What's White And Fluffy? . . . Not Snow

I ate a rabbit. I think. it definitely was not chicken . . .
Little bunny Foo Foo hoppin' through the forrest . . .
. . . got scooped up by Salud's daughter and served to me for dinner. . . :-(
My roommate just told me that our Señora's daughter, Lola, went into the country yesterday to get rabbits, and she came by today to give some to Salud, who doesn't like rabbit. Tonight we had a very salty stew with Carrots, and garbanzo beans, and what I thought was chicken, just differently textured.
My roommate, knowing this did not eat her stew, neither did she tell me, as I slowly trudged through my over-flowing bowl of what I did not know was rabbit stew. Knowing I wasn't hungry, but knowing that Salud would make me eat more, would force bread on me, and then some mushy, garlicky cauliflower that was actually tasty. All to be followed up by some strawberry yoghurt.
You know, now that I think about it, Salud told me she was cooking "conejo". She showed it to me in the frying pan this afternoon and I just didn't think about it. I was thinking about the shrimp in the bowl next to the stove, knowing that I did not want more shrimp, or paella, or muscles, or cualquier marisco that would possibly be served to me.
Since being here I have honestly considered becoming a vegetarian. I haven't entirely missed meat. I wouldn't strictly stick to vegetarianism I would just not eat meat. I wouldn't prepare meat. I won't say no if someone else prepares it, but I'm not going to order it off a restaurant menu.
I talk about food a lot I know. But Ya'll must understand that the focus of my day are meals. I know I have to be home for Lunch at 3 and for dinner at 9. The rest of my day is spent else where doing homework or whatever. But the concrete focal points that are the same Every Single Day are meal times. (apart from breakfast which changes depending on our schedule). It's just easy to talk about because we all have our food habits and I've found the Mediterranean diet to be interesting.

There's this old man that we work with in the Convent, Vincent. he's a nice guy, around 75 years old, probably a little senial. He's been at the local bar/cafe/sea food restaurant, Marisco Emilio's, and he offers to buy us drinks if we'll sit and talk to him for a while. So we've gone (that is me and my roommate who also works with the elderly) a couple times just to chat. The first time was an accident and the times after that have been planned but every time we plan to go he's not there. Like today, he said he would be there at 4, I planned it on Monday night and Dani planned it last night. So we know we both told him 4 on Wednesday. He still wasn't there. So we sat outside of Marisco Emilio's in the great October weather of 80 degrees (75 in the shade) and relaxed. well Dani did, I, on the other hand, was being eaten alive by mosquitos and a random huge ant type thing that had wings and decided to crawl into my flip-flop.
I've already been having problems with mosquitos the last few nights. I wake up at around 2 or 3 only to discover an intense need to itch several places on my arms and then to hear that dreadful buzzing of a mosquito in my ear. Right now I have 3 bites on the right arm and 5 on the left, not to mention the 2 or 3 on my legs. It's not as bad as summer camp but I do not recall one night in any summer where I was wakened by the intense urge to itch my mosquito bites. Apparently this is a-typical. But then again everything is A-typical in Spain, from praying mantises to flooding (which is a straight out lie) and rain (another lie).

Saturday

11 - Octubre - 2008
This is another weekend spent inside. I would like to think I'm recuperating from my cold, I'm resting, I'm getting better so that I can be fully charged in 2 weeks for Italy. But I'm pretty bored now too. It's cold today, and rainy. Yesterday, Dani and I spent most of our day wandering around el Centro going into shoe stores, H&M, Pimkie, (another pretty awesome stores where Dani bought clothes), and I just looked. I wasn't in the mood to shop, I didn't want to buy anything, after all, I just bought some clothes on wednesday, I really didn't need a whole lot more for a while, perhaps a jacket or closed-toed shoes. But I didn't need anymore shirts, or pants, well, maybe something other than jeans. . . Anyway. So we did all that yesterday, plus some cake shopping for Salud's birthday in a week. But today is another day spent inside thanks to the rain; I really wouldn't mind going to a cafe to study, but at the same time I don't want to. I want to leave the house. And no one is answering their phone, and my roommate is of the mind to stay inside and not leave, she's not exactly the cafe type. I miss the Mill, and a Car. I wouldn't even mind taking the bus somewhere, but I haven't figured that out yet, I haven't needed to.
BTW My group won the photo scavenger hunt; we get a free movie and snacks. It has to be a Spanish movie, or at least in Spanish, without subtitles. it won't be a problem.
Creo que ahora yo puedo hablar mejor, yo puedo escuchar mejor, y quisas puedo escribir mejor. Eso es todo que quiero.
I don't want to come home unimproved. I want to be great! I want to be fluent, but I'm not sure that's at all possible in just 4 months. I want to stop speaking English with my roommate, but she makes it difficult because she doesn't have the same conviction, but she does have a Chicago accent so she doesn't pronounce words correctly. (ex. formación is formashion: all c's and z's are transformed into sh's).

I want to be able to tell you all about the places I travel, but I can't, I don't travel here. I want to, but I'm not in that group of people who travel a lot; I can't just jump in with a group that's already planned everything out; moreover, they all go to school with each other. We were predefined. I suppose I'm just saving my money and energy for the 10 days of traveling. plus there'll be more later. I want to go to Granada to see La Alhambra; I want to go back to Toledo just to relax for a weekend or a day; I want to Barcelona, just to go to Barcelona.
My señora has given us her opinion on some of the places I wanted to travel: there's nothing there, you don't need to go (Portugal); it's cold; it's rainy this weekend. . . Etc. Etc. And my roommate doesn't really have anyone to travel with aside from me, she doesn't do much with other people in the class unless she has to; if she doesn't want to do it, we're not doing it. She already had plans to go shopping in Sevilla this weekend over a week ago. She needed Flamenco shoes which she didn't end up buying.

It's hard to believe that in just two weeks I'll be traveling in Italy and when I come back it'll be November, and my birthday (Happy 21st!), then we have just over a month left here.
I signed up for a class called "Actualidad" (which is like current events) and it starts next week. We'll be learning about current economics and politics and perhaps modern art. I'm not too sure what all the classes will be on. But the classes will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-7. Seeing as I already have 18 hours I'm just auditing the class, I really wanted to take it and I'm not sure how the credit will transfer or if it will, but that's ok. It'll be something else to do. I really love learning more about the Spanish culture and history. It seems like there's this big chunk in history that I just don't know. All that we really learned in the US was that at one point in time the country was ruled by Muslim's and then came Aragón & Castilla-Leon and the middle ages and everything was Catholic, there were some inquisitions, then came Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus), (I forgot his name just now, only because all I could remember was his Spanish name "Colon".) His body is here in Sevilla in the Cathedral. and Yes, it's really his body, they did DNA tests to prove it. I really want to go to Mass (Misa) at the Cathedral tomorrow. I have yet to go for a church service but we did get a tour this last week. it's HUGE, 7 naves. normally there are just 3 or 5, but this one has 7. (naves are the rows, there's one big central nave and then there are 3 more on each side separated by rows of Columns).

Toledo

We took a trip to Toledo this weekend; mostly to see the cathedral and some paintings by El Greco. It was Gorgeous! partly because it was a good 20 degrees cooler there than in Sevilla. It was a 6+ hour bus ride north and we had to be at the school by 6:20 on Friday morning. That was tough. I tried to sleep on the trip out, but my sinuses had decided they wanted to destroy me, so I was having trouble. We stopped about 3 hours into the trip so that we could use the bathroom and grab something to eat. Our group has 34 girls (plus the profesoras) so imagine the line that formed outside the 3 stalls of the small and smelly restroom. The men's restroom was not in use (it was the cause of the stench) and I, deciding I didn't want to wait, went to the men's restroom. I searched the stalls for one that would be acceptable and at long last decided on the first one. As I shut the door I heard the outside door open. (of course I had asked the other girls who were waiting to keep an eye out for me and warn me should any man decide to enter). I peak out of my stall just in time to see the bus driver head into a stall and shut the door; I quickly leave and suffer the wait to used the women's restroom only to have all the lights go out on me while I'm getting ready to wash my hands.
Our next stop wouldn't be for another 2.5 hours or so. We were going to visit Mancha (as in Don Quixote of La Mancha) to see the Windmills. During our first stop I had some coffee and bought a bottle of water for my parched throat. (stupid idea). So about an hour into the bus ride, I realized that using a restroom would be a great thing to do in the near future, but I suffer the wait (1.5 hours of having to pee while on a bus is not something I want to repeat). We get to la Mancha, and get up the hill to the Windmills (view pictures). and there is NO restroom. I mean there were some bushes, but that's it. I'm nearly in tears of course because I had to pee so bad. And now, just picture a Hill top with these beautiful old windmills lining the crest, some walls, and then there's really no vegetation, but an amazing view of the country side and no place to hide. not to mention 40 people you know and see on a daily basis plus a bus of asian tourists. Like I said, no place to hide. It was done. . .That is all I will say. . . I thank my friends Kristen and Cyndi for their watchful eyes and careful guard. . .
All this happened before lunch. :-D
So we have another hour bus ride to Toledo. when we get to the city was arrive at our quaint hotel and split off into our rooms. I had a different roommate for a night and she was nice. What was really nice was the warm shower I had later that night.
Anyway, our professors had given us a map and said . .here is where we are, and here is where you need to be by 3:30. and the city is all little streets winding this way and that way and they don't necessarily have names. But I took off and we found our way to the church without a whole lot of trouble. We just kept walking (always uphill). For this reason I love Toledo.
The painting by El Greco was pretty cool it was about the death of the count. You could probably find it on google. It's a burial scene with two saints dressed in Gold. (st. augustine and another I don't remember, though I should seeing as it's for art class, I think it's san sabastian). and then there's this scene in the heavens of the count's soul being let up into heaven. definitely interesting. Tons of symbolism.
After holding up the rest of the tourist groups we moved into the church proper where noone really wanted to go because the main thing to see is the painting. I ended up climbing a tower and having a moment of claustrophobia. It was this tiny stairwell and tons of people going up and down.
After that church we went to a Romanesque Monastery that was absolutely BEAUTIFUL (view pictures). we were there right before a wedding so there were flowers and decorations for the wedding.
The rest of the day was our so we went wandering around looking in sword shops. My roommate, Dani, bought 5 swords. Pretty much insane. After shopping we looked for a good place to get dinner and found this amazing restaurant that was inexpensive and had great service. I got Soup, a good bit of chicken with fries (typical Mediterranean) Flan (that was Amazing and closer to a bread than a custard) a drink and a coffee for about 8 euro. It was probably the best deal I've seen here. The next day was spent touring the main cathedral of Toledo, and then we had the rest of the afternoon free until 3:20 when we had to be back on the bus. I just wandered around the city a bit. I bought a pair of pants, and a scarf. Now these pants aren't just any pants. They're pirate pants. I have found that those puff pants, with the crotch at the knees are really popular here. the pants I got are almost like those but not quite. Someday there will be a picture. Not today.
I ended up getting sick over the weekend too. lIke I said before, my sinuses decided they wanted to destroy me. and they still do. yesterday (saturday) my head felt like a balloon. today hasn't been too bad but I haven't been doing a whole lot aside from sitting around in my pirate pants trying to get better and watching "back to the Future" or "regreso al Futuro" in Spanish, of course. I think I'll be fine by the morning, just a bit more rest and some water and I'll be as good as new.
When we got back yesterday we discovered that our señora was sick too. she just has a cold, but she has had a smoker's cough since before we got here and with a cold she sounds about like she's going to die. I think she's headed to the doctor tomorrow (monday) I just want her to feel better. It's hard enough to understand her when her nose isn't stuffed.
I have decided that some time this semester I want to go back to Toledo. It's that picturesque city on a hill. Beautiful weather, people, and not a whole lot to do but relax.

Some of my posts may sound like I don't like it here. I do. I really do. I just have found it easy to talk about the things I don't like as opposed to those that I do. I like the people, I like the school, I like Siesta, I like the food (even though I wrote about all the strangeness of it). I like the school. I like the language. But like I'm sure all of you know, it's difficult to be away from everything that you know, with people you don't know and won't see again after these 4 months. It's hard to make a real connection with anyone. That's really the only thing that I feel makes this trip difficult. It's stunted. The end come too quickly, but at the same time I want it to come so that I can return to everything comfortable, to my friends, to the life that I had. But I love it here, and like I said, that can be the problem. I resent the fact that it's so short. part of me keeps looking for things to dislike so that I'm ok with leaving when the time comes.

❧Digester's Digest

There should be more of a forewarning concerning the food of Spain. It's really not bad, in fact, I like it a lot. But I would have appreciated a bit of preparation. A night to try the food and to actually experience it instead of just hearing about it. It's easy to think " well yes, so they cook with olive oil, so do I. but it's definitely not how we cook with olive oil. They seriously cook everything in olive oil. Aceite. The staple ingredient in every recipe. Even when they cook their eggs, they cook them in olive oil. I have begun to miss the taste of butter. I really don't like eggs cooked in oil, they don't have a natural flavor. Well not the natural flavor I'm accustomed to: they actually taste like egg. I suppose it might be better if the yolks were fully cooked. And not on top of my broccoli. That would really help.
It's not just the eggs. they eat vegetables cooked with lots of garlic and olive oil. We eat then steamed mostly, as I recall, and sometimes they don't have a whole lot of flavor. but here, the flavor of the vegetables is lost in the flavor of the garlic and oil.
Garlic is also in everything. In the soups in the bread in the veggies. and not like the minced garlic we normally eat or put into soups or saute with our chicken. It's whole cloves or slices and you eat them whole.
Tonight we had a soup with carrots, artichokes, potatoes, beef, and black pepper (not ground, whole). The artichoke was the hardest thing to eat. it's not like we eat them in the US. it was in Soup. And you had to eat them like you normally would, just the meat, but it was IN SOUP.
My señora stuffs me with food, every day, more, more, more. And if I don't eat enough she thinks I'm sick. Which is probably true, or I had a snack between meals. But with meals at 8, 2:30, and 9:30, I know I'm allowed to snack. She love natural food, "no congelado" nothing preserved, nothing frozen. It's tasteless and generally not worth the money; fresh is much better. Most days I get fruit for desert: a pear (pera), or a plumb (ciruela, which I just discovered I've been saying wrong, I've been saying it with a "g" not an "r". O my silly ears.); occasionally an apple, or yoghurt. If she's feeling extra sugary, Salud will give us Flan. She's made it once and purchased it a couple times. I like the purchased stuff better; it's not burnt tasting.
One day I want to cook for Salud; make her some really good pasta, chicken filets, fresh broccoli or green beans. And then some brownies for desert. I have the chocolate and the recipes, I could do it pretty easily, maybe. I'm no too sure how well I could do anything actually, or if I should. Maybe for her birthday. It's Oct. 24. So I'll probably have to celebrate the day before seeing as I'll be headed out to Italy that morning. I'll have to come home with some great authentic Italian recipe books. How amazing would that be. Perhaps a bottle of wine to go along with it.
❊

A Rant and a Rave

The beginning of Fall, the 21st of September. I'm curious as to whether people here really understand fall. They know that it gets cooler; the trees lose their leave, well all but the pine trees and the palms. They don't get that dreary day thing, not like we do in the midwest. They don't have the crisp mornings or the thunderstorms that last all afternoon. At least not normally. what I want is a chilly day, a cup of tea, and a good book. Clearly, I have no Spanish blood in me. For though I loath the winters and love the touch of sun on my skin, I could just as easily give up the continual heat A change once and a while is nice. I really like the seasons of the norther part of the south. they experience it all in good measure and the areas know when they've had enough of one thing or another. Granted they don't seem to care about the humidity (which is another thing I loath), that's constant, even in the winter months. Here they know nothing about freezing rain, snow covered streets. How could they when it doesn't get below 45°.
I know, I'm ranting about things I have no control over. The weather is not a hugely important thing. But you all know that there's something about the fall that is completely missed in a warmer climate.

This past week I had the opportunity to see a Flamenco. Granted, it wasn't the best but it was still pretty interesting. The city was holding "La noche larga de los museos". All the museums and galleries around the city hosted arts events. Everything from Classical groups to Flamenco and modern theater. There was also a wine tasting, but it was incredibly sweet wine. That's definitely an acquired taste that I am not patient enough to acquire. Though I had a blast watching flamenco and traipsing around the city with a group of friends and some random guides from the school (they were pretty cool guys, all local, and all very nice), I destroyed my feet by walking so much in bad shoes. I walked to the school and back at least three times friday. Once to get online during the day (we didn't have school). The next time to meet up with the guides who were going to take us out for Tapas. They then decided that the tapas bar they were going to take us to would be back near where I live. After tapas we decided we wanted to go to one of the museums which was in the Plaza de Americas. Unfortunately the plaza is further away than the school. Then I had to walk back at 2:30 after everything was over. Consequently 2 of my toes do not have skin.

Just another day

I have 20 minutes right now before my literature class starts. I don't have a whole lot to talk about aside form my trip last week to Córdoba (view pictures). We've been studying the Mosque (century VIII-X) in art class so it was amazing to see it all in person and to understand what everything was and what it meant. Like the Conch shells in the Cúpulas signify eternal life because the conch shell signifies life and because it's positioned at the top of the Cúpula (symbolic heaven) it's the unification of life and heaven.. .. or something to that effect.
Today I have a presentation in History class about the economy of the Tenth century Califato of Spain. I just hope I won't freeze up like I have been lately. You see, when I try to speak Spanish my brain stops working, I mean no thoughts what so ever. I forget what I'm talking about and I just give up. Definitely frustrating. Hopefully that will get better with time.
This weekend I don't really have any plans, I would like to go to a church (which I have yet to do). They're all so far away I would have to take a bus to all but 2 of them. There's also this big museum thing on Friday. There will be flamenco presentations and all that fun stuff. I would love to do that. But that would require a lot of walking. . .
I've also been planing for my week of travel. I have decided, along with my friend Kristen, that we'll be traveling through Italy via Train. I'm pretty excited. but the train ticket is a bit expensive. it's good for 2 months of travel within 3 countries, meaning I can go to Paris some time, or somewhere else in France. Anyway, I'm still undecided.
I've been hearing a lot about the economic turmoil in the US. It's kinda frightening to be hearing that the country is finally showing the truth colors of recession but only now that I'm out of the country.
Anyway, almost class time and I've had one too many coffees this morning so I'm a bit jittery and anxious. I should probably cut down on that, huh!

Mostly O.K.

This week in words:

My first, real week in Spain has flown by. I haven't even done all that much. I believe I've already written about my Spanish beach experience last Saturday, if not, well, here's a review.
We got to the beach, spent a couple hours in the sand, then spend a couple hours waiting for the bus. I didn't get burned while on the beach, I got burned on the sidewalk. It was fun none-the-less.
Church on Sunday was none-exsistant, like todays church experience. (because although I'm posting this on a Monday, I'm writing on Sunday because I have a lot more time on my hands, I mean a LOT).
Monday was the first day of classes and we did what every other college does on the first day, we went over the rules and the syllabi. In history we were given a reading assignment. My basic daily schedule is as such:
I wake up at around 7:30 to shower and eat breakfast. My roommate, Dani, and I leave the apartment around 8:30 to walk about 20 minutes to the school. It's not a bad walk, it's actually very relaxing. But eventually the weather will be getting a bit cooler and it might not be so agredable.
my first class, Advanced Spanish Grammar 351, is at 9 a.m. That's probably the best class for me because believe it or not, I'm good at some of this grammar stuff. This week we've been reviewing Objetos Directos & indirectos. which consists of personal pronouns. within the last 2 days we've been reviewing "Gustar" verbs. they can be tricky because they don't reflect the subject, they reflect the object. So if I were to say that, "I like shoes," I wouldn't say, "me gusto zapatos," I would say, "A mi me gustan zapatos." Anyway, I'm sure y'all don't really care about all that. But I'm trying to give you a demonstration of what I'm learning.
Going On. . .
After grammar I don't have class until 11:45 so I've spent my couple hours going over homework or walking around to different coffee shops. My class at 11:45 is Literature. This week has been S. XI Lit. so Mío Cid etc. After that I have Art. In this class we've been learning a billion new words concerning Muslim Mosques. History is my next class; it goes until 2:25 and is probably the most boring. not because I'm not interested in the subject but because it's lunch time, and the room is warm and the professor speaks really quickly and is sometimes difficult to understand.
After class I go back to the apartment for lunch, then I take a nap or do some homework. Depending on the night, I don't do anything or I do. This past week we had noche de chicas on tuesday night. We all met up for a night of smoothies and paddle-boating on the river. Wednesday night was Encuentro, our night of worship.
Anyway, it went really, really fast. Friday night we went out to a club and didn't get back until after 3. (in Spanish culture that's pretty early).
yesterday we didn't do anything because it was raining. I went for a walk though and went to a nearby park it was absolutely beautiful. but like I said, there was rain, so I went to a coffee shop to work on my homework. We were going to go out again last night to another club, but Dani wasn't feeling good and I didn't want to go alone.
Today I haven't done anything. :-D