Viva Italia!

This week is very busy and will be very fun. Tomorrow is St. Paddy's Day and my friends and I are headed to the Irish bar for some revelry. They also have free tapas there with each drink so it will be great.

Then, Friday morning, I head to Venice to meet up with some friends. From there we go to Florence, Mount Vesuvius/Pompei, and Rome. In Rome, I'll also get to hang out with a friend of a friend who lives there and get to see Rome from his perspective. Very fun! And I can't wait to eat some food that is not Spanish. Bring on the pizza, paninis, pasta, and gelato!

It will also be nice to take a break from class. Our teacher this week and last isn't very effective when it comes to grammar instruction. She's killing our spirits. So, it will be nice to have a break from that.

Best of luck to those who are attempting to negotiate a bargaining agreement today with my former employer!

Sevilla

March 13, 2011 1:02 PM local time

Yesterday, my friends from class, Ida and Adam, and I went to Sevilla on an excursion arranged by a company who does such things for our school and other language schools. In addition to adults from local language schools, there were 18 eighth graders from North Carolina who are in Granada on Spring Break. The students go to a language magnet K-8 school. In K-3, they are taught solely in the new language (Spanish, French, German, Chinese, or Japanese). After third grade, they begin having other a few other lessons in English. So the kids on the trip had been studying Spanish since Kindergarten and seemed to know a lot. They, however, still behaved like eighth graders and I think all the adults on the bus were ready to make them walk the 240 kilometers home from Sevilla.

Sevilla was very pretty and we were all wondering if perhaps that’s where we should have studied. It was very large, however, and I’m sure we were seeing the most picturesque parts. We visited the riverfront, Royal Palace, Cathedral, and Plaza of Spain. The Plaza of Spain was definitely the biggest plaza I’ve ever seen and it had a moat in which one could take a boat ride. The palace was extremely large with mostly Islamic decoration (because the Catholic king admired that style) and huge gardens.

When the trip was concluding, Ida and I decided to use the restroom. The only restrooms in our vicinity were similar to porta-potties but were actually small electrical toilet cabins. You had to pay 20 cents for the door to open (it slid open on its own and appeared to be hydraulic or something) and then you could go in and use the facilities. Something was not functioning right with the “Water Closet” as they call it, however, and the door was open but would not take our coins. So, I went first and I pulled the door shut (difficult but not impossible) and did my business. Ida went next. Again, she was able to slide the door shut with some effort. Shortly into doing her business, however, the door began to slowly open and I was unable to pull it shut. It was me versus the electronic door and I lost. Of course, this was not a normal sized door, it was the handicap WC, so the door was 4-5 feet in length. There was poor Ida doing her business with the 5 foot door open and all in the park staring in. I tried to cover the door with my coat but you can imagine how well this worked. Within ten minutes, we were laughing about it so hard that we were crying.

The ironic thing is, Ida and I had just remarked that things had gone pretty smoothly for us today. In the past, we’ve had some problems with cultural barriers such as:

• Having to pay $20 for FREE tapas
• Going to the Mexican restaurant and having to wait 25 minutes after the scheduled opening time for it to open
• Going to the Mexican restaurant 40 minutes after the posted opening time and being told they would open in 5 minutes
• Going to the Mexican restaurant for 1 euro margaritas and being told that 1 euro margaritas were only for supper and not lunch after having waited for them to open
• Going to the Mexican restaurant at supper and being told the 1 euro margaritas were only for original flavor

There have been others but I cannot recall them at this time. Needless to say, Ida and I should never comment that things are going pretty smoothly or one of us will end up having their ass exposed to a park full of people.

This coming Thursday, I will be heading to Italy to meet up with other teachers and students from my previous job. It should be an interesting time. I am most looking forward to sleeping in a bed larger than twin size and taking some very long very hot showers without feeling guilty.

More Observations

March 5, 2011 12:58 local time

Here are a few things I’ve noticed:

Young women here wear pantyhose. They wear flesh colored panty hose and not only with dresses but with shorts. Although I attempt to respect cultural differences, this is just plain weird. I remember wearing panty hose in middle school and around that time, panty hose went out of fashion for all those under 50 or so. I know of no one my age who wears panty hose even in formal occasions, no less with shorts. We wear tights or leggings but shed the binding and discomfort of panty hose ages ago. Perhaps I can bring about a panty hose revolution while I’m here.

The food here is not that flavorful to me. I realize, of course, that food in different countries is different. I expected there to be more vegetables at meals here than what I would normally eat at home. I expected to eat the big meal of the day in the middle of the afternoon. I expected unusual meats and seafood that I would have to politely decline to try. What I did not expect is that the food would not have much flavor. Perhaps my palate has been conditioned by the plethora of salt in American food but I’m just not tasting much when I eat here. Even the junk food snacks don’t have much flavor. After a few months, perhaps my palate will grow accustomed to this and I will begin to taste more variety in this food.

Siestas are so popular that even the fountains take them. Let me begin by saying that the hours that they keep in Spain are very different than the hours that are typically kept in the US. They stay up much later in the evenings and get up later in the morning. Lunch is between 2 and 4. Most business close around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and reopen around 5 or 6 so that everyone can go home, eat some lunch, and take a siesta. Every time I have discussed the siesta with the Senora or Abuela (Grandma) at my house, their response is always that I must take the siesta. So here, napping is not considered a sign of laziness but rather something that is to be encouraged. Now that, I like. Besides businesses being closed during the siesta and streets generally being empty, I’ve noticed that the fountains (and there are a lot of them) are also turned off at this time.

Spaniards know a lot about the US. When I’ve told people that I was from the US, their first question is always “Which state?” In the beginning, this surprised me. How do the Spaniards know all about our states? I do not know about their regions. As the weeks have passed, the reason for this has become clear. There are a plethora of American television shows on Spanish TV. My teachers have remarked several times about things they thought about the US from TV. The shows are typically dubbed over with Spanish voices although the remote control allows one to push a button to remove the dubbing. Although I haven’t watched much TV yet, some American shows I’ve seen on Spanish TV include:

Friends
All of Nickelodeon including Sponge Bob and iCarly
The entire Disney Channel
All of MTV
Malcolm in the Middle
Twin Peaks
Mad Men
Castle
Scooby Doo
Without a Trace
Criminal Minds
Two and a Half Men
The Simpsons
Family Guy
V (the original series, not the new one)
CSI Miami
CSI New York
CSI (original series in Las Vegas)

Jamón! Jamón! Everywhere!

February 27, 2011 1:01 PM local time

Yesterday, I went with other students from other language schools on an excursion to Las Alpujarras. These are small towns in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Granada. Our guide spoke only in Spanish but I understood most of what he said. I believe he said that these towns were formed when the Muslims were pushed out of/fled Granada. That was the impression I got anyway.

We toured the towns, learned a little about their history and culture, and were able to sample some local fare. In one town, we tried the jamón (salt cured ham) and vino (wine). In another town, we had lunch. I knew my regular lunch would be waiting for me at the apartment when I got back so I went light on the lunch and had a salad. Plus, I was not feeling well from sitting in the back of the van driving on the curviest roads I’ve ever seen. After lunch, we were able to tour a jamóm making facility.

At this facility, there were three types jamóm processed. The Serrano type comes from the back legs of a cerdo blanco (white hog) that is from a large commercial hog feeding facility. It takes them about 8 months to fatten up to the right size. The jamóm of the front legs is referred to as patetillla. The third type is Ibérico, which comes from a cerdo negro (black hog) that is from a small farm and has eaten a steady diet of acorns. These hogs take about 2 years to fatten up and this jamóm is very expensive. The jamóm is cured at a rate of one day per pound in only salt. They are then maintained in facility at low temperatures for times of up to two years. Before being sold, each jamóm is marked with its type and how long it was in the facility. I should mention that this facility is in the highest town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains which helps to keep temperature cool in the building. The top peak of these mountains is at 11,411 feet. For reference, the highest peak in the Rockies is 14,440 feet and in the Smokies is 6643 feet. So, these are some pretty high mountains.

The facility was immaculately clean. You will notice in the pictures that the floors are white marble tile. I’ve noticed there is a lot of marble and other stone used throughout this area. Heck, even the Burger King had white marble columns.

There is also a picture of the ceiling from the restaurant which had about 8 billion jamómes hanging from it. Each had a little cup poked in the end. This is for in the summer months when the jamómes “sweat” grease.

The houses in the Las Alpujarras were old. Really old. Like made-of-stone old. Most were painted white and had roofs made of large stones. On top of these large stones was frequently a smaller gravel. The houses were really piled on top of each other and felt like they could fall off the mountain side at any moment. Most of the houses had a short first floor as this was where the animals were kept when the houses were first built. The people then lived on the second floor. Most streets in these towns were too narrow for cars and many had a mountain and rain water drainage system running down the middle. Many houses and businesses also had beaded curtains hanging in the doorway. This not only blocked the sun but mosquitoes will not pass through them. This is an alternative to a screen door.

The picture with the large stone basins is the old Laundromat. The water would run down from the mountains into the basins and the ladies would launder the clothes in there.

Today is Sunday and I’m planning to just relax and rest up. Tomorrow we do not have school as it is a holiday, the day that celebrates this region of the country. I’m hoping that in the next two days, I can do a little studying, some reading for pleasure, soak up a little sun, and maybe see a movie.

Tapas! Finalmente!

Today I finally tried tapas. Well one tapa to be exact.

Bomi, a girl from Korea who is studying Spanish at my school, asked me if I had gone for tapas yet. I told her I had not yet tried this famous aspect of Granada. She said we must go after class so I could try it. Well, I think that's what she said. My Spanish is not so great yet. (As a side note, Bomi studied English for 12 years in Korea but they only ever read and wrote, no speaking or listening. Thus, she is not able to communicate with me in English very well.) Anyway, after class, around 12:30, we went to a tapas place. I LOVED it. When you order a drink, you get a tapa for free. I ordered a Coke and Bomi had a wine without alcohol. Then, for the tapa, we received a serrano ham sandwich on a bagel with tomato and a side of fries. The cost? 2.20 Euros each or less than $3. Pretty good deal. The fries also had some kind of amazing tasting mayonaisse or aoli on the side. I would definitely like to do this again soon. You really can't beat the price.

Tomorrow, I am headed to Las Alpujarras, a series of small villages in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The trip is an excursion arranged for students of the various language schools in Granada. I'll have to leave to walk to the meeting point around 8 a.m. and I'll get back around 9 p.m.. It should be very interesting and it will be good for me to get out of the city for a while, get some fresh air, and see some other parts of Spain. I've had a few headaches, I think due to the amount of car exhaust. It will do me good to get out of town for a day.

I just checked, and, according to my records, in the last 7 days I have walked for 18 hours and 20 minutes. Wow. I was down two notches on my belt a week ago but I've not gone down anymore since then. I have had a TON of vegetables and fruit which are good and the selection of chips and other junk food here is very weak (also a good thing).

Observations

February 23, 2011 3:43 PM/10:43 PM

Just a few observations I’ve made in the last week and a half:

• · I am of average height here. I am taller than many people. This is a new feeling.
• · Spaniards eat more fruit than Americans, in general.
• · Granada has a staggering number of clothing, shoe, grocery, paper, and book stores as well as cafes, bars, and restaurants which leads me to wonder how challenging it is for businesses to survive in such stiff competition.
• · Everyone I’ve bought something from has been very patient with my Spanish.
• · Wine is very cheap. My friends bought some (tasted good to me) for 1.3 € or $1.78.
• · My meal today was one I’d never had before: rice with tomato sauce spooned on top with a fried egg, a large hot dog looking piece of meat, and fried bananas. I couldn’t eat the bananas. I’ve been saying no to bananas since I was first allowed to, sometime in elementary school.
• · Even though it was 62 degrees here today, many of the locals stayed bundled up in wool coats and scarves (sometimes two scarves). If I’d been at home, I would have been in a swimsuit in the yard. This proves, once again, that temperature can be relative.
• · Junk food update – the Cheetos here don’t have much flavor. They taste like generic cheese puffs. They seem to only have puffy Cheetos and not crunchy Cheetos.
• · There are a plethora of benches but not much grass. I had to really search to find a patch of grass on which to sit, study, and soak up some sun.
• · The chip/snack aisle is only one half of one side of the aisle rather than all the way down both sides.
• · Thus far, in Granada, I’ve seen a Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, (called Dunkin Coffee) and a Domino’s Pizza.

A Little Sun & A Lot of Walking

February 22, 2011 8:53 a.m./3:53 a.m.

The last few days have been pretty busy. Saturday night, I attended the flamenco with some friends from school (they are from Holland, Denmark, and Spain). I liked the music of flamenco but the dancing lady was too over the top and reminded me of my sister’s interpretive dance with the “tree” and the “rock”. It was too dramatic and exaggerated.

I slept in until noon on Saturday and 12:30 on Sunday. I had not gone to bed that late but I guess I was exhausted from all the jet lag. I spent most of Sunday afternoon sitting in the grass in the park studying my Spanish. When the sun was out from behind the clouds, it was pretty warm. When it was behind the clouds, it felt fairly chilly. I found it interesting that it was difficult to locate a patch of grass on which to sit in Granada. There are a plethora of benches in many plazas but grass is hard to come by. Luckily I was able to find a small patch in an area that was not shaded by any buildings. I studied there for several hours and “drank the sun” as they say in Spanish.

Monday, class began at 9 a.m. and finished at 12:30 p.m.. The school had a walk scheduled through the center of the city at 3:00 p.m.. During the time between class and the walk, I had a snack and took a walk around the southern part of the city. I then attended the school’s walk/tour with mi amiga Ida who is from Sweden. After that walk finished, we sat in a large park and did more “drinking of the sun”. We then walked to Spanish Target to get a few things and I returned the apartment of my host family in early evening. All in all, I walked four hours on Monday and all of it in knee high boots with a heels. Ouch. I was so exhausted that, at 8:30 p.m., I was falling asleep while sitting and writing the answers to my homework. That was the first time I’d ever fallen asleep while writing before. I gave up on the homework for the night and just went to sleep.

Today, in addition to regular class, Ida and I also attended an extra lecture on grammar. It was great and cleared up quite a few things. Our teacher, however, distracted me. She was a new teacher and had to be close to 6 feet tall and was a little broad. This is extremely unusual for a Spaniard yet it is our understanding that all of our teachers are from Spain. Women in Spain are not tall like this and not broad. Thus, it was hard to focus on verb usage when I kept trying to figure out where she came from.

After class, Ida and I went to find a café that serves churros with chocolate (for dipping) that was recommended by my dad’s cousin. That was a great recommendation. The churros were very delicious. They tasted similar to elephant ears plus you could dip them in the chocolate. It was a tasty snack but one should not have them often. I think I will call that my supper for the night. All in all, I really didn’t have a long walking day with only 1 hour 45 minutes logged but all of it in comfortable shoes, thank goodness.