la vida española

Hola! I will be spending the next five months living and studying in Sevilla, España and exploring bits and pieces of Europe. I'll be posting (hopefully regularly) updates and pictures from my adventures! Besos, Hannah

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Milk & Honey

I'm all bundled up, sitting on the patio of my new home, enjoying a delicious dinner: a bocadillo (sandwich) of savory spanish sausage and olive oil, fresh andalucian oranges, and a glass of warm milk with honey and cinnamon. My host-mother's gone out to the movies with friends and since the kids are in Granada with their dad, I'm here enjoying dinner with myself. It's oh-so wonderful and I'm oh-so happy. My change since last friday is one of the better decisions I've made in a while; I couldn't be more content. 

Although not much has happened today, I think it's been one of my better days in Spain. My morning started out with a nice long conversation with my host-mother over breakfast. We talked for over an hour, just going on about life. It's so refreshing having people in the house to talk to, and I feel like I will really be able to build a relationship with my new family. After breakfast we picked up my friend Maddy and drove to the "Sunday Gypsy Fair" by our house. But...it started to rain. There were a lot of fun stands we didn't get to see because of the rain, but we loaded up with lots of apples, oranges, and tomatoes, a bag of roasted peanuts and headed home. 

Since my siblings are out of town it was just my mother and I for lunch, and afterwards her friend Boushaib came over. He moved here from Morocco about ten or twelve years ago to work with my mother. And so this afternoon I learned how to make a delicious pot of moroccan tea. And it is quite the process, although not exactly precise. Here's how it went:

1. Put a handful of tea and a handful of sugar in the tea pot

2. Pour a little hot water into the tea pot and pour, to rinse out the smaller leaves. Repeat.

3. Fill tea pot with hot water and place on stove over low burner- until you feel like taking it off.

4. Place towel over tea pot to keep warmth, and let sit and steep- until you feel like drinking it. 

5. Pour tea. Must be poured from at least 4 feet above mug.

6. Pour tea back into mug.

7. Repeat 2x.

8. Drink tea.

It's the Moroccan way...or so I learned today:)

And now after sending some emails, finishing my homework, and an episode of Downton Abbey- I'm sitting here enjoying my dinner. After a lovely, lovely day. Change is good.

Hasta Luego, Hannah

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A couple more pictures from Carnaval...

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CARNAVAL 2013.

Imagine that Mardi Gras and Halloween had a baby, it's called El Carnaval de Cadiz. 

Carnaval is held every year in February. It usually lasts for a little under two weeks, and attracts people from all over the country. 

What is Carnaval? It's a little more than just a giant fiesta in the street, there's a ton of preparation that goes into Carnaval before the show.

The days of Cadiz are filled with shows, professional and not, of skits, music, comedy, and tons more. There's an official competition at the end of the festival for the groups that went the extra mile for their performances. And the rest is all in good fun!

There are different types of performing groups that all have specific names. The chirigota: a smaller group that performs satirical skits, the comparsa: a smaller group thats a little more serious, the cuarteto: four or five people, typically a family of performers, and the coro: BIG groups, usually around 40 or 50 people. 

The performances are all generally based around (often making fun of) current events from around the world and they wonderfully combine modern pop music with more traditional tunes. 

And then there are the fiestas at night. On the weekends of Carnaval, the streets are brimming with people who flood there from all over the country, in costume, for a whole night of fun. If you're not a person who likes to meet new people, then Carnaval is not for you. It's not a "carnival" in the sense that there's anything at all to do...no rides, not much food, no games. Just lots of fun people eager to talk, dance, and occasionally sing. 

And it was great fun! Here's a picture of the group I went with before boarding the bus.

Chao Chao,

Hannah

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So I briefly mentioned rollerblading by the river in my last post...and there you have it! I bought new rollerblades a couple weeks into my trip, and I'm so glad I did. Rollerblading is really popular here (its impressive the things people can do on rollerblades!) and there are bike paths all throughout the city that are perfect for skating on. Its like I'm back to figure skating, but on land! These are my new rollerblades...and this is the river.

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Changes for the Better

I made a pretty bought decision recently to change host families. It was due to a variety of different reasons but generally the situation I was in was not working out. I'm glad that I stayed with my last host-mom for as long as I did because I really did learn a lot about myself and adapting to new situations, but in the end it really wasn't an ideal place for me to be or an ideal time for her to be hosting a student. So I decided to move. And after only a couple hours, I'm very glad I did.

My new family consists of the mother, Maria Jose, who is a somewhat flustered and wacky mother, but unbelievably helpful and kind. She does not fail to correct every single one of my Spanish mistakes, which although may get a little old in a couple days, will only do miracles for my Spanish. And then there are four kids: Rafa (13), Loreta and Africa (20 y.o. twins- identical...), and Borja (29). And they're all wonderful! I had a wonderful lunch this afternoon with all of them and I think I got in more Spanish practice in one afternoon than I did the last month at my old home. I couldn't be more happy:) I'm especially excited to get to know the girls better!

Because my old host-mother was a large part of my life the last month, I'll write a little about her. The need for me to switch was definitely very situational and not at all about her, because she was a very hospitable and friendly host-mother. She was not outwardly engaging but was always willing and eager to answer my questions and watch pasapalabras with me...my new favorite spanish gameshow. We mostly just bonded over that television show and her new-found-love for technology. She recently got a very techy cellphone and laptop, and I was the first she would come to with questions about how to make this game work on Facebook or how to change her ringtone to something more exciting. I think it made her feel young again:)

So since there's only so much Pasapalabras you can watch in one day, it got a little lonely in the beginning. If you know me, you know that I'm a pretty social person...I really like people. So being alone with just one other not very talkative person in the house was a big adjustment in the beginning. But like I said earlier I'm really glad I stuck with it for however long I did- I learned so much. This may sound a tad cheesy, but I learned how to be alone with myself. And believe me...that can be hard sometimes. But I ended up getting some much-needed me time. I spent endless hours getting lost in the city on my own or rollerblading to the river, finding a nice patch of grass on the bank, and writing. A lot. It felt good to write again, I forgot how much I like writing, and how therapeutic it can be.

So I guess all I really wanted to say is that although I moved today, and I will say I'm much happier where I am now, I don't at all regret my home-stay from the last month. I learned a lot!

On a completely different note...I think I'll blog about Carnaval next. It's a much brighter subject. You'll see!

Hasta Pronto,  Hannah 

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The street where we get our yummy crepes, right in front of the cathedral! I walk down this street every day on my way to school...

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Finding the Norm

After living in one place for a while, it begins to feel like home. Even though I may be switching homes (host families) shortly, it's the city and my schedule that lets me to fall into a nice rhythm, allowing me to feel at home. 

Today was a pretty typical Tuesday for me. Here's what I did.

7:30- The alarm goes off, I stayed in bed.

8:00- I finally get out of bed (after a couple more alarms go off)

8:35- I finally make it downstairs for a quick breakfast of toast and marmalade, and I'm out the door.

8:45- I biked to school! There's a really awesome bike rental system in Sevilla where you purchase a membership, and once you receive your card you can take a bike from any station (they're all over the city), bike to wherever you need to go, and leave it at another station once you get there. It's oh-so convenient! And it feels great to get a little exercise in the morning.

9:15- Classes start. My first class of the morning is a grammar focused class with my profesora Helena. She's very nice and since my grammar has always been pretty poor, I'm getting a lot of good review. It's also fun because I'm in a class with people from all over the world. There are two girls from Switzerland, a girl from Australia, a girl from South Korea, a boy from Japan, a girl from Asheville, NC, and Hayley and I. Quite a mix! 

at 11:00 we get a short break for breakfast/coffee/the yummiest Orange, Lemon, Honey sandwiches from the cafe down the street (which only cost 70 cents!)

And then begins class with Rebeca. I will admit she's not my favorite teacher, but life goes on. This is supposed to be a conversation class- but it doesn't seem like we get very much conversation in, kind of strange. And she's very loud. Everything she says is about 10 decibels too much, not ideal for early morning classes. But, hey, at least I don't have her until after eleven. 

1:00- Classes end and everyone heads home for lunch. Today I actually had my host mom pack me a lunch because I had lots of things to do. As it turns out, the volunteer orientation I was supposed to have was cancelled, so I ended up wandering the city with Maya, exploring the many twisty-turny streets of the center which I am still yet to orient myself to, and soaking up some sun.

4:45- Music class! Emma (another girl from the program) and I decided to take chamber music classes at a music school down the street from our language school. And I'm so glad we did! They're lending me a cello (for free!) and we have classes once a week with the flute teacher, Paula. She's very nice and I've been learning a lot. It turns out in spanish they have different names for just about every musical term, and they don't use letter names for notes- they use Do-Re-Mi, etc. It's all very confusing at times! Paula's a wonderful and patient teacher, however, and she's been giving us the low down on all the great places to go in Sevilla. 

6:00- Post-music-class-crepes. There's a crepe place which is conveniently located on our walk home from school and music class, and just about anything else we're walking home from. So, naturally, we bought some today. Today I bought the usual- a nutella crepe- and finally learned the owners name, after being there so many times: Nacho. Not to say that I've bought that many crepes, but that almost every day SOMEONE buys a crepe and, well, we travel in groups. 

7:00- Host family speed-dating. I'm looking for a new host family. Don't get me wrong, the woman I'm living with right now is wonderful. She's very friendly and has done nothing wrong at all, but due to recent circumstances I think it's not the best time for her to be hosting a student. I'll get into that later. But today I went to visit the home of a woman who lives about 10 minutes from where I am now. She lives with her 24 year old daughter and 30 year old son. They're all very friendly and I felt right at home. I'm visiting one more family tomorrow before I decide where to move.

Now I'm at home, dinners on the stove, and Pasapalabras (my host-moms favorite TV show, and our best bonding time) is coming on TV in about 20 minutes so I'd better run. 

Chao Chao, Hannah

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My first full day in España, its a beautiful city! 

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I wrote a little about tapas before I left, and they're just as delicious as I imagined! We were treated to a tapas dinner by the program directors, our very first night here. Tapas are small dishes that are meant to be shared with friends, and there's a whole array of choices when it comes to what kind of tapas you'd like. We had more food than we could eat between all of us, and it consisted of croquettes (mozzarella-sticks of sorts), meat and cheese platters, savory meats with french fries, olives, chicken pieces, tuna and crackers, tortilla española, and SO much more. It was all delicious! 

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Oranges, Oranges! Lining almost every street of Sevilla there are  orange trees. Filled with oranges. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but they smell delicious! It's a nice balance to the smell of trash from the strikes happening in Sevilla right now, but more about that later. 

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The Return of the Blog

Well, I'm back.

I've had a lot of people asking me why I haven't been blogging. There's not really a reason why, life gets busy, ya know? I guess I just couldn't quite bring myself to do it- sometimes it's hard to know what to write about. And after some time, that became even harder because there was just TOO much to write about. That will only get worse though and I figured it's never too late, so here I am. 

I've been doing a lot of writing on my own, but so far none of it has made it to the blog. Starting today, however, I will try to post more regularly. Besides, if I'm going to catch up I'm going to have to be posting lots and lots! So check back regularly. 

Here are some things you can look forward to reading about:

Delicious (and not so delicious) Spanish food

Adapting to small family life

An abundance of touristy things

Carnaval in Cadiz

A day trip to Ronda, the city on a cliff

Sevillan Flamenco

Protests throughout the city

And lots more!

Here are some pictures to start :)

Hasta pronto,

Hannah

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Mediterranean Sea: a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant.

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Morocco: officially the Kingdom of Morocco. Arabic name al-Mamlakat al-Maghribiyyah translates to "The Western Kingdom". Al-Maghrib, or Maghreb, meaning "The West", is commonly used.

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Semana Santa (Holy Week): the last week of lent and the week before easter. Semana Santa en Sevilla" is notable for featuring the procession of "pasos", lifelike wood or plaster sculptures of individual scenes of the events that happened between Jesus' arrest and his burial, or images of the Virgin Mary showing grief for the torture and killing of her son. The week is also notable for elaborate festivities and processions. 

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Flamenco: A style of Spanish music, played esp. on the guitar and accompanied by singing and dancing.

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Just all about all I've been thinking about lately is Spain. And since I leave so soon...these next couple blogs will be devoted to some of the oh-so Spanish things that i'm oh-so excited for!

Tapas: Small Spanish savory dishes, typical served with drinks at a bar.