Sprechemos Beaucoup Linguas

Today I had a lovely lunch with three of my girlfriends: Alexandra from Belgium, Karen from Holland and Carol from Ireland. During the course of the meal I believe we may have actually drawn on six different languages! The other three know Dutch, we all know a little bit of German, there was some French and Italian in there as well as our English and Spanish. It started as a joke but then we all got incredibly confused- especially when our waiter overheard us and only spoke in French from then on!
The place was fantastic; it is up in the Albaycin near the Mirador St. Nicolas that overlooks the city and the Alhambra. We had a Spanish cheese plate, and two platters that contained various seafood and something pork and very tasty, along with tinto verano (a very typical drink here, comparable to sangria).

Saturday night Carol and I did indeed get a new roommate- Jaena (ABSOLUTELY no idea how to spell his name, sounds like “Hi-Nah”) arrived around 4:00 a.m. and of course I was awake because trying to sleep before 5 a.m. on a Saturday night in Granada is just a worthless cause.

 He seems very nice. He is in his mid-20s, working on his PhD in Mathematics in the UK, has acted in a Shakespeare play once (Measure for Measure) and will be here for 2 weeks on vacation. Heiner has just come home and informed me that this is the correct spelling of his name.
Last night was another Sunday Night Dinner at Paul and Gillians’. This time they cooked, and in attendance were myself, Carol, Heiner, Karen, Angel, and of course Paul and Gillian. It was great because they live right next door to the only functioning Mosque in Granada and while we were having drinks and Texas Guacamole out on the terrace we got to hear and see the call to prayer (a very loud melodic chanting that happens 4 times a day). It was surreal against the backdrop of the mountains and the Alhambra. I have decided to look into a career in chanting, yodeling, or just straight hollering. And speaking of, there is a new frequenter to our street- an older gentleman who carries around a hammer and randomly strikes walls with it while yelling gibberish at the top of his lungs. I sure do love him. Anyway another highlight of the dinner party was that I FINALLY had access to an oven (not a common thing here) and was able to make the Sprinkles cupcakes that Jennifer sent me a few months ago. I had been carrying the mix around with me in the hopes of getting that chance and it finally paid off because they were FANTASTIC! Thanks Jen!!! (from all of us!)
I have taken this week off to focus more on getting a job, so tomorrow I head off to Sevilla to look for possible work there. It would all be so much easier if I had fluent Spanish and was somehow related to a major Spanish film producer, but alas, plan B will have to do.

SABES QUE…
My very good friend Aaron is now engaged to a lovely girl- Amanda! Congrats, friends!!! 

No Pasa Nada

Great week. I love being back in classes. This week my class consisted of a 16 year old British girl named Chelsea, who is very sweet, Klaus, a German fellow somewhere in his 40s(?) and in the afternoons for conversation classes, Pius, who is a 28 year old swiss information technologist. Good fun. My favorite class of the week was a conversational one where we played the game “Taboo” in Spanish outside in the jardin. Some of the descriptions we came up with were absolutely hilarious!

On Wednesday we had a little bit of a fieldtrip: to the newspaper “Ideal”. We toured the building and saw old printing presses, as well as the current system (which turns out is very similar to that of a magazine). On Thursday, some of us went on what was called “the tour of Granada: Underground” and was advertised with images of tunnels and caves and things under the city. In actuality, it was just a tour of some of the lesser-known attractions, most of which we had already seen. We all had a nice time though, and lovely cervezas and tapas in the evening.

The rest of the week went really smoothly with a lot of studying (I had to catch up a little) and just hanging out. I still haven't had too much sleep due to our noisy neighbors, but I am  gradually catching back up from Barcelona. Today we went outside and there was just a crazy man screaming gibberish and absentmindedly banging on the wall with a hammer. I think we must live on the street that attracts the crazies. Yesterday was great because we all had tapas in the jardin at school after classes and told stories and had a ton of laughs when Pius decided he was going to teach me how to salsa and line dance (I just didn’t have the heart to tell him I already knew). After a bit of a siesta we all got dressed up and met back at one of my favorite bars: La Puerta de la Alpujarras, where we made loads of new friends (It was intercambio night) and then on to another random bar where an impromptu table fusbol tournament erupted, intermixed with more dancing. Klaus and I won the tournament the first time, and then came in second the next time around. We ended the night at a discoteca called Mae West with hours of dancing until our feet just couldn’t take anymore.

Carol and I are expecting a new roommate of unknown age, gender and nationality today. It should be interesting.

SABES QUE…
More women than men are currently enrolled in Spain's universities.

Feliz Cumpliaños a mi Padre! (60!!)

The past few weeks have just flown by. The first was spent actively being unemployed (searching for jobs, relaxing in the sun, etc) and then last week I had a visit from my good friend Sarah (who adamantly refuses to read my blog) and we had a fantastic time! We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in grand style- with my roommate Carol (who is actually Irish) and my good friend Diego. We went to several of the Irish bars in Granada and had loads of laughs.
The following day was spent at the Alhambra (I can’t believe it has taken me so long to go- It is unbelievably gorgeous). I especially loved the "room of secrets" which is tucked away under the acres upon acres of gorgeous gardens and intricately decorated rooms and palaces. It is set up so that whatever you whisper in one corner can be heard in the opposite. Good fun. This picture is of Sarah and I in the doorway to one of the courtyards of the Palacios Nazaries. This 'Courtyard of the Lions' (somewhere around 600 years old) also held a fountain with 12 lions that used to function as a clock, with a different lion spouting water each hour. Conquering Christians disassembled the fountain to see how it worked, and it's never worked since. 

That night we went out for one drink con tapas. (Which, true to Spanish form, ended up being “one” drink that spanned way too late until the wee hours of the morning, with several older men that own half the bars in Granada, providing VIP treatment everywhere we went).

Thursday we headed out to Barcelona where we enjoyed a little sight-seeing, nightlife and some unbelievably delicious meals!! Interestingly enough, the men in Barcelona buy women flowers instead of drinks, which is nice and all, but we really would prefer not having to spend any of our own money. 

My favorite thing in Barcelona was seeing the Sagrada Familia- a Cathedral that Gaudi started building in 1882 and is projected to be finished around the year 2060 (pictured). It was so weird to see all of the men working on its construction, and then to wonder how in the world people built gothic cathedrals before machinery and cranes, etc! Crazy. 

After several all-nighters due to planes and busses, etc, we were pooped when we finally arrived back in Granada on Sunday. We took it easy and our only activity for the day was a visit to the Arabic Baths, which is definitely my favorite thing to do in Granada.Monday I had my second first day of Spanish school and it went really well. I am glad I took the break between classes because I can definitely tell the difference in how much I am able to understand verses when I left. As always, this week has kicked off in fine form with numerous mis-speaks. Favorites include me accidentally saying I wanted to kill a pregnant woman, and an older very conservative Swiss fellow trying to say the word “nipple” and instead saying “la nariz de la pecho” (the nose of the breast.) Lots of laughing.
Last night we went to a tiny little exhibition about the Expulsion of the Arabs in the 15th century. It was incredibly interesting, and housed in an old Moorish house which has been converted into a school for Arab studies and is absolutely breathtaking. It has these amazing gardens with a view of the Alhambra (and surprisingly enough, la cueva de mi bombero).
I love getting back into learning, and I am still looking for a job so hopefully something will happen with that soon as well.

SABES QUE…
The offensive word that the Spaniards have for English and American tourists is “Guiri”. It is never said to our faces, but it implies a white tourist that will get sunburned and be loud and obnoxious and possibly wear socks with sandals. (or, as it turns out, sandals at all before easter. Or flip flops. Ever. )

We finished the course!!

Does that mean we should all be teaching now? Maybe not. But it’s worth a shot. This week has been a little bit crazy. We had our tests towards the beginning of the week (grammar and phonetics) and I did pretty well on both. I also taught both Tuesday and Wednesday night- both of which were pretty enjoyable. We didn’t really do anything crazy or fun any of the nights this week, but I was okay with that after Vicky’s going away thing on Friday night. (Dancing until the wee hours, etc.)
This Friday was our “Award Ceremony” which was… interesting… and then the celebrations began. We all got together for paella and sangria after the ceremony, then one by one snuck off to take naps before meeting up with several of our students. When we all joined back up we went to a few bars including an AMAZING one tucked off in a hidden alley that was completely tourist-free. (until we got there anyway… or do we still count as tourists?) There were random outbursts of flamenco singing and/or dancing and various instruments appeared throughout the night. I hope to go there again.
Saturday we all had to move out of the convent before 11 so we got all packed up and then decided to go search out a home. Carol, Olga and I walked around for a bit, relishing in our homelessness until we heard from Antonio about an apartment he has in the center of town. We went to check it out and it seemed perfect! Three bedrooms, great location, adorable, high ceilings—We took it! After dropping off all of our suitcases, etc, the three of us took a walk up to the Alhambra hotel (I still haven’t been to the actual Alhambra) and had a fantastic coffee on the terrace overlooking the city. Absolutely gorgeous. After that, we had to say goodbye to Olga, who is going back to the Czech Republic for a few months until hiring season starts back up here. When Carol and I returned to the apartment, we noticed that we had absolutely no hot water. So we are kind of frustrated about that, and decided to just watch a movie and call it an early night. Unfortunately the rest of the city carried on partying all night right outside my window- I wasn’t able to fall asleep until the sun had already come up. So we may be moving again.
Tomorrow begins the intensive job search, which will be tricky as no one hires until September and a lot of places aren’t even open in the summer.
I do love this city though and it is wonderful to have a little free time again to wander about.

SABES QUE...

Horton Foote, the great american playwright has passed away. He was especially known for his work written in and about Texas, and the students of Baylor Theatre had the chance to work with him on several occasions.

More information about him here: http://www.courant.com/entertainment/stage/hc-footeappreciation.artmar08,0,1531998.story