Granada and Thanksgiving!

A little about my trip to Granada.



Enjoy!

Cabanyal Market

Today Sam and I went to the Cabanyal Market. Every day of the week, little markets pop up selling things--and every Thursday it's in Cabanyal--and the Cabanyal market is the BIGGEST!!! It was crazy--a little overwhelming. They're not selling fruits or veggies at this street market. They're selling clothes, bags, sheets, curtains, shoes, underwear, belts, accessories, makeup, movies, cds, etc, etc. You could find almost anything at the market. It was loco. It was entertaining just walking around and looking at all the people. The vendors will try talking to you--always calling you "guapa" (beautiful) and trying to make you listen to their deal. I didn't pull out my camera, but I wish I would have. It would have made for some memorable photos. I also didn't buy anything--but maybe next week I'll go back and buy something--today was more for exploring than buying. Then after that, Sam and I went to a bakery--ate a pastry and just talked. It was quite fun. Tomorrow I head to Granada (in Southern Spain) for the weekend. A 6 hour bus ride----each way! So look for a blog entry about that sometime next week. I also start finals next week. I have one on Monday, one on Wednesday, and one on Friday--so I'll be studying a lot, and preparing for a presentation and paper due the week after. All for now.

I like pomegranates.

I have eaten 3 new fruits since arriving in Spain.
Chirimoya
Caqui
Granadas (Pomegranate)

Last night at dinner, we had pomegranates for dessert. If you've ever eaten a pomegranate, you know that you only eat the seeds. When we have pomegranates, Amparo prepares them, putting all the seeds in a bowl, then pouring some mandarin juice over them. It makes for a delicious dessert.

Out of my 3 new fruits--pomegranates are my favorite, then chirimoya, then caqui. Actually I think I like chirimoya and caqui equally, but I haven't eaten a good caqui in a while.

In general, dessert here is very good. If we don't have fruit for dessert, there are always little cups of chocolate mousse, flan, coffee flavored pudding, or natillas (similar to a mix of vanilla pudding and whipped cream). I really haven't eaten out much since arriving in Valencia--only a few select times. But when I do go out and eat a menu del día (Menu of the day--fixed price--2 courses plus dessert and beverage)--the dessert is always really really good.

That's all I really feel like writing. I already know that I want chocolate mousse for dessert tonight as a little treat for myself. I bet Marli will do the same...

Mistaken Identities.

Today I have decided to write about an occurrence that happens every day or every two days--something that can make you really happy and sad at the same time--and something that can be very random--I'll call them mistaken identities.

Mistaken identities are simply put when you are walking somewhere and see someone who looks like someone for home. Sometimes the resemblance is just in a person's manner of walking--sometimes it's based off appearance. I have seen so many "false friends" since I've been here. I've "seen" friends from Luther, people from church back home, family members, random people from high school, family friends--just a montage of people. I always have to do a double-take when I see one. For a second I think "Why is _______ in Spain?" Then I realize it's not them. Seeing these "false friends" can be really exciting, because it reminds me of people back home--but then it's easy to get sad once you realize it isn't really that person.

Here's a great story involving mistaken identities that happened yesterday...hence prompting this blog....

So Marli and I went to 2 bookstores looking at books in English (as I discovered how much I miss reading--I read "Angels and Demons" in less than 24 hours this weekend...yikes). After browsing through the stores (ever notice how good book stores smell??), we hopped back on the bus to go home. We were on the bus, sitting near the back when suddenly at one of the stops, Marli looks up at this kid who had just gotten on the bus. He was about 12-13 years old--in the process of growing---getting taller but still looking young in the face. Marli looks at me and says, "That looks just like my brother Josh!" So she keeps looking at this kid, and eventually he and his mom come and sit near us. Marli was so happy and yet almost teary-eyed because of this kid. He could tell we were talking about him, because when he got off, he turned to us and said "Bye Bye!" Then once the doors had closed, he waved at us. She almost lost it. It was so sweet--but it made her miss home.

So yep--it was a funny moment. But that's the kind of thing I mean when I say "false friends" or "mistaken identity".

Who knows who I will "see" next?

Historia del español.

Well for today's entry, I want to talk about my favorite class which is History of the Spanish Language. I figured out in my sophomore or junior year of high school that I loved language. Once I got to college, I took some linguistics classes--and my love of language also grew to encompass the development of language. When I was looking at classes to take here, I knew immediately that I would take this one since it dealt with the history of the language and how it developed.

It easily is my hardest class here, but I love it. I have it Mondays and Wednesday at 3--right after lunch. The other days that I have class at 3, I would rather take a siesta than go to class, but I'm always ready/excited to go to this class. There are only 6 of us in class....Kat, Steph, Rosy, Joel, Jayme, and me. I'm glad it's a small class, as we can all ask questions, and our professor really makes sure that everyone understands. Our professor is the other reason that I love the class. She makes learning about the language really interesting. Plus it's always an added bonus to see what she's wearing and how her hair looks as she is very fashion conscious. Her hair is always perfect (like a Barbie, we say) and her clothes and jewelry always match. I was hoping to take a little video of class today, but it didn't happen--maybe on Wednesday.

We had an exam last Wednesday, and I studied a lot for it. It was covering 6 of the 7 sections that we will talk about over the course of the semester. There was so much material to review, plus lots of memorization. 5 of the 6 sections on the exam were dealing with history and characteristics of languages. We started off talking about Classic Latin and Vulgar Latin and how they existed at the same time, with classic Latin being the language of the educated and also the language of literature. Vulgar Latin was the Latin that was spoken by the common people, the colloquial language. All the Romance languages are derived from Vulgar Latin. We talked about how the Romans invaded Spain in 213 BC and the process of Romanization in the Iberian Peninsula. Then we talked about the arrival of the German invadors, specifically the Visigoths is the 5th century. The Visigoths abadoned their language and religion and converted to Christianity and utilized Vulgar Latin. Then in 711, the Arabs arrived in Spain where they stayed until their expulsion in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella (The Catholic Kings). That's a bit of the history covered. We went into detail of how each invading group affected the language, including characteristics and words that transitioned into Spanish. We also discussed the linguistic varieties in the Iberian Peninsula. Here are what they are--written in Spanish--as I don't feel like translating and am not sure how some of them would translate.
1. Aragonés
2. Gallego-Portugués
3. Asturleonés
4. Mozárabe
5. Castellano
Varieties of Castellano: español castellano, andaluz, canario, papiamiento, español de América, tagalo, y judeoespañol
6. Catalán
Varieties of Catalán: barcelonés, tarragonés, leridano, valenciano, ibicenco, menorquín, y mallorquín

Then we also discussed in detail of how words changed from Vulgar Latin to Spanish today. There were a bunch of different characteristics to learn and things to look for. Plus we also went into detail about the 4 types of Yod, which deals with a diphthong converting into different sounds. Here's an example of that--first the word written in Latin, followed by its transition into Spanish. (If the word is in brackets, it is written phonetically)

ERICIU > [erico] > [erizo] > [eriθo] erizo
--The word erizo means hedgehog in Spanish.

That's just an example--maybe I'll type out a few more if I get a video of part of the class. Well I had the exam last Wednesday--and I did really well! So that's good. All for now--need to finish up some homework and get some sleep!


P.S. I also added some pics from when Amparo dressed us up as Flamenco dancers--so take a peek!

Weekly Goal.

Since I've been here, I've made weekly "goals" for myself. Sometimes to provide motivation during the day, and sometimes the goal is just a place or activity I want to do. I haven't been blogging much, so my goal for this week is to blog more--maybe once a day--just to provide some more insight into my daily life. I've talked a lot about traveling but not about class--so I'm going to work on that--plus still include fun tidbits of everything.

So for today's entry I'm going to talk about what I did on Thursday night...I'll call it cena americana (American dinner).

Earlier this past week, Amparo told Marli and I that it was "time" that we ate food from our country--simply put, she wanted us to cook an American meal for dinner. We decided to have the dinner on Thursday. Then there was the task of creating an "American" menu. This sounds a lot easier than it was. We have a girl here with us for 6 weeks--her name is Joelle, and she is from Switzerland--and she has a ton of food allergies. She can't have anything with wheat (no bread, crackers, flour, cereal, etc) or dairy or eggs, and the only meats she can eat are chicken and tuna. Then Amparo doesn't really eat a lot of meat and is a little lactose intolerant. We had to work around that, but Amparo had said that we could make what we wanted to and that she could make something for Joelle. We ended up with the following menu after much deliberation and thought.

-salad to start (just because we always eat a lettuce salad)
-Chicken breast coated in cracker crumbs, with the option of having cheese melted on the chicken too (a chicken cordon bleu type dish)
-Cooked corn (frozen--not from a can...they really don't eat frozen veggies here so it was a "specialty")
-Roasted potatoes

For dessert.... APPLE CRISP with ice cream (of course)

The cooking went okay though it was a little difficult. The ovens here are small and we almost had to nix the potatoes, thinking we wouldn't be able to put them in the oven at the same as the chicken--but we found a way! Then the oven started smoking a little because there was something on the bottom, and we thought the food was burning (luckily, it wasn't). Then there was the dilemma of the apple crisp. We used Marli's mom's recipe. And well we had to convert the measurements. Marli converted them into mL, but we needed them in grams. So basically, I ended up approximated everything.

And at the same time, Amparo was trying to help us cook, and it was difficult (but hilarious) translating everything into Spanish. The hilarity also came from the fact that Amparo was dancing in the kitchen, as we had music playing...some of the artists we were dancing to...Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, T.I, music from Slumdog Millionaire, etc. Then when the apple crisp came out of the oven, Amparo was wanting to "flip" it out onto a platter, as is traditional here with "tartas". We were puzzled why she would want to flip it, and she said "it is ugly like this"--so we let her flip it onto a platter. She crossed herself before she flipped--and it turned out perfectly!

The dinner went over really well. Paco and Elena (Amparo's son and his wife) ended up coming to dinner. Elena is a bit of a picky eater (she usually just eats chicken and grilled veggies here), but she ate all our food and loved it! We were successful in our American dinner. Plus we only ate half of the apple crisp, so Marli and I have been eating it since Thursday night and just finished it today. It was delicious.

The rest of the week was good--tomorrow I think I'm going to write about my favorite class "History of the Spanish Language." I had a huge exam in that class last Wednesday, and I studied a lot because it covered a ton of material. Luckily, the exam went really well. I went to the ballet "Carmen" today. It's based off the opera. I went with my grammar professor and 2 other girls in my class. It was really good, a more modern interpretation of the ballet. All for now though, I need to get some sleep soon!

Odd things.

I have been gone for 2 months today, which also means that I am coming home in 6 months--which also means that as of today, I am 1/4 of the way done with the program. Wowza...how time flies. I've been thinking about random things lately, and I've compiled a list of things that I miss that are a little odd....here goes...

1.) Squirrels. If you've been to Luther, you know of the infamous squirrels. They're grey, chubby, and have no fear of humans. This week I realized I missed squirrels, as they are no squirrels in Valencia.

2.) Seeing the leaves change. My mom told me that our back tree is changing, and I've seen pics on facebook of all my friends playing in the leaves at Luther. The trees here really don't change.

3.) Carpet. I realized this week that there is no carpet in my house here. There was no carpet at the hotel in Barcelona. In fact, the last time I was on actual carpet may have been at the hotel in Madrid when I first arrived--and that carpet wasn't even soft. So don't be surprised if you hear about me laying on the carpet when I come home.

4.) Peanut Butter. They don't eat it here. You can buy a little tiny jar at the supermarket for 3 euro, but I've heard it doesn't taste the same.

5.) Buttered popcorn at the movies. I've been to the movies a few times since I arrived here, and the theatres don't put butter on the popcorn. It's a lot healthier for you, but it just isn't the same! :)

6.) Dryers. They don't really have clothes dryers here--at least in houses. So some of my clothes have gotten a little stretched out--and I miss getting warm towels out of the dryer for showering.

Yep--those are just a few odd things that I miss. Last night was eventful. After dinner, Amparo dressed Marli and I up in flamenco dresses. The pictures are a little ridiculous--here's one of Marli, Amparo, and me. Enjoy!

Not much to report.

Well I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I don't have much to say. Last weekend was relatively uneventful--it was just the normal things---class, homework, chopping off my hair, eating, sleeping...just the normal things. That is the only eventful thing from this past week, and it was an interesting experience. I went on Thursday to the Toni & Guy Academy here in Valencia. My host mom recommended the salon, and Marli went a few weeks ago, and I figured it was time to go, since I failed to get my hair cut before leaving the US. I figured that it would be the same as when Marli got her hair cut--a student cutting the hair under the supervision of the teacher. I had a much different experience. I had my hair cut by the teacher, and all the while there were 6 current hairstylists watching him cut my hair. And they weren't just sitting there--they were taking photos and videos and drawing the design on papers. It was a little intimidating to say the least. Then the same happened when I had my hair colored. The cut is quite different--but the color looks the same, which is fine by me. And the best part of the whole deal was that it was FREE! So I'm adjusting to a new hairstyle.

I went to the beach on Saturday, which was probably the last day to lay out in the sun---the weather from here on out will be cooler. Halloween isn't celebrated here, but discotecas have parties with Halloween themes. I was planning on going out with friends but ended up going to bed since I had a bad headache. It's nice being in Valencia, since I traveled so much in October. Well that's it. I can't think of anything else. Hope everything is great back in the states! All for now.