Countdown...

...3 days...

I'm ready to be back!!

...the end...

Reverse Culture Shock??

So, today after our classes, the school had all of us (or all of us that hadn't strategized a plan of escape earlier) stay for a little half hour-ish session on reverse culture shock/ re-entry into the US...I had already started realizing how much it's going to suck when it hits me (I say "when," not "if"...I know myself well enough by this point), but after that little meeting thing, I'm just getting rather apprehensive of the whole thing...I'm bracing myself for the worst...I figure it will probably hit me when January rolls around and I have to get into a new routine...I'm just afraid that it will be bad...

This is the part of study-abroads that they never tell you about!!



Well, I hope all of you are having a good, safe week and I hope the weather is cooperating for you! (oh, btw, it's finally gotten cold here...it's like 15ºC...which, I know, isn't that cold...but I'd still consider it as cold...) Good luck with the end of the semester and/or the beginning of Christmas preparations!!

The end is near...

Um...let's see...

Well, first off, I believe there are only 10 days left until I'm back in the States...
Second off, the dollar is crap...although the rate has gotten better in the last couple of days...but really?? $59.something for 40€?!?! Kind of ridiculous...and yet, I need to have money if I want to be able to get to the airport to get home...bleh...

Other than that...um, on Monday night there was this cool music thing that I think was for whatever holiday yesterday was (Virgin of the Immaculate Conception Day, I think)...it started at midnight, so technically it was yesterday...but anyway, there were a ton of people in the plaza that we went to, a bishop-y-looking guy came and said a prayer and mentioned something about "keeping the Virgin in your hearts" at which point it felt cult-esque and I felt very uncomfortable (all the people around us were like "yeah! right on!" except without actually saying it...) But anyway, then all the music groups from the different parts ("facultades") of the University of Sevilla came around and played/sang songs and they were all dressed up...it was like a cross of marching band and the serenading-at-the-window thing that you see in movies...it was fun and interesting, but it was also late and "raining" (which, translated into Iowan, means "misting")...it was worth it though, I guess, even if I did have to miss my favorite TV show for it...(Salud even told me that I had to miss the show, which means it was a pretty big deal...)

Well, hope you have a great (rest of the) week! (the school week's just beginning for us!)

Boredom reigns

Well, turns out that I did indeed go in search of some WiFi, at the cost of a 1,30 Euro chamomile tea...

And now I have nothing better to do, so I figured I'd write a blog post...

I have no real plans for this week/weekend...I have been pretty much sitting around at home and doing a tiny amount of homework every once in a while (for our Grammar class, the professor was like, oh hey, by the way, in the next six school days, I need you to turn in three composiciones...plus there's a "trabajo final" in Theater class that's supposed to be 6-7 pages typed...I chose the topic of "The concepts of destiny and tragedy in the three works we've studied this semester"; I know, it's like, how come I get to have all this fun, right? I really wish I could share the fun a little bit...oh well...I'm now done with all three composiciones and about halfway done on the trabajo final...so I guess I have done something this weekend, even if it doesn't feel much like it)

Anyway, that was a complete tangent from what I was going to say...
I was going to say, all of a sudden there are less than two weeks left for me here in Spain! I'm both excited beyond belief and horrified at the same time...There are so many things that I still haven't done that were on my to-do list at the beginning of the semester, and there's so little time! But, beyond that, I just don't feel like doing many of them...I think I've had an overdose of Spain and am just kind of sitting in shock, waiting for it to pass...As you can probably deduce, that doesn't leave a very good outlook for the to-do list that is still waiting for me to complete it; and yet, at this point, I don't even really care (which, I know, is bad; I mean, at least I care that I don't care...that counts for something, right?)

Well, I suppose that this feeling really isn't unique to my Spain experience...I think it's just an end-of-semester feeling combined with a very acute case of senioritis...I'm just ready to move on...sort of...

The end...
(hopefully I'll have a more fun and exciting post for next time)

Oh! I thought of something more fun...so, Salud yells at me whenever I play with my hair (just like you, Mom!)...and yesterday she caught me at it again, but she was like, "that's like a manía or something" (which means like a bad habit) and I was like, yeah, it is...and her solution: "You should come out on the terraza with me and have a cigarette and then you won't play with your hair anymore!" I just laughed...(she did too; she knew the irony of what she was saying)

Ok, really the end...

La Blanca Navidad

...the title for today's post happens to be the title of a Christmas song that we sang last night at the "nursing home"...and now I have it stuck in my head...In English, that would be "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas"

And because I have nothing better to write about today, I'll go ahead and write the lyrics for y'all to enjoy...

Oh, blanca Navidad, sueño
y con la nieve alrededor
blanca es mi quimera
y es mensajera
de paz y de puro amor

Oh, blanca Navidad, nieve
una esperanza y un cantar
recordar tu infancia podrás
al llegar la blanca navidad.


In other news, we have a four-day weekend, so I probably won't be making another post until Wednesday, unless I get ambitious and take my laptop to a café with WiFi (in Spanish, that is pronounced "weefee", which definitely amuses me...)

Have a great weekend!

Short Story

So last night I was walking home from the school...I was about 2 or 3 blocks from the apartment and pretty much in my own little world when I noticed that someone was coming toward me (not just like walking past me in the opposite direction, but approaching me)...I snapped back into the real world...I walked a little out of my way, but then the guy started talking to me...I was a bit nervous, because having random strangers start talking to you in a residential neighborhood is a bit "raro", but I figured I'd see what he had to say...

Random man (in Spanish): Excuse me? Excuse me??
Me (also in Spanish): Um, yeah?
RM: Do you know where the Plaza de Cuba is??
Me (very much at ease at this point, except for the fact that now I have to think about giving directions): Oh, yeah! It's...um, well...
RM: blah blah blah (which I think was him asking me if I spoke Italian)
Me: *blank stare*
RM: blah blah blah italia
Me: No (at this point, I realized that I was right when I thought that he didn't have a Spanish accent in his Spanish...)
RM: Oh, ok...
Me: But go down to that street and turn that way, and then Plaza de Cuba's at the end...
RM: Thanks!!

The end...

So, either I looked like I knew what I was doing, I looked unimposing, or I looked Italian...hehehe...

Random stories...

1. Yesterday in Tres Culturas the professor, José María, was talking about how he's only been sick a very few times and never had to miss school because of it...he said,"Soy casi imortal; es el "casi" que me preocupa..." (which translates to "I'm pretty much immortal; but it's the "pretty much" that worries me"...lol)
2. A couple of days ago I was sitting on the couch watching movies with Salud while we were both working on knitting and/or crocheting...Her friend came over...she watched me crocheting for a bit and exclaimed to Salud "Look! Look how strangely she's crocheting!!" And Salud was just like "Yeah, I know...when I first saw her doing that I didn't even know what she was doing"...Later I showed the gal how I did a certain knit stitch, so I cast on some stitches, only to hear how strangely I did that too...and when I finally got around to the knitting part, what do you know?, I did that strangely too!
3. I packed up all the souvenirs and fun things I had bought, and the suitcase is nearly full...I mean, it is the small suitcase, but still--it's almost full! I might have to leave some things behind...
4. I have to write a 6-7 page paper for Theater class...I don't want to...I know that that is really not that big of a deal, but does anyone ever want to write a paper? I don't think so...Well, maybe writers or something, but that's their own choice...
5. I cannot think of anything else to say...but I'm very, very hungry...I think it's because I ate a big breakfast...or because we went out for coffee during Theater class (and the school paid!! I was surprised that we actually followed through on our random suggestion, but it was worth it!)...anyway, the tummy is a-rumblin'...

Um, yeah, that's about it...I'd love to hear what everyone else is up to!!
Oh, and: Happy first day of December!!

Thanksgiving in Spain

The much-awaited pictures are here! Let's narrate: First, there is my Thanksgiving dinner...I will get to that later; second, you have me "wearing" the orange glasses (the strip in the middle is optional, but it shows that you've got more orange-peeling skills if you can keep it there...); ...Below, and third, is a picture of the orange peel to give you a better idea of how it is cut, in case any of you feel like attempting it before I can show you... :)





Ok, now, as I said, I will talk about our Thanksgiving...Well, it started off as a rainy day, which is a little bit atypical here in Sevilla. For that reason, I opted to not go to Italica (the Roman ruins nearby) since it was all outdoors...I ended up going shopping with some other girls instead...The rest of the day was pretty normal...In the evening I got ready for our dinner (we had to be at the restaurant by 9pm...schedules are quite a bit different here...) Evidently everyone except for Karla and me had been told to get "guapa" for the night...somewhat in rebellion and as revenge for not being important enough to be told, I wanted to not get super-guapa...but in the end I relented and I got halfway guapa...moving on...

So, I barely make it to the restaurant in time...or maybe I didn't after all, but others were later than me, so it was ok...We waited around for about an hour, and were rather ravenous since it was 10pm and we had not had any food since 3pm...the school passed out papers with nice things that the other students and the staff had written about each person...among mine were "great dimples", "cool socks", and "reminds me of a medieval princess"...it was amusing if nothing else...

Well, finally our food came (we were the last to be served, of course)...and, as you can probably tell from the picture, it was pretty disappointing, but that's what I was expecting...I must say, the green beans were amazing! Other than that, though...yeah...I'm also pretty sure that the meat was NOT turkey, and when I told Salud about my suspicions, she remembered that some other year one of the girls told her that it was ostrich meat; evidently ostrich meat is cheap here and turkey is rather expensive...who would have thought??

We later got dessert (carrot cake and/or flan; the flan was pretty good) and then got our "amigo invisible" gifts, aka "Secret Santa" gifts...I got a salt and pepper shaker from the ceramics shops! Which is funny, since I bought my "amigo invisible" a cute little cup from the ceramics shop...hehe...

So, all in all, the food wasn't great but the company was wonderful!

Hope you all have a great week!

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I'm pretty sure that it's only 19 days until I'm home!! Crazy!!

Monday

Hola todos...

So, this weekend was pretty chill...I went and explored part of the barrio Santa Cruz with Ellen on Saturday, we took some pics, we found the fair-trade shop her housemate had told her about, we went and found the yarn shop that Salud keeps telling me about, and then we made plans to go to a flamenco bar...Unfortunately I didn't feel good when flamenco bar time came around, so I stayed back at the apartment and knitted...

Yesterday, I pretty much didn't do anything...it was nice...Every so often you just need one of those do-absolutely-nothing days, ya know? Well, yesterday was that day for me...However, I must say, I have learned to make "glasses" out of an orange peel...yes, you read that right...It's a trick that Salud showed us; her mom used to do it for all of them...Well, when she showed us the one time, I paid very close attention...and yesterday, we had absolutely MASSIVE oranges, so I figured it would be a good time to try--more room for error when it's a giant orange...well, it turned out beautifully; Salud was proud (or at least that's what I like to tell myself); we took pictures...however, I don't have my camera with me, so I can't show you all...but someday, you will see the pictures...and, if you're really lucky, someday you may see me make you a pair of orange peel glasses... :)

Fashion Trends that I hope don't make it overseas...

Well, I don't really have anything to say that's special today, but I feel like I should take the opportunity to make a blog post while I can...so I remember that I was going to make this post at some point, so I may as well do it now...

Fashion trends that I hope don't catch on:

1. Poofy crotch pants
2. Low butt-pocket jeans
3. Insanely short dresses (sometimes worn with leggings, sometimes not)
4. Short skirt with tall boots combo
5. Whatever this is
6. Tshirts with English nonsense
7. This look for men
8. Tight pants for men....sorry, couldn't find a picture...

Well, thanks to the website of a certain overpriced Spanish store, you can now see what I hope will stay located ONLY in Europe...but now I need to go to class!!

...so it's been a few days...

Yeah, usually I don't do that whole not-posting-every-day-during-the-week thing, but I guess this week I did...it's been an unusual week though: presentation on Tuesday, two tests today...but all of that is over now...I think the tests went ok...I was the first person done in both classes; that always makes me really nervous--I either really got it or really missed something...

Well, it hasn't been a particularly exciting week, but let me see what I can come up with...

On Monday, as I believe I told you, we were going to go take a little walking tour of the old Jewish Quarter of the city (which was destroyed in el pogrom de 1391)...It was pretty cool; I'd been in that area of the city once before, but it was evening, so it looked a lot different. We saw one little part of the wall that still exists that used to separate the judería from the rest of the city; kind of crazy to see it and think about when it was from and why it was there...We checked out some of those quintessential narrow European "roads" where all the windows have cute metal grates/coverings and flowers hanging over the edges and saw into the interior of what used to be houses of rich Jews...they are now either hotels or government buildings, if that gives you any idea of the size...Some of the guys in the class were talking: "Yeah, I can see why the Christians were jealous...I mean, if I lived then, I think I'd convert...Jews and Christians are pretty close in what they believe anyway...it's just the Jesus thing that's different"...Yes, yes it is, and it's kind of important...oh heavens...Needless to say, the buildings were pretty cool...The streets were narrow and winding and had funny names: "Agua" "Vida" "Muerte"...there was a bar on a corner that was named the Agua y Vida bar (the "Water and Life Bar")....because it was on the corner of Water and Life...too strange...Actually, what was really strange was when we went on a little side trip to see some commemorated thing...There were tiles that had the "commemoration" (for lack of a more precise term) written on it, that told about how the head of some girl had hung there as an example for what happened when she betrayed her father on account of love...that part may or may not be true, but José María told us that that was pretty much the first time the Inquisition was used, right here in Sevilla...crazy!

Hmm...what else? Well, they're selling a bunch of nativity scene stuff over by the cathedral, and I'm serious when I say that--there are a TON of figurines, etc...I saw that when we went on our little tour thing...I'm thinking I need to go check that out sometime...Also, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are shooting a movie here in Sevilla, and it's not too far from that area...so I figure that once the stars get into town, I'll maybe check out the nativity scenes and the movie scenes in the same trip...yeah, we'll see what happens...

Hope you all are having a great week!

Ronda!

As previously mentioned, we went to Ronda this past Friday...

It was mostly a sight-seeing trip, and this was one of the sights!! A very impressive bridge! There's a building in the middle of it (look closely at the middle...there's a window!) The city is divided by a deep gorge/river into two parts, "old" and "new"...although both parts are really old..."Old" here just means pre-Ferdinand-&-Isabella, or in other words, it's the very much Muslim side. We enjoyed our tour of the city, walked down through the old Arab mines to the river bed, and then struggled back up the stairs...Going down wasn't so bad...but the return definitely was!!

Saturday I did a bit of shopping. I found a ceramics store in Triana (the part of the city that I live in)...Evidently Triana has it's own style of ceramics that it is known for, so I figured I had to check this out...so I did, and I bought a few items...Then, while wandering around the neighborhood, I stumbled across several other ceramics shops that were a little more off the (tourist-)beaten path, and discovered that the prices were probably better there...Oh well! If I decided that there are some pieces I'm lacking, I'll go to one of those stores...

Today we're going to take a little trip to the old Jewish Quarter of the city for our Tres Culturas class...That portion can't be called the Jewish Quarter anymore because the "judería" was destroyed in the pogroms of, I believe, 1391...So, that should be good...

In other news, Eric and I have been together for 2 years as of today!

I'm working on uploading pics to the Picasa album...(Captions have now been added)

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahloveseric/Spain#

Have a great week!

Three day weekend!

So, I figured that since I've got a three-day weekend coming up, I should probably write a post so that you all at least know that...so, don't be expecting any updates until Monday...

We're going to Ronda tomorrow...evidently it's just a sight-seeing trip, and it's not required for anyone (normally the outings are required for the Art Class students; I just go along because I can), so I really don't know what will be there...but hopefully it will be pretty since that's mostly the point of our going...

I had my test today...I think it went ok, but we'll find out...I felt like a wrote a whole lot of nothing...I just could not think in any clear or concise or ordered way...which made it significantly more difficult to write out the answers...since all of our tests are basically just essays...yuck...

A slightly more fun note: So, we like to play tricks on our one professor...he can take it, and it amuses him and us, so we try and think of new things we can do...It started in one class that I had with him, and now it's moving into the other class too...In theater class we had switched sides of the classroom one day (the beginning of the whole trick-playing thing), and it just threw José María off so much, and he just kept making the funniest faces at us....so, anyway, we had thought in Tres Culturas class, what would happen if we all switched sides of the room?? This would involve all of us moving to a different seat, but all of the seats still being occupied since 3C is like twice the size of Theater class...so, today I was like, "Hey, let's all switch seats!" (The effect of a test looming on the horizon, I think) So somebody else was like, "Yeah, that'd be perfect! Let's do it!" So, with a little bit of convincing, we got everyone (except for two girls who just couldn't bring themselves to switch) to move to not their usual spot...and then we waited...
José finally came in, and he was all like ok, good, let's start class...then he looked up at us. Then he looked again with shock and he gasped a bit..."Wait! What are you doing there!? And you!? And..." and he looks around the classroom..."ah! all of you! Oh, except for her...oh! and her! (I love how he immediately picked out the two that stayed put) Ugh! I'm not going to be able to concentrate at all! I just can't do class with all of you out of order...I'm an ordered person...Everything in its place...Every student in their place!!" It was amusing...several other times during class when he would look up and around at us, he would exclaim how much it was throwing him off, and at the end he basically forbade us to ever sit in different seats again...which is funny, since we don't have a seating chart...(he forbade us in jest though...but it threw us all off enough that we probably won't do it again...)

Well, hope you all have a great weekend! I've got to get going to get back for lunch on time...

Nothing much...

So, I should really be writing my composición right now...so I will make this quick...

Random observations/noticias:

• It is actually kind of chilly here nowadays...not like Ireland and definitely not like it probably is at home, but in the mornings and at night it is definitely chilly...the afternoons still aren't bad at all...crazy place...
• I tried a traditional Christmas sweet yesterday; Salud gave Karla and I one each, and Karla didn't like it, so I ended up with basically two of them...They were Salud's favorite kind; she said they were just almond and "membrillo"; however, when I read the ingredient list, although almonds were the first ingredient, membrillo was nowhere to be found...but they were absolutely delicious and reminded me a bit of gingerbread in flavor, and cookie dough in texture, so altogether they reminded me of gingerbread cookie dough...yummmm...I think I will have to bring some back to the States...

Um, yeah, I think that's about all I've got...on to the homework... :(

Back to routine...

So, yeah, life has returned to the previous "normal"...which is really not normal in any way, shape, or form, but it was the routine I was used to...and it's back...

School is school...I have a test on Thursday and a presentation next Tuesday...I am supposed to be doing some research for said presentation right now, but found my blog to be ever so much more enticing than los judíos sefardíes...I know, right? How can the blog win out over that?! But yet it has...

And yet I have nothing to really say...and yet that will not stop me from saying many things...Curious, no?

Anyway, Salud made each of us girls eat a quarter of a chicken for lunch...this really stretches me out of my comfort zone--there are bones and connective tissue, and I have to eat around it anyway...If you know me, you will know that that amount of meat plus the fact that there were icky things in it are things that definitely stretch me...It's for Salud's sake that I eat it though...Then, after consuming a quarter of a chicken, she tells me that she's worried about me because I'm skinnier than when I got here...translated: V-neck shirts show my collarbone...She would NOT believe me that that's how my collar bone has always been...and then she gave us Christmas sweets...they were amazing...when I say "they," I mean the one she gave me and the other (same kind) that she gave my roommate...but they were so stinkin delicious!! I will have to try to bring a few back...

In other news, we played a game at the end of grammar class today since Carmen wants us to get more non-instruction practice into our classes. It worked like this: one student stood in the middle of the classroom and had to answer questions; if they ever had an answer containing either "sí" or "no," they were out...The rest of the class had to come up with questions and try to ask them rapid-fire style...So the first guy was up there, answering away, and doing a great job coming up with well-thought-out answers...he thought he was invincible...we wondered if he might not be as well...then another girl asked him "¿Vas a ganar este juego?" (translated: "Are you going to win this game?") and without thinking he answered "¡Sí!" which obviously meant he was out...oh the irony!

Also, I put up a bunch of pics on facebook...check it out if you can...otherwise I'll have to put up pics on picasa a different time when I have my computer and internet access...

I'm back...

So, I'm back in Seville, and it's good to be "home"...sleeping in my own (rather uncomfortable) bed, being able to shower in non-sketch conditions, having food set out for me with no effort of my own...I am so spoiled, and I appreciate it a lot more now...BUT in other news--40 days left!!!! (Not that I'm counting or anything...) Also, those of you wishing to contact me via teléfono can do so now, as I will not be charged heinous amounts for answering at this point...

Ok, so, en resumen: trips can make enemies out of friends if they last for too long (our trip ended just in time; we're all still friends); I love Ireland and wish I could live there; I spent like 120€ and all that I have to show for it is 12€ worth of winter clothing and a couple of chocolate bars and some leftover food...

Other random tidbits...Girona was magnificent...I loved it to bits and pieces: it was pretty and laidback like Toledo, but we had more freedom to do whatever, and it was a little bit more nature-y; I almost bought pottery there that was so cute, but I didn't think I could fit it comfortably in my 1 8cmx20cmx40cm 10-kg max carry-on, and I didn't want to be wearing 6 layers of clothing on the plane, so I refrained...I hope Triana ceramics are as cute as they say...My travelling companions didn't seem to consider the fact that they had more stuff than I did to be too important and went ahead and bought ceramics...and wore like 6 layers of clothing onto the plane...Good thing Ryanair didn't actually make us try and fit our bags in the bag measurer thinger that they have...not sure it would have turned out well...But, we made it back safely...pictures to be posted later...

In Girona, we had booked a hostel and taken a chance by getting 3 out of the 5 beds in a mixed room, meaning that we could have up to two other roommates of either gender...we hoped that perhaps we'd have the room to ourselves...(it was the cheapest option; we weren't just trying to be daring for daring's sake) Well, we got there, and the two other beds had stuff on them, so we obviously weren't alone...so then we peeked around to try and figure out if our roommates were male or female...we found some stuff that looked kind of girly and some that looked kind of boy-y, so we were thinking perhaps a girl and a boy, perhaps a couple...this seemed rather awkward...so for the evening at the hostel, we'd keep screening the other guests, wondering if they could be our roommates...so when we had returned to our room for the night and our roommates came in, it turned out that they were two guys...which made us wonder about the girly looking things........but, as they were two guys from Czech Republic, and we were all ready to just sleep, not a lot of conversation happened between us...I'm hoping that the girly looking stuff was just left there by previous occupants...

Oh, here's a rundown of our lodgings, and my opinions about them all...

1. Abalon Hotel in Barcelona: moldy rooms, way too humid, no air conditioning in the "winter"...not worth it
2. Avalon House Hostel in Dublin (or, something like that...as I'm thinking about all the A-names, I'm getting more confused): pretty decent, rooms weren't particularly cushy, but they had a fun vibe altogether, and they came with a complimentary breakfast...
3. Abaghoe House Hostel in "Killarney" Ireland: NOT actually in Killarney! We were out in the middle of NOWHERE!!!! I was not happy...However, we were basically the only visitors and pretty much had the place to ourselves...the staff who were working on the necessary renovations/upkeep also stayed there some of the time, so we were never really alone, but still, we were pretty much alone...It smelled funny, and the showers had sensors on them, so that was an adventure, but the water never actually got hot, so yeah...not my fave...It was pretty cool looking since it was a renovated mansion, but still, I probably wouldn't stay there again...
4. Abigail's House Hostel in Dublin: amazing, my favorite place by far even though we only stayed there for one very short night...Nice and clean, not too much mold...en-suite bathroom, most of our roommates were from the US (the one I talked to the most was from MN! Crazy!)...It included breakfast, but we weren't around long enough for that, so I can't be the judge of it...I would definitely stay there again...
5. Equity Point (or something like that) Hostel in Girona, Spain: pretty decent...was a fairly clean place...the blankets needed a good washing though...*shudder* had a fun atmosphere, included breakfast, had a fun lounge on the top floor and even had a terrace, but didn't figure that one out until well after sunset...might stay there again...

So, if you have any questions about lodgings in those cities, hopefully that answers the questions because that's all I know... :S

It's nice to be back in my routine though...computer time in the morning before class---for FREE!!! Yay...

IRELAND!!

Yeah, I'm in Ireland...I love it here...whatever tiny percentage of Irish that I have in me is enjoying this trip immensely...However, the computer that I'm on is not a big fan of Facebook I guess, so at least that means that any of you faithful readers out there will get a bonus post from Ireland instead of having to wait until I get back to Spain...

So, updates on our trip...Barcelona was ok...that wasn't the main reason I had come on this trip anyway, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot from it, and it delivered about that much...Our hotel room was insanely damp and had mold growing on the walls, but when we told them about it, they at least attempted to clean it off, but it was a rather impossible task...We went to La Sagrada Familia which was mostly drawn out by a famous architect named Gaudi (check it out online...it's got a pretty cool history)...however, since it's still under construction, it makes for a pretty crappy visit...so I shelled out 11€ (since I didn't have my student card with me) to walk around an indoor construction site...not my fave, but pretty interesting...Other than that, I pretty much used Barcelona as a chill out time and time to recover from the sinus infection that I had been fighting for a few days (the plane ride from Sevilla to Barcelona was not my friend, let's just put it that way...)

So on Monday we got into Dublin, and it was cold...of course, it wasn't really that cold, but Sevilla has pansified us (the computer doesn't like that word, but it most adequately expresses the sentiment)...We found our hostel, which was a pretty sweet place...we enjoyed seeing things in English again! (the Gaelic threw us off a bit though) The buildings were so cute!! Then we grabbed some yummy food at a nearby cafe and then headed to buy warm things...found a place called Dunnes (with the help of some locals) which had cheap but fairly good quality stuff...interestingly enough, all of the stuff for that store, Irish as Irish can be, is made in none other than....Andalusia, Spain...crazy...

Yesterday we walked to the train station in Dublin...passed the Guiness factory on our way...saw several big churches/cathedrals that were gorgeous in the morning sun...I bought a scone...the train ride was uneventful...we switched over in Mallow and rode on to Killarney...these names are too fun! Had some issues finding the hostel here...turns out it's out in the boonies instead of in the middle of town like we'd thought, but it's really pretty looking and we've more or less got the run of the place...went into town today, enjoyed the scenery on the walk...did not enjoy the mud seeping into my shoes...we splurged for the 2€ busride back...and now my internet time is almost done...hope you have a great rest of the week!!

Today!

Ok, they did their whole internet/computer fixing thing, so I did end up with time online after all...

So, today, we leave for Barcelona...I'm pretty excited...I haven't spent a whole lot of time thinking about this trip, so it's gonna be pretty crazy...the other girls that I'm going with have thought about it, so that's good...I'm just going to tag along, and hopefully not annoy them too much...I did extra homework last night, so hopefully I won't have to do any for the next week and a half or so... :) That will be wonderful...

Random story: so, today is our Halloween costume contest...So when I came here early (so that I could at least get my email checked, since they were supposedly shutting down the internet from 9:30-10:30...my usual internet timeslot), I opened the door to the school, and the light wasn't on in one half, which was weird...they had some little Halloween decorations, which they had had yesterday or so, so that wasn't anything unusual, but no one was behind the desk OR in the teacher's room...granted, this was considerably before I would normally be here, so I figured that maybe that's just how it usually was....so anyway, I start closing the door and turning in the other direction toward the hall, and the program coordinator, the principiantes prof, and one of the male profs were all dressed up and hiding behind the door...they yelled "boo!" (or, perhaps, "¡bu!"...but really, sometimes it's best to ignore me)...I was a bit taken aback, since I totally had NOT been expecting it, but it was too amusing for me to be scared...as I continued walking toward/down the hall...I heard the male teacher say "No se asusten..." as in, "they're not getting scared", but he said it with a bit more of a questioning tone...it was amusing...

Um....yeah, so I think that's it for today...Take care and I'll be back in a little over a week!

I think I'm going to need to buy a sweater...

So, I will write an update...even if no one has commented at ALL on the last two... :( (this is me pouting) I will write this because I have no idea if I'll be able to get on the internet tomorrow, and I will be gone for one week (plus two weekends), so you won't be hearing from me for a while...

Our one week fall break is starting...after classes tomorrow...
My schedule looks like this:

• 30 Oct--Flight from Sevilla to Barcelona (Girona) via RyanAir
• 2 Nov--Flight from Barcelona (Girona) to Dublin, Ireland
• 3 Nov--Train from Dublin to Kilarney
• 6 Nov--Train from Kilarney to Dublin
• 7 Nov--Flight from Dublin to Barcelona (Girona)
• 8 Nov--Flight from Barcelona (Girona) to Sevilla

While in Barcelona, I believe we're seeing something called La Familia Sagrada or la Sagrada Familia...idk, I'm just kinda going with the flow...In Dublin, not real sure what we'll end up doing...Kilarney is close to a national park, so we will spend time relaxing in or near nature, depending...I believe I will be purchasing a sweater of some sort in Ireland...I forget that it can be cold in other places...it's freakishly warm here, like 33ºC the other day, and pretty close to that today...going back home is going to be a brutal shock...

Tonight I have some homework and all my packing on my plate...but, since I can only bring my one carry on, it's not like there's a lot to pack...Another of the students was sweet enough to let me borrow her backpack for the week since she's staying in Seville and, if you remember my post from a couple weeks back (or was that last week? I can't remember...), the backpack that I have is a piece of crap...So, thanks to Rachel, I will be travelling securely to Barcelona and Ireland, and will be able to pack more/better since her backpack is a HUGE improvement on mine...darn piece of junk....*grumble*

Yup, so don't be expecting to hear a whole lot from me until...mid November... (the 9th or 10th to be a little more specific) Take care! Make sure to not get "gripe a" (aka, Swine flu...I think "gripe a" is more fun to say though....)!

Children in Spain

To be quite honest, before I came to Spain, I thought that there wouldn't be that many little kids here...what with low European birth rates and all...well, I came here and was quite surprised to see little kids EVERYWHERE! But, here in Spain, they do things differently I have noticed, and today I am going to share those observations with you... (it was either this or "fashion trends that I hope don't catch on in the US"...we'll save that for another day...)

1. Little kids are everywhere...

2. Little kids are carted around in strollers everywhere they go...

3. They have buggies for babies

4. They have hardcore strollers for older kids (and by "older kids" I mean up to age 6...or at least that's how old some of them appear to be); a lot of the strollers can have up to three kids on/in them...a baby laying down, a toddler sitting in one of the seats, and like a 5 or 6 year old standing on the back by the handle (is that the right word? I simply cannot figure it out right now if that's correct or not...anyway, you get the idea)

5. Little kids are dressed like they're from the 40's...which is odd, seeing as adult Spaniards are usually on the cutting edge of new fashions...I mean, little boys go around in leiderhosen-esque outfits and like mini loafers; little girls in frilly little dresses and Mary Jane's (I think that's the name for that type of shoe, anyway)...the boys have their hair slicked to the side...You don't see little kids in tiny little blue jeans and sneakers like you do in the States...tshirts don't fly here either...which is odd, because when adolescence hits, they switch from 40's attire to tattoos, tight clothing, piercings, and odd haircuts...

So yes, little kids get to live in the past until they are like 10 here in Spain...the end...

Hope you all are having a good week!

27 de octubre de 2009

So, contrary to my usual habit, I am writing this post at night, as opposed to the morning...I ran out of time earlier...

It's been a pretty chill day or so...I went shopping last night and then I bought a little something again tonight...I like shopping...I'm trying to get all of my souvenirs purchased for everyone...except for the foodstuffs...those'll have to wait...

Classes have been pretty much the same...I'm pretty much sick of Tres Culturas...it's just not that exciting, and the prof doesn't seem very excited about it either...Teatro is going well; we're reading a different play and we're almost done with it...it was so intriguing that I ended up reading the whole thing about a week ago, even though we probably need to have all of it read by tomorrow or something like that...Gramática is going well; I got a 97% on the test that we took last week; we're working with subjuntivo vs. indicativo, futuro y condicional para indicar probabilidad, and tomorrow we start a new something or other...I'm sure you were all dying to know that...

Today for lunch I had another plate of mashed veggies, but there appeared to be considerably less oil than there used to be...hmm, I think I may have just impacted Salud's cooking... :S Then, I napped...gotta love siesta...then I came to meet with Lisa and our intercambio, Marta...we walked around downtown and Marta needed to get a book for a course she's taking in accounting, so we headed to (I believe) La Casa de Libros (aka, The House of Books)...it was like 4 floors of books...I will have to head back and check it out some more...

Yeah, it's gonna be a pretty chill week...which is good, since I have no ambition...Thank goodness that next week is our vacation week! and after that, I'm sure the rest of the time will fly by, which is what I'm going for...The rest of the students seem to get sad when I update them daily on how we have ever fewer days remaining (53 from today, I believe); I keep getting happier the smaller the number! Spain's a fun place, but three and a half months is a long time...

Weekend in Jerez

Well, so we'll actually start before Jerez, but still, this was more or less the Weekend of Jerez in my books...

So Friday night we had our Noche de chic@s, where the whole school was invited; we had candy, we watched a movie in English (with Spanish subtitles...it was amusing to see how some of the translations just didn't quite capture what the slang terms were after), had pizza from Domino's (not quite like American pizza, but closer than the other "pizza" I have had), then I walked around town and talked with some of the girls...a great night...Also during Friday, Salud had told me that dried fruit is considered a "chuche" or junkfood...dried figs and raisins evidently make you fat and have lots of calories...after lunch I decided to tell her what I remember about caloric contents: 5 figs (from Dole, anyway) are about 130 calories...one "cucharada" (tablespoon, theoretically) of olive oil has 100 calories (and let's just say, she uses a whole lot more than one tablespoon in her cooking!) She was shocked both by the lower than expected caloric content of the figs and the higher than expected caloric content of olive oil...

Saturday: We slept in, relaxed, packed, had lunch, and headed for the bus station to go to Jerez to hang out with Ellen! We got there, the weather was wonderful, we wandered around the city center, stumbled upon another Jesus parade (Ellen asked a lady nearby who told us that it was "Día de Cristo de la Flagelación", which we guessed meant Flogging of Christ Day; sure enough, when we could actually see the "float," there was a depiction of Jesus being flogged) After the parade passed by, we crossed the street and checked out the cathedral there...I guess it was a barroque style one...perhaps I should've taken the art class here...Then we headed to Ellen's piso, hung out, made supper (I got to cook! I was super psyched), rented and watched the movie "Crash", then slept in late in the morning (especially since it was daylight savings)...then in the morning we had oatmeal (once again, I was psyched), relaxed, then walked around Jerez a bit, saw Ellen's school where she works, then stopped at a café to try some "jerez" or sherry...I believe they call it "vino de jerez" because it would be weird to ask for a glass of your town...AND I discovered that that area is where all beverages labeled as "sherry" must legally come from...Then we had lunch, and Ellen's housemate Fabi took us to the bus station in her car, yes, her car...what a luxury!

So yes, it was a very good, very relaxing weekend...and now I have class...

"Jesús la muerte venció, él la muerte venció"...y más...

Yay, it's Friday! Tests are done (they went well, I think), and tonight is girls'/guys' night, which really just means that they're having a movie and pizza and we can all come and hang out...

Random thing I have recently learned: vegetables just make you pee...or at least that's what Salud believes...Ever since she discovered that vegetables are some of the things that I will eat in large quantities, she has been preparing heinous amounts of them for me...when I try to tell her that I'm full, she says "but that's nothing; that's just number one, ¿me entiendes?" I try and explain about the physical space limitations of my stomach, and that vegetables do take up space; she seems surprised and doesn't really believe me. So then, to appease her, I'll try and eat more of the salads...then she'll yell at me and say "if you're full, don't eat anymore!" (even though, just moments before, she has yelled at me "eat it all! I made all of it for you. You're the only one who eats it and I'll just have to throw it away. What a shame..." and so tries to guilt me into eating more) Last night was one such scenario (it has happened a number of times though); she told me to at least eat the shrimp that was in the salad, so I went to start getting the shrimp pieces out of the salad bowl, and she yelled at me, and then took the bowl away and was mumbling something that I couldn't catch...so I asked Karla what Salud had said and she told me, "she says she'll feel guilty if you get sick"...Kind of amusing...but yes, this is just a typical dinner dilemma, a scenario that has already been repeated many times and will continue to be repeated...I think that since she thinks that vegetables really are just "número uno" that they don't count and that you can therefore just eat unlimited amounts of them with no problem...¡ay, qué problema!

Hmm, what else? Oh, so last night I watched the movie "Flyboys" on tv with Salud. It was a good movie, but I think I'll have to watch it again in English to catch all of it...but, that being said, it was good enough to merit a second watching in English, so I would definitely recommend it...except that it's kind of gory and violent since it IS about WWI...you have been warned...

Also, I have recently been introduced to a wonderful, wonderful candy; I had mentioned to Salud that I like anise flavored stuff (aka black licorice)...so, one night she whipped out some little hard candies from some secret drawer that she has...I put the candy in my mouth, and lo and behold, it was anise flavored! So good...It's all the wonderfulness of black licorice, but it lasts longer!!! So, I headed over to my favorite little candy store last night and got a few (I also got a few figs, cuz those are also just too good), and now I can enjoy them at my leisure...yumm...I will have to stock up for my return to the States...

To wrap up, I will post a few of the lyrics from some of the praise songs we sang at Encuentro on Wednesday night...
"Te alabaré, te glorificaré, te alabaré, mi buen Jesús..."
"Jesús la muerte venció, él la muerte venció..."
Those couple of phrases get stuck in my head sometimes, so I just thought I would share them with you...they're good ones to have stuck in your head though, I must admit...

Well, que tengan un buen fin de semana! I'm off to Jerez tomorrow/Sunday with the other NWC students to go visit Ellen!! Yay! Should be amazing!

Observations

*note: "caqui" is indeed a persimmon, meaning that the other day I ate a persimmon...it was good!

1. Spain has an obesity problem too...I watched a special on it on TV last night with Salud; they said they're going to end up like the US; I was thinking, you're already there!

2. Spaniards are BLUNT; on that same program, I was stunned/shocked/startled/taken aback by the fact that they would walk up to larger people on the street and just be like "hi. how much do you weigh?" then stick the mic in their face...and they would ANSWER! They would then proceed, on national television, to ask "So why have you gotten fat lately?"....and once again, they would ANSWER!! You just don't do that in the States...I felt especially bad for the young girl that they showed...they kept asking her parents about why she's fat...and it's like, isn't that horrible for her to be hearing this whole thing??

3. Whereas in Iowa during the fall you see plenty of rotten apples on the ground, in Spain you see rotten oranges...a very strange sight indeed...

4. I have two tests today and should probably study for them...

The end...

The one with the cumpleaños

I decided to try "Friends"-style naming for my post today...if you've never watched that series so as to see that each episode is named something with "The one with/about...", you should...I think I owe that knowledge to my freshman year roommate who purchased the entire series; I believe we got through it at least twice...good times...

Anyway, to the present...
So yesterday was Salud's birthday...it was so cute...we told her "happy birthday" (or rather, "feliz cumpleaños") in the morning and she was just loving it, and when I got back from school before lunch time, I found her in the kitchen, but she was all dolled up; she'd even straightened her hair! (she said at supper that it's the one time during the year that she will do it; just once during the year is all she's willing to do because it takes so much time...it was fairly amusing) She made us a HUGE lunch to celebrate, but she herself was going out to lunch with her daughter and son-in-law...We had a "pizza" each...(for real, she feeds us too much! it's a blessing and a curse) plus there was the salad (that neither of us touched); she bought "langostinas" which are, according to Salud, "expensive in my country; I don't know about in your country, but in my country, they're expensive"...They looked like giant shrimp, but did not taste shrimpy at all...I later looked it up in my little handy dandy phrase book and found that I had eaten two crayfish along with my pizza at lunch...they're pretty good and I would have to recommend them...AND besides this, she had a can of Coke for Karla (she loves the stuff) and a can of some sort of orange pop that had 8% fruit juice, so I guess it supposedly was "healthy" so supposedly I would drink it...112kCal of liquid? Thank you, I think not...But, she had taken the time to put little lime halves in some fancy glasses for us to go with our pop, so I went ahead and used the fancy cup (and both limes) with some water because I didn't want to waste all her efforts...Oh, and then there were two little mandarinas (aka tiny oranges)...so yeah, LOTS of food!
Then, as Salud was gone for most of the rest of the "afternoon", I tried to finish knitting a scarf for her, because I thought she might like it (we sit and knit and watch TV together fairly often; I feel like I'm an old lady or something...but at least it's nice that we have something fun in common like that...); I did not finish the scarf even though I spent plenty of time knitting yesterday, but it's definitely close and I think I can finish it up today...hopefully...THEN, when she finally got back at 9:30pm...we went out for dinner...we went to a cute restaurant/bar that was a couple of blocks away, and we got tapa-sized portions and beverages...there were olives as an appetizer, but they were the super salty kind like you can get in the states, and Salud didn't much care for them, and I was like, this is what olives usually taste like! (not that I'm a big fan of green olives back home either...) But yeah, it was a fun time...then when we got home, Salud made us eat fruit, but she had purchased what she called "caqui" or something to that effect...which I think was a persimmon, since I had seen some of them on the way to school and they looked about right...I'll have to do some Google-ing in a moment...Whatever it was, it was good...

Another random story, which actually does relate right here because after the mystery fruit we got a taste of the next batch of membrillo...Membrillo is evidently called "quince" in English, not that I'd ever seen one before...it's like a super hard, not that good, apple...So you cook it up and make it into a jelly type stuff called "dulce de membrillo"...Well, Salud likes to make at least one batch every year so her girls can try it...so she made her one batch and I tried some and I was like "yeah, it's good, I like it...I can't describe the taste because it's different from anything I've had before"...It was kind of akin to apple butter, which makes sense, but still it was a bit different...but good...So anyway, I would put that on my toast in the mornings every once in a while...So, this whole process of making the dulce de membrillo is a TON of work, so Salud only does it once a year, right? So, she's like, well, since my Sarah likes it so much, I'm making another batch since you can't get it at home! I wouldn't want you to run out!! So, she threw out what was left of the strawberry jam and was like "jam you can get in your country; membrillo, no"...so now I'm going to have lots of "dulce de membrillo", which, although I did indeed like, I would've been fine with one batch...Oh heavens...gotta love Salud...If she thinks you like it, you're going to end up eating LOTS of it!!

Al azar

I think that the title of this post means "random" in Spanish...but I'm not 100% on that...

So yeah, not a lot new since yesterday...This week we're going to have two tests and I'm not particularly excited for that, but it does mean that we're at the halfway point for the semester, so that's good news...Oh, but we also have another noche de chicas on Friday, and that should be fun and amazing...

Yesterday...hmm...I spent like 7€ on 4 postcards and 7 stamps (I had purchased 3 postcards earlier; I am not that bad with math)...that is about $10 or more...that's a lot...pretty sure that those will be the only postcards I send while here in Spain...Then I went and met with the girls who I'll be spending the week-long break with, and we figured out hostel/hotel/train info and got all the necessary purchases made...I owe one 140€ and the other 14€; exchange rate is about 1.5 dollars to the euro...Europe is expensive...BUT, I have reasoned with myself, this is the cheapest I could ever do a trip to Barcelona and Ireland in my life...any other time I would have to purchase flights from the US which would significantly up the costs...so, this is a good deal...I have to keep reminding myself...Also yesterday, I was eating pasta...I had some saucy noodles on my fork...then they dropped, because they were saucy and wobbly both...and I had sauce splattered all over me and I felt like I was about 3 years old...*sigh*

But, today is Salud's birthday! Yay! Karla and I are going to take her out for dinner since we want to do something special for this crazy-amazing lady who is inviting us into her home and treating us like we're her daughters...Salud also has been really into the idea of going to a movie with us, pretty much since we got here, so we'll need to do that sometime too as part of the birthday deal...it should be fun!!

Well, not much else is new...y'all should post comments and tell me what's new in life...that would be fun and exciting and you know you want to... :)

Toledo and windmills

So, last week we went on a little excursion to Toledo (which is about a 6hr busride away). The ride was long and started at about 6:30am (Spain happens to be absolutely dead at that hour, even though we're living in a pretty big city...it was creepy and oniric---trying to use one of the words I've learned in class...); most of us slept for the first bit, at least until it got light out, then we could look at the beautiful landscape...Spain is gorgeous! (well, some of it, at least)

Then, we stopped at the Don Quixote windmills...I was pretty psyched...I mean, these are the Don Quixote windmills! THE Don Quixote windmills...how much more quintessentially Spanish can you get?? So we all took lots of pictures of the windmills, of us and the windmills, etc...then some of us checked out the little shop that was inside one of them, and of course we had to buy some souvenirs from THE Don Quixote windmills; the nice ladies told us that we could go up and check out the upper levels...it was pretty little, and the stairs were kind of scary (especially coming back down), but it was a pretty cool view out of the little windows...then, back to the bus...

We got to Toledo, and this is like castle/medieval looking town like none other...I loved the look of the city! Unfortunately, as it is all like old and such, the streets are horribly tiny, winding, and steep, and our tourbus was not getting along with them very well...there were a few close calls, but we eventually did make it to our hotel, which was a cute little place. The school gave us roommates who were not our roommates in Sevilla, so we all got to mix it up a little; the rooms were very nice, and I will have to get some pics up, but I didn't bring my camera today...they're on Facebook though if you can access that...

Then we checked out a church with a painting by El Greco---amazing! And, because we had tour guides who know a thing or two about art, we got a much better understanding and appreciation for the painting than we otherwise would have had...Then we checked out a monastery that Ferdinand and Isabella had made for their burial, but then didn't end up being buried there after all...lots of propaganda in the decor...(which, again, i wouldn't have understood had we not had the professors giving us the tour) Then, shopping...Toledo is known for swordmaking...pretty much all swords used by armies for ceremonial purposes are made there...even non-military swords are made there, like the ones used for Lord of the Rings (yes, it's true)...I, however, did not purchase a sword (although lots of other students did...but really, what good is a sword going to do? It'll just collect dust...) What I was surprised to learn is that Toledo is also known for....marzipan!! Yum! Had to sample it to make sure that it was good stuff, and it was...I even helped introduce a few classmates to it, since they'd never heard of it...how that's even possible, I don't know...Then, I had an extremely overpriced "supper"...beh...tourist towns...

The next day we checked out the giant cathedral, which was pretty sweet...then more free time, so we explored, took pictures, and shopped a bit....I had some churros con chocolate for my lunch...it was my first experience with the stuff, and it was good, although not what I had expected...the "chocolate" was just a tad thicker than hot chocolate back in the states...it was good, since the weather was much colder in Toledo, but not something that I think I'll probably be repeating much...Yeah...then another 6hr busride...then a very laid-back weekend...

Yeah, I'm pretty much out of time...Have a great week!

You get what you pay for...

So, yes, it's story time...

So, I have an overnight trip to Toledo coming up (tomorrow) and a week-long break that starts at the end of the month, and silly me, I didn't think Europeans used backpacks and that bringing one would clearly label me as an American, so I didn't bring one...Well, Europeans use backpacks all the time...and I'm going to need one when I go on these trips that I've mentioned...so yesterday I decided to go get a cheap backpack for these purposes...

But, since I'm only going to be using the backpack for like 2 months here in Spain, I didn't want to fork over too much for one...So, naturally I went to a chino...Let me explain...In Spain, there are "chinos" everywhere: they are stores full of cheap stuff that is of cheap quality, generally run by someone of Asian descent (Chinese? perhaps...but then again Spaniards pretty much just use three classifications for anyone who is non-Spaniard, or so I've heard: negro [anyone whose skin is black], chino [anyone who looks like they are Asian], and guiri [everyone else]) So yes, a little culture lesson for the day... (I, obviously, would be considered a "guiri")...So, anyway, I stopped by a chino yesterday on the way home from school and found a backpack that looked to be about the size I was thinking of, and it was 7,80€, which was a price I was willing to pay...pretty cheap...so I took it back to the apartment and got it all ready to go: adjusted the straps, took the tags off, checked out all the pockets, etc...

So today, I decided to take it to school with me because then I could bring my computer but it wouldn't be as big of a pain (since it was a backpack instead of an over-one-shoulder-type bag)...So, I'm walking out of the apartment and am in the hall of the building and I decide I should try to tighten the straps to make it a bit comfier...so I pull on one strap...*POP!* the stupid little plastic thinger that allows the straps to be adjusted just up and broke on me! I had thoughts, in Spanish, and I believe they contained bad words...I was not happy, and I hadn't even made it out the door of the building ONCE with the backpack...and I thought to myself, "You get what you pay for..."

The end... (except for the walking to school trying to hold the strap together with my hand and pretty much having my hand cramp up from the effort...I believe it's a 25-30 minute walk...)

So yeah, not a great start to the day, but hopefully I can fix the darned bag when I get back (I brought a sewing kit along...), and hopefully classes go well, and hopefully Toledo is good tomorrow and Friday, and hopefully we do something fun and relaxing this weekend...(like a trip to Jerez...Ellen, what are your plans for the weekend??)

um...yeah...

I am in the process of trying to upload photos both on facebook and on picasa...hopefully one or the other will succeed if not both...we shall see...

So, Sunday was pretty laid back, yesterday I went to the park and then did some homework, today and tomorrow are school, Thursday and Friday are Toledo, and hopefully the windmills...yay!!

Check out the new pics...
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahloveseric/Spain

Another post on a Saturday...

So...these pictures did NOT load in the order I wanted, but my battery is dying...so I'll deal... View of the cool towery things by the Triana bridge...

Different view of the river since we were on the other bridge this morning...we decided it was a good day to explore and shop...

We went to the Triana Market, and this is a fairly typical Spanish sight: pig legs just hanging around...

There were vegetables hanging too...I was amused...lots of things were suspended from the ceiling...

There were a LOT of fruit stands with a LOT of fruit! Some kinds of fruit/veggies we couldn't even recognize...it was a fun little adventure...

And finally, the picture that was supposed to be first: Mercado de Triana...Triana Market...

Yay...hope y'all have a great weekend...it's gonna be a nice long weekend for me, so perhaps I'll get online Monday, perhaps not...

You should leave me comments to read...that would be fun...

:)

Que Dios les bendiga...

( )

Yup, so yesterday was good...I met with my Intercambio gal, and we had a nice chat...but then my brain decided that Spanish was just too much work, and I got super tired and we called it a day...but we're going to try to meet once a week, so that will be good...

Um, it's Friday...I'm excited about that...a couple of us gals are heading to some culture fair thing that's going on in some part of the main "Centro" area, so that will hopefully be interesting...perhaps a good souvenir-buying time...

Um, other than that, I pretty much just don't want to do classes or homework anymore...thank goodness that we've only got two days of class next week! (Monday's a holiday, Thursday/Friday the school is going to Toledo)

...can't think of any random/funny stories that I was going to tell...so...hope you all have a great weekend!

Yay, what a day...

So yesterday afternoon was pretty sweet...the morning, not so much, but the afternoon, yes... (oh, and I think my theater test went ok)

So after my siesta (gotta love those) I went to meet up with my prayer group; we had decided on meeting at a café called Pans & Co., which is right below the school...they have this deal where you get a coffee and either a croissant or two cookies for 1,75€, which is a pretty good deal compared with everything else in Spain...so I got the coffee (an Americano, so that it wasn't so horribly strong...and being an Americana myself, I figured it was pretty fitting) and the croissant (last one!) which was utterly delicious and flaky and had honey...yummmm...prayer group time was really good too, even if it was more of a "be there for each other and hear what's going on in everyone's lives" time...

Then I bought some sweet jewelry from the nice African man who had set up shop on the sidewalk by our table...The jewelry is for you, Mom, so I won't say exactly what I purchased... :) Then Danielle, one of the girls in the group, and I went looking around the main shopping area; then she went to Encuentro while I headed to the school to purchase plane tickets before they got any more expensive...then uploaded pics to facebook...check them out: they're in the album labeled "España." Then I had a lovely chat with the secretary about linguistic differences and accents and such, and then I was talking with another girl from the program who was wondering if we could do a Bible study during the remainder of the semester...Then I got back, and there was "pizza" for supper...What a day!!

And today, I'm supposed to meet with my intercambio--who's like my selected Spanish friend (I think I picked up that phrase from someone else's blog...probably from Karla's...thanks for the phrase...I liked it)...We're meeting at McDonalds which is basically right below the school as well...

Now, I should do some homework or something...

Wednesday...half way through the week...

I have a test today...I don't want to...but I really don't have a choice in the matter, do I? :( It will all be over soon though...

I am excited for the weekend though...we're planning a "Sevilla weekend", sort of...We'll check out different like Roman ruin type things one day, and probably just having a shopping day the other...plus, it's a three-day weekend, so we'll have extra time to explore, but we're not quite sure what all the holiday entails, so there is the chance that absolutely nothing will be open and/or nothing will be going on...hmm...

Yup, it's going to be a really short post today, because I really don't have much to say!

Take care!


So, I thought of a random story, so I decided to add it:
Yesterday, well, it was just plain a bad hair day, but I was in a bad mood, so it seemed fitting...I had gone all through the school day very much aware of my bad hair day; I was playing with it and hiding behind it and such, because I figured it really didn't matter--it couldn't get much worse...I walked home thinking about how bad my hair looked, but I was like, oh well, it doesn't matter, it's not like I'm doing anything today...So I get back to the apartment and I say hi to Salud, and she's like "oh, nena-- ¡qué bonito es tu pelo! ¿usaste espuma?" ("oh hun, your hair is so cute today! Did you use mousse? *we've had discussions about hair products before*) I explained that no, I am still just using gel, and she's like "oh, pues, está muy bonito hoy, pero el otro día no" ("well, your hair is definitely cute today, much better than that other day" *thanks for reminding me of that*)...so, what I consider as an awful hair day, Salud considers very cute...hmm...

The Foods of Spain

I don't have anything particularly significant to say today, so I think I will take this time to comment on Spanish cuisine...

1. Olive oil: a very essential element in the Spanish diet; it's in nearly all the dishes, except for perhaps the bread...but they take care of that by dipping the bread in the oil that goozes out of their salads or fried eggs or fried potatoes or fried chicken or fried fish...or that they pour over their tomatoes. Back in the day, I used to think olive oil was like cool and special...I have now consumed more olive oil in a few short weeks than I probably had in the 21 years leading up to this point...it's quite a different perspective...
2. Seafood: also a big part of the diet here; much easier to get quality seafood when you're by the Atlantic AND the Mediterranean than when you're stuck in the middle of cornfields. I am enjoying this treat, even though it is usually saturated with olive oil and sometimes fried. However, tentacles are a little bit awkward to eat...I've been able to manage it...my roommate has a much harder time...Squid is pretty delicious and has a good texture, so I just flip the tentacle-y pieces over and pretend they aren't there; my roommate has to do a lot to keep herself from getting sick every time she spots tentacles floating in her soup; eating them is considerably beyond what she can stomach...oh well...what can you do? Also, I have eaten more things that come in the shells that they once lived in during these weeks than I have ever before; it's an awkward experience, especially when you're supposed to slurp them out of their shells...it's just kind of weird...and shrimp, contrary to what I've ever seen in the grocery store or in a restaurant, have heads with eyes and lots of little legs...I knew that they sometimes had tails, but removing those was about the most work I'd ever had to do to eat shrimp before...it's quite different here...BUT it's all high-quality stuff, so I'll manage through the awkward messiness.
3. Bread: essential. In fact, that is what our breakfast consists of...Every single day...I thought I would enjoy that...it turns out that I really miss my cereal and my oatmeal and my nice little yogurt cups...and whole grain bread...I think if that could be changed, if we could get whole-grain bread, perhaps the monotony could be a bit more bearable, but it's not really my place to say anything...Besides breakfast, bread is also served with lunch and dinner, but I try to avoid eating too much of it, since simple starches are kind of bad for you in large quantities...my señora has been worried about me since I don't eat bread, so she has gotten trickier and found crunchy little bread-like things that I simply can't resist...not fair...
4. The Spain equivalent of macaroni and cheese: fried egg and french fries...evidently this is like the little-kid favorite, comfort-food type thing here....A plate full of fried potatoes (olive oil dripping out from underneath them) topped with a fried egg (also dripping olive oil)...my señora's preference is a runny yoke so that she can sop it up with bread (and getting some olive oil in there too), but that just doesn't seem safe to me...which reminds me...
5. Eggs: eggs here do not come in the refrigerated section of supermercados. Oh no. They sit on a shelf, next to the boxes of milk. And, they are HUGE. Like, extra large eggs in the US? Oh no--like turkey eggs or something...they are absolutely massive...and not refrigerated...so between those two things, I'm just rather confused about the eggs here...and why they don't cook the yokes if the gargantuan eggs have never even been refrigerated!?!?
   
6. Legumes: a huge staple in all Mediterranean countries, Spain included. This is bad for me, since I am allergic to legumes. Thank goodness that Salud is like the most amazing señora ever and able to cook me things that don't contain legumes, sometimes even cooking me a separate meal if she's made a classic legume dish for herself and Karla...She really is like the best señora for sure...

So, class time is approaching...
Until tomorrow...
¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Jesus parades

So, this weekend:
Saturday--

Went to Huelva, which required like an hour-something drive via bus...Checked out the monastery where Columbus hung out while waiting for the dinero to come in...Checked out the replica ships in the little lake thing...Then booked it over to the beach...I, along with my roommate, was not thrilled about this arrangement. I had come along because I wanted to see where Chris Columbus had hung out; I wasn't that thrilled about the beach in the first place--I certainly didn't want it to be the main attraction of our trip...it was...and I got sunburnt...Salud laughed at me because I pretty much got a farmer's "tan"; she asked me why I hadn't rolled up my sleeves...I'm thinking, for heaven's sake, how much worse would it be if my shoulders had gotten burnt too?! But yeah, it's almost done being burnt...and I think I might have been better off NOT going on the trip...as Karla put it, 4 hours at the beach was overkill...BUT, I did have fun chatting with some other girls, we're trying to make some fun plans for next weekend, and I went seashell hunting...

Yesterday--

Went to church, struggled to stay awake during the service and pay attention, something that is 600x harder to do in your second language...then had to go take a nap before lunch...I also discovered the wonderfulness of the Sudoku application on my phone--I really hope it doesn't charge me for that :S

Both days, we witnessed something essentially Spanish; I'm still not quite sure what they were...I think they were parades for saints on the particular saint's "day", but I swear the first one looked like Jesus, so I think it was a Jesus parade. They get a band all decked out and ready to go, they have a giant box thing with the saint (or Jesus) and candles/trees/paintings, have people walk underneath it to carry it, have people all dressed up in religious garb with ornate pole/cane things, and then just have a whole bunch of other people following them around. I think, from what Karla has gathered from one of the professors, that when it's "your" saint's day, you participate in the saint's parade, and they march all around town starting at like 10pm...or later...I don't really get it, but it's fun to see random little parades that like stop all the traffic on major roads for awhile...oh Spain...

Yay Friday

So, it's Friday...yay!!

I have a presentation today...unfortunately it is for my last class so I have to sit through the other classes just thinking about how I have this stupid thing coming up... :( Oh well, at least it will be over after today! Then it won't be able to hang over me, reminding me of its necessity and importance...And, after this, I'll only have one more presentation left in the semester in ANY class, which will be quite nice...Oh, and since it's on typical foods, we bought some olives, with pits, to share with the class during the presentation...that should be a nice bonus for the class... :)

And, to make sure that I didn't stress out too much, I stopped at the candy store today on my way to school and stocked up on black licorice...I got like 6 different kinds...yum, black licorice!

So, tomorrow is Huelva, today is presentation followed by naptime, and Sunday will be church and relax time...and then Monday I will try and update on new things...there's really not much else to say...

Enjoy the weekend!

First post of October!

Wow...hard to believe that it really is October already...

Not a lot is new...it's fairly boring, in fact...I'm just trying to get my presentation for tomorrow finished up, and I will be very glad when that is over.

Yesterday, I had food that would make every state fair in the US jealous that they hadn't thought of the idea first: fried bread. I had no idea that anyone would just up and fry bread, but I guess it happens...Needless to say, it was ridiculously delicious and I had to exercise a lot of self-control to not eat all of it, and I am now thinking of the diet I might have to put myself on because of the huge amounts of oil-laden foods that are served here...but yes, fried bread...who would've thought?? They were like croutons, except with considerably more oil, and much larger...so good...

Well, there's not a lot else going on...this weekend will hopefully be an excursion to Huelva, where Columbus hung out when he was trying to get the money raised to head to the East Indies, aka North America...Hopefully it will be nice and we'll also get to go to the beach there...fun fun...

¡Hasta luego!

Nada muy interesante

It's been a fairly low-key few days here...after the tests were over, that is...

The weather has been cloudy and rainy the past couple of days, which is actually quite odd for Sevilla, with the climate of a DESERT...so, it's been a nice change and reminds many of us students of home...the folks from Washington and Oregon are liking it the most I would venture to say :)

Last night we had the option of painting fans...I went ahead and signed up and payed my 3€ to paint one, and it was pretty fun...It was basically another girls' night with craft time included...When I bring my camera with me to school again, perhaps I will post one of the pictures of the beauty that I created ;) I really do think it's pretty cute though...It might end up being someone's souvenir, so if you take a real liking to it when I post the pic, just let me know!! ;)

So, lately here in Spain my thoughts have turned to the gypsies, or the Roma people if you prefer a less racist term...They're pretty prevalent all over Europe, and they are definitely present here in Spain...And people always point it out if there are "gypsies" around, or if someone is of that heritage...Why is it so noticeable? Why is it so readily pointed out? Also, this people group tends to be in the lowest of economic positions, often living on the streets or in caves (Karla took a picture of the countryside when she went to Granada, and upon zooming in on her picture, noticed a naked child who was living in the cave that was in her picture; Salud lost no time in telling us that they were gypsies and that that's what gypsies do...) Why is it this way? Also, the gypsies tend to be the people on the street who try and make you pay when they "tell your fortune" or give you their "blessing" or give you some sprig of some random plant...why? Why don't they try and get a legit job? Or do they try and get rejected? So yes, these have been some questions that have been coming to me recently...If you think you have any answers, or places where I might find answers, please do share...

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Acontecimiento con el lagarto

So, I had my two tests yesterday, and as far as I know, they went well, but we shall see...Now, to finish preparing for my presentation on Friday, followed shortly by another test...then it should be a little bit more relaxed on the academic front...

I went to the candy shop yesterday and bought candy...mostly black licorice, since I figured that was about the same everywhere...I also got some dried fruit...I consumed all of my purchases within about half an hour...but hey, it only added up to 1€, so not bad, right? I will have to shop there again, but not too often...

So, interesting story, and reason for the title of my post...
So last night Salud and I are just chillin in the living room, knitting away and watching the tv show La Señora, based off a book written about the Spanish civil war...I love the costumes and decorations! But yes, so we're watching away, and Salud goes over into the bathroom...seconds later Karla and I hear screams coming from the bathroom, after which point Salud comes running out and scrambles over to the kitchen...She comes back with what I can only imagine must be bug-killer spray...Karla and I try and ask her what it is...I hear something about feet (perhaps "paws" but that only dawned on me later), so thinking it was something with a lot of feet, I assumed "centipede"...meanwhile she is spraying that can of poison like it's her job...I said, hey, this is what I usually do (still thinking it's a large bug), and went and got a flipflop (a wonderful trick I learned as a camp counselor back in the day) So Salud is like, ok, it's back in the corner, I'll let you get it...She gingerly picks up the bathmat and throws it in the shower (while spraying bugkiller, of course)...nothing...she moves the shelf unit that we store all our toiletries on, while spraying bugkiller, of course...this time a small lizard appears! So I scream...then I have to explain why I will not kill it with my flipflop: "¡No es lo que pensé!" I shout...("It's not what I thought!") The grammar may not have been 100% correct on that; I may have chosen the wrong past tense...oh well, I think I got my message across...So I'm screaming, she's spraying lizard-killer spray, and Karla is wondering what it is...So I hop back over to our room, saying "it's not a centipede; it's a lizard!!"...at which point I decided that I needed a picture...so I grab my camera and head back over to the bathroom, only to find that the lizard has seized the opportunity to try and hide...as I spot it, it runs and hides behind the bidet...By this point, Karla also has her camera, and Salud has a broom...We explain that we want pictures; I think she thinks we're crazy, but she humors us anyway...Unfortunately, the lizard is a good hider, so Salud pokes around with the broom some more to no avail, and then opts for more lizard spray...We all take a break, get some fresh air, and wait, hoping the lizard spray will do its thing...Later, Salud goes back to the bathroom, asks us if we want to get our pictures taken, warns us to not move too suddenly (pictures were taken successfully), and then whacks it with a broom a couple of times, I believe saying "Qué asco" several times in the process, and then sweeps the scene...The end...

If you look carefully at the picture, you will notice the very small thing on the floor next to the metal circle thingy...that would be the lizard, shortly before its death...

I've been duped!

Let's see...what's new??

I have been reading the book Emma by Jane Austen and finished it yesterday...great book, highly recommend it...

I have two tests coming up today and am wondering if I should be studying instead of doing this, but this seems so much more important...

On Saturday Salud's grandkids came over...At lunch time I got my food first, and so the two little children, ages 4 and 6, watched me like I was an animal at the zoo...Later, when everyone had their food, Salud was pointing out how I was eating nicely and cleaning my plate, and how I always eat my fruits and vegetables; they should strive to eat like I did...which is funny because she usually tells me to eat more and that what I'm eating doesn't count since it's mostly just vegetables...hmm...

On Saturday I also had some time to explore around Triana (the neighborhood in Sevilla that I live in). I discovered candy shops...Not just candy, but nuts and dried fruit...very excited about the dried fruit...I will have to go ahead and buy something in one of them one of these days...for now, I've just discovered that they exist and am happy enough with that...

Yesterday I watched a bullfight on TV; bullfights on TV are the way to do it...You see the good parts, they're obviously the better bullfighters out there, you get the commentary, and you don't have to see the gushing blood nor hear the heartwrenching death noises of the bulls...and the bulls are better too, so they have a fair(er) fight...but the toreros still continue the fight even if they've been gored in the leg...I don't understand so much of the Spanish mindset...

OH! of course...how can I forget?? How I've been duped:
Today at breakfast, as I was chatting away with Karla and nearly making her late for class in the process, I glanced over at the canister of "espresso" that Salud has on the counter...I'm pretty sure that this is instant espresso mix, and I'm pretty sure it's the stuff that we get each morning for our "coffee"...Well, as I was glancing at it, I noticed the word "descafeinado"; you don't need to know Spanish to figure that one out...I've been here almost 4 weeks (right?) and the whole time I've been served DECAF!! GAAHH! What is coffee without caffeine? What is the point of coffee if not the caffeinated part? What am I going to do for caffeine for the rest of my stay here?? I felt duped...hence, the title of this post...

Have a wonderful Monday!

post, on a Saturday..

yes...it just happened...
that is all...

Food...

So, yesterday, it was pretty monumental....we had PAELLA!!! Absolutely delicious...and Salud, being the very conscientious sweetheart that she is, made it without peas...yay! It was a seafood paella, so that meant that there were shrimp in there...WHOLE shrimp...being a midwestern girl, I can't say that I've necessarily ever seen a whole shrimp in a setting where I would need to consume said whole shrimp...Salud gave us a lesson in how to peel them...There were also little seafood guys that had shells...which to me is quite strange, eating something straight out of its shell, but that's how they do it here...i guess, when in Spain..., right? Anyway, paella=deliciousness... And I got a picture of Salud posing by her paella, which i will hopefully post here...

Also, the produce here is utterly amazing...And I have had more pomegranates in the last week than i had had in my whole life combined up to that point...yum! And, there was this sweet other fruit thing that Salud had us try...I believe it's called something to the effect of "chirimoya" but I'll have to do a little research to figure that out...I just looked it up on google...It is indeed spelled that way, and the English translation is "custard apple" for those of you who have heard of such a thing before...I, for one, have not...but, you should do a google images search for "chirimoya" if you would like to know what it looks like...Last but not least, I had a green orange yesterday...the peel was green, but the fruit was normal-colored...It was kind of a mandarin orange, i guess, but it wasn't all that sweet, but I was ok with that...but really, a green orange?? crazy...

And, random story time:
So, last night as I was watching "Gran Hermano" with Salud (translation: "Big Brother" just like in the States) Karla came in to ask if she could use my charger and I said yes and proceeded to try and tell her where it was, and basically failed in that attempt to use language...the gestures worked, but the language was an utter flop...so I go back to watching the tele, and then I hear this big thud from the bedroom...Salud instructs me to go check on Karla...I go to my closet, expecting to see my computer fallen to the floor...But, i notice the computer bag safely on my bed; so i turn to my closet...the shelf that was at the top is now below the hanger rod, as is all of the stuff that had been on top of the shelf...I still have no idea how it happened...Karla's not quite sure either...So, we proceed to take all the stuff off the shelf, but after we have taken the shelf out too, we realize that it is a pretty tight squeeze to get the shelf back in, so it has to go in at an angle...This means that all of my clothes must come out too...That accomplished, we turn back to the task of getting the shelf in: it needs to get above the little peggy things in the top little section, but also has to fit inside past the doors...This is proving to be a challenge and we are basically failing at it as well...so Salud has come in at this point and is instructing us what to do, and then she just ends up taking Karla's place and helping me lift it...except that I don't get the proper angle the first time, so the shelf is perched awkwardly in the top of my closet, which obviously won't do...so, like three tries later, we eventually get it, and I go on to put my closet contents back in their proper places...nothing was (seriously) damaged in the process, so that is good...but I'm still not even sure how the entire shelf just slipped out of place...it is boggling my mind...

Have a great weekend! If I get internet access at a café or something, you might possibly get another post from me, but no promises...