You are looking at posts that were written in the month of April in the year 2008.
Posted on April 30th, 2008 by bmgray.
Categories: Uncategorized.
The weather has been so nice lately! I wake up in the morning to go to class and I have to bring a jacket, but when I leave class the weather is absolutely perfect. It is going to get a lot hotter, I’m not sure if I will be able to stand it. I totally understand the siesta now! It is too hot during the day to function so the people have to sleep during the hottest part of the day and then stay up later at night.
I have been hanging out a lot with my friend German who is in two of my classes. He is super nice and always helps me when I don’t understand something or if I need notes that I missed. Last weekend we went to Cartagena because a Spanish student in Rosaria’s class invited us to go eat with her family at her house. When we first arrived in Cartagena we hung out by the port and walked up to a Castle on the top of a big hill. In Cartagena there are also many Roman ruins, what was really cool was the big theater. We went to Miriam’s house and met her family there. Her Mom was a amazingly nice, almost too nice! She would never stop talking! She just kept saying “you are precious, you are gorgeous, what a sweetheart!” Her Dad was pretty quiet and just sat on the couch, he would occasionally laugh out of nowhere or smoke a cigarette. We ate Paella con Marisco (seafood), tapas, salad and strawberrys with cream. The food was delicious! After we ate we made a toast, or I should say the Mom made the toast and it lasted about 10 minutes. Then she invited us to her “special place” and we went into this room where she had lit candles and incense. She had soft music going and she began reading us poetry, poetry from books and also poetry that she wrote herself. At the end she started crying saying that it was such a special moment for her. I wasn’t sure how I felt…it was kind of strange and at the same time very sweet!
This past week I went to a Sevillana dance class (Flamenco). The word “flamenco” is Spanish for Flemish and is a bit confusing. The people used to mistake the gypsies here in Spain for Flemish people. The dance is originally from the gypsies living in Andalusia, Seville in particular. I suppose it’s a bit more “politically correct” to say Sevillana rather than Flamenco. There are still a lot of gypsies living here in Spain. I also notice a lot of racism towards the gypsie people from the Spaniards that I have talked to. In Murcia the majority of the gypsies live in a dangerous part of town. The dance class was hard for me, that could have something to do with my complete lack of coordination. At the end we were paired up with partners and my partner was a young girl, probably about 15 or 16. I got so flustered that I began spouting things out in English. The poor girl just looked at me like I was insane. I would say “sorry, sorry, no left left!” Poor thing! I plan on going back again next week!
This past weekend my roommates and I went with German to a little church up in the mountains here in Murcia. A friend of his, Fatima, works in the church and gave us a little tour. We all went to eat together at this beautiful restaurant in the country. The restaurant was big and had a huge terrace looking out over the scenery. We sat a talked for awhile and then we went for a small hike in the woods. I really like leaving the city and seeing the country!
This week has been pretty laid back. Last night I made Paella with my friend Chris, from Saint Louis. We brought it over to his friend Pablo’s where there were some other students watching the soccer game. Today I went to a High School in a small town outside of Murcia to talk to some of the English classes. It was strange because none of the students wanted to say anything in English, they kept insisting on speaking Spanish. We asked them if they had any desire to study abroad or to learn another language and they said no, all of them! I guess I would expect that from younger children, but not from high school students. I would think that at least one student out of the several classes that I spoke to would like to study in another country, or even visit! They all said they just wanted to stay in their “pueblo” forever. I guess it’s okay if that’s what they really want, if they all want to hey can stay in their town and breed amongst themselves. Maybe they will change their mind!
Tomorrow morning I have to wake up early to catch our bus to Almeria and Malaga. I’m sure it will be a great time!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072727&l=d3fa0&id=47202615
above are some pictures from the anything but clothes party and also from Cartagena
Posted on April 16th, 2008 by bmgray.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Spring Break was so fabulous and relaxing, now classes are back in session and I have to actually work. I have been good about not missing any of my classes. Sometimes when I leave the class I realize that I hardly took any notes, but listening to my professors speak is helpful. My Spanish language class is really boring! I am glad I am taking it though because it is helping me to remember all of the grammar rules and understand them a bit more clearly.
Since the last time I wrote Thomas’ girlfriend Marta came to visit from Poland. She lives in Poznan, Thomas studied there for a year and that’s how they met. They have been together for four years now and she stayed with us for three weeks. When she was here we went shopping and to the beach. One night she made us a strange dish, it was chocolate chicken! When I was eating it I really couldn’t decide how I felt about it. The chicken and I had some sort of love/hate relationship. I felt as though I needed about five bites to get used to it. Marta kept commenting on my face as I was eating. We had a party at our apartment one night during her stay and it was a blast. There were probably 30 people here and all from different countries (Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, United States, Italy). Everyone brought something to eat or drink and we hung around talking for several hours. Another day we spent at the beach with a pretty big group of people. We brought a picnic and laid in the sand soaking up the sun!
I made a great friend in my class whose name is German, pronounced Herman. He has helped me a lot with learning new vocabulary and also took me up to see the lookout in Murcia. His friend Fatima is great too, she is from Murcia and studied three months in LA . Her English is decent, we are going to meet and practice one day soon.
Mathilde came to visit last week from France. German and Fatima took us up to the lookout again and we sat on the terrace with some drinks. We also went to the Thursday morning farmers market in town by the Plaza de Toros. The farmers market is huge and you can find fresh fruits and vegetables. They also sell shoes, scarves, clothes and even toilet plungers! T
he best part of her visit was the trip to Granada! I have pictures below. It is very hard to get a ticket to see the Alhambra in Granada so if anyone reading this plans on going you should definitely book your ticket ahead of time online. They are usually sold out for the weekends. Mathilde got pretty sick the first day we were there and we decided it would be a good idea to go to the Emergency Room. We waited 4 hours until they would see us! I had to translate for Mathilde and the Doctor, but then they told me that I had to wait outside! I was so bored waiting outside of the room. I went out to sit in the sun a bit and listen to music while I waited. Thomas called and told us that he was going to come to the hospital and visit, he needed to know the name of the hospital. I asked a man outside the name of the hospital, but to me it was gibberish. I asked him if he could write it down from me and he said “Listen girl, I don’t know how to write!” I asked another man and he told me the name so I could give it to Thomas. Another little girl kept coming up and talking to me, she was probably about 4 or 5. She was going on and on about a pink dress that she has at home and how much she loves it. She was adorable! Then she went on to tell me that she couldn’t bring her dress, or her toys, because her Mom hits her. I had no idea what to say! Then her Mom comes up behind me yelling at the girl and attempts to get the little girl to come with her. The little girl latches onto my leg and refuses to let go. What an awkward situation! The next day we were actually able to tour the city and enjoy ourselves. One of the cool parts of Granada is the Arab District. It is full of outdoor markets with scarves, tea and jewelry. There are also little tea shops where you can go smoke hookah and drink delicious tea. It was beautiful!
Today we don’t have school because there is a party for the entire Humanities department. I haven’t really done too much today! Tonight someone is throwing a party where you can wear anything but clothes. This does not mean you go naked…you can wear garbage bags, sheets, pillow cases, towels etc. You have to be creative! I will be wearing the Spanish flag! Olé!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072501&l=55423&id=47202615