I can’t believe my time in Spain is over. During the last two weeks we tried especially hard to make the most of our remaining time, while also juggling final exams/papers. We accidentally got into an invitation-only transvestite party at a bar, enjoyed a farewell dinner with all of our professors, and, on the last night, returned to the pizza place we found during week 1 as a final tribute to an amazing trimester in Spain.
My boyfriend Sam arrived on Saturday. While the license issue was a bit of a gray area, my host father Alejandro was nice enough to drive me to the airport to pick him up. The language barrier was a bit tough, but Sam’s 20 weeks of Spanish training proved to be at least somewhat helpful. For lunch, they were sure to buy nice beer for Sam (we have never been offered beer) and they whipped out the nice china. We had carne con tomate (my favorite) with potatoes and salad and nice bread. For dessert, strawberries and whipped cream. Alejandro made it quite clear that he was happy to have another man in the house. Sam got along really well with Julia and the Chihuahua/rate Neco.
It was a very sad goodbye. I wrote a note and Rachel and I decided to leave them flowers. We wanted to give them something more, but we felt it would be more personal to get them something from our country. The waterworks were going, thankfully before snapping a few pictures with the family. It was very hard to leave, and they made me promise that I come back for my honeymoon and see them.
Sam and I made our way to a Hotel Alminar which was a great little hotel. We went out for tapas and my favorite place and got some gelato. Sam was exhausted after 19 hours total of travel, so we called it an early night. The next day we walked around the city, by the river and through Parque Maria Luisa, which is the most beautiful park in Seville. We got some more tapas and split a pizza from my favorite pizza place. Sam wanted to check out a discoteca, but unfortunately not much was poppin on Sunday night.
We got up early Monday morning for our flight to Barcelona. We took a cab to our hostel which was then after lovingly referred to as the “craphole.” It really wasn’t that bad, and everything was pretty clean, but I’m probably just trying to justify my own decision to book it. We went to “Los Caracoles” for dinner, which was a great restaurant recommended my fellow Seville-traveler, Nicky. As she promised the food was “unreal” and complete with a personal mariachi band. Sam wanted to go out late that night just to “minimize the time spent in that dungeon.” But the discoteca that was highly recommended to us by fellow union students was closed. So we went back to the “dungeon.”
We spent the next three nights in a four star hotel in Rome, which was a stark contrast from “Barcelona 4 Fun” hostel. Upon claiming our baggage, we went out to the curb to pick up a cab. A man with a clipboard who claimed to be the supervisor said he could get us a cab for a great price: 65 euros. He showed us the cab driver – a man in a leather jacket with no car nearby – and promised we wouldn’t find a better deal. When I whispered “I’m not sure about this” to Sam, he said “What do you think I am? A gypsy?” When I approached a cab driver who was actually in a marked taxi to give me a rate for downtown Rome, he claimed the flat rate was 40 Euros. Meanwhile the “non-gypsies” jogged briskly in the other direction.
We visited the coliseum, the pantheon, the Vatican and a host of other impressive works of architecture. Sam’s housemate challenged us to buy gelato at every third gelateria we passed, but in fear I wouldn’t even fit into my elastic waist pants on the flight home, we lessened the challenge to approximately every fifth gelateria. Italy was beautiful, and probably my favorite place so far.
Our last night was spent in Paris. It was a long travel day, but we made the most of our short time there by visiting the Louvre and going to café angelina – the café Rachel and I visited in our pre-Seville travels. After a cup of hot chocolate as thick as pudding, and a meringue topped with strands of chestnut paste that made me feel like I was eating a Sesame street character, we strolled around Paris a bit, went out for a traditional steak frite dinner and headed back.
Now I’m in the airport, and it is the first time I have seen rain all week. Charles de Gaulle loves searching me, and I have unloaded my bag a total of 5 times now. And now I suppose it’s time to go back to the real world, after 12 weeks I wouldn’t have spent any other way.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Crunch time
Post-Madrid time has been officially labeled “crunch time” as it marks the fact that we only have 2 weeks left. We have been trying to take full advantage of Sevilla. We went tapas hopping earlier this week. Spinach with garbanzos and a fried egg, fried shrimp, patatas bravas, tortilla española, goat cheese with raspberries and chicken wings were all tapas of choice. One of the places we went to has a very friendly owner who is so patient with us, because we are always adding items to out order and staying for hours. There are so many great things on the menu, and we have gone back several times since. They also have great dulce de leche, caramel apple, and chocolate crepes. Mmm!
Also, this week a favorite professor of ours from Union came to visit us. She is looking into alternative schools for the term abroad program and a few of us went out with her to “Horno” – a great Seville bakery. They serve a great palmero –which is a Spanish psaltery shaped like a soft pretzel and covered in chocolate or a sugary egg-cream frosting. Delicious!
This week also marks the end of our friendship with the heater. Even though the temperature has yet to rise, it is officially no longer “estufa” season according to our host mom. I am dreading the day I come home from class and it is no longer next to my bed to warm my feet. I will have to start resorting to placing my feet on my computer charger, which gets pretty warm after a long face-book or essay-writing session. We were also told that we should stop placing orange peels in the trash due to the mold the housekeeper has detected near the shower walls. The theory here is that the orange peels are getting moldy, and that the fungus is spreading to the shower walls. I can’t say I’m a subscriber to this theory – I may have blamed humidity/condensation before orange peel mold, but we’re here for only a few more days, so I’ll stop throwing my fruit peels in the trash.
I’ve also been slowly teaching the three year old English. She has already learned all of her colors in school (except black and white – is this a politically correct anti-racism thing?) and she knows a few words from Dora La Exploradora. I have added to her repertoire the numbers 1-8 and 10 (nine is always neglected), the phrases “hello” and “bye bye” and also “high five” and “I love you.” She is probably better at English than I am at Spanish. She was also singing a song and was frustrated that I didn’t know what song it was. After a long 10 minutes, I finally figured out that “goo maa hing” was “good morning.” The pronunciation is really funny. Also, the 22 year old in the house has studied british English, which I never really considered. But I was so surprised to hear how she pronounced “water” and a few other things. We also met a Seville native last night who lived in Dublin for a few years, and it was so funny to hear a Spanish man with a thick irish accent.
Anyway, I can’t believe there is only one week left! We have some final exams/papers to finish up and then it’s all over! Sam arrives on Saturday, and we’ll be traveling to Barcelona, Rome and Paris. He’s a little nervous for Saturday lunch with the family, but I have confidence that Basic Spanish 2 has been treating him well this trimester, and at the very least he’ll be able to say “Estoy supercontento” and “el nombre de mi perro es caballito” (the name of my dog is little horse), which should give off a decent impression. My host family is very excited to be preparing carne con tomate for him, and is also excited to take “romantic pictures of us on the terrace, hugging and kissing as if we were married.” The latter may be slightly awkward.
It will be a very bittersweet goodbye!
Hasta luego!
Also: we are going to Rayas tonight which is supposed to be the best icecream place in Seville. Interestingly enough, according to my host family, neither the oil of spain nor the icrecream of spain “se engordaria” (will fatten you).
Also, this week a favorite professor of ours from Union came to visit us. She is looking into alternative schools for the term abroad program and a few of us went out with her to “Horno” – a great Seville bakery. They serve a great palmero –which is a Spanish psaltery shaped like a soft pretzel and covered in chocolate or a sugary egg-cream frosting. Delicious!
This week also marks the end of our friendship with the heater. Even though the temperature has yet to rise, it is officially no longer “estufa” season according to our host mom. I am dreading the day I come home from class and it is no longer next to my bed to warm my feet. I will have to start resorting to placing my feet on my computer charger, which gets pretty warm after a long face-book or essay-writing session. We were also told that we should stop placing orange peels in the trash due to the mold the housekeeper has detected near the shower walls. The theory here is that the orange peels are getting moldy, and that the fungus is spreading to the shower walls. I can’t say I’m a subscriber to this theory – I may have blamed humidity/condensation before orange peel mold, but we’re here for only a few more days, so I’ll stop throwing my fruit peels in the trash.
I’ve also been slowly teaching the three year old English. She has already learned all of her colors in school (except black and white – is this a politically correct anti-racism thing?) and she knows a few words from Dora La Exploradora. I have added to her repertoire the numbers 1-8 and 10 (nine is always neglected), the phrases “hello” and “bye bye” and also “high five” and “I love you.” She is probably better at English than I am at Spanish. She was also singing a song and was frustrated that I didn’t know what song it was. After a long 10 minutes, I finally figured out that “goo maa hing” was “good morning.” The pronunciation is really funny. Also, the 22 year old in the house has studied british English, which I never really considered. But I was so surprised to hear how she pronounced “water” and a few other things. We also met a Seville native last night who lived in Dublin for a few years, and it was so funny to hear a Spanish man with a thick irish accent.
Anyway, I can’t believe there is only one week left! We have some final exams/papers to finish up and then it’s all over! Sam arrives on Saturday, and we’ll be traveling to Barcelona, Rome and Paris. He’s a little nervous for Saturday lunch with the family, but I have confidence that Basic Spanish 2 has been treating him well this trimester, and at the very least he’ll be able to say “Estoy supercontento” and “el nombre de mi perro es caballito” (the name of my dog is little horse), which should give off a decent impression. My host family is very excited to be preparing carne con tomate for him, and is also excited to take “romantic pictures of us on the terrace, hugging and kissing as if we were married.” The latter may be slightly awkward.
It will be a very bittersweet goodbye!
Hasta luego!
Also: we are going to Rayas tonight which is supposed to be the best icecream place in Seville. Interestingly enough, according to my host family, neither the oil of spain nor the icrecream of spain “se engordaria” (will fatten you).
Motos and Madrid
Hola!
I can hardly believe it is my last week in Seville. These past nine weeks have really flown by. There is still so much I want to do! I have yet to see a full flamenco dance show and go to the top of the Giralda tower.
Starting from where I left off last time I wrote, I went on a moto! The 18 year old daughter, Blanca, and I went shopping at a mall outside of Seville. We haven’t talked too much, so it was almost like an awkward first date. First, I couldn’t get my helmet on, so she had to put it on for me, then when we got on the moto I didn’t know where to put my hands…. Anyway, the moto was really fun to ride. It was a little scary at first, weaving in and out of the traffic, and especially on the highway. But she was a good driver, and even after the moto broke down on a busy street, after some quick 18-year-old-mechanic skills we were back on the highway within 8 minutes or so. It was cool to be able to talk to her and get to know her a little better, and it was so nice of her to take me.
We went for a long weekend to Madrid and Toledo, which was great. We took the Ave, which is a high speed train, direct from Sevilla to Madrid. Madrid is the New York City of Spain. It is very industrial and they don’t siesta there because most people commute a fair distance to work. Even though it was much less European than Toledo or Sevilla, it was still much prettier and elegant looking than NYC. Upon arriving to Madrid, a few of the girls in the group decided to tour Madrid on foot. We put on our running clothes and plowed through the crowded sidewalks. People in Spain don’t exercise, and when they do, they go to a gym, so we definitely drew a lot of attention to ourselves as obnoxious Americans - especially in a pack of 5. But we were able to see so much of Madrid! Plaza Mayor, some key churches and museums, and a nice park. We also visited the Prado Museum and saw some classic works of art. Frankly, I can’t take more than 15 minutes of pre-18th century religious works, but it was cool to see Goya’s works and learn the stories behind them.
At the hotel we were served a classy 3 course meal. It started off with a bowl that had about 3 tablespoons worth of chopped green unidentifiable vegetables in it. It was decorated elaborately with drizzles of a brown sauce that looked like, but did not taste like, Hershey’s syrup. We ate our green vegetables, of which only one was identifiable (asparagus), and then became extremely confused when the waiters came around to pour the broth into the bowls that were apparently for soup. In broken Spanish, we attempted to explain why there were no longer any vegetables to pour the broth over. FAIL. (Side note: while explaining this story to my host mom, I insisted on calling the bowl “plato ondulado” instead of “plato ondo.” “Plato ondulado” means “wavy plate.” FAIL.) Soup was followed by salmon covered in a light green sauce, served with an oven roasted tomato and oven roasted potatoes. Dessert was a bowl of eggnog with a husk cherry on the side. It was not technically eggnog, but I could not come up with one distinction between the two, minus the husk cherry.
The next day we went to Toledo. The town is exactly what you would picture a little European village to be like. The jewelry is beautiful. For lunch we went to a little restaurant and had gazpacho. I’m glad I tried it, but cold tomatoes and vinegar is not my thing. Dinner, on the other hand, was spaghetti, veal and chocolate tiramisu which was right up my alley. We also took some apples from the hotel dining area after dinner, which we later discovered to be display apples, covered in grease for shine purposes. At night we utilized the metro, checked out a couple of different bars (including an Irish bar where a BC student I swear I’ve never met recognized me and proved the connection in 7-degrees-of-separation-to-Ebram-Megally form). My friend Shelby also recognized a girl at the bar who had attended her 21st birthday party at home in Boston. Small world.
The following day was rainy and we visited the Thysson museum and did a little bit of exploring. We went out for Thai food that night (my first Thai experience). It was great! I tried some Pad Thai, Pork with peanut sauce, and a great fried rice. At night, we went to a 7 floor night club called Kapital. It was a little pricy, but I tried to justify it by figuring that it only cost 3 euros per floor.
In the morning we went to the Reina Sofia museum which had a lot of war art. We saw some Dali, which was cool. On the street, instead of greasy Italian sausages and frozen pretzels, the vendors sold fresh coconut halves, grilled corn on the cob, and grilled whole sweet potatoes. We went to Plaza Mayor and got some cheese sandwiches for 1 Euro and saw the street performers. Very fun.
It was a great weekend! I could definitely have spent more time in Madrid!
Hasta luego!
I can hardly believe it is my last week in Seville. These past nine weeks have really flown by. There is still so much I want to do! I have yet to see a full flamenco dance show and go to the top of the Giralda tower.
Starting from where I left off last time I wrote, I went on a moto! The 18 year old daughter, Blanca, and I went shopping at a mall outside of Seville. We haven’t talked too much, so it was almost like an awkward first date. First, I couldn’t get my helmet on, so she had to put it on for me, then when we got on the moto I didn’t know where to put my hands…. Anyway, the moto was really fun to ride. It was a little scary at first, weaving in and out of the traffic, and especially on the highway. But she was a good driver, and even after the moto broke down on a busy street, after some quick 18-year-old-mechanic skills we were back on the highway within 8 minutes or so. It was cool to be able to talk to her and get to know her a little better, and it was so nice of her to take me.
We went for a long weekend to Madrid and Toledo, which was great. We took the Ave, which is a high speed train, direct from Sevilla to Madrid. Madrid is the New York City of Spain. It is very industrial and they don’t siesta there because most people commute a fair distance to work. Even though it was much less European than Toledo or Sevilla, it was still much prettier and elegant looking than NYC. Upon arriving to Madrid, a few of the girls in the group decided to tour Madrid on foot. We put on our running clothes and plowed through the crowded sidewalks. People in Spain don’t exercise, and when they do, they go to a gym, so we definitely drew a lot of attention to ourselves as obnoxious Americans - especially in a pack of 5. But we were able to see so much of Madrid! Plaza Mayor, some key churches and museums, and a nice park. We also visited the Prado Museum and saw some classic works of art. Frankly, I can’t take more than 15 minutes of pre-18th century religious works, but it was cool to see Goya’s works and learn the stories behind them.
At the hotel we were served a classy 3 course meal. It started off with a bowl that had about 3 tablespoons worth of chopped green unidentifiable vegetables in it. It was decorated elaborately with drizzles of a brown sauce that looked like, but did not taste like, Hershey’s syrup. We ate our green vegetables, of which only one was identifiable (asparagus), and then became extremely confused when the waiters came around to pour the broth into the bowls that were apparently for soup. In broken Spanish, we attempted to explain why there were no longer any vegetables to pour the broth over. FAIL. (Side note: while explaining this story to my host mom, I insisted on calling the bowl “plato ondulado” instead of “plato ondo.” “Plato ondulado” means “wavy plate.” FAIL.) Soup was followed by salmon covered in a light green sauce, served with an oven roasted tomato and oven roasted potatoes. Dessert was a bowl of eggnog with a husk cherry on the side. It was not technically eggnog, but I could not come up with one distinction between the two, minus the husk cherry.
The next day we went to Toledo. The town is exactly what you would picture a little European village to be like. The jewelry is beautiful. For lunch we went to a little restaurant and had gazpacho. I’m glad I tried it, but cold tomatoes and vinegar is not my thing. Dinner, on the other hand, was spaghetti, veal and chocolate tiramisu which was right up my alley. We also took some apples from the hotel dining area after dinner, which we later discovered to be display apples, covered in grease for shine purposes. At night we utilized the metro, checked out a couple of different bars (including an Irish bar where a BC student I swear I’ve never met recognized me and proved the connection in 7-degrees-of-separation-to-Ebram-Megally form). My friend Shelby also recognized a girl at the bar who had attended her 21st birthday party at home in Boston. Small world.
The following day was rainy and we visited the Thysson museum and did a little bit of exploring. We went out for Thai food that night (my first Thai experience). It was great! I tried some Pad Thai, Pork with peanut sauce, and a great fried rice. At night, we went to a 7 floor night club called Kapital. It was a little pricy, but I tried to justify it by figuring that it only cost 3 euros per floor.
In the morning we went to the Reina Sofia museum which had a lot of war art. We saw some Dali, which was cool. On the street, instead of greasy Italian sausages and frozen pretzels, the vendors sold fresh coconut halves, grilled corn on the cob, and grilled whole sweet potatoes. We went to Plaza Mayor and got some cheese sandwiches for 1 Euro and saw the street performers. Very fun.
It was a great weekend! I could definitely have spent more time in Madrid!
Hasta luego!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
El Supermercado
They were playing J. Lo’s greatest hits CD in the grocery store today. I love this country. I also love going grocery shopping here because everything is so cheap and I feel like a true “resident” doing errands that real Spanish people to instead of just wearing Uggs, going into souvenir shops and getting tall chai lattes from Starbucks, which, unfortunately, I do more frequently. I bought green apples, butter for my chocolate chip cookies today, and a loaf of bread for the family. The supermarket also has a large meat department, in which giant pig legs are hanging from the ceiling, and a fish display with fish heads organized in an ornate design. The milk is all ultra-high-pasturized, which means it is not refrigerated, there are more kinds of marmalade than there are fruits, and there is cream cheese, although no one here has even seen or heard of a bagel (except in a few select Starbucks).
Anyway, my host mom gave me money for the bread, but I gave it back to her and said “it’s on me.” They acted like I had just taken the bill at Ruth's Chris Steak House (a loaf of sandwich bread costs $0.60). I was just like “Instead of me taking the money, let me make an extra sandwich sometime.” They laughed and said “thank you” but in all seriousness, the $0.60 was definitely worth the liberty of making myself a sandwich at the time of my choice.
Anyway, my host mom gave me money for the bread, but I gave it back to her and said “it’s on me.” They acted like I had just taken the bill at Ruth's Chris Steak House (a loaf of sandwich bread costs $0.60). I was just like “Instead of me taking the money, let me make an extra sandwich sometime.” They laughed and said “thank you” but in all seriousness, the $0.60 was definitely worth the liberty of making myself a sandwich at the time of my choice.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Isa....not "Lisa" from the Simpsons
Spanish people do not understand the letter "z." It is only pronounced in a select few words, and generally resembles more or an "s" sound. My host father has a particularly hard time with this, and decided to refer to me as the Spanish translation of my name, Isabel. For short, I am Isa. This is humorous, especially because of the complete lack of resemblance I have to the over-sized-basketball-jersey-wearing 4th grader I tutored in Schenectady, also named Isa.
Julia, the three year old, does her best to pronounce my name, but it generally comes out sounding Asian. She screams "Leeeeeeeee" which I now recognize as my name. She also makes the connection with my name and "Lisa from the Simpsons" and every time they say the name "Lisa" during the program, the little girl screams "Los nombres son iguales" (the names are the same) and throws her head back in a fit of laughter for about 2 minutes. Since Lisa is a frequent character, us watching the Simpsons usually just turns into us watching Julia belly laugh for 30 minutes.
Anyway, my host father suffered a pretty harsh case of meningitis about 5 years ago. He was in the hospital and in a coma for a good amount of time, and has lost a little bit of his memory. According to him, he's 80% back to normal. You probably wouldn't notice anything different unless you know, but he does speak slower than most Spaniards, and often forgets the names of things. I'll ask him what the name is for the eggplant we are eating, and he usually responds with "I forget what that's called, but what is this thing?" and then I'll say "Son guisantes" (those are peas). It's fine, though. I tell him we'll learn the Spanish language together and then he usually laughs and calls me a smart one.
Anyway, Alejandro is quite the musician, and played guitar and sang in flamenco bars back in the day. He is always singing in the house, and gives guitar lessons to his nephew on the weekends. He has forgotten a lot of songs and has had to re-train the muscles in his hands since the meningitis. Whenever Suzie (the Irish exchange student in our house) walks into a room, he bursts out into a Spanish song called "Susana." Not knowing any equivalent to sing upon my entrance, he usually just starts repeating the word "Ameeeerica" in a harmonic tone.
Today I was getting ready to go out for the afternoon, when Alejandro bursts into the room (he has never been in our room before, so we were a little taken back) and starts singing extremely loudly and dancing in our room. It was a song about putting your sombrero on at the beach, and the chorus included a shout out to a woman named Maria Isabel." We got a refrain two or three times, and Rachel and I clapped and said "Bravo" but were also so taken back by this man screaming and dancing around our room. We had no idea what spawned this. He supported himself against the wall for a breather, and eventually told us that he had spontaneously recovered memory of the song just 5 minutes ago, and knew he had to show it to us since it was "my song", as it contained the word "Isabel." This made a little more sense now, but it was still so surprising. Now I have a song for him to sing to me!
He is honestly a great guy, and we've gotten to know him the most, as we eat all our our meals with him, and only occasionally with our house mom. He is so kind, and always says that "they are very lucky to have gotten such nice Americans, but WE really won the lottery living with them." It's true, but its funny to hear him say that. He also tells us he will cry when we leave and that he will miss us. We reply with a "you too" comment, which actually makes no sense, since they aren't going to be leaving any time soon (think Brian Regan's 'you too' segment). But its the only thing we can think of to say.
He's a great guy! And is teaching me to cook like a true Sevillano!
Hasta luego
Julia, the three year old, does her best to pronounce my name, but it generally comes out sounding Asian. She screams "Leeeeeeeee" which I now recognize as my name. She also makes the connection with my name and "Lisa from the Simpsons" and every time they say the name "Lisa" during the program, the little girl screams "Los nombres son iguales" (the names are the same) and throws her head back in a fit of laughter for about 2 minutes. Since Lisa is a frequent character, us watching the Simpsons usually just turns into us watching Julia belly laugh for 30 minutes.
Anyway, my host father suffered a pretty harsh case of meningitis about 5 years ago. He was in the hospital and in a coma for a good amount of time, and has lost a little bit of his memory. According to him, he's 80% back to normal. You probably wouldn't notice anything different unless you know, but he does speak slower than most Spaniards, and often forgets the names of things. I'll ask him what the name is for the eggplant we are eating, and he usually responds with "I forget what that's called, but what is this thing?" and then I'll say "Son guisantes" (those are peas). It's fine, though. I tell him we'll learn the Spanish language together and then he usually laughs and calls me a smart one.
Anyway, Alejandro is quite the musician, and played guitar and sang in flamenco bars back in the day. He is always singing in the house, and gives guitar lessons to his nephew on the weekends. He has forgotten a lot of songs and has had to re-train the muscles in his hands since the meningitis. Whenever Suzie (the Irish exchange student in our house) walks into a room, he bursts out into a Spanish song called "Susana." Not knowing any equivalent to sing upon my entrance, he usually just starts repeating the word "Ameeeerica" in a harmonic tone.
Today I was getting ready to go out for the afternoon, when Alejandro bursts into the room (he has never been in our room before, so we were a little taken back) and starts singing extremely loudly and dancing in our room. It was a song about putting your sombrero on at the beach, and the chorus included a shout out to a woman named Maria Isabel." We got a refrain two or three times, and Rachel and I clapped and said "Bravo" but were also so taken back by this man screaming and dancing around our room. We had no idea what spawned this. He supported himself against the wall for a breather, and eventually told us that he had spontaneously recovered memory of the song just 5 minutes ago, and knew he had to show it to us since it was "my song", as it contained the word "Isabel." This made a little more sense now, but it was still so surprising. Now I have a song for him to sing to me!
He is honestly a great guy, and we've gotten to know him the most, as we eat all our our meals with him, and only occasionally with our house mom. He is so kind, and always says that "they are very lucky to have gotten such nice Americans, but WE really won the lottery living with them." It's true, but its funny to hear him say that. He also tells us he will cry when we leave and that he will miss us. We reply with a "you too" comment, which actually makes no sense, since they aren't going to be leaving any time soon (think Brian Regan's 'you too' segment). But its the only thing we can think of to say.
He's a great guy! And is teaching me to cook like a true Sevillano!
Hasta luego
Cadiz
Last weekend, we went to Cadiz for Carnaval. Carnaval is basically like a weekend of Halloween in a city 1.5 hours from Seville. Every one dresses up, and it's just a giant party. It was supposed to pour rain, but we decided to go anyway.
Rachel and I dressed in masks and matching shirts, and our amigas dressed as either ninjas or Hawaiin hula girls.
After an entertaining bus ride to Cadiz, we were dropped off at 9:30, to board the bus at 3. We heard it was best to stay until 7 or 8 in the morning and take a train, but we stuck with the 3AM bus ride. Carnaval is the 3rd biggest party in the world. Cadiz is almost an island, connected to the rest of the country by a small stretch of land. Regardless, we did not see the ocean. The streets were packed. Everyone was dressed in extremely elaborate costumes. There was no one (except us) who had a lackluster outfit. Many costumes were hand-sewn and were worn by large groups of people. They were all very creative. We saw a lot of cows and babies, gypsies, geishas and a group of 20 men dressed as sperm. Basically, the streets are so packed you can barely move, and everyone just drinks, in costume, on the street. There was a stage with a chorus singing songs that were religious parodies, but mainly, there were just potato chip stands, and crazy drunk people. Bars weren't even open, but instead, closed off their doors and sold food and drink counter-style from the door. It was crazy. It was fun, but after an hour, we were frozen and unamused by drunken ladybugs and crossdressers. We warmed up in Burger King, although we ironically ordered icecreams. We lingered for quite a while, having no desire to go back out into the streets. People were jammed into the building, with empty patches of floor occupied only by vomit. after an hour, we were kicked out of our table for staying too long. Getting kicked out of Burger King was an all-time low.
We re-entered the crowd, and huddled in a circle for warmth until the bus came an hour later to take us home. It wasn't the most pleasant bus ride home, as the girl across the aisle vomited in my direction just 10 minutes into the 90 minute trip. I experienced instant flash-backs to my freshman year dorm room.
All in all, a great experience....for an hour. I have never seen so may people in great costumes, but it was overwhelming to be amongst thousands of intoxicated people, especially when they were dressed as Spongebob square pants or transvestite nurses. The weather was a little tough, too, but that was to be expected.
Still, it was an experience, and I'm glad to say I've seen Cadiz at its prime!
Side note: Julia, the three year old daughter in my house, had dress up for Carnaval the following Monday at her school. She dressed up as a strawberry and was the cutest strawberry I have ever seen.
"Horrible Nesquik"
They say it never rains in Seville. It also never snows in Seville. And yet, for the past two weeks, we have barely seen our friend, the sun. The people here don't know what to do. They say they have never had a winter like this, that was this cold and rainy. My host father blames it on me, and whenever anyone makes a comment about the weather he says "the american girl brought it here with her!"
I haven't written in a while, but that's because the past two weeks have been very busy and also not a lot of interesting things have happened. It has been absolutely great, and I am DEFINITELY not ready to go home in 3 weeks, but not a whole lot has changed.
Rachel and I both caught the gastrointeritis plague, but were each out of school for just one day. Everyone has gotten it. Every member of my family here, except the dog. I won't go into details, because they aren't pretty, but after a few natural yogurts and soups, we were all fine.
Last Friday we went to Cordoba. We visited the mezquita mosque, which is unbelievably gorgeous. It has Christian and Muslim and Jewish roots, all from different time periods, rolled into a very pretty mosque. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot to do in Cordoba. It was raining (as usual) and so we hung out in a tapas bar, where a few tried salmorejo (a puree of tomato and vinegar, served in a glass). It looks like a creamsicle smoothie, especially since you drink it like a smoothie, without any utensils. I passed on this specialty, not being too fond of tomatoes, but I heard it was good.
For Valentines day, I was lucky enough to have 12 roses delivered to my room, courtesy of my boyfriend Sam. I was a very happy girl. They are beautiful and are a great addition to our cozy little room. They don't celebrate El Dia de San Valentin here very much. The family was so taken back as to why I was getting such an elaborate and beautiful gift!
Also for Valentines day, the girls in my class picked names and got eachother a little something. It was really cute. I received some Lindt truffles and a spanish dessert recipe book from my friend Shelby, which was so thoughtful. It will be a great thing to try out back home. Hopefully my Spanish translations and metric conversions won't get in the way!
This weekend I had plans to go to Portugal. Two of my friends and I decided to rent a car (just 40 Euros!) and drive 3 hours to Lagos. It was supposed to pour buckets all weekend (surprise surprise but we didn't have much to lose). Yesterday morning we were all ready to go. We got to the airport (where the car rental place it), but couldn't find the rental place. After asking one of the other offices, we found out that the company wasn't located at the airport, and that we were supposed to wait under the green advertisement for life insurance if we were waiting for GoldCar. An hour later, the representative arrived, and we double checked the price, and the information and they took us in a van to the rental place. At the rental place, they sneakily added fees for gasoline, leaving the country, being under 21, eating a sandwich while in line at the office (not actually, but we wouldn't have been surprised), etc. So it would cost almost 4 times as much as we anticipated, we didn't have an actual plan of things to do in Lagos, and it was supposed to pour rain. In the end, we bagged the trip and pretended to be tourists in Seville for the day. There was still so much we wanted to do in Seville, that we had never taken the time to.
I was so flustered coming home from the airport, that my host dad got me strawberries and put them in a plastic bag so that I could "go for a walk, sit by the river, and relax while eating the finest, reddest and sweetest strawberries I will ever eat.") Magically, the sun was out, and it was one of the most beautiful days we have had. We ate lunch outside (carne con tomate, tuna and vegetable croquettes, french fries and a fried egg), we shopped and we got drinks by the river which we enjoyed with strawberries. For dinner, we ate the first pizza we'd had since 2009, and it was unbelievable. A great day.
When I got home, I had a chat with my host Dad, who casually described how great of a mother his wife was, and how she had helped her daughter with her exam this morning. He went on to describe how his 18 year old daughter had placed a tick-sized auditory device in her inner ear, and how her mother sat at the living room table, with 10 open books and notebooks in front of her, dictating the answers to the exam. He said "wasn't that so nice of my wife? What great teamwork. She will get a great grade and she can never get caught! Look how small it is!" The concept of cheating being morally unsound was never even touched upon. He was so proud that his family was living a "vida de lujo" (life of luxury) by achieving success using such advanced technology. I couldn't believe it. He was also so nice as to offer to lend me the device, for when I take my med school exams. I thanked him for this offer, but declined, explaining it was probably for the best that as a doctor, I know the answers to such exams. He gave me a confused look and shrugged his shoulders. I guess it's just a culture thing.
For dinner, I got to choose what we had (a first!). I chose tortilla espanola, so I could take notes on how to prepare this wonderful potato omlette. It is quite easy, with the only ingredients being egg and potatoes. It was scrumptious. It was served alongside slimy little silver fried fish with the heads still on, which I was unfortunately "way too full" to take any of.
Night life has been pretty standard, and generally entails conversations amongst my Union girlfriends and I. Usually we will make small talk with sevillanos for some of the time, which almost always includes a joke about how my name is "equal to that of the girl on the Simpsons." I then emphasize the "z" to distinguish "Liz" from "Lisa."
On one occassion, the conversation was about how this group of Spaniards did not like "chinos" (Chinese). The Spainiards are very open about raicism here. People are not at all ashamed to sound politically incorrect, and don't hesitate to say that they do not like a particular racial group. In this particular conversation, the fact that these boys were so open about disliking Chinese was surprising, but I did not become personally involved until they started noticing that my eyes are so small that they resemble those of the "chinos" especially when I smile. I thought I had grown out of this, when my Aunt Marion mentioned circa 2006 that she had thrown away our Christmas card, thinking she didn't know the family, since my eyes usually look "more Oriental" than they had in that photo.
Also, upon arriving at a discoteca last night, my roommate and I were instructed by the bouncer to stay about 15 feet back from the men in front of us in line, so we wouldn't be able to hear the conversation in front of us. The men in front of us were 2 Arabic men and one man with lighter skin. Although everyone else in line was able to enter, the Arabic men were turned away. Inside, there were no people of African descent. I couldn't believe that these attitudes were not only so prominent, but that they still compromise the rights of those with minority backgrounds. Even my host father, a great man, says that he respects anyone of any culture, except the Moros (Arabs) because they can't be trusted. The host families of my friends have made similar comments.
On a lighter note, I am making chocolate chip cookies for the family. They are not big on desserts, but they went nuts for the apple crisp and the brownies I made last week, and are now requesting that I make something at least once a week. I'm happy to do it! They really liked the brownies, especially since they had nothing else to do with the "horrible Nesquik" (aka unsweetened baking cocoa) their daughter had brought back from the Dominican Republic. "It tastes so bad mixed with milk" my mother told me. Last week was the first time that we had dessert with a meal. My host mother made an orange "bizcocho" (cake) which was delicious. I told her she would have to show me how to make it before I leave. I know how to make orange cake already, I just really want to have dessert again.
Hasta luego!
I haven't written in a while, but that's because the past two weeks have been very busy and also not a lot of interesting things have happened. It has been absolutely great, and I am DEFINITELY not ready to go home in 3 weeks, but not a whole lot has changed.
Rachel and I both caught the gastrointeritis plague, but were each out of school for just one day. Everyone has gotten it. Every member of my family here, except the dog. I won't go into details, because they aren't pretty, but after a few natural yogurts and soups, we were all fine.
Last Friday we went to Cordoba. We visited the mezquita mosque, which is unbelievably gorgeous. It has Christian and Muslim and Jewish roots, all from different time periods, rolled into a very pretty mosque. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot to do in Cordoba. It was raining (as usual) and so we hung out in a tapas bar, where a few tried salmorejo (a puree of tomato and vinegar, served in a glass). It looks like a creamsicle smoothie, especially since you drink it like a smoothie, without any utensils. I passed on this specialty, not being too fond of tomatoes, but I heard it was good.
For Valentines day, I was lucky enough to have 12 roses delivered to my room, courtesy of my boyfriend Sam. I was a very happy girl. They are beautiful and are a great addition to our cozy little room. They don't celebrate El Dia de San Valentin here very much. The family was so taken back as to why I was getting such an elaborate and beautiful gift!
Also for Valentines day, the girls in my class picked names and got eachother a little something. It was really cute. I received some Lindt truffles and a spanish dessert recipe book from my friend Shelby, which was so thoughtful. It will be a great thing to try out back home. Hopefully my Spanish translations and metric conversions won't get in the way!
This weekend I had plans to go to Portugal. Two of my friends and I decided to rent a car (just 40 Euros!) and drive 3 hours to Lagos. It was supposed to pour buckets all weekend (surprise surprise but we didn't have much to lose). Yesterday morning we were all ready to go. We got to the airport (where the car rental place it), but couldn't find the rental place. After asking one of the other offices, we found out that the company wasn't located at the airport, and that we were supposed to wait under the green advertisement for life insurance if we were waiting for GoldCar. An hour later, the representative arrived, and we double checked the price, and the information and they took us in a van to the rental place. At the rental place, they sneakily added fees for gasoline, leaving the country, being under 21, eating a sandwich while in line at the office (not actually, but we wouldn't have been surprised), etc. So it would cost almost 4 times as much as we anticipated, we didn't have an actual plan of things to do in Lagos, and it was supposed to pour rain. In the end, we bagged the trip and pretended to be tourists in Seville for the day. There was still so much we wanted to do in Seville, that we had never taken the time to.
I was so flustered coming home from the airport, that my host dad got me strawberries and put them in a plastic bag so that I could "go for a walk, sit by the river, and relax while eating the finest, reddest and sweetest strawberries I will ever eat.") Magically, the sun was out, and it was one of the most beautiful days we have had. We ate lunch outside (carne con tomate, tuna and vegetable croquettes, french fries and a fried egg), we shopped and we got drinks by the river which we enjoyed with strawberries. For dinner, we ate the first pizza we'd had since 2009, and it was unbelievable. A great day.
When I got home, I had a chat with my host Dad, who casually described how great of a mother his wife was, and how she had helped her daughter with her exam this morning. He went on to describe how his 18 year old daughter had placed a tick-sized auditory device in her inner ear, and how her mother sat at the living room table, with 10 open books and notebooks in front of her, dictating the answers to the exam. He said "wasn't that so nice of my wife? What great teamwork. She will get a great grade and she can never get caught! Look how small it is!" The concept of cheating being morally unsound was never even touched upon. He was so proud that his family was living a "vida de lujo" (life of luxury) by achieving success using such advanced technology. I couldn't believe it. He was also so nice as to offer to lend me the device, for when I take my med school exams. I thanked him for this offer, but declined, explaining it was probably for the best that as a doctor, I know the answers to such exams. He gave me a confused look and shrugged his shoulders. I guess it's just a culture thing.
For dinner, I got to choose what we had (a first!). I chose tortilla espanola, so I could take notes on how to prepare this wonderful potato omlette. It is quite easy, with the only ingredients being egg and potatoes. It was scrumptious. It was served alongside slimy little silver fried fish with the heads still on, which I was unfortunately "way too full" to take any of.
Night life has been pretty standard, and generally entails conversations amongst my Union girlfriends and I. Usually we will make small talk with sevillanos for some of the time, which almost always includes a joke about how my name is "equal to that of the girl on the Simpsons." I then emphasize the "z" to distinguish "Liz" from "Lisa."
On one occassion, the conversation was about how this group of Spaniards did not like "chinos" (Chinese). The Spainiards are very open about raicism here. People are not at all ashamed to sound politically incorrect, and don't hesitate to say that they do not like a particular racial group. In this particular conversation, the fact that these boys were so open about disliking Chinese was surprising, but I did not become personally involved until they started noticing that my eyes are so small that they resemble those of the "chinos" especially when I smile. I thought I had grown out of this, when my Aunt Marion mentioned circa 2006 that she had thrown away our Christmas card, thinking she didn't know the family, since my eyes usually look "more Oriental" than they had in that photo.
Also, upon arriving at a discoteca last night, my roommate and I were instructed by the bouncer to stay about 15 feet back from the men in front of us in line, so we wouldn't be able to hear the conversation in front of us. The men in front of us were 2 Arabic men and one man with lighter skin. Although everyone else in line was able to enter, the Arabic men were turned away. Inside, there were no people of African descent. I couldn't believe that these attitudes were not only so prominent, but that they still compromise the rights of those with minority backgrounds. Even my host father, a great man, says that he respects anyone of any culture, except the Moros (Arabs) because they can't be trusted. The host families of my friends have made similar comments.
On a lighter note, I am making chocolate chip cookies for the family. They are not big on desserts, but they went nuts for the apple crisp and the brownies I made last week, and are now requesting that I make something at least once a week. I'm happy to do it! They really liked the brownies, especially since they had nothing else to do with the "horrible Nesquik" (aka unsweetened baking cocoa) their daughter had brought back from the Dominican Republic. "It tastes so bad mixed with milk" my mother told me. Last week was the first time that we had dessert with a meal. My host mother made an orange "bizcocho" (cake) which was delicious. I told her she would have to show me how to make it before I leave. I know how to make orange cake already, I just really want to have dessert again.
Hasta luego!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Rice with Pulpo Sauce
I haven't written for a while, but nothing too crazy has happened since the weekend before last.
The workload is picking up for my classes. Rachel and I gave our presentation, which lasted 1.5 hours (including questions and professor interjections) and I think it went pretty well. We also had our first two composition and our first exam so it has been a lot to do. Last weekend, we went to Granada and Almeria. It was a lot of time on the bus but it was well worth it. We all found ways to modify the fetal position in order to fit somewhat effectively into the bus seats to sleep.
Granada was great. It's south of Seville but it's actually colder than Seville because it's right in the Sierra Nevadas. It was very cold there and we were outside all day. We took advantage of the hotel showers, as they provided an unlimited supply of hot water, unlike our houses. We visited the Arab palaces at the Alambra. Out guide spoke 15 languages or something crazy like that, which makes me wonder why he isn't working for the U.N. or something like that. The palaces were very interesting. The town of Granada has a very Moroccan feel to it. There are millions of little hippie shops with pipes and scarves and tapestries. We went to a tapas bar ownned by an Englishman, which was recommended by Shelby's friend. In Granada, each drink you buy comes with a complimentary tapa. So I ordered tinto de verano (red wine with sparkling lemonade) and I tried the pineapple pork and coconut chicken dish. We jumped to the next tapas bar and I tried vegetable cous cous with cinnamon and raisins and caramelized onions. It was unreal. I also had a bite of noodles with sweet almonds, which was amazing. I met an artist from Granada and ended up having my first long and successful Spanish conversation. People in Spain are very friendly and it is much easier to strike up a conversation with a stranger here than it would be in America.
After tapear-ing (that's the verb for hopping tapas bars) we went back to the hotel to change our clothes and go out. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted that I crashed. I was so tired from all the travel that I couldn't bring myself to go out again.
In the morning we visited the cathedral and explored Granada. I purchased a variety of dried fruit and tried some hand-made potato chips, which were excellent. Dried strawberries and banana chips are my new favorite foods. After that it was another long bus ride to Almeria. In Almeria we visited an old Arabic castle, which was my favorite tourist site so far in Spain. It was very cool, and our guide was this short, pale, girl with red lipstick and a big black coat who looked like she went to Hogwarts. I really liked her. We had dinner with the group at the hotel and went out for the night. We tried to find some young clubs, but all we found was clubs filled with people 40+ years old grooving to Sheryl Crow and the song "happy Birthday" which was odd. We eventually found a little cafe place and spent a low-key night there. In the morning we attended the most boring presentation on immigration I could ever imagine. Luckily, I ended up seated directly next to the speaker, and I found out after that my attempts to maintain open eyes the entire presentation were not subtle. Apparently everyone noticed me casually resting my head in my chin and manually keeping my eyelid open with my middle and index fingers. This was not one of my best moments, but it was definitely not my fault. I got plenty of sleep the night before. This presentation was just very boring.
After a long busride home, we made it back to the house for dinner. The rice we were served was mysteriously pitch black. When I asked why the rice was black, the padre said it was because of the "pescado" which means "fish/seafood." The rice had a very interesting flavor - one I wasn't too keen on, but I expertly moved my food around with my fork and hit rice under my bread with impressive deftness. Again, at the table, I asked "so what exactly makes this rice BLACK. Is the fish itself black?" To this, Alejandro replied "no, no no. it's not a FISH. It's a creature that is very smart. When predators approach it, it emits a black substance, and that is why the rice is black."
My eyes bugged out a little and I placed my fork down on the plate slowly. "This wouldn't happen to be octopus, would it?" I asked. "Ahhh YES!" said Alejandro. "Exactly!"
Rachel and I looked at eachother and I whispered the english translation of "pulpo." She, too, proceeded to put down her fork and reach for her water. There's nothin like a little octopus rice in ink sauce.
And one other story....
We were sitting at dinner with Alejandro (the padre) the other night and he made a toast to himself being the most handsome man in the world. I then proceeded to say, "To Alejandro, you are definitely the most handsome man in the house" (he is the only man in the house). I tell you, I have never seen someone laugh so hard in my life. He started hyperventilating laughing and holding his head in his hands. He was shaking, he was laughing so hard. Rachel and I were cracking up because we couldn't believe how funny he thought it was. Even when the Irish girl entered the room, he tried to tell her what I said and just lost it again, bursting out into another fit of laughter. I guess he appreciates my sense of humor.
This weekend we are going to Italia, a town near Seville for a short day trip. Other than that I'm planning on hanging out on the roof in the sun (I already have some tan lines!) and doing some homework. It should be nice!
Hasta luego!
The workload is picking up for my classes. Rachel and I gave our presentation, which lasted 1.5 hours (including questions and professor interjections) and I think it went pretty well. We also had our first two composition and our first exam so it has been a lot to do. Last weekend, we went to Granada and Almeria. It was a lot of time on the bus but it was well worth it. We all found ways to modify the fetal position in order to fit somewhat effectively into the bus seats to sleep.
Granada was great. It's south of Seville but it's actually colder than Seville because it's right in the Sierra Nevadas. It was very cold there and we were outside all day. We took advantage of the hotel showers, as they provided an unlimited supply of hot water, unlike our houses. We visited the Arab palaces at the Alambra. Out guide spoke 15 languages or something crazy like that, which makes me wonder why he isn't working for the U.N. or something like that. The palaces were very interesting. The town of Granada has a very Moroccan feel to it. There are millions of little hippie shops with pipes and scarves and tapestries. We went to a tapas bar ownned by an Englishman, which was recommended by Shelby's friend. In Granada, each drink you buy comes with a complimentary tapa. So I ordered tinto de verano (red wine with sparkling lemonade) and I tried the pineapple pork and coconut chicken dish. We jumped to the next tapas bar and I tried vegetable cous cous with cinnamon and raisins and caramelized onions. It was unreal. I also had a bite of noodles with sweet almonds, which was amazing. I met an artist from Granada and ended up having my first long and successful Spanish conversation. People in Spain are very friendly and it is much easier to strike up a conversation with a stranger here than it would be in America.
After tapear-ing (that's the verb for hopping tapas bars) we went back to the hotel to change our clothes and go out. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted that I crashed. I was so tired from all the travel that I couldn't bring myself to go out again.
In the morning we visited the cathedral and explored Granada. I purchased a variety of dried fruit and tried some hand-made potato chips, which were excellent. Dried strawberries and banana chips are my new favorite foods. After that it was another long bus ride to Almeria. In Almeria we visited an old Arabic castle, which was my favorite tourist site so far in Spain. It was very cool, and our guide was this short, pale, girl with red lipstick and a big black coat who looked like she went to Hogwarts. I really liked her. We had dinner with the group at the hotel and went out for the night. We tried to find some young clubs, but all we found was clubs filled with people 40+ years old grooving to Sheryl Crow and the song "happy Birthday" which was odd. We eventually found a little cafe place and spent a low-key night there. In the morning we attended the most boring presentation on immigration I could ever imagine. Luckily, I ended up seated directly next to the speaker, and I found out after that my attempts to maintain open eyes the entire presentation were not subtle. Apparently everyone noticed me casually resting my head in my chin and manually keeping my eyelid open with my middle and index fingers. This was not one of my best moments, but it was definitely not my fault. I got plenty of sleep the night before. This presentation was just very boring.
After a long busride home, we made it back to the house for dinner. The rice we were served was mysteriously pitch black. When I asked why the rice was black, the padre said it was because of the "pescado" which means "fish/seafood." The rice had a very interesting flavor - one I wasn't too keen on, but I expertly moved my food around with my fork and hit rice under my bread with impressive deftness. Again, at the table, I asked "so what exactly makes this rice BLACK. Is the fish itself black?" To this, Alejandro replied "no, no no. it's not a FISH. It's a creature that is very smart. When predators approach it, it emits a black substance, and that is why the rice is black."
My eyes bugged out a little and I placed my fork down on the plate slowly. "This wouldn't happen to be octopus, would it?" I asked. "Ahhh YES!" said Alejandro. "Exactly!"
Rachel and I looked at eachother and I whispered the english translation of "pulpo." She, too, proceeded to put down her fork and reach for her water. There's nothin like a little octopus rice in ink sauce.
And one other story....
We were sitting at dinner with Alejandro (the padre) the other night and he made a toast to himself being the most handsome man in the world. I then proceeded to say, "To Alejandro, you are definitely the most handsome man in the house" (he is the only man in the house). I tell you, I have never seen someone laugh so hard in my life. He started hyperventilating laughing and holding his head in his hands. He was shaking, he was laughing so hard. Rachel and I were cracking up because we couldn't believe how funny he thought it was. Even when the Irish girl entered the room, he tried to tell her what I said and just lost it again, bursting out into another fit of laughter. I guess he appreciates my sense of humor.
This weekend we are going to Italia, a town near Seville for a short day trip. Other than that I'm planning on hanging out on the roof in the sun (I already have some tan lines!) and doing some homework. It should be nice!
Hasta luego!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Apuntes Culturales
Here are a few cultural notes,
1. Potato Chips. They have the weirdest flavors of potato chips here. For example, Ham & Cheese, Steak and Cheddar (the only place you'll see the word or product of cheddar cheese), Chicken and Gravy and Onion and Cheese. The one that takes the cake, though, is the Prawn Cocktail flavored chips we saw in Gibraltar. Absolutely revolting.
2. Wine costs as little as 0.75 Euros. (Note: GOOD wine does not cost as little as 0.75 Euros).
3. They hardly ever have chocolate for dessert here.
4. There are no bagels, nor peanut butter in this whole city.
5. For groceries, the Sevillanos tote extremely fashionable rollable luggage to and from the grocery store. It is so fancy and pretty looking, that at first, when I was walking out of the grocery store, I was wondering where all these travelers were coming from. Then I saw string cheese coming out of one of them. I've never lived in a city before, so maybe this is normal in NYC, etc. but I thought it was very interesting.
6. This has nothing to do with Spanish culture, but the other day in grammar class, we did an exercise where we complete the sentence "If i were a ___ I would be ____" in Spanish, which has a somewhat tricky verb formation. For example, "If I was a fruit, I'd be a watermelon." The teacher then read everyones responses out loud and we had to guess who's response it was. She read the sentence "If I was a song, I'd be "Party in the USA" and the whole class started calling out "Liz" "Liz." And when she said "If I were a celebrity, I'd be Miley Cyrus" everyone said "definitely Liz." This was serious cause for concern, as I am completely unaware of what 16-year-old-teeny-bopper vibes I am giving off. Not surprisingly, when she said "If I were a sport, I'd be basketball" people started to change their minds.
7. Colocao is an acceptable drink for all ages. In the mornings, people either drink cafe (coffee) or colocao. Colocao is no different from chocolate Nesquik (it is even made by Nestle). They serve it at every cafe from morning till midnight. I think it's really cool that you can order a chocolate Nesquik at a restaurant and not feel like you recently learned your multiplication tables.
8. All the nutrition information on food packages is in the metric system, and I have no idea what goes into the food I eat for lunch and dinner. One one hand, there is a large amount of fried food and completely skim milk is a rarity, but on the other, I am averaging 4 pieces of fruit per day, and don't regularly eat snacks or dessert. Also, all the clothes I brought here are stretchy, or at least very forgiving. Consequently, the window of possible weights I could be right now is anywhere between 100 pounds and 150 pounds. Neither would surprise me at this point.
9. They think Abercrombie is heaven on Earth. At the birthday party, after I was introduced as the American exchange student, one girl immediately asked me if I knew what Abercrombie & Fitch was. When I answered affirmatively, she began excitedly describing the store to her surrounding friends. She described it as "the most incredible clothing store. It's like a discoteca! It's huge with 5 floors and music blaring on each one. It smells like cologne, and everyone who works there is a model! People shop for clothes, which are sooo cute and fashionable, and dance to the music while they do so." I have personally never seen anyone dancing in Abercrombie and Fitch, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the store she visited in New York city was a unqiue one.
The adventure continues....
1. Potato Chips. They have the weirdest flavors of potato chips here. For example, Ham & Cheese, Steak and Cheddar (the only place you'll see the word or product of cheddar cheese), Chicken and Gravy and Onion and Cheese. The one that takes the cake, though, is the Prawn Cocktail flavored chips we saw in Gibraltar. Absolutely revolting.
2. Wine costs as little as 0.75 Euros. (Note: GOOD wine does not cost as little as 0.75 Euros).
3. They hardly ever have chocolate for dessert here.
4. There are no bagels, nor peanut butter in this whole city.
5. For groceries, the Sevillanos tote extremely fashionable rollable luggage to and from the grocery store. It is so fancy and pretty looking, that at first, when I was walking out of the grocery store, I was wondering where all these travelers were coming from. Then I saw string cheese coming out of one of them. I've never lived in a city before, so maybe this is normal in NYC, etc. but I thought it was very interesting.
6. This has nothing to do with Spanish culture, but the other day in grammar class, we did an exercise where we complete the sentence "If i were a ___ I would be ____" in Spanish, which has a somewhat tricky verb formation. For example, "If I was a fruit, I'd be a watermelon." The teacher then read everyones responses out loud and we had to guess who's response it was. She read the sentence "If I was a song, I'd be "Party in the USA" and the whole class started calling out "Liz" "Liz." And when she said "If I were a celebrity, I'd be Miley Cyrus" everyone said "definitely Liz." This was serious cause for concern, as I am completely unaware of what 16-year-old-teeny-bopper vibes I am giving off. Not surprisingly, when she said "If I were a sport, I'd be basketball" people started to change their minds.
7. Colocao is an acceptable drink for all ages. In the mornings, people either drink cafe (coffee) or colocao. Colocao is no different from chocolate Nesquik (it is even made by Nestle). They serve it at every cafe from morning till midnight. I think it's really cool that you can order a chocolate Nesquik at a restaurant and not feel like you recently learned your multiplication tables.
8. All the nutrition information on food packages is in the metric system, and I have no idea what goes into the food I eat for lunch and dinner. One one hand, there is a large amount of fried food and completely skim milk is a rarity, but on the other, I am averaging 4 pieces of fruit per day, and don't regularly eat snacks or dessert. Also, all the clothes I brought here are stretchy, or at least very forgiving. Consequently, the window of possible weights I could be right now is anywhere between 100 pounds and 150 pounds. Neither would surprise me at this point.
9. They think Abercrombie is heaven on Earth. At the birthday party, after I was introduced as the American exchange student, one girl immediately asked me if I knew what Abercrombie & Fitch was. When I answered affirmatively, she began excitedly describing the store to her surrounding friends. She described it as "the most incredible clothing store. It's like a discoteca! It's huge with 5 floors and music blaring on each one. It smells like cologne, and everyone who works there is a model! People shop for clothes, which are sooo cute and fashionable, and dance to the music while they do so." I have personally never seen anyone dancing in Abercrombie and Fitch, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the store she visited in New York city was a unqiue one.
The adventure continues....
Monos Monos
Hola!
It has been a while since I posted but not too too much has happened.
On Wednesday night we went to the theater. We saw a Spanish play called “Blood Wedding.” I’m not much of a theater buff, and many of the symbolic characters such as the moon (a woman dressed in a marshmallow-esque costume) went right over my head. I’m not sure if I would have understood this in English. But it was still a good experience.
Rachel was in Barcelona for the weekend visiting a friend, and our Irish roommate was in Madrid, so I was sola en la casa. On Thursday night we met some kids from Syracuse who are studying here and being “experts” of Sevilla after 2 weeks here, showed them a good time.
On Friday I cooked “carne con tomate” (meat with tomatoes) with my padre. It is basically just very tender pieces of pork in a rich tomato sauce. It was excellent. At night I went out with a few friends from Union. This week quite a few abroad programs arrived in Seville, so I kept forgetting we were in Spain. EVERYONE was speaking English in the bars and discotecas that we went to. EVERYONE. It was kind of frustrating because we should be practicing our Spanish.
Also on Friday night, my host family held a birthday party for their 19 year old daughter. I went downstairs to mingle and have a drink before heading out, and it was a great time. Everyone there was so well-dressed and well-put together. All the girls were beautiful and looked like models. They were very friendly, too, and were eager to introduce me to everyone. It was hard to follow conversations sometimes, though, because the music was loud, and the young people talk so fast. One girl was talking to me about a boy, and then mentioned 7 ugly and fat girls. After discussing how mad she was at her boyfriend for another few minutes, I finally realized what was going on. “Oooh, the fat and ugly girls were girls he cheated on you with? That’s terrible!” She was probably wondering why I had been approvingly nodding my head and smiling during the conversation before I came to this realization. I tried to make up for my mistake by reiterating 6 or 7 times how that was crazy and how she was so pretty etc. etc.
When I got home at 4:30, the party was still going on. It ended at 6:45. When I got up at 7:15 for my field trip, the house looked eerily similar to the post-party scene in 16 candles, in which they find a freshman underneath the glass of the coffee table, littered with debris. There was a pearl necklace draped over the toasted, glasses everywhere and a thong in the middle of the kitchen floor. What a party. My host mother forgot to make me a lunch, most likely because the party had been a little crazier than expected, so I tried to poke around to make myself one. I snagged ham and cheese out of the fridge, and at the last second decided to double check to make sure it was ham. Definitely NOT ham. So that went right back into the fridge and I ended up with a honey and strawberry jam sandwich, which wasn’t ideal, but could have been worse.
Yesterday we went to Gibraltar, which is a British colony in southern Spain. It is right on the coast and you can see Africa very clearly across the strait. It was pretty crazy that the currency, language and overall culture could be so different in such a tiny pocket in the middle of Spain. It was strange to think of why these people chose to live there. It is no longer used for military purposes, so what draws people to live there? They are surrounded on all borders by people who speak a different language and use different currency.
The only thing I can think of is the monkeys. There are tons and tons of monkeys on the cliffs of Gibraltar. Well, technically, their lack of tail makes them apes. The word for monkey is “mono” and the word for cute is also “mono” (coincidence? I think not). I was standing on the street, taking a picture of a little ape in front of me, when all of a sudden something landed on my head. There was a creature the size of a fat house-cat pulling at my hair and squawking. People started grabbing their cameras and snapping shots of this ridiculous scene. Within a minute, it jumped off onto the dashboard of a passing car, wreaking more havoc. It was crazy!!!!
We also went in some caves. Our tour guide provided us with no information about them, so all I can tell you is that they were caves and they were very very cool. We were over-tired and began taking goofy pictures pretending to be spelunkers or bats or kids in the movie The Goonies which was great fun, but was cause for concern from the girls from U Maryland who were also on the tour with us. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, but we made the most of it.
A long day in Gibraltar had me in for the night, Skyping with the family. It was a much needed rest. Today was reserved for preparing my oral presentation on globalization, and tonight will be more of the same.
Overall, a great weekend! I’m out of snacks, though, so tomorrow I’m heading to the market place to buy chocolate covered banana chips and other tasty goodies.
Hasta luego!
It has been a while since I posted but not too too much has happened.
On Wednesday night we went to the theater. We saw a Spanish play called “Blood Wedding.” I’m not much of a theater buff, and many of the symbolic characters such as the moon (a woman dressed in a marshmallow-esque costume) went right over my head. I’m not sure if I would have understood this in English. But it was still a good experience.
Rachel was in Barcelona for the weekend visiting a friend, and our Irish roommate was in Madrid, so I was sola en la casa. On Thursday night we met some kids from Syracuse who are studying here and being “experts” of Sevilla after 2 weeks here, showed them a good time.
On Friday I cooked “carne con tomate” (meat with tomatoes) with my padre. It is basically just very tender pieces of pork in a rich tomato sauce. It was excellent. At night I went out with a few friends from Union. This week quite a few abroad programs arrived in Seville, so I kept forgetting we were in Spain. EVERYONE was speaking English in the bars and discotecas that we went to. EVERYONE. It was kind of frustrating because we should be practicing our Spanish.
Also on Friday night, my host family held a birthday party for their 19 year old daughter. I went downstairs to mingle and have a drink before heading out, and it was a great time. Everyone there was so well-dressed and well-put together. All the girls were beautiful and looked like models. They were very friendly, too, and were eager to introduce me to everyone. It was hard to follow conversations sometimes, though, because the music was loud, and the young people talk so fast. One girl was talking to me about a boy, and then mentioned 7 ugly and fat girls. After discussing how mad she was at her boyfriend for another few minutes, I finally realized what was going on. “Oooh, the fat and ugly girls were girls he cheated on you with? That’s terrible!” She was probably wondering why I had been approvingly nodding my head and smiling during the conversation before I came to this realization. I tried to make up for my mistake by reiterating 6 or 7 times how that was crazy and how she was so pretty etc. etc.
When I got home at 4:30, the party was still going on. It ended at 6:45. When I got up at 7:15 for my field trip, the house looked eerily similar to the post-party scene in 16 candles, in which they find a freshman underneath the glass of the coffee table, littered with debris. There was a pearl necklace draped over the toasted, glasses everywhere and a thong in the middle of the kitchen floor. What a party. My host mother forgot to make me a lunch, most likely because the party had been a little crazier than expected, so I tried to poke around to make myself one. I snagged ham and cheese out of the fridge, and at the last second decided to double check to make sure it was ham. Definitely NOT ham. So that went right back into the fridge and I ended up with a honey and strawberry jam sandwich, which wasn’t ideal, but could have been worse.
Yesterday we went to Gibraltar, which is a British colony in southern Spain. It is right on the coast and you can see Africa very clearly across the strait. It was pretty crazy that the currency, language and overall culture could be so different in such a tiny pocket in the middle of Spain. It was strange to think of why these people chose to live there. It is no longer used for military purposes, so what draws people to live there? They are surrounded on all borders by people who speak a different language and use different currency.
The only thing I can think of is the monkeys. There are tons and tons of monkeys on the cliffs of Gibraltar. Well, technically, their lack of tail makes them apes. The word for monkey is “mono” and the word for cute is also “mono” (coincidence? I think not). I was standing on the street, taking a picture of a little ape in front of me, when all of a sudden something landed on my head. There was a creature the size of a fat house-cat pulling at my hair and squawking. People started grabbing their cameras and snapping shots of this ridiculous scene. Within a minute, it jumped off onto the dashboard of a passing car, wreaking more havoc. It was crazy!!!!
We also went in some caves. Our tour guide provided us with no information about them, so all I can tell you is that they were caves and they were very very cool. We were over-tired and began taking goofy pictures pretending to be spelunkers or bats or kids in the movie The Goonies which was great fun, but was cause for concern from the girls from U Maryland who were also on the tour with us. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, but we made the most of it.
A long day in Gibraltar had me in for the night, Skyping with the family. It was a much needed rest. Today was reserved for preparing my oral presentation on globalization, and tonight will be more of the same.
Overall, a great weekend! I’m out of snacks, though, so tomorrow I’m heading to the market place to buy chocolate covered banana chips and other tasty goodies.
Hasta luego!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sin Nata
Hola!
We've been here for a week and a half now and it feels like we've been here for months! I can't believe it. Classes now feel routine and the excessive amounts of pork profucts doesn't even phase me anymore.
Our Spanish cinema and theater class is muy interesante. This morning we watched a film with Antonio Banderras as a 20 year old. It was a very explicit film about gay lovers called La Ley de Deseo (The Law of Desire). I have never seen films like this before so it should be interesting. Also, at this point I can't watch spanish movies without the subtitles, but hopefully by the end of the trimester I won't have to read them at the bottom of the screen.
My Spanish has improved, though. I had a long conversation with mi madre today, who was convincing me to go to the plaza de torros for the bull fighting. I didn't realize that the bull is killed in front of the audience at the end. The cruelty of the whole spectacle is a little unsettling to me, but she said that it's so important for the Spanish culture that I should definitely go. Also, the padre told me he can score me some cheap tickets as long as I don't mind sitting in the shadows of the stadium which are colder than in the sun. But since the weather is in the high 60s, I think it beats a Pats game in December.
We also talked about peanut butter. They don't sell it in Spain. My madre has never tried it, but her daughter did in the US and loves it. They only have Nutella (hazelnut chocolate spread). I can't believe they don't have it at all here since there are so many desserts, sandwiches, candies and other foods are prepared with peanut butter in the United States. Along with the brown sugar, my mum is going to send some peanut butter and blueberry jam (they also don't have blueberries here). The idea of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is crazy to them. Well, pretty much any meal without pork is crazy to them.
Last night I copied down recipes for Carne con Tomate and Cerdo con Brandy which I will be observing later this week and, according to my padre, making myself under his supervision by mid-trimester. It should be good.
Hopefully I can teach them how to make chocolate chip cookies or something else American. The only thing I've brought from America so far is Eskimo kisses, which I showed to the three year old. Now I can't talk to her for 10 seconds without receiving a nose rub from her, or "un beso de la nariz" (kiss of the nose). It's adorable.
Although I just said my language skills were on the rise, I did have a bit of a communication problem earlier. I went to Starbucks to do my readings for class, and ordered a hot chocolate, which I've done before. The barista gave me two options for the hotchocolate, to which I responded "sin nata" which means "without whipped cream." he repeated the question 3 times, and each time I answered "sin nata." Finally he said, in English "this" (pointing to a mug) or "paper cup." woops. He was very nice, though, and when he had to close the top for for cleaning, he made sure I understood what was going on and kept saying "me entiendes?" (do you understand) "estas segura?" (are you SURE?). "sabes lo que digo?" (you really know what I'm saying).
Rachel's friends from Connecticut are here traveling on vacation so she is out on the town tonight, although the daughters told us that there would be no one out on a Monday night. I'm staying in casa.
I have to get crackin' on my readings for my Immigration class. Rachel and I are giving a one hour presentation in class a week from tomorrow. I have never done a one hour oral presentation in English! This woman is loca.
Buenas noches (o buenas tardes para vosotros en los Estados Unidos)!
We've been here for a week and a half now and it feels like we've been here for months! I can't believe it. Classes now feel routine and the excessive amounts of pork profucts doesn't even phase me anymore.
Our Spanish cinema and theater class is muy interesante. This morning we watched a film with Antonio Banderras as a 20 year old. It was a very explicit film about gay lovers called La Ley de Deseo (The Law of Desire). I have never seen films like this before so it should be interesting. Also, at this point I can't watch spanish movies without the subtitles, but hopefully by the end of the trimester I won't have to read them at the bottom of the screen.
My Spanish has improved, though. I had a long conversation with mi madre today, who was convincing me to go to the plaza de torros for the bull fighting. I didn't realize that the bull is killed in front of the audience at the end. The cruelty of the whole spectacle is a little unsettling to me, but she said that it's so important for the Spanish culture that I should definitely go. Also, the padre told me he can score me some cheap tickets as long as I don't mind sitting in the shadows of the stadium which are colder than in the sun. But since the weather is in the high 60s, I think it beats a Pats game in December.
We also talked about peanut butter. They don't sell it in Spain. My madre has never tried it, but her daughter did in the US and loves it. They only have Nutella (hazelnut chocolate spread). I can't believe they don't have it at all here since there are so many desserts, sandwiches, candies and other foods are prepared with peanut butter in the United States. Along with the brown sugar, my mum is going to send some peanut butter and blueberry jam (they also don't have blueberries here). The idea of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is crazy to them. Well, pretty much any meal without pork is crazy to them.
Last night I copied down recipes for Carne con Tomate and Cerdo con Brandy which I will be observing later this week and, according to my padre, making myself under his supervision by mid-trimester. It should be good.
Hopefully I can teach them how to make chocolate chip cookies or something else American. The only thing I've brought from America so far is Eskimo kisses, which I showed to the three year old. Now I can't talk to her for 10 seconds without receiving a nose rub from her, or "un beso de la nariz" (kiss of the nose). It's adorable.
Although I just said my language skills were on the rise, I did have a bit of a communication problem earlier. I went to Starbucks to do my readings for class, and ordered a hot chocolate, which I've done before. The barista gave me two options for the hotchocolate, to which I responded "sin nata" which means "without whipped cream." he repeated the question 3 times, and each time I answered "sin nata." Finally he said, in English "this" (pointing to a mug) or "paper cup." woops. He was very nice, though, and when he had to close the top for for cleaning, he made sure I understood what was going on and kept saying "me entiendes?" (do you understand) "estas segura?" (are you SURE?). "sabes lo que digo?" (you really know what I'm saying).
Rachel's friends from Connecticut are here traveling on vacation so she is out on the town tonight, although the daughters told us that there would be no one out on a Monday night. I'm staying in casa.
I have to get crackin' on my readings for my Immigration class. Rachel and I are giving a one hour presentation in class a week from tomorrow. I have never done a one hour oral presentation in English! This woman is loca.
Buenas noches (o buenas tardes para vosotros en los Estados Unidos)!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sand Castle Sugar
It has been a very fun past few days. Rachel and I have a new roommate named Susana. She actually lives in the room adjacent to us, but we all share a bathroom. She is from Ireland but goes to school at Cornell and is here until June. She’s a basketball player on scholarship, but since tearing her ACL, she was allowed to go to Spain for the season. She really lucked out with this house, because there is an elevator right to our room, so she doesn’t have to walk up 4 flights of stairs every day. She’s very sweet and extroverted and it should be fun living with her.
On Thursday night we went out to a popular bar in the barrio Santa Cruz. There weren’t many people out in the city, but the people who were out were at this bar because it was packed. We finally had the night of Sevilliano-mingling we’d been anticipating. We got to practice our Spanish, and an older couple we befriended wrote down an entire page of recommendations for places to go for tapas, breakfast, clubs, etc. The people here are so friendly. Even though our Spanish wasn’t very polished, they were very engaged in conversation, and one woman even helped us out with our slang words. Since we’ve only studied Spanish out of textbooks, the exclamations we’ve learned are most similar to “Golly Gee Willickers!” or “Neat!” which aren’t necessarily very cool to say. So we learned some new phrases and now hopefully we’ll blend in more now.
Friday we woke up early and took a 2 hour bus ride to Ronda, which is a town in southern Andalucia. It is the spot that Hemmingway talks about in several of his works. I’m not really a sucker for pretty landscapes, but this was UNBELIEVABLE. It was stunningly beautiful. It was how I imagined Tuscany to be. Beautiful rolling hills and unbelievably green grass. We toured the Arab-constructed baths and also went into a bull fighting ring. They had a lot of cute shops and pastelerias (pastery shops) which we took advantage of. It was truly a great day. Rachel left for Morrocco from Ronda to meet up with some friends from Connecticut who were traveling in the area and she’ll be back today.
On Friday night for dinner we had fish. I am sure it was fish because the fish were whole. Head, eyes, tail, everything. Tiny little silver fish the size of my index finger. I was instructed to “snap off the head and feed it to the Chihuahua, snap of the tail and eat it. Removing “la espina” (the spine) was optional. I took my plate to the table in awe. I was brave and ate them, and they weren’t half bad. I expected to have a harder time eating them with the heads in a pile on the side of my plate anticipating consumption by the dog, but maybe all those dissections of pigs and rats in bio have made me numb to that sort of thing.
After finding and eating Nemo(s), I went to a discoteca with some friends, and it was a private party but somehow they let us in without the 40 Euro cover charge. It was a really fun place with cool interior decorations and 2 dancers dressed in crazy costumes on platforms. It was a long walk back, but my friends Nikki and Caitlin live 30 seconds away from me, so we all walked together.
On Saturday I woke up early to buy my ingredients for apple crisp. We were having a large dinner (5 kilos of pork) to be served to the whole family and the grandmother and great aunt. At the first supermarket, no one could help me find brown sugar. The showed me “azucar Moreno” which is literally sugar that is brown, like Sugar in the Raw. It was the same texture and consistency as regular sugar, which was not what I wanted. They probably thought I was loca because I was describing this product as something that had “una textura que tiene arena cuando se esta hacienda castillos de arena” which means the texture of sand when you are making sand castles. They thought I was a lunatic. After looking online, I found that brown sugar is not sold in spain. It simply does not exist. Apple crisp is not a recipe which permits substitution of brown sugar, so unfortunately the dessert was a no go. I now have lots of oatmeal, flour and 13 apples to eat. But sadly enough, I’m not even worried about eating the 13 apples myself. I will have no problem. They are so sweet. My mum was so disappointed about the apple crisp failure that she is sending me brown sugar, which the family was actually really excited about. Apparently they were very excited to try it. They have never had a dessert made of apples.
Last night it was one student’s birthday, so we went to a club called Buddah. We had a reserved table on the third floor, which we didn’t realize was the 35+ floor (not officially, but that was the crown there). But it was really fun even though the people dancing next to us were 40 years our senior. We listened to bad American remixes of rap songs and danced for hours. It was great.
I have also been teaching the 3 year old some English. She can count to ten in English and can say “You Win!” because that’s what her electronic game says when she accidentally has it on the English setting. We watch Dora la Exploradora (which actually DOES rhyme in Spanish, unlike in English) regularly. I also watched parts of Homeward Bound en espanolm which Julia did not find nearly as entertaining as I did.
Today I have some homework to do and then class in the morning.
Hasta luego!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Albondigas
It has been raining a lot, but I think today was the last of it . The upcoming week looks completely sunny and in the high 60s! Yahoo!
I went running this morning at 7:20, but the sun doesn't rise until after 8:30 here, so it was as dark as it would have been at 2:00AM when I left. And there were probably less people out and about in Seville than there would be at 2:00 AM. Hardly anyone was awake! I ran along the river, but it wasn't very pretty since I could barely see it. Fortunately, I didn't get lost, and hopefully I am burning off any unwanted side effects of that unfortunate milk mixup.
Clases were great and we visited the palaces of the Kings from over 8 centuries ago (los Reales Alcazares de Sevilla). They were absolutely beautiful with ornate designs covering the walls and tons of orange trees in a beautiful garden. There were also many artists there, painting unbelievable pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but there should be plenty of photos posted online from my group that I will be able to snag and post here.
For siesta we ate albondigas (meatballs) with rice. They put "tomate frite" which tastes just like ketchup on all pasta and rice. Gross! I passed on that one, feigning a smile when I tried it on one spoonful of my rice. The family talked about an exchange student they had in the past who apparantly was very large and ate a lot of food. "As much as my father!" one of the older daughters said. I made a quick glance over to mi padre's plate. Five meatballs on his plate.....and five meatballs on my plate. Greeeeat..... I slowly dragged a piece of bread over my plate to conceal a large mound of rice and one of my meatballs and nodded in enthusiastic agreement with the daughter. "Wow" I said "as much as your FATHER!? That's crazy and excessive!"
A couple of my friends from school and I took shelter from the rain in a tapas bar after class. I ordered pollo sevillana, which is a traditional chicken dish served with mushrooms, onions and peppers. Tapas are served on tiny plates and cost only around 2 euros, which is great. They are much more fulfilling snacks thann those 100 calorie snack packs.
For dinner we ate a hanburger patty with cheese, a mixture of vegetables, peas and some pork product and leftover tortilla espanola. Although I did not enjoy it at the time, I suppose it was good that we plowed through about 50 lbs of green and yellow squash this summer from the garden. Last June I wouldn't have gone near the vegetable medley on my plate this evening, which was filled with various varieties of sauteed squashes. But after three months of grilled and sauteed summer squash and zuccini this past summer, I was able to take on the whole serving without separating all the different vegetables into little piles and eating only select colors/varieties. We had mandrinos (clementines) for dessert. It was great.
Tomorrow, to celebrate the arrival of the other exchange student, we are having a meat and tomato dish for siesta. It should be great.
Hasta luego!
I went running this morning at 7:20, but the sun doesn't rise until after 8:30 here, so it was as dark as it would have been at 2:00AM when I left. And there were probably less people out and about in Seville than there would be at 2:00 AM. Hardly anyone was awake! I ran along the river, but it wasn't very pretty since I could barely see it. Fortunately, I didn't get lost, and hopefully I am burning off any unwanted side effects of that unfortunate milk mixup.
Clases were great and we visited the palaces of the Kings from over 8 centuries ago (los Reales Alcazares de Sevilla). They were absolutely beautiful with ornate designs covering the walls and tons of orange trees in a beautiful garden. There were also many artists there, painting unbelievable pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but there should be plenty of photos posted online from my group that I will be able to snag and post here.
For siesta we ate albondigas (meatballs) with rice. They put "tomate frite" which tastes just like ketchup on all pasta and rice. Gross! I passed on that one, feigning a smile when I tried it on one spoonful of my rice. The family talked about an exchange student they had in the past who apparantly was very large and ate a lot of food. "As much as my father!" one of the older daughters said. I made a quick glance over to mi padre's plate. Five meatballs on his plate.....and five meatballs on my plate. Greeeeat..... I slowly dragged a piece of bread over my plate to conceal a large mound of rice and one of my meatballs and nodded in enthusiastic agreement with the daughter. "Wow" I said "as much as your FATHER!? That's crazy and excessive!"
A couple of my friends from school and I took shelter from the rain in a tapas bar after class. I ordered pollo sevillana, which is a traditional chicken dish served with mushrooms, onions and peppers. Tapas are served on tiny plates and cost only around 2 euros, which is great. They are much more fulfilling snacks thann those 100 calorie snack packs.
For dinner we ate a hanburger patty with cheese, a mixture of vegetables, peas and some pork product and leftover tortilla espanola. Although I did not enjoy it at the time, I suppose it was good that we plowed through about 50 lbs of green and yellow squash this summer from the garden. Last June I wouldn't have gone near the vegetable medley on my plate this evening, which was filled with various varieties of sauteed squashes. But after three months of grilled and sauteed summer squash and zuccini this past summer, I was able to take on the whole serving without separating all the different vegetables into little piles and eating only select colors/varieties. We had mandrinos (clementines) for dessert. It was great.
Tomorrow, to celebrate the arrival of the other exchange student, we are having a meat and tomato dish for siesta. It should be great.
Hasta luego!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Lost in translation
I am very tired from a long day of classes but a few quick notes....
After grammar class today I ventured off to do my reading in a cafe. Since there are limited areas of Seville I can navigate by myself without getting lost, my only choice of cafe was Starbucks. I ordered the same drink I order in the United States (hot chocolate), sat next to a couple from New York, and listened to Frank Sinatra and Wilco, which was playing in the shop. Very enjoyable, but I'm not sure there was one un-American thing about it. So I'm going to try to go for a more authentic Seville experience next time. But I did learn the word for (whipped) cream (nata), which made me sound like a spanish culinary vocabulary expert when mi madre asked me if I could identify any ingredients in today's pasta cabonara.
During la siesta, in addition to naming pasta cabonara ingredients, we also discussed breakfast. Mi madre asked what we generally eat for breakfast in the house (we get up before the rest of the family to go to class). We told her cereal and milk. She explained that there hadn't been any milk in the fridge all week. But there was the special protein drink for the 3 year old daughter, who is trying to gain weight. Basically, if you've seen Mean Girls, this is like the Caltine bars part. Bottom line: it may have been a better option diet-wise to be having my cereal with eggnog.
Also during siesta, the padre was discussing the 5 kilos of pork he purchased for this weekend. Since I mentioned I like cooking, I am to watch while he soaks out the fat and blood in three thrilling installments, and prepares a tomato sauce. This will certainly be interesting to watch. He asked if I would like to prepare a meal for the family. I was to nervous to accept this offer, but I did volunteer dessert. So we will be having my great-grandmother Dulcie's apple crisp for dessert with the pork meal this weekend. Since I didn't know the words for baking dish, cinnamon or oats, and my definition of oatmeal was extremely ambiguous, I'm pretty sure he thinks I am putting chopped apples in a bowl with some kind of corn product on top. But we'll see how it goes.
We had our first immigation class today. It should be very interesting, but a lot of work. Our professor is a professor at the University of Seville, and I think that she forgets sometimes we are not native speakers. But the topic sounds very interesting.
Also, for dinner we had chicken and stars soup (I'm still only 65% sure this family isn't American) and tortilla espanola, which is my favorite! It is a potato omlette! Eggs and patatas = mis favoritos! I am also hooked on having yogurt for dessert every night.
Rachel and I also got lost on the way to school yesterday morning and today this afternoon. Hopefully our "sentido de orientacion" improves.
Hasta luego!
After grammar class today I ventured off to do my reading in a cafe. Since there are limited areas of Seville I can navigate by myself without getting lost, my only choice of cafe was Starbucks. I ordered the same drink I order in the United States (hot chocolate), sat next to a couple from New York, and listened to Frank Sinatra and Wilco, which was playing in the shop. Very enjoyable, but I'm not sure there was one un-American thing about it. So I'm going to try to go for a more authentic Seville experience next time. But I did learn the word for (whipped) cream (nata), which made me sound like a spanish culinary vocabulary expert when mi madre asked me if I could identify any ingredients in today's pasta cabonara.
During la siesta, in addition to naming pasta cabonara ingredients, we also discussed breakfast. Mi madre asked what we generally eat for breakfast in the house (we get up before the rest of the family to go to class). We told her cereal and milk. She explained that there hadn't been any milk in the fridge all week. But there was the special protein drink for the 3 year old daughter, who is trying to gain weight. Basically, if you've seen Mean Girls, this is like the Caltine bars part. Bottom line: it may have been a better option diet-wise to be having my cereal with eggnog.
Also during siesta, the padre was discussing the 5 kilos of pork he purchased for this weekend. Since I mentioned I like cooking, I am to watch while he soaks out the fat and blood in three thrilling installments, and prepares a tomato sauce. This will certainly be interesting to watch. He asked if I would like to prepare a meal for the family. I was to nervous to accept this offer, but I did volunteer dessert. So we will be having my great-grandmother Dulcie's apple crisp for dessert with the pork meal this weekend. Since I didn't know the words for baking dish, cinnamon or oats, and my definition of oatmeal was extremely ambiguous, I'm pretty sure he thinks I am putting chopped apples in a bowl with some kind of corn product on top. But we'll see how it goes.
We had our first immigation class today. It should be very interesting, but a lot of work. Our professor is a professor at the University of Seville, and I think that she forgets sometimes we are not native speakers. But the topic sounds very interesting.
Also, for dinner we had chicken and stars soup (I'm still only 65% sure this family isn't American) and tortilla espanola, which is my favorite! It is a potato omlette! Eggs and patatas = mis favoritos! I am also hooked on having yogurt for dessert every night.
Rachel and I also got lost on the way to school yesterday morning and today this afternoon. Hopefully our "sentido de orientacion" improves.
Hasta luego!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Nieve en Sevilla
Yesterday it snowed. For the first time in 60 years in Seville. I can't believe it. Seville is used to "cold" winter temperatures of approximately 55 degrees, so this came as a shock to everyone. Apparantly Europe is being hit hard by this cold streak. The real issue, though, is the central heating. Generally, Rachel and I are reluctant to go out at night, go shopping, go running, eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, or do anything that requires us to leave our spot huddled on the floor around the space heater in our bedroom (which we are only permitted to have on while awake). Not having central heating during this "cold crisis" has been an interesting experience. The bathroom has no heat, and I dread the 20 seconds between undressing and hot water each and every day. When we DO manage to meet up with our friends from school for coffee or tapas all we talk about is the cold. (ex. "I found that placing my socks on the heater before wearing them can sometimes be helpful for frostbite on the toes" or "if you tuck your mittens into the sleeves of your winter coat before falling asleep, your hands stay warmer during the night").
Fortunately, after 4 days of unbearable cold, it is starting to warm up (OUTSIDE). It was in the 50s today, and it was a completely different city. People were in the streets after work and there was a much nicer feel to the city.
We've been eating lots of soup and bread, and have tried out a few tapas bars. I always look for the word "patatas," which are generally served with eggs and onions in "tortilla espanola" or with garlic mayonaise in "patatas alioli." Generally, I like the food a lot. It's nice to have a yogurt after dinner, and a piece of fruit after lunch. I love the soups and bread, and have gotten used to all the pork. However, there is a lot of fried food and mayo involved in Spanish cuisine which I am not yet accostomed to. And this weekend, my "padre" is teaching me how to make some kind of pork meat with a sauce made from what I deciphered to be peppers, tomatoes and blood (?). I also can't wait for Carmen (the housekeeper) to make tortilla espanola and paella (a traditional rice dish made with seafood).
Our first day of classes was today. We got lost on the way to school, but eventually made it. Than god Rachel has a sense of direction, because we would be in Morocco if I was leading us to school. We are taking 3 courses. "El Cine y Teatro Contemporanio de Espana" (Contemporary Spanish Film and Theater), "Inmigracion" (Immigration in Spain) and a grammar course. Our classes are with all Union students, because we cann't enroll like normal students due to Union's trimesters. Our professors seem very nice, and it should be a fun term. We are going to the Spanish theater next week!
Rachel and I also went to the grocery store today. We selected some fruit and avocados, some dried fruit which we translated to be oversized raisins (hopefully) and some trailmix. Upon reaching the register, with a line of about 9 people behind us, the cashier asked us how much each fruit weighed. Being stupid Americans, we did not realize you have to weigh your fruit in the produce sections so we returned all our fruit and purchased only the gigantic raisins and trailmix.
On our list of things to do next is churros, traditional hot chocolate of Spain (so thick you can stand a spoon in it), and flamenco.
Hasta luego!
Also, to see my roommate Rachel's blog and more pictures of our adventures, see the following: http://rachgoestospain.blogspot.com/
Note: It's a good thing pictures are digitally dated. All of my pictures from both Spain and Paris, I am bundled up in the same coat (in reality, 3 coats) and scarf, making the trip look like a one day excursion through europe, and making me look like an overstuffed teddy bear with so many layers.
Fortunately, after 4 days of unbearable cold, it is starting to warm up (OUTSIDE). It was in the 50s today, and it was a completely different city. People were in the streets after work and there was a much nicer feel to the city.
We've been eating lots of soup and bread, and have tried out a few tapas bars. I always look for the word "patatas," which are generally served with eggs and onions in "tortilla espanola" or with garlic mayonaise in "patatas alioli." Generally, I like the food a lot. It's nice to have a yogurt after dinner, and a piece of fruit after lunch. I love the soups and bread, and have gotten used to all the pork. However, there is a lot of fried food and mayo involved in Spanish cuisine which I am not yet accostomed to. And this weekend, my "padre" is teaching me how to make some kind of pork meat with a sauce made from what I deciphered to be peppers, tomatoes and blood (?). I also can't wait for Carmen (the housekeeper) to make tortilla espanola and paella (a traditional rice dish made with seafood).
Our first day of classes was today. We got lost on the way to school, but eventually made it. Than god Rachel has a sense of direction, because we would be in Morocco if I was leading us to school. We are taking 3 courses. "El Cine y Teatro Contemporanio de Espana" (Contemporary Spanish Film and Theater), "Inmigracion" (Immigration in Spain) and a grammar course. Our classes are with all Union students, because we cann't enroll like normal students due to Union's trimesters. Our professors seem very nice, and it should be a fun term. We are going to the Spanish theater next week!
Rachel and I also went to the grocery store today. We selected some fruit and avocados, some dried fruit which we translated to be oversized raisins (hopefully) and some trailmix. Upon reaching the register, with a line of about 9 people behind us, the cashier asked us how much each fruit weighed. Being stupid Americans, we did not realize you have to weigh your fruit in the produce sections so we returned all our fruit and purchased only the gigantic raisins and trailmix.
On our list of things to do next is churros, traditional hot chocolate of Spain (so thick you can stand a spoon in it), and flamenco.
Hasta luego!
Also, to see my roommate Rachel's blog and more pictures of our adventures, see the following: http://rachgoestospain.blogspot.com/
Note: It's a good thing pictures are digitally dated. All of my pictures from both Spain and Paris, I am bundled up in the same coat (in reality, 3 coats) and scarf, making the trip look like a one day excursion through europe, and making me look like an overstuffed teddy bear with so many layers.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
La Casa
Hola!
Finalmente estoy en Espana. We arrived in Seville on Thursday afternoon and met our group from Union at Hotel Bequer, named after a famous Spanish poet. The city is beautiful, with orange trees everywhere. Our group consists of 18 girls and 1 boy. We had a three course lunch at the hotel. Every meal is served with bread (yahoo!). I didn't know that we were being served 3 courses, so I ate my two pieces of bread after just one course. The first course was a piece of ham, a vegetable cole slaw in a tortilla and pasta salad. Next, we were served chicken in gravy and french fries. Lastly we received an ice cream sundae with hot fudge and a really interesting version of whipped cream which was very thick - almost like a cross between whipped cream and white mousse. We received our school-issued phones, went through a brief orientation session. For dinner we had a fancy lasagna which was a little too different for my taste, and a tiramisu for dessert, which was great.
That night we went out to a "chillout/bar/discoteca" (one name for each floor) called Kudeta, which means Buddha in English. It was a very cool atmosphere, with cozy seating and cool decorations. Unfortunately, I'm sure we drew plenty of attention to ourselves as a group of ten speaking in English. I hope to go out to places with fewer Americans and other tourists in the future, but the evening was fun. We arrived at 12:30 and left at 2:30, because everyone was exhausted from the day. But the place was just starting to fill up as we left. The bar tender told us that it generally doesn't start filling up until 3 AM! Most clubs and bars don't even open until midnight, and close at 7 or 8 in the morning, at which point everyone goes out for breakfast before going to sleep. I am having serious doubts about my ability to do that.
Yesterday we had a tour of our school. The school is called Centro Norteamericano. The school hosts international students learning Spanish and Sevillanos who are studying English. We have class Monday through Thursday, from 8AM-7Pm with a break for siesta between 2-5 PM. We took a placement exam to see which level classes we would be placed in. My hope is that placing "chaleco" which means "vest" in English, in the "furniture" column of the vocabulary section won't land me in the lower section. Other than that, I think I'll be OK.
We then went to see our host families! Our house is within walking distance from school, which is great (most people have to take the bus) and it is located in the heart of Seville, with tons of zapaterias (shoes stores), clothing stores, jewelery stores and fresh produce located right around the corner. The apartment is unbelievable. I expected to be crammed into the corner of a three room flat with an old widow, but instead we are living on our own floor of a 4-story apartment with a husband and wife, 3 daughters (ages 18, 23 and 3) and a chihuahua named Neco. They call the youngest, "hija sorpresa" which means surprise daughter. Another exchange student will be joining us in the house from another university next week.
Lunch is served during "la siesta" and is the largest meal of the day. It is eaten as a family, and consists of bread, a soup, and another course. Generally in Spain la Senora of the house cooks the meal, but in this household, the housekeeper cooks (I am 75% sure that this is what they were saying). We had bread, beef and potato soup in tomato broth, and salad of ham and corn and iceberg lettuce with olive oil. It was delicious. For dessert we had bananas. The 18 year old daughter speaks English, so it was good to have a translator when we didn't understand the word "firewood" and to tell us that the breakfast cereals here are the same.
After lunch everyone gathers around the coffee table in the living room, which is draped over with a heavy blanket. Everyone sits on the couches around the table and pulls the blanket onto their lap. There is a heater under the table, where everyone heats their feet. It is very different. The rest of the house is extremely cold, because there is no central heating. Rachel and I have a space heater which we are allowed to use when we are in the room (awake) but it is still extremely cold. Apparently, this is the coldest Seville has been in years (it's in the 40s), but it is still generally colder in these houses than in those of the United States. They are predicting snow for tomorrow. If it snows, it will be the first time any of the children have seen snow, as it has not snowed in seville in over 60 years. I can't believe that the one time I try to escape a new England winter, they are predicting the first snow in over half a century.
We went on a tour with our group and returned to our house for dinner. Dinner is generally not eaten together. We had a vegetable medley and bread. It was delicious. I am so excited that I have enjoyed the food thusfar because I was very worried after our meals at the hotel.
We spent the rest of the evening with the family. The youngest daughter is adorable. It was funny to see Dora la Exploradora, teaching children how to count to 10 in English. She also loves Hanna Montana and "globos" (balloons).
In the morning we had the Spanish equivalent of Cocoa Puffs. This family seems to be a little less traditional. In most households, breakfast is a piece of toast served with olive oil. Afterwards, we went for a run along the river. We anticipated a 2 mile run, but ended up running between 5 and 6 since we got lost in a park of orange trees.
We had a late lunch of fried egg, chicken and frenchfries. For dessert we had a candy made of egg yolk and sugar. It was tasty and very interesting.
Overall, I am thrilled with the host family and with everything. My only concern is the heat ( I slept in ski socks, 2 pairs of pants, a longsleeve shirt, a sweatshirt and a fleece last night under my covers. But I was comfortable, so I guess that's what I have to do). Rachel and I are planning on buying some boots (all the rebajas (sales) are going on now, since it's after Christmas) and making some plans for this evening. Classes start on Monday bright and early at 8AM.
Adios!
Finalmente estoy en Espana. We arrived in Seville on Thursday afternoon and met our group from Union at Hotel Bequer, named after a famous Spanish poet. The city is beautiful, with orange trees everywhere. Our group consists of 18 girls and 1 boy. We had a three course lunch at the hotel. Every meal is served with bread (yahoo!). I didn't know that we were being served 3 courses, so I ate my two pieces of bread after just one course. The first course was a piece of ham, a vegetable cole slaw in a tortilla and pasta salad. Next, we were served chicken in gravy and french fries. Lastly we received an ice cream sundae with hot fudge and a really interesting version of whipped cream which was very thick - almost like a cross between whipped cream and white mousse. We received our school-issued phones, went through a brief orientation session. For dinner we had a fancy lasagna which was a little too different for my taste, and a tiramisu for dessert, which was great.
That night we went out to a "chillout/bar/discoteca" (one name for each floor) called Kudeta, which means Buddha in English. It was a very cool atmosphere, with cozy seating and cool decorations. Unfortunately, I'm sure we drew plenty of attention to ourselves as a group of ten speaking in English. I hope to go out to places with fewer Americans and other tourists in the future, but the evening was fun. We arrived at 12:30 and left at 2:30, because everyone was exhausted from the day. But the place was just starting to fill up as we left. The bar tender told us that it generally doesn't start filling up until 3 AM! Most clubs and bars don't even open until midnight, and close at 7 or 8 in the morning, at which point everyone goes out for breakfast before going to sleep. I am having serious doubts about my ability to do that.
Yesterday we had a tour of our school. The school is called Centro Norteamericano. The school hosts international students learning Spanish and Sevillanos who are studying English. We have class Monday through Thursday, from 8AM-7Pm with a break for siesta between 2-5 PM. We took a placement exam to see which level classes we would be placed in. My hope is that placing "chaleco" which means "vest" in English, in the "furniture" column of the vocabulary section won't land me in the lower section. Other than that, I think I'll be OK.
We then went to see our host families! Our house is within walking distance from school, which is great (most people have to take the bus) and it is located in the heart of Seville, with tons of zapaterias (shoes stores), clothing stores, jewelery stores and fresh produce located right around the corner. The apartment is unbelievable. I expected to be crammed into the corner of a three room flat with an old widow, but instead we are living on our own floor of a 4-story apartment with a husband and wife, 3 daughters (ages 18, 23 and 3) and a chihuahua named Neco. They call the youngest, "hija sorpresa" which means surprise daughter. Another exchange student will be joining us in the house from another university next week.
Lunch is served during "la siesta" and is the largest meal of the day. It is eaten as a family, and consists of bread, a soup, and another course. Generally in Spain la Senora of the house cooks the meal, but in this household, the housekeeper cooks (I am 75% sure that this is what they were saying). We had bread, beef and potato soup in tomato broth, and salad of ham and corn and iceberg lettuce with olive oil. It was delicious. For dessert we had bananas. The 18 year old daughter speaks English, so it was good to have a translator when we didn't understand the word "firewood" and to tell us that the breakfast cereals here are the same.
After lunch everyone gathers around the coffee table in the living room, which is draped over with a heavy blanket. Everyone sits on the couches around the table and pulls the blanket onto their lap. There is a heater under the table, where everyone heats their feet. It is very different. The rest of the house is extremely cold, because there is no central heating. Rachel and I have a space heater which we are allowed to use when we are in the room (awake) but it is still extremely cold. Apparently, this is the coldest Seville has been in years (it's in the 40s), but it is still generally colder in these houses than in those of the United States. They are predicting snow for tomorrow. If it snows, it will be the first time any of the children have seen snow, as it has not snowed in seville in over 60 years. I can't believe that the one time I try to escape a new England winter, they are predicting the first snow in over half a century.
We went on a tour with our group and returned to our house for dinner. Dinner is generally not eaten together. We had a vegetable medley and bread. It was delicious. I am so excited that I have enjoyed the food thusfar because I was very worried after our meals at the hotel.
We spent the rest of the evening with the family. The youngest daughter is adorable. It was funny to see Dora la Exploradora, teaching children how to count to 10 in English. She also loves Hanna Montana and "globos" (balloons).
In the morning we had the Spanish equivalent of Cocoa Puffs. This family seems to be a little less traditional. In most households, breakfast is a piece of toast served with olive oil. Afterwards, we went for a run along the river. We anticipated a 2 mile run, but ended up running between 5 and 6 since we got lost in a park of orange trees.
We had a late lunch of fried egg, chicken and frenchfries. For dessert we had a candy made of egg yolk and sugar. It was tasty and very interesting.
Overall, I am thrilled with the host family and with everything. My only concern is the heat ( I slept in ski socks, 2 pairs of pants, a longsleeve shirt, a sweatshirt and a fleece last night under my covers. But I was comfortable, so I guess that's what I have to do). Rachel and I are planning on buying some boots (all the rebajas (sales) are going on now, since it's after Christmas) and making some plans for this evening. Classes start on Monday bright and early at 8AM.
Adios!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Snowflakes on the Pompidou
Bonjour!
Today was our last day in Paris - the time has really flown by! We started off the day with my favorite Parisian cereal and headed via the Metro to see the Centre Pompidou. Despite the times listed in our trusty guide book, we found out that the museum actually opens at 12, not 11. Lucky for us, it there was already a long line, and it was snowing. Hooray! So we waited in line for 45 minutes, freezing our tushes off, and then finally made it into the museum.
The center consists of a giant library of 7 floors and also a modern art museum. We wound up wondering around the library for a while before finding the museum. When we went to purchase our tickets, I handed the ticket man my International Student Identity Card. Showing this at the Musee d'Orsay granted me free admission as a student of the European Union. Unfortunately, this ticket window official bore striking resemblance both physically and in personality to the snooty waiter in Ferris Bueller's day off, who refuses to seat the teenagers at a fancy restaurant. When I slid him my card, expecting my ticket in return, he raised his eyebrows at me, and in a French accent said "vhat iz zhis? a geeft or zumsing for me? vhat am I supposed to dew vis zhis?" When I explained my experience at the museee D'Orsay, he said "vell, zhis iz not ze Musee d'Orsay, Madamoiselle. I vill need a card from Spain. Veddy sorry." He did not look sorry. After a few minuets of useless persisting, we paid 9 Euros a pop for our tickets.
The museum was architechtured so as to create the maximum amount of space for the artwork inside. So the pipes and the stair and the escalators for the building are all located on the outside of the building. Needless to say, it is a very unique looking place. The art itself was also pretty unique. The first floor was filled with dresses made out of Kleenex, kitchenaid mixers, videos of girls smashing bookshelves and giant blocks of hay. It was pretty out there. I'm not sure I had an artistic enough mind to grasp the purposes of the majority of the pieces. On the sunsequent floors were Picasso, kandinsky, Pollock and other modern artists, which were much more my taste.
We were pretty museumed out by mid-afternoon, so we strolled by the Louve. I offered to take a picture for a couple of Asian girls who were posing with the camera outstretched in front of them. I did not know what I was getting myself into. I would up taking a mini-photo shoot of the two of them in various spots around the outside of the Louve building.
After the Louve was my favorite mini-adventure in Paris so far. With a recommendation from Rachel's professor, we searched for Angelina's cafe so we could try the "best hot chocolate in the world." We were expecting a Starbucks set up inside, but we were seated to a nice table for two, with wine glasses to drink our water out of. We ordered hot chocolate for 7 Euros ($10.50) a cup, and an African Chocolate mouse pastry. The hot chocolate tasted like pure melted Hershey bars. It was unreal. It was served along side a bowl of fresh whipped cream, to be dolloped atop every sipful. It was the most rich thing I have ever tasted....until they brought out the pastry. The mose chocolate fudge cake was delicious. It was only about half the size of a deck of cards, and we split one between us, yet me and Rachel had to force feed ourselves by the end. It was unbelievably filling, but by far one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.
I also successfully used my first full French sentence. "Excuse-moi, ou sont les toilettes?" He answered me in French, which I, of course, did not understand at all, but I was so pleased with myself for pulling off a full French sentence that I just wandered around the cafe until I found it.
After that we just enjoyed a nice evening at the apartment and some pasta. We are all packed up for Spain tomorrow and are anxiously awaiting our arrival! We leave at 11:30, and hopefully we can get Rachel's baggage situation straightened out before we leave. She is holding out ok - we just bought her some emergency clothes today after our museum-ing.
Today was our last day in Paris - the time has really flown by! We started off the day with my favorite Parisian cereal and headed via the Metro to see the Centre Pompidou. Despite the times listed in our trusty guide book, we found out that the museum actually opens at 12, not 11. Lucky for us, it there was already a long line, and it was snowing. Hooray! So we waited in line for 45 minutes, freezing our tushes off, and then finally made it into the museum.
The center consists of a giant library of 7 floors and also a modern art museum. We wound up wondering around the library for a while before finding the museum. When we went to purchase our tickets, I handed the ticket man my International Student Identity Card. Showing this at the Musee d'Orsay granted me free admission as a student of the European Union. Unfortunately, this ticket window official bore striking resemblance both physically and in personality to the snooty waiter in Ferris Bueller's day off, who refuses to seat the teenagers at a fancy restaurant. When I slid him my card, expecting my ticket in return, he raised his eyebrows at me, and in a French accent said "vhat iz zhis? a geeft or zumsing for me? vhat am I supposed to dew vis zhis?" When I explained my experience at the museee D'Orsay, he said "vell, zhis iz not ze Musee d'Orsay, Madamoiselle. I vill need a card from Spain. Veddy sorry." He did not look sorry. After a few minuets of useless persisting, we paid 9 Euros a pop for our tickets.
The museum was architechtured so as to create the maximum amount of space for the artwork inside. So the pipes and the stair and the escalators for the building are all located on the outside of the building. Needless to say, it is a very unique looking place. The art itself was also pretty unique. The first floor was filled with dresses made out of Kleenex, kitchenaid mixers, videos of girls smashing bookshelves and giant blocks of hay. It was pretty out there. I'm not sure I had an artistic enough mind to grasp the purposes of the majority of the pieces. On the sunsequent floors were Picasso, kandinsky, Pollock and other modern artists, which were much more my taste.
We were pretty museumed out by mid-afternoon, so we strolled by the Louve. I offered to take a picture for a couple of Asian girls who were posing with the camera outstretched in front of them. I did not know what I was getting myself into. I would up taking a mini-photo shoot of the two of them in various spots around the outside of the Louve building.
After the Louve was my favorite mini-adventure in Paris so far. With a recommendation from Rachel's professor, we searched for Angelina's cafe so we could try the "best hot chocolate in the world." We were expecting a Starbucks set up inside, but we were seated to a nice table for two, with wine glasses to drink our water out of. We ordered hot chocolate for 7 Euros ($10.50) a cup, and an African Chocolate mouse pastry. The hot chocolate tasted like pure melted Hershey bars. It was unreal. It was served along side a bowl of fresh whipped cream, to be dolloped atop every sipful. It was the most rich thing I have ever tasted....until they brought out the pastry. The mose chocolate fudge cake was delicious. It was only about half the size of a deck of cards, and we split one between us, yet me and Rachel had to force feed ourselves by the end. It was unbelievably filling, but by far one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.
I also successfully used my first full French sentence. "Excuse-moi, ou sont les toilettes?" He answered me in French, which I, of course, did not understand at all, but I was so pleased with myself for pulling off a full French sentence that I just wandered around the cafe until I found it.
After that we just enjoyed a nice evening at the apartment and some pasta. We are all packed up for Spain tomorrow and are anxiously awaiting our arrival! We leave at 11:30, and hopefully we can get Rachel's baggage situation straightened out before we leave. She is holding out ok - we just bought her some emergency clothes today after our museum-ing.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Le Tour Eiffel and Egg Fried Rice
Yesterday we woke up at 7:15, determined to get a head start on some more Paris sightseeing. The breakfast cereal here is great. I know that's not the typical French food people rave about, but I am in love with it. It has dried banana chips, raisins, coconut and maybe papaya in it. C'est supercool. Anyway, after some careful planning, we hopped on the metro and made it to the Eiffel tower by 9:15, 15 minutes before it opened. The line was already very long, and it was only in the 20s! Poor Rachel was without mittens. When we got to the ticket window, we found out the top of the Eiffel tower and the stair access was closed, so we could only get to the second level. It was still beautiful. A great view of the city, and a fun, slightly tilted ride up the glass elevator. We only took a few pictures, since our fingers were little icicles, but it was definitely worth it. 63 degrees in Seville...Hallelujah! 
After, we stopped over at Notre Dame. It is a beautiful Cathedral, and cameras were surprisingly allowed inside. It was very quiet inside, and a lot of people were praying, so we nixed the Quasimodo hunchback photo we were planning on taking.
Next on the list was Champs Elysees, the "Rodeo drive" or "Newbury Street" of Paris. The street is beautiful, and accented by a gigantic ferris wheel at the end of it. There were many American stores, such as Sephora and the Gap, and tons of perfume and shoe stores. Most everything was in French, except for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and "Black or White" which seemed to be the background music in all the stores. The only other English we came across was related to liquor. All the liquor ads were in English, and restaurants drinks lists were all titled "Happy Hour." I suppose this is a reflection of how they view American culture.
We tried to find a cheap little cafe for lunch, but it was just as hard to find a cheap meal on Champs Elysees as it is on Newbury Street. It was around 25 Euros ($37) for any of the lunch items at the restaurants. Finally we found the place where we'd share our first meal in France. Sure, fried rice and dumplings wasn't what we initially had in mind, but for 12 Euros, we were sold. The restaurant was a beautiful Chinese restaurant with fancy artwork and seating, and great food. I was very happy. They even gave us English menus when we tried to pronounce egg (ceuf). I was hoping they would think I was fluent in French after I had successfully approached a waitress with my shoulders and eyebrows raised, and my palms upturned and said "toilette?"
We visited Arc de Triomphe, and explored the area a little more before heading back to the apartment. I ate curry for the first time, and had some absolutely delicious fresh French baguettes with dinner. As a carb-ivoure, I probably could have eaten an entire one on my own. C'est bon!
Today we slept through the alarm (we are now 1 for 3 on waking up at a decent hour) and headed to Musee d'Orsay after a late breakfast of my now-favorite cereal. There was a long line, but the weather was thankfully a little more comfortable than yesterday.
The food that street vendors sell here is vastly different from that of the U.S. For a snack, outside the museum for example, your choices were either a crepe, a Waffle, or a weird ham rollup (they LOVE ham over here - every other subway ad is an ornate design of rolled up ham). There was also a very dirty looking man roasting what looked like chestnuts. He would roll the chestnuts around on the grill with his fingers, and when someone ordered them, he would count the money in his hands and then individually pick them up one by one with his fingers and place them into a cup. My mother would have fainted at this disregard for general sanitation.
The museum was beautiful. The impressionism exhibit was my favorite. We saw Van Gogh, Degah, Monet, Cross, and Renoir among others. There was also a very cool section of album covers from the 60s and 70s including those of les Beatles and Cream.
We had a conversation with a student from Texas about the difficulty of the language barrier. She suggested that when speaking in French, we should try to copy the accent of the French person we were taking to to make ourselves more approachable. It was nice of her to make the suggestion, but I think that maybe learning how to say "how are you" might be a better first step toward making myself a more "approachable conversationalist."
After a few hours, all the paintings seem to blend together, and not just the impressionism pieces (bahahah). So we were a little museum-ed out. Rachel's luggage is still MIA, so she journeyed back to Charles de Gaulle airport to see if she could straighten things out. The poor thing has been living on one outfit for almost 5 days.
We're off to Seville in less than 2 days. Sixty degree weather, here I come!
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