busy, busy, busy

¡Buenas tardes a todos!

First of all, I apologize for the gap in blogging, but I hope this one is sufficiently interesting to make up for the time lost. :)

 So many things have happened since I last posted! First of course was September 11th and all of the memorial activities that went along with it. It was an odd experience to be out of country on such an important day. Usually the news stations here in Spain show a lot of US news anyway, but the 11th was a little different, it seemed that nearly every news station was showing video footage of either the plane crashes or the memorial events going on at Ground Zero. My host parents told us what they were doing when it all happened back in 2001 and asked us if we remembered what we had been doing.

For some cultural background, the TV is always on during mealtimes here, whether it is on news or sports or De Buena Ley (literally "Good Law," it is a show that is a mix of Judge Judy and Jerry Springer). That took a little bit of getting used to, but the TV is directly in front of the dining table so it is what it is. Anyway, coincidentally enough because Salamanca is 6 hours ahead of NYC, when the first plane crashed at 8:46am (2:46pm Spain time) most Spaniards were sitting down to la comida (usually at 2:30pm or so) watching the news as per usual. Nati and Fausti told Katie and I that they thought their normal programming had been interrupted by a movie or something, they couldn't believe that what they were seeing was actual footage. They said this is the same reaction that they had heard from other Spaniards as well. It was really eye opening to see how much the world pays attention to the goings-on in the US and to see that there are people in other countries who really do share our pain from that day. There was one Spaniard killed in the attacks and they held a memorial service for him here somewhere in Spain. Also when Nati and Fausti talked about it all they kept saying was how sad and painful and useless it all was. Although I got to see some of the activities that went on at Ground Zero and I got to see pictures from the activities at Gettysburg, it was something I would have much rather been home for, to share in the remembrance and patriotism of the day.

On a much happier note, on the following Wednesday (9.14), a group of 12 of us IES students along with David and Barbara (IES staff) left at 8:30am to embark on El Camino de Santiago, specifically the rua Frances. Here is a map of the route we took; I've marked the cities we stopped at with a bright green dot and our route (more or less) with a darker green line:

Probably most of you have already seen my pictures on Facebook, but if you haven't here is the link:
¡Vamos! ¡Venga! ¡Animo!
Additionally, our guide Enrique, posted all of the pictures he took on a Picasa page which you can access here: El Camino de Santiago Picasa

El Camino was incredible..it is hard to describe it in words so I hope you check out the pictures to get an idea of what it was like! I can't remember if I already posted something about it on here, so if not here is a brief description: El Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage route that leads to Santiago de Compostela where it is believed (and recognized by the Catholic church) that the remains of James the apostle of Jesus are kept in the cathedral there. The first written account of the pilgrimage was finished around 1140CE, and today thousands of people from all over the world hike El Camino every year for a whole slew of reasons, not just religious motivations.

We walked between 20 and 28kms ( 12.5-17mis) per day up hills and down hills and through mountains, forests, farmland, and villages. It was a perfect preamble to the start of classes, we all got time to just chill out and be with only our thoughts or God or whoever/whatever you wanted for about 6-7 hours a day. I definitely felt refreshed and ready to start classes by the time we got back!

We returned from El Camino around 11 on Sunday night and bright and early Monday we all started our IES classes! It's only been three days, but I really like all of my classes so far and I can't wait to start classes at the University of Salamanca. With IES I am taking four classes: Literature & Cinema in Contemporary Spain, Spanish Language/Grammar, Regionalism in Spain, and Comparative Religion. I am going to try out two classes at USAL, History of Sexuality and History of Gender Relations, but I will probably only end up taking one; those classes start next Monday.

Now time for the fun part of the blog! Or what I think is fun, some more cultural tidbits and other interesting quotidian things I've discovered.

First, SO MUCH WALKING. Salamantinas (I think that's what they call people from Salamanca) walk a lot. At minimum I would bet that the average person spends at least 1.5-2 hours walking each day. With my schedule, I'm going to spend at minimum 2 hours walking every day, just to and from class and my casa! Yay being healthy and having calves of steel!

Second, there are no public restrooms. If you need to use a restroom in a bar or restaurant or store or whatever you are expected to by something, even if it is as small as a pack of gum. Also many of the bathrooms we've seen on our travels have cost .20 euros or so to use. Apparently bar owners here really dislike American students/tourists because they come into use the restroom and don't buy anything!

Third, the news and television programs here are much more explicit than at home! It is pretty common to see naked people of all shapes and sizes on the news and TV shows. For example, today on De Buena Ley there was this guy who was suing his boss for the right to streak and/or strip tease as a form of protest. This is not an isolated incident of some crazy guy who just wants to get naked in public, apparently strip teases and streaking are both relatively common forms of protesting against the crisis here. Anyway, they showed footage of all of these naked guys who made a video at their workplace (it looked like some kind of construction company) to protest all of the firings! 

Fourth, interesting feelings about Franco/democracy. So you know how we're all more or less brainwashed into thinking that democracy is the only way, political freedom and liberty for everyone, blah blah blah, well, I thought that I was a little more open minded than to believe that one single political system should work for every country, but I was very surprised to find myself bristling at my host parents talking about how democracy doesn't work in Spain. I always kind of thought that Spaniards on the whole had been glad to be rid of Franco and his dictatorship (because let's face it, we're taught to abhor any kind of political system outside of democracy), so it was kind of shocking to me to hear my host parents speaking with nostalgia for the days under Franco and with annoyance and frustration towards the current political system (parliamentary democracy/constitutional monarchy). But, as I listened more, it was easy to understand why they and many other Spaniards are fed up with the current government. I'm not sure if many of you are aware, but Spain is in a crisis right now, and I don't just mean that figuratively. Every news station, every day, shows stories of "La Crisis" and footage of people (mostly young adults) protesting the government programs that they believe are related to La Crisis. The main issues are that there are no jobs for young people (or older people for that matter), prices are rising and wages are of course pretty stagnant, there is a lot of discontent with the Euro, and the education system is in tumult. Actually what is happening with the education system is similar to what is happening in the US.

The whole education issue is very interesting to me, so pardon me while I take a minute to explain the deal! So here, the public high schools (colegios) and universities (universidades) are more or less free for Spanish citizens and are considered to be of the highest quality, if you want a degree that will get you somewhere you go to a public university. The private high schools and universities are very expensive and, according to my host father, are all affiliated with/controlled by the Church. Spain is getting ready to hold general elections on November 20th and the party that is more or less slated to win is Partido Popular (PP) (People's Party), which is a far right party that serves the interests of the rich (so says my host father). Part of this party's platform is to privatize the education system, thus destroying the option of free public education for many people. This has teachers, professors, parents, and students alike frustrated and, frankly, pissed.

Anyway, back to sentiments about Franco, according to my host parents, during the dictatorships there were jobs for everyone and people didn't go hungry because they couldn't find work. I asked about the other bad things that happened under Franco (Gernika, political and religious oppression, etc) and even with these things it seemed that they thought life under Franco was better than life under the democracy. It seems that the price of jobs for political freedom is a bit too steep after all.
*As a disclaimer, these are only the opinions of one couple in Spain, and certainly shouldn't be taken for the sentiments of an entire country. 

Ok, sorry for the long winded history/current events lesson, but I think it is really interesting! Also sorry for the lack of pictures, but I hope you'll check out my facebook album and the picasa album!

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry across the pond, I heard it's been rainy and cold. It's been sunny and in the 80s here...haha.

Until next time, ¡hasta luego! ¡besos!

Part II: Cultural Differences

Or, in España, Las Diferencias Culturales 

Hello again!
So this is the blog post that I've been wanting to write since before I even left the states. As soon as I knew I was going to Spain I started thinking, What is it going to be like? What will the differences and/or similarities be? Will I be able to adapt to, learn from, and feel comfortable in a culture that, while Western, is still very different from my own? But before I get into it, let me just say that this post is about differences, not things that are worse or better in either culture, as much as possible I am trying to be value free!

Well, after a whopping ten days here I have started to answer these questions and boy, my brain is running overtime. There is so much to think about! This is obviously a huge topic, so I'm just going to briefly (hopefully) tell you about some of the ones that I've noticed the most. I apologize in advance as this post is going to have fewer pictures than the others, but hopefully it's interesting enough that you can read on. ;) I'll include some random photos to keep your attention. :)

 Windmills on a hill on the bus ride from Madrid to Salamanca. There are electricity generating windmills and fields of solar panels everywhere!

En la casa (In the home):  First things first, DON'T WASTE WATER. I don't think there is a significant water shortage here in Spain, but Spaniards are very careful with how much water they use out of the faucet. The first day I moved in I needed to wash my hands (I got plane grease on them from the bottom of my suitcase) so I asked my señora (Nati, my host mom) if she had any grease cutting soap and she assisted me to the sink. I of course carelessly turned the faucet on all the way like I would at home and she immediately turned it down to a trickle. As far as I've noticed, most people don't shower daily, more like once every other or every two days. My host sister and I of course still shower daily, but I try to take military showers (I turn off the water when I'm shaving or soaping or whatnot). At meals we always have bottled water; I'm not sure if that is to save money on utilities bills or because the water from the faucet is undesirable (I've consumed the water from the faucet multiple times and haven't gotten sick so hopefully it's ok). Also it seems like they drink much less water in general here, my señora usually has wine with meals and I don't see anyone except the other American students walking around with nalgenes or drinking water between meals. Along with water, mi familia is very conscious of conserving energy; the very first day I arrived Nati told me to always turn out the lights when I leave a room. Also I've returned to my room a couple of times to find the lamp or my laptop unplugged after Nati has cleaned.

Second, your feet should always be covered when in the house. Our IES pamphlet says that it is considered rude to walk around barefoot, but my señora said (this is a very common phrase among all of the IES students..) that if you walk around barefoot you will catch a cold! When I asked David about this he said that they are all taught from a very young age that if you walk around barefoot you will catch a cold. Remembering to put slippers on is a little bit more difficult for me than remembering to save water, I've been scolded a couple of times for going barefoot haha.

Third, mom is the master of the house and she takes care of everything! Nati has started letting Katie and I help clean up after la comida and la cena but not much else. Also the new buzzword among the IES students is ¿quieres más? ¿quieres más? (do you want more?) It seems as if our señoras are always asking this during meals! This is because of another difference, you are expected to turn down the food offered the first and second times and then accept on the third! Also it is considered annoying to be continually saying por favor (please) and gracias (thank you) for everything in the home. Katie and I are both very polite so this is a little bit of an issue for us haha. Like I noted in a previous post, mealtimes and meal sizes are a bit different here than in the US (refer to my previous post, whirlwind, for a description of the meals).

 A girl's tuna (musical group) from Portugal playing in La Plaza Mayor.

 Churros con zumo y chocolate! Best breakfast ever!

En la calle (On the street): So the first thing that I immediately noticed is that semi-aggressive PDA (Public Displays of Affection for those of you who aren't aware) between couples is completely acceptable and even expected! Walking down the streets or sitting in La Plaza Mayor or even at a children's puppet show (yes, it happened), there are couples sucking face (I mean this quite literally) and groping  each other right out in public. I do recognize that we Americans definitely have issues when it comes to sex/physical affection (for example, it is unacceptable to make out w/ your significant other in public but it is totally acceptable to pretty accurately imitate the act of sex on the dance floor), but this piece of the culture here was a little jarring to me.

The second thing I noticed is how much more prevalent smoking is. Just recently (January of this year) smoking was banned in restaurants, bars, and some other public places, but in the streets there are still a lot of smokers, and a lot of them are people my age. It has been difficult to stifle my ingrained passive-aggressive reaction to not-so-discreetly cough or clear my throat when someone is smoking near me like I would do at home, but I'm working on it!

Something else of note is that Spaniards seem, as a whole but not a rule, to be concerned with dressing appropriately if they are going to be out and about. On the streets, in La Plaza, and even in the supermarcado (supermarket), men and women alike dress for the occasion. Most women here wear tacones (high heels) when going anywhere outside of the house. Flats are also very popular, I've especially noticed that Roman style sandals are prevalent; almost no one wears flip flops. Guys wear nicer casual clothes; I have only seen a handful of men wearing regular cotton tshirts and most of them appeared to be heading to the gym. In this respect a lot of us Americans in our flip flops, shorts, and tshirts stand out pretty obviously in a crowd of Spaniards.

Spaniards also tend to stand and walk much closer together (even with perfect strangers) than Americans would. I read about this before I left for Spain so I was prepared but it is taking a little bit of getting used to. Both guys and girls alike here seem to relate much more often in a physically affectionate manner than their counterparts in the US would. When two guys are meeting for the first time it is common for them to grab hands and have a sort of bro hug. When a guy/girl or girl/girl pair meet for the first time it is customary to give two kisses, one on each cheek. I experienced this for the first time last night while we were playing soccer; Manuel, one of the USAL students who is helping us with orientation, brought a couple of his guy friends to play soccer with us and when he introduced us they hugged the guys and gave us girls kisses (one of them was named Alejandro, no joke, eat your heart out ladies ;) ).

Additionally, Spaniards seem a bit brusque and less polite on the street than Americans. If you bump into someone they don't usually say anything and it is considered strange (or a come-on) if you smile at someone after making eye contact on the street. David told us that when he first studied in the US he thought it was really cool that all the people were smiling at him on the street all the time; he thought all the girls were hitting on him! haha. This is also a little difficult to adjust to, I'm very accustomed to saying 'I'm sorry' kind of excessively and smiling at random people on the street.

Oh ya know, just chillin' near a grape field.

Miscellaneous: Obviously the language is a major cultural difference, but with a different language comes different sentiments and a different way of viewing the world. One difference is a lack of an equivalent word in Spanish for our English word/sentiment, "awkward." Imagine a world without the concept of an awkward situation, interesting huh?

Time also runs a little differently here; everything is a bit later and a bit less punctual than in the US. For example, our university classes all start on the hour but the orientation helpers told us that it is normal for a class to start 10 or 15 minutes later than schedules. As an intriguing side note to this, none of the appliances in my host family's kitchen have a clock on them. I am used to being able to look at the stove or the microwave or the coffeemaker to see the time but none of those appliances have clocks here! I'm not sure if that is common to all families but it is true for mine. Also time is written in what we think of as military time in the US, i.e., 7:00 = 7:00AM, 19:00=7:00PM.

Ok, this is getting pretty long so I'm going to leave you with that. I will probably revisit this topic in a later post as I spend more time here and encounter new things! Perhaps a later post will include similarities (there are a lot) as well as differences. I hope you've enjoyed reading about this, I've really enjoyed discovering all of it!

I hope all of you on the east coast are staying dry and safe from the rain!

¡Abrazos!

Part I: Toro & Zamora

¡Hola chicos!

I apologize for the gap in blogging, today is the first time since my last post that I've had some time to sit down and write anything! But today's posts should make up for it, you're in for a twofer, first about our excursion to Toro & Zamora today and second, the one I've been itching to write, about cultural differences. ¡Vamos!

So today we took a trip to the cities of Toro and Zamora, located here in relation to Salamanca: click here to see the map!

Toro is a small town where we visited a bodega, or winery. The winery, Bodegas Monte La Reina, is relatively new, it was established in 2004 and in addition to being a winery they also have a vegetable farm, a castle-turned-hotel, and a gorgeous venue for las bodas (weddings). We took a tour of the winery, got a brief overview of the wine-making process, and at the end we had a wine tasting. I'm not so much a big fan of wine, it was a little strong for me, but I'm told by my compañeros that it was of good quality. This particular winery doesn't export much to the US, but what they do is called "Face to Face."

 This was a castle built relatively recently by (I think) a nobleman that the winery bought and turned into a hotel. I believe it costs around 200 euro/night, but it's got an amazing view! 

 Next to the castle there is a small field of these trees, probably for wedding photoshoots. The grass was impeccable!

 And here is where they hold the weddings/receptions. This terrace has an amazing view of the surrounding area.

 Part of the view from the winery; a field of grapes (uvas) and corn (maíz).

 Our guide explaining the fermentation process to us.

 This is part of the machine that bottles and caps the wine. Our guide stressed that literally every part of the process is mechanized, even harvesting the grapes.

 A store of white whine.

 Here the higher quality wines are stored in barrels (barrils).

 And here was the wine we got to taste. Our guide even taught us the proper procedure for tasting wine!

I relaxed in the grass a little while we waited for everyone to get through the gift shop. :)

After we finished our morning in Toro we took a short trip west to the town of Zamora, which happens to be the hometown of one of the IES program staff, David. Zamora is a college town much like Salamanca, it is home to the Zamora campus of the University of Salamanca, but it is significantly smaller. While the Salamanca campus has around 30,000 students, the Zamora campus has a little over 2,000. Zamora is known for its Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations, Romanesque churches (it has 24), the remnants of murallas (city walls) built by its Christian occupants in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, the house of the famous El Cid, and its location on the important Spanish river Río Duero. David took us on a short walking tour of the city and showed us a few churches/cathedrals and the remnants of a medieval castle! We also spent some time wandering around the streets and the Plaza Mayor of the city. 

 It is kind of difficult to see but this is a billboard on one of the streets advertising the Semana Santa.

 This is a Romanesque cathedral, it has a unique scaly dome and is one of only 3 of its kind in Europe.

 This is what is left of the medieval castle.

 The moat!

 Remnants of what I can only assume were rooms at one time.

 These two photos (top and bottom) are the view from the top of the castle of the city of Zamora and the surrounding countryside.

 Gettysburg represent! On the top of the castle.

 This is a bit of decoration on the rear entrance to the cathedral. There is a fun story related to the decoration in the upper small square that kind of looks like a head. The official history says that it is a carving of the head of a Muslim conqueror placed there to symbolize the victory of Christianity over Islam. However, the Zamoran myth is much more fun. The myth says that a thief ran into the cathedral to steal the chalice that holds the sacred blood. When he tried to exit the church he jumped through that small window and God was so angry at him for stealing from His house that he closed the stone around his neck, thus killing and imprisoning the thief there forever!

 This is the house of El Cid.

 The River Duero.

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 No, this is not some kind of European KKK, this is a statue commemorating the celebrations of Semana Santa. There are various brotherhoods in the city that dress in this fashion and parade around the city during Holy Week.

On most of the towers and steeples of the churches and cathedrals you see these giant masses of sticks, turns out they are stork nests! (nidos de cigueñas)

After leaving Zamora we of course had to have la comida, so David took us to this awesome restaurant in the middle of nowhere (el campo) near Zamora called Los Yugos. This, ladies and gentlemen, is not your ordinary restaurant. Another thing Zamora is kind of known for is its underground bodegas, used in antiquity as wine cellars. Some of the remaining ones have been converted into storage, family homes, and restaurants. Yes, we ate lunch UNDERGROUND. It was so cool! The restaurant walls were covered in all kinds of strange things, pictures, a mace, a scythe, several yolks, various weapons  (Brian Denu I hope you're reading this because you're about to get really excited).

The restaurant specializes in carne asado, which is basically any type of meat roasted or grilled, so our comida menu consisted of this: agua and vino (wine) to drink, delicious bread, and a simple salad of greens, tomatoes, and onions. Course #1: chorizo asado (roast sausage, Spanish chorizo is a little salty and a little spicy). Course #2: costillas asados (grilled ribs, ¡muy delicioso! definitely my favorite course). Course #3: I don't know the name for it, but it is the same cut as bacon, but much thicker, much fattier, and much more grilled (it was a little fatty for me, but still good!). Dessert: a Dove chocolate and almond Magnum ice cream bar. After lunch: shots of some kind of herb alcohol (I did not try it, but those that did said was exceptionally strong), green mixed drink supposedly called semen del toro (I'm sure you can guess what that meant. It was actually ok, it was sour green apple flavored), and a red cherry flavored n/a drink. Apparently Spaniards don't mess around with their after dinner drinks haha. After all that, I am STILL full (llena), 8 hours later! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the food, but here is a picture of the entrance to the bodega and all the stuff on the walls where we sat: 

 This is the entrance to the restaurant. Un poco sketchy.

 "Singing Prohibited. It disturbs others." A sign in the restaurant. If you had eaten there you would understand why, the food almost moved me to sing.

 Here are the entrances to a bunch of other bodegas. David said that some are abandoned but some are still used as storage, etc. It looks basically like a bunch of shacks out in the middle of nowhere but it is actually an underground city!

So, ladies and gentlemen, there you have our lovely trip to Toro & Zamora. Other than the unfortunate fact that I am going to be working off that meal for about a week, it was a really great day, great food with good friends in an awesome place. :) 

Stay tuned for Part II: Cultural Differences!

¡Besos!

Segovia

¡Hola a todos!
I hope everyone had a great Monday! Mine was alright, I just strolled around Salamanca, toured the university, and took my first official Spanish siesta, nbd. ;) Well, ok, so today was great, but yesterday was, in a word, breathtaking. We took our first field trip to Segovia, a small-ish city about two hours east of Salamanca and home to three gorgeous cathedrals, the castle that Walt Disney based his magical castle on, and oh yeah, a ROMAN AQUEDUCT. The aqueduct (built sometime between 50 - 150 CE) was built by the Romans to bring  water down from the nearby mountains. When we arrived in Segovia, we pulled right up to it! The tourism office is located just past the aqueduct so that is where we began our tour of the city of Segovia.

The aqueduct.

Our tour guide was great, she spoke clearly and relatively slowly so she was easy to understand. She took us through the city and showed us the cathedrals, la Plaza Mayor, the barrios (neighborhoods) of the Jews, Christians, and Arabs, lots of super old buildings, and finally the Alcazar of Segovia (the castle!). It was all incredible, it took a while for me to be able to wrap my head around all of that history, something that we just don't have here in the states (well, we did, but we more or less wiped it out). To think that at one time a family, real people, lived in this fairy tale castle complete with an atrium, plenty of rooms, a chapel, a throne room (!), a MOAT, and even an observatory is definitely the stuff of Disney.

 This is one of three cathedrals in Segovia, and believed to be the last one built in this style (Romance if I remember correctly).

A big flock of birds flew up from the cathedral and I thought it looked pretty cool.

Parts of the castle, Alcanzar de Segovia.

 This is the moat! It is really far down..

 Some authentic medieval suits of armor.

Inside the castle there were several examples of knights in shining armor (well, the knights are gone but the armor was there) and cannons. After we finished our tour of the castle we all had some free time to spend wandering around the city. A group of us stopped and sat at Cafe de Juan Bravo in the plaza and guess what I had? Churros and hot chocolate! It's hard to top a real life medieval castle, but the churros y chocolate were pretty delicious. But the day just kept getting better, after our time in the city we had almuerzo (lunch) at a resort, El Rancho. SO MUCH FOOD. I can't even remember how many courses we had, but the food started with tortilla de patata (a Spanish tortilla made with eggs and potatoes), pimientos rojos asados, croquetas caseras (the house croquetas, they kind of looked like mini corndogs but they were filled with some kind of creamy cheesy deliciousness and ham), and pan tomaca (basically bruschetta). The main course was pollo asado (roasted chicken) and tossed salad; probably some of the best chicken I have ever had in my life. The meal ended on a sweet note with ponche de Segovia, a dessert that tastes something like a combination of tiramisu and creme brulee. There was so much food, but we wanted to try everything so our table adopted a new motto: eat through the pain!

 More pictures from inside the castle...

 This is the throne room, sorry that it is so blurry, the lighting inside wasn't good for taking pictures!

 This painting is inside of the castle and commemorates the coronation of Queen Isabel (La Reina Católica).

I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture, but the odd thing about the painting is that none of the people have eyes. 

 A window inside the castle.

 :)

Me eating churros y chocolate at cafe Juan Bravo!

 

 Just part of a badly translated menu.

 The churros didn't last long...

And speaking of eating, I forgot to add this earlier, when one of my friends here told her host mom she was going on the trip to Segovia her host mom decided to make her a snack...

She told her it was a bocadilla (small sandwich) lol..

Honestly I think I'm still processing much of what we saw yesterday! That's probably why I couldn't speak in either Spanish or English to save my life today haha. Anyway, I will have pictures up of Segovia very soon!

Have a great week everyone, thank you for reading!