What a week. I am exhausted and will probably be ready for bed once my stomach calms down. Marit and I went shopping, then spent some time in my kitchen making puppy chow (http://www.chex.com/Recipes/RecipeView.aspx?RecipeId=19919&CategoryId=342). It's cereal, chocolate, peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar (we skipped the vanilla). We couldn't find Chex cereal in Spain, so we used "fit way" instead, very delicious. Our cooking involved making a mess, serendaing each other with Sweeney Todd songs, and dancing around with our messy hands.
The puppy chow turned out delicious. We ate about half the bowl while watching Firefly. It was a very large bowl, and I probably shouldn't have eaten quite so much, but it was delicious! I had host mama Mercedes try some of our concoction. She was skeptical, she said she doesn't like peanut butter, but she LOVED it. I'm going to trade recipes with her soon. I plan on forcing Alex to try some tomorrow when he recovers from his first day of paintball.
Today in seminar, we read a very pretty poem. It stood out to me, so I'll put it here and translate it.
Al perderte yo a ti tú y yo hemos perdido:
yo porque tú eras lo que yo más amaba
y tú porque yo era el que te amaba más.
Pero de nosotros dos tú pierdes más que yo:
porque yo podré amar a otras como te amaba a ti
pero a ti no te amarán como te amaba yo.
- Ernesto Cardenal (Nicaragua)
For me to lose you, you and I have both lost:
me because you were the one I loved most
and you because I was the one who loved you most.
But between the two of us you lose more than I:
because I will be able to love another like I loved you
but no one will ever love you like I loved you.
Lovely, isn't it?
In non-Spain news, Marc accepted a summer internship at Stanford! This means that I will actually be able to see Marc this summer without either of us needing to buy plane tickets, which is wonderful. He'll be about a 30-minute drive away, and very close to my wonderful grandparents. (Hi, wonderful Grandparents!) I'm very excited. We've already started planning excursions with our Bay Area friends. This also means that Marc will have a fabulous new job to add to his already-impressive resume.
Speaking of resumes, I just added my English language instruction to my resume draft. Anybody remember the 11-year-old girl, Miriam? I saw her again this week (skipped last week due to lack of voice) and had a wonderful time. She is very fun to talk to, and her English is very good. It's better than my Spanish. We talk about travel, we talk about food, we talk about jobs and music and our families, it's fun. She's a shy girl, overall, but I think she came out of her shell very quickly. It's nice that we can both relate to speaking a new language in a new country. There may be a 9-year age difference, but we have a lot of shared experiences. She also offers to help me with my Spanish homework, which is sweet.
No new pictures this week, I'm finally caught up!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Apparently two musicals are better than one
When Alex and I picked up Sweeney Todd yesterday where we left off, we were surprised to find that the songs suddenly had subtitles. We probably ended up looking at a different version (he's downloading it online). That relieved me of my translating duties.
So to make up for that, I got to translate some subtleties in West Side Story that night. Angel (my host dad) adores West Side Story and thinks the music is beautiful. I agree, and I told him so. It was interesting to see how an all-Spanish version of West Side Story incorporated the language differences from the mostly-English version. In the original movie in one of the first scenes when Lieutenant Shrank lectures the boys, the Puerto Ricans ask him to repeat himself in Spanish. In the Spanish version, they ask him to say it more slowly. There are a couple of other differences later in the movie, but that one stood out the most. I pointed it out to my host family, of course, to their amusement.
My health continues to improve, I'm feeling almost normal today. I don't really have much more to say about that.
The real reason why I wanted to write a new blog post was to put up more pictures, I admit. These are all from Córdoba.
1) This is the synagogue in Córdoba. It's very tiny, especially when compared with the churches. Seeing the Hebrew writing on the wall make me miss other Jews again. I mentioned to our guide that there weren't many Jews in Spain, and she said there were, they'd just mostly converted to Christianity. Somehow it's not the same.
2) we found a pretty fountain...
3) ... and an adorable courtyard with a well
4) the sign next to the train station points us in the direction of important places in the city, such as Burger King and McDonalds
5) translated, this bar is called "House of the Bad Face"
6) some people left not only beer bottles, but shot glasses sitting on a wall at the side of the road
7) Here's a castle, and there's me at the top. Looks cute, but we found used condoms and feces up on the second level. I didn't stay on top of the castle for very long.
8) We also passed an adorable little torture gallery that deserved to be remembered. They give tours for a discounted price if you bring a coupon.
So to make up for that, I got to translate some subtleties in West Side Story that night. Angel (my host dad) adores West Side Story and thinks the music is beautiful. I agree, and I told him so. It was interesting to see how an all-Spanish version of West Side Story incorporated the language differences from the mostly-English version. In the original movie in one of the first scenes when Lieutenant Shrank lectures the boys, the Puerto Ricans ask him to repeat himself in Spanish. In the Spanish version, they ask him to say it more slowly. There are a couple of other differences later in the movie, but that one stood out the most. I pointed it out to my host family, of course, to their amusement.
My health continues to improve, I'm feeling almost normal today. I don't really have much more to say about that.
The real reason why I wanted to write a new blog post was to put up more pictures, I admit. These are all from Córdoba.
1) This is the synagogue in Córdoba. It's very tiny, especially when compared with the churches. Seeing the Hebrew writing on the wall make me miss other Jews again. I mentioned to our guide that there weren't many Jews in Spain, and she said there were, they'd just mostly converted to Christianity. Somehow it's not the same.
2) we found a pretty fountain...
3) ... and an adorable courtyard with a well
4) the sign next to the train station points us in the direction of important places in the city, such as Burger King and McDonalds
5) translated, this bar is called "House of the Bad Face"
6) some people left not only beer bottles, but shot glasses sitting on a wall at the side of the road
7) Here's a castle, and there's me at the top. Looks cute, but we found used condoms and feces up on the second level. I didn't stay on top of the castle for very long.
8) We also passed an adorable little torture gallery that deserved to be remembered. They give tours for a discounted price if you bring a coupon.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
A musical a day keeps the doctor away
Health update: I'm doing a lot better.
I can talk again, and my throat is almost feeling normal. I think I'll be back to normal in a couple of days, which makes me happy.
Alex (my host brother) and I have been watching Sweeney Todd over the last couple of days. It's interesting, because the movie is dubbed in Spanish, but the songs are the original actors singing in English, and there are no subtitles. I've been translating the songs into Spanish for Alex when the characters sing. It's been tough, but it's worked so far. However, we're coming up to the song "A Little Priest," which is not only fast, but filled with English puns. The beginning of the song is hinting and metaphors, and the rest of the song is filled with occupational puns. This will be fun to try and translate.
All my pictures today are from inside the church in Córdoba.
I can talk again, and my throat is almost feeling normal. I think I'll be back to normal in a couple of days, which makes me happy.
Alex (my host brother) and I have been watching Sweeney Todd over the last couple of days. It's interesting, because the movie is dubbed in Spanish, but the songs are the original actors singing in English, and there are no subtitles. I've been translating the songs into Spanish for Alex when the characters sing. It's been tough, but it's worked so far. However, we're coming up to the song "A Little Priest," which is not only fast, but filled with English puns. The beginning of the song is hinting and metaphors, and the rest of the song is filled with occupational puns. This will be fun to try and translate.
All my pictures today are from inside the church in Córdoba.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Flamenco doctors
Flamenco last night was pretty amazing. They performed about ten different styles of flamenco, each with intense dancers and incredible costumes. This flamenco show was very different than the last one I saw. I'm pretty sure I was at a touristy venue last night, and the show was choreographed. The last one I went to looked completely improvised. They're both fun, in their own way. In the tango flamenco style, the dancers performed to music from the opera "Carmen," which was very exciting. I still have pictures from Córdoba to post, but they can wait. Today I post pictures of the flamenco show.
For those of you who don't know, my health has not been perfect for the last week. Eight days ago I woke up with a sore throat, and it's been bothering me ever since. Today I spoke for the first time since Monday, and it was to tell my program director I needed to go to a doctor. One of our Geranios program ladies (Maria Luca) escorted me to a nearby clinic and I saw my first Spanish doctor. I was able to describe my symptoms to her pretty well, I think. I didn't catch the majority of what she said (good thing Maria Luca was there), but it sounds like I have a cold with a mild ear infection. My ears are plugged up as though I'm in an airplane. I feel fine otherwise, I just have some issues with keeping my upper respiratory tract healthy for long.
The doctor gave me a prescription for three different medicines. I get an antibiotic, something I take that dissolves in water, and normal cold medicine. Hospitals don't sell drugs, you can only get them in pharmacies. Maria Luca and I found the last two medicines at the first pharmacy we went to, but we had to go through 4 more before finding the antibiotic. Luckily, there's practically a pharmacy on every block, so we didn't have to look for long. Spanish pharmacies are interesting. They sell things like fish oils and herbal supplements, but you need a doctor's prescription for anything stronger than cough drops. Even common barrier methods for birth control (which we have sitting out in several jars at Health Education Outreach at school for the students to take free) are behind the counter and require more human interaction than the average American is used to when purchasing such things. I'm also not used to smelling smoke near medical facilities, so I was shocked to walk into one pharmacy and smell a very strong odor from cigarette smoke. It's ironic to see someone coughing their lungs up, then soothing themselves with a cigarette. Or with a baby in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Ironic and sad.
Anyway, I've seen a doctor, I have medicine that I'll start taking today, and hopefully I'll get better soon. The miming was fun, though. I can communicate surprisingly well without words when my voice doesn't work. Bring me back to my choir plague days in high school.
Pictures!
For those of you who don't know, my health has not been perfect for the last week. Eight days ago I woke up with a sore throat, and it's been bothering me ever since. Today I spoke for the first time since Monday, and it was to tell my program director I needed to go to a doctor. One of our Geranios program ladies (Maria Luca) escorted me to a nearby clinic and I saw my first Spanish doctor. I was able to describe my symptoms to her pretty well, I think. I didn't catch the majority of what she said (good thing Maria Luca was there), but it sounds like I have a cold with a mild ear infection. My ears are plugged up as though I'm in an airplane. I feel fine otherwise, I just have some issues with keeping my upper respiratory tract healthy for long.
The doctor gave me a prescription for three different medicines. I get an antibiotic, something I take that dissolves in water, and normal cold medicine. Hospitals don't sell drugs, you can only get them in pharmacies. Maria Luca and I found the last two medicines at the first pharmacy we went to, but we had to go through 4 more before finding the antibiotic. Luckily, there's practically a pharmacy on every block, so we didn't have to look for long. Spanish pharmacies are interesting. They sell things like fish oils and herbal supplements, but you need a doctor's prescription for anything stronger than cough drops. Even common barrier methods for birth control (which we have sitting out in several jars at Health Education Outreach at school for the students to take free) are behind the counter and require more human interaction than the average American is used to when purchasing such things. I'm also not used to smelling smoke near medical facilities, so I was shocked to walk into one pharmacy and smell a very strong odor from cigarette smoke. It's ironic to see someone coughing their lungs up, then soothing themselves with a cigarette. Or with a baby in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Ironic and sad.
Anyway, I've seen a doctor, I have medicine that I'll start taking today, and hopefully I'll get better soon. The miming was fun, though. I can communicate surprisingly well without words when my voice doesn't work. Bring me back to my choir plague days in high school.
Pictures!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Schedule is finally decided
Hurray, I have my final schedule!
Mon/Wed: 11am - 1pm Phonetics, 1pm - 3pm Grammar
Tue/Thur: 11am - 1pm Cinema, 1pm - 3pm Semantics
Fri: 8am - noon Seminar
Basically, I'm taking 3 linguistics classes, a class where I get to watch awesome movies which I can't understand, and a required seminar that will force me to get out of bed much earlier than I'd like. It could be worse. I know I'll have to wake up a lot earlier this summer when I start working on a regular intern schedule again. I really like the university classes I'm taking so far. I have some neat professors who I can understand, for the most part.
I'm a little nervous about evaluation for my classes, because in Spain my entire grade is based on a midterm and a final exam for each class. I haven't studied for a big test like that in at least a year. Last semester my finals consisted solely of papers and presentations. The semester before, all my tests were non-cumulative, lessening the stress built up before them. Finals week this semester will determine half of my grade in all of my classes, which might be a first for me. Luckily, I feel pretty good about my classes so far and think that I'll be able to handle finals by the time they come around.
This Thursday the Geranios group is going to see an Espectáculo Flamenco. I'm sure it will be fabulous. I don't have a lot else going on this week. Marit and I have started working out way through the Firefly series (which she has never seen), and our goal is to finish it by the time we leave Spain. With only 14 episodes, this should be a fairly easy goal to reach. We have about 9 hours to fit into the next 3 months. Piece of cake. Or rather ice cream, as is our new tradition. Spanish ice cream is delicious.
Pictures (these are all from Córdoba last weekend):
1) marketplace
2) more marketplace
3) the church tower
4) one of the cutest restaurant entryways I've ever seen
5) big van + narrow road = success? The driver actually made it out without a scratch.
6) pretty building that everyone wanted a picture with (have I mentioned that the architecture here is gorgeous?)
7) fountains outside the walls which surround the main part of the city
Mon/Wed: 11am - 1pm Phonetics, 1pm - 3pm Grammar
Tue/Thur: 11am - 1pm Cinema, 1pm - 3pm Semantics
Fri: 8am - noon Seminar
Basically, I'm taking 3 linguistics classes, a class where I get to watch awesome movies which I can't understand, and a required seminar that will force me to get out of bed much earlier than I'd like. It could be worse. I know I'll have to wake up a lot earlier this summer when I start working on a regular intern schedule again. I really like the university classes I'm taking so far. I have some neat professors who I can understand, for the most part.
I'm a little nervous about evaluation for my classes, because in Spain my entire grade is based on a midterm and a final exam for each class. I haven't studied for a big test like that in at least a year. Last semester my finals consisted solely of papers and presentations. The semester before, all my tests were non-cumulative, lessening the stress built up before them. Finals week this semester will determine half of my grade in all of my classes, which might be a first for me. Luckily, I feel pretty good about my classes so far and think that I'll be able to handle finals by the time they come around.
This Thursday the Geranios group is going to see an Espectáculo Flamenco. I'm sure it will be fabulous. I don't have a lot else going on this week. Marit and I have started working out way through the Firefly series (which she has never seen), and our goal is to finish it by the time we leave Spain. With only 14 episodes, this should be a fairly easy goal to reach. We have about 9 hours to fit into the next 3 months. Piece of cake. Or rather ice cream, as is our new tradition. Spanish ice cream is delicious.
Pictures (these are all from Córdoba last weekend):
1) marketplace
2) more marketplace
3) the church tower
4) one of the cutest restaurant entryways I've ever seen
5) big van + narrow road = success? The driver actually made it out without a scratch.
6) pretty building that everyone wanted a picture with (have I mentioned that the architecture here is gorgeous?)
7) fountains outside the walls which surround the main part of the city
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Valentines in Córdoba
Today we went to Córdoba. Just like in our old choir song. I had an unfortunate experience with the buses this morning, involving chasing down the wrong bus, getting off at the next stop, and chasing down the right bus at the original stop. But I eventually made it to the train station (different from the train station I went to the first week), and it was smooth sailing from there. We looked at an old mosque/church (it transitioned from Muslim to Christian during the Christian Reconquista of Muslim land). We walked around a lot through adorable little streets with semi-touristy shops. On the train ride home, I spent about an hour talking with Nuria (our teacher/tourguide) in Spanish about random subjects, which was very good language practice.
I don't have much more to say about Córdoba. My day got a lot more exciting after I got home, to be honest. Marc sent me a very sweet email and a mysterious file. Now I know it's not always the best idea to open mysterious files, but I trust Marc, so I opened it. Apparently about a week ago, Marc set off to compile pictures and drawings and letters from people at home (school) who miss me. He sent emails to some of my friends asking if they wanted to donate anything to the cause. So I now have a folder in my computer filled with photos, drawings, notes, and even a video from 11 friends from school. Yay! It made my day. And now I have 12 thank-you's I need to send out to people. I'm looking forward to it.
Pictures:
1) this is one of many fabulous recycling bins scattered throughout the city
2) an average Sevillan just lazing about on a Friday afternoon in the Centro
3) one of my favorite advertisements
4) a pair of nuns
5) one of the three stray dogs I saw begging for food in Carmona
6) gorgeous ivy-covered patio in Carmona
7) al Giraldilla (little Giralda, similar to la Giralda in Sevilla) in Carmona, taken from the top of a castle
8) a closer view of la Giraldilla
9) ancient tombs in Carmona
I don't have much more to say about Córdoba. My day got a lot more exciting after I got home, to be honest. Marc sent me a very sweet email and a mysterious file. Now I know it's not always the best idea to open mysterious files, but I trust Marc, so I opened it. Apparently about a week ago, Marc set off to compile pictures and drawings and letters from people at home (school) who miss me. He sent emails to some of my friends asking if they wanted to donate anything to the cause. So I now have a folder in my computer filled with photos, drawings, notes, and even a video from 11 friends from school. Yay! It made my day. And now I have 12 thank-you's I need to send out to people. I'm looking forward to it.
Pictures:
1) this is one of many fabulous recycling bins scattered throughout the city
2) an average Sevillan just lazing about on a Friday afternoon in the Centro
3) one of my favorite advertisements
4) a pair of nuns
5) one of the three stray dogs I saw begging for food in Carmona
6) gorgeous ivy-covered patio in Carmona
7) al Giraldilla (little Giralda, similar to la Giralda in Sevilla) in Carmona, taken from the top of a castle
8) a closer view of la Giraldilla
9) ancient tombs in Carmona
Friday, February 13, 2009
Current class status
Whew, okay. So I talked with my program director today about classes and here is what is happening. I register for all 5 classes. If Grammar gets dropped, I stay in the remaining 4. If Grammar stays, then I get to choose either Flamenco or Semantics and drop the remaining one. I'm supposed to find out on Monday if Grammar stays or goes.
We also set up our seminar time. I have seminar every Friday from 8am to 12pm. I'll be waking up very early on Fridays. I'm not looking forward to that very much.
I sort of have an internship. Thursdays I'm going to go with Mercedes (host mom) to the school she works at and talk with an 11-year-old girl for an hour. Her name is Miriam, she's Spanish, and I'm helping her practice her English. I met her yesterday and she's very sweet. I think I'm going to enjoy our future talks. It's a little difficult though, because that means my Thursday schedule is hectic, and then I have to go to bed early for Friday morning seminar. We'll see how this turns out.
Pictures:
These are all from Alcazar, a really cool old building in Sevilla next to la Catedral. The first picture is of me standing on a roof with a great view of la Catedral. Turns out our tour guide's sister lives right next to it, and the roof of her apartment has the perfect view.
We also set up our seminar time. I have seminar every Friday from 8am to 12pm. I'll be waking up very early on Fridays. I'm not looking forward to that very much.
I sort of have an internship. Thursdays I'm going to go with Mercedes (host mom) to the school she works at and talk with an 11-year-old girl for an hour. Her name is Miriam, she's Spanish, and I'm helping her practice her English. I met her yesterday and she's very sweet. I think I'm going to enjoy our future talks. It's a little difficult though, because that means my Thursday schedule is hectic, and then I have to go to bed early for Friday morning seminar. We'll see how this turns out.
Pictures:
These are all from Alcazar, a really cool old building in Sevilla next to la Catedral. The first picture is of me standing on a roof with a great view of la Catedral. Turns out our tour guide's sister lives right next to it, and the roof of her apartment has the perfect view.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
First week done and still can't decide
So when we left off, I'd taken 6 out of my 7 try-out classes and narrowed down my decision to 5, pending the Spanish Food class. I stand by my decision to drop that one. It's all lecture, and completely oral, which makes it very hard to follow what's going on. It's also joint-taught. One of the professors has the Andalucian accent, which I'm getting used to, but he speaks very slowly and clearly. He also looks like a cross between Ross Gellar from Friends and Ted Mosby from How I met your Mother. The other rushes through every word as if she's trying to finish class before catching the last train home. This woman talks FAST. Even she kept stumbling over her words, I have no idea why she didn't slow down. I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk so fast. So that class is gone.
It's narrowed down to the following:
Mon/Wed: 11 - 1 Phonetics, 1 - 3 Grammar
Tues/Thurs: 9 - 11 Flamenco, 11 - 1 Cinema, 1 - 3 Semantics
I only need 4. I've registered for Phonetics, Grammar, and Cinema, and now have to choose between Flamenco and Semantics. I have no idea which one I want, at this point. The professor of the Flamenco class is a little bit less exciting than I'd like, but the material is interesting. The Semantics professor is much more engaging, but the material isn't as exciting. However, it would probably help me improve my Spanish more than the other class would. Even just looking at the times of the classes, it's between getting to sleep in versus getting to finish classes earlier. I really don't think I have a good enough feel for the classes and the professors to choose between them after just 2 classes. Apparently I need to choose by tomorrow, since Geranios needs my final schedule by then.
There's also a problem with the Grammar class. People are dropping it, and if we don't get at least 8 students registered, it gets dropped from the program. In that case, I'd no longer have to choose between the other 2, but I'd have to take both the Flamenco and Semantics classes which means I have a 6-hour block of straight classes twice a week. While that doesn't appeal to me, I think I could handle it. I've gotten used to bringing snacks to school, so I don't get too hungry during the 6 hours between breakfast and lunch.
Other than classes, things are going pretty well. I've had some very nice Skype conversations with people back home, and I just received a letter from my grandparents today. (Thanks, Grandparents!) I've got an ice cream/Firefly date with a friend tomorrow, and Saturday my group is going to Cordoba.
Pictures:
1) Me (right) with Marit (middle) and Megan (left) standing in front of a McDonald's AND Burger King. I think I've hung out with Marit the most while here, she's fabulous. Everybody send thanks and hugs to Karen for introducing me to her awesome cousin.
2) my new friend Brittney, whose path I happened to cross during University orientation
3) the two Italian girls who stayed with us for two weeks during orientation
4) Jamón in the supermercado. It comes as an entire leg, hoof attached. Mmm.
5) view of Sevilla from the top of La Giralda, the high tower in la Catedral
6) inside of la Catedral
7) two of the eight enourmous pipe organs in la Catedral
8) the gorgeous ceilings of la Catedral
9) la Catedral is really tall
It's narrowed down to the following:
Mon/Wed: 11 - 1 Phonetics, 1 - 3 Grammar
Tues/Thurs: 9 - 11 Flamenco, 11 - 1 Cinema, 1 - 3 Semantics
I only need 4. I've registered for Phonetics, Grammar, and Cinema, and now have to choose between Flamenco and Semantics. I have no idea which one I want, at this point. The professor of the Flamenco class is a little bit less exciting than I'd like, but the material is interesting. The Semantics professor is much more engaging, but the material isn't as exciting. However, it would probably help me improve my Spanish more than the other class would. Even just looking at the times of the classes, it's between getting to sleep in versus getting to finish classes earlier. I really don't think I have a good enough feel for the classes and the professors to choose between them after just 2 classes. Apparently I need to choose by tomorrow, since Geranios needs my final schedule by then.
There's also a problem with the Grammar class. People are dropping it, and if we don't get at least 8 students registered, it gets dropped from the program. In that case, I'd no longer have to choose between the other 2, but I'd have to take both the Flamenco and Semantics classes which means I have a 6-hour block of straight classes twice a week. While that doesn't appeal to me, I think I could handle it. I've gotten used to bringing snacks to school, so I don't get too hungry during the 6 hours between breakfast and lunch.
Other than classes, things are going pretty well. I've had some very nice Skype conversations with people back home, and I just received a letter from my grandparents today. (Thanks, Grandparents!) I've got an ice cream/Firefly date with a friend tomorrow, and Saturday my group is going to Cordoba.
Pictures:
1) Me (right) with Marit (middle) and Megan (left) standing in front of a McDonald's AND Burger King. I think I've hung out with Marit the most while here, she's fabulous. Everybody send thanks and hugs to Karen for introducing me to her awesome cousin.
2) my new friend Brittney, whose path I happened to cross during University orientation
3) the two Italian girls who stayed with us for two weeks during orientation
4) Jamón in the supermercado. It comes as an entire leg, hoof attached. Mmm.
5) view of Sevilla from the top of La Giralda, the high tower in la Catedral
6) inside of la Catedral
7) two of the eight enourmous pipe organs in la Catedral
8) the gorgeous ceilings of la Catedral
9) la Catedral is really tall
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