I want to be a polyglot

Palabra del dia: llustración --> enlightenment

First off, if this blog is a little scattered, it's because I have so many things swirling through my head from the last five days that I am having a hard time processing it. So hopefully it makes sense somehow.

I went to Morocco, Africa. We left in the morning on Thursday and got back yesterday (Monday) around 7:30pm. With the exception of when I went to the Everglades over a year ago, this trip was the most meaningful learning experience I have ever had. I don't even know where to start, but here it goes.

We left Granada around 10am on Thursday and headed for Gibralter, which is actually a UK colony in Spain. It was the strangest thing because we had to actually cross a border, show our passports, etc. Once we crossed the border everything was in English. It was like being in the UK (or at least how I would imagine it to be) except we were right next to Spain and also on the Mediterranean. The people there spoke English and Spanish, but mostly English. It was really strange to hear English all around me when I've been studying in Spain for the last two months. So what did we do there? Well, we loaded into two van/bus things and took off on a bus tour of Gibralter. Our tour guide was a little crazy. He liked to inform us over and over and over again that, in fact, Gibralter has been a colony since 1704 or something like that, longer than the United States has been in existence. Awesome, thanks for doggin on the US when you're amongst a group of United Statesians. Good thing he didn't get jumped (un chiste, hehe!). We went all around the city and up onto the Rock of Gibralter. We saw a really cool cave that reminded me of Fantastic Caverns in Springfield (yes!) and we saw monkeys. Yes, monkeys. This was a highlight of Gibralter. Later, after we came back from the tour, we decided to hike up the Rock of Gibralter. And it's quite a hike. Almost straight up at points, actually. Let's just say I got my workout for the week. But the view at the top was so worth it. Nothing can take my breath away like the outdoors and natural beauty. It was amazing.

After we explored the Rock on foot, we went back down into the city to find some dinner. We ate at this pub/restaurant called The Clipper, one which our director, Javier, has been to many times before. On the menu were things that I would find in the States, and it was really strange. I resisted the pull of the cheeseburger, though, and went with the quiche. Our waitress spoke English to us (duh) and had a British accent. And she called vegetables 'veg' as in "Mash with salad or veg?" (Kristen, I thought of you!). After dinner we were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel and slept.

Day two. We headed for Africa. Once we got through passport control and what not, we got to the ferry station. There we met our tour guide for the week, Ben, and proceeded to take the ferry across the Mediterranean from Algeciras, Spain to Tangier, Morocco. Side note on Ben, he is from Conneticut and has been living in Tangier for a few months. He studied in Granada when he was in college and since then has been obsessed with Spain/Morocco. He works for a company called Moroccan Exchange which takes groups of students (mostly college students) into Morocco and teaches them about the culture, language, and life of Morocco. He speaks Spanish and is slowly picking up Arabic and maybe a little bit of French too. Once we got to Tangier, Ben took us to a market that had tons of fresh food. Meat, vegetables (veg, haha!), fruits, and more olives than you could ever imagine. It wasn't the cleanest, but it was the start of our introduction to the Moroccan way of life. Ben navigated the market and bought us some yummy food (cause he takes eating seriously-- those are his own words). Then we headed for an organization called DARNA, an organization that helps women who don't have men to help them in their lives learn skills to survive on their own and what not. It was interesting to talk a little bit with some Moroccan students there. And then we had the most amazing kouskous I've ever eaten, followed with traditional Moroccan mint tea.

Fast forward to day three. Rabat, a main city in Morocco. The previous night we were introduced to our homestay families. A couple girls and I were put with Suad, a teacher who lives with her 2 or 3 nieces (she's not married). In the homestays, the first thing that struck me was the welcoming environment. Suad and her nieces gave us dos (or tres or cuatro) besos to welcome us and had the biggest smiles I think anyone could ever have. They fed us and showed us our beds so we could sleep.

We also got to ride camels on the beach. Kind of like riding a horse, but you have to hold on more when they get up. And it's higher up.

Okay, I want to explain to you a little bit about our experience in the homestay. First, Suad didn't speak English. Most Moroccans speak Arabic as their first language and then French, and then few speak English. So Suad spoke Arabic to her family, and French to us (my friend Montana knows a little French, so she helped us communicate a little). That being said, there is a language barrier. It was weird not being able to talk to my "mom" straight up like I can talk to Maricarmen in Granada. However, I learned that spoken language doesn't always matter. The language that came through was the love, hospitality, and openness of their lives and homes to us. This was my first direct experience with the Moroccan people and started to open my eyes to this culture and people.

In Rabat, where we spent 2 full days, we got to talk with the director of the soon-to-be-open IES Rabat center, Muhammad. He told us a little bit about his ideas for the Rabat program and got our feedback about what we think he should add/change. Then we talked with a woman who is studying gender issues in Morocco/Africa. More on this later.

We saw the Mausoleum of Mohamed V (the current king's father who died about 10 years ago; the king's father and grandfather are both buried there). Then we met Moroccan students and got to hang out with them for about 3 hours. This was really interesting, and definitely something I wouldn't be able to do had I come on my own to Morocco. They all spoke English because they're studying it. I talked with Muhammad, a 26 year old sailer whose English is less than perfect. We talked about life and jobs and school and the marriage system in Morocco. He couldn't always understand me because of my American "accent" (I totally don't have an accent), but he could understand a British accent, because that's what he was accustomed to. So, what did I do? You guessed it, talked in a British accent to him. Yes, me, a Missourian, talked to my Moroccan friend in a British accent. Hey, whatever you have to do to communicate, right?!

Later we went to the hammam baths, traditional baths in Morocco. The women (and maybe men too, I'm not sure) go to the baths once a week or so. The baths are basically three rooms connected with a doorway opening. It's like a sauna it's so hot. You go in and lather yourself up with some sort of special soap. Then you get buckets full of piping hot water and wash yourself. Then you use an exfoliating glove and scrub all of the dead skin off your body. Then you pour more water on yourself. Then you wash your hair. And more water. And help your neighbor scrub her back. And more water. You get the point. We sat in there for about an hour. It was quite an interesting experience, and a good bonding experience for us girls of the group. Oh, one more thing. So the Moroccan women go to these baths once and week and then usually shower only 2 or so more times per week. Interesting concept, but I understand because showers and water and such aren't the same there as they are in the US or even Spain. After the baths we got henna tatoos and went to sleep.

Day four. We drove to the Rif Mountains and hung out with a family in a small village all day. This family lives off the land. They have a turkish toilet (basically a hole in the ground that you squat over; these are actually all over Morocco and more common than "western" toilets). They had little electicity. The oldest son (17 years old) had to walk an hour to school. He actually lives at school and only comes home on the weekends. They don't have a car. They do everything with donkeys. They entertain themselves by talking, doing daily chores, playing with a soccer ball, whatever they can find to do. Simplicity of life.

After, we drove to Chefchaouen and got settled into our hostal for the night. Later, after we left the village we went back into town and did some touristy shopping stuff. Then we had dinner and went to bed.

Day five. We got up early and walked to a high point in the town of Chefchaouen. This town is situated in the mountains, literally. There is a wall that goes around the city that was used to protect the city's inhabitants from invasions. It was beautiful.

So what did I learn from Morocco? Well, a lot. First, I learned about Islam and how people practice it in their lives. The whole country is run on Islam. It's what their government is governed by. The King is highly respected (people have pictures of him in their house) and follows the Koran in order to rule the people. I think, as a US citizen, we have a skewed picture of what the Islamic religion is all about. For me, what I've been fed to know is that Islam is a religion that is somewhat crazy and that the people who practice it hate the US. Being in Morocco broke down all of these stereotypes for me. The people in Morocco are Muslim. It is their way of life. They pray 5 times a day in the mosque. They follow the rules of their religion, almost to a T. They can't drink or smoke marajuana legally. The women are treated as less, though there are movements to get women a higher place in society, such as an act that was passed in 2003 stating that women now have the right to divorce their husbands. But as far as being terrorists or something like that, it's not true of the vast majority of Moroccans. They are actually a very loving population of people. Everywhere we went people noticed us. They talked to us in English. They were happy we were there. They stared at us. They smiled at us. They simply loved us. As for their religion, it is engrained into who they are. It's part of their identity. So here's what has been swirling in my head about all of this:

Is it really possible to say that, even though these people aren't "Christian", they are wrong? I have a hard time believing it. They have shown me more love in 5 days than some "Christians" do in a lifetime. They are devoted to their religion. Every part of their life is saturated by it, even down to the language which centers around giving God praise (example, lhumdullah means "thank God" and they say it when something good happens, aka, all the time). And I know it's real to them. My friend Stephanie was sick and had to go to the doctor in Morocco. When she got home, her host father, who doesn't speak English, came up to her, put his hand on her cheek and forehead, and started saying a prayer over her. When she explained this to me, it gave me chills. Here is this man who she just met, praying for her to get better. He doesn't know what religion she is. He doesn't know her. But he cares. And he knows his god can make her better. He has faith. If that's not real, I don't know what is. So how can I possibly say that another religion is wrong? Though they have different ideas and theologies, some of which I may not agree with, I think it's possible we all worship the same God. It's the human interpretation that comes in and stinks up everything in between.

Second, American privilage. I hear this all the time, but never understood what it meant until now. In America, if there is a person from another country that doesn't speak English, we expect them to learn. In Morocco, they expected to speak to us in English. Whoa. They respected us. They were intrigued by us. They wanted to know us. When we left the country yesterday, as we were walking across the border with all of the Moroccans that were trying to get into Spain (which is a hard thing to do, and a whole other issue in itself), they created a pathway for us to get by. Respect. There is a girl in the program who is Lebanonese. She couldn't come on the trip because she would have had to have gotten a visa to enter the country because she has a Lebanonese passport. As an American, we didn't have to jump these hoops. American privilage. I am so blessed to have been born in the US and have the opportunities that I have.

Third, I learned that I want to know more languages. French is one I heard a lot of, and I realized it's really close to Spanish. So, I'm planning on taking French my senior year of college. And I'd love to learn German too, and maybe Arabic someday. Hence the title of the blog, I want to be a polyglot. That's a person who speaks many languages.

That's what I learned, in a nutshell. If you want to know more in-depth about my learning, let me know, because it doesn't stop here. My biggest question is, with what I learned, what am I to do? How do I go on from here?

Now for the pictures. Not all I have, obviously, but some.

Rock of Gibralter with a mosque in front. Yes, I climbed that.

Monkey business.

Top of the Rock of Gibralter overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Lots of ships.

Olives, anyone?

"Sarah, smile!" This is my "I can't believe I'm on a camel in Morocco/I might pee my pants" look. Apparently I need to lay off the galletas con crema chocolate.

Mausoleum of Mohamed V.

Tombs of current King Mohamed's father and grandfather.

Guard inside the Mausoleum trying not to smile. I'm sure he has about 572.5 pictures taken of him per day.

Moroccan family love! Left to right: Sister of Suad, Kawtar (niece), Suad (my mom), me, Lauren, Montana, and Fatima.

Dance party on our incredibly small bus.

Overlooking the city of Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains. Beautiful city!

Our group for the 5 day trip. We used Turkish toilets, ate kouskous, danced with village people, went to the hammam baths, and bonded. I love these people!

And to top it all off, this was at the restaurant we stopped at on our way home. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Sometimes the language barrier gets in the way. It's supposed to say "Please do not throw butts in the toilet" aka cigarette butts. Baha!!

Well, that's all I have for you. But it was an exceptionally long post. Soon I'll post my pictures from Valencia, but not now. :) Hasta luego!

What a wonderful world

Palabra del dia: viajar --> to travel

I say this because I'm going to Valencia this weekend. Oh, but don't you worry, the traveling doesn't stop there. Here's my schedule for the next 5 weekends:
-This weekend, Valencia. There's a festival called fallas and some girlfriends and I are leaving bright and early (can you say 5am to catch the bus?) tomorrow. This should be interesting.
-Next Thursday-Monday: Morocco. Yes, that's right. AFRICA. We're going with our program. We're staying in homestays. HOMESTAYS. Are you freaking kidding me?! This is going to be amazing.
-Weekend after: Barcelona. A friend and I are flying there for the weekend. It's going to be fun. I'm hoping to see my friend Alex who is studying there for at least a night if I can convince him not to travel. :)
-Weekend after: Leave for London. I'm visiting my friend Stacie from high school. I'm really excited to see her! Then later that week, I'll be in Germany visiting family friends. So that means London one weekend, and Germany the next. Really it's my spring break, the 4-12 of April. It's going to be sweet!!

Lately the weather here has been wonderful!! Let me give you a little glimpse of my daily life:
Some mornings I walk alone to school, in which case I bring my iPod and jam out. I love listening to music and being in my own world and enjoying the morning. Everyday I'm learning to cross the streets sin (without) crosswalks and it makes me feel special. I pass by a bakery everyday that I'm always tempted to stop in. I walk through a plaza, Gran Capitan, where I always see old guys sitting and taking in the sun. I also see gitanos (gypsies) with their dogs and always think of my own pup back home. I walk past the Chino shops (kinda of like dollar shops) and then onto Plaza Trinidad. There is a little bread stand that is always full with a line every morning. The old lady that works inside is precious! There's lots of birds in this plaza too and street cleaners cleaning the bird poop off the ground. Then it's past the shops and another little plaza to the plaza Bib Rambla. This plaza has many flower stands, and at one in particular, there is a man that I always say good morning to. Sometime I should actually stop and have a conversation. He wears a green sweater a lot (I only know cause it's my favorite color) and sometimes tells me I'm a flower as I walk by. How sweet. He's even given my friend Betsy a rose before. Next comes more shops that have shoes and clothes and tempt me even more than that dang bakery! Usually there's some sort of construction going on too, and it is usually accompanied with a cat call or whistle in my direction. Oh you silly Spanish men. Aw, and then finally. Gran Via. So close to school, just a little further to go. Make sure you don't get hit by a bus though when you cross the street. Just kidding. But seriously... Onto Plaza Nueva with the cafes setting up for the day. If you look straight up into the mountains you can see the Alhambra. Yes, that's right, I see a famous historical building everyday on my walk to school. When I finally get to my school, sometimes I see Hermi (our "security guard", but really just the handy man) who usually says something to me that I can't understand because of his deep accent. Then he proceeds to make fun of me a little and we have a good laugh.

All this to say, my life is incredible. Everyday I walk, soak up the sun, watch the people, and, quite literally, smell the roses. I love being able to enjoy life in this way, taking in my everyday surroundings and being in awe of everything I see.

Oh, I almost forgot! While I was wandering/observing for a class this morning, I found a little bakery called "Pan & Chocolate" (pan means bread). Um, heaven? Probably. I decided I should go in. Spain has an obsession with bread and chocolate. They eat it for breakfast. It's kinda strange, but I like it! I ended up getting three little crossant-like things with chocolate in the middle. Just enough to be a little snack. Oh yea, then on my way home earlier there was a guy on the street selling these massive strawberries for 1.50 euro pero 1/2 kilo. That's pretty good. I'd say if we were in the US these sort of venders might be a little sketch, but not here. Did I buy a 1/2 kilo? You bet I did. And ate some on my way home too!

Well, off to buy some tights. I finally found the tights store everyone has been talking about when I was wandering this afternoon. I couldn't decide then (typical), so I have to go back now. Yes, they have a store just for tights. Any color you would ever want. All tights. I think it's an obsession I can get used to.

Hasta luego!

Vamos a la playa!

Palabra del dia: la playa --> beach

I've been in Spain for almost two months. This coming week marks the two-month mark, and I still can't believe it. I have done so much in these last 8 or so weeks, but it is amazing to me how much more I have to do. I look forward to everything that is still ahead of me, but I'm wishing it would slow down just a tad.

This weekend was one of my favorites so far. Today (Sunday) is my friend Betsy's birthday, so we ended up doing a lot for her. Yesterday after a chill day, I made some tiramisu (or really, helped Maricarmen make it) and got ready to go out to dinner with my friends. We went to a Spanish restaurant to which I brought my pan of tiramisu. We had a nice Spanish dinner and then topped it off with tiramisu which was wonderful! We were all pretty tired so we called it an early night and went in at 2am (ha, early!).

This morning I got up early in order to catch a bus to the bus station. Five friends of mine and I decided to (well, Betsy picked cause it was her birthday) to go to the beach. The beach we chose is called Nerja and is about 2 hours south of Granada by bus. The tickets were cheap and we got picnics from our host-moms, so it was pretty inexpensive. When we arrived in Narja, we wondered around until we found a plaza more or less overlooking the Mediterranian. Not too shabby, eh?! As I noticed later in the day when Betsy was recalling our day on the phone to her parents, we had a most marvelous day. Here's how it went:

After we took some gorgeous pictures in the plaza thing, we walked until we found a cafe/restaurant overlooking the Mediterranian once again. We ordered a pitcher of sangria for the six of us, some pan (bread), and gozpacho (a cold soup). We sat and chatted about how we missed peanut butter, drank our sangria, and soaked up the sun and the view. Next we headed down to find the beach. We found an area with a bunch of little cafes right on the beach and decided to stay there. We ate our bocadillos (sandwiches) and the Nutella and muffins we bought and then headed closer to the water. We didn't have anything to lay out on, but we sat down anyway. Montana and Laura decided to run into the water, even though it was freezing, while the rest of us took off our shoes and got comfortable. The weather could not have been any nicer. It was probably around 75 degrees, with a slight breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. Lying there with the sun warming my face, eyes closed, I could hear the sea and it was the most relaxed I'd been in a while. Besides a camera, I should have brought a tape recorder! We lied on the beach for about an hour, chatting about life, laughing at the kids splashing in the water, and basking in the sun. It was glorious, to say the least. When we had to leave the beach around 3 to catch the bus at 4:30, we walked back the way we came and got helado (ice cream) on our way back. I got chocolate and banana. Yummy! We napped on the bus ride back and here I am now, procrastinating on my studying because, quite frankly, I don't like to study. I'm living the life and I don't even realize it!

The first plaza-thing we came to. There was some sort of bike race or something so there were a lot of people on bikes too.

Beautiful!

But really, pictures cannot display the true beauty of it all!

On the walk to the beach we stopped to take some pictures overlooking the city and the Mediterranian. If you look closely, you can see my swollen left ankle. Ouch!

Lovely ladies who ventured to Nerja! Me, Laura, Montana (her eyes aren't always closed, I promise!), Betsy (birthday girl!), Ronni, and Katie. So much fun!

Well, that's all for today. Hasta luego!

The heart of life is good

Palabra del dia: tranquilo/a --> quiet, peaceful, tranquil

The more time I spend here in Granada, Spain, the more I appreciate the way of life that the people here follow. Today we had lunch with most all of the family for Estelle's birthday. I love lunchtime. From 2-5pm everyday, the entire city shuts down, literally. Also, yesterday was the Day of Andulucia. It is a day to basically relax and take it easy and spend time with family. The entire city shut down then too. So that means that the whole weekend, minus the bars, the whole city was closed. Supermarkets, closed. Stores, closed. Post office, closed. Cell phone stores, closed. For some reason, I don't think this would fly in the United States. This way of life is how it is here. Things are just slower. I've grown to appreciate (actually, grown is not right. I've loved it from the start) the way in which the Spanish people take life easy. If they are walking somewhere and see a friend on the street, they stop and say hello and talk for a while, no matter where they're going or if they're running late. They would rather sit around with family for three hours everyday than work those extra hours. Maybe I'm naive to say so, but it seems that the people here are not as obsessed with things. Money, cars, iPods, the newest digital things, fashion, or even body image. They don't seem to focus on the trivial things in life. They LIVE life, not obsess about it.

The way of life here is so incredibly refreshing to me. It is teaching me even more about what I already knew: the most important things in life aren't things, they're people, relationships, and living life to the fullest.

Well that's really all I wanted to say. I was inspired by our incredible birthday feast at lunch today where we ate amazing food as usual, drank red wine, and laughed with the family that is becoming my own. It was wonderful, to say the least.

Hasta luego!

I want to watch HSM3

Palabra del dia: coincidencia --> coincidence (that was an easy one!)

Last weekend about half of the students in my program bought silly costumes, got picnics from their host families, and hopped a bus to Cadiz. It's about a 5 hour drive, depending on stops of course. Why Cadiz, you ask? Carnaval. It is somewhat like Mardi Gras, or so I'm told. Everyone dresses up in costumes and hangs out in the streets singing, dancing, and drinking for hours on end, literally. The party started at about 10pm and didn't end until probably 4 or 5am. It was quite the experience. When we got to Cadiz, the sun was just about to set, so we went to the beach to take pictures and marvel at the beautifulness of the ocean. And it was beautiful, let me tell ya. Then we walked for what seemed like forever, finally finding the cathedral and allllllllllll the people at Carnaval. There were so many people there I literally couldn't move. But apparently that's part of the experience, so whatever. It was interesting to say the least, and we met lots of interesting people. Around 3am, some friends and I decided we'd had enough of the craziness and went to find the beach (and a bathroom, which is harder than you think because nothing is open past midnight in Spain, expept the discos). We found both, and decided we'd try to sleep on the beach. In theory, good idea. In reality, not so much. It was freezing and we didn't have a blanket or anything, so we tried to sleep on some big boulders. Finally after about an hour, we had to go find a bathroom again, and found a bar that wasn't open, but the employees were still there. They let us in and let us stay in the warmth for a while, which was nice. One of the guys even fell in love with Betsy. How sweet. After that, we met some new friends from France and walked around with them for a while before we had to return to our bus at 7:30am to go back to Granada. Basically, the most ridiculous 24 hours of my life. Wouldn't do it again, but it was an experience I won't forget.

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Yesterday we took a field trip to Cordoba with the program. It is about 2 hours away. There we saw a really cool cathedral, some museums, and an ancient city. I am amazed everytime at the age of the cities here because we just don't have anything like it in the States. The architecture of course is amazing and my pictures don't even begin to show the splendor of it all.

Behind me are the arches of the enterance to an ancient city near Cordoba, Madinat-al-Zahra.

Side note: all day long I was in Javier's group, the IES Granada director. He is from Spain, but is married to a woman from Kansas, so he understands the whole being from America thing. However, when he spoke to us in Spanish, I was amazed because I could understand it clearly with little thinking or translating in my head. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me. Although there are always vocab words that I don't know, I'm really improving in my overall comprehension and speaking of Spanish. I LOVE IT!!!

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Last thing. First of all, I have an amazing host mom. I can't really say that enough. The other day, she let me have Ronni and Betsy over for coffee. We had fun talking and learning and they both love Maricarmen. She even made us a french-toast-like pastry to go with our coffee, complete with china coffee cups. Anyway, here's the funny thing. Before Betsy and Ronni came over, Maricarmen and I somehow got on the subject of my heart procedure I had done in December (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look at old posts). Turns out, she has the EXACT SAME condition. Hm, interesting. She hasn't had the procedure, but takes medicine for it. Weird how something like this can cause her and I to bond. Oh, and here's a picture of Ronni and Betsy, two of my closest friends here, so you know who I'm talking about. They live across the street from me and have been such a blessing to me overall since I've been here. I'm so happy I met them and really don't know if my time here would have been the same without them. Thanks girls, for loving me and caring for me and being my best friends here. You guys rock!

Betsy and Ronni. How cute!

That's all for now. More updates to come soon I'm sure! Hasta luego!

You're such a ham

Palabra del dia: No pasa nada! --> Don't worry about it! (Okay, so really it's a phrase)

I started my university class this week. I tried one class, and it wasn't too swell, so I went to another one that my friend Ronni convinced me to go to. The class is called "Anthropology of Ethnicity." And that's basically what it is. The professor is hilarious and really nice and there's no tests. Yes, you read that right. No tests. Hallelujah! Of course we have other work, but it's no big. I'd totally rather read and write than study and take a test. And we are required to do work that gets us out into the community and gets us working with Spanish students in the class. Also, for our last project, we have to write a paper and present it. Here's the catch: for the first 5 minutes of the presentation, we have to present in our native language (which is English for me, duh). What's the point of this, you ask? To show those whose native language is Spanish what it is like to be a non-native speaker in a class that is taught in Spanish. How cool is that?! The teacher is really receptive to the fact that the University of Granada has many, many international students, and so we don't all speak Spanish fluently. I'm so excited to learn about ethnicity and how it plays out through history and now and what all that entails. It's going to be pretty freakin' sweet!

The more I'm here, the more I learn about how my past experiences I've had at Jewell have prepared me for Spain. One in specific, the 2 weeks I spent in the Everglades through Outward Bound and the Pryor Leadership Program (shout out to K-Shaff and Sandra!). Little did I know at the time that 2 weeks living on a canoe (and being really, really smelly) would teach me lessons that I can't learn in a classroom and that would stick with me for years to come. First of all, I've learned how to adapt. When we were in the Glades, there's nothing you could do with your situation except adapt. There was no point in being frustrated or annoyed or getting caught up in being cold, wet, and smelly. You just had to suck it up and learn to deal. This has definitely helped me here. They have a different way of living, from siesta, to food, to ways of communication, no laundry dryers, to their strange relationship with the floor. But through it all, I've adapted. As mom says, it's not good, it's not bad, it's just different. Second, Spanish people are super laid back. If you're late, no pasa nada. If you spill something at lunch, no pasa nada. If you fail a class, no pasa nada, er, that's probably pasa algo (something), but you get the point. They don't let things get in the way of living or focusing on what's really important. It's just not a big deal. I love that! Lastly, things are a lot slower here. When I say things shut down for siesta everyday from 2-5pm, I mean they literally shut down. No post office, stores, or cafes. Have to cash that check by 4pm? That's too bad. Like I said, they live. They aren't worried about getting everything done and doing everything. If I had not learned to be more laid back from my experience in the Everglades, I'd be struggling for real here. Sorry if that's boring to you, but it just amazes me how our experiences carry over into other experiences in our lives. It's all connected.

Speaking of adapting, here's something that's different:

In Spain, they eat ham all the time. For every meal practically, it's there. They also store it differently than in the States. This is my new little friend that has joined me for breakfast for the past week. Yes, that is a hoof of a pig and it's leg on a stand. Oh and don't you worry, there's still hair on that hoof. If that doesn't wet your appetite, I don't know what will!

I noticed I have failed to post my address in Spain on my blog thus far, so here it is. If you would like to send me something (a card telling me how much you miss me, Werther's Originals, Trident Tropical Twist, you know, whatevs), feel free to do so.

Sarah Hartenberger
IES Abroad Granada
C/Pisas, 2-2°
18010 Granada
Spain

That's all I have for you today. Let me know if I'm missing something on here that you'd like to hear. It'd be good to have suggestions! Hasta luego!

Falling in love

Palabra del dia: la familia --> family (I hope you guessed that one, cause it's an English cognate!)

I'm falling in love. No, not with a boy, but with Granada, Spain and a whole population of people. The people, the culture, the food, the nightlife, las rebajas, Spanish, the walking, the city in general, everything is capturing my attention. It is better than I ever expected it to be and I absolutely love it! It's a learning experience at it's finest, and I couldn't be happier with my choice to study here!

Since I've gotten to Spain, I haven't really been homesick. Sure, I miss my family and my friends, but not home. Maybe it's because I remember that I'm only here for a little while, so what is the point in being sad? The family that I have been given here, as in the family I live with, has already shown me what a true family should be. Simply observing them, you can see the love that flows through them. Maricarmen, the mom, has more love for her family, only comparable to my own mother and father. She loves to cook, and it's the way she shows her love. Let's just say, she cooks a lot. Earlier this week, I had the special opportunity to have lunch with her and most of her kids/kids' spouses. Just sitting in the room and watching them communicate was a lesson in itself. The communication major in me loved just observing and seeing the way they interact, even if I couldn't understand every word. Tonight, I found out that they were having a surprise birthday party for Maricarmen. The whole family was over, her kids, their spouses, her sister, and her grandson. I wish you could have seen the smile on her (Maricarmen's) face when she walked in. It looked like she had won a million bucks! I just can't say enough how good it was to be able to sit and talk with them, listen to them, and see them just be a family. The people in Spain, they really know how to do the family thing. Not that my family at home isn't wonderful, because it is. But the blessing in the family I have here has been more than I could ask for.
The two Nachos, Maricarmen's son, and her grandson. ADORABLE!
Maricarmen and Nacho, her grandson. Do you see the smile plastered on her face?! That's how she always is, but mostly when she's holding her grandson.

Basically the new love of my life. How could you not fall in love with that face?!
The whole fam. Leondro (husband of Sylvia), Lorenzo, Maria Jose (wife of Loren), Nacho, Estelle, Teresa (sister of Maricarmen), little Nacho (Sylvia and Leondro's son), and Sylvia. I am truely blessed to have a family like this here! I completely lucked out and could not have asked for anyone better! Older Nacho lives in the house with Maricarmen and I, and Estelle is over all the time. We're new bffs because she explains things to me when I don't understand. Kinda like my older sis. It's super.

Another fun thing about this family has been my daily lunch experiences with Maricarmen and Nacho. When I don't understand something being said to me, Nacho can usually explain it to me in his broken English. However, sometimes his broken English is even hard to explain. Por ejemplo, the other day he was trying to say "blood" but pronounced the "oo" part like you would in "food." I guess this is technically how it's supposed to be pronounced, but our screwed up language decides not to. It makes for some interesting conversations, especially when I think he's saying the food we're eating is "autobus" when it's actually "octopus."

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Now on the flip side. Moving to a new place where you don't know anyone is hard, to say the least. Being thrown literally into a new world where you don't fluently speak the language and have to adapt to new people, a new city, new food, new schedule, new EVERYTHING is hard. I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but all of this newness, shall we say, makes one very insecure. I have found myself battling with this constantly. It's not that I'm insecure in who I am as a person, but rather in my abilites, mostly with being able to speak Spanish. I feel like I am constantly being judged which is hard because I'm trying soooo hard to speak well and learn and soak up every correction someone throws my way. Through it all though, I've learned to lean on God and find my strength and who I am in Him. It's amazing to see the way He uses situations to teach and reinforce my undying need for Him in my life. I just love the way He does that! :)

Well I think that's it for now. It's Valentine's Day here, so that means I'm going to go boogie down (which I would do anyway, maybe I'll just wear red). Hasta luego!