Semana Saventura!!

 This year during the Holy Week (The 7 days leading up to and including Easter Sunday)
I followed the traditional Spanish schedule: work Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday, and then go on a mini-vacation. Somehow Angel and I decided to go on a roadtrip together (we’re really bad at being broken up, I’m just going with it because things are really good between us at the moment).

We left Granada on Wednesday and drove all the way up to Segovia. We arrived around 11 p.m. but still decided to do a sweep of the town.
We blew-off using a map and figured we would just follow along the aquaduct, but somehow we couldn’t seem to find it. Finally after walking around in a few circles, we asked a woman passing by who must have thought we were crazy because we were standing directly beside it at the time. (It turns out that it is only the famous, tall double arched part for the second half, otherwise it just looks like a stone wall with a gutter on top.)

Anyway we walked around for a while, it was almost eerie how deserted the center was. We had trouble finding a place to eat and even considered sampling the goods from a hamburger vending machine(!?!?).

The next day we discovered that the city was truly as charming in the light and the crowds as it had been in the moonlight. We walked the entire length of the town to arrive at the cliff where the Alcazar is perched. We passed Plaza Mayor, the beautiful beige gothic cathedral, and some adorable streets that surely haven’t changed much for centuries.

There were also lots of random historic mansions and palaces scattered throughout the town. We finally needed to take a break from all of the walking (and the cold for me, I didn’t really use my brain when planning for the trip and packed clothing for much warmer weather, like it had been in Granada the past week).

We ate a traditional Segovian meal, some part of the pig that was grilled and a vegetable thing, followed by tipical Segovian desserts, including el Ponche Segoviano.

After the meal we headed back to the car to circle the city from the outside, visit the Vera Cruz church (famous for it’s 12 sides) and take in the views of the city from a neighboring hill.

The drive to Ávila was short and beautiful, there were giant rocks scattered all throughout the grass and the hills. We even stopped to go climb on a particularly enjoyable-looking cluster.

We arrived in Ávila in the early evening and still had plenty of light to see some of the town, find a hotel and even explore a bit. This town was particularly special because Angel had studied at the University there. It is a very small town, but very well-known for it’s completely still-in-tact medieval city walls, or muralla.

We enjoyed one of the Ávila processions followed by a tour of his old bars and discos of choice. It was here that we discovered the wine ‘Toro’. DELICIOUS.

And speaking of delicious, we had a lovely meal that included the famous ‘Chuleton de Ávila’, a grilled steak that could rival Texas meat. On Friday we woke up fairly early and walked around the rest of the town, and even on the wall! It was beautiful.
Friday night we attempted to drive to Salamanca but we were met with signs at the city borders telling us that the city was full. We didn’t believe that was possible but after several hours of trying every hotel we passed, we got the idea that maybe it was true. Finally we found the closest hotel with a vacancy- in a town about 70km north called Zamora.

When we called they informed us that they had one room remaining, and as we were making reservations apparently someone else walked into the hotel asking for the room. We assured them that we would drive like crazy to get there as soon as possible and to hold it for us.
When we finally did arrive in Zamora it was almost midnight. As we searched for our hotel we encountered a procession in complete silence (it turns out that Zamora is one of the capitals for Semana Santa, they even have the national museum). We had a bit of an awkward moment when Angel asked directions to our hotel from one of the women in the procession. (Since they aren’t supposed to talk the poor woman was really unsettled and finally helped us but everyone else was shooting daggers with their eyes.) We learned that the hotel was the Parador (one of the nicest in Spain) and was unfortunately not accessable to us until the procession was over.

We passed the time in a cute little bar with some delicious tapas and a little ewok-sized ‘nazareno’ (the people in the procession that carry candles and wear the pointy cone masks) child next to us that was incredibly entertaining. When we finally were able to get to the hotel we were blown away by how beautiful it was (Originally the Palacio de los Condes de Alba y Aliste; built in 1459 by the first Count of Alva y Aliste).

We used the next morning to explore the old part of the town- a charming Cathedral and old castle (now the ruins, very pretty, no 90˚ angles.) We walked along the river and discovered the historical ‘Casa del Cid’ (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1040 – July 10, 1099), known as El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian nobleman, a military leader and diplomat who is considered the national hero of Spain.) Strangely enough, outside of this house we ran into some people we knew from Granada who were just passing through on their way back from Asturias.

Late morning we headed back to Salamanca to meet up with some friends: Pablo and Gema (from Badajoz, we visited them at their cottage in Portugal last August). We had some cider and then walked around the town to see the tourist sights. Highlights include:

1. Searching for the frog engraved in the ornate front of the University. It is hidden and there are ALWAYS people standing out front looking for it. It is tradition that if you find it, you will pass all of your exams.
2. There was a restoration of the cathedral in 1993 and one man carved in an astronaut. According to my guidebook: " This caused an outrage in town, but now locals shrug their shoulders and say, 'He's the person closest to God'."

The 'new' cathedral was built from 1513 to 1733 and is mostly gothic. (there is also an 'old' cathedral, 12th century Romanesque style).

On Sunday we were all a little sad to be winding down the amazing vacation and decided to make one last stop on the way home. We drove to a town called Plasencia for lunch. This town was PRECIOUS. We wandered through the streets and plazas, explored a few gorgeous old buildings and even caught a procession. The lunch was tasty as well (I had one of my favorite dishes: Rabo del Torro).
When we finally parked in Granada it was 10 p.m. and we had driven a total of 15,412 kilometers over 5 days. Perfect Vacation.

SABES QUE…

• When the Romans built the Segovian Aquaduct in (somewhere around the 1st Century CE) they used absolutely no mortar or sticky goo between the giant granite bricks. At its tallest, the aqueduct reaches a height of 28.5 meters (93.5 ft).
• Ávila (1128 m) is the highest provincial capital in Spain.
• Zamora is the city with the most Romanesque churches in all of Europe.
• Christopher Columbus lectured at the University of Salamanca (founded 1218) on his discoveries.
• Plasencia’s cathedral is actually two churches built onto one another. There is the old, 13th century Romanesque cathedral as well as the "new" 16th century one.

¡¡¡Tejanas Storm Graná!!!

As some of you know, I was visited by three beautiful ladies this month. First, my mother (who really is a language genius- she picked up basic conversational Spanish within days of arriving!) flew in for a few days of hanging out and sampling various tapas. We also had An Adventure.

We decided to rent a car and drive through la Alpujarra (the mountain villages in the Sierra Nevada). This was a slightly terrifying and treacherous task because
1. These quaint mountain roads are very small, and usually without a guardrail between the edge of the cliff and death.
2. With all of the recent rain there have been massive rockslides in the mountains and there was a lot of damage and blockage on the tiny mountain roads.
3. I haven’t driven a car in over a year. I haven’t driven a manual since 2007. And when I did it was on US roads (much wider and less steep than those of the Sierra Nevada.)
4. The rental car was a vomit-yellow Chevrolet.

Despite all of these obstacles, we set off early on a sunny Friday morning (middayish). We bought a road map of Andalucia and started on up, our ears popping with the altitude changes.
We made the rounds of some of the more well-known pueblos- Lanjarón, Órgiva, Bubión, Capileira, Pampaneira, Trevélez, etc. We layerd up and got out of the car for various explorative quests- including a lunch in Capileira, a sampling of jamón in Trevélez, a few random stops for leg-stretching, sheep/goat chasing, behind-tree-piddling (I don’t like public restrooms) and view admiring.

It really is a beautiful part of Andalucía and I was so excited to share it with mom! After Trevélez we continued going east which was new and exciting for me as I got to see many pueblos for the first time. (Some of them with very fun names like Mecina Bombarón and Yegen). Unfortunately, right about the time it began to get dark a huge fog settled in, making the already superb driving conditions even superber (yes mom, I know that’s not a word). We held out for a while but finally concluded that the best option for staying alive would be to stop driving and find somewhere to stay for the night. However the extraordinary fog and dark dark darkness made seeing anything outside of about a 5 foot radius almost impossible. As we were inching along we finally caught sight of a small wooden sign that had been painted with the word ‘HOTEL’ and an arrow pointing off to the right. We were ecstatic and happily followed the direction of the arrow into what we discovered to be a tiny little town situated vertically on the side of the mountain. As we continued down that steep steep road we noticed that it was becoming increasingly narrow until we had to pull in the side-view mirrors to squeeze between the white-washed buildings. Even then there was maybe a half-inch margin on either side of the car. With absolutely zero side streets, we finally arrived to a dead-end- the street was punctuated by someone’s home, the window to their kitchen or living-room less than a foot from our headlights. As previously mentioned, we were also still at about a 45 degree angle. This was almost the point where panic set in. To make a long story short, despite 100% good intentions and reasonable ability we ended up with a GIGANTIC scratch (I feel the word ‘scratch’ doesn’t even do it justice, maybe ‘disaster’ is more appropriate) stretching the length of the right side of the car, the smell of burning clutch and a head protruding from every window in the village (except, oddly enough, the one in danger) all yelling to each other and pointing. Finally a very nice man came and saved the day, taking over the impossible reversing and manuvering back all the way up the hill. Turns out the hotel was NOT on that street, nor was it even open. Awesome.

We drove around in circles asking pedestrians for directions to any other available hotel in every pueblo that we came to, and after being turned away from one with beyond zero vacancies and having 70% resolved ourselves to sleeping in the freezing car we gave one more pueblo a shot- Válor (pictured). We were rewarded with the discovery of a darling little mom-and-pop hostel, who provided us with a darling little room and a very nice little dinner of jamón, cheese and wine. And dessert.
The next day we were up early and determined to cross over the top of the mountains in the direction of Guadix. It turns out that there is a lot of snow, ice and wind and the top of a mountain, which is always fun. We even drove through what we think was a ski run, there were people skiing right past the car as the snow was falling pretty heavily. An hour later we were back in reasonable temperatures and back within the reach of the fiesta radio station. From there it was just a matter of time before we arrived in Cordoba where the sun was shining and we checked into a beautiful luxury hotel. (In the last available room, a tiny oven with one bed under the stairs and next to the kitchen.)

None of this dampened our adventurous spirits and we still managed to squeeze in a full day’s worth of exploration in Cordoba. Sight-seeing, a visit to the Mezquita (seriously one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen), some aimless street-wandering and window shopping, topped off with a DELICIOUS meal at El Churrasco, a wonderful restaurant known for it’s meat.

Once we returned to Granada we were joined by Sarah and Christy and the four of us logged some time tapeando-ing and enjoying the city. On Wednesday (St. Patty’s Day) the three of them went to the Alhambra with a very nice gentleman that they had met in a bar and who actually grew up within the perimeters of the Alhambra.
After I finished working we all dolled up and set off for Sacromente (the Gitano and Flamenco barrio with all of the caves) for a night of flamenco with some wonderful artists.

The visit also included a failed skiing adventure for Sarah and Christy, more tapas and a great night out with wine, dancing, cocktails, and even a sighting of the Spanish twin of Pauly D from the Jersey shore
(I think he lives in my neighborhood because I’ve seen him again on the street and even without any booze he looks just like him. Sadly, he does not respond to someone yelling “Oye, Paulio De!”)
Since all of my girls have left, my apartment has seemed very quiet. The only other news worth reporting is a moment of weakness when I went out with Angel for wine and dancing. Damn you, heart. It was fun. As always.  It didn’t help when he and my mom both insisted on meeting each other (ummm… that’s not what broken up people do, am I the only one who gets that?!) and both apparently hit it off and had a blast, despite language barriers. Thanks, ya’ll.
At least I keep busy enough I don’t have time to dwell. I am to my limit of classes (I am having to turn people away!) and I even agreed to teach a class on Saturday mornings in a moment of stupidity. I have several exciting new students and one surprise-

I agreed to teach a class on short notice without much information at all; I was just given an address of where to go. I showed up and the building turned out to be part of the University of Granada. I am used to teaching no more than 6 (grown-ups) at a time (all who are motivated and WANT to be there) in small, cozy settings so you can imagine my anxiety as I walked into a giant lecture hall and realized I was teaching an official university course. Also worth noting: all of my students are males. 18-21 years old. It is incredibly scary. They have discovered that I get a little flustered and uncomfortable when they give me examples of verb tenses like ‘last night I dreamt of Sarah’. AH!!!!!! Not ok. Actually they’re not so bad now that we’re kind of establishing a routine.
My other classes remain maravillosas- I had a nice little awkward moment in my financial/banking English class when we were talking about phrasal verbs with the word ‘come’ and one of my students told a DIRTY joke and then asked me what it meant. I turned soooo red and could only respond with ‘um… it’s kind of having to do with something along the lines of sexual things. Google it later.’ My goodness that class keeps me on my toes. But I really like them. There’s a woman in the same class that always says exceedingly random and interesting things. Example: “My favorite thing about Easter is making little dough animals to deep fry and then eat”.  Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. She was so serious.
I love my life.

SABES QUE... (Hoy sé mucho...)

Texas, with 268,601 square miles, is larger than Spain--a country comprising 194,897 square miles--by 73,704 square miles.

The first of the ‘6 flags over Texas’ belonged to Spain, which ruled most of Texas from 1519 to 1685 and from 1690 to 1821. There were two versions of the Spanish flag used during this period. Both designs incorporate the "castle and lion" emblems of the Crown of Castile. The Spanish flag used in the reverse of the Texas state seal, which was also adopted by the Texas State Historical Commission, is the flag adopted by King Charles III, containing horizontal stripes of red-gold-red and the simple arms of Castile and Leon. This flag was used by Spain from 1793 to 1931, and from 1936 till today again with a different coat of arms.

The roots of the University of Granada go back to 1349, but the official University was founded in 1531. (more here). In the city of Granada there are 270,000 inhabitants, of which over 80,000 are university students.

Salir de March(a)

I know there’s a pun somewhere in the name of the town Órgiva, I just can’t quite find it. (‘Órgiva? I barely know her!’ ‘Órgiva mouse a cookie…’ ). Regardless, Órgiva is a small town at the base of the Alpujarra (the pueblos amidst the sierra nevadas). It is not a particularly beautiful town, but it is surrounded by some absolutely stunning views of the mountains.

We rented a villa for the weekend, and when I say ‘we’ I mean about 15 Spanish couples and myself, along with a few other singles here and there

(Yes, I’m finally admitting that Ángel and I have parted ways).

Anyway, the villa consisted of three buildings- two large houses full of bedrooms and giant salons with fireplaces, a smaller cabin, a pool, a bunch of surrounding land full of orange trees and a large terraza overlooking the town.
It was absolutely gorgeous. We even had a little luck with the weather- a break in this seemingly endless rain we’ve been having and even some ‘short-sleeves’ temperatures on Saturday. We went on a few exploratory hikes, around the mountains and one venture into the town but mostly stayed close to ‘home’.

We had some sing-a-longs and played ridiculous games (I was very proud of winning a few points in one that had to do with trivia—in Spanish!!) We also ate a lot of delicious home-cooked food; those Españolas don’t mess around in the kitchen. Usually they are also very protective of their kitchens but I even had a little break-through and got to help prepare a lunch!

One slight problem for me happened the night a guy named Rafa (pictured, with a melon full of booze) made fajitas—they were wonderful, just spicy enough, and I was very pleased. Unfortunately, I had to watch as everyone 1. Ate the aforementioned fajitas with a knife and fork and 2. added mayonnaise. Seriously. All of the Texan in me was silently screaming the whole time, but I managed not to make a scene.

Another notable event this month was el Día de Andalucía, the 28th of febrero. (According to wikipedia, commemorates the February 28, 1980 referendum on the Statute of Autonomy of Andalucia, in which the Andalusian electorate voted for the statute that made Andalusia an autonomous community of Spain).

To celebrate, a group of us went out for a traditional Andalucían lunch (at a wonderful place where they pour the wine into darling little jugs shaped like some sort of groundhog creature).
Afterwards we went to a delightful little Cuban bar that offered free group dance lessons, and YES we participated whole-heartedly.
We also just celebrated the day of trabajadoras femininas. (March 8, celebrating women who work). On that note, I am going to take the opportunity to mention that I am continuing to enjoy mine immensely. (My favorite student, who also happens to be my oldest, most elegant and only beginning-level student, enjoyed a lovely class recently in which we ate cupcakes and sang ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’ more than a few times. She then asked me to list as many Englsih words for ‘tetas’ as I could think of).

However, my favorite thing that has happened lately was our ‘Girls Night’ last Friday. About 15 of us got dolled up and met in my apartment for a potluck of sorts (B.Y.O.Tapas, a not-so-common occurance here in España) before going out for some dancing.

Some of the foods the girls brought were absolutely incredible- homemade desserts and things that I can only compare to empañadas (I can’t remember the names, but imagine pastries filled with various meats, cheeses and fruits), jamóns, cheeses, and a lot of wine. I made my two most famous dishes- guacamole and red velvet cupcakes. The only other non-Española was my Italian friend Jessi who made a crazy cheesey polenta thing and an amazing apple cinnamon tart.

Unbelievable. After plenty of vino, cava, tapas and even a little ron miel, we were all feeling good enough to brave the rain (that hasn’t stopped much since the year began) and seek out some dancing and copas.




SABES QUE…

The Goya Awards, known in Spanish as los Premios Goya, are Spain's main national film awards, considered by many people from Spain and world to be the Spanish equivalent to the Academy Awards from the United States.  These took place in February. (for this year's winners check out: http://www.premiosgoya.com/)

las chicas solo quieren divertirse

Lately I have been going out with the girls a lot- a fun mix, mostly Spanish, but a few other nationalities thrown in, anyway, we all speak Castillano when we’re together. Last Thursday we went out for some tapas and vino, it turned into quite the evening!

Friday night I stayed in and made a million darling little double dark chocolate cupcakelets.

We all met again on Saturday to celebrate the birthday of Asun- we drove out to her family’s house in a small pueblo called Fuente Vaqueros (which in my mind translates into ‘Cowboy Fountain’. Needless to say I was humming ‘It’s raining men’ all day.) It was sure raining something, as it has been a non-stop downpour for several weeks! We ended up bringing the bbq inside and enjoying a wintery, cinnamon sangria, all kinds of grilled meats along with dancing. A group of Tunos showed up (think Mexican Mariachi band with no hats or maracas, thank goodness I had a spare egg shaker in my purse to help them out!) It was a non-stop fun afternoon/evening/night of flamenco, sing-a-longing, and hilarious conversation.

Sunday we boycotted Valentines Day and celebrated the Chinese New Year. Nine of us girls met up at one of my favorite restaurants: Paprika. (It turns out it is also a popular spot for intimate romantic dinners. Those poor people who thought they’d have a quiet Valentines Date) We toasted the Tigre and shared plates of some amazing dishes- my favorite being the avocado chicken rolls.

Besides my festive weekend, nothing too exciting has been going on. I am loving my classes. I thought not working at a school would be stressful but I actually like being on my own so much better. I get to choose my own students, hours, etc, and I earn more money. I also don’t have a CRAZY boss with ridiculous rules. My classes normally go pretty well, but this week has been even more fun than usual. I think everyone is crazy from all the rain and no one has wanted to do any of the planned exercises, besides games and just sitting around talking (in English of course). I can’t believe I make money for this- all of my students are really interesting and I am actually learning all sorts of neat things about all of their industries and lives. I’m pretty sure one of them is married to a famous rockstar too. Anyway, good fun, lots of laughs and some great ‘mis-speaks’ and word-plays.

SABES QUE…
According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nien (Chinese: 年; pinyin: nián). Nien would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nien ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nien was afraid of the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nien. From then on, Nien never came to the village again. The Nien was eventually captured by hong jun lao zu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nien became hong jun lao zu's mount.

-wikipedia