This coming week will bring tons of travelers and tourists from around the world to the streets of Anadalucía to view the religious processions, which are parades of religiously decorated floats to mourn and celebrate this time of year. The processions are more than a Catholic practice, they are an important part of the tradition and culture in Spain. Although I won´t be in Granada for most of Semana Santa, I hope to catch the end of the week´s events when I return next Friday evening.
During the majority of Semana Santa I will be in Lisboa, Portugal! I´m meeting Kaela in Madrid tomorrow morning, spending the day in Toledo (which is about an hour outside of Madrid) and then flying to Lisboa on Saturday. I haven´t brushed up on my Portugese (and by brushing up I mean learning some basic words) yet but hopefully I´ll be able to understand a bit here and there with my knowledge of Spanish...we´ll see. Since Portugal is also a country heavily influenced by Catholicism, it will be interesting to see what kind of events will take place and how they compare to Spain.
The floats for the processions in Spain are a bit different than those we see in parades in the U.S. during the 4th of July. These floats are carried by men, called costaleros, throughout the streets of Andalucía. They are elaborately decorated and display religious figures and artifacts. When Marja and I were making our way back to the bus station after touring Sevilla by foot a few weeks ago, we encountered a church practicing with their float for the processions and it was incredible to witness. There were about 25-30 men (strong, strong men...the kind you wouldn´t want to mess with in a bar) carrying a large metal platform with wooden planks on top making their way through a narrow street. They were moving at at agonizingly slow pace, practically a crawl, and it was necessary for each person to be in step with the others to avoid tripping and falling.
The processions in Sevilla are the most popular in Spain and attract the biggest crowds from around the world. In Granada, temporary grandstands, which form an aisle for the processions to pass through, have been set up in the plaza in front of the city hall to prepare for the coming week. Although I haven´t seen any practicing costaleros here in Granada, I have caught glimpses of a few nearly-completed floats that are stored in garages on my walks home from school and they look incredible.
Well, I´m off to Portugal now! More to come when I return to España...hasta luego!
29 March, 2007
26 March, 2007
Living under an Ultra-Conservative Roof
After living with my señora for more than two months, I have started to put together bits and pieces of her life story...and it turns out that her conservative beliefs run much deeper than I realized. We had the most fascinating conversation last week about the reign of Franco (the dictator who ruled Spain after the Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975). I was interested in what her life was like during this era, since we are learning about this in my culture class right now. What she told me was surprising.
Apparently, her life was best during Franco´s rule for several reasons. The cost of living was much lower than it is today...one explination for this may be due to the inflation in prices Spain has suffered with the conversion to the Euro in 2002. Also, she told me that it was much safer in the streets during this time and women did not have to fear being out late at night, like they do today...this is probably because nobody had rights in Spain during the dictatorship because all of the power was in the hands of the military. Finally, I assume that Franco´s ultra-conservative rule and declaration of Catholicism as the State´s only religion was also appealing to my señora, who goes to mass every day and is very involved in her church´s community.
I too enjoy attending mass, but my señora has taken this one step further and has started to give me all sorts of religious items...to supplement my religiosity, I suppose. For example, I now have not one but two poster-sized lamenated calendars that display the Virgin Mary and other religious figures. She has also passed on multiple pieces of Catholic literature she´s received from her church groups...as if I don´t have enough to read for my classes! Despite the rarity of these unexpected gifts, I am flattered by her thoughtfulness.
Mi abuela española, Juana (my Spanish grandmother), is very religious as well; my señora told me that when Juana was living in Madrid during the Civil War, a sacerdote (a priest) lived with her family and held daily mass in their home for the entire town! This was incredible to hear because I can now understand more easily how an entire population falls under the leadership of someone like Franco, who maintained the support of the Catholic Church by making it the State´s religion.
After this part of our conversation, I only asked a few more questions because the older conservative generation in Spain definitely do not see the same picture as those who grew up under the oppression of Franco or who have learned about the real history of his dictatorship. When I asked about how she felt about the people who were oppressed during his reign, such as the people from Galicia, País Vasco and Cataluña (autonomous communities within Spain) who speak different languages than Spanish due to their very distinct histories, she exclaimed (translated) "Spain had one official language!". Although Spain now has four official languages, she still feels very strongly about the more liberal changes that have taken place in the country under the present liberal government. She went as far as to say that Spain doesn´t have a true democracy right now, under the leadership of Zapatero and the political party PSOE...even though I´m pretty sure elections with ballots are valid in this country...
So in conclusion, I don´t think I will be having much trouble going back to my own household and having political conversations with mi padre now :) Haha, ciao!
Apparently, her life was best during Franco´s rule for several reasons. The cost of living was much lower than it is today...one explination for this may be due to the inflation in prices Spain has suffered with the conversion to the Euro in 2002. Also, she told me that it was much safer in the streets during this time and women did not have to fear being out late at night, like they do today...this is probably because nobody had rights in Spain during the dictatorship because all of the power was in the hands of the military. Finally, I assume that Franco´s ultra-conservative rule and declaration of Catholicism as the State´s only religion was also appealing to my señora, who goes to mass every day and is very involved in her church´s community.
I too enjoy attending mass, but my señora has taken this one step further and has started to give me all sorts of religious items...to supplement my religiosity, I suppose. For example, I now have not one but two poster-sized lamenated calendars that display the Virgin Mary and other religious figures. She has also passed on multiple pieces of Catholic literature she´s received from her church groups...as if I don´t have enough to read for my classes! Despite the rarity of these unexpected gifts, I am flattered by her thoughtfulness.
Mi abuela española, Juana (my Spanish grandmother), is very religious as well; my señora told me that when Juana was living in Madrid during the Civil War, a sacerdote (a priest) lived with her family and held daily mass in their home for the entire town! This was incredible to hear because I can now understand more easily how an entire population falls under the leadership of someone like Franco, who maintained the support of the Catholic Church by making it the State´s religion.
After this part of our conversation, I only asked a few more questions because the older conservative generation in Spain definitely do not see the same picture as those who grew up under the oppression of Franco or who have learned about the real history of his dictatorship. When I asked about how she felt about the people who were oppressed during his reign, such as the people from Galicia, País Vasco and Cataluña (autonomous communities within Spain) who speak different languages than Spanish due to their very distinct histories, she exclaimed (translated) "Spain had one official language!". Although Spain now has four official languages, she still feels very strongly about the more liberal changes that have taken place in the country under the present liberal government. She went as far as to say that Spain doesn´t have a true democracy right now, under the leadership of Zapatero and the political party PSOE...even though I´m pretty sure elections with ballots are valid in this country...
So in conclusion, I don´t think I will be having much trouble going back to my own household and having political conversations with mi padre now :) Haha, ciao!
19 March, 2007
These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of events, traveling, and important learning experiences here in Spain...this is the first time since my last entry I´ve had time to blog so there´s much too share!
The weekend after Kaela´s visit in Granada, I went on a daytrip with CEGRI to Córdoba, which is a city located in Andalucía, on the Guadalquivir river. Today it has a population well over 300,000 but during the peak of the Muslim caliphate in Spain in the 10th century, Córdoba, the capital of Al-Andalus (the name for Spain according to the Muslims) reached 500,000 inhabitants-the second largest city in the world. The main attraction in the city is the Mezquita, or what is now called the Catedral. After the Reyes Católicos pushed the Muslim caliphate out of Spain, this world-famous mosque, an incredible piece of history, art, and architecture, was converted into a cathedral with the use of horrific gothic architecture within the mosque. Despite this attempt to Christianize this Muslim site, the Mezquita remains today one of the most exquisite reminders of Islamic history and culture in Spain. We also toured the remains of the palace where the Caliph (the "king" of the dynasty) and his servants lived. Although over 90% of these remains are buried underground, it was really interesting to see because much of these significant historical discoveries are still being made today.
Last Monday, my friend Marja from the U.S. came to visit me in Granada for her spring break and it was a lot of fun. She left yesterday (tugging my huge suitcase full of every possible piece of winter clothing we could squish into the thing) to return to classes at Marquette and it was really hard to say goodbye at the airport. We had such a great week together and it was wonderful to have a little reminder of home, here in Spain.
Even though I had class during the day, she enjoyed spending time getting to know my host family (as she is a Spanish major and speaks better Spanish than me!), doing a little sight-seeing on her own, and of course shopping! We toured the Albaycin, the Alhambra, the Catedral, various parks, and yes...tapas bars! She was introduced to the famous FREE tapas (delicious appetizers that come complimentary with the order of a drink) as well as churros con chocolate and chawarmas, which are delicious wraps made with shaved meat, spices and vegetables. This food derives from the Middle East and is a favorite among people here eating on a budget. We also had our fill of the always satisfying cafe con leche and bocadillos made by my señora.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned learning experience also took place during Marja´s trip. During one of our shopping excursions Wednesday night, my purse was stolen in a shoe store when I was trying on a pair of flats. Although it was probably the most terrible experience I´ve ever gone through, I am grateful that no violence was involved and that it did not happen to Marja, who was carrying her passport! It´s still hard to think how foolish I was to not have my purse on my shoulder for those few minutes when I was in the store and how I should have known better, after living in such a busy city for two months but I have had some good (and somewhat comical) learning opportunities and "first-time" experiences...
1) First time filing a police report-I remained fairly calm, considering it was in a second language and the police officer, realizing how difficult the language was for me at that moment, only seemed to talk faster. I was very particular to have the (male) officer include the designer name Vera Bradley in the police report, and not just "wallet" (as it was my first piece I ever owned). I then attempted-due to my lack of vocabulary-to explain to him what a paisley pattern looks like... On a side-note, it was quite funny to listen to him attempt to say my last name and proceed to ask my about my Russian heritage-guess again sir!
2) First time going to a motorcyle repair shop to request to have someone cut through the Craftsman lock on my suitcase-The key to the lock on my suitcase was in my purse so after trying to pick the lock with a hairpin (not so easy as the movies make it look) Marja and I toted the massive piece of luggage to a local moto repair shop, where a nice worker from Columbia used a metal-cutter to bust the lock (sorry Grandma!) and proceeded to strike up conversation about how close our homelands were...right.
There were many other firsts, not quite as interesting, such as buying a cell phone on my own and calling my mom with the horrifying news and to "cancel my credit cards." Now the only thing I have left to do is to decipher the text messages I am receiving in order to figure out who´s who and rebuild my phonebook.
Thursday night, Marja and I went out for tapas with my intercambio Jesús and his friend. We went to one Italian-themed bar called D´Cuadros, where we got a heaping plate of tortellini with our glasses of wine...MMM! After that we headed to a more typical Andalucían bar that was decked out in the hand-crafted pottery specific to Granada and other rustic/farm decoration. There we had cervezas con patatas fritas and a delicious potato-pancake.
Friday we left around noon for Sevilla, where we spent most of the weekend sight-seeing. There we saw the world famous Catedral; it is the third-largest in the world and took over a century to build. Supposedly it holds the remains of Christopher Columbus, but who knows for sure. We also saw the Plaza de España, the Plaza de Toros and an incredible Flamenco show. All in all, the trip was successful and I hope to return before the end of my stay here because there was so much I wasn´t able to see.
Now I am busy with schoolwork again and preparing for my trip with Kaela to Portugal in only two weeks! Oh yes, before I forget, today is Father´s Day here, so to all the fathers at home, Happy Father´s Day from Spain! Until next time, hasta luego!
The weekend after Kaela´s visit in Granada, I went on a daytrip with CEGRI to Córdoba, which is a city located in Andalucía, on the Guadalquivir river. Today it has a population well over 300,000 but during the peak of the Muslim caliphate in Spain in the 10th century, Córdoba, the capital of Al-Andalus (the name for Spain according to the Muslims) reached 500,000 inhabitants-the second largest city in the world. The main attraction in the city is the Mezquita, or what is now called the Catedral. After the Reyes Católicos pushed the Muslim caliphate out of Spain, this world-famous mosque, an incredible piece of history, art, and architecture, was converted into a cathedral with the use of horrific gothic architecture within the mosque. Despite this attempt to Christianize this Muslim site, the Mezquita remains today one of the most exquisite reminders of Islamic history and culture in Spain. We also toured the remains of the palace where the Caliph (the "king" of the dynasty) and his servants lived. Although over 90% of these remains are buried underground, it was really interesting to see because much of these significant historical discoveries are still being made today.
Last Monday, my friend Marja from the U.S. came to visit me in Granada for her spring break and it was a lot of fun. She left yesterday (tugging my huge suitcase full of every possible piece of winter clothing we could squish into the thing) to return to classes at Marquette and it was really hard to say goodbye at the airport. We had such a great week together and it was wonderful to have a little reminder of home, here in Spain.
Even though I had class during the day, she enjoyed spending time getting to know my host family (as she is a Spanish major and speaks better Spanish than me!), doing a little sight-seeing on her own, and of course shopping! We toured the Albaycin, the Alhambra, the Catedral, various parks, and yes...tapas bars! She was introduced to the famous FREE tapas (delicious appetizers that come complimentary with the order of a drink) as well as churros con chocolate and chawarmas, which are delicious wraps made with shaved meat, spices and vegetables. This food derives from the Middle East and is a favorite among people here eating on a budget. We also had our fill of the always satisfying cafe con leche and bocadillos made by my señora.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned learning experience also took place during Marja´s trip. During one of our shopping excursions Wednesday night, my purse was stolen in a shoe store when I was trying on a pair of flats. Although it was probably the most terrible experience I´ve ever gone through, I am grateful that no violence was involved and that it did not happen to Marja, who was carrying her passport! It´s still hard to think how foolish I was to not have my purse on my shoulder for those few minutes when I was in the store and how I should have known better, after living in such a busy city for two months but I have had some good (and somewhat comical) learning opportunities and "first-time" experiences...
1) First time filing a police report-I remained fairly calm, considering it was in a second language and the police officer, realizing how difficult the language was for me at that moment, only seemed to talk faster. I was very particular to have the (male) officer include the designer name Vera Bradley in the police report, and not just "wallet" (as it was my first piece I ever owned). I then attempted-due to my lack of vocabulary-to explain to him what a paisley pattern looks like... On a side-note, it was quite funny to listen to him attempt to say my last name and proceed to ask my about my Russian heritage-guess again sir!
2) First time going to a motorcyle repair shop to request to have someone cut through the Craftsman lock on my suitcase-The key to the lock on my suitcase was in my purse so after trying to pick the lock with a hairpin (not so easy as the movies make it look) Marja and I toted the massive piece of luggage to a local moto repair shop, where a nice worker from Columbia used a metal-cutter to bust the lock (sorry Grandma!) and proceeded to strike up conversation about how close our homelands were...right.
There were many other firsts, not quite as interesting, such as buying a cell phone on my own and calling my mom with the horrifying news and to "cancel my credit cards." Now the only thing I have left to do is to decipher the text messages I am receiving in order to figure out who´s who and rebuild my phonebook.
Thursday night, Marja and I went out for tapas with my intercambio Jesús and his friend. We went to one Italian-themed bar called D´Cuadros, where we got a heaping plate of tortellini with our glasses of wine...MMM! After that we headed to a more typical Andalucían bar that was decked out in the hand-crafted pottery specific to Granada and other rustic/farm decoration. There we had cervezas con patatas fritas and a delicious potato-pancake.
Friday we left around noon for Sevilla, where we spent most of the weekend sight-seeing. There we saw the world famous Catedral; it is the third-largest in the world and took over a century to build. Supposedly it holds the remains of Christopher Columbus, but who knows for sure. We also saw the Plaza de España, the Plaza de Toros and an incredible Flamenco show. All in all, the trip was successful and I hope to return before the end of my stay here because there was so much I wasn´t able to see.
Now I am busy with schoolwork again and preparing for my trip with Kaela to Portugal in only two weeks! Oh yes, before I forget, today is Father´s Day here, so to all the fathers at home, Happy Father´s Day from Spain! Until next time, hasta luego!
05 March, 2007
My Weekend in Granada
This weekend my friend Kaela came to visit me here. She is studying in Alcala, a town about the size of Granada, located to the east of Madrid. We toured much of the city by foot on Friday, such at La Catedral, La Capilla Real (the Royal Chapel where the tombs of the famous Catholic king and queen-Isabel and Fernando-are located) and various other historic sites. Before eating lunch with my host family, we had some café con leche in Plaza Nueva because it was so nice and sunny. After lunch we headed up to the Albaycin and ended up at the Mirador de San Nicolas at dusk, which overlooks the Alhambra, to watch the sunset.
Saturday we traveled to Salobreña, a small city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea with a beautiful beach only 45 minutes away from Granada. The weather was gorgeous and it was warm enought to lay out in our swimsuits. One thing I wasn´t ready for in Europe was the lack of inhibition many women have about sunbathing topless! I think this may be one cultural aspect I´ll avoid incorporating into my lifestyle.
After three or four hours on the beach we hiked around to get a better view of the coastline. This was my first time on the Mediterranian Coast and the view was incredible because the water was several shades of blue and the coast jutted in and out, shifting from flat beaches to more montainous terrain. There was also an old Moorish castle build on the hill a few miles off the coast that was equally impressive to see from a distance. We weren´t quite ambitious enough to hike up the hill to view this castle up close but it was probably a good call because we had a long night ahead of us!
We returned to Granada that evening and took a little siesta before getting ready to go out. After eating dinner around 10:30p (which is a time I´m still getting used to and about 2 hours later than Kaela´s dinner time with her señora!) we went out for some tapas and drinks. Our first tapa was Tortilla Española with these delicious peppers. Then I tried one with mussels and tomato on bread-not the most appetizing but definitely interesting! For their second round, my girlfriends tried tasty tapas with bacon-yum!
We then headed to Tantra Bar, where we found free admission passes for Granada 10, a popular discoteca here, which was awesome. Here´s a picture of Natalie, me and Kaela at the discoteca-we danced for an hour or two but didn´t stay too long because since it was Saturday night, it was jam-packed and practically impossible to move...also, I was taking Kaela to the Alhambra the next day and didn´t want to be horribly tired for the walking tour.
On Sunday we had another day of great weather-perfect for touring the Alhambra. It was so much fun to see the place again because a lot of the trees and flowers are starting to bloom now. It has completely transformed since the last time I was there in January and I can´t imagine how beautiful it will be in May or June...unfortunately I won´t be in Granada at this time! My señora packed us bocadillos (which are gigantic sandwiches) with fried eggs and freshly sliced tomatos on them, oranges and some delicious chocolate-I think she is really
starting to discover some of my favorite foods!
We spent the majority of the afternoon touring various sites within the Alhambra (the picture to the right is my favorite palace-The Generalife) but by 4p it was time to head back to pack her bags. Sending Kaela off on the train was difficult because we had such a great time visiting with each other but we´ll be meeting up again for our trip to Lisboa, Portugal in less than a month-I can´t believe it!
Okay, well that is it for now. I have to head home soon to do my readings on País Vasco and journal a bit in my diary for Composición before eating dinner and going to bed. I´ve posted a few pictures from my trip to Guadix (the place with all the caves) last weekend so enjoy the sights of the Catedral and the great views of the Sierra Nevada-ciao!
Saturday we traveled to Salobreña, a small city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea with a beautiful beach only 45 minutes away from Granada. The weather was gorgeous and it was warm enought to lay out in our swimsuits. One thing I wasn´t ready for in Europe was the lack of inhibition many women have about sunbathing topless! I think this may be one cultural aspect I´ll avoid incorporating into my lifestyle.
After three or four hours on the beach we hiked around to get a better view of the coastline. This was my first time on the Mediterranian Coast and the view was incredible because the water was several shades of blue and the coast jutted in and out, shifting from flat beaches to more montainous terrain. There was also an old Moorish castle build on the hill a few miles off the coast that was equally impressive to see from a distance. We weren´t quite ambitious enough to hike up the hill to view this castle up close but it was probably a good call because we had a long night ahead of us!
We returned to Granada that evening and took a little siesta before getting ready to go out. After eating dinner around 10:30p (which is a time I´m still getting used to and about 2 hours later than Kaela´s dinner time with her señora!) we went out for some tapas and drinks. Our first tapa was Tortilla Española with these delicious peppers. Then I tried one with mussels and tomato on bread-not the most appetizing but definitely interesting! For their second round, my girlfriends tried tasty tapas with bacon-yum!We then headed to Tantra Bar, where we found free admission passes for Granada 10, a popular discoteca here, which was awesome. Here´s a picture of Natalie, me and Kaela at the discoteca-we danced for an hour or two but didn´t stay too long because since it was Saturday night, it was jam-packed and practically impossible to move...also, I was taking Kaela to the Alhambra the next day and didn´t want to be horribly tired for the walking tour.
On Sunday we had another day of great weather-perfect for touring the Alhambra. It was so much fun to see the place again because a lot of the trees and flowers are starting to bloom now. It has completely transformed since the last time I was there in January and I can´t imagine how beautiful it will be in May or June...unfortunately I won´t be in Granada at this time! My señora packed us bocadillos (which are gigantic sandwiches) with fried eggs and freshly sliced tomatos on them, oranges and some delicious chocolate-I think she is really
starting to discover some of my favorite foods! We spent the majority of the afternoon touring various sites within the Alhambra (the picture to the right is my favorite palace-The Generalife) but by 4p it was time to head back to pack her bags. Sending Kaela off on the train was difficult because we had such a great time visiting with each other but we´ll be meeting up again for our trip to Lisboa, Portugal in less than a month-I can´t believe it!
Okay, well that is it for now. I have to head home soon to do my readings on País Vasco and journal a bit in my diary for Composición before eating dinner and going to bed. I´ve posted a few pictures from my trip to Guadix (the place with all the caves) last weekend so enjoy the sights of the Catedral and the great views of the Sierra Nevada-ciao!
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