Monday, the Megan birthday celebration continued with dinner at Doner Kabap. This was my first time eating there and I was pretty anxious to discover what all the fuss was about. Thankfully my caña (small beer) and gyro turned out to be all I could have hoped for and more. I’ve certainly missed eating gyros about 3 times a week back at JMU. After dinner and showers and such, we regrouped at Jacko’s. A few friends we had met at Carnaval de los Toros on Saturday (Edu, Natalio, and Cesar (pronounced Theh-sar)) met us there too. Alex, Colleen, and I really like these guys because they don’t hit on us. It’s so nice to make Spanish friends and work on my speaking abilities. After Jacko’s we let our native Salamantinos show us around, starting at a bar called Daniel’s and then Kandavia. The thing about Kandavia, though, is that no one goes there until 4am, so as soon as we walked in I realized what time it was. Let’s just say I got home around the time I used to wake up for high school…on a Monday night. Why, Sarah, why?! I would not recommend this.
Tuesday, I did a little too much shopping (one of my purchases was a wonderful hair straightener though! Yay!), and went to the International Student Bible Study again. This time, it was at Jo’s (our leader’s) house about a 15-minute walk away. Here, we celebrated Crepe Day, and honestly, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Fat Tuesday. We each brought toppings for the crepes and, naturally, I chose to bring nutella. I’m really trying to get better at moving out of my comfort zone and these meetings definitely force me to do so. I met people from Austria, Korea, Germany, Zamora (Spain), and Argentina. What brings us together each week is our love for Spanish/Spain and for the Lord. The states, of course, are filled with an eclectic mixture of people from all over the world. But now, in this group of students in Spain, we are truly all foreign. The girl from Korea is no more foreign than I am. I’m still adjusting to this feeling, as I’ve never viewed myself as such before.
Wednesday, after Short Stories, I came back home, tried to nap, and went for a run in my beloved Parque de Los Jesuitas. When I hopped in the shower, however, I felt like I was going to collapse from fatigue. I laid down for a bit before siesta and for the first time I wasn’t even hungry for my favorite rotisserie chicken and baked apples. Madre was definitely surprised. I went back to bed after lunch and slept until my 5pm class. That 20-minute walk to the University was the shakiest, weakest, most difficult walk I can remember. When I started getting chills in the open-windowed classroom I knew something was definitely wrong. I was freezing in my wool sweater and jacket, where others sat comfortably in t-shirts right by the windows. I came directly home after class, popped in two Aleves, and fell into bed…still freezing. When I woke up two hours later, I was sweating (sorry, gross) and figured my fever had broken, at least for now. Allison and I had sandwiches, salad, green beans (yikes, I still really hate these), and Quesada (good, but still don’t know what this was) for dinner. I have a good amount of reading and such to do, but really haven’t been able to will my mind or body to do anything recently. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow at 6:30, but I’ve heard the health center is kind of a joke. I refuse to be feeling badly in Barcelona this weekend!! Even Spain isn’t so “de puta madre” when you’re sick.
jueves, 26 de febrero de 2009
lunes, 23 de febrero de 2009
"This drink is sweet like you, haw-ney"
After about 20 minutes of deliberation on the bus ride home, Alexandra and I were STILL unable to come up with an appropriate way (or any way at all) in which to begin our blog posts for the weekend. Please don’t judge us for being lame; you haven’t experienced Carnavales. Actually, I’m not sure if Carnvavales are even blog worthy. This event isn’t something one reads about in order to understand, but something one really must see first hand. This having been said, I’ll try, and most likely fail, to accurately explain my Saturday in Ciudad Rodrigo. Donning fairy wings, tiara, and a butterfly wand, I caught an early morning cab to the bus station along with my fellow fairy princesses (Allison and Colleen) and 80’s chic (Alexandra). Despite the slightly embarrassing entrance into the station, seeing no one else in costume, our spirits were high in anticipating the day. Megan, Sarah P., Kelsey, Will, Julian, Danny, and Thomas joined us soon after (but without costumes because they’re not half as fun or cultured as we are). We arrived in the old Roman city, Ciudad Rodrigo, at 10 am and jumped off the bus, anxious to discover what these festivals were actually about. As we followed the crowd up the main road, passing an array of carnival rides to our left, we were soon relieved to notice that we now blended with a variety of others in costume. Before long, we found our way to the main attraction, where an everyday street had been transformed into a sandy bull-fighting arena, surrounded by makeshift wooden stands. Asian people openly took pictures of us as if we were monuments on a sightseeing tour and a drunken man dressed as a rooster proposed to me, all before 10:15 am. This, I thought to myself, is going to be a great day! Everyone congregated in the ring to dance, sing, socialize, and drink (never too early in the day here, I guess). Alex, Colleen, and I quickly made friends with Edu, Natalio (who called me princesa all day…I like him), and several others, many of whom attend La Universidad de Salamanca as well! We ended up spending most of the day with them, forcing me to speak more Spanish than English. So great, even though they said we sounded like Mexicans (better than having an American accent I guess). We helped them with their Spanish and they helped us with our English. I have to say that after feeling extremely foreign and incompetent at the Spanish language on a daily basis, it felt pretty good being able to tease a few Spaniards trying to speak English. Down in the ring, one person in the crowd would start singing a song and immediately everyone else would join in. This happened all day with a seemingly endless plethora of these jovial tunes. In America, we have Yankee Doodle, and…? I only managed to learn the first two lines of one of the songs: “Con el agua, me pongo muy mala. Con el vino, sano yo marido.” I don’t feel the need to translate as it doesn’t make much sense anyways, but apparently it’s a very popular drinking song. What can I say, I’m like a toddler learning and repeating anything I hear the big Spanish kids saying. At 1 pm, the festivities began, starting with the running of the bulls. At this point, we were seated in the stands (still kind of shocked these didn’t collapse beneath us), where we watched people followed by the bulls flood into the ring from the street. Guay. For the next hour or so, the ring was open to anyone daring enough to provoke the bull and run away…not SO daring, if you ask me. However, Julian, Will, and Thomas all felt that they needed to prove their manhood and entered the ring. Pretty entertaining. The entire time I couldn’t help but think, “This would never happen in America!” In the states, they would make everyone sign release forms. And before climbing over the wall and into the arena, people would ask, “Does my insurance cover this? If not, I’m suing!” Personally, I much prefer the Spanish attitude.
Afterwards, we met up with several other members of our JMU group, who had gone of a different bus, and enjoyed our typical huge excursion lunches (thanks, madre!). We really do love our bocs (that's a Spanish abreve for bocadillo, or sandwich).
Afterwards, we met up with several other members of our JMU group, who had gone of a different bus, and enjoyed our typical huge excursion lunches (thanks, madre!). We really do love our bocs (that's a Spanish abreve for bocadillo, or sandwich).
Bull fight at 4:30! Alex, Colleen, our new amigos, and I had spent a little too much time fiesta-ing in the street before realizing that there was literally no more space in the stands! This is reallu saying something too since personal bubbles absolutely do not exist here. But being the stubborn and determined girl that I am, I somehow managed to squeeze my way into the standing section in time to see the first of the four bulls die. Yep, that was just about enough culture for me. As upsetting as it was to see the bull afterwards, the matador’s footwork and the way he twirled his red banner was really beautiful and cool to see. You can’t get much more Spanish than a bullfight!
Next, Colleen, Alex, and I went off on our own for a bit to do some mingling and exploring. It’s a wonderful thing to be a woman in Spain. You feel so beautiful all the time, even at times when you’re not. Never before have I walked down a street where men will look at you and shout, “Hola, guapa!” (Hey, beautiful!) Hehe well if you insist, sir. I give the credit to all my blonde friends with whom I stick very closely. An equally likely explanation for all the attention we received could have been the huge sparkling wings, or the tiaras we were wearing, go figure. I’m so glad we dressed up! Being so obviously American, we also invited shouts of, “Obama!” and “Ha-looo!” Only in Spain would I walk down a street with an open cup of beer, stopping only to see different people filling it up with some of their own drink. Thanks, guys, so kind of you to share. As 7:30pm (the time of our bus home) rolled around, Edu and Natalio tried to convince us to stay until Sunday morning with them. Apparently, the cool thing to do at Carnavales is to stay out all night partying and dancing and then leave in the morning. I wish I had the strength, but like I said, I’m super lame by Spain’s standards. We exchanged numbers, so hopefully we’ll see our friends back home in Sal sometime. It felt so good to get back, shower, change into my pajamas, and eat a big salad with egg, apples, cheese, and tomatoes for dinner (a little random, but delish). Allison and I, always craving a little American TV, watched one of my Seinfeld episodes and went to bed early. BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.
Sunday morning, I met Hannah at Plaza Gabriel y Galan at 11:45 to go to an Evangelical church (probably the only one in all of Sal) near the train station. Another thing I love about Spain: 12pm church services. As soon as we walked in, the greeters gave us each the “double-kiss,” wrote down my name as a newcomer, and welcomed us into a room of about one hundred others. All the pews were facing each other (Jo, the bible study leader was facing us), with the pastor in the center. This is such a perfect illustration of how social and community-based Spaniards are. The pastor gave a brief talk, which was followed by a time of sharing. Various members of the congregation would stand and share a prayer request, praise, or a passage that meant a lot to them, and then suggest a song for us to sing. I was thrilled to recognize a few of these tunes from home and to be singing them with Spanish lyrics. It was a really overwhelming experience to be praising God in a different language with these amazing people in a country I love so much. God is so much bigger than I ever make Him out to be. After this free time of sharing and singing, we took communion and had a baptism. Another thing I loved about this Spanish church was that the children were welcome there in the service. No one cared if a little boy was running down the isle, or a little girl was cooing and pulling her sister’s hair; no one was turning to look, hoping they would hurry outside to “deal with that situation.” Being a newcomer, the pastor called me out by name and publicly welcomed me…kind of embarrassing, but cute at the same time. Super guay. I only wish our group was planned to be in Salamanca more Sundays.
Once home, we enjoyed a siesta lunch of white bean soup, salmon, and of course bread and fruit (what’s this?? A healthy meal!?) No siesta nap for me today, just homework. Later, Allison and I met Thomas at the train station to use the internet. Back home, we had fried cheese empanadas, more salmon, and salad for dinner. We finished off the evening in Plaza G.G. where our group met to usher in Megan’s 21st birthday at midnight, yay!
Next, Colleen, Alex, and I went off on our own for a bit to do some mingling and exploring. It’s a wonderful thing to be a woman in Spain. You feel so beautiful all the time, even at times when you’re not. Never before have I walked down a street where men will look at you and shout, “Hola, guapa!” (Hey, beautiful!) Hehe well if you insist, sir. I give the credit to all my blonde friends with whom I stick very closely. An equally likely explanation for all the attention we received could have been the huge sparkling wings, or the tiaras we were wearing, go figure. I’m so glad we dressed up! Being so obviously American, we also invited shouts of, “Obama!” and “Ha-looo!” Only in Spain would I walk down a street with an open cup of beer, stopping only to see different people filling it up with some of their own drink. Thanks, guys, so kind of you to share. As 7:30pm (the time of our bus home) rolled around, Edu and Natalio tried to convince us to stay until Sunday morning with them. Apparently, the cool thing to do at Carnavales is to stay out all night partying and dancing and then leave in the morning. I wish I had the strength, but like I said, I’m super lame by Spain’s standards. We exchanged numbers, so hopefully we’ll see our friends back home in Sal sometime. It felt so good to get back, shower, change into my pajamas, and eat a big salad with egg, apples, cheese, and tomatoes for dinner (a little random, but delish). Allison and I, always craving a little American TV, watched one of my Seinfeld episodes and went to bed early. BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.
Sunday morning, I met Hannah at Plaza Gabriel y Galan at 11:45 to go to an Evangelical church (probably the only one in all of Sal) near the train station. Another thing I love about Spain: 12pm church services. As soon as we walked in, the greeters gave us each the “double-kiss,” wrote down my name as a newcomer, and welcomed us into a room of about one hundred others. All the pews were facing each other (Jo, the bible study leader was facing us), with the pastor in the center. This is such a perfect illustration of how social and community-based Spaniards are. The pastor gave a brief talk, which was followed by a time of sharing. Various members of the congregation would stand and share a prayer request, praise, or a passage that meant a lot to them, and then suggest a song for us to sing. I was thrilled to recognize a few of these tunes from home and to be singing them with Spanish lyrics. It was a really overwhelming experience to be praising God in a different language with these amazing people in a country I love so much. God is so much bigger than I ever make Him out to be. After this free time of sharing and singing, we took communion and had a baptism. Another thing I loved about this Spanish church was that the children were welcome there in the service. No one cared if a little boy was running down the isle, or a little girl was cooing and pulling her sister’s hair; no one was turning to look, hoping they would hurry outside to “deal with that situation.” Being a newcomer, the pastor called me out by name and publicly welcomed me…kind of embarrassing, but cute at the same time. Super guay. I only wish our group was planned to be in Salamanca more Sundays.
Once home, we enjoyed a siesta lunch of white bean soup, salmon, and of course bread and fruit (what’s this?? A healthy meal!?) No siesta nap for me today, just homework. Later, Allison and I met Thomas at the train station to use the internet. Back home, we had fried cheese empanadas, more salmon, and salad for dinner. We finished off the evening in Plaza G.G. where our group met to usher in Megan’s 21st birthday at midnight, yay!
viernes, 20 de febrero de 2009
My Madre Gossips About Me
Alexandra came over yesterday to hang out for a bit before the movie. I offered her a cup of coffee as I made one for myself, but she was content with chocolate alone. When I returned home from the theater later that night, my madre greeted me with playful punches at my arm, saying how bad mannered I am. "Excuse me, Asencion, but that's rude." She was referring to the one lonely cup of coffee in the sink, as if I hadn't offered one for Alex too. When I saw Alex this morning and told her about it, she already knew. Asencion had already reported to Alex's madre, and Alex's madre to Alex. Sheesh, Spanish women.
My Violinist and His Dog
Last night, our JMU group went to the theater and saw a French film (dubbed in Spanish of course) called Bienvenidos al Norte (Welcome to the North). It was hilarious! And what's more, I felt so gratified that I could actually understand most of the dialogue to know it was supposed to be funny. While my speaking abilities may not have dramatically improved since I've been here, my listening skills undoubtedly have. Afterwards, we all returned to our respective homes. Allison and I enjoyed pizza and salad for dinner. I also enjoyed being super lame (by Spanish standards anyways) and stayed in to do homework and sleep on a Thursday night. I’ve been SO tired lately despite lots of sleep at night and siestas during the day. At least 10 people in our group seem to be sick at any given time so I’m trying to stay well.
Went on my fifth run of the trip yesterday! I discovered this beautiful park about a half a mile from our apartment called Parque de los Jesuitas (Park of the Jesuits, just in case that wasn’t already obvious enough). It’s huge and full of fountains, playgrounds, dirt paths lined with white stone, and of course, plenty of old people. The weather has been perfect the last few days: clear blue skies and in the fifties. Despite receiving some passing remarks from a few grandpas, I think I’ve found my new running spot.
For the past week, people have been dressing up and parading the streets as if it was Halloween and until a couple of days ago I didn’t know why. Tomorrow, several of us are going to Ciudad Rodrigo (about an hour bus ride from Salamanca) to dress up and be a part of these Carnivales. We’ll watch the bulls run and hopefully be able to see the bull fight! We’re so cultured. This afternoon, Allison, Alex, Colleen, and I went searching for costumes, where else other than the Chino Stores. This literally translates as Chinese Store (sounds almost racist, but really just means dollar store). What a jackpot for costume ideas! Alex is dressing up as an 80’s chic, while Colleen, Allison and I are going as fairy princesses. Super guay (very cool).
I went to café del arte today (the one where the bartender yelled at me the first week I was here). It was my first time back since the fiasco and I can’t say I didn’t feel a rush of adrenaline when I walked through that door again. Only after I had already purchased my café con leche, I found out that their WiFi hasn’t been working. Poop. I still consider my visit a victory.
And of course I can’t forget the inspiration for this post: my violinist and his dog. I say “my” violinist because I have recently become a patron of his art. Most mornings on my walk to the University, Calle Toro is filled with the sweet, melancholy sound of his violin. I always know where to find him, and can expect that his precious little mutt is enjoying an early start to his day-long siesta along side his working master. I almost feel like I'm in a movie, clicking my heels on the cobblestone streets of Salamanca, Spain, working my way through the bustling morning crowd, and being serenaded by my violinist. It's so picturesque and probably a little cliche, but one of these days I'm going to snap a black-an-white of this scene.
Went on my fifth run of the trip yesterday! I discovered this beautiful park about a half a mile from our apartment called Parque de los Jesuitas (Park of the Jesuits, just in case that wasn’t already obvious enough). It’s huge and full of fountains, playgrounds, dirt paths lined with white stone, and of course, plenty of old people. The weather has been perfect the last few days: clear blue skies and in the fifties. Despite receiving some passing remarks from a few grandpas, I think I’ve found my new running spot.
For the past week, people have been dressing up and parading the streets as if it was Halloween and until a couple of days ago I didn’t know why. Tomorrow, several of us are going to Ciudad Rodrigo (about an hour bus ride from Salamanca) to dress up and be a part of these Carnivales. We’ll watch the bulls run and hopefully be able to see the bull fight! We’re so cultured. This afternoon, Allison, Alex, Colleen, and I went searching for costumes, where else other than the Chino Stores. This literally translates as Chinese Store (sounds almost racist, but really just means dollar store). What a jackpot for costume ideas! Alex is dressing up as an 80’s chic, while Colleen, Allison and I are going as fairy princesses. Super guay (very cool).
I went to café del arte today (the one where the bartender yelled at me the first week I was here). It was my first time back since the fiasco and I can’t say I didn’t feel a rush of adrenaline when I walked through that door again. Only after I had already purchased my café con leche, I found out that their WiFi hasn’t been working. Poop. I still consider my visit a victory.
And of course I can’t forget the inspiration for this post: my violinist and his dog. I say “my” violinist because I have recently become a patron of his art. Most mornings on my walk to the University, Calle Toro is filled with the sweet, melancholy sound of his violin. I always know where to find him, and can expect that his precious little mutt is enjoying an early start to his day-long siesta along side his working master. I almost feel like I'm in a movie, clicking my heels on the cobblestone streets of Salamanca, Spain, working my way through the bustling morning crowd, and being serenaded by my violinist. It's so picturesque and probably a little cliche, but one of these days I'm going to snap a black-an-white of this scene.
miércoles, 18 de febrero de 2009
Arriba en el Club
In case you were wondering, the siesta chicken was just as amazing as predicted. Madre knows this is our favorite and so two huge legs of chicken were forced upon Allison and I...each. There was more cake too. Why why WHY!!!?? I may need a triple-bypass. Took a short nap after lunch and headed to horrible Intro. to Lit. (I am finally starting to understand him more though). After class, I went to the JMU office to make plans with Colleen, Alex, and Tori for our 3-day weekend in March. After a very stressful 2 hours of planning, we finally found a reasonable bus fare and hostel in San Sebastian. San Seb is in Northern Spain right on the water, and I've heard it's absolutely beautiful. I'm very excited to see some beach even if it probably won't be warm enough yet for sunbathing.
Last night at 8 (aka 8:45/9 Spanish time), Ally, Thomas, Hannah, and I met for a International Bible Study at a cafe near the University (on the same corner as our beloved Irish Rover). Sipping my cafe cortado (coffee with less milk than cafe con leche), I sat at a table with students from France and Wales discussing a passage from Marcos (Mark) in our broken Spanish. Way guay. It was an entirely new adventure as I realized I had never spoken about my faith in Spanish before. Through the huge cafe windows I could see the cobblestone street and the beautiful intricately-carved buildings lining it. And as I spoke with Juan, from France, and Joe, from Wales, I was overcome with the enormity of God, surpassing all language-barriers. With the risk of sounding painfully obvious, He is the same in Spain, in France, in Wales, everywhere, as in the United States. I realized last night how much I've truly missed Cru and Bible Study and everything at JMU that made living a Christian life so easy.
Afterwards, I headed home for a dinner of Spanish Tortilla, salad, and mozzarella cheese (one of my favs fo sho). More cake at dinner too, which I couldn't even force myself to eat, so I shoved my piece in a glass for later (long story). Did some reading for Short Stories, and left to meet some friends for International night at Irish Rover. It was French themed (cause we ALL love the French) and FYI there are NO good French dancing songs...or just good songs in general. Once the DJ discovered that the music choice had significantly decreased the level of fun in the bar, "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga came blasting through the speakers and all was well once again.
Enjoyed my cake-in-a-glass for breakfast before Short Stories this morning at 10. At 12:15, Jesus had arranged an "Intercambio" (exchange) between Spanish University students learning English and us (English students learning Spanish). As cool as this sounds and as beneficial as it would be for both my speaking and relational skills, I really don't like being forced into things. Plus, Colleen tells me I've been super cranky today (and it's not even lunch time yet...yikes). As we walked into the Intercambio, however, we were greeted by only 2 Spanish students who had cared to participate. How sweet, no one wanted to talk to the foreign kids. Colleen, Tori, Emily, and I casually made our way for the door and decided that we'd rather spend the next 30 minutes eating pastries at Cafe Quijote instead.
martes, 17 de febrero de 2009
The Things I Miss from Home
-Friends, Family, My Dog
-Red Pepper Hummus-The Dryer
-My Hair Straightener
-A Real Salad
-Walmart
Yep, that's about it. I think I'll just stay here and my friends and family can come visit:)
Just got out of Spanish Civ. a little bit ago, and it was one of the first days I actually paid attention in class, yikes. Given that I took about 5 pages of notes today when I actually listened to him, I figure I have about 25 pages to catch up on (hope my classmates took good notes!) I guess I'm still adjusting to the idea that I actually have to do work here. My life is so fun and free that I almost don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself in class.
In other news, I went for my fourth run of the trip this morning (that's an average of one per week hahah). I really love the nearby park. It's like a four-leveled maze where old people and families come to walk their dogs. I showered, had breakfast with madre, devotions, and headed to class. Madre usually starts preparing siesta lunch around 10:30am or so and we're always anxious to guess what lunch will be that day. Today, I spotted that rotisserie chicken and baked apples in the oven and I literally gasped out loud and ran to tell Allison. It's THAT good. T minus 20 minutes 'til chicken time.
lunes, 16 de febrero de 2009
Museo del Jamon (aka Valentine's Day Weekend in Madrid!)
Excursion to MADRID Y EL ESCORIAL.
13, 14 y 15 de febrero de 2009
VIERNES 13 de febrero
1. Left Salamanca at 7 .00 a.m.
2. Visited the Museo del Prado at 11.00 a.m. This is probably the most famous art museum in all of Spain. It is home to pieces by Goya, Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Velazquez to name a few. An extremely cool experience, but we were given waaay too much free time. Very quickly, Alexandra and I become tired, hungry, and cranky. I really needed a McDonalds and a play area to regroup.
3. Arrived at the hotel (Meliá Galgos) at 2. This looked like a 4 star hotel from the States, wow so nice. Here, we ate the lunches our madres had made for us. Asencion packed Allison and I (each) a Spanish tortilla on a baguette (essentially a potato carbohydrate-overload sandwich), an entire sleeve of cookies, four pieces of fruit, and a pastry the size of a brick. This woman has a heart of gold.
4. At 4.00 p.m. we visited El Museo Thyssen, which held pieces by Degas, Monet, Kandinsky, and others. I liked this museum a lot better; it was so cool to see familiar paintings up close.
5. Free time until 7.30 p.m. when we met up to go to a show called Mayumana Momentum. This was SUPERguay! It was a group much like stomp. They sang, danced, beat-boxed, played instruments, and created insane beats with just about anything (boxes, bars, even water). I couldn't stop moving in my seat, and then continued to dance and stomp for the next hour and a half after the show.
6. JMU gave us money for dinner afterwards. A number of us went to Vips (pronounced "Beeps") for an upscale Silver Diner dinner.
We came back to the hotel about 12:15 a.m. where I enjoyed a bubble bath WITH JETS. Jeannie (my trip roommate) and I watched a little Spanish TV and went to bed. As I slipped under the starchy white sheets and my head melted into the pillow, I couldn't help but think how incredibly delicious my life is.
SABADO 14 de febrero
1. Breakfast in the hotel at 8.30 a.m. It was even semi-American! Blissful scrambled eggs, yogurt, and cereal, oh how I had missed you all (still no chocolate chip pancakes though, mom).
2. At 9.30 a.m. we left to visit El Palacio Real, which was absolutely beautiful. It was complete with 2,800 rooms, each with its own unique theme: breakfast room, lunch room, coffee room, even clock room (totally necessary).
3. Next, we visited El Centro de Arte Reina Sofía at 1.00 p.m. Here we saw pieces by Salvador Dali, Picasso, Miro, and others. Way cool, but we really weren't given enough time here to look around the massive museum.
4. At 2.30, we enjoyed a private gourmet meal back at the hotel with the entire group. We walked into the dining room to see glass tables ornately set with various bottles of wine and glasses. Jesus had a mini freak-out and had to tell the servers to immediately take all the alcohol away because JMU won't pay for any alchy. I can't say I wouldn't have enjoyed having a glass of wine with Jesus and Professor Don Corbin though, haha.
We started with a caprese salad (with shrimp), which was heavenly. I miss real salads. Next, we had fried duck and baked apples. Then it was tiramisu and cafe con leche for dessert. Did I mention that I ate two small baguettes as well? I never wanted to leave!
5. Finally we got some free time. As tired as I was, I forced myself to explore the city a bit. Several of us girls braved the Madrid metro and got off to see La Plaza Mayor (Salamanca's is better). This having been said, I WAS impressed by the number of things going on there. In Spain, if you dress up/paint your body and stand still for inordinate amounts of time, people will take pictures of you and give you money. That's normal, right?
After being followed by a strange whistling man for several blocks, we walked around La Plaza del Sol, and went to rest in El gran Parque de Retiro. It's huge and full of very openly-affectionate lovers, both hetero- and homosexual. Welcome to Spain. It felt so nice to lay down in the grass for a while (without a jacket, I might add). The weather was perfect...mid-fifties with a clear blue sky. After we enjoyed a breathtakingly beautiful Valentine's Day sunset, we made our way back to the metro and back to the hotel.
Hannah, Angela, Kristina, Jeannie and I visited the local grocery store to get an economical dinner of baguettes, cheese, salami, and fruit for only 3 euros each...de puta madre. We all took crucial after-dinner naps in preparation for the inevitably long evening ahead. Originally, everyone had been super excited about the famous Kapital, a SEVEN-STORY club in Madrid. But as 12:30am rolled around people ended up scattering and going their separate ways. I chose to go with Tori, her friend Mike who is currently studying in Madrid, Alexandra, Colleen, Leah, and Emily. Mike got us into a private party even though we weren't on "the list" (made me feel extremely guay). It was fun, but there were waaaay too many people. I couldn't move, which was a problem because I still hadn't recovered from my dancing fever from the night before. Colleen said she didn't even have room to blink, ha.
Met the only existing Spanish prep, named Carlos. It's really a shame Spanish men think that if you talk with them for more than 30 seconds you want to go home with them. I always forget this. When we left at 3:30, Carlos proceeded to follow Alex, Colleen, and I out of the bar, hoping that we'd come dancing with him at a different club. Yikes, had to say a strong ADIOS to 'los.
DOMINGO 15 de febrero
1. Breakfast again in the hotel at 8.15 a.m. I tried to grab a few less pastries this time around, but failed miserably.
2. At 9.15 a.m. we left for El Escorial, a quaint town about an hour outside of Madrid.
3. At 10.30 a.m. we visited El palacio-monasterio de El Escorial. Definitely the most boring part of the trip. I have nothing to say about this place other than that I had at least seven laughing attacks thanks to Alexandra. She had been doing this to me all weekend in every single museum at times when Jesus or the tour guide was talking and it was entirely inappropriate. I hate her.
4. Lunch time at 2.00 p.m.! Sasha, Colleen, and I found a really cute cafe where we ate outside with a beautiful mountain view. Sasha ordered croquetas (fried potato, ham, egg mixture of heaven), Colleen got a plate full of french fries, topped with two fried eggs and bits of ham (wow who thought of this dish!?), while I enjoyed fried sausage on a baguette. This was one of the funniest meals in my life and I wish I could better explain why. We are so foreign and experience more awkward and confusing situations everyday than you could possibly imagine. Sasha spotted a hometown hottie, Colleen found a math textbook model, I noticed the extremely tight pants of our waiter, we were brought small forks with in the bread basket, and once again we couldn't read over half the menu. Did I mention that we didn't even know the name of the city we were in until 20 minutes before we had to leave? What a joke.
5. At 3.30 p.m. we left for Salamanca and arrived back about 6. Felt good to be home:)
Back at the madre's house, we returned to an immaculate room, complete with clean laundry and new pillows (yes!). This was actually pretty embarrassing considering the condition we had left our room in. I have become significantly lazier since being in Spain. Our madre does way too much for us. Allison and I showered, unpacked, and enjoyed a dinner of salad and tuna pastry thing? (actually delicious in a bizarre way). I did a little reading and went to bed early.
This morning, I had my independent study "class" at 10 (the four of us talked for 30 minutes and called it a day). At 11, I had short stories, and headed home for siesta soon after. Siesta lunch was cheesy multi-colored pasta, salty fried chicken with onions, bread, fruit, and Lucia's amazing chocolate truffle birthday cake. After lunch, I unbuttoned my pants, read for lit., took a short siesta nap, and headed back to the University for my last 2 classes of the day.
Not much else to report...are people even still reading this? I wouldn't be.
13, 14 y 15 de febrero de 2009
VIERNES 13 de febrero
1. Left Salamanca at 7 .00 a.m.
2. Visited the Museo del Prado at 11.00 a.m. This is probably the most famous art museum in all of Spain. It is home to pieces by Goya, Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Velazquez to name a few. An extremely cool experience, but we were given waaay too much free time. Very quickly, Alexandra and I become tired, hungry, and cranky. I really needed a McDonalds and a play area to regroup.
3. Arrived at the hotel (Meliá Galgos) at 2. This looked like a 4 star hotel from the States, wow so nice. Here, we ate the lunches our madres had made for us. Asencion packed Allison and I (each) a Spanish tortilla on a baguette (essentially a potato carbohydrate-overload sandwich), an entire sleeve of cookies, four pieces of fruit, and a pastry the size of a brick. This woman has a heart of gold.
4. At 4.00 p.m. we visited El Museo Thyssen, which held pieces by Degas, Monet, Kandinsky, and others. I liked this museum a lot better; it was so cool to see familiar paintings up close.
5. Free time until 7.30 p.m. when we met up to go to a show called Mayumana Momentum. This was SUPERguay! It was a group much like stomp. They sang, danced, beat-boxed, played instruments, and created insane beats with just about anything (boxes, bars, even water). I couldn't stop moving in my seat, and then continued to dance and stomp for the next hour and a half after the show.
6. JMU gave us money for dinner afterwards. A number of us went to Vips (pronounced "Beeps") for an upscale Silver Diner dinner.
We came back to the hotel about 12:15 a.m. where I enjoyed a bubble bath WITH JETS. Jeannie (my trip roommate) and I watched a little Spanish TV and went to bed. As I slipped under the starchy white sheets and my head melted into the pillow, I couldn't help but think how incredibly delicious my life is.
SABADO 14 de febrero
1. Breakfast in the hotel at 8.30 a.m. It was even semi-American! Blissful scrambled eggs, yogurt, and cereal, oh how I had missed you all (still no chocolate chip pancakes though, mom).
2. At 9.30 a.m. we left to visit El Palacio Real, which was absolutely beautiful. It was complete with 2,800 rooms, each with its own unique theme: breakfast room, lunch room, coffee room, even clock room (totally necessary).
3. Next, we visited El Centro de Arte Reina Sofía at 1.00 p.m. Here we saw pieces by Salvador Dali, Picasso, Miro, and others. Way cool, but we really weren't given enough time here to look around the massive museum.
4. At 2.30, we enjoyed a private gourmet meal back at the hotel with the entire group. We walked into the dining room to see glass tables ornately set with various bottles of wine and glasses. Jesus had a mini freak-out and had to tell the servers to immediately take all the alcohol away because JMU won't pay for any alchy. I can't say I wouldn't have enjoyed having a glass of wine with Jesus and Professor Don Corbin though, haha.
We started with a caprese salad (with shrimp), which was heavenly. I miss real salads. Next, we had fried duck and baked apples. Then it was tiramisu and cafe con leche for dessert. Did I mention that I ate two small baguettes as well? I never wanted to leave!
5. Finally we got some free time. As tired as I was, I forced myself to explore the city a bit. Several of us girls braved the Madrid metro and got off to see La Plaza Mayor (Salamanca's is better). This having been said, I WAS impressed by the number of things going on there. In Spain, if you dress up/paint your body and stand still for inordinate amounts of time, people will take pictures of you and give you money. That's normal, right?
After being followed by a strange whistling man for several blocks, we walked around La Plaza del Sol, and went to rest in El gran Parque de Retiro. It's huge and full of very openly-affectionate lovers, both hetero- and homosexual. Welcome to Spain. It felt so nice to lay down in the grass for a while (without a jacket, I might add). The weather was perfect...mid-fifties with a clear blue sky. After we enjoyed a breathtakingly beautiful Valentine's Day sunset, we made our way back to the metro and back to the hotel.
Hannah, Angela, Kristina, Jeannie and I visited the local grocery store to get an economical dinner of baguettes, cheese, salami, and fruit for only 3 euros each...de puta madre. We all took crucial after-dinner naps in preparation for the inevitably long evening ahead. Originally, everyone had been super excited about the famous Kapital, a SEVEN-STORY club in Madrid. But as 12:30am rolled around people ended up scattering and going their separate ways. I chose to go with Tori, her friend Mike who is currently studying in Madrid, Alexandra, Colleen, Leah, and Emily. Mike got us into a private party even though we weren't on "the list" (made me feel extremely guay). It was fun, but there were waaaay too many people. I couldn't move, which was a problem because I still hadn't recovered from my dancing fever from the night before. Colleen said she didn't even have room to blink, ha.
Met the only existing Spanish prep, named Carlos. It's really a shame Spanish men think that if you talk with them for more than 30 seconds you want to go home with them. I always forget this. When we left at 3:30, Carlos proceeded to follow Alex, Colleen, and I out of the bar, hoping that we'd come dancing with him at a different club. Yikes, had to say a strong ADIOS to 'los.
DOMINGO 15 de febrero
1. Breakfast again in the hotel at 8.15 a.m. I tried to grab a few less pastries this time around, but failed miserably.
2. At 9.15 a.m. we left for El Escorial, a quaint town about an hour outside of Madrid.
3. At 10.30 a.m. we visited El palacio-monasterio de El Escorial. Definitely the most boring part of the trip. I have nothing to say about this place other than that I had at least seven laughing attacks thanks to Alexandra. She had been doing this to me all weekend in every single museum at times when Jesus or the tour guide was talking and it was entirely inappropriate. I hate her.
4. Lunch time at 2.00 p.m.! Sasha, Colleen, and I found a really cute cafe where we ate outside with a beautiful mountain view. Sasha ordered croquetas (fried potato, ham, egg mixture of heaven), Colleen got a plate full of french fries, topped with two fried eggs and bits of ham (wow who thought of this dish!?), while I enjoyed fried sausage on a baguette. This was one of the funniest meals in my life and I wish I could better explain why. We are so foreign and experience more awkward and confusing situations everyday than you could possibly imagine. Sasha spotted a hometown hottie, Colleen found a math textbook model, I noticed the extremely tight pants of our waiter, we were brought small forks with in the bread basket, and once again we couldn't read over half the menu. Did I mention that we didn't even know the name of the city we were in until 20 minutes before we had to leave? What a joke.
5. At 3.30 p.m. we left for Salamanca and arrived back about 6. Felt good to be home:)
Back at the madre's house, we returned to an immaculate room, complete with clean laundry and new pillows (yes!). This was actually pretty embarrassing considering the condition we had left our room in. I have become significantly lazier since being in Spain. Our madre does way too much for us. Allison and I showered, unpacked, and enjoyed a dinner of salad and tuna pastry thing? (actually delicious in a bizarre way). I did a little reading and went to bed early.
This morning, I had my independent study "class" at 10 (the four of us talked for 30 minutes and called it a day). At 11, I had short stories, and headed home for siesta soon after. Siesta lunch was cheesy multi-colored pasta, salty fried chicken with onions, bread, fruit, and Lucia's amazing chocolate truffle birthday cake. After lunch, I unbuttoned my pants, read for lit., took a short siesta nap, and headed back to the University for my last 2 classes of the day.
Not much else to report...are people even still reading this? I wouldn't be.
jueves, 12 de febrero de 2009
This is for Jessica and for anyone else who has been confused by the term "siesta." Everyday, from 2-4 everything closes and people go home to have a HUGE lunch and nap. Another indicator that the Spainish truly knows how to live.
I love Thursdays. I slept until 11:30 this morning (that's 12 hours of sleep, folks), did my devotions, some bathroom exercises and showered. Siesta lunch was potato and pork soup, fried chicken, bread, fruit. Today, it was only Luis, Allison, and I at the table (way awkward). He's so cranky and wears the same pair of green slacks everyday. Poor, sweet Asencion has been in bed sick today. Allison and I are going to buy her a Valentine on our way home from classes.
Madrid this weekend! We leave tomorrow at 7am. Expect a long post on Monday :)
miércoles, 11 de febrero de 2009
Just got out of Intro. to Lit. and probably understood about 30% of the entire hour. I hate that class. He speaks so fast and goes on too many tangents. He writes a random word on the board every 10 minutes or so and I copy it into my notebook having no idea what it means. About thirty of these words on one page makes up my notes for each class. Wow.
Yesterday, we had to finalize our schedules so there's a slight change to mine. I dropped Art History and picked up an Independent Study of Literature. Alex, Hannah, and I make up the entire class. Our professor is young and really laid back. We only meet once a week (10am Monday) for less than an hour. All we have to do is read a Spanish novel and write a 10-page paper by the end of the term. De puta madre! While this means that I now have 4 classes on Monday (yuck), this also means that I only have 1 class at 5pm on Thursday, and only 1 class at 1pm on Fridays. Beautiful.
I cannot believe I've been here for a month! It's finally stopped being rainy and cold (at least for a few days) and I am just starting to get the hang of pushing doors to go in and pulling to go out (I've had way too many embarrassing moments with this). I know I'm going to have such a hard time returning to the States since I really feel so at home here. I can honestly say I've never been so happy in all my life.
I went for my third run of the entire trip today and my legs are killing me. Running through the city is so frustrating since there's so much construction going on everywhere right now. Also, it's like Spanish people don't know they're supposed to move to the side of the walkway because they've never seen a runner before (once again, exposing how obviously foreign I am).
We had our first healthy siesta today (this is BIG). All thanks to Allison too, who flat-out asked our madre to make us less meat and more veggies. She's my hero. Today we had salmon, salad, and cooked carrots. YUM. For dessert, madre made us arroz con leche because we had mentioned how much we liked it. She is a precious woman.
After class, Allison and I are going shopping. Rebajas (twice-annual sales) are almost over and Allison always peer pressures me into stores.
Right now, I'm listening to Nena Daconte (new fav Spanish artist) and am wishing American iTunes had even one of her songs for sale. C'mon, USA.
martes, 10 de febrero de 2009
lunes, 9 de febrero de 2009
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!
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!
viernes, 6 de febrero de 2009
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.
martes, 3 de febrero de 2009
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.
lunes, 2 de febrero de 2009
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!
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