Cultural Week

London, Granada, Etc.

As many of you have probably noticed, it has been a while since I last updated my blog. Journaling has never been my forte. The novelty of living abroad has begun to wear away, and I have settled into a routine, which I make sure to shake up with traveling. I am always in the process of planning my next trip. Since Madrid, I have been to London, Granada, and will leave in two days for Barcelona.

London was fabulous!!! I went to visit my friend Sarah who has been studying at Le Cordon Blue for the past three months. I stayed in her dorm in Kensington and was only a short walk from Hyde Park and tube stop away from Knotting Hill. It was quite a journey getting to London from Santa Maria del Aguila, which was further complicated by airline strikes in France...but I finally made it...and then Sarah got food poisoning. So I continued on with our itinerary by myself, seeing Westiminster Abbey, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Big Bend, Oxford, Windsor Castle, and going to the market on Portobello Rd...which market shopping or any kind of shopping just isn't as much fun by yourself. Thankfully though Sarah felt well enough to meet me for high tea and a movie. Overall the weather was really nice, not too cold, and not too much rain. One sunny morning, I took a fabulous walk through Hyde Park and then grabbed a muffin at this cute bakery/breakfast spot called the Muffin Man. Sarah took me to the fabulous spot in Hyde Park called The Organery, which is a renovated greenhouse made into a restaraunt with miniture orange trees on every table. Food was definitely a focal point of this trip...as I had had about all the tapas I could take and was desperate for some variety. While on Portobello Rd., I bought cupcakes at the Hummingbird Bakery and freshly made Nutella crepes at one of the market food stalls. I got to see Le Cordon Blue and the quaint surrounding area where Sarah spends most of her time. She showed me all of here favorite restaurants, which we stopped in one for a dinner of Italian, and then she showed me the one little shop that sells fabulous straw bags embroidered with bright colors...I just had to buy one! The whole trip was a fabulous balance of sightseeing and then enjoying the quaint, local spots that come with living in a big city. To top off my vacation, we went out with Sarah's friends the last night to see the Phantom of the Opera (it was FABULOUS!!) and then go out for Mexican food! London is one of my new favorite cities!

Two weekends ago I went one of the other English Language Assistants in my area to Granada for the Tango festival. We walked through the Albaycin, the old moorish neighborhood, buying teas, stopping at the lookout points for the Alhambra, eating Kababs (the Arab version of a Chipotle burrito), and stopping to have afternoon tea at a local Tetaria. We joined the other tango afficionados in one of Granada's many plazas to hear tango music and watch the locals practice their moves. We then ate ice cream at one of Granada's many Heladerias (ice cream shop). At night we say a fabulous tango production at the theater, showcasing dancing and music from Latin American performers. After the show, we made our way to a hotel where the festival was holding a huge dance for the Granada tango lovers. I had a wonderful time watching the different pairs show their moves and was inspired to lessons. Granada is a fabulous city! I look forward to going back in the spring to see the palaces and gardens at the Alhambra when they are in full bloom.

Madrid

Madrid is a huge city with tons of fabulous museums. Each day mom and me saw a different art museaum. After all of my years taking art classes, studying periods of art, and studying spanish art in my university studies, it was incredible to see works of art by Goya, Picasso, and Salvador Dali. The highlights of our trip include: Segway tour; cocktails at the Ritz; a Flamenco show; shopping at Desiqual; seeing a movie...in English!; figuring out the Metro; and just being with my mom. Traveling to Toledo and Madrid was a much needed adventure and was made complete by having my mom join me...seeing art museums and big cities is just way more fun with a companion!

Toledo

Making the journey away from Madrid to the quaint town of Toledo was definitely worth the effort. After taking a 1 hr bus, a taxi, a 1 hr flight, the metro, 2 trains and another taxi, I finally made it to Toledo. I spent several hours walking through the town awaiting my mom´s arrival and making notes of the highlights I would show her. I met my mom at the Toledo train station, which is incredible! The tile work, windows, light fixtures, and the original ticket booths were exquisite! It was like entering through the portal of another world. We quickly left our things at the hotel, and made our way to the heart of Toledo, passing cathedrals and quaint shops on the way, and found a restaraunt off the main road where we ate typical Spanish foods like paella and migas and drank red wine. When then took a trolley ride through the city, getting to see all the sites quickly and were able to view the city from a panoramic view. The panoramic view of the city was fabulous. We were able to clearly see the church steeple rising above the city and see the fusion of the Catholic, Jewish, and Arab architecture and religions. Toledo was a much needed escape and it was a joy to be able to wander through the streets with the company of my mom.

Cordoba

At the end of my Christmas holidays, I spontaneously traveled to Cordoba. As I walked through the old Jewish Quarter, where stands 1 of 3 synogogues still in existence in Spain after the Spanish Inquisition, see walls lined with rows of flower pots and geraniums, look past the gates of the typical homes to see exquisite patios, and see the Cathedral towering overhead, I feel as though I am in another world. Each corner I turn there is another historical building or monument from hundreds of years ago, and I am clearly made aware of how young the United States really is. The city of Cordoba has been in existence since B.C. and has passed through many hands and religions. It has been through the hands of the Iberians, the Romans, the Arabs/Muslims who built the Mezquita, and then the Spanish Catholic kings who then built the Cathedral within the Mezquita, actually helping to preserve the Mezquita. Cordoba is an exquisite and intricate mixture of Roman, Catholic, Jewish, and Arab influences. It is amazing what they were able to build, and that with the technology we have today, those buildings of the past will continue to outlast what we will build today and in the future. Their devotion to their gods is clearly reflected in their architecture and continues, at least for the mean time, to achieve its purpose...to show the everlasting majesty of God.

Happy New Year´s!

This year I enjoyed the New Year festivities in Beires, Spain with my roomate Laura and her family. The best way to describe Beires is to compare it to Bloys Campmeeting. It is a very small community made up of people who are all related or families whom you have been friends with for years. There is a plaza where everyone meets to hang out, listen to music, have festivals, play soccer, etc. There is even a small swimming pool filled with fresh water from the mountains or the rain where people lay out (think Balmorhea - but much smaller). On New Year´s Eve, which in Spain they call Noche Viejo (literally translated as the "old night"), the whole family meets for dinner around 9pm and has several coarses of fish, calamari, ham, flan, chocolates, and then at midnight comes the fun. Everyone sits around the table watching the TV with 12 green grapes at hand. When the clock stricks 12 the TV has a 12 second count down, where on each ding of the second you eat a grape until you finish all 12. The goal is to finish all 12 grapes within the 12 seconds. Also you want to chose the biggest grapes possible, because the bigger the grape the better luck you will have in the New Year. I triumphantly finished all my within the 12 seconds, however not without difficulty. I almost started too early (there are a series of dings before the grape eating dings) and Laura´s mom started laughing at me and then I started laughing - with grapes in my mouth - and then with the first bite I realized these were not seedless grapes, making the chewing process much more difficult. After we finished the grapes then everyone had a glass of champagne. They have so many fun traditions! After dinner and the grapes, Laura and I went out with her cousins and friends from Beires to pre-party at her cousins and then go out dancing. The whole evening was a party. I finally made it to bed at 8:30am which I fondly made note was about the time when most of my friends and family were welcoming in the New Year! I spent the next 2 days catching up on my sleep and preparing myself for going out with Laura´s friends in Almeria on Saturday. In Almeria we went to dinner and did the whole bar-hopping scene. It was fun, but way too crowded! Everyone was out because it was a Saturday and vacation! I am looking forward to going back out in Almeria when its not such a big occasion. I am still getting used to the young peoples hours here. I have heard in the summer it is even later as in staying out until 11am, eating breakfast, then going to bed, then getting up in the afternoon, going to the pool, and then doing it all over again for several days in the row. Good thing summer is still a few months away:)

After returning to Santa Maria del Aguila, it was time to get ready for El Dia de los Reyes. Seriously, Christmas here is a 2 week adventure. On December 24th its Noche Buena, December 25 is Navidad, December 31-January 1 Noche Viejo o Feliz Ano, and then on January 5 is Dia de los Reyes. Dia de los Reyes is when the three kings bring gifts to the children. The are carried through the city in floats for a big procession where they through out candy to the children. Then they make their way to the plaza where they hand out gifts to the children (the parents have bought gifts ahead of time, wrapped them, and put their childrens´names on them for the kings to hand out). There is a big stage with christmas carols and massive lines to get to the kings. The Christmas Spirit continues on and on in Spain! They sure do know how to have a party! This upcoming Monday will be a rude awaking when I have to go back to work.

Random Events

After my adventure to Granada, I went to hear a band play whose lead singer is friends with some of the friends I have made. The bar was fun, the company was great, and after a couple of beers the band wasn't "excruitiatingly horrible." A little back ground info on the band: their name is Ice Cream (yes, like the creamy frozen desert); their style is heavy metal rock; and all the members are Spanish, speak Spanish, yet choose to sing in English. Oh, it gets better! The lyrics to one of their songs is literally, "I scream; You scream; We all scream for ice cream!" repeated 15 times. Haha the irony of it makes me laugh every time I think about it :) It was fun though to go to a live, local concert. Live music/bands are rare in Spain, unlike the U.S. where you can find a dozen a night in every major city and at least one every weekend in most other towns. They do not even play at the local coffee shop. How do bands begin/become famous if there is no place for them to play? How many independent bands exist in Spain? Are they all undercover in their basements? This would seriously make a very interesting research topic for a music major - Kate Powers, You should look into this :)

Last Sunday I joined friends for a potluck lunch. The food was delicious, the company was great, but the Spanish games were quite difficult. We played basically the equivalent of Taboo but in Spanish. Asking cultural/historical questions in Spanish, having to describe a specific word in Spanish and then quess it, acting out a Spanish word, and drawing a Spanish word. At my turn, I didn't know the first word in Spanish and no one could describe it to me, so the second word I chose was "kilo" easy enough to understand, but then I had to draw it...I drew a balance and they guessed every word but kilo. Haha. I felt pretty stupid, but it was a good way to truly immerse myself. Fortunately/Unfortunately my team wasn't so great at the game either. We came in dead last by a lot. Oh well, it was a good time and its definitely something to strive for - to play Spanish Taboo like Spanish was my first language.

The Sunday after Christmas, I joined Franciso's family again for a Spanish Bar-B-Que. It was delicious. They are such a fun group of people. His brother also has a pet bull dog name Bono. I also tried my first Spanish sherry, which I must say was quite nice - smooth and sweet. It is amazing how universal the concept of bar-b-que is. In Argentina it is called "asado," in spain "barbacoa," and in the U.S. "bar-b-que." The only difference is the meat varies from location to location, but they all include enormous amounts of meat, beer/wine, and good company.