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| Winter time in Menendez y Pelayo |
Thursday, December 17, 2009
How is Papa Noel gonna find me without a chimney?
To make up for Valverde’s lack of spirit during Halloween the town and its people have decided to go all out for Christmas. Surprisingly I haven’t felt the same homesickness I felt during Halloween and I think it’s because Valverde has provided me with the same comforts I’m use to at home: Christmas decorations, candy, lights, and Christmas music. The town is beautifully decorated with bright lights of stars, moons, and bells across all of the main streets. Most of the houses have a Christmas tree with lights and a nativity scene. My school has its own Christmas tree, Nativity scene, and decorations. In Pocho’s class she is teaching the kids to sing Jingle Bells in the younger grades and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to the older kids. Next week at the conservatory all of the kids from all of the schools are supposed to perform a song and Pocho informs me that it is supposed to be in English but she has her doubts about the other schools. In the supermarket they blast Christmas songs in English and even though I am the only one singing along to the music nobody gives me weird looks. Success! When I walk to my tutor sessions I can hear children practicing Jingle Bells on their recorders. I remember the days when I had to play the recorder. I guess it’s not just an American thing.
While the familiar candies and cookies I’m use to are nowhere in sight (gingerbread, chocolate chip cookies, Christmas M&M’s, and candy canes) Valverde has its own Christmas goodies. I got one word for you: Turron! Turron is a chocolate candy bar that comes in many varieties and is only around during the holiday season. You can get it hard (teeth cracking hard) or soft (melt in your mouth soft) forms. Most of them come with some type of nut, either peanut or almond (they LOVE almonds here. Almost every baked good has almonds as its main ingredient). I decided to test them out and bought one hard turron of coconut and chocolate and one soft turron of chocolate mouse. The soft one was the best chocolate bar I have ever had! Only 2000+ calories, no big deal. I’ll try to save some and bring it back to the states—I just hope I don’t eat it hehehe. This reminds me of a FRIENDS episode I just watched were Ross eats all the Maple Leaf candy so Chandler has to hide it from him. When Chandler gives a box of the candies to Monica she opens it and they are all gone. I’m not making any promises but I’ll try.
Christina took on the daunting task of teaching the kids how to make gingerbread houses. Just substitute gingerbread for thin wafers and it was basically the same thing. I sat in the back of the class and observed as she tried to get them to listen to her and follow her instructions. Most of the kids didn’t listen and ended up building their own version of a “house”. One group’s house collapsed so Christina told them they could eat it. Like vultures the kids attacked the plate of sweets and devoured it in lightening quick speed lol. After the houses she began telling them about Christmas in America. Now its important to understand your audience when you have to speak about something so I have no idea why Christina decided to tell these fifth graders about how Christmas is all about consumerism, greed, that we are celebrating the death of a Saint, and that the true origin came from some other country, and all that religious/cynical stuff. What was she thinking? Kids don’t want to hear that, please, I don’t want to hear that. Kids only care about the magic of Santa Clause, reindeer, candy canes, snowmen, and all that fun stuff. I was just shaking me head and thinking why, why, why??? That’s just the type of person she is I guess. As Ruben put it, she “speaks perfect Spanish but her English is horrible”—and honestly its true.
My tutor sessions have been a lot of fun because I’ve decided to take it upon myself to educate the children and adults about Hanukkah. I made a dreidel out of paper and played dreidel with them. To no surprise I ended up winning each game. What can I say I’m kind of awesome at dreidel…. I couldn’t find authentic gelt, but the candy store did have chocolate coins so I used them. I contemplated making potato latkes but I figured a bad latke would be worse than no latke so I didn’t make them. I was able to find a English AND Spanish version of the story of Hanukkah so that helped me teach the kids the significance of the eight days. I played the YouTube video of Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song accompanied with the lyrics. I got mixed reviews with that one, but I enjoyed it. For Christmas the past bilingual assistant had made colored, laminated, flashcards of important Christmas vocabulary terms with the spelling on the back. They were quite impressive and too good to just use in school so I used them in my sessions as well. I also taught the older kids The 12 Nights of Christmas song and made them sing it with me. I took turns reading Twas the Night Before Christmas with the kids as well. When I read it I got all into the story and would try to act out the words as I spoke. I can’t wait to have a little (American) kid to read that to and have them get all excited about Santa Clause. I forgot how many good Christmas songs or poems there are. For my own personal enjoyment I printed out the lyrics to my favorite Christmas songs (Silent Night, Winter Wonderland, Up of the Rooftop, and The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers) and I sing them to myself when I need a pick me up hehe. I would just play YouTube videos of the songs or listen to iTunes 24/7 Holiday Radio Station but that would require the Internet.
In my tutor session I always ask the kids and adults how they celebrate Christmas and New Years. I learned that the kids only open maybe one or two presents on the 25th of December. The rest of the presents are opened on January 5th when everyone celebrates the 3 Kings Festival (3 Wise Men from the Nativity scene). Once the 3 Kings have brought their gifts to the town the kids are allowed to open their gifts. Every town or city has some sort of parade to celebrate the holiday. I learned that in Valverde there is this auction a few days before and the families that donate/spend the most money get to dress up as the 3 Kings and toss candy to the town people. They dress up in robes, hop on the back of a tractor that drives through town, and toss candy out to the kids on the street. It’s a very cute tradition. Then everyone goes home and watches the big parade, like the one in Seville, on the television and afterwards opens their presents. Its just like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Well I decided that since I return from my winter break on the 4th that I would stay the extra two nights to witness the parade and celebrations of the 3 King’s Festival in Seville. Might as well right? Margarita told me that in Seville the 3 Kings are always famous people (soccer players, politicians, actors/actresses, ect). I’m crossing my fingers, praying every night, and holding my breath that Sergio Ramos will be in the parade and that I’ll get a picture of him!!!!!! He’s from Seville and started out at Seville FC so it only makes sense that he would be in the parade.
For New Years I was informed that the adults normally stay home or go to a special restaurant where they pay for a dinner and unlimited drinks for the night and bring in the New Year there. The teens or younger crowd so to special discotecas to get the same deal but more alcohol and dancing. Ana told me that its kind of expensive and the tradition has sort of died out because now there are maybe six or seven little parties that people attend instead of one big party. Also I learned that at midnight instead of counting down The Ball and kissing the closest person to you, everyone listens to the chimes of a clock and eats a grape for each chime. That comes out to twelve grapes in a very short time period. In Spain the grapes come with the pits in them so it can be somewhat uncomfortable if you don’t prep your grapes before hand haha. I also learned that in the supermarkets they sell tins that have only 12 grapes in them just for the occasion. How cute is that? I really like that tradition so when I return the states I hope to carry it on.
The greatest Christmas present I received was the gift of HOT WATER! The man came on Tuesday to fix our pipes and now I can FINALLY take a hot shower. The funny thing was he came on Monday but I was the only one home and when I opened the door he spoke so fast I couldn’t understand him. All I got from him was that he wanted “to see it”. I tried my best but I couldn’t understand him and I had no idea that someone was suppose to come to the house so I told him I didn’t understand him and that he should come back when my roommate returns. About three hours to late Elisa texts me that a man should come to our house to fix the pipes. DAMNIT! Alas, I had good fortune because the man returned the next day and I let him in and he worked his magic. It took less than 5 minutes and I swear all he did was turn a knob or something really simple like that. Despite the hot water I still put the heater in the bathroom with me but I no longer shiver INSIDE the shower. Not only does my shower now get hot water, but my faucet does as well. It was the worst in the mornings when I would already be freezing and then I would have to wash my face with spine tingling cold water that would make my hands numb and would force we to eat my cereal with gloves on. My room is still pretty cold. The one night I was to lazy to put socks on before I went to sleep turned out to be a bad idea because it was impossible to sleep. I finally gave in and at 5am I got up and put my sock-slippers (thank you Dani!) on and tucked my pajama pants into them. Honestly, if I don’t do that every night I can’t sleep because I’m that cold. This whole week I’ve been alone in the apartment because Elisa has been sick so she stayed in Seville. It’s Wednesday right now so I think it is safe to say she probably won’t be coming back to Valverde before the break starts. I also think its safe to say I won’t be getting a ride to Seville with her. So yeah I now know what its like to live alone. I don’t like it, well, I think I wouldn’t mind it if I wasn’t so far away from everything.
So last night I had the wonderful pleasure of having dinner with Ana and her family. She had to cancel all of my tutor sessions this week with her and Paco because they both had conflicts but to make it up she invited Christina and me to dinner. My first dinner at a family’s house, how exciting!!!! I finished up my last session at 9pm and then headed over to Ana’s with Christina at 9:30pm for dinner. I finally met her husband who was very nice and loved to talk. He spoke very clearly so I understood almost everything he said in Spanish. He knows English better than Ana, which is saying something because she speaks very well, so anytime I had a tough time translating a word I would say it in English and he understood. That was comforting. Normally with someone new I get very tense about having to try and speak Spanish, especially when I’m with Christina because she’s fluent, but with him I felt at ease and comfortable. BUT despite everyone’s ability to speak and understand English we only spoke Spanish, which I really liked. It only came out a few times here and there. Sergio also joined us for dinner but he didn’t talk and was in a bad mood because he had just returned from soccer practice out in the cold and was now sick. He claimed it was bronchitis. Well we started the dinner with tapas of sheep’s cheese, goat cheese on a cracker with anchovies (some without anchovies thank god), chips, salad, bread, and shaved ham. To accompany the food we had two bottles of red wine. For the main dishes Ana made individual Spanish tortillas (a thick potato pancake made with eggs, onions, and sometimes other ingredients. In this case mushrooms) and bite sized fried cod bites (they were AMAZING). She made this because Christina is a vegetarian but she eats fish. I tried to eat around the mushrooms but in the end Ana picked up on the fact that I didn’t like them so she brought my pork loin. The pork literally melted in my mouth. It was a great filling meal. For desert she brought out two trays. On the first, an assortment of different kinds of Turron and on the second mini wrapped baked goods of crème, cinnamon, and almonds. Naturally they put the put down directly in front of me and said “EAT!” They know their audience. Everything was so good. We talked and ate from 9:30pm to 1:45am. The only reason the meal stopped was because I told them I was tired. I had more wine that night than I have had this whole trip thus far. When I lifted my head I was a little dizzy.
In the middle of the meal I had a one on one conversation with Ana husband Antonio about how hard Spanish was for me. He told me that I just need to take every opportunity I have to ask what things are and build up my vocabulary base. When I told him I have a hard time conjugating verbs he gave me some key phrases that I should memorize in order to not have to worry about conjugating. For some reason the way he talked to me about it really gave me hope that I would get better at. He assured me that I spoke very well (I think he was just being nice) and told me that he had no doubt that I would be fluent by the time I leave Spain. I’m glad someone believes that. The manner in which he approached learning a new language was just so new to me and very refreshing to hear. I really enjoyed talking to him. He also talked about his aspirations for his son. How he wants Sergio to learn as much as he can now so that when he’s older he can pursue anything he wants and have as many options as possible. He emphasizes the importance of speaking other languages more for his future rather than at the moment. I understand his perspective and I can relate to why Sergio resents it a little. Looking back I wish my parents had enforced the importance of knowing another language upon me. It’s hard sometimes in school listening to first graders remembering vocabulary so well when I can’t remember the sentence someone said to me a minute ago. Anyways, the meal was fabulous and I had a wonderful time. Both Ana and Antonio told Christina and I that we are welcomed back anytime. I think my next meal will be with Pocho and her family but not until after winter break.
A lot has happened for me in 2009 but I’m fairly certain that 2010 will bring a lot more adventures. Things to look forward too in 2010: Bringing in the New Year in Prague, Czech Republic with two new friends, London Trip in February where I will finally see most of my family for the first time since September, a week of craziness in Cadiz in honor of Carnival, random long weekends exploring other cities in Spain like Valencia, Galicia, Bilbao, and possibly Mallorca, a week long celebration of Semana Santa, a visit from my friend Kerry and her sister (my first and probably only friend visit), a ten-day visit from my parents in Barcelona, Seville, and Valverde, a three-day weekend in Morocco, and lastly an end of school trip to Scandinavia. This is all assuming I have enough money to go to these places. We will just have to wait and see.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Wait, I can get a free tapa with ANY drink? Now you tell me.
Last weekend I had a five-day weekend, or what the Spanish call a Puente (bridge). For this Puente I decided to check out the amazing city of Granada. The jewel of Andalucía and home of the most popular tourist attraction in all of Spain: The Alhambra. The Alhambra is a this walled complex that dates back to the Phoenician times and is home to numerous palaces, gardens, exquisite architecture, and fantastic views of the other fascinating parts of Granada. Connected to the Alhambra is the Generalife Garden. This is a giant garden that is best scene in the spring because, well it’s a garden, and lets face it flowers like sun better than the cold. There is just so much to see in Granada and I was convinced that it would take me more than three days to see everything so I was really looking forward to my vacation.
I set off on Friday bright and early to catch the direct bus from Valverde to Seville at 7:45am. This bus trip was an hour and a half exactly and was cheaper than going from Valverde-Huelva, Huelva-Seville. I had to walk to the other bus station in Seville to catch my bus to Granada. I had looked it up before hand and figured it would only take me 12 minutes to get there. Well I was wrong, it took me a half an hour but that’s because I got lost and retraced my steps several times. The station is a little hard to find because of the lack of signage and the placement of the actual station. Once I got there I got in line at Alsa and asked for my ticket. I had purchased the ticket online but didn’t have a printer so I chose the option of getting my ticket at the station. Well the lady told me just to go to the gate for my bus and buy it there. I was skeptical of this and it made me uneasy seeing everyone else around me with a hard copy of a ticket. How was I supposed to get my ticket inside the bus? When it was time to board everyone crammed the door and somehow I slipped inside the bus and when I told the bus driver I had a reservation he gave me that look like “what are you talking about?” I noticed my name on his sheet and pointed, “That’s me!” He grunted and let me on. Phewww. I was anxious that it wasn’t going to work but it did in the end.
The bus from Seville to Granada took three hours on the dot. I arrived at 2:00pm and followed the instructions I was given to take the 33 Bus from the station to the city center and get off at the Cathedral stop. From there I was going to follow my Google maps to my CouchSurfing destination. Once on the crowded bus I realized there was no way of knowing what stop was the Cathedral stop. I asked a lady but she said she didn’t know. I chanced it and got off when a lot of other backpack carrying people disembarked the bus. Turns out I got off at the correct place but then proceeded to walk in the opposite direction of where I needed to go. I made a three-minute trip take 45 minutes because I was attempting to follow a map that had the wrong destination. My Google map had Calle San Gregorio ALTA when I needed Calle San Gregorio BAJO. Big difference. I had to call Joaquin (the person who’s couch I was staying on for two days) to get directions. I couldn’t understand everything he told me so I just went with my gut instincts and eventually found him sitting outside at a café with some friends.
I was a little overwhelmed once I put my things down and sat with Joaquin’s friends for a drink. I was so use to be prepared and knowing exactly where I was and I had already gotten lost and I had only been in Granada for an hour. Turns out I couldn’t have prepared for the unfortunate circumstance that occurred next. So Joaquin’s roommate, who was out of town that weekend, agreed to let this guy and his traveling companion he knew sleep on their couch because their car had just broken down in Granada and they needed a place to stay. Too bad Joaquin’s roommate didn’t know that the couch was reserved for me. Hmmm, what to do? It gets better, Joaquin only had one set of spare keys and he gave them to the stranded couple leaving me with no keys. Also since Joaquin wasn’t going to be around until later Sunday night I had to give my set of keys to the next person who was planning on CouchSurfing with Joaquin. Joaquin gave the American boy who was suppose to take my place my cell number so that he would call when he was there and I would give him the keys. Joaquin promised to make a copy of the keys and get them to me by nighttime. It wasn’t really that big of a deal except that I had no map of Granada and wasn’t wearing enough layers so after four hours of exploring I was cold and wanted to get warm but couldn’t. I didn’t want to walk too far away from the apartment for fear that I wouldn’t know how to get back so I walked the same loop of streets four times scoping out the best (and warmest) place to eat an early dinner since I just wanted to be warm. I settled on a semi-deserted sit-down Kebob restaurant. I ordered a kebob and apple tea (so good). It did the trick and warmed me right up. I ordered another tea just to prolong my departure. The waiter made small talk with me and asked why I was eating alone and if I was a student. I guess eating solo isn’t that popular here.
I finally received a text from Joaquin saying he had keys for me, thank god. I dashed home and parked myself in front of the heater. Joaquin gave me a tour of the house and explained me the shower situation. I had the option of taking a cold shower with great water pressure OR a hot shower with a trickle of water coming out of the showerhead. What to do?!?! After the tour he explained to me that he was going to sleep at his girlfriend’s house and then leave for the day for his concert (he’s a Clarinet player who is employed by the Junta to travel Andalucía and perform at schools for only 3 months of the year). He told me that I was going to sleep in his bed while the other two travelers would have the couch and the other room. So now I was alone in a strangers house, in a foreign city with no map, with more strangers. Interesting…. I’m pretty sure this might top most people’s first CouchSurfing experience.
After Joaquin departed I was left with the two German’s: Ed and Sylvia. They had met only a week before through CarSurfing (yeah that’s right, apparently there’s a website for people looking for rides and operates just like CouchSurfing). What was suppose to be a four day trip from Germany to Morocco turned into an almost two-week journey with uncalled-for stops due to her car breaking down. So it was a flat of strangers. Ed and Sylvia were significantly older than me and each had an interesting story behind why they were in Granada. Okay first Sylvia: She is a single, over 40 year old, occupational therapist (what are the odds?!?!) who quit her job in Heidelberg to move to Morocco to help out a family who had a son in need of a private occupational therapist. Even though she speaks four languages (German, English, French, and Spanish) she needs to learn Arabic in order to communicate with the family. She enjoys belly dancing, Muslim culture, and chocolate. Throughout my two and a half days with her I saw her consume a huge piece of chocolate cake, chocolate croissant, chocolate milk at every breakfast, and a chocolate crepe for breakfast. She puts me to shame. She is independent like me, but is very self-centered and a little inconsiderate at times.
Onto Ed: he is a single, almost 40 year old, converted hippie with a daughter he isn’t allowed to see, and hates all women (direct quote). He was very critical of everything and bitter. He seemed to have a negative stereotype about almost every group of people and had very specific opinions about things. He also didn’t tolerate stupidity and smoked way to much marijuana (I had to leave the apartment just to escape the smell and one time I got a terrible headache because of it). He quit his job as an engineer a few years back in order to follow his passion to own a mobile home and offer excursions to the Moroccan desert that no tour book could offer. His only problem is he believes his product should self itself and therefore doesn’t think he needs to advertise it. Not to mention he isn’t the best sales person. He currently lives in a cave about 40 minutes outside of Granada city. He intimidated me even though I was taller and bigger than him. I was afraid of making him angry so I tried to agree with most of what he said or I would politely suggest an alternative way of looking at something. I also played the role of mediator between the two Germans. Something was going on between them that I wasn’t told about until (thankfully) I had to leave.
On Saturday Ed left in the morning to get a coffee (without the keys). I left a note saying I would be back at 2pm and that maybe we could go to this city of caves that Ed had told the two of us about later that day. Sylvia was still sleeping so I figured she would let him in when he returned. That morning I explored the Cathedral, Capilla Real, and the surrounding neighborhood. I discovered this winding group of streets full of venders selling pottery, Moroccan goods like scarf’s and jewelry, and a spice center. There were these long tables full of every spice imaginable. It was pretty cool. Street, I found a lovely park and sat there for a while trying to get warm from the suns rays. I realized it was almost 2pm so I returned home to meet the Germans. When I returned to the apartment at 2pm nobody was home. It wasn’t until 3:15pm that I heard the buzzer of the apartment go off. I buzzed the person in and opened the door. It was Ed. He told me that he had been locked out of the apartment all day long and has been wandering the streets in the cold. He saw my note and was thankful that at least I explained myself. He said that “the princess (Sylvia) had taken off with the keys without telling him where she was or when she would be coming back.” He was fuming mad at her and this just escalated throughout the rest of the day. I mentioned that I hadn’t eaten and was going to get lunch but then he insisted on cooking lunch instead.
I was expecting the food to be ready in 30 minutes, oh no it took two hours to cook. I was starving. While the food cooked I was suckered into listening to the band Triana. Ed insisted I watch this compilation movie about the band. It was pretty boring and I wasn’t that interested so I excused myself to go to the bathroom and then went to my room. I felt trapped: I couldn’t leave because then Ed would HATE me and this would recreate a very hostile environment for the rest of my time in the apartment. Not to mention I was on his good side so I didn’t want to anger him now. Well I went back into the kitchen to try and talk to him because I had nothing else to do. Somehow we got on the topic of religion and I know this is silly but I was afraid to tell him I was Jewish. I tried to avoid telling him what I believed in so when he asked if I wanted to see this amazing movie about religion I just said yes because I didn’t know what else to do. It was horrible! It was this documentary movie that I’m sure only 10 people have probably ever seen and it was all about how religion is complete crap. It went on and ON about how everything people believe in can be explained by astrology and so forth. I wanted to shoot myself. I couldn’t leave this time because he was behind me watching. SO UNCOMFORTABLE…. My saving grace occurred when Sylvia came home and sat down behind me to watch. This made Ed leave and then I was free to “write in my diary” aka do ANYTHING to appear busy.
The food was FINALLY ready so I sat down to eat and Sylvia joined us without invitation. I think that got Ed even more upset because he barely ate anything. I tried to mediate and strike up a conversation with Sylvia about what she did during the day. I mentioned that I hadn’t been to Sacromonte yet and Ed asked if I wanted to go right now. Well, I wanted to go tomorrow to see if during the morning light but I agreed because I didn’t want to tell him no. He gave me exactly 2 minutes to get ready before he was out the door. Geez, what did I do to deserve this? Sylvia came with us as well. Once outside, Ed just took off with Sylvia about three paces behind him and me another five paces behind her. I’m sorry but I wanted to EXPLORE Sacromonte, not jet through it like I was on a race. I dallied just enough to take the pictures I wanted and to see where the two went from the corner of my eye. The other problem was Ed was leading us up some off the beaten path streets so it would have been impossible for me to find my way home so I had to stay with them. We quite quickly made our way up the steep hills of Sacromonte just in time to see the sun set across the Granada city. It was a very impressive view and I was proud of myself that I made it up there without falling and without huffing and puffing. I was wearing boots with no traction so going back down the hill/mountain in the dirt and dark was a difficult task.
Once we got back down to the Albayzin area Ed took us to the Archaeology Museum. How appropriate for an Anthro major. After the museum we stopped into another tourist location for a few minutes and then decided to get a drink and food. I told Ed that my only criterion was a place with chairs so I could sit. I’m okay with walking, I just can’t stand up in one place any longer. That proved to be quite the obstacle because almost all of the tapas bars are stand up only. You would have to eat at a restaurant to find a chair and Ed didn’t want to “overpay for food that wasn’t very good and had poor service to accompany the poor food”. Right, standing it is. Well we found a place but Sylvia wanted a place with crepes so begrudgingly we continued looking for a place. We realized that no such place existed so we headed back home. When we got home the two Germans had an argument in German and Ed stormed out. Oy vey! I ended up spending the rest of the night inside with Sylvia just talking about her travels, life, and traveling alone. It was nice to have someone to talk to, but I only wished it were someone my age. At the end of the night we agreed to wake up early and walk together to the Alhambra to get tickets.
We got up at 7am and made it to the Alhambra in the freezing cold by 8am even thought the ticket agency doesn’t open until 8:30am. Well by the time we got there, there was already a decent line of people waiting for tickets. Some people had camped out with beach chairs haha. While we waited I was pretty sure we could have gotten tickets a lot faster by standing in the credit card line by Sylvia insisted the line was only for people who had a reservation. I didn’t say anything but I after seeing people get out of our line and come back to find their friends with tickets in hand, I was fairly certain that she was incorrect. After an hour and half in line we finally got tickets. I decided to tour the free parts of the Alhambra and explore the museum (in doors thank god) while I waited for my time to enter the Alhambra. Each ticket has a specific time that you are allowed to enter certain parts o the Alhambra so you have to wait your turn. They don’t make it easy to find the entrances. The only reason I found it was because Sylvia knew where to go because she was here the day before. If you ever decide to go to Granada you have to see the Alhambra, just make sure you get your tickets at least a month in advance to make sure you get to see it on the day and time you prefer. I made the mistake of waiting to long and paid the price in numbness and time.
After the Alhambra it was time to depart the apartment and head over to my hostel, only 2 minutes away and right around the corner from Joaquin’s flat. I was so excited to get of there I couldn’t wait to leave. The German drama was just to much for me and I hated being stuck in the middle of it. I was also ready for a REAL HOT shower and to meet people my age. After checking in, I received a text from Sylvia asking if I could come and lock up the apartment since she wanted to leave and she gave the keys to Ed. Sigh, you try to leave and they suck you back in. If the hostel wasn’t so close I would have ignored the text but it was so I went over. I locked up the place and said goodbye (again) to Sylvia. I returned to the hostel and found this book on European destinations so I started reading and taking notes on destinations in Spain and the cities I was planning on visiting for winter break. Suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder. This guy informed me that I was reading his book. Oops. He told me that I could keep reading it but that when I was done could I leave it at the reception for him because he had to go on this tour. After two hours of reading I was finally finished with the book. All of a sudden I had a movie moment: I could leave the book at the reception with my name and number, wait for him to call, answer the call, meet him for tapas, spend the whole night talking, realize we are soul mates, fall in love, and live happily ever after…
Reality set in and I left the book at reception without my name and number. Next I decided to take a much-needed shower. It was heavenly. I haven’t had a HOT shower since my last hostel in Lagos, Portugal. I was able to shave and not worry about taking a quick shower in order to save money. I took my time to dry my hair, style it, put on makeup, and look presentable (finally). After I was all ready for the night I receive another text from Sylvia asking to lock the door again and if I want to join her for dinner. I decided to go to dinner with her because I liked the company and the tapas tour wasn’t for another three hours so I had time to kill. We ate at the cheap kebob place again (I think the whole staff knew me at this point) and during dinner Joaquin called me and asked where I was. He met me at the Kebob place and asked for my keys. At this point I gave them to Sylvia and told her to give them to the new Surfer since he never contacted me and I was officially not responsible for this drama anymore. Well, Joaquin now needed the keys to give to the guy but Sylvia didn’t want to give them up because then she didn’t have any keys and wouldn’t be able to get into the flat. I understand her concern but at the same time Joaquin made some good points in that he wasn’t responsible for them, they were guest in his flat and he had already promised someone else the keys so that was his priority. Sylvia and Ed should have left by now and were overstaying there welcome and Joaquin wanted to sleep in his own bed for a change. More drama….I just sat there in silence eating my kebob. This was not my fight. It didn’t help that Ed had taken off for the whole day with the other set of keys and hadn’t told anyone where he went or when he was coming back (sounds familiar). On top of this Sylvia was to afraid to call or text him about her problem because she was afraid of angering him more. There’s a lot more to their story but its really none of my business to share and plus it would take up more about three more pages. (I’ve already been at this for three hours…).
Somehow Sylvia had convinced Joaquin to let her keep the keys until after dinner. At this point she asked me if there was any availability at my hostel. OH HELL NO. I really didn’t want her to stay at the same hostel because then she would be around me the whole time and then I wouldn’t be able to meet people my age. I said I would show her m hostel but the chances of her getting a room were slim since it was a popular hostel and this was a holiday weekend. Sure enough the hostel was all booked (thank god!). I told her good luck and said goodbye (again!—for the last time). After she left I hung out in my room until it was time for the tapas tour. I went down early to meet people in the lobby. I met this one girl from Australia who didn’t end up going on the tour but I talked to her for a while. She was very soft spoken so I had a hard time hearing what she was saying so sometimes I just nodded and pretended like I heard her. About ten minutes before the tour started the guy who owned the travel book I was reading sat down next to me. I thanked him again for letting me read the book and asked if he got it from the front desk. From that point on we talked non-stop for the next 4 hours. I can’t explain how good it felt to have a normal conversation with someone. I didn’t have to pause between each sentence, I could answer his questions with more than “yes” or “no”, I was able to tell my own stories, and little things like that. I was able to show my personality for once. It was the highlight on my trip, hands down.
To be honest I could have talked to anyone, but the guy, Ryan, was really nice and really interesting. He was from Florida and just finished a month of “wwoofing” in Ireland. WWOOFING stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms or as an article I recently read referred to it as “willing work on an organic farm”. It’s a pretty cool organization, check it out if you like: wwoof.org. He was thankful for the experience but he wouldn’t do it again because it rained almost every day. His stories and experiences made me contemplate wwoofing after my Spain journey is done. However, I would like to look into wwoofing in the USA instead of abroad. The tapas tour consisted of three bars where we were supposed to get one drink at each place. The first bar was a wine and cheese place. When the group of Americans entered I think we overwhelmed the waiter for he was a little frantic trying to get everyone the drink they asked for. However, we didn’t receive a free tapa with our drink—not sure why they brought us to this place then? After that place we went to the next bar. This place looked more like a typical tapas bar. It was louder, had great music playing, and could handle a lot of people. I got a traditional tapa at this place because I wasn’t that hungry (the kebob was more filling than I expected). We stayed here a lot longer, I would say at least an hour. After a while we noticed that almost everyone in our group had left except for Ryan’s travel companion Adam (from DC, woot woot!) and the girl he was talking to. We decided to leave with them. Our host asked why we were leaving and made up some excuse that we were hired. He began to give us the typical speech that I’ve now heard a good twenty times since coming to Spain: “you guys are young, you shouldn’t be tired, its only 1am. In Spain the night life doesn’t start until 1am….” blah blah I’ve heard it all before”. Despite his efforts we still decided to head back. The girl whose name I never got was telling me how she expected to get more food on this tour and was still hungry. I mentioned that I knew of a really god tapas place that was very close to our hostel that we could try. Everyone was onboard so we headed there. The girl ordered humus and a vegetable platter without ordering a drink (very unusual in Spain. Why wouldn’t you want a drink?) Side note, every time I go to a tutor session the parents always offer me something to drink and every time I say no thank you I’m okay and every time they react as if they’ve never had someone refuse a drink before. They eat dinner at 10pm and yet I’m the weird one for not excepting a drink. Well halfway through the tapa I see our original host. He comes over and asks what happened to going to bed? It turned out that this was the next tapas bar on the tour. What are the odds??? Accidentally we ended up being the only people to complete the tapas tour haha.
I was hoping that to see Ryan and Adam the next day and hang out with them more but Ryan informed me that this was there last night here and they were waking up early to try and get Alhambra tickets so I probably wouldn’t see them in the morning :( I just spent my whole night getting to know him and now I had to start from scratch with someone else, ugh. Whatever, I wouldn’t trade the night for anything because I had a lot of fun and was so happy that I got to talk like a normal person. I kind of forgot what it was like to speak at a normal speed and use anecdotes, sarcasm, whit, and movie quotes. Oh goodness . I said goodnight and goodbye to everyone and went to my room. It was pitch black, the light switch was on the opposite side of the room and everyone was asleep in my room (7 beds of girls all of whom were asleep and it was only 2:30am. Now who’s the lame one???). So I got undressed and ready for bed by the light of my cell phone, not easy by the way. I found out the next morning that the other girl didn’t even bother changing, she just went straight to bed haha.
The next morning I had a good breakfast and was on my way for my Arabian bath and massage. That’s right, I made a reservation for a massage. Something I probably wouldn’t have done if I were traveling with a group. I get there a little early and sign in. My appointment was the first of the day (10am). They had a card with instruction for me in English so I wouldn’t do anything wrong. I changed into my bathing suite and headed for the bath room (a room full of 7 different baths, not a bathroom). Six of the pools were filled with warm water at different temperatures and one pool was full of very cold water. They said you should spent 7-10 minutes in a warm pool then 2-3 minutes in a cold pool. I tried that approach but after re-entering the warm pool my extremities felt this sharp numb feeling (my parents think it was hyperthermia). I didn’t like the feeling so I remained in the warm pools, plus Granada was the coldest temperatures that I’ve experienced so far in Spain so I was perfectly okay with spending all of my time in a hot bath. It was a really cool experience and one I’m glad I did on my own. All the masseuses would shush people it they started talking so it really was meant for full relaxation. When my number was called the lady asked if I wanted a leg or back massage. I opted for a back massage naturally. My back had been hurting lately because I haven’t been sleeping well and I’m hunched over a lot because I’m cold all the time. The massage felt amazing. I didn’t want it to end but sadly it had too. After the massage I had to rinse off the oil but then was allowed to finish the rest of my session in the baths (I technically had paid for an hour session). Well as you all probably know from the reoccurring theme that is Spanish way of life, nobody really cared how long you stayed in the bath. Nobody was pushing people out the door at 11am on the dot. I’m fairly certain that I could have remained in the bath all day and nobody would have noticed. It is so different from America. I started to get nervous that I wouldn’t know what time to leave since I took off my watch and there wasn’t a clock but I looked around and saw all the people that had entered the bath at the same time as me and they looked like they weren’t going anywhere for a long time haha. I decided to embrace my Spanish time and not worry about it. I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.
Finally, after some time I felt bad that I was overdoing my stay, so I got out of the bath (worst idea haha). When I changed and finally left the Aljibe de San Miguel it was 11:45am hehehehe. On the way back to my hostel I decided to do some shopping and bought some gifts for people. Once I got back to the hostel I was so tired. The bath really took it out of me. I felt a little light headed and very sleepy so I took a nap for a little. I met a few people in my room who were studying abroad in Madrid when I woke up. They were nice but they left that night so I never got the chance to exchange full names and numbers. After my nap I felt better so I showered and packed my bag for this was my last full day in Granada. I realized that I spent more money on gifts than I had anticipated so I needed to take out some money in order to pay Miguel for gas for my ride home. I headed off to Santander ATM just down the road from my hostel. I had to wait because this woman was already at the machine. She was taking her sweet time too. She got a phone call and started talking instead of finishing up at the machine. Come on now. Then a friend came up to her and they started chatting. Are you kidding me??? After what felt like a half and hour the lady finally finished. Good grief. I put my card, typed my pin and I get a message that says the ATM is not functioning at the moment. WTF?? I wanted to scream. Luckily the road I was on was lined with banks so I just tried the next ATM, CajaSol (a very popular bank in Spain as well). Got the same message. You know every time I about to concede to the Spanish way of life and embrace it fully little things like this happen and it aggravates the hell out of me. Nothing ever works for me in Spain. I make one more attempt at the next bank, Caixa (another popular bank in Spain). It works (finally) but charges me a fee. Obviously it wouldn’t be a successful transaction without taking more money from me. What if my card doesn’t work while I’m on vacation in Europe and it’s a real emergency? It kills me that my card is so unreliable and there isn’t anything I can do about it. EEEEEERrrrrrrrr.
I had some more down time so hit up the Internet and tried to make conversation with people but there wasn’t anyone around really. I forget what I did to pass the time but once it was an hour before the family dinner at the hostel I made my way down to the kitchen. I was lucky to come when I did because seating was limited and I grabbed one of the last available chairs. It was a shame though, because I wanted to take a picture of the HUMUNGOUS frying pan but couldn’t risk losing my seat. I had never seen a pan that large before, it was awesome. For dinner we were served vegetable soup in large cups and then couscous with chicken. The host plopped the first plate of couscous on the table in front of the four of us. We all looked at each other and didn’t know if the plate was for one person or was communal. The serving of food was large enough to feed at least four people, no joke. When the host plopped the second plate down he pushed the plates directly at people so we realized that each plate was for one person. Good lord is was a lot of food. It was good but way too much. Once people were reaching their limit of how much food they could consume they would look around as if they didn’t know what to do. Nobody wanted to waste the food by throwing it away but at the same time nobody could finish his or her plate. We also didn’t want to be rude by throwing away the food because it was good but it wasn’t possible to save it. Well, I decided to be the guinea pig. What did I have to lose; I didn’t know anyone in the room. I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I approached the trash bin. Once I started dumping my food a few people joined me. One guy thanked me for starting the trend; he didn’t want to be the first to throw away food. After dinner I talked to some more people at the bar where I had my free complimentary drink for choosing the Oasis Backpackers Hostel. After some time I decided to call it a night so I headed off to bed.
I woke up as late as I possibly could before I had to check out. After checking out I put my luggage in storage, ate breakfast, checked my email, and then decided to get lost one more time in Granada. In five days I managed to get lost everyday in Granada with and without a map. That’s impressive if you ask me hehe. Throughout this trip I realized how important it is to have a book, especially when you’re traveling alone. Well this was a huge issue for me because I finished my one and only English book about a week ago so all I had was my Spanish books. I don’t have a problem reading a book in Spanish but it takes up more space because I have to also bring a dictionary and my journal to remember the words I look up. That’s why it’s just easier to have an English book. I was sure that Granada would have an English bookstore being a popular college town, but alas I found none. I searched all over throughout the trip for SOMETHING; ANYHTHING to read but always came up short. I ended up reading my tour book from cover to cover. It was interesting but I just wanted to read a story, not facts or information. My last trip around Granada I saw out of the corner of my eye an English word on a magazine. I get closer and sure enough I found a Vogue in English. Hallelujah!!!!!!! It turned out that the magazine cost 7.20 Euros. SEVEN TWENTY FOR A MAGAZINE!!! That’s the equivalent of approximately $14 for a 200-page magazine. It wasn’t even a special issue of anything. Also in America it was only $4. Sigh, I was desperate so I bought it. Damn you Euro.
I decided to eat a big lunch so I wouldn’t need to eat anything on the way home to Valverde. I ate a really good chicken lunch at a nice restaurant. Yeah I splurged again but hey, this was my vacation. After I finished my lunch I asked for the check and prepared to leave. The waiter brought over the check and a purple/pink colored drink. Interesting…I smelled it first and I’m not kidding, it smelled like perfume: a very strong, floral perfume. I was little afraid to try it but I did. It was so sweet and tasted like it smelled. I have no idea what they brought me but I wouldn’t want it again. It caught me completely off guard. Normally I’ll finish anything but this perfume drink, whatever it was was just too much for me. I went back to the hostel for the last time to retrieve my luggage and say goodbye to the gracious staff. I took the bus to the train station and went to the kiosk to purchase my ticket to Jaen. Sure enough the bus I was hoping to take was booked so the only option was the next bus, an hour later. I started freaking out because I wasn’t sure if this would be a problem for Miguel. I texted him and didn’t get a response. I started thinking that I needed a back up plan so I looked at buses to Seville instead. There was one bus leaving at the same time as the Jaen bus but there were only two seats left so I had to act fast. I texted my roommate Elisa and asked if she was still in Seville but she texted back that she was leaving right now. CRAP!! I was afraid to talk to Miguel on the phone because I wasn’t sure if he would understand me but I was desperate and had to make a decision quickly. So I called him and told him my problem. He answers “no pasa nada. Esta bien.” Translated: “not a problem at all. Relax, its fine. I’ll see you at 6 then.” Sigh, what a relief. I forget that people aren’t run by schedules here and that change of plans is part of normal life. With the go-ahead from Miguel I purchased the ticket, found a bench, and read my magazine.
I read every line of text possible in that magazine. I read the text in the advertisements, the fine print on photographs, the editor’s letter, and much more. No word escaped my eyes. I made that magazine last as long as possible. I arrived in Jaen at exactly 6pm and saw Miguel pull up at exactly the same time. Perfect timing. He drove through Jaen a little so I could see his home time. It was similar to Huelva in that its smaller and not as esthetically pretty but it’s a city and is has more to offer than some places. From Jaen we had a non-stop trip straight to Valverde. It only took us a little over three hours to get home. We spent most of the time talking and singing to the music on the radio. He would sing the Spanish songs and I would sing the English songs. It was great. With about 45 minutes left in the ride Miguel switched the station to a sports station so that he could listen to the champions league game that Real Madrid was playing in. He’s a dedicated fan. We arrive home at exactly half time but were delayed because Miguel didn’t have the right key to his flat so he had to wait for the landlord to come over and open the door for him. I had to walk home from his place (not a problem) but I was sweaty and tired by the time I got in the door. I was hoping to catch the end of the game but Elisa was home and watching something with Pablo. This was the first time Elisa was home before me. Shocking.
So that was Granada. All of my pictures are scenic because I forgot to take pictures when I was with people (because I was sooo engrossed with having a conversation hehe). I think I covered everything important. I’m exhausted. I now have a week and three days before winter break! I’m slightly tired of traveling but I need to buck up because I’ll be gone for 15 consecutive days. Oh lord I have no idea how to pack for this trip> I do know that I need to make a quick shopping trip to Huelva for a few essential winter clothes to add to my wardrobe. For instance, a thick wool scarf, a warm sweater that covers my behind, and another pair of leather boots. I have exactly 5 days to find all of these things. I think I can do it, I just hope they aren’t too expensive.
[Sorry for the lack of spell/grammar check but it took me half a day to write this and I’m just to tired to go back and read it all. It is what it is. Pictures to fallow shortly.]
I set off on Friday bright and early to catch the direct bus from Valverde to Seville at 7:45am. This bus trip was an hour and a half exactly and was cheaper than going from Valverde-Huelva, Huelva-Seville. I had to walk to the other bus station in Seville to catch my bus to Granada. I had looked it up before hand and figured it would only take me 12 minutes to get there. Well I was wrong, it took me a half an hour but that’s because I got lost and retraced my steps several times. The station is a little hard to find because of the lack of signage and the placement of the actual station. Once I got there I got in line at Alsa and asked for my ticket. I had purchased the ticket online but didn’t have a printer so I chose the option of getting my ticket at the station. Well the lady told me just to go to the gate for my bus and buy it there. I was skeptical of this and it made me uneasy seeing everyone else around me with a hard copy of a ticket. How was I supposed to get my ticket inside the bus? When it was time to board everyone crammed the door and somehow I slipped inside the bus and when I told the bus driver I had a reservation he gave me that look like “what are you talking about?” I noticed my name on his sheet and pointed, “That’s me!” He grunted and let me on. Phewww. I was anxious that it wasn’t going to work but it did in the end.
The bus from Seville to Granada took three hours on the dot. I arrived at 2:00pm and followed the instructions I was given to take the 33 Bus from the station to the city center and get off at the Cathedral stop. From there I was going to follow my Google maps to my CouchSurfing destination. Once on the crowded bus I realized there was no way of knowing what stop was the Cathedral stop. I asked a lady but she said she didn’t know. I chanced it and got off when a lot of other backpack carrying people disembarked the bus. Turns out I got off at the correct place but then proceeded to walk in the opposite direction of where I needed to go. I made a three-minute trip take 45 minutes because I was attempting to follow a map that had the wrong destination. My Google map had Calle San Gregorio ALTA when I needed Calle San Gregorio BAJO. Big difference. I had to call Joaquin (the person who’s couch I was staying on for two days) to get directions. I couldn’t understand everything he told me so I just went with my gut instincts and eventually found him sitting outside at a café with some friends.
I was a little overwhelmed once I put my things down and sat with Joaquin’s friends for a drink. I was so use to be prepared and knowing exactly where I was and I had already gotten lost and I had only been in Granada for an hour. Turns out I couldn’t have prepared for the unfortunate circumstance that occurred next. So Joaquin’s roommate, who was out of town that weekend, agreed to let this guy and his traveling companion he knew sleep on their couch because their car had just broken down in Granada and they needed a place to stay. Too bad Joaquin’s roommate didn’t know that the couch was reserved for me. Hmmm, what to do? It gets better, Joaquin only had one set of spare keys and he gave them to the stranded couple leaving me with no keys. Also since Joaquin wasn’t going to be around until later Sunday night I had to give my set of keys to the next person who was planning on CouchSurfing with Joaquin. Joaquin gave the American boy who was suppose to take my place my cell number so that he would call when he was there and I would give him the keys. Joaquin promised to make a copy of the keys and get them to me by nighttime. It wasn’t really that big of a deal except that I had no map of Granada and wasn’t wearing enough layers so after four hours of exploring I was cold and wanted to get warm but couldn’t. I didn’t want to walk too far away from the apartment for fear that I wouldn’t know how to get back so I walked the same loop of streets four times scoping out the best (and warmest) place to eat an early dinner since I just wanted to be warm. I settled on a semi-deserted sit-down Kebob restaurant. I ordered a kebob and apple tea (so good). It did the trick and warmed me right up. I ordered another tea just to prolong my departure. The waiter made small talk with me and asked why I was eating alone and if I was a student. I guess eating solo isn’t that popular here.
I finally received a text from Joaquin saying he had keys for me, thank god. I dashed home and parked myself in front of the heater. Joaquin gave me a tour of the house and explained me the shower situation. I had the option of taking a cold shower with great water pressure OR a hot shower with a trickle of water coming out of the showerhead. What to do?!?! After the tour he explained to me that he was going to sleep at his girlfriend’s house and then leave for the day for his concert (he’s a Clarinet player who is employed by the Junta to travel Andalucía and perform at schools for only 3 months of the year). He told me that I was going to sleep in his bed while the other two travelers would have the couch and the other room. So now I was alone in a strangers house, in a foreign city with no map, with more strangers. Interesting…. I’m pretty sure this might top most people’s first CouchSurfing experience.
After Joaquin departed I was left with the two German’s: Ed and Sylvia. They had met only a week before through CarSurfing (yeah that’s right, apparently there’s a website for people looking for rides and operates just like CouchSurfing). What was suppose to be a four day trip from Germany to Morocco turned into an almost two-week journey with uncalled-for stops due to her car breaking down. So it was a flat of strangers. Ed and Sylvia were significantly older than me and each had an interesting story behind why they were in Granada. Okay first Sylvia: She is a single, over 40 year old, occupational therapist (what are the odds?!?!) who quit her job in Heidelberg to move to Morocco to help out a family who had a son in need of a private occupational therapist. Even though she speaks four languages (German, English, French, and Spanish) she needs to learn Arabic in order to communicate with the family. She enjoys belly dancing, Muslim culture, and chocolate. Throughout my two and a half days with her I saw her consume a huge piece of chocolate cake, chocolate croissant, chocolate milk at every breakfast, and a chocolate crepe for breakfast. She puts me to shame. She is independent like me, but is very self-centered and a little inconsiderate at times.
Onto Ed: he is a single, almost 40 year old, converted hippie with a daughter he isn’t allowed to see, and hates all women (direct quote). He was very critical of everything and bitter. He seemed to have a negative stereotype about almost every group of people and had very specific opinions about things. He also didn’t tolerate stupidity and smoked way to much marijuana (I had to leave the apartment just to escape the smell and one time I got a terrible headache because of it). He quit his job as an engineer a few years back in order to follow his passion to own a mobile home and offer excursions to the Moroccan desert that no tour book could offer. His only problem is he believes his product should self itself and therefore doesn’t think he needs to advertise it. Not to mention he isn’t the best sales person. He currently lives in a cave about 40 minutes outside of Granada city. He intimidated me even though I was taller and bigger than him. I was afraid of making him angry so I tried to agree with most of what he said or I would politely suggest an alternative way of looking at something. I also played the role of mediator between the two Germans. Something was going on between them that I wasn’t told about until (thankfully) I had to leave.
On Saturday Ed left in the morning to get a coffee (without the keys). I left a note saying I would be back at 2pm and that maybe we could go to this city of caves that Ed had told the two of us about later that day. Sylvia was still sleeping so I figured she would let him in when he returned. That morning I explored the Cathedral, Capilla Real, and the surrounding neighborhood. I discovered this winding group of streets full of venders selling pottery, Moroccan goods like scarf’s and jewelry, and a spice center. There were these long tables full of every spice imaginable. It was pretty cool. Street, I found a lovely park and sat there for a while trying to get warm from the suns rays. I realized it was almost 2pm so I returned home to meet the Germans. When I returned to the apartment at 2pm nobody was home. It wasn’t until 3:15pm that I heard the buzzer of the apartment go off. I buzzed the person in and opened the door. It was Ed. He told me that he had been locked out of the apartment all day long and has been wandering the streets in the cold. He saw my note and was thankful that at least I explained myself. He said that “the princess (Sylvia) had taken off with the keys without telling him where she was or when she would be coming back.” He was fuming mad at her and this just escalated throughout the rest of the day. I mentioned that I hadn’t eaten and was going to get lunch but then he insisted on cooking lunch instead.
I was expecting the food to be ready in 30 minutes, oh no it took two hours to cook. I was starving. While the food cooked I was suckered into listening to the band Triana. Ed insisted I watch this compilation movie about the band. It was pretty boring and I wasn’t that interested so I excused myself to go to the bathroom and then went to my room. I felt trapped: I couldn’t leave because then Ed would HATE me and this would recreate a very hostile environment for the rest of my time in the apartment. Not to mention I was on his good side so I didn’t want to anger him now. Well I went back into the kitchen to try and talk to him because I had nothing else to do. Somehow we got on the topic of religion and I know this is silly but I was afraid to tell him I was Jewish. I tried to avoid telling him what I believed in so when he asked if I wanted to see this amazing movie about religion I just said yes because I didn’t know what else to do. It was horrible! It was this documentary movie that I’m sure only 10 people have probably ever seen and it was all about how religion is complete crap. It went on and ON about how everything people believe in can be explained by astrology and so forth. I wanted to shoot myself. I couldn’t leave this time because he was behind me watching. SO UNCOMFORTABLE…. My saving grace occurred when Sylvia came home and sat down behind me to watch. This made Ed leave and then I was free to “write in my diary” aka do ANYTHING to appear busy.
The food was FINALLY ready so I sat down to eat and Sylvia joined us without invitation. I think that got Ed even more upset because he barely ate anything. I tried to mediate and strike up a conversation with Sylvia about what she did during the day. I mentioned that I hadn’t been to Sacromonte yet and Ed asked if I wanted to go right now. Well, I wanted to go tomorrow to see if during the morning light but I agreed because I didn’t want to tell him no. He gave me exactly 2 minutes to get ready before he was out the door. Geez, what did I do to deserve this? Sylvia came with us as well. Once outside, Ed just took off with Sylvia about three paces behind him and me another five paces behind her. I’m sorry but I wanted to EXPLORE Sacromonte, not jet through it like I was on a race. I dallied just enough to take the pictures I wanted and to see where the two went from the corner of my eye. The other problem was Ed was leading us up some off the beaten path streets so it would have been impossible for me to find my way home so I had to stay with them. We quite quickly made our way up the steep hills of Sacromonte just in time to see the sun set across the Granada city. It was a very impressive view and I was proud of myself that I made it up there without falling and without huffing and puffing. I was wearing boots with no traction so going back down the hill/mountain in the dirt and dark was a difficult task.
Once we got back down to the Albayzin area Ed took us to the Archaeology Museum. How appropriate for an Anthro major. After the museum we stopped into another tourist location for a few minutes and then decided to get a drink and food. I told Ed that my only criterion was a place with chairs so I could sit. I’m okay with walking, I just can’t stand up in one place any longer. That proved to be quite the obstacle because almost all of the tapas bars are stand up only. You would have to eat at a restaurant to find a chair and Ed didn’t want to “overpay for food that wasn’t very good and had poor service to accompany the poor food”. Right, standing it is. Well we found a place but Sylvia wanted a place with crepes so begrudgingly we continued looking for a place. We realized that no such place existed so we headed back home. When we got home the two Germans had an argument in German and Ed stormed out. Oy vey! I ended up spending the rest of the night inside with Sylvia just talking about her travels, life, and traveling alone. It was nice to have someone to talk to, but I only wished it were someone my age. At the end of the night we agreed to wake up early and walk together to the Alhambra to get tickets.
We got up at 7am and made it to the Alhambra in the freezing cold by 8am even thought the ticket agency doesn’t open until 8:30am. Well by the time we got there, there was already a decent line of people waiting for tickets. Some people had camped out with beach chairs haha. While we waited I was pretty sure we could have gotten tickets a lot faster by standing in the credit card line by Sylvia insisted the line was only for people who had a reservation. I didn’t say anything but I after seeing people get out of our line and come back to find their friends with tickets in hand, I was fairly certain that she was incorrect. After an hour and half in line we finally got tickets. I decided to tour the free parts of the Alhambra and explore the museum (in doors thank god) while I waited for my time to enter the Alhambra. Each ticket has a specific time that you are allowed to enter certain parts o the Alhambra so you have to wait your turn. They don’t make it easy to find the entrances. The only reason I found it was because Sylvia knew where to go because she was here the day before. If you ever decide to go to Granada you have to see the Alhambra, just make sure you get your tickets at least a month in advance to make sure you get to see it on the day and time you prefer. I made the mistake of waiting to long and paid the price in numbness and time.
After the Alhambra it was time to depart the apartment and head over to my hostel, only 2 minutes away and right around the corner from Joaquin’s flat. I was so excited to get of there I couldn’t wait to leave. The German drama was just to much for me and I hated being stuck in the middle of it. I was also ready for a REAL HOT shower and to meet people my age. After checking in, I received a text from Sylvia asking if I could come and lock up the apartment since she wanted to leave and she gave the keys to Ed. Sigh, you try to leave and they suck you back in. If the hostel wasn’t so close I would have ignored the text but it was so I went over. I locked up the place and said goodbye (again) to Sylvia. I returned to the hostel and found this book on European destinations so I started reading and taking notes on destinations in Spain and the cities I was planning on visiting for winter break. Suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder. This guy informed me that I was reading his book. Oops. He told me that I could keep reading it but that when I was done could I leave it at the reception for him because he had to go on this tour. After two hours of reading I was finally finished with the book. All of a sudden I had a movie moment: I could leave the book at the reception with my name and number, wait for him to call, answer the call, meet him for tapas, spend the whole night talking, realize we are soul mates, fall in love, and live happily ever after…
Reality set in and I left the book at reception without my name and number. Next I decided to take a much-needed shower. It was heavenly. I haven’t had a HOT shower since my last hostel in Lagos, Portugal. I was able to shave and not worry about taking a quick shower in order to save money. I took my time to dry my hair, style it, put on makeup, and look presentable (finally). After I was all ready for the night I receive another text from Sylvia asking to lock the door again and if I want to join her for dinner. I decided to go to dinner with her because I liked the company and the tapas tour wasn’t for another three hours so I had time to kill. We ate at the cheap kebob place again (I think the whole staff knew me at this point) and during dinner Joaquin called me and asked where I was. He met me at the Kebob place and asked for my keys. At this point I gave them to Sylvia and told her to give them to the new Surfer since he never contacted me and I was officially not responsible for this drama anymore. Well, Joaquin now needed the keys to give to the guy but Sylvia didn’t want to give them up because then she didn’t have any keys and wouldn’t be able to get into the flat. I understand her concern but at the same time Joaquin made some good points in that he wasn’t responsible for them, they were guest in his flat and he had already promised someone else the keys so that was his priority. Sylvia and Ed should have left by now and were overstaying there welcome and Joaquin wanted to sleep in his own bed for a change. More drama….I just sat there in silence eating my kebob. This was not my fight. It didn’t help that Ed had taken off for the whole day with the other set of keys and hadn’t told anyone where he went or when he was coming back (sounds familiar). On top of this Sylvia was to afraid to call or text him about her problem because she was afraid of angering him more. There’s a lot more to their story but its really none of my business to share and plus it would take up more about three more pages. (I’ve already been at this for three hours…).
Somehow Sylvia had convinced Joaquin to let her keep the keys until after dinner. At this point she asked me if there was any availability at my hostel. OH HELL NO. I really didn’t want her to stay at the same hostel because then she would be around me the whole time and then I wouldn’t be able to meet people my age. I said I would show her m hostel but the chances of her getting a room were slim since it was a popular hostel and this was a holiday weekend. Sure enough the hostel was all booked (thank god!). I told her good luck and said goodbye (again!—for the last time). After she left I hung out in my room until it was time for the tapas tour. I went down early to meet people in the lobby. I met this one girl from Australia who didn’t end up going on the tour but I talked to her for a while. She was very soft spoken so I had a hard time hearing what she was saying so sometimes I just nodded and pretended like I heard her. About ten minutes before the tour started the guy who owned the travel book I was reading sat down next to me. I thanked him again for letting me read the book and asked if he got it from the front desk. From that point on we talked non-stop for the next 4 hours. I can’t explain how good it felt to have a normal conversation with someone. I didn’t have to pause between each sentence, I could answer his questions with more than “yes” or “no”, I was able to tell my own stories, and little things like that. I was able to show my personality for once. It was the highlight on my trip, hands down.
To be honest I could have talked to anyone, but the guy, Ryan, was really nice and really interesting. He was from Florida and just finished a month of “wwoofing” in Ireland. WWOOFING stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms or as an article I recently read referred to it as “willing work on an organic farm”. It’s a pretty cool organization, check it out if you like: wwoof.org. He was thankful for the experience but he wouldn’t do it again because it rained almost every day. His stories and experiences made me contemplate wwoofing after my Spain journey is done. However, I would like to look into wwoofing in the USA instead of abroad. The tapas tour consisted of three bars where we were supposed to get one drink at each place. The first bar was a wine and cheese place. When the group of Americans entered I think we overwhelmed the waiter for he was a little frantic trying to get everyone the drink they asked for. However, we didn’t receive a free tapa with our drink—not sure why they brought us to this place then? After that place we went to the next bar. This place looked more like a typical tapas bar. It was louder, had great music playing, and could handle a lot of people. I got a traditional tapa at this place because I wasn’t that hungry (the kebob was more filling than I expected). We stayed here a lot longer, I would say at least an hour. After a while we noticed that almost everyone in our group had left except for Ryan’s travel companion Adam (from DC, woot woot!) and the girl he was talking to. We decided to leave with them. Our host asked why we were leaving and made up some excuse that we were hired. He began to give us the typical speech that I’ve now heard a good twenty times since coming to Spain: “you guys are young, you shouldn’t be tired, its only 1am. In Spain the night life doesn’t start until 1am….” blah blah I’ve heard it all before”. Despite his efforts we still decided to head back. The girl whose name I never got was telling me how she expected to get more food on this tour and was still hungry. I mentioned that I knew of a really god tapas place that was very close to our hostel that we could try. Everyone was onboard so we headed there. The girl ordered humus and a vegetable platter without ordering a drink (very unusual in Spain. Why wouldn’t you want a drink?) Side note, every time I go to a tutor session the parents always offer me something to drink and every time I say no thank you I’m okay and every time they react as if they’ve never had someone refuse a drink before. They eat dinner at 10pm and yet I’m the weird one for not excepting a drink. Well halfway through the tapa I see our original host. He comes over and asks what happened to going to bed? It turned out that this was the next tapas bar on the tour. What are the odds??? Accidentally we ended up being the only people to complete the tapas tour haha.
I was hoping that to see Ryan and Adam the next day and hang out with them more but Ryan informed me that this was there last night here and they were waking up early to try and get Alhambra tickets so I probably wouldn’t see them in the morning :( I just spent my whole night getting to know him and now I had to start from scratch with someone else, ugh. Whatever, I wouldn’t trade the night for anything because I had a lot of fun and was so happy that I got to talk like a normal person. I kind of forgot what it was like to speak at a normal speed and use anecdotes, sarcasm, whit, and movie quotes. Oh goodness . I said goodnight and goodbye to everyone and went to my room. It was pitch black, the light switch was on the opposite side of the room and everyone was asleep in my room (7 beds of girls all of whom were asleep and it was only 2:30am. Now who’s the lame one???). So I got undressed and ready for bed by the light of my cell phone, not easy by the way. I found out the next morning that the other girl didn’t even bother changing, she just went straight to bed haha.
The next morning I had a good breakfast and was on my way for my Arabian bath and massage. That’s right, I made a reservation for a massage. Something I probably wouldn’t have done if I were traveling with a group. I get there a little early and sign in. My appointment was the first of the day (10am). They had a card with instruction for me in English so I wouldn’t do anything wrong. I changed into my bathing suite and headed for the bath room (a room full of 7 different baths, not a bathroom). Six of the pools were filled with warm water at different temperatures and one pool was full of very cold water. They said you should spent 7-10 minutes in a warm pool then 2-3 minutes in a cold pool. I tried that approach but after re-entering the warm pool my extremities felt this sharp numb feeling (my parents think it was hyperthermia). I didn’t like the feeling so I remained in the warm pools, plus Granada was the coldest temperatures that I’ve experienced so far in Spain so I was perfectly okay with spending all of my time in a hot bath. It was a really cool experience and one I’m glad I did on my own. All the masseuses would shush people it they started talking so it really was meant for full relaxation. When my number was called the lady asked if I wanted a leg or back massage. I opted for a back massage naturally. My back had been hurting lately because I haven’t been sleeping well and I’m hunched over a lot because I’m cold all the time. The massage felt amazing. I didn’t want it to end but sadly it had too. After the massage I had to rinse off the oil but then was allowed to finish the rest of my session in the baths (I technically had paid for an hour session). Well as you all probably know from the reoccurring theme that is Spanish way of life, nobody really cared how long you stayed in the bath. Nobody was pushing people out the door at 11am on the dot. I’m fairly certain that I could have remained in the bath all day and nobody would have noticed. It is so different from America. I started to get nervous that I wouldn’t know what time to leave since I took off my watch and there wasn’t a clock but I looked around and saw all the people that had entered the bath at the same time as me and they looked like they weren’t going anywhere for a long time haha. I decided to embrace my Spanish time and not worry about it. I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.
Finally, after some time I felt bad that I was overdoing my stay, so I got out of the bath (worst idea haha). When I changed and finally left the Aljibe de San Miguel it was 11:45am hehehehe. On the way back to my hostel I decided to do some shopping and bought some gifts for people. Once I got back to the hostel I was so tired. The bath really took it out of me. I felt a little light headed and very sleepy so I took a nap for a little. I met a few people in my room who were studying abroad in Madrid when I woke up. They were nice but they left that night so I never got the chance to exchange full names and numbers. After my nap I felt better so I showered and packed my bag for this was my last full day in Granada. I realized that I spent more money on gifts than I had anticipated so I needed to take out some money in order to pay Miguel for gas for my ride home. I headed off to Santander ATM just down the road from my hostel. I had to wait because this woman was already at the machine. She was taking her sweet time too. She got a phone call and started talking instead of finishing up at the machine. Come on now. Then a friend came up to her and they started chatting. Are you kidding me??? After what felt like a half and hour the lady finally finished. Good grief. I put my card, typed my pin and I get a message that says the ATM is not functioning at the moment. WTF?? I wanted to scream. Luckily the road I was on was lined with banks so I just tried the next ATM, CajaSol (a very popular bank in Spain as well). Got the same message. You know every time I about to concede to the Spanish way of life and embrace it fully little things like this happen and it aggravates the hell out of me. Nothing ever works for me in Spain. I make one more attempt at the next bank, Caixa (another popular bank in Spain). It works (finally) but charges me a fee. Obviously it wouldn’t be a successful transaction without taking more money from me. What if my card doesn’t work while I’m on vacation in Europe and it’s a real emergency? It kills me that my card is so unreliable and there isn’t anything I can do about it. EEEEEERrrrrrrrr.
I had some more down time so hit up the Internet and tried to make conversation with people but there wasn’t anyone around really. I forget what I did to pass the time but once it was an hour before the family dinner at the hostel I made my way down to the kitchen. I was lucky to come when I did because seating was limited and I grabbed one of the last available chairs. It was a shame though, because I wanted to take a picture of the HUMUNGOUS frying pan but couldn’t risk losing my seat. I had never seen a pan that large before, it was awesome. For dinner we were served vegetable soup in large cups and then couscous with chicken. The host plopped the first plate of couscous on the table in front of the four of us. We all looked at each other and didn’t know if the plate was for one person or was communal. The serving of food was large enough to feed at least four people, no joke. When the host plopped the second plate down he pushed the plates directly at people so we realized that each plate was for one person. Good lord is was a lot of food. It was good but way too much. Once people were reaching their limit of how much food they could consume they would look around as if they didn’t know what to do. Nobody wanted to waste the food by throwing it away but at the same time nobody could finish his or her plate. We also didn’t want to be rude by throwing away the food because it was good but it wasn’t possible to save it. Well, I decided to be the guinea pig. What did I have to lose; I didn’t know anyone in the room. I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I approached the trash bin. Once I started dumping my food a few people joined me. One guy thanked me for starting the trend; he didn’t want to be the first to throw away food. After dinner I talked to some more people at the bar where I had my free complimentary drink for choosing the Oasis Backpackers Hostel. After some time I decided to call it a night so I headed off to bed.
I woke up as late as I possibly could before I had to check out. After checking out I put my luggage in storage, ate breakfast, checked my email, and then decided to get lost one more time in Granada. In five days I managed to get lost everyday in Granada with and without a map. That’s impressive if you ask me hehe. Throughout this trip I realized how important it is to have a book, especially when you’re traveling alone. Well this was a huge issue for me because I finished my one and only English book about a week ago so all I had was my Spanish books. I don’t have a problem reading a book in Spanish but it takes up more space because I have to also bring a dictionary and my journal to remember the words I look up. That’s why it’s just easier to have an English book. I was sure that Granada would have an English bookstore being a popular college town, but alas I found none. I searched all over throughout the trip for SOMETHING; ANYHTHING to read but always came up short. I ended up reading my tour book from cover to cover. It was interesting but I just wanted to read a story, not facts or information. My last trip around Granada I saw out of the corner of my eye an English word on a magazine. I get closer and sure enough I found a Vogue in English. Hallelujah!!!!!!! It turned out that the magazine cost 7.20 Euros. SEVEN TWENTY FOR A MAGAZINE!!! That’s the equivalent of approximately $14 for a 200-page magazine. It wasn’t even a special issue of anything. Also in America it was only $4. Sigh, I was desperate so I bought it. Damn you Euro.
I decided to eat a big lunch so I wouldn’t need to eat anything on the way home to Valverde. I ate a really good chicken lunch at a nice restaurant. Yeah I splurged again but hey, this was my vacation. After I finished my lunch I asked for the check and prepared to leave. The waiter brought over the check and a purple/pink colored drink. Interesting…I smelled it first and I’m not kidding, it smelled like perfume: a very strong, floral perfume. I was little afraid to try it but I did. It was so sweet and tasted like it smelled. I have no idea what they brought me but I wouldn’t want it again. It caught me completely off guard. Normally I’ll finish anything but this perfume drink, whatever it was was just too much for me. I went back to the hostel for the last time to retrieve my luggage and say goodbye to the gracious staff. I took the bus to the train station and went to the kiosk to purchase my ticket to Jaen. Sure enough the bus I was hoping to take was booked so the only option was the next bus, an hour later. I started freaking out because I wasn’t sure if this would be a problem for Miguel. I texted him and didn’t get a response. I started thinking that I needed a back up plan so I looked at buses to Seville instead. There was one bus leaving at the same time as the Jaen bus but there were only two seats left so I had to act fast. I texted my roommate Elisa and asked if she was still in Seville but she texted back that she was leaving right now. CRAP!! I was afraid to talk to Miguel on the phone because I wasn’t sure if he would understand me but I was desperate and had to make a decision quickly. So I called him and told him my problem. He answers “no pasa nada. Esta bien.” Translated: “not a problem at all. Relax, its fine. I’ll see you at 6 then.” Sigh, what a relief. I forget that people aren’t run by schedules here and that change of plans is part of normal life. With the go-ahead from Miguel I purchased the ticket, found a bench, and read my magazine.
I read every line of text possible in that magazine. I read the text in the advertisements, the fine print on photographs, the editor’s letter, and much more. No word escaped my eyes. I made that magazine last as long as possible. I arrived in Jaen at exactly 6pm and saw Miguel pull up at exactly the same time. Perfect timing. He drove through Jaen a little so I could see his home time. It was similar to Huelva in that its smaller and not as esthetically pretty but it’s a city and is has more to offer than some places. From Jaen we had a non-stop trip straight to Valverde. It only took us a little over three hours to get home. We spent most of the time talking and singing to the music on the radio. He would sing the Spanish songs and I would sing the English songs. It was great. With about 45 minutes left in the ride Miguel switched the station to a sports station so that he could listen to the champions league game that Real Madrid was playing in. He’s a dedicated fan. We arrive home at exactly half time but were delayed because Miguel didn’t have the right key to his flat so he had to wait for the landlord to come over and open the door for him. I had to walk home from his place (not a problem) but I was sweaty and tired by the time I got in the door. I was hoping to catch the end of the game but Elisa was home and watching something with Pablo. This was the first time Elisa was home before me. Shocking.
So that was Granada. All of my pictures are scenic because I forgot to take pictures when I was with people (because I was sooo engrossed with having a conversation hehe). I think I covered everything important. I’m exhausted. I now have a week and three days before winter break! I’m slightly tired of traveling but I need to buck up because I’ll be gone for 15 consecutive days. Oh lord I have no idea how to pack for this trip> I do know that I need to make a quick shopping trip to Huelva for a few essential winter clothes to add to my wardrobe. For instance, a thick wool scarf, a warm sweater that covers my behind, and another pair of leather boots. I have exactly 5 days to find all of these things. I think I can do it, I just hope they aren’t too expensive.
[Sorry for the lack of spell/grammar check but it took me half a day to write this and I’m just to tired to go back and read it all. It is what it is. Pictures to fallow shortly.]
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