crank it up!!!

Seriously. Turn your speakers up. All the way up.


So beautiful. My favorite Christmas song and one of my favorite voices. I might listen to this on repeat until New Year's.






Also, I stumbled upon this while searching for the Josh Groban video. It's almost as good.

Thankful

It was really weird being here on Thanksgiving. Mostly because it wasn't actually as weird as I feel like it should have been. As I've mentioned before, I feel like I'm in a time warp or something. It just doesn't seem like the holiday season since I'm away from everything I'm used to. There are Christmas lights up on the streets (although I have yet to see them actually lit up) and some decorations in stores. The weather is colder. I've listened to some Christmas music on my iPod (I love you, Josh Groban.). But I just can't get that holiday feeling.

So I knew it was Thanksgiving, but I didn't feel like it was Thanksgiving. Although turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie did sound delicious, it wasn't like I was absolutely needing it. Since they don't celebrate the holiday here, we of course had school and teaching and every thing else, so they day was just like any other normal day.

After getting home from my last class, I got to skype with the whole family. Mom, dad, brother, sister, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, niece, grandma, John. Lovely! Got to catch up with the fam, see Sierra sing her ABC's, get lots of love from everyone. Again, if I had felt more Thanksgiving-y that probably would have made me more emotional. But it was just nice to talk to everyone all at the same time!

CIEE had organized a big Thanksgiving dinner for us at a big hotel in town. (p.s. just this very second a Christmas song came on my iPod. Again, I love you, Josh Groban.). The event was "invitation only" and you had to have your invitation to get in. Of course everyone from CIEE was invited. But it was a big deal. One day last week our director, Caro, asked me if I was going to wear a dress to the dinner. I thought that was an odd thing and said, uhhh I don't know! She acted all surprised and said, well isn't it an important holiday? I guess....I've never dressed up for Thanksgiving before, but anyone that knows me well knows that I will take any opportunity to dress up. So I told the girls that apparently we were supposed to dress up for this thing! I had bought a little black dress in Lisbon that I hadn't yet had an opportunity to wear, so I decided this would be the perfect time. I worried that maybe that dress was too fancy, but after hearing other CIEE'ers and staff talk about it, I figured it would be just perfect.

Good thing Caro had said something, because it was quite fancy. Suits and ties and pretty dresses. And the random pair of jeans worn by those who hadn't been told that this was a formal thing. Anyway, we all got dressed up (Sarah, Sofie and I) and headed to the hotel. When we got there, there were a LOT of people. Our professors (minus Joaquin :( apparently the University professors weren't invited!) and even the teachers from our school where the 6 of us teach classes were there. All dressed up in their Sunday best! After saying hi to our teachers, we wandered in and took off our coats. Then we found the beer....and the hors d’oeuvres. They weren't really that great, but they were fancy. So we enjoyed it. Then all of a sudden the mob of people started flooding out of the mingle-room. Time for dinner apparently. So we found seats (by our friend Pari, an 18-year-old Canadian gap-year student who we met in Granada) and waited for the deliciousness.

fancy hors d'ouevres

On our way to find a table, we ran into our psychology professor, Frank. I will have to make a post later on all my professors. I love them all. Anyway, Frank is great. He is so funny and fun and smart. I think he'd had a couple of drinks already....he was so excited to see us and kept saying "GUAPAS!!!!!" after giving us besitos (since that may not make any sense, I'll translate. He kept calling us "beautiful" after the traditional cheek-kiss greeting.). After that, we found our table and sat down. Things started off really well. They came by and poured us a glass of wine. And our little waiter guy was adorable and smiley. Then it was time to go get food. Or so we assumed after seeing people flooding out of our area again (how did they know?!?!?!). We went to a buffet line for salad. I'm serious. An entire buffet line of salad. Green salad with garbanzo beans, pickled beets, carrots, corn, other random toppings. And some pasta salad. I got a little pasta salad but not much else. I wanted to save room for the good stuff.

lovely centerpieces.

pasta salad. and a raisin.

I should have got some salad...After eating our salad, and finishing off our glass of wine, we sat around chatting. And waiting for more wine. Which never came. One glass, people?! I needed more than that to get through the rest of the meal. (I may look like an alcoholic...I swear I'm not. Although I have drank more alcohol here in 3 months than I have I think in my entire life). We ate our bread, talked with Pari's 18-year-old guy friends in her gap year program. ("I never would have guessed you were 26! You don't look it!!!" Uhhhhh thanks? Is 26 really supposed to look that old?!?!!?!) Then came the real food. It look okay enough. A giant turkey leg, some mashed potatoes and some veggies (carrots, peas and cauliflower). So there was no stuffing or gravy. That's okay, turkey and mashed potatoes are a good start!

No more wine?! :(

But then I took a bite. Now, it wasn't terrible. I mean, I ate almost all of it. :D But it just wasn't quite right. The turkey was super dry. I'm positive that the mashed potatoes were instant ones. The veggies were like frozen veggies soaked in garlic. But I wanted some turkey and mashed potatoes, gosh darnit, so I ate them. I thought maybe they'd come around with some real Thanksgiving food and be like, "jajajaja (that's how they laugh in Spanish) juuuuuust kidding! Here's the real stuff!" Instead, they brought dessert. And no more wine.

yum...?

Sofie's not too excited about this food...

The one good part of the meal: bread. Note the thumb's up!

Now, I've developed quite a sweet tooth here. So I was excited for dessert. And it was an apple tart-type thing. Which made me even more excited since I love fruity desserts. It was a lovely apply tart on some sort of bright green sauce. Interesting. I took a timid bite. It tasted like what I could only describe as sawdust. There were in fact some shavings of some sort on it that closely resembled sawdust. One of the guys at our table later mentioned that he thought it tasted like pencil shavings, which is definitely more correct. Buuut I still ate it. (What is wrong with me?!?!). Our lovely Frank came over to our table after dessert and asked us how things were. We just said there wasn't enough wine. Apparently that's because all the professors got it. He said, "I got two bottles!!!!! I mean, our table did..." haaaahhahahah suuuure Frank. He told us to come over to his table if we wanted more. But we mostly were ready to leave. So we said goodbye to everyone and headed home.

Apple tart with a side of pencil shavings.

I am very grateful for CIEE putting this together for us. It was a wonderful thought and I'm sure took a lot of work to put together. And it really was fun. We got to mingle and talk and see everyone all dressed fancy. And I have so many other things to be Thankful for that I couldn't really complain. Here are some of those things: my amazing family, my health, the health of my loved ones (especially grateful for how well momma is doing!), my wonderful friends at home and here in Spain, the opportunities God has given me, including being here in Spain; the random scholarship that showed up in my PSU account; my living situation when I get back; the experiences God has blessed me with, both here and at home; the resources I have been given to be able to do things like study abroad; the love, peace, hope and joy that I have in Christ...so many more. But those are on the top of the list. The list that continues to grow day by day and year by year. Of course not everything is perfect, just like not all meals are perfect. But there's always the churros con chocolate to look forward to in the future :) Thank you Jesus for all you have blessed me with! I am beyond grateful!

food, part 2

So I've eaten some really good food here. The soup/stew/whatever that my señora makes regularly is amazing. Its always some combination of beans (usually garbanzo), mushy veggies and meat-based broth. Its like heaven-mush. She also makes some amazing chicken. I've had some good tapas when we eat out, including patatas bravas (potatoes with some sort of sauce on them), gazpacho, etc.

I've also eaten some weird food here. Mostly the seafood that my señora makes from time to time. Sometimes I have no idea what it is but I eat it anyway. Like the sea-snail things. And the squid eggs that we ate with Gerardo. I've also eaten plenty of mystery meat. Its all amazing, but I have no idea what kind of meat it is or where on the animal it came from.

Then there's the bad stuff. For the first time I said no to trying something at home the other day. It was oysters. Giant ones. I couldn't make myself do it. She also likes to put onions on my salads which I could definitely do without. She also puts pickled beets on my salads. Which is fine, I can eat them when they are sliced so tiny and mixed with other stuff. But the other day she just gave me a plate of giant sliced pickled beets with onions. I couldn't eat it. They taste like dirt.

But all of this is nothing when compared to the soup I was given a week or so ago. I sat down for dinner like usual. And there was a bowl of soup, like usual. With some veggies and bread and yogurt on the side. Again, like usual. Now, normally the soup I get is like some sort of veggie puree. I don't usually know exactly what it is but it is some vegetable-y goodness. This time though, something was off. The soup was a creamy white color with blobs of something tannish. There have been a couple of times where she plops a piece of bread in the soup. I don't know why, but apparently she decides it just needs something else. So whatever, the tan blobs i figured out. I took a timid bite of the white mushy-ness and it wasn't horrible. But it wasn't really that good either. The texture was kind of weird, the flavor was odd, there was soggy bread in it...After another tiny bite or two, she said, "Do you like the soup?" I was like, "uhh, yeah." She said, "Es sopa de mayonaisa..." I think you can figure out what that translates to. Mayonnaise soup. SERIOUSLY?!?!! If you can imagine combining mayonnaise (which is made with oil, if you didn't know) and like milk or cream or something (which doesn't mix very well with oil), you can imagine the consistency of this soup. Bleh gives me the goosebumps just imagining it. I couldn't eat any more. I ate all the potatoes and green beans. And the whole thing of bread. And the yogurt. And then said, "umm, I wasn't very hungry tonight." So she flushed the mayonnaise soup down the toilet and that was that.

And this is why you shouldn't try to figure out what you're eating.

But then there are times when it turns out just fine. I don't eat out very often here. I love Angeles's cooking and love not having to pay for food. Well, I paid thousands of dollars for this food actually. So I'm taking full advantage of it. But sometimes I want to go eat out and see what the food is like here, besides the food Angeles makes. Well, last Friday we had an opportunity to do just that. We went on a "field trip" with our Teaching Development group. The five us us (minus Charlotte, since she was in Rome. Poor thing.) went to Huelva (about 45 minutes from here) with our professor Jorge and a "teach in Spain" girl, Natalia. Natalia works at this school in Huelva 12 hours a week helping teach English in a variety of classes. We visited the school, observed a class, hung out with some teachers. Then we went to lunch. On CIEE's dime. Natalia had got some recommendations from some of the teachers at the school, so we went to a pretty nice restaurant in Huelva. It was pretty expensive, but hey, we weren't paying....We got some appetizers, the waiter's recommendations. Which consisted of some artichokey-hammy thing. And some sea bass. If you've never had sea bass before, go try it. Immediately. It doesn't even taste like fish. Oh. so. good. Then we all ordered our meals. I ordered some sort of meat. Some things we see commonly on the menu are "solomillo," "lomo," "pluma," and other things I don't remember. I don't know what any of those things are. I think I ordered solomillo if I remember correctly. I didn't really know what it was but I think its sirloin or something. If that exists in pork meat. Whatever, it was amazing. Huelva is known for its seafood, but I didn't feel like getting any fish. So I stuck with the red meat. They brought it out and had me slice into it and tell them if it was done enough. Which it wasn't. I'm pretty sure pork isn't supposed to be pink...or maybe it was beef. I don't know. So anyway, they cooked it some more and brought it back. So worth the wait. It was tender and seasoned perfectly and kind of crispy on the outside. And came with potatoes and peppers. You'd think that was enough. A couple beers, some delicious appetizers, amazing meal. But then there was dessert. They brought us a plate of 4 different kinds of chocolatey desserts. Each one of them was better than the last. Oh but that wasn't it. Next was a shot of basically pure caramel. Our waiter brought us a round of "chupitos"(shots) of some sort of caramelly alcohol. Not exactly sure what it was, but it was so sweet and syrupy and alcoholy....After 2 beers and a shot, I was feeling pretty good. At 3pm. But then our professor decided another shot was in order. Sooooo he ordered another round. Love Spain. So then we all stumbled back to the bus and came back to Sevilla. One of the best meals I've had in Spain!

So, you've seen some of the good, the bad and the ugly that I've had here. I'm sure this won't be my last post about food. I do wish I had some photos to add to this. But usually I'm so excited to eat that I can't wait and take photos first before I dig in. Sooo you'll just have to imagine it :)

There are still some things I want to try while I'm here. Including bull tail, everyone says its delicious. And some real paella. Some more jamón ibérico. More tapas. More helado. More tea. Oh tea. I'm in love with it. I will definitely be addicted when I get back and the first thing I want to do is scope out a tea shop to hang out in in Portland. After getting some sushi...

food...

Most of you know that I love food. I've never been a picky eater, which has definitely been a blessing since I've been here. I've tried food I never would have at home. Food I didn't even recognize. But usually I just eat it and don't ask questions. It's better that way. Trust me. Because when you do ask questions..........

Just don't. I'll explain shortly.

First of all, let me tell you about my eating schedule. Every morning when I get up, Angeles hears me rustling around and gets up to make me coffee and toast. She sets the table the night before, setting out dishes and utensils and cereal and fruit. And milk. Yes, you heard correctly. She sets the milk out the night before. Took me a while to get used to. Apparently they don't like cold milk here. So she microwaves my coffee and toasts my toast, sets out the spread for me and then she goes back to bed. I've never been a big breakfast-eater. So cereal, fruit, two pieces of toast and coffee is quite a lot for me. Sometimes I eat it all...sometimes I don't. For some reason, I find it impossible to tell her when I don't like or don't want something. So sometimes I dump the coffee down the sink if I don't want to drink it. Or I take the toast with me and throw it away later if I can't eat it all. Or if the toast is moldy like it has been the last couple of days....

Later on, I get back home for lunch. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have a class that gets over at 3pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays I get back home a little after 2pm. Angeles and her family eat lunch at about 3 every day. So some days I get there just as they are finishing and she hops up to get me a bowl of delicious soup or a plate of fish or whatever is on the menu for the day. Other days, I get there a little before everyone else and she dishes me up immediately. Its always a little awkward when I'm getting done eating just as everyone else gets there. But she thinks that because I have to eat breakfast so early, I must be starving when I get home and incapable of waiting for everyone else to get there for lunch.

After lunch, I usually head in my room for a siesta. Whether this means an actual nap or chatting with family or doing homework, depends on the day. Then its either off to class again or I'm done for the day. Next comes dinner. I'm usually in my room when I hear her rustling about in the kitchen. After a while I hear "Emy, si quieres! La cena!" So I head out to the living room to eat. For dinner, she sets my food out in the living room not the dining room. So we sit there watching telenovelas together while I eat. Then, either when I'm done eating or when the show is over, I head back to my room to work on more homework.

In Spain, they have one of the greatest inventions ever. It is called a "mesa-camilla" or something of the sort. Literally it means "table-bed." This fantastic invention is a basic table, that is covered with thick, long table cloths that fall to the ground. Underneath, you find a heater. That's right, a heater. So you sit at the table, put the tablecloths over your legs, and get nice and toasty warm. Then you eat and you are so happy and full and warm that you fall asleep on the table. Or something like that. Anyway, its a fantastic idea. Everyone should have one.

Well....since this post is already long enough, and there is so much more food-related information to share, I'm going to call it good for now. Look for a "food, part 2" post. Complete with why you shouldn't ask what you're eating.

XWAKÍN

Due to a request from grandma, here's an update on my teaching experience thus far! :)

So I've had two weeks of actual "teaching" so far, two times in each of my two classes. The teachers that I work with are so sweet and encouraging and they are fantastic teachers. And of course I love all of my students. There are the trouble makers, the cryers, the quiet ones, the loud ones...and I love them all equally!

Teaching any class for the first time, or any class at all, is difficult. But when you are teaching in a language that the students don't speak or understand, its nearly impossible. I am trying to come up with fun and creative things for the kids to do. But if it requires any verbal explanation of any sort, it won't work because they just don't get it.

Besides the fact that these kids are four years old and have endless energy, and that they don't want to quit talking long enough to listen, I'm just not that great at "classroom management." I'm not very loud and just always have a hard time getting a class to quiet down and pay attention to me. But I'm not worried, I'll learn my tricks and get it figured out :)

But until that happens....things can be a bit chaotic. Things have gone pretty well overall, although it gets a bit noisy at times. But we mostly just have fun and learn about bees and frogs and flowers.

The first day of teaching, I did an activity where the kids had to put stickers on a flower picture. Well, I probably should have given some more direction with this. After the finished putting the stickers on the paper, they decided they wanted some stickers on their shirts. Then on their faces. Then on the tables and floor and wall...I felt pretty bad when we were all done, both for the parents and for the janitors. There was kind of a mess for both parties to clean up. The next class, I told them the stickers were ONLY for the paper, so things went much smoother. I didn't actually think they would obey but they did really well. Except for the student who hid their extra stickers in their backpack to take home. The teacher called me over laughing while they were playing and showed me the stickers in the student's bag that she had discovered while putting a letter to the parents in it. At least they liked it...?

This past week was a different lesson. I don't have as much freedom in my lesson plans as I had thought I would, as they pretty much want me to stick with the plans in the activity book they use. But I have managed to take the plans and change them a little to make them more fun or easier to follow. On Thursday my professor came and observed my class and gave me some tips to make things even better for the upcoming week. This professor is amazing and is so good with kids and lesson plans. Definitely an amazing resource to have!

The kids seem to be having fun, even if they aren't paying attention to everything! They still get so excited when I get there and it just makes my heart melt! When I get there at their playtime, they are in the play yard with the younger kids (3-year-olds). There are a couple of the 3-year-olds who just run up to me and grab my hand and want besitos (kisses) and just hang around by me. There is one boy who always asks what class I'm going to that day. When I say the teacher's name he always says "nooo!" and tells me to come to his class. So. precious.

My last week of teaching (a short two weeks from now!), one of my classes will be taped. I'm pretty excited. Not because I want to see myself teaching. Or hear myself singing, as I have to do every class (I can't make myself sing very loud. I don't care that they are 4 years old. I don't want to torture them with my voice). But because I want to have a video of these adorable kids so I can remember them all and the fun I had!

My adorable Pablo still just steals my heart. Although the more time I spend in his class, the more I realize what a little trouble-maker he is. I can't blame him as I can't imagine having to sit through class all day every day when you can't hear or understand anything that is happening. Also, I think he's getting mad at me for not paying as much attention to him since I have to teach the class and not just hang out with him. He still loves to sit on my lap and talk to me, but he has started acting out a little more I think to get more attention. There's also still Sandra who tries to climb up my leg when I tell her I'm not going to pick her up right then. And there's Sergio Bautista and Sergio Cuevas, the little trouble-makers in my Thursday class who just want to talk and get extra smiley faces on their workbook pages. There is Nacho who just wants to be rowdy and fight and doesn't listen when he is reprimanded. Claudia who is beautiful and a know-it-all with a major attitude. Complete with head-shaking and everything. Irene who won't talk to the teachers or me and who cries and cries when her name tag has torn a little bit. Jose Joaqín who is such a beautiful little boy and who is sooooooo preppy I can't even believe it. And all the kids who I don't always remember the names of who just want to come sit by me or hold my hand or give me a shy smile. I adore them all.




Oh yeah, regarding the title. I have a class at the university that I absolutely love. It is Spanish Phonetics and Phonology. It sounds boring. And it could be horribly, dreadfully boring. But my professor is amazing and Sofie and I have a major crush on him. In this class we are learning how to transcribe things phonetically. Basically we are learning another language. For example, our professor's name, Joaquín, spelled phonetically, is [||xwakín||]. We decided we are going to embroider something for him with his named spelled phonetically and give it to him before we leave. Not really, but it would be amazing. Anyway, we go around now practicing pronouncing things and spelling things phonetically. The other day while walking to the colegio where we both teach our English classes, we were pronouncing random words out loud to practice. Reading signs, car makes, etc. And the guy walking in front of us looked back to see what the heck we were doing. I told him we were practicing....then we quickly walked away. Awkward!!!!!! Practice makes perfect, right?!?!

Salam Wa Alaikum

Our trip to Morocco started out just like any other. Except for the fact that we had gone out the night before to celebrate my and Charlotte's birthday and that we had to meet at 7.30am. Beside that, we met at the usual meeting spot, hopped on a bus, headed to Algeciras, caught a ferry, arrived in Ceuta, hopped on another bus, went through customs at the border, drove through Ceuta and finally wound up in Tetuan.

We had a busy three days ahead of us based on the schedule they had handed out. I didn't really know what to expect, but was for some reason imagining that Morocco would be somewhat like Egypt. Desert-y, lots of people, hot, camels...I planned to enjoy all the sights and buy lots of cool Moroccan-y stuff.

When we got to Tetuan (where we would be staying each night), we met our guide for the next two days. He got on the bus and our "guide" that had taken us up to this point said, "We have a problem. Our guide Abdul only speaks Arabic and Swahili." He started going off in both languages and nobody had any idea what he was saying. Obviously this was a joke and he also spoke both English and Spanish, which he used interchangeably during our two days with him, often starting a sentence in one language and finishing in another. We loved Abdul, or Michael Douglas, as he said we could call him due to the "strong" resemblance. We also loved his three wives. Although some of us realized he was joking about that much sooner than others.

Our first stop in Tetuan was a school for training locals in the ways of Muslim art. This art is incredible and intricate and beautiful. It can be seen in the mosques all over Morocco, Egypt, etc. Also in many places in Spain, especially the Alhambra in Granada and the Alcázar here in Sevilla. The tiny patterns and shapes that they carve into woodwork, the amazing things they make out of ceramic, the amazing painting they do....it is all just incredible!

Ceramic artwork. I don't even know how they do it!

After a quick look around at all the amazing student's work, we headed for a little walking tour of Tetuan. We walked through some "medinas" or market/neighborhood areas. After seeing stall after stall of all sorts of Moroccan goodness, we headed to a restaurant for lunch. I'm not gonna lie, I considered the fact that Abdul was taking us into a dark side street to murder us. We were winding through narrower and more vacant streets at each turn. But eventually we made it. We had to stop and wait for the locals to finish their prayers before we could walk by the mosque to our destination. All of a sudden a giant crowd of barefooted men rushed past us, stopping every once in a while to put back on their shoes. After the crowd had dispersed, we went into the restaurant.

Now, I wasn't sure what to expect from Moroccan food. But Abdul had told us we would have couscous and soup for lunch. Two of my favorite things. So I was pretty excited. But if I had known the deliciousness that was to come, I would have probably passed out from excitement. First up was soup. I have eaten a lot of really good soup here in Spain, but this soup may have beat them all. It was a simple noodle-y, broth-y, tiny bit spicy soup. So good. Then came some sort of meat on a skewer. Not sure what kind it was, but it was very well-cooked and had all kinds of spices on it that made it deeelicious. Then it was time for the couscous. I've never seen so much couscous before. It was a GIANT platter piled sky-high with couscous, carrots, zucchini, garbanzo beans, cabbage, and I swear a whole chicken buried in there. I could have literally eaten the entire platter. But I held back because next was some fresh delicious mandarin oranges, suuuuuuper sweet mint tea, and an assortment of delicious cookies. I was in food heaven. After watching a belly-dancer and a man who flung fire around, we headed out to explore more of Tetuan.

COUSCOUS.

Tetuan is a big city, full of people. The markets areas that we went to are not visited by many other tourists. They are full of people selling things they have made or are in the process of making (people weaving and sewing right in their little storefront). There are people there buying whatever they need for the day or the week. There are people selling things on the street illegally, without a permit. Then there are cops who come and bust them and start chasing the sellers through the crowd while they are dragging their goods behind them on a tarp. It's really all just quite beautiful, in a very non-traditional sort of way.

Every once in a while while wandering around, Abdul would stop at a buddy's stall and show us some of his goods, explaining what this spice was good for, or what that dye was used for, or who used those garments. And every once in a while, he would be stopped by buddies calling him Michael Douglas and chatting for a bit after the traditional Moroccan handshake-a normal handshake but then they put their right hand over their heart as if to say that the person is in their heart. Love it. After seeing what must have been hundreds of stalls and walking down probably hundreds of little streets, we went to a tannery to see where they tan and process the leather. I was imagining a big factory, but it was basically just some holes in the ground filled with different chemicals. And animal hides hanging all over. From there, we went to a store where they sold all kinds of leather goods as well as many other souvenirs. We spent some time bartering for things (I bought a purse...which I haven't used yet because it smells like a dead animal. Which makes sense as that is what it is made out of...) and then headed for the hotel.

Adbul claims that there are something like 1800 streets in this part of the city. Which would make it incredibly easy to get lost. To never be found again, since there is no way one could communicate in Arabic without having studied the language. (Although fortunately seemingly everyone in Morocco speaks Spanish. It was pretty refreshing to have people resort to Spanish to communicate with us rather than English!). Because of the distinct and horrifying possibility of getting so hopelessly lost, we had what seemed like a hundred "helper-guides." Or security guards. Whatever you want to call them. There were actually only 2 or 3 of them. But they were EVERYWHERE. They were incredible. I kept getting a little bit behind most of the group as there were so many people and I was too polite to push through them or to stop them from getting in front of me. But the second I'd think I was lost (or even if I could see the group right ahead of me), one of the guides (usually Aziz) would be inexplicably right by my side telling me where to go. Or pushing people out of my way. Whatever it took. I eventually pretty much quit worrying about sticking right behind the group because I knew they would be right there to direct me or to beat off anyone who tried to touch/steal from me. (I'm not actually certain they would have done that, but feel like they basically would have done anything to keep us safe and happy).

The streets of Tetuan.

The tannery. And Michael Douglas.

After saying goodbye to our lovely body guards, we headed to the hotel for dinner. Which was kind of gross and consisted of cold fish and cold pasta and cold veggies. But whatever, lunch more than made up for it. After a good night's sleep, we got up early again the next day and headed to Asilah. Asilah is a much smaller town on the coast and is quite beautiful. The buildings are all white and blue, there is a beautiful view of the sea, and it is very peaceful. Except for the rude British tour guide who told us to "let my people go first" (which led to a shopkeeper singing "Let my people go" very dramatically!), and the man with the poor monkey on a chain, the city was absolutely lovely. The shops were all adorable and I got some really cool stuff for suuuper cheap.

Pretty Asilah

Next up was lunch (another DELICIOUS meal) and the Hercules Cave. This is a cave on the sea which is quite pretty but nothing too exciting. But then, it was time for camels. Everyone had been so excited the whole time about maybe getting to ride camels-asking if we could stop every time camels were spotted, talking about how that's all they cared about doing...I thought it might be a fun thing to do but wasn't really going to be that disappointed if it didn't happen. But it did happen! There were four camels to ride (and one baby camel), so we all took turns. The highway was on one side of us, which kind of ruined the ambiance, but on the other side was a cliff leading to the sea. So that kind of made up for it. I was in the last group to go, so after watching everyone gallump around on the camels, I hopped on one. My good friend Ali Baba carried me around in a circle while I was giggling and posing for pictures. It was quite windy on top of my friend the camel, but it was a beautiful view (if I looked to the right, anyway) and a fun little ride. Ali Baba then dumped me off (not literally. but almost.) and we hopped back on the bus, which then took us to Tanger.

La Cueva de Hercules.

:)

In my point of view, Tanger was a waste of time. We didn't actually spend much time there anyway, but there really wasn't anything to see. It was basically a tourist trap full of shops with way over-priced stuff that they wouldn't budge on the prices on. So we walked around, had fun joking with the shopkeepers and calling them out on their high prices, but then it was time to go. Back to the hotel it was for dinner (better this time) and bed.

In the morning, we packed our stuff up and headed to Chefchaouen. We were all pretty tired and I was just expecting another city like those we had already seen. But this was the best of both worlds-the small streets and shops like in Tetuan plus the beauty of Asilah. Plus an amazing countryside surrounding the entire city. We had a little historical tour but then it was time to explore on our own. We wandered around through the little side streets searching for treasures to bring back home. A man came up to me and said he'd take me to his shop to show me some pretty rugs and blankets. So me and a couple other girls followed him. But the farther he took us away from where we had been, the more I questioned my wisdom and decision-making skills. I though again that he was perhaps going to lead us to a quite place to murder us. But eventually we made it to his shop. Where he did have some nice blankets and rugs but nothing I really wanted and nothing that I was willing to pay as much as he wanted for. So we left there and kept wandering around. I found a beautiful blanket in a tiny little shop that was blaring pop music. Sofie and I found some cool bags in giant shop that was never-ending. The owner's son kept following us around turning on lights and showing us where the stairs were as we wound our way through all four or five floors of the shop. We found some amazing spices, some tea, some dried fruit, some cookies...whatever you would want, you could find it in this city. After our free time was up, we headed to lunch (yet another scrumptious meal full of mystery meat and tea!) and then it was sadly time to leave. I could have spent three more days in that city finding all kids of fun things. But we had to make it back to Ceuta in time to catch our ferry. And since the highway on the way was lined with people buying and selling sheep for the festival of Eid (each family sacrifices a sheep to honor Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son), they knew the traffic would be slow. After a little snoozing on the bus, some sheep-selling sights, and going through the border again, we made it to the ferry. Then it was heading for home! We made it back at about 11pm, exhausted and smelling like Morocco.

So beautiful.

Village laundromat

Need a sheep?

My favorite thing about traveling is experiencing other cultures and seeing how other people in other lands live. For this reason, I love traveling to places that are drastically different from the culture I am accustomed to. Morocco certainly fit the bill. I loved the overly crowded streets, the call to prayer that is sounded 5 times daily in accordance with Muslim tradition, the smell of spices and animals and people, the super-sweet tea, the language of which I have not even an inkling of understanding, the white-white buildings with blue-blue walls, the dress of the locals, the beautiful handshake, the camels, the small but observable customs and traditions, the warmth of the people, the traditional greeting Salam Wa Alaikum (peace be upon you)...

There are some things about Morocco that I will probably forget after a while. Like the hours spent in a bus that constantly made me carsick, the annoyance at the tourist-ness of Tanger...But then there are the things that I think and hope that I will always remember. The smell (which will probably never come out of some of the things I wore and bought there), the feeling of being so different but so much the same, the incredible food, the conversations with shopkeepers while bartering for their goods...all things that make the difference between a vacation and a cultural experience. There is no point in traveling if all you're looking for is something just like home.

(photos)

26 is the new 21.

Studying abroad (or studying at a University, in general) is not something that a lot of 26 year olds do. Needless to say, I am older than all of the other 20/21-year-old students who are here with me in Spain. So when it came time to celebrate my birthday, I wasn't that enthused. My friend Charlotte, who is also in the teaching development program, also had a birthday on the same day! She was turning 21, which is way more exciting. So when the day came, we had plans to have a big 21-er party. I was just pretending to turn the same age...

Since our trip to Morocco was changed due to a festival where each family kills a sheep (read: a lot of blood and dead animals. Everywhere.), we were set to leave for Morocco at 7:30am on Friday, November 12th. The day after our birthday. 7:30am. That kind of put a damper on wild celebrations. Charlotte wanted to go to a discoteca of some sort at least for a little while, so that was the plan (although that wasn't my first choice, I knew I'd have fun). We planned to go have some pizza, get a drink or two, then go to a discoteca.

I had met up with my intercambio, Ale, the day before and told him that we were planning on celebrating, so I invited him along with us. I also invited Gerardo, our photographer friend, since we hadn't seen him in a couple weeks and we missed him! Charlotte had also invited her intercambio and her intercambio's girlfriend.

The morning of our birthday, we had class...but we wanted a good start to the day so we planned to go out for a quick breakfast. I told Angeles that I wouldn't be eating breakfast at home in the morning since we were going out, and she said, "Oh, are you going to get churros and chocolate?!" Umm, why hadn't I thought of that?! Since the churro places are all kind of far away, we ended up just getting some tea and tostada. I don't know what it is, but the tostada (just plain ole toasted bread) here is delicious. I could eat that bread all day every day.

Anyway, after our gourmet breakfast, we headed to class. From there it was off to teaching! I had my second day of actually teaching my little 4-year-olds. So far its going alright, but I definitely have more learning to do :) Anyway, then it was home for lunch, besitos (kisses) from the whole family to wish me happy birthday, and then off to my last class of the day. After that class, I got home, packed for Morocco, got a little dressed up, and met the gang for a little pre-dinner drinking outside :) We had some bacardi and fanta. Delish (thanks, Tim!). I also got an adorable, super-thoughful gift from the girls, which included chocolate and the word "pedicure!" After getting a little buzz off of the botellón-ing (I'm such a lightweight...), we headed for pizza!

Ale said that he would meet us at the restaurant at 9, and Gerardo said he'd either meet us there or call us after to find out where we were. Charlotte's intercambio and her girlfriend couldn't make it as her intercambio had a test to study for the next day. When we got to the restaurant (a little late, whoops!), Ale was there waiting! We found a table and all sat down. Ale gave me a book of Spanish comics that we had talked about the day before, so sweet! Just as we had got settled in, Gerardo showed up! With gummies for Charlotte and I :) YUM. And with his French friend, who was hilarious and spoke Spanish at about the same level as us. Pretty entertaining! We ordered some beers and pizza and enjoyed the conversation and food! Sarah gave Charlotte and I some yummy chocolate pastry goodness for dessert (although we saved it for the bus ride to Morocco...bad choice for Charlotte's poor purse and wallet...), and after chatting for quite a while and another beer, we headed out. Charlotte was feeling sick and we were all tired, so we decided to skip the discoteca (for which Gerardo and I were a little grateful). Instead, we went to a bar nearby for another beer. The bar was super smoky, but had a fun ambiance. We had a beer, chatted some more, and then went our own ways.

Thanks for all the gifts, everyone!
Not pictured: bacardi and fanta from Tim :)

yummmmmm, chocolatey...

I felt bad for poor Charlotte, who wasn't feeling good anyway, but may have kind of got cheated on her 21st birthday celebration. Although I think Morocco made up for it....

But as for me, it was just about as perfect as it could have been! Minus my family and friends from home :( But I got to hang out with my awesome friends and my two favorite Spanish guys in the whole world. We had some good food, great conversation, and just generally enjoyed the night! I had plenty of lovely birthday messages on facebook when I got home at about 1am, then had to get up at 6 to leave for Morocco! Not only was my birthday day great (except for the fact that I had to go to class on my birthday for the first time in my life. Why doesn't Spain celebrate Veteran's Day, again??), but then I had a fantastic trip to Morocco for the three days following my birthday! What could be better?! (Again, except if my family and friends from home were here with me!!!).

love this.
Gerardo, Vincent, Charlotte, Ale, me!

So what if I turned 26. I've had 5 more years to enjoy life than the rest of my friends here have had:) 26 is still plenty young...right?!



More on Morocco to come soon, I promise!!

OH! Also, I got home from Morocco yesterday to find a birthday present from Angeles on my table in my room. I opened it up and its a necklace. Not just any necklace. You have to see it to appreciate it.

Thank you?

it. is. giant.

Marvelousness in Aracena

After midterm week, catching a nasty cold and feeling miserable, and a busy two days in Granada, it was time to go to Aracena. Another early, busy day was in store. When I woke up, I was almost tempted to just go back to sleep and skip the trip. But my need for travel beat out my need for rest. Soooooo, off to Aracena we went. I didn't really know what to expect, but knew that Aracena was a small town and that we were stopping at the Río Tinto (a river) on the way. We had been to Río Odiel, which is supposed to be similar, so I wasn't too excited about that but figured it would be fun to see. Our first stop was at the Río Tinto Museum...which was basically a bunch of rocks and some water bottled from the river for sale (the water is red, hence the name). The cafe was closed (but fortunately the bathrooms were not...a potty break is greatly appreciated after being on a bus for a while), so we got some hot chocolate from a little machine, which was actually pretty good. We sat around for a while and then it was time to leave. Not a great start to the trip. If this was the start, I was really hoping things would get better.

After the museum (where we picked up our guide), we headed to the mine. We had a short hike uphill to the lookout point. The water was red. I don't know why I was so surprised, but it is really red. We learned a little more about the river (like the fact that the water is actually not red because of pollution from the mine, but has been that way for "millions" of years, before the mining started in that area. And about how it is red because of the microscopic creatures that live in the water and process the mineral deposits in the water. And how about 15 feet down, the water is perfectly clear, it's only red on the top) and gazed at the alien-ness of it. Then it was down to the tunnel....if you've never been in a mining tunnel before...it's scary. Especially after the Chile disaster. They gave us hard hats, locked us in, and took us to the end of the tunnel. Every so often it is reinforced with metal bars and logs. Otherwise its just a good-ole tunnel. We made it to the end (it wasn't really very far...but still spooky) and got an up-close look at the water.







Then it was off to Aracena. The drive from the mine to the town was quite lovely. It was probably about a 45 minute drive full of beautiful green hills and pastures. There are these trees here that just amaze me. From a distance, it's like you're looking at a painting. These trees are just too perfect to be real. You know how when you first learn to draw trees when you are little, you draw a brown trunk and a bright green, round top? That's what these trees look like. It's like a child drew a forest and plunked it on the hills of Andalucía. They are this bright yet pale green color. Perfectly round. Its like a forest of green clouds or something. Sounds weird, but they just fascinate me.

This photo is actually from the hike at Río Odiel...but it's the same trees.
Although they don't look nearly as cool in the photo...

Anyway, after admiring the trees, pigs and cows, we finally arrived in Aracena. This little town is known for it's ham. And they are dang proud of it. (The "iberic ham" in this area is famous because the hogs feed on acorns. So the meat has a distinct taste. I think that's right anyway. That's what I remember hearing and I'm too lazy to research it!) There are a million restaurants all advertising their pork dishes. There are signs and statues referring to and portraying the pride of Aracena. So when we went to get lunch, we of course had to try some. We had bocadillos from our señoras, but you're only in ham-town once, so we ditched the sandwiches (mine was tuna and tomato (yum) on super soggy bread (gross)...not too sad to get rid of it). We found a good restaurant and checked out the menu. I don't really know much about pork or butchering, so I don't know what the parts of the animal are called. So we relied on our paparazzi friends to tell us what we were ordering. Sofie and I ordered "carne con tomate" (pork in a tomatoe/pepper sauce) which was delicious. We also ordered "pluma" which is....some part of the pork. I don't know, but it was AMAZING. So tender and delicious. I think I could have eaten that whole pig it was so good. (If anyone knows what part the "pluma" is, and it turns out to be like intestine or brain or something, please refrain from disclosing that information). We also ordered just plain "jamón" or ham, but they took to long and we didn't get it before we left :(




Our next stop was the "Gruta de Maravillas" or Grotto of...Marvelousness... (I don't know how else to translate that). This is Aracena's main attraction and is basically a giant cave. We walked in with a tour guide and a few other people. No pictures were allowed :( Although some in the group sneakily took some (and got yelled at), I was too chicken to try. Sooo no photos. Which is a shame because let me tell you, this place was incredible.

Walking around in Aracena all day, we had been pretty cold. But the minute we walked into the cave, we started peeling off our scarves and coats as it was drastically warmer than the outside air. As we got farther into the cave, we saw stalagmites and stalactites all around us. There was water dripping down and landing on our hands or faces. The little nooks and crannies inside were filled with little lights which illuminated all the corners of the cave. At one point, when we had traversed a bit farther into the belly of the cave, the colors and lighting changed. It was quite odd. To our right, the ground behind a guardrail had a blue-ish tint to it. I got closer and it looked like it was foggy in that area. There were some hazy areas, but the rest was just blue with white rocks. I looked at it for the longest time trying to figure out what my eyes were seeing. As I was about to move on, I realized that I could see a reflection of something in the blue area. What I was looking at was a pond inside the cave. The water was so perfectly clear that you could see all the way to the bottom and see every rock and speck of dust that was on the floor of the pond. There was some dust floating in a small area on the surface of the water, which had given it the appearance of fog. I didn't want to move! It was so beautiful and pristine and fascinating. This super-clear, amazingly clean, obviously cold, blue water that was covering stalagmites that had formed from drops of water carrying minerals and sediment to the bottom of this pond. It was one of the most beautiful things I think I've ever seen! But then we moved on, to another even bigger pond with the same crystal-clear water. Every once in a while a drop of water would fall into the pond create ripples across it. But other than that it was perfectly peaceful and completely still. I would have given anything to go swimming in it (although I'm sure it was freezing).

After admiring the beauty of this part of the cave, we headed to the "sala de los desnudos." The Naked Room. If you know what a stalactite is and match that with the word "naked," I'm sure you can imagine what this room looked like... I may have bought a postcard that I may or may not send to someone....let's see if they arrest me for sending inappropriate material through the postal system.

After the Naked Room, we were done with our tour of the cave and it was time to head back to Sevilla through the hills covered with child-painted forests, the fat and happy acorn-fed hogs and the happy frolicking cows and sheep. Aracena truly did have a Grotto of Marvelousness, even if that isn't a real word, and its definitely something I will never forget whether or not I have photos to remember it by.

linens

I came home after the busy weekend to find a lovely new addition in my room. Ángeles always hangs up an array of towels on the back of my door for my use during the week. This time, there was something extra. A housecoat. She wears one constantly in the house. Literally, every second she's in the house. And she must have thought I needed one to. It's beautiful. And pink. And smells faintly of old-lady. But I love it. Here's a picture just so you can admire its beauty.



p.s. I promise I'll post soon about Aracena. It was beautiful. I've just been too lazy....it's all the housecoat's fault.

granadas in Granada

Granada is one of the top places most tourists want to visit in Spain. The Alhambra is one of the top sites and I was super-excited to visit it, but we almost didn't get to! Our "interest group" has a trip to Morocco planned. We originally were going to go November 19-21 but this coincides with a religious festival in Morocco where every family kills a sheep (or some sort of animal) and the streets are covered in blood and stench. Sooooo, they moved our trip...to the weekend we were supposed to go to Granada! But our lovely coordinator moved things around for us so we could still go, so that was where we went this weekend.

Our little Teaching Development group usually goes on trips with the Liberal Arts group. Its a huge group with lots of fun people. This time we went with the Language and Society group. A smaller crowd...and not so nice. They were mad that we were "allowed" to join them since that meant they didn't get all get their own seats on the bus. I know this because many of them mentioned it. Loudly. Multiple times. Needless to say, we didn't hang out with any of them. Anyway, enough about them.

When we got on the bus, we noticed that there were two Spanish people who got on with us...with a giant, professional video camera. We thought is was interesting but didn't really pay much attention. Until we got off the bus and they started filming us. They came with us (our little group of 5) on every tour and filmed us pretty much constantly, getting footage to make a "look how great CIEE is!!!!!" video. It was so funny, we felt like celebrities. Actually, more like we were in a reality TV show. Except I don't think we were nearly interesting enough to actually be in a reality TV show. But we had fun with them! And today when they also joined us in Aracena (another post to come shortly), they filmed us a lot. Although today they also filmed some other people. Which is good, because it would be pretty weird to have a commercial about a study abroad program which only consisted of the same 5 students doing different things. Aaanyway, fun times! Hopefully we'll get a copy of the video when they've got it all done :)

Back to the Alhambra/Granada...So on the drive there (about 3 and a half-4 hours), I felt like crap. Dumb cold/sinus infection. But when we got close, the Sierra Nevada mountains came into view. And I forgot about my sickness. So. beautiful. The mountain range had very recently received its first snowfall. So the snow-capped peaks were easy to see. They were surrounded by clouds, and seemed to be floating in the air, as the base of the mountains (not covered in snow) practically blended in to the surroundings. It appeared as if there were snow-capped mountains growing out of the clouds. So amazing.



Then we arrived in Granada. Its a pretty big city and the first thing we saw was a bunch of new car lots-not so endearing. But once we got past that and drove up the windy side streets, we finally arrived at our hotel, situated right next to the Alhambra (literally a 3 minute walk downhill). We checked in, then ate lunch. The hotel has a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was paella, soup, salad, random assortments of meat....all pretty good stuff. After filling up, we headed out to see some sights. We met up with our guide, Alicia, (who had also been our guide in Cádiz and who we had seen at her "real" job working at the tourist information center in Utrera) and of course our two film-buddies, Vicky and Adrian and then headed towards one of the most typical neighborhoods of Granada, Albaycín. It is a cute little neighborhood with white buildings, narrow windy streets, plenty of orange, persimmon and of course "granada" trees (pomegranates). We wandered around a little, found a few beautiful viewpoints of the Alhambra, and then went to the Capilla Real, where the "Reyes Católicos" are buried (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel). Also entombed there are the daugher of the King and Queen and her husband, as well as their infant son. The church is beautiful and the mausoleum is quite impressive. The bodies are stored underneath giant sculptures of their images lying in peace. Besides the mausoleum, the front of the Capilla Real has images of scenes containing Jesus, John the Baptist, and another Saint from the Catholic faith that are quite beautiful.

The Alhambra from afar

Pretty sights of Albaycín

Persimmon, anyone? I picked it myself!

(from the 10th century!!!)

Capilla Real

After the Capilla Real, we headed to a tetería. These are my new favorite things in the world and I'm definitely going to have to find a tea shop in Portland when I get back. Granada has had a huge Muslim influence due to its history and this is still very evident today. The goods that are sold and the food that is eaten has an African/Middle Eastern flare. The same goes for the tea shops. We enjoyed some delicious tea, some amazing desserts (and some more movie-star posing for the camera!) and then wandered around in the little shops where I bought some tea to bring back home with me (now I just need to find a cool teapot like they use here!). Then we found a bus (after trying to get on one going in the wrong direction...good thing I asked before he took off!) and went back to the hotel for dinner-another yummy buffet. The girls wanted to go out, as the nightlife in Granada is supposed to be pretty great. Also, if you buy a beer at a bar in Granada (which is cheap), you get giant servings of a random assortment of tapas for FREE. This is a great deal, and pretty hard to pass up. Unfortunately I could not stop snot from coming out of my nose (sorry, oversharing), so I took some meds (that I had got from the pharmacy...not sure what it is, but he mentioned the fact that it came from Córdoba. Not sure why that was important) and went to sleep. Apparently I didn't miss much.

I woke up the next morning, feeling maybe a little tiny bit better, took a nice long hot shower (YES WATER THAT DOESN'T TURN COLD IMMEDIATELY!!!!) and we headed down for breakfast. Then, it was off to the ALHAMBRA! We had seen the building from a distance many times and had admired it every time, Its a huge building and is quite beautiful. In and of itself, the facade isn't too exciting (except for the fact that it turns red-ish when the sunlight is just right(. But the scenery that surrounds it makes it quite breathtaking; I can definitely see why royalty would want to live there. We made the quick journey to the Alhambra and walked inside.





Now first off, let me tell you that I had really high expectations of this place. I had heard about it and read about it and everyone always says how amazing it is. When you tell someone that you're going to Spain, they ask if you're going to see the Alhambra. It has quite a high reputation. So needless to say, I was really excited to see it! Sometimes having a preconceived notion of something, or having any advance knowledge of it, can be detrimental.

Don't get me wrong! The Alhambra is beautiful. It's huge. It is ornate and has so much history. The use of light and of water features is incredible (and the difference between the "Muslim" water features-low to the ground, soft bubbling water, and the "Christian" water features-giant spurts of water that create deafening splashes, is quite interesting). The intricate designs of the walls and ceilings is just mind-blowing. The legends are fascinating. The garden is peaceful and bright and colorful and aromatic.

And of course photos come nowhere near to capturing all of this. But even all of that wonder just didn't quite live up to my unreachable expectations of what it would be like (or maybe this is just the sinus infection/stuffy head/cough/overall-misery talking). It will of course still be something that I will remember forever and be in awe of. And I wouldn't have missed it for the world. But some things just will never be as great as you made them out to be. Maybe I should apply this epiphany to other areas of my life....but I think I will always keep dreaming and expecting and hoping for the absolute best of everything. Although when I look back on my memories of Granada and the Alhambra, I'm sure I will remember it as living up to my expectations and then some. Sometimes things just have to become a memory before they can truly be appreciated.

(more photos!!)

addicted..

I went back. Again. For the third day in a row. I'm going to end up spending all my money on tea if this keeps up!

Although I have to go back to classes again starting tomorrow, so probably won't have time to go back for a while :) It's just so cute and peaceful and lovely! Today I got hot chocolate. Oh you haven't had hot chocolate until you've tried it at this place. YUM.

We had a little "puente" (literally "bridge"), or break, as there was no classes today due to some holiday. Yeah four-day weekend! Full of studying and sniffly noses as I caught a dumb cold. Oh well, it kept me in most of the weekend which means I got a lot done. But not nearly enough. I have two classes which are requiring a decent amount of studying for the midterms this week. In one class I don't have an exam and in the other I don't need to do as much studying as we've covered everything really well in class (and it deals with rules and logical things which are easy for me to memorize. Unlike the dumb stuff in my psychology and literature classes).

Anyway, that's all the excitement that's going on. I will be dreaming of this hot chocolate every day from now on. I don't have a picture (which is probably good, as I'd drool on my computer every time I saw it), but here's some yummy tea!