Descanso del Otoño

I'm off to Pisa, Rome, and Athens for the next six days!!!  Two days in each city :D  Be prepared for a novel-sized post when I return.

Hasta luego :]

Come Reza Ama

Today was a lazy way to start off fall break.  A morning of last minute shopping for fall break necessities such as a new purse (obviously neccessary :p right?), an afternoon at the beach where I met an Australian, two Canadians, and a South Korean, and an evening at the movies watching Come Reza Ama (Eat Pray Love) in Spanish.  Pretty darn proud of myself for making it through the entire movie without subtitles and legitimately understanding the majority of the dialogue!  Granted, the argument scenes where two or more people talk at the same time and extrememely fast were way over my head, but it sure feels good to understand the one-person-talking-at-a-time scenes :D

I came back to the apartment tonight and only Lexi, Adela's son's little dog, was home.  She tends to follow me everwhere when it's just her and I in the apartment, and when I sat on my bed she immediately made herself comfortable between my feet:

So adorable!

Tonight, I'm off to a tapas festival near the beach with a few of the other girls and then to the Río to watch fireworks for la Día de la Communidad Valencia.  Can't wait!

Hasta luego :]
                           

Paella, Sangria, y Flan...OH MY!

Tonight, six other students from school and I took a Spanish cooking class.  I definitely know what the first family dinner at Albert's House this spring is going to be...Paella, Sangria, y Flan!  Yummm!  Paella is a rice dish that originated in Valencia, and tonight we made the traditional Valencian version with rice, chicken, garlic, snap peas, rosemary, paprika, tomatos, and beans.  There was also rabbit in it, but I tried to avoid it because eating a rabbit just freaks me out haha.  Especially because before being cooked it was literally a whole rabbit.  Eyes, organs, bones...the whole thing, eww.  When I make paella this Spring I will be sure to leave the rabbit out of it.  The concinero (cook) that taught our class was very nice and patient with us when explaining the recipes.  He could only speak Spanish and had to repeat everything a million times before we understood what we were supposed to do.  Because of situations like this, which immerse me in the culture of Spain, my Spanish is really starting to improve.  I feel more confident when I speak and can carry complete conversations about real stuff!  My conversations are no longer limited to the weather or other bland topics :D

The cooking school

   

Chopping up las cebollas (onions) and mixing the paella, which is cooked in a special HUGE pan

Cooking the pumpkin for a different rice dish, which is being moved from the 

stove to the oven by our instructor in the picture on the right.

Adding the rice to the paella

The complete rice dish - Arroz de Calabaza, Morcilla, y Setas

(Rice with pumpkin, blood sausage (gross, I did not eat this haha), and mushrooms)

Pro Spanish cooks with the rice dish

Gathering around the DELICIOUS paella valenciana

Flan!

¡Flamenco!

Last Wednesday I went to a flamenco bar, El Toro y La Luna, with a bunch of other kids from my school. It was the most amazing live dance performance I have ever seen!  The fact that I felt completely emersed in Spain's culture inside this tiny bar is probably what made it such a special experience for me.  There was a group of men all with guitars serenading us before the performance began.  It was easy to tell by their smiles, laughter, and overall easy-going sort of attitude how much they love flamenco.  And the dancers..holy comoly!  These women were amazing!  Their dancing seemed so natural, as if no thought was required for their complex steps and combinations.   I'm going to post of couple of the videos I took that night on Facebook.  But if you ever get the chance to see real Spanish flamenco in person, I highly highly recommend it.  Here are some photos from the night:

The flamenco guitarists

Emily and I at El Toro y La Luna

 

La Mercé - Barcelona, España

Last weekend I didn't have classes on Friday, so I made my way to Barcelona Thursday night with two other girls from my school.  Like every other budget traveller in Europe, we flew on RyanAir, and just like Steph and Todd told me, I indeed felt like a cow being herded onto the plane.  I think Europeans have some kind of 6th sense when it comes to plane boarding times because they all seem to know to get in line 2 minutes before boarding was announced.  And it's a battle to get in line with everyone sprinting to the gate.  Seats aren't assigned on RyanAir and nothing is provided.  They don't even provide safety cards and instead everything you need to know is printed on the seat back in front of you.  Evidently, you aren't allowed to where dentures, high heels, or jewely in the event of an emergency evacuation...hmm haha.  The plane was fairly new and well kept though.  I've definitely been in much much older planes.

"No jewely, dentures, or high heels allowed during emergency evacuations"

It was the perfect weekend to be in Barcelona because the city was full of festivities celebrating their patron saint, La Mercé.  The hostel we stayed at was very nice compared to stories of hostels I've heard from friends.  Everyone there was around my age, the staff all spoke English, a full kitchen free to use, free wifi, and very clean and safe.  And the best part was how close it was to Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona.  Las Ramblas, famed for its human statues and notorious for pickpockets, was packed with other festival-goers like ourselves all weekend.  Right off of Las Ramblas was La Boqueria, an open air market full of stands selling delicious fruits, veggies, meat, and baked goods.  I splurged a couple euro to buy a chocolate crossiant and cafe con leche for breakfast, yum!  

The entrace to La Boqueria and a stand inside selling all sorts of mushrooms, yum!

Our first day in Barcelona we went to see La Sagrada Família, the cathedral designed by Gaudi that has been under construction for over 100 years!  It's expected to be completed by 2026 and when finished will be the tallest church in the world.  The artisitc details on the facades are absolutely breathtaking.  If the inside is anything like the outside, I'll surely die from astonishment.  I'll will definitely need to return when it's completed.

After La Sagrada Família, we made our way to Park Güell, a huge park also designed by Gaudi.  At the very top of the park you can see all of Barcelona with the Mediterranean at it's border.  Beautiful!  La Sagrada Famíla spikes up in the middle of Barcelona.  My favorite part of Park Guell was the giant plaza surrounded by Gaudi's famous sea-serpent mosaic bench.  We relaxed on the bench and gave our sore feet a rest while listening to a group of flamenco guitarists.  What a way to embrace the Spanish way of life :]

The entrance to Park Guell

We went out that night, randomly stumbling upon the parade of Los Gigantes de Barcelona and also going to a couple concerts.  During La Mercé, the nights are filled with the sound of music as there are concerts in almost every major plaza.  Our second night in Barcelona we went to one of two concerts with Amercian bands, Ok Go!  It was a little bit strange to hear English lyrics amongst a crowd of Spanairds, but a relief to actually understand what each song was about.

Los Gigantes de Barcelona strolling down Las Ramblas.

The second day we went to the area around the art museum.  The museum, which basically was a massive castle, seemed to pop up out of no where on top of Montjuic.  Wanting to save a few euros, we didn't actually go inside the museum, but that's ok because there was too much we still needed to see in Barcelona and an art museam can suck up a whole day's worth of time.  

View from the art museum at the top of Montjuic.

A telephone tower on top of Montjuic...
looks more like an alien spaceship to me :p

That night we went to one of La Mercé's biggest events, Correfuego, which roughly translates to "fire run" in English.  The streets were packed with spectators for Correfuego and as soon as the sun set the craziness began.  In the program of events for La Mercé, it specifically warns that all Correfuego spectators should where long pants and shirts, hats, scarves, goggles, and gloves, and it soon became very evident why they said this.  From the "gates of Hell" at one end of the street sprang hundreds of people dressed as devils and demons, all of them holding long poles with fireworks exploding at the top.  Sparks were flying over the entire crowd!  There were even dragons spewing flames from their mouths straight into the crowd of people!  Probably the stupidest and craziests act of humanity I've ever witnessed, haha. 

The crowd before Correfuego began

The demons and dragons spewing fire into the crowd.

I captured a video of Correfuego, but because it takes so long to upload videos to my blog, I've posted them on my Facebook instead.  Definitely worth checking out if you have a few minutes to spare.  After Correfuego we went to a traditional Spanish taberna and had sangriat.  3.5 liters for 20 euro split among four people made it a perfect end to a crazy night.

Our last day in Barcelona we went to one of the other most famous events of La Mercé, the Casteller or "human tower" building competition.  I would rate this as the second stupidest/craziest acts of humanity after Correfuego haha.  There were three teams competing and at first they were all building simple three or four person towers.  I was very impressed to say the least.  Little did I know what they were about to build....absolutely massive towers of people!  A few seconds before the last team completed their tower, two men in the middle started shaking uncontrollably, and all of a sudden the top of the tower collapsed, sending 4 or 5 kids hurtling into the crowd.  The tops of the towers are always very young kids because they are the lightest, smallest, and most agile.  Whatever parent would let their tiny kid climb to the top of one of those is legitamitely crazy.  It's not unusual for the towers to fall, and I overheard someone next to me in the crowd say that someone died last year...yikes.  

After Los Castelleres we walked to a large park where we watched an arial dance performance near a large, stunningly green pond.  We also managed to sneak in one last bit of Gaudi architecture before having to fly back to Valencia.  We went to La Casa Batlló, famous for its oval windows, wavey mosaic facade, and curving roof.  A pefect Barcelonian ending to an amazing weekend :]

Note to self: chiste ≠ quiste

I never know if the television shows Adela and I watch during meals are in Spanish or in Valenciano, the local dialect of la Communidad Valencia,  because they are very similiar.  Almost all of the street signs in Valencia are written in Valenciano, but on every map they are in Spanish...makes it very confusing when you're lost.  Tonight during dinner, Adela and I were watching a Spanish talk show similar to a late night show in the US but with two puppets as co-hosts.... a perfect example of how extrememly weird Spanish television is.  The hosts started talking about some person and their "quistes."  Because all I do is ask Adela random questions about anything and everything I encounter day to day, I naturally asked her what a "quiste" was and if it was the Valenicano version of the Spanish word for a joke, "chiste."  They seem similar enough, right?  Wrong.  After several minutes of Adela laughing and struggling to describe a "quiste" to me, I finally just got out my dictionary.  A "quiste" is a cyst, definitely not a joke.  Whoops.  Better that I asked Adela, though, than tell my professors that I have a new "quiste" for them that's really funny!

Un Día Típico en Valencia

Now that I've started classes, my weekdays have begun to follow a schedule that is more or less the same everyday.  It's nice to be getting into the swing of things, but having a regular schedule doesn't mean my days are boring.  Definitely the opposite!  Here's a synopsis in pictures of what a typical day for me in Valencia is like :]

Every morning I roll out of bed to find breakfast waiting for me in the kitchen.  

My madre definitely spoils me :p

After breakfast I walk to school.  This is the street where my school is located.  Spanairds are really good at parking....  They love to double park so that no one can move their cars, let alone drive down the street.

This is my school!

In between classes I walk down the street to one of the several hundred gardens of Valencia and do homework, grab a snack, or just relax.  If there's time, I'll go home in between classes for la comida (lunch) and to work out.  La comida is typically around 2:30pm.  

When I come home, Galgo, the family's greyhound, is always fast asleep on the couch in the living room.  Galgo is sooo adorable.  Just like every Spanaird, he loves to take siestas in the afternoon after eaching lunch.  During dinner though, he always seems to have a lot of energy despite the fact that Adela takes him to the park to play for over two hours twice per day.  He has a rubber ball that he will hold in his mouth and then throw so that it ricochets around the kitchen, bouncing off all of the cabinets and sometimes landing on the table, haha.  He never fails to make me laugh :]  

In my room, Adela always leaves my laundry perfectly folded.  So cute!  Again, can you tell how much she's spoiling me?

After finishing up my homework, I meet up with some of the other girls and we walk around the city, exploring new areas.  Last time, we stumbled upon Mercado Colon, shown above.

Mercado Colon is full of tapas restaurants, bars, and cafes, and on Sundays there are free concerts there.  I will definitely be returning there soon!

Once we're tired of exploring, we go to a tapas bar/cafe and spend the rest of the night sampling delicious tapas, drinking cafe con leche, and speaking English.  After a full day of Spanish everything, being able to talk English is such a relief!  Bianca and Shauna are two of the girls that I spend most of my free time with.

Shauna and I at a tapas bar

After hanging out, I return home for la cena (dinner), which is always around 9:30/10:00pm.  At first it was hard getting used to eating so late at night, but now I'm starting to like it.  There's more than enough time to explore Valencia when you don't have to be home until after 9:00!