are foreign - mostly from the states.

Last night I met up with a bunch of kids and went to "Little Hannigans", an Irish pub near our school. It was karaoke night, and filled with americanos and really hysterical Spanish kids trying to sing american songs. I met a girl there who went to Abington High School and we scowled at each other.

Meanwhile, my spanish speaking abilities are hit or miss and I´m incredibly awkward about it... This morning I was explaining to Alfonzo (who was very intently watching a TV program) that I was going to the school to set up my wireless internet, and he said "mira, ven". That means "look, come here". And even though I totally knew that, I got confused and thought he was telling me to go ahead. So I was walking out of the apartment and he was following me saying "ven". I finally realized what he was saying and decided I am the biggest tool in Granada. Then he showed me this great view of the park we have from our apartment (which I will share with you once I master the art of online pictures). Then he pointed out what he was watching on TV, a televised view of the front door courtesy of the security cameras. So much for a TV program...

Well, I think that´s about it... I´ll probably be less detailed in the future, but I thought I´d give you the total picture of things here. The weather´s nice, the city´s safe, and I have a cell phone and service at long last!

Goal of the day: ride on a moped. :)

Abrazos

Adios Barcelona

Things have chilled out a bit since our first few days here.

Sunday night we ended up going out with some kids from Denmark that were studying in Barcelona. They all spoke Danish, English, and some Spanish and they all looked like Ken and Barbie. It was pretty bizarre. Then we ran into some other kids from our group and these British kids on "gap year" so we all hung out. Did you know bars and clubs stay open until 7 am here? Would you believe it if I told you I stayed out that late? (sike!)

Yesterday we went to a beach called Sitges, just south of the city. They streets were all winding cobblestone, with white-washed buildings and a castle-looking church that jutted out on a cliff over the sea. The beach was just what you´d expect of Europe - all kinds of topless women, naked children, and men in speedos. The water was cold but nice once you were hot enough. Then a local pointed some of us in the direction of a good cafe for lunch. We didn´t really know what the food was so we ordered random things. I ended up with bruschetta...

After that, Jorge surprised us with a tour of the Torres winery. It was a lot cooler than Concha y Toro, which we saw in Chile. Those people are RICH! Now I´m trying my best to marry into the Torres family.

Today we saw a Cathedral in the historic or "gothic" quarter and later we´re heading to the Picasso Museum. The days are full, but we also have free time to bum around at internet cafes such as the one I´m now.

I love reading everyone´s comments! I´m pretty oblivious to what´s going on back in the states... I can´t wait to get a phone and get settled!

Tomorrow I fly to Granada!

Abrazos

(Happy Birthday, 21 Year Old!)

He Llegado

Well, I made it.

We arrived in Barcelona yesterday morning, and are flying to Granada on the fifth. After losing six hours of sleep in the time change everyone was pretty grumpy for first day of sight seeing. (Not me, of course!) Then we had to get up early this morning to go see a bunch of museums and take a bus tour of the city. Needless to say, I´m pretty happy there´s unofficial siesta time here in Spain.

Barcelona is pretty amazing. The locals speak Catalán and there are so many foreigners here that everyone speaks different languages. The city is really beautiful and historic, later today we are going to see some of Gaudí´s works, including his big cathedral. Tonight I expect we´ll hit up some of the nightlife... :)

The group seems pretty cool so far. All the girls are friendly and excited to be here so that´s really good.

Anyway, I have to run because we are heading out to more museums soon. I´ll update soon with (hopefully) more exciting news!

Abrazos!