Jam-ON!

Wow, what a fun weekend. I can already tell this will be a lengthy post...consider yourself warned. Friday, after my 1:00 class, I met Alex in La Plaza de Anaya (right outside my building). Mr. Independent refused to be picked up from the train station, but still managed to find his way to the University. I've got to hand it to him though since this is about a 25-30 minute walk. Impressive. He almost ruined the entire trip within the first five minutes, however, when he proceeded to tell me that not only had he already explored the "whole" city, he had also eaten lunch. Unfortunately for Alex, lunch and exploring was already the plan for the day. Alex would now watch me enjoy el menu del dia at Cafe Quijote. It only took being handed twelve of these cafe fliers everyday since I arrived in Salamanca to finally convince me to go. El menu del dia is the greatest aspect of Spanish culture. You may ask, "Sarah, I thought you said SIESTA was the greatest aspect of Spanish culture." Allow me to explain: Menu del dia IS siesta, but at a restaurant. It includes wine, water, bread, 2 huge courses, and dessert for about 10-13 euros. Sweet deal. At Quijote, I enjoyed tortellini con jamon (ham), lomo (pork), papas fritas (french fries), bread, white wine, water, and helado (ice cream). Yikes, I'm gross. Next, I showed Alex my daily stomping grounds and walked over by El Rio Tormes as well. We headed back toward my apartment so Alex could drop off his things at Hostal Reise (right on my street!) and siesta. We met up again for dinner around 8:30. It took us more than 20 minutes to find a place literally 2 blocks from my apartment (on a street called Pollo Martin I might add...that's Chicken Martin. Ha.) We asked about 5 different people, each sending us in a different direction (also very likely we just didn't understand what they said). Once we finally found Pollo Martin, we realized that the restaurant (called Tobogan) had 3 different entrances right next to each other. Well great, which one do we go to!? "Tobogan cerveceria," "Tobogan," or "Tobogan Restaurante." Thankfully we only looked like foreign idiots for a few minutes before the host came outside one of the entrances to let us in. Dinner was delicious, but bizarre. At almost 9pm Alex and I were literally the only people in the restaurant (and I was told to make reservations at this place!) Really, Spain? Ordering was an adventure because even with Alex and I pooling our Spanish knowledge together, we still only knew what less than half the menu was. I ended up with a typical weird Spanish salad (any random mixture of ingredients with lettuce and oil) and Alex got steak. I'd also like to point out that my coke light cost more than his beer. This is also the country where coffee is less than juice. Just saying. We learned that even if you say you are finished and the waiter (whom, in this case, Alex decided to name Rafael) has cleared everything from the table, they won't bring you your check until you ask for it.

Saturday morning, Allison, Andrea, Alex, Ally, Angela, (whoa lots of A's), Kelsey, Hannah, Will, and I headed to Avila (about an hour and a half bus ride from Sal) for the day. Avila, like many of the old cities in Spain, is enclosed by a huge stone wall from the Roman rule. Today, much of the modern city has been forced outside of the wall. In some places, we were able to walk around on top of the wall, which gave us a great view of the city. Next, we stopped for "yemas." Avila is famous for these round lumps of egg yokes and sugar. Trust me, they sound even better than they actually are. Yemas=very lame-as. But we really couldn't leave without trying them. Thankfully, the bakery had cafe con leche and plenty of other pastries to cleanse our pallets. We also visited El Convento de Santa Teresa de Jesus (the original yemas-maker) and La Catedral. Also imperative on our to-do list before leaving Avila was seeing EL DEDO. "El dedo" is "the finger" of Santa Teresa de Jesus. I almost threw up when I saw it, but it was well worth it the long, stressful search. El dedo was even complete with some emerald bling. Only now could we leave Avila. Returning to Salamanca, several of us enjoyed a delicious Mexican meal, complete with countless racial slurs about how all Spanish speakers are in fact Mexican. We headed back to our respective houses to shower and met back at Jacko's, our new favorite Michael Jackson-themed bar. After Jacko's we headed to Camelot for dancing! Que guay!

Sunday checkout for the hostel was at 12, so I met Alex outside soon after that. We walked to Café Novelty on La Plaza Mayor for croissants and café con leche (my drug of choice). Although almost everything is closed on Sundays in Spain, most of the shops in the old part of the city were still open on account of its tourist appeal. If I were to have any job in this country, I would undoubtedly be a shopkeeper. There’s really no denying the extremely favorable working hours: open store around 10, close at 1:45 for siesta, open again 5ish, close around 8. This is almost laughable when compared to the American workday. ANYWHO, (me and my tangents) I was eager to use Alex as an opportunity to see the cathedrals here. Apparently, it’s normal for a city/town to have just one cathedral, but in Salamanca, we have two (vieja y nueva=old and new). I guess that means that we’re a pretty big deal. The “nueva” cathedral, however, really isn’t that nueva, as it was built at the end of the 15th century. Minor details. We enjoyed a view of the city from pathways on the roofs. Next, we walked on the other side of Calle Toro (main road from my apartment to La Plaza Mayor) to a part of Salamanca I hadn’t seen yet. We passed by La Plaza de Cristobal Colon and looked inside the Palacio. It’s exciting to find new places in such a small city. Menu del dia time. We chose a really cool place on Calle Liberos, which I definitely need to go back to sometime. Alex got some potato thing (really yummy, trust me) and I had lentejas (lentils) to start. Both of us also had wine, water, bread, and rotisserie chicken and French fries. Oh and of course dessert. I got arroz con leche (much like tapioca pudding) and Alex got flan. For such a smart boy he really made the foolish decision. One look at the lumpy, jiggly thing and he said, “I feel like I’m eating an 80-year-old woman’s thigh.” No doubt one of the more disgusting descriptions I’ve ever heard in my life. Even so, this didn’t keep him from finishing every bite. What a drama queen. After lunch, we walked to Casa de las Conchas (House of the Shells) as it’s very famous here in Salamanca. I wish I could tell you why, but I still don’t know myself since the main exhibition had closed earlier that day. More walking. Of course I couldn’t let Alex leave without giving him his first churros con chocolate experience, and at no other place than Valor. Although we could barely cram in 2 churros each, culturing him was worth the stomachache (I’m getting pretty used to these anyways). After churros, we stopped off at the apartment to grab his things and made our way to the train station.
Upon my return home, however, I was confronted by an upset and confused Madre Ascencion. “Porque no ha visitado tu novio? Porque no trajiste el a la casa para la cena?” (Why hasn’t your boyfriend visited? Why didn’t you bring him to the house for dinner?”) Please keep in mind that Allison and I are not allowed to have boys over at the house, except those in our JMU program. (Madre, what are you talking about??) Friday, Saturday, and Sunday she had asked me if I would be eating at the house and I said no (because I’d be with Alex). Little did I realize that she was really asking if BOTH of us would be eating at the house. She was inviting him too. I tried my best to apologize and explain that I was confused, but I think I really hurt her feelings. She said she didn’t understand why I wouldn’t bring him, that students had done that in the past. Then I became upset too because I would have loved for Alex to see where I live and to experience one of our epic siesta lunches. AGH STUPID LANGUAGE BARRIER! I felt so bad, I showed her all my pictures from this weekend and I think things are better now.

Tonight, we are going out to tapas for dinner with our JMU group, which can only mean one thing: even MORE food at siesta. I think our madre feels compelled that if she is not the one feeding us, we might starve or something. We had mixed paella (our overflowing bowls might as well have been pig troughs), bread, salad, pork filets, and fruit. I almost threw up at the table. I don’t know how much longer I can continue eating the equivalent of a Thanksgiving meal everyday before ending up on some Fat Camp Reality TV Show. Lucia (Ascencion’s granddaughter) ate with us today. She’s 4 and is seriously one of the most adorable little girls I’ve ever seen. It’s so entertaining to hear her speaking in a little sassy Spanish voice. She is learning colors and numbers in English and enjoys showing off to us foreign girls. More Later, got to run get a coke light before Spanish Civ. so I won’t take my siesta in class!

My walk to class is better than yours

Looks a little bit like ISAT at JMU, huh?

JesuCristo Superstar

This week has been relatively uneventful, only being filled up with new classes. 

My schedule is as follows:

MONDAY: 

Latin American Short Stories, 11-12

Intro. to Spanish Literature, 4-5

Spanish Civilization, 5-6

TUESDAY:

Spanish Civilization, 12-1

Lit., 4-5

WEDNESDAY:

Short Stories, 10-11

Spanish Art History, 11-12

THURSDAY:

Art, 10-11

Span. Civ., 5-6

FRIDAY:

Art, 11-12

Short Stories, 1-2

Kind of a wacked out schedule if you ask me, but I really can't complain. I enjoy most of my classes and there's been almost no homework so far. 

Yesterday I went for a run by the river (Rio Tormes) behind the University. I enjoyed a majestic view of both the cathedrals as I jogged along a cobblestone bridge path. I keep expecting to wake up in the morning back in my dorm room at JMU, only to discover that the past "three weeks" of my life has been a dream. This place looks fake it's so beautiful. 

Last night, our JMU group went to a Spanish musical. Not just any musical, but Jesucristo Superstar. In Spanish. Undoubtedly, one of the more bizarre things I've done/seen in my life. Maybe it didn't help that musicals make me uncomfortable in the first place. The singing, dancing, sets, and lights were all very impressive though. 

We were told we'd be given money for dinner after the performance. Too bad the performance started at 9 and wasn't over until after 11. I guess this is a normal dinner time?? It was a near-death experience. But don't worry, I made it and am slowly recovering. Several of us grabbed bocadillos (sandwiches) at Pan's and it was love at first bite. It's like a Spanish equivalent of Subway BUT with baguettes. Next, we headed to a bar called Jacko's (Michael Jackson theme). De puta madre! (sweet!) 

Alex is coming to Salamanca this weekend! He took the train from Barcelona last night and we're meeting in La Plaza Mayor after my class at 1. Ay, mi vida increible. 

This is our room. Although, it would probably serve better as a nice walk-in closet.

The top photo is of the incredible burger with fried egg lunch I had in Lisboa. I thought it was only appropriate to document this.

The next is some of the girls at a Marina in Cascais, Portugal.

The last is the watch tower where we saw a view of the city.

The day pigs flew: a disappointing siesta lunch

So, I just found out I can change the font on this thing. Hope this craziness doesn't throw anyone off. 

Ok, so last entry I left off with heading to siesta. If I haven't already made it abundantly clear that siesta is hands down my favorite part of Spanish culture, then allow me to express this now: siesta is hands down my favorite part of Spanish culture. This having been said, please understand how utterly sobering it was to have a huge plate full of mushy, overcooked cauliflower waiting for me when I got home yesterday. Visualize a brain on a plate and that's my lunch. I tried hard to convince myself that maybe it just looks gross...it probably tastes great. After all, our madre's an amazing cook. One bite later, though, I panicked. How the heck am I going to finish all this with her watching me? I had to coach myself through the rest of the brain mush, "Just eat as fast as you can, Sarah. Don't think, don't look at it, don't smell it. Just eat fast!" Thankfully, this was only the first course, so there was ground beef and peppers, bread and fruit to cleanse my pallet afterwards. As I was lying down for my siesta nap though, I couldn't help but feel a little bit like a child who just found out that Santa Claus doesn't exist...I really just didn't see that coming.

After an insufficient nap, I returned to the University for my last two classes of the day: Intro to Spanish Lit. and Spanish Civ. Basically, we've only covered the syllabi(?) so I don't have much to say about them other than they're taught completely in Spanish and most of our work is crammed at the end of the semester. I haven't decided yet if this will be a good or bad thing. I'm also getting used to "Spanish time"...a phenomena completely different from the United States. When my schedule says class begins at 11, what it really is saying is that if you arrive 5 or 10 minutes past 11, no problem, the professor probably isn't there yet either.

Dinner consisted of a fried egg/potato/ham mixture (Yum! Did I mention I eat fried foods everyday?), mozzarella cheese, ham, and fruit. I literally went to bed straight after dinner at 10pm and didn't wake up again until 9:15am. Yesterday was the sleepiest day of my life. I've been fighting a bad cold, traveling, spending a lot of time outside, and not getting enough sleep (my less than brilliant remedy plan). 

This morning, I put one of Allison's videos in my laptop to do Yoga in the bathroom again. I'm so glad no one can actually see me doing this though because it looks even goofier than it sounds. I got a package from my mom this morning...made my day! It was filled with funny pictures of Boomer and the family, peanut m&m's (she knows me well), and Dr. Scholls (God bless her, my feet have never done so much walking).

I got ready and headed to my first class of the day (Spanish Civ). Relatively uneventful.

I returned home for siesta lunch today with a little less bounce in my step and a slightly heavier heart, not knowing what I could be surprised with today. To my relief, however, it seems our madre is back in the swing of things, doing what she does best. "After all, everyone has their bad days, right?" I thought to myself as she poured me a bowl of creamy potato and ham soup sprinkled with homemade croutons on top. This was accompanied by fried pork with roasted red peppers (I've really come to love these things), fruit and bread. Ahh much better. I guess I can forgive her for serving me brain yesterday. 

I just finished my last class (Intro. to Spanish Lit.) and now I'm waiting for Allison while she is in hers. 

I'll leave you with an interesting Spanish anecdote I learned today. As we were eating our fruit to finish up lunch, I must have gotten pretty excited about something because I dropped my apple core on the ground. Seeing this, my madre asked me, "Como se llama tu novio?" (what's your boyfriend's name?) Although I wanted to ask what dropping my apple had to do with my boyfriend, I replied, "Alejandro" (Spanish equivalent of Alexander). But by the way she reacted, obviously this was NOT the right answer! Wait, how would SHE know what my boyfriend's name is? Last time I checked, it WAS Alex. Thank goodness she explained. Apparently, when someone drops something on the ground (in my case a "manzana"), another person asks "como se llama tu novio?" and you're supposed to answer with a name of the same first letter as the item you dropped. I should have said Mario or Manuel or something. Stupid game, if you ask me.

muito obrigado

Saturday night was so much fun, despite the fact that the "let's go out to eat at a nice Portuguese restaurant" plan fell through. It was raining and cost about 35-40 euros per person. Yeah right. So being the college students that we are, we ordered pizza to our rooms. I love that you tip next to nothing (if at all) in Europe. Later, we returned to Docas for dancing. It was POURING rain and we were soaked when we got inside the club. Both nights, our favorite place was actually a gay bar, but it was the most fun (and safe;)). We all agree that going back to JMU will pale in comparison to the Spanish night life. Around 3:30, Annie, Karen, and I hailed a cab (this time, I brought the hotel card to show the driver) and made the trek back. Around 9:30 the next morning, we headed to 8th floor for another breakfast of rolls. We eat so much bread here, it's awful. The bus picked us up outside the hotel again at 11 and took us to downtown Lisboa. What a cool city! There are so many plazas and fountains and beautiful buildings. We have been SO lucky with the weather too. They were calling for 80-90% chance of rain and we got partly cloudy and sunny both days. A group of about 6 of us found a giant watch tower that we paid almost 3 euros to go to the top of for a view of the city. Definitely worth it. Next, we walked towards the water and stopped at a really cool outdoor flea market. This place was full of hand-painted tiles, homemade jewelry, scarves, etc. I later found out that where we were on the water was where Columbus and several other famous explorers disembarked on their expeditions...wow. 

Alex, Leah, Colleen and I found a cafe where we had a delicious lunch. Colleen and I each  got a burger with a fried egg on it AND french fries. Oh man, my European diet. Leah and Alex got omelets. Apparently, bread that they bring to the table before your meal (bread that you didn't ask for) isn't free in Europe. Neither is water. We're learning. 

I was also offered pot three different times during the day by shady old men. Nice.

Then, it was time to head back to the bus. It was a loong way back too (about 6 hours). As tired as we all were when we returned, we were DETERMINED to watch the Superbowl...we owed it to America. Please keep in mind, though, that kick-off here wasn't until 12:30am. About 10 of us watched it in a bar called Holy Cross (ironic?) We had the entire lower level to ourselves and watched it on a projector screen, pretty cool. Too bad it was in Spanish and THERE WERE NO COMMERCIALS! What a joke. I left after half time because I was so tired, it was painful. 

We started real classes today (it's almost been 2 months since I've done anything school related...yikes.) I've only had one so far: Latin American short stories. I'm not too thrilled about the 8-page paper in Spanish I have to write at the end of the semester, but I've heard the classes aren't too challenging in general. 

Well siesta lunch is soon, so I better head back!