A Different Kind of Exam Week

This week, classes ended and I want to shed some light on a few of the techniques our group has been executing in preparation for our rapidly approaching final exams.

-First example is last Monday for Lunes de Aguas (literally means Monday of the Waters). This is a distinctly Salamantino holiday where everyone congregates by El Rio Tormes (Tormes River) to picnic with hornazo (essentially a meat pastry), adult beverages, and being that the day also fell on 4/20, you can probably imagine what else. The origins of this holiday, however, are nothing short of rare. During lent, the prostitutes were banned from the city and forced over the bridge into the outskirts of the city. On one of the first Mondays after Easter, they were allowed to return and the entire town picnicked by the river in order to welcome them back. I can only imagine what this scene must have looked like. The hornazo is eaten on Lunes de Aguas because in the traditionally Catholic country of Spain, the people were prohibited to eat any kind of meat during Lent. So naturally when Easter passed they were anxious to feast on pastry sandwiches stuffed with as many varieties of meat as possible. I really have a hard time believing Spaniards have ever gone without obscene consumptions of meat, but anyways. While I was only slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to see any hoes crossing over the river, our entire group enjoyed a lazy day of intense sunshine, weird Spaniards playing devil sticks and creating balloon animals, and drinking only the classiest Mahou 40’s for just a euro-forty each. Exhibit one of exam prep.

-The second example is Wednesday night. Not surprisingly, we didn’t have classes on Thursday as a result of yet another Spanish holiday. Edu had invited Alex, Colleen, and I over to his apartment to pre-game with several of his friends before going out, and we gladly obliged. We reunited with Cesar, Natalio and Chuy in addition to meeting about 8 new friends. This was so fun! We were all sad we hadn’t done this before…and what great practice for our Spanish! As it was approaching 2, I noticed that no one seemed too eager to leave. I turned to Alex and Edu…would we be thinking about leaving soon? Edu just told me to relax, that this was normal. We ended up not leaving the apartment until 3am, ha! We went to 2 bars called Imprenta and Patempki and we forced out of each of these as they were closing. At 7:15am, Alex and I left our Spaniards and decided it was probably time to go home. We walked down the street to hail a cab, enjoying the clear blue sky and the rising sunlight of a new day. Yikes, when in Spain I guess. I was shocked to even still be standing as I plopped into bed around 8am. I had spoken Spanish all night and had been encouraged by various natives at how fluent I have become…the absolute best compliment anyone could give me here.

-Example number 3 was on Thursday when we went horseback riding at Valverde. All the madres and JMU students alike met at Plaza G.G. at 4pm and boarded Tres P’s more fashionable, spacious, and comfortable relative, who we affectionately named “Tres P Plus.” An hour later, we arrived at a beautiful ranch property. All the madres sat down at shaded tables to play cards and gossiped as was probably routine for them after so many years of this same outing. I walked over to ask if I could leave my sweater with my madre while I rode, to which she only replied straight-faced, “Could you leave your money too, I could really use it for this game.” A little confused, I assured her that no, my purse was small and I could put it across my shoulder on the ride. “Hija, es una broma!!” (Daughter, it’s a joke!) Well didn’t all the other madres think this was soo hilarious. Woman, how the heck am I supposed to tell if it’s a joke when you spit out rapid-fire Spanish without any nonverbal hints?!
I was placed in the second of two riding groups, us being far too many to all go at once. As soon as the first group left, we assumed they’d have a second batch of horses ready for us to trail just behind the first. After all, Jesus wouldn’t make us wait an hour and a half (the duration of the ride) for our turn. We waited an hour and a half. No one complained though. After all, we didn’t really mind sipping on coke lights in the brilliant sunshine.
As it turned out, I think we got the better end of the deal anyways being in the second group and all. We rode from about 6:45 to 8:15pm, right before dusk here. The sun permeated the land coming in at a beautiful angle. We passed olive groves, pigs and cows, and could just make out some snow-capped mountains in the distance. Not bad, no doubt another “This is my life” moments. My horse was named Eduna and was a brown wild thing (for trail horses anyway). Come to think of it, we suited each other well and found a lot of common ground. She was extremely competitive, cutting off other horses to fight her way to the front, even trying to get past the leader a number of times. When another horse would try to get in front of us, she’d throw a back leg before they even had the chance to think about passing. She tried to eat chunks of the wooden fence…and succeeded. She had no shame about her pee nor her bowels. She didn’t listen to instruction. It was an adventure all the way. This girl had sass.
We returned to a huge dinner, complete with individual dishes from each madre.
Towards the end of the meal, I noticed Ascencion standing up at her table looking for something. I turned to wave. When we made eye-contact, her face lit up as it does when she entertains guests or when she is delivering a good joke, and she waved back with her big swaying jiggly arm. Almost immediately, she began asking me if I had gotten enough food and if everyone at the table was full. I assured her that we were stuffed and everything was delicious. Before I knew it, she was by my side, asking these same questions to the entire table as if she hadn’t believed a word I’d said just moments before. She looked so concerned. What a woman.
-On the bus ride home, we had a sing-off: madres versus students. They sang Spanish songs for us and we sang English oldies for them. Precious moments. Personally, I would have liked to have done this outing sooner so as to meet all my friends’ madres I’ve heard so much about. But better late than never I guess.
-We got back around 10pm and Escoli and Ascension (arms linked), Alex, Colleen, Allison, and I made the walk home all together. At our door, Escoli invited us to go out for a drink, to which we eagerly obliged. Ascencion didn’t come on account of the pills she takes. I can only imagine this feisty woman after a few glasses of wine, ha. Escoli led us around the corner to a bar called Isma on Portugal, complete with a huge painting of a baby’s head on the wall. Is this really bar-scene material, folks? I ordered a white wine and stuffed a five into Escoli’s bag. She’s old, but she’s quick. She snatched it right back out and proceeded to stuff it down my shirt. Sass obviously runs in the family.

-Example 4 is my lazy Friday. I woke up at 11:45 for my last class at 1pm. I returned home for a delicious siesta lunch. During a longer than usual nap, I dreamt that I was already home in the States, my dad wasn’t happy to see me, and I couldn’t remember anything about my last week in Spain. What a nightmare.
-Waking up, I left to meet with Colleen to go shopping at a nearby strip of international street venders in the front of Plaza Espana. I bought 4 scarves. Allison says I have a problem.
-Next, we met Alex, Leah, Tori, and Emily for ice cream on the Plaza. Another beautiful day, we sat drinking in the deliciousness of the afternoon.
-After a while, Colleen and I left for Café del Arte where we cooled off with some canas (small beers). As I was about to leave, I realized how very long I’d been there with only buying one drink…yikes, would I jeopardize my friendship with my best bartender? Not at all. I sheepishly headed towards the bar to pay and with a big smile on his face, he said, “Que tal, maja?” (What’s up, wonderful?) “Maja” literally means someone who’s smart and pretty and wellrounded, so I took this as a high compliment. Obviously, he didn’t seem to mind my poor café etiquette today. I told him I’d be leaving soon to go back to the US and he made me promise I’d come back to drink something before then. What a precious man.
-We spent the night at Atahualpa, where we enjoyed the all-you-can-drink beer for a euro-eighty. We went home early (around 2:30) and said goodbye to the hualp for probably the last time. It all came full circle though as we reminisced about our first awkward night in Spain coming to this bar. This made me realize how very long it’s been since I left home.

-Now all that remains of my dear Spanish vacation is as follows:
-final paper and 2 exams on Monday (obviously I’ve been super stressed about these)
-last exam on Tuesday
-farewell party with group on Thursday
-home on Friday…wow.