FLASHBACK: Just before Christmas

Just to give you some background info since this post is a little out of place and context...I wrote this directly after the meet-and-greet luncheon with my co-workers at school. They put off scheduling it for so long that it ended up being a pre-Christmas luncheon instead. It lasted from 3pm until about 6:30 or 7pm and consisted of 3 courses, a few midday rounds of wine, and was topped off with a shot. Knowing the context it's in, it can still be a little confusing because of the references to the book I was reading at the time, the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca, and just my generally disconnected, stream-of-consciousness tone. Regardless, it's a memorable piece for me because I wrote it in the moment and it marks one of my "checkpoints" in my Spanish experience where I felt significantly more immersed and successful within this foreign language and culture.

Spain’s “Three Cups of Tea”: Copa de vino, café, chupito.

“Here (In Pakistan and Afghanistan), we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything…”

Quote from Haji Ali in Greg Mortenson’s book “Three Cups of Tea”

We’ll say it a little more relaxed for the Spanish version: Here in Spain, we drink así to get to know one another better; after a glass of wine you are an acquaintance, after a cup of coffee you are a friend, and after the post-luncheon shot, I guess, you are drinking buddies. Anyway, this is how the lunch with my fellow teachers went down.

We Americans have this idea that, with a glass of wine it is a little easier to speak Spanish. Therefore, with the growing friendship between my coworkers and I and the extra confidence boost that the ‘riojita’ offered, my Spanish was very good at lunch today, and that fact was confirmed by the rest of the teachers and is not just a figment of my imagination.

What’s more, I am that much closer to being a part of Spain. I don’t mean as a Spaniard, but as an essential part, nonetheless. I ate typical jerezano food and I enjoyed the beautiful sunset across the Spanish plains from the punto de vista of a viña, that is to say, the Spanish plains. It is the sight that Federico García Lorca epitomized in his poetry.

From now on, I will not avoid addressing teachers because I don’t know their names. I will no longer be intimidated in the teacher’s lounge when they are making announcements and I have no clue whether they apply to me or not. Because now I am, officially, a drinking buddy amongst my fellow teachers.


Spanglish translations:
Así- so, like this
Riojita- rioja (type of Spanish red wine) + -ita (diminutive)
Jerezano- typical of Jerez de la Frontera, the city I live in
Punto de vista- vantage point
Viña- vineyard

Carnaval: The Best of Both Worlds

Hamburgers, hot dogs, cotton candy, candied apples, and fried yumminess…sound familiar?



Carnaval in Cádiz had all the food, bright lights, and silly toys that American fairs have! So, on the surface, it was somewhat familiar. Walking around and diving into the Sunday afternoon festivities, though, brought out the Spanish in it. The cabalgatas, or parades, were not huge floats of Egyptian sphinxes like in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Rather, they were just mini-bleachers on floats full of silly-clad people singing silly Spanish tunes. Also, in addition to the typical draught of beer, Spaniards love to carry around bottles of sherry during Carnaval…I think that would make me sick, but more power to you if that’s your flavor!





Carnaval, as opposed to Halloween in the U.S., is when all the Spanish people use their creativity for costumes! I saw lots of Avatars (maybe not so creative), Stewy from Family Guy, various insects (butterflies, bumblebees, ladybugs), various food items, green tea bags, and a complete bathroom. Yes, I’m still talking about people dressed up!
Among our group there were a couple of chickens, a mime, a superhero, Elvis, pink-wig chicas, and me, the fortune-teller. It was less creative thinking and more just an excuse to wear Mifalda…my beloved skirt.













So, we dressed up Saturday night, the following weekend from our Sunday day-time trip, and planned to stay in Cádiz until the last train back and maybe have a few drinks in Jerez. Well, we missed the 10pm train and the next one was at…8am! What’s more, it started raining around midnight. Very few of the bars were letting people inside, so we were stuck in the streets, no way out. With a little bit of luck, my roomie Monica, Emma, and I found a nice, warm Irish bar to hide out in until morning. Thank goodness bars in Spain stay open until 6am!

When we boarded the train 45 minutes early, it was dark and already full of sleeping pirates and beasts and inanimate objects. We each found a nook and nestled down with the rest of them. An absurd ending to what turned out to be a pretty normal night. That is…if all-night drinks with Elvis and a chicken could ever be considered ‘normal’.

Spain is more than traveling

So, I've told you where all I've been, but that doesn't mean I've been sitting on my bum all the days in between awaiting the next trip. Here are some of the good times we've had in Jerez thus far:

Soccer Saturdays
This is a relatively new tradition that some fellow auxiliares and Spanish soccer players (I know, "Spanish soccer player", redundant right?) started up a few weekends ago. It's a great way to meet new people, both Spanish and foreign, and to run off the tapas we know we are going to enjoy later!

Maddie's visit (Jan 7-27)
3 weeks...my best friend...what else can I say? A lot, actually, so I might have to dedicate a blog to this one...









Salsa Dancing on the weekends
Well, a couple of weekends, anyway. I'm not a very good salsa dancer, but I've been to one or two lessons here. The advantage of being female is that I don't really have to know how, I just have to find a strong lead who is willing to get his toe stepped on once or twice!


Kim got to salsa with the cute dance instructor!




Nochevieja (New Year's Eve)
This is when all the good looking men in suits come out...they all wear suits! The question is, where are they the rest of the year?


One of the traditions for Spanish New Year's Eve is to eat 12 grapes the last 12 seconds of the year for good luck...almost impossible to actually accomplish!


Zambombas (carol singing in bars) at Christmas
The word 'zambomba' actually refers to the instrument that is typical here in Jerez and surrounding areas, it's not a custom throughout all of Spain. A lot of the villancicos (christmas carols) that we sang had street names and places we recognized from living in Jerez!


Thanksgiving Dinner
Teaching non-Americans how to eat like Americans!
The most surprising thing to Europeans was pumpkin pie...pumpkin is savory here, not sweet.

Barbara and Eliane learn how to cook stuffing

Mark with his homemade pumpkin pie! (Homemade as in pie crusts and canned pumpkin do not exist in Spain)

Dinner guests (We had it at Danee, Kristen, and Rory's apartment. They live in the apartment right under mine)




Halloween
In contrast to the big dress-up parties we have in the States, our Halloween party was a little smaller and more intimate, but we partied just as hard! We also dressed up. Prize went to: Kim as Tio Pepe!


Catching the rays in Cadiz
I've never lived near the beach before! Cadiz is an hour train ride away and has some beautiful beaches. I'm looking forward to the Spring and Summer months when the sun will finally come out and we can hit the sand again!


So that's the then and now. This weekend we are enjoying Carnaval in Cadiz (pictures to come soon) and waiting out the rain so that we can return to playing soccer and all that!

What?! Halfway over you tell me?

Alright, so I said that I would keep my blog up and I haven't. Shame on me. It's been about four and a half months now, and the only excuse I had was valid through October and no later...the fact that I didn't have a computer 'til then. I'm not really sure why I chose now to begin my blog again. Maybe because I don't want this year to pass by without jotting a few memories down...maybe I'm in need of something to keep me occupied before the rain kicks me into a serious SADS-type mood...or maybe it really is just better late than never. Whatever the motivation, here I am now!!

I'll start off with an incredibly brief synopsis of what has happened this year. Then, believe it or not, I did write some journal entries/blogs of specific events in anticipation of publishing them, so I'll go ahead and post those as well. After that, I promise I will write about my future experiences in a timely manner. Scout's honor. (And if I don't, well, I was never a girl scout anyway ;)

So, here are the places I have traveled so far, starting with the most recent:

Granada, Spain (Jan 15-18)
Barbara, Maddie, and I
at the Alhambra


Caceres, Spain (Dec 23-26)
Christmas Dinner with my roommate Monica's family

Barcelona, Spain (Dec 11-13)

Emily and I on top of Gaudi's Casa Battlo

Tangier, Morocco, Africa (Dec 4-6)
Zoco market in Morocco. I came back with a tea set, a blanket, and a few other handmade trinkets!

Gibraltar, British territory (Nov ??)

Can you guess which ones are Kim and I
and which one is the real monkey??

San Lucar, Spain (Oct 23-24)

The boardwalk along the coast







Lisbon and Fatima, Portugal (Oct 9-12)

The CIEE crew (minus Mark)
on the beach in Lisbon
Our first trip together!

I have also been, relatively frequently, to:
Cadiz, Sevilla, Arcos de la Frontera
All are cities in Andalucia and within an hour train/bus ride away from Jerez (my city).

Upcoming Trips:
Paris! (Easter week a.k.a. our Spring Break)

The Hopefuls:
Amsterdam (Easter week, in addition to Paris)
Ronda, Spain
Salamanca, Spain, to revisit my alma mater (well, I guess Spanish universities don't technically have alma maters)
Cordoba, Spain
Switzerland to visit Isabel
and Fez, Casablanca, and/or Marrakesh, Morocco

Alright, since I'm a working girl now, the rest of this will have to wait. I have to get to sleep so I have enough energy to work with the chil'rens tomorrow.

Buenas Noches

Me echo de menos el Sur...en cualquier pais

Sevilla

I just got back today from Sevilla, Spain, which is in the province Andalucía in the south. It is completely different than the part of Spain where I live. It’s more Mediterranean/tropical with a different kind of people and way of life. I’ve already said the accent is very different, which is true. They cut off a lot of letters of the ends of there words and from the middle, and it’s hard to understand what words someone has said when half of the consonants are gone. Anyway, Paco (the Spanish boy that lives with me) and my señora told me that they couldn’t understand andalucians either, so then I didn’t feel so bad.

The people are definitely of a different sort – very outgoing and talkative, which is a little unusual for Spain and Europe in general. In places like Salamanca and especially Madrid the people are really nice, but they don’t generally talk to you unless you approach them first or they know you, but in Sevilla we were randomly approached many times about different things. One time we were sitting on a bench and all of sudden the old man beside us told Austin that I was really pretty and started talking to him about me while I was sitting there. The old man eventually took a moment to inform me that he thought I was pretty, but then just continued talking to Austin as if that is just what I was, a topic of conversation between men. It was a perfect example of the stereotypical Spanish machismo – first of all he assumed that I was Austin’s “woman” and then he just talked about me like I was an object of interest. Of course that is not to say that all Spanish men think like that, it’s just a stereotype, but all stereotypes stem from some sort of truth I suppose.

It actually happened the following day when Austin and I were in the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca sitting on a bench…again. Another old man came up to us and stood in front of us, really close because all of the people in Spain stand close to each other. He just started telling us how Salamanca was the greatest city in the world and that they were the best in arts, language, and culture…and he just went on and on and on. Then he would stop talking and there would be this awkward silence and we expected him to leave like any normal person would have done, but he never did, he just kept repeating his whole spiel about Salamanca. He informed us that he was the pontifical something of the university, which was a complete lie because I asked Veronica later (the Spanish girl I meet with every week) and whatever position he told us he had didn’t exist in the university. Eventually I took initiative and told him that we had to leave to go study. It was so strange because he was 83 years old and I don’t have any clue why he would approach us and make up all this stuff…anyway, back to Sevilla.

We visited the Plaza España and it was the most impressive plaza I have seen thus far. It was bordered by scenes of all the major cities in Spain made of ceramic tiles, so I took pictures of all of the ones that I’ve visited/will visit. There is a huge fountain in the middle and bridges made with ceramic leading to the center of the plaza. It’s boring to explain, but I will put pictures up eventually so you can see it.

We also got to see a Flamenco show, which is a type of dancing that is very characteristic of Spain, especially the gypsies of Spain who historically danced flamenco to make their living. Now it’s part of the industry of tourism and it’s not just for the gypsies I don’t think, but there are still some that dance in the streets for money. The actual dance is so distinctively Spanish, I’ve never seen anything like it. The dresses that the women wear are colorful and tight and very big and frilly at the bottom. The dance starts out almost sad where the dancers have solemn expressions and move very slowly and then all of a sudden they go crazy with tap dancing and twisting and turning. I enjoyed the male dancers the most (in both Sevilla and Granada) because their movements were the sharpest and the strongest, which surprised me because I didn’t know that men danced flamenco. It is definitely distinctive from anything that I’ve ever experienced before.

I not only fulfilled Spanish stereotypes this weekend, but universal ones as well. I had roasted chestnuts from a street vendor! (Like the Christmas song) I didn’t know this, but there will be plenty more opportunity to eat castañas asadas because it is now the season for them in Salamanca as well. It’s so romantically European to have hot roasted chestnuts while walking around the city. Oh, what’s more is that there were gazillions of horses with carriages for the tourists, which was even that much more romantic. Sometimes I still feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.

11.15.07

One of the things I’ve missed but didn’t realize until I went to Sevilla and Granada was green – trees, plants, flowers, grass. Granada was not that much different from Sevilla, warm and tropical, but it did have a taste of African culture that Sevilla didn’t have.
I missed the trip to Morrocco, but we went shopping in the African quarter of the town and I almost felt like I was there (minus the sand dunes).

This was the first organized ISA trip that we had a significant amount of free time to wander around on our own. Rachel’s (a friend from my program) best friend is studying in Granada, so it was nice to have all that free time for her to show us the city from a peer’s point of view. The great thing about Granada is that almost all of the bars serve free tapas if you go and buy a drink, so the first night we went out for tapas a.k.a. bar hopping that included dinner and not spending a lot of money.

The organized activities included visiting the Alhambra which is an Arabic/Islamic structure in Granada. It’s so huge that the tour lasted three hours, but it was really interesting, especially because we had a good guide. One thing I’ve learned about monumental tours is that it all depends on the guide. Anyway, the Alhambra is very decorative with poems in Arabic inscribed on the walls, and it has courtyards with lavish gardens and reflecting pools…it was all very different from the occidental (western/Christian) structures that we have seen so far. Also, it is on top of a hill, so it looks over Granada which is “the white city” or something like that because ALL of the houses are painted white. There is a reason for that but I don’t remember, but it makes for a pretty picture.