FINALLY it’s starting to warm up and be the beautiful Granada that I have come to know and love. While I am working most of the time, I have managed to squeeze a few fun little diverisons.
A couple of weeks ago Angel’s sister announced that she is pregnant. Everyone is very excited, including Angel, but for some reason his first instinct was to buy and plant as many fruit trees around his house as he could get his hands on. (“Nephews need trees,” he tells me. When I ask him to expand on that idea I get a mumbled reply about forts and bicycles, and I hope that he doesn’t have the expectation of either of those items being supported by one of these dainty citrus trees).
Anyway, this gardening frenzy occupied the better part of 2 weeks, and ended up being a lot of fun. The final count was one lemon tree, one orange tree, one plum tree, one peach tree, one pear tree, one mandarin tree, two cherry trees, one pomegranate tree, two olive trees, one almond tree, one blackberry bush, one mystery tree with pretty pink flowers and a large random collection of flowers and other pretty plants that I selected on a whim. This yard is going to be amazing…in about 10 years.
Another fun night was a few weeks ago when we decided to go bowling! This is not something that is very common in Spain and very much an imported American novelty. When Spaniards get strikes or spares no one celebrates with a whoop and a hollar, so I think I may have stood out a little bit with my reactions.
The following weekend was dedicated to a girls trip to Garrucha- A small town on the beach in Almeria (My favorite beaches in Spain) near the city Mojacar. Bea, Ana and I drove up to visit Asun, who is living and working in a bank there. We had an amazing weekend- a relaxing day at the beach, getting our first tans of the summer, followed by a giant lunch of fresh seafood and fruits and veggies (Almeria is the provider of most of the produce in Spain; it also exports quite a bit to the rest of the continent).
After lunch we went exploring in Mojacar- a darling little white washed town situated on a very steep hill next to the ocean. It is gorgeous. We wandered around for a while and ended up in a blues/jazz bar overlooking the sunset. That night we went all out VIP style to a very well-known club on the beach- Mandala. We got table service, which ended up being a fantastic decision because the place was PACKED. (We also got fruit kabobs with our beverages, which in my opinion, was worth it on it’s own).
We danced and people-watched until the wee hours of the morning and our feet couldn’t take the zapataltos any longer. It was such a perfect weekend, none of us wanted to return to real life on Monday.
However, that hasn’t been the only time spent with my Spanish girlfriends lately. In the past several weeks we’ve had several tapas nights, a few lunches here and there, a concert (the Granadinan band
Niños Mutantes, who are all lawyers in their dayjobs. We went with Bea’s family.) and just some hanging-out. I also had a lovely brunch as park day with my American girlfriends Melinda and Margaret.
(The park, Carmen de las Martires, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen- and with free entrance 5 minutes from my house I really should go more often! There are tons of different flowers and fountains and a tiny castle on an island in a large pond with ducks and fish, as well as a good 20 or 30 peacocks wandering about. You just can’t find tresoros like that in the USA.)
My friend Aurora invited Alexandra and I to her family’s house for Mother’s Day which ended up being a lot of fun! It is so great to be in a family environment when I get the chance, although it makes me miss my own like crazy. While we were there we also had a exhilarating round of dress-up in Aurora’s mom’s vintage home-made traditional Gitana dresses (the ones flamenco dancers wear). They were unbelievable!
Dia de las Cruces!
While this is one of the most treasured Granadinan festivals, new laws prohibiting doing pretty much anything in the streets (eating, gathering, playing music, drinking alcohol) really affected the degree of the celebrations this year (last year the city went ALL OUT
Last Year (the holiday also fell on a Saturday last year whereas this year was a Monday: May 3).
We didn’t let those factors dampen our spirits and decided to celebrate in fine form.
The girls and I started out the day with a traditional Spanish lunch, including Habas- a pea-like vegetable that only grows during a small window every year. For that reason it is always associated with the Día de las Cruces. They are traditionally eaten raw or cooked with ham).
After lunch the group expanded as we walked around the city looking at some of the crosses and trying fun new drinks. We ended up in Campo del Principe (a plaza near my house) where Angel met up with us. At this point everyone else was tired and went home but Angel and I continued and ended up seeing a couple very elaborate crosses (they are not just the cross, but a whole area that is decorated to the maximum possibility, with each item holding a special representation.
The evening was a blast- we danced the Sevillana and he rescued a gorgeous flower for me that had been dropped in the way of oncoming traffic (in retrospect, an action more stupid than brave, but at the time seemed incredibly romantic.)
Other than that, things continue the same as usual- classes are great for the most part. My class in the University can be a little trying but I have discovered that I can spark arguments (mostly between the Spaniards and the Italians who are studying abroad here) and that I can have them ‘practice their English debating skills’ in pairs. Today was an exceptionally rousing class- 2 hours, topic: The Death Penalty.
SABES QUE...
One of the traditional symbols found at the crosses is a pair of scissors in an apple (called a "pero" -- which also means "but" in Granadan Spanish). This symbolizes destruction of objections.
Miles de granadinos y visitantes celebran el Día de la Cruz, en el que las calles de la ciudad lucen cruces adornadas con flores, mantones, cerámicas y unas tijeras clavadas en una manzana, para advertir, como manda la tradición, que al que critique la cruz se le puede cortar la lengua.
One of the traditional symbols found at the crosses is a pair of scissors in an apple (called a "pero" -- which also means "but" in Granadan Spanish). This symbolizes destruction of objections.