Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to say hello again seeing as it's been a while. Not too much has happened since the last time we talked. Still sort of settling myself into Granada. My friend Kayla who I lived with in Italy is planning on visiting next month so I've been working that out with her. Also, I'm planning a big excursion to stay on the coast a while for my break between the two sections that I'm here for. I'll be heading down to Málaga, visiting Ronda (big gorge, castle and whatnot), and Nerja (beautiful beach, caves, blah blah blah), for five whole glorious days. Been getting plenty of sun. My host mom told me the other day that I have legs like a black person, which is apparently okay to say in Spain?
Things with the family are going well. I've been having a lot of fun with them recently. Like the other night my 62-year-old host mom chased her son around the apartment with a wet mop because he jammed her finger in a drawer in the kitchen. And every Wednesday me and the señora watch our shows, one of which is a soap opera called Marichuli or something. The acting of course is phenomenal, but at least the plot is easy enough to follow. And I've been watching quite a few fútbol games, which are surprisingly rather exciting. Aparently the United States has a soccer slash fútbol team that our entire country is unaware of. Either way, we lost to Italy the other night. They actually watch a lot of tv here which surprised me. I always thought of the US as the big tv-watching culture but since a lot of people live in apartments, they eat in the same room where the tv is so literally every meal I've eaten, the tv has been on. My hermano loves Los Simpson so we usually watch that during lunch and then a game show or news during dinner. Last night we watched Predator 2 which believe it or not, is not as good as the original which of course was phenomenal, despite Danny Glover's whole-hearted performance.
I visited Sevilla last Saturday. It was 45 degress Celsius in the sun. Which means nothing to you so I'll elaborate. 45 x 9 = 405 / 5 = 81 + 32 = 113 godforsaken degrees Fahrenheit. And yes, that is the equation that runs through my head every time I see a thermometer. The city itself was enjoyable, but I'm going to opt out on doing any more school-led tours because they're a little rushed and don't really allow for any spontaneity. (I'll have pictures up soon)
Last week was Corpus Christi (not the city in Texas), a huge religious festival. I had three days off from school which was pretty sweet and they have a huge fair here with bullfights and rides and all that good stuff. Unfortunately, I was a little unprepared for the party and didn't even realize it was about to happen until the day before, so no bullfighting, but maybe next time. I did go to the beach again with some friends, and some of their Spanish friends, which was a lot of fun, and I got to speak Spanish the entire day which didn't go as horribly as I would have thought. I'm slowly improving, but faster than I would be in the states taking classes, because it's really helpful to learn a concept in class and then walk outside the classroom and have to apply that concept 2 minutes later.
Tomorrow I'm going to the mountains to do a little horseback riding which should be amusing. And this weekend I'm off to a wine tour at a nearby vineyard, a little closer to what I'm accustomed to. And on Sunday I'll be kayaking and sailing and playing volleyball on the beach. And then I have one more week of classes and exams and the first section is done!
My classes are all enjoyable enough. I've been struggling a lot with the literature class because some of the material is pretty advanced and I can barely grasp an understanding let alone come up with an educated response. My favorite class would have to be my actual language class because my professor is an absolute riot. The first half of the class is usually dedicated to everyday sort of language like how to order something without sounding like a gringo or the difference between 'ser jodido' and 'estar jodido' (that's for you Rich), and then we go over a particular grammar topic. It's a great class because it's helping me to really weed out all of those little inconsistencies and mistakes and all that. We're usually reminded at least seven times a class how English is in fact an inferior language to Spanish.
Well that's all for now folks. I'll be checking back in again soon and uploading some photos. Turns out I didn't lose my free wireless connection at my apartment, it was just turned off last week for all the festivities. Good to go now. Turned my computer on yesterday so it should be ready to go by tomorrow. (Lack of free disk space + hijacked wireless connection + 8,000 degrees = slow as all hell).
Off to have my daily helado (gelato / ice cream but better) and then to the park for a nap before dinner at 9.
Hasta luego,
Jared
P.S. Also, keep me in your thoughts as I will be embarking on one of the most dangerous, potentially soul-shattering adventure ever tomorrow: Getting a haircut when you don't know how to say haircut.
martes, 16 de junio de 2009
jueves, 4 de junio de 2009
miércoles, 3 de junio de 2009
And so it begins...
¡Hola familia!
It's Jared here with your much anticipated first entry. I'm here safe and sound and having a wonderful time. I arrived in Madrid on Friday afternoon, and after lugging my suitcases up and down escalators, sets of stairs, onto metro trains, over old ladies' feet, I finally arrived at the bus station, only to find out that we missed the last bus to Granada. We being me and my friend Sam who is doing the same program. So naturally we went to the information stand to locate a hostel. Interesting that the only information he had was that not only were there no hostels por aquí, there wasn't anywhere we could access the internet either. So we took to the streets figuring a European city as well-travelled as Madrid would have cybercafes and hostels on every corner. We soon found out that this was not the case. Turns out it's pretty hard to reserve a room when you don't know the name of where you want to stay and no one can point anything out to you on a map because you just so happen to be in a part of Madrid that isn't featured on tourist maps. We ended up finding a little old lady (not one I had run over with my suitcase) who gave us a name of a hostel at la Puerta del Sol. So we jumped in a cab and arrived there with no further issues. In fact, we then had over 20 hostels to choose from, all with wireless access. Thank you Madrid for concentrating all your lodging in one square mile of city. The hostel was a little pricey as hostels go, but the guy at the desk fixed my bag that I had been rolling around by a strap I attached to the handle (not good for maneuvering) because the handle had taken upon itself to retract and never release, even after I had made a spectacle of myself, half-perched on top of my American Tourister, yanking on it sword-in-the-stone style.
Granada is beautiful. It kind of reminds me of a more urban Ascoli Piceno. The first night I was here it downpoured, hailed, and thundered and all that. Which was pretty funny considering my señora had told me that it never rains more than a drop. Otherwise it's been about 85 every single day with barely a cloud in the sky. Of course I'm kicking myself in the butt because everyone back at school told me no one wears shorts in Spain. So here I am wearing the same two pairs of shorts over and over while my six pairs of pants sit comfortably in my closet, mocking me.
My señora is a hoot, and so is her son Gabriel. She feeds me a LOT of food. And ever since my first day when I told her that yes, I like tomatoes, I've had an entire one with almost every meal. We eat lots of veggies and colder dishes because its so freakin' hot here. The other night I went out for my first tapas, which I had tried and failed in Madrid. They try to confuse you by having a section in the menu called tapas, which you have to pay for. But if you go to smaller places, not as much restaurants, especially ones where it says Tapas somewhere under their name, you simply buy a drink (only 2 euro for sangria!) and they bring you a plate of food. Then, for your second round, they bring you something different. It's basically the best thing ever because I didn't spend more than 11 euro the entire night and had enough food to be completely full.
I've explored quite a bit in the city. Let me rephrase. I've walked 500 freakin' miles in 3 days and drank enough water to sink an entire country. There are a lot of Arab influences here and the clothes and culture is amazing. Of course my señora keeps reminding me whenever I leave the house with my backpack, that I should wear it on my front so the arabs don't steal things out of it. Charming. The other day she told me I should wear a fannypack. I'm not sure this really needs to be commented but allow me to anyways. Either Granada has yet to emerge from the late 80s / early 90s or she hasn't. (Later realized that it was definitely the entire city itself when I encountered not one, but two brave individuals rollerblading).
In the distance, from almost anywhere in the city, you can see La Sierra Nevada, a huge mountain range, the tallest in the peninsula. My favorite spot in the city is this huge amazing park near my apartment. Filled with flowers, amazing smelling trees, fountains, grassy areas, benches, great views, and of course those endearing feral cats running amock.
Some oddities: It doesn't get completely dark here until at least 10 o'clock. The toilet in the apartment is apparently broken. Therefore paper, yes ALL paper, goes in a little trashbin. I didn't really understand what the señora had said about her son the first day I was here and seeing as he wasn't around, I didn't pursue it. Now he lives here and I just accept his three day absence. (Pretty cool though. A little older than I am, works as a cook and painter, and likes to give his mother a hard time :) ).
Classes started at the beginning of this week and have gone pretty well so far. They're not going to be too intense luckily, they're mostly just interactive sort of learning. I signed up for a bunch of trips with the school. I'll be going on a wine tour, to Sevilla, horseback riding, and kayaking throughout the month. Pretty exciting stuff.
Well, that's all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed it and check facebook later this week for pictures (too much of a pain to post them here). I'll post a link on my blog to see all the pictures once I've uploaded them.
Hasta luego,
Jared
It's Jared here with your much anticipated first entry. I'm here safe and sound and having a wonderful time. I arrived in Madrid on Friday afternoon, and after lugging my suitcases up and down escalators, sets of stairs, onto metro trains, over old ladies' feet, I finally arrived at the bus station, only to find out that we missed the last bus to Granada. We being me and my friend Sam who is doing the same program. So naturally we went to the information stand to locate a hostel. Interesting that the only information he had was that not only were there no hostels por aquí, there wasn't anywhere we could access the internet either. So we took to the streets figuring a European city as well-travelled as Madrid would have cybercafes and hostels on every corner. We soon found out that this was not the case. Turns out it's pretty hard to reserve a room when you don't know the name of where you want to stay and no one can point anything out to you on a map because you just so happen to be in a part of Madrid that isn't featured on tourist maps. We ended up finding a little old lady (not one I had run over with my suitcase) who gave us a name of a hostel at la Puerta del Sol. So we jumped in a cab and arrived there with no further issues. In fact, we then had over 20 hostels to choose from, all with wireless access. Thank you Madrid for concentrating all your lodging in one square mile of city. The hostel was a little pricey as hostels go, but the guy at the desk fixed my bag that I had been rolling around by a strap I attached to the handle (not good for maneuvering) because the handle had taken upon itself to retract and never release, even after I had made a spectacle of myself, half-perched on top of my American Tourister, yanking on it sword-in-the-stone style.
Granada is beautiful. It kind of reminds me of a more urban Ascoli Piceno. The first night I was here it downpoured, hailed, and thundered and all that. Which was pretty funny considering my señora had told me that it never rains more than a drop. Otherwise it's been about 85 every single day with barely a cloud in the sky. Of course I'm kicking myself in the butt because everyone back at school told me no one wears shorts in Spain. So here I am wearing the same two pairs of shorts over and over while my six pairs of pants sit comfortably in my closet, mocking me.
My señora is a hoot, and so is her son Gabriel. She feeds me a LOT of food. And ever since my first day when I told her that yes, I like tomatoes, I've had an entire one with almost every meal. We eat lots of veggies and colder dishes because its so freakin' hot here. The other night I went out for my first tapas, which I had tried and failed in Madrid. They try to confuse you by having a section in the menu called tapas, which you have to pay for. But if you go to smaller places, not as much restaurants, especially ones where it says Tapas somewhere under their name, you simply buy a drink (only 2 euro for sangria!) and they bring you a plate of food. Then, for your second round, they bring you something different. It's basically the best thing ever because I didn't spend more than 11 euro the entire night and had enough food to be completely full.
I've explored quite a bit in the city. Let me rephrase. I've walked 500 freakin' miles in 3 days and drank enough water to sink an entire country. There are a lot of Arab influences here and the clothes and culture is amazing. Of course my señora keeps reminding me whenever I leave the house with my backpack, that I should wear it on my front so the arabs don't steal things out of it. Charming. The other day she told me I should wear a fannypack. I'm not sure this really needs to be commented but allow me to anyways. Either Granada has yet to emerge from the late 80s / early 90s or she hasn't. (Later realized that it was definitely the entire city itself when I encountered not one, but two brave individuals rollerblading).
In the distance, from almost anywhere in the city, you can see La Sierra Nevada, a huge mountain range, the tallest in the peninsula. My favorite spot in the city is this huge amazing park near my apartment. Filled with flowers, amazing smelling trees, fountains, grassy areas, benches, great views, and of course those endearing feral cats running amock.
Some oddities: It doesn't get completely dark here until at least 10 o'clock. The toilet in the apartment is apparently broken. Therefore paper, yes ALL paper, goes in a little trashbin. I didn't really understand what the señora had said about her son the first day I was here and seeing as he wasn't around, I didn't pursue it. Now he lives here and I just accept his three day absence. (Pretty cool though. A little older than I am, works as a cook and painter, and likes to give his mother a hard time :) ).
Classes started at the beginning of this week and have gone pretty well so far. They're not going to be too intense luckily, they're mostly just interactive sort of learning. I signed up for a bunch of trips with the school. I'll be going on a wine tour, to Sevilla, horseback riding, and kayaking throughout the month. Pretty exciting stuff.
Well, that's all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed it and check facebook later this week for pictures (too much of a pain to post them here). I'll post a link on my blog to see all the pictures once I've uploaded them.
Hasta luego,
Jared
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