One thing down, like a billion to go...

...not that I ever exaggerate...

Our presentation went well in the Tres Culturas class...unfortunately now I need to focus on the two tests on Monday, the presentation for Gramática avanzada on Friday, and then there will also be a test the Tuesday following that... *sigh* That's in addition to regular homework...so, I decided to relax today so as to not spend too much time fretting...the weekend is for studying, in my opinion...

On a very different note, being stressed the past few days as I was, I have been checking out the candy scene here in Spain...yesterday I stopped by a kiosko for some "chucherías" (that's what they say on the front...as far as I can figure out- by observation and native Spanish speaker guesses- it means "junk" or "junkfood"), and I bought a little baggie of candies...they were ok, but not very sweet in my opinion...and if you're wanting candy, you're wanting sweet, right? So today I went to a grocery store where I had seen some candy that piqued my interest...when I went there though, I decided that what had looked good looked a little sketch, so I opted for a different type...it was Haribo brand (they make gummy bears) and called Tropifruti...and they were utterly amazing...I ate the whole baggie this morning....yum!

*sigh*

Yeah, so life's pretty boring over here in Spain, not gonna lie...I've been trying to keep everyone up on the fun stuff, but unfortunately I'm running low on fun stuff to report...

I have been doing a lot of homework, or a lot of procrastinating--that might be more accurate...I'm just as, if not more, sick of homework here than back in the States...the only difference is that when I'm done with hw, I still have to be in Spanish mode...Spanish mode doesn't end over here; it's quite tiring...Like, on Sunday, I was at the church I've attended for the past few weeks...it was all in Spanish...I wanted so badly to understand, but it was just so hard! I tried and tried to pay attention, but it just took it all out of me, and I was exhausted afterward...as were the other girls there...I mean, I need a nap after any long periods of exposure to hardcore Spanish...Spanish that comes with more contextual clues (ie TV, my señora) is not quite so tiring...

Yesterday my prayer group had its first meeting...I was pretty psyched...these girls are amazing! We're going to have a good semester, in my opinion...We met yesterday and went for ice cream; I got mango sorbet ("sorbete de mango"), and it was utterly delicious--my first experience with "ice cream" over here...(it was definitely a little on the expensive side though...€1.70...which is fairly close to $3 i think...for one little bitty scoop)

Um, yeah, so that's about it for what's new...we have our presentation tomorrow for the Tres Culturas class...so we will be working on that tonight...Then I have to prepare for the presentation for Grammar class next week...and the two tests that I have on Monday...yikes...

What a weekend!

So, it was quite the weekend that I had...

On Friday night, there was this cool thing where all the museums in Sevilla were open to the public for FREE! So, we definitely had to take them up on that one. The NWC 4 headed up to the Museo de Carruajes (Carriage Museum) because it was close and we actually kind of knew where it was...Plus, they had something on the line up that was called "Danza del Vientre"; I had commented to Karla earlier that "dance of the womb" sounded quite odd, to which she replied that it was belly dancing...made sense...So I thought that could be interesting to see...I ended up staying there with some of the other girls from Acento while the other Ndubbers headed to a different museo; the other girls we there to see the Flamenco; I asked if they meant the bellydancing; they said no, the Arabic Flamenco. It should be noted that in the description under "Danza del vientre" there was something to the effect of "flamenco árabe", so i could see where they had gotten that idea, but I was like, no, Karla said that meant bellydancing...and they were pretty sure it was flamenco...So, when it was time to start, there was definitely a bellydancer up on stage...Yeah...pretty interesting...she had muscles that I didn't know could exist, and she moved them in ways I didn't think possible!

Yesterday was also quite interesting...not only did we get lots of talking with our señora in, but we went to a bullfight...It was really fun! Until they killed the first bull...yes, first...there were 6 in total...by the sixth one, I couldn't stomach it any longer and decided to leave with the other girls who wanted to make it back to their apartment for supper...There is supposed to be some "art" to how the bullfight is conducted, and while there indeed was some, since they were like intermediate-experience bullfighters, it just wasn't that great...and then the first bull made these really sad and pitiful noises... :( I guess the one bright spot of the bullfight was the sweet outfits that the toreros wore... Unfortunately, the bulls kept coming, and they kept dying...they really just don't stand a chance! We all almost felt kind of happy for the bulls whenever they picked up one of the toreros (no one got hurt visibly, so I think it's alright) Also, I felt very bad for the horses...the guys would right out on the horses, announced by trumpets of course, and they were among the first to stab each bull...but the bull would take out all his aggression on the poor blindfolded horse (which was wearing some sort of horsey armor, but still)...I couldn't help but seriously wonder what these things implied about the undercurrents of the Spanish mentality...animal cruelty, anyone?? I also kind of feel like I would have gotten more out of the experience had I had a Spaniard there to comment on the happenings...

Well, at present I am slacking off on researching the Shi'ite Muslim culture and distinguishing marks...(los chiítas, en español) I am not looking forward to the presentation on such...it is, however, quite interesting to learn about; in the States, especially in the Christian circles, we know very little about Muslims and are ok with that, but it seems kind of naive to me to leave it at that and then judge them for what we think they are/do/believe instead of what they actually are/do/believe...idk, just a little opinion tangent, no offense meant toward anyone...

Feel free to leave comments! I love reading them and feel a little bit more like I'm actually part of the real world instead of this strange pseudo-world of study-abroad...

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

(or, if we want to go real Andalucían here...¡Que Dios os bendiga!)

Same old, same old...

Nothing is particularly new, but I thought I would take this last opportunity before the weekend separates me from the internet to make another post, just so you'll know that I'm alive and well...

Spain and I have not been on particularly good terms for the last day or so, so hopefully a weekend will make things a bit better...I have quite recently heard that all the museums in Sevilla will be open tonight, for FREE (yes please), so that definitely sounds like it's worth looking into...

I have many projects and composiciones coming up, so I am not particularly happy about that, but it is still college over here, so I guess I do need to do a bit of academic work (besides the trying to learn a different language while in a different culture thing)...So yes, this has been what my life is lately...

Random fun story in order to end the post on a high note:
So, in my Teatro del siglo XX class we're reading a play by Federico García Lorca that's called Bodas de sangre (Wedding of blood/Bloody Weddings/Blood Weddings--not quite sure which, could be any, could be all)...and one of the dominant themes is the fertility/being able to produce life theme...One of the characters particularly obsessed with this theme had a line that was something to the effect of "your grandfather had a kid on every corner; that's the good kind of man" (I know, strange strange strange mindset here, but we're talking rural Spain in the early 20th century) So yesterday we were talking, and we asked the professor how many kids he had, and he must not have been listening to us very well...it went something like this
-"¿Cuántos hijos tiene usted?"
-"oh, muchos"
*laughter from all the students*
-"pues, ¿qué preguntaste? ¿cuántos HIJOS tengo? pues dos, ¡sólo dos! ¡Pensé que preguntaste cuántos años tienen! No, yo no soy como los hombres en la obra...sí, un hijo en cada esquina"
(how many kids do you have?
-oh, lots
-wait, what did you ask? No, I've got two kids! Just two! I thought you asked how old they were...no, I'm not like the guys in the play; yeah, a kid on every corner!)

This would probably be significantly funnier if you knew the professor....but i thought i'd share it anyway....

Oh heavens...

So, I was coming up to the school tonight to head over and play Bingo with some jubilados (retired persons), because it sounded like it might be a fun experience, and it didn't require much language or anything...I was walking out from my apartment, not too happy, and was startled to see something move as I rounded the corner...something on the CEILING moved. That is usually not a good sign.

So, me asustó mucho (it startled me a lot) and I stopped and took a step back to assess the situation...It was as I had feared: a lizard...on the ceiling...IN the building...*i shiver as i read this*

So, I was very much taken aback...Thank goodness I had decided to grab my camera this time around--in case we wanted to take some pics with the jubilados--so I slowly grabbed the camera and moved toward where the lizard had slinked off to...and i did indeed capture the lizard in all its glory on our ceiling...ACK!

This has been my day...

Discovery...

Yesterday I went out for lunch with a few others from the school for a meeting for those who had volunteered to be prayer group leaders, and we headed to a Chinese restaurant...for those of you who have ever considered going to a Chinese restaurant when I've been in the group, you will remember that pretty much I can't eat Chinese...So, knowing that the group was going to head to a Chinese restaurant put me on the defensive. The gal in charge asked if I could handle like a salad or something there, and I figured that was doable, so we headed onward...Once in the restaurant, she talked with the employees, and came to tell me that they did not use peanut oil there, being as we were in Spain...I was excited at this point, but still cautious--Chinese food has been considered my enemy for a long time now...But, I looked in the part of the menu that they had recommended and found something that looked like it was worth a try...I got a meal special thing that included a salad (with crazy looking things that I don't think I've ever seen before), noodles (in soy sauce, I think), sweet and sour chicken ("pollo agridulce"), and it came with dessert, so I picked flan...The best part was that I could eat it all, and--I discovered that I like Chinese food! Or, at least, I like the Spanish version of the American version of Chinese food...It was good...I ate way too much...And, being as this was my first time eating flan, I was startled by the wiggliness, so I took a video of it...unfortunately I have just realized that I decided to leave my camera at home today, and as such will be unable to upload the video...maybe another day...

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Update: Wiggling flan video has been posted!

Córdoba and la playa

Hola todos...

So, the past few days have been pretty good here; not super exciting by any means, but good nonetheless...On Friday the school had a trip to nearby Córdoba to check out a church-turned-mosque-turned-church for the art class students' benefit; they're learning about the architecture styles,from what I can tell...I, on the other hand, figured why take the class if I can go on the field trips for free anyway? I think there's a bit more freedom on the trips for those of us who aren't in the class, so I'm liking my decision...

Saturday some of us headed to the beach at Matalascañas, which was like an hour or hour and a half away from here...that would also happen to be my first experience with the Spanish bus system, and oh my, was it fun...We had bought our tickets the night before (the 4 of us Northwesterners, that is) and learned about the concept of lines in Spain--they mean nothing; whoever steps to the front gets served first; waiting is worthless...So, we got there on Saturday morning and headed down to where the buses were...We met up with the other Acento students who had wanted to go too...since they hadn't purchased tickets the day before, they didn't know that the bus didn't leave until 11am, and so had arrived at the station at about 9:30...So, when the bus finally starts letting us board, we realize that there is a giant horde of people trying to get on one bus, and that not everyone will fit on that one bus...So we take our newfound knowledge of lines in Spain to heart and try to get on the bus...I think 4 out of about 12 of us got on the bus...the rest of us wondered what to do next; fortunately, they brought another bus, and we all managed to get on that one...The ride was fine and we went through a national park and saw what I like to think of as "fairy tale trees"--I didn't get any pictures, and describing them just wouldn't do them justice. We got to the beach and wondered if the other people had gotten off at the first or the second stop; we guessed that they had gotten off at the first one and so did the same; thankfully we guessed correctly! The beach was gorgeous, the weather was gorgeous, and I didn't even get sunburnt! All in all, a great day...

Well, I uploaded a few pics, so we'll see if I can get the link posted here...http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahloveseric/Spain# I think it worked...

Have a great day!!