Hello all,
I feel bad for the last few blog entries I’ve made—after some reflection and re-reading, I realized that I’ve been a little careless about what I’ve been saying and haven’t provided enough context or information for someone who isn’t here in Spain with me to really get what’s going on in my world. I’ve been a little unfair to the Spaniards and am portraying both an unflattering image of those around me and, consequently, of myself.
Happily, this is something I can change. :) Let me tell you what’s REALLY going on here, dear readers.
First of all, I LOVE Spain. I adore the food, the weather (yes, even the rain!), the music, the traditions, the cities, the nightlife, the parks, the art, and yes, the people. For example, the guy who’s sort of like the doorman for our apartment building always greets me with a huge smile and asks me how things are going for me in Spain. I think he feels really proud to have an American living in HIS apartment building ;) but regardless, he’s adorable and always puts a smile on my face. There’s also the guy who owns a kebab place near my school who remembers what I order, what part of the country I’m from, and speaks to me in Spanish and English without making me feel like a dunce. Last week, I spent an afternoon in the park writing postcards and watching children playing, and seeing the Spanish families interact so lovingly filled me with happiness. And we can’t forget that guy who let me stand under his umbrella in the pouring rain so many weeks ago—I think he’s very important to remember. The people here have, by and large, demonstrated to me that this is a warm, welcoming, casual, social, and family-centric culture.
Now. Catcalling in Spain isn’t exactly the same as it is in other places. From what I understand (from my limited knowledge of Spanish history and culture), it is generally seen as a way to compliment a woman without losing a sense of one’s manhood. Perhaps the aggressive—and quick to reject—nature of Spanish women contributes to its prevalence (this is just conjecture on my part). Spanish women are notoriously difficult (according to all the guys I’ve talked to—especially my American friends, poor guys) and when they reject a man’s advances, they generally do it brutally. Coming from a culture in which the feminism of our grandmothers has catapulted into a culture in which a slightly off-color comment can get you slapped with harassment accusations, yet women turn right around and expect their bad behavior to be tolerated because they feel entitled, or “men have had this coming,” I’m not exactly used to having men be so forward and publicly… appreciative. For awhile here, I actually really enjoyed the catcalling, because for the most part it wasn’t disruptive to my day, the things people were saying to me were generally nice and not too raunchy, and hey, it feels good to have someone say, “Hey, look at that hottie,” to their friends as I pass by. It’s nice to know that guys find me attractive, even if this isn’t exactly the manner in which I would choose for them to express it.
Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit of frustration with life in general (it’s just a stage of cultural adaptation and nothing to worry about, it was bound to happen sooner or later), and men have become the target of my wrath purely because, well, a certain few exhibited some bad behavior right about the time I needed a target to shoot at. Several female friends have had very recent, very bad experiences with guys (both Spanish and American) that I had originally seen as wonderfully sweet and harmless, and add that up with a few rude comments from creepy old guys and one friend who actually had a guy try to grab her very inappropriately when she was merely walking down the street, and RAWR, I AM AN ANGRY WOMAN, AND MEN ARE THE DEVIL!!! Oh, boy.
Clearly, men are not the devil. In fact, I find that I often prefer to hang out with my guy friends because, generally speaking, they’re quicker to say what they mean, get to the point, decide on a purchase, they can keep up with me drinking, and they make better dance partners. I’m just sayin’. :P No, but really, I appreciate my guy friends SO much—when I need someone to talk to, they make great listeners and honest advisors; when I’m down, they bring me ice cream and funny movies or take me out dancing; they don’t mind when I swear like a trucker, and they teach me new things, like how to each sunflower seeds, and don’t laugh TOO much when I fail (thanks, Ben!); when I get myself into “situations” I don’t know how to get out of, they step in and clear things up without me even having to ask; when I need someone to walk me home at four in the morning, they don’t hesitate and they don’t bitch about how far away I live; and when I make a fool of myself, they are (for the most part) perfect gentlemen and don’t make fun of me or tell embarrassing stories at school the next day. The men in my life are what add the color, the depth, and the sanity to what would otherwise be a world way too full of estrogen and drama. Thank you, guys; you are truly great friends to have.
So, if I sounded a little (or a lot) like a raving mad man-hater in my last posts, please realize that the anger comes from frustration at seeing the pain my friends have experienced, and just the fact that I’m exhausted from eight months of being “that foreign girl” everywhere I go, of struggling to communicate, of feeling like an animal in a zoo (I get a lot of stares, even when I dress like a European), of stressing over travel plans, and of missing some of the people I love most in the world.
I also want to apologize to the universe for insinuating that I’ve been incompatible with the wonderful guys I’ve dated over the years. Yeah, so it didn’t work out, but the truth is that I really have dated some great guys who were all really right for me during the time I was with them, and who I still admire, respect, and care very deeply about. In fact, I am still on very good terms with most of them, and the rest I don’t talk to just because I don’t know how to get in contact with them! Enfin, I may have made some interesting dating choices in the past, but I always made them for the right reasons, and I always had at least some degree of compatibility with the guys I chose to date. I just don’t want anyone to think I harbor any hard feelings towards any ex-boyfriends—in the grand scheme of things, the disagreements were small, and the fights rare, and I’m willing to let that stuff be water under the bridge.
I think part of this much more peaceful and forgiving attitude comes from the fact that I’ve recently gotten back in touch with a few guys who may have hurt me (and who I hurt) over the last few years, and the amount of respect, forgiveness, and love that they have demonstrated to me really makes me feel happy, hopeful… and bad about giving men such a hard time. :P So, thank you, friends. You really are some special guys, and I want nothing more than to see you ALL happy and healthy.
It could also simply be that I am returning to my senses after an episode of over-emotional irrationality. I would like to believe that, deep down, I am a peaceful and forgiving person. :)
Wait—did I just express all of that in coherent English?!?! Clearly I haven’t been speaking enough Spanish lately! :P I’d better go fix THAT problem right away! OH—by the way—Concha has started teaching me Sevillanas so that I can dance in the street on Día de la Cruz (May 3), and she says I’m great already! Especially my hands and arms—I guess I was just born to dance Flamenco. ;) ;) But shh, I want to surprise my friends here and whip it out when they’re least expecting it!! Teehee! Sometimes, life is really fun. :) The sun was shining today, and I walked home just as the sun was beginning to set, when the sky was gold and baby blue with white polka dot clouds. Just when I think the world is all blackness and meanness after a hard weekend, the universe has a way of sending me gentle reminders that I am ok, the world isn’t full of crappy people after all, and the best thing I can do for both myself and the world around me is to be happy and keep loving, even when it’s hard.
I send my love across the ocean to you, dear reader, with a hug and a smile,
Pura Vida,
Kelsey
PS. Please think positive thoughts in the direction of Iceland and its nasty volcanoes… apparently, another one is supposed to erupt soon, but I need it to wait until I’m safely home in the states, ok? I understand that the world thinks it’s coming to an end, but please help me remind it that Kelsey needs to be back in Bellingham to see some adorable chicks, a lovely little apartment, the best big brother ever, the most supportive parents, and the best friends a girl could have before Armageddon rolls around. ;) Thanks.
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Flamenco Concert
Hiya! I wanted to blog really quickly about this wonderful Flamenco concert we went to last week before I run off to France and get too many cool things to blog about. :)
Last Tuesday my program took us to this Flamenco show by Sara Baras, who is arguably the best professional Flamenco dancer in Spain right now, and who is also a palindrome (read her name backwards). I was VERY excited because I love watching dance performances, but this completely surpassed my expectations. Her entire dance company was stellar, and the musicians that accompanied them were absolutely fantastic. It was really inspiring. All the dresses swooshing around making beautiful shapes, the constant clicking and stomping of the feet, the clapping and husky singing and passionately strummed guitars in the background, the interaction between dancers, the intense emotions they portrayed… and then Sara’s solo pieces, oh my goodness, BREATHTAKING. Her movement across the stage, her hips and arms and feet feet FEET all over the place, but with such control. It made me want to dance—it reminded me of learning Paso Doble (shame! shame on me! but still, Paso Doble WAS adapted from Flamenco… I think) and the power and control and cool shapes you get to make with that. I feel so lucky we got to see this show—especially since tickets were way too expensive for me to have bought one for myself if the program hadn’t have been paying.
I FINALLY SHOT THE MOON!!! Sorry, I’ve taken up the habit of playing hearts on my computer during study breaks and stuff, and this is the first time I’ve successfully shot the moon!! I’m very excited.
In other news, I just finished midterms and am flying off to France tomorrow EARLY in the morning from Madrid, so tonight I’m jumping on the overnight bus to the Madrid airport. Oh boy. I’m nervous because I feel like every time I’ve travelled here, something has gone wrong, but then again, it’s been magical anyways. So here I go again, and this time I’m going to see wonderful friends in Nantes (Nora) and then Paris (Kristin and Elisa, friends I met in Costa Rica!). Wish me luck, wish me good health, and wish me peace of mind. Maybe a change of scenery will be good for me—and coming home to Granada, even better. :)
Love to all,
Kelsey
Last Tuesday my program took us to this Flamenco show by Sara Baras, who is arguably the best professional Flamenco dancer in Spain right now, and who is also a palindrome (read her name backwards). I was VERY excited because I love watching dance performances, but this completely surpassed my expectations. Her entire dance company was stellar, and the musicians that accompanied them were absolutely fantastic. It was really inspiring. All the dresses swooshing around making beautiful shapes, the constant clicking and stomping of the feet, the clapping and husky singing and passionately strummed guitars in the background, the interaction between dancers, the intense emotions they portrayed… and then Sara’s solo pieces, oh my goodness, BREATHTAKING. Her movement across the stage, her hips and arms and feet feet FEET all over the place, but with such control. It made me want to dance—it reminded me of learning Paso Doble (shame! shame on me! but still, Paso Doble WAS adapted from Flamenco… I think) and the power and control and cool shapes you get to make with that. I feel so lucky we got to see this show—especially since tickets were way too expensive for me to have bought one for myself if the program hadn’t have been paying.
I FINALLY SHOT THE MOON!!! Sorry, I’ve taken up the habit of playing hearts on my computer during study breaks and stuff, and this is the first time I’ve successfully shot the moon!! I’m very excited.
In other news, I just finished midterms and am flying off to France tomorrow EARLY in the morning from Madrid, so tonight I’m jumping on the overnight bus to the Madrid airport. Oh boy. I’m nervous because I feel like every time I’ve travelled here, something has gone wrong, but then again, it’s been magical anyways. So here I go again, and this time I’m going to see wonderful friends in Nantes (Nora) and then Paris (Kristin and Elisa, friends I met in Costa Rica!). Wish me luck, wish me good health, and wish me peace of mind. Maybe a change of scenery will be good for me—and coming home to Granada, even better. :)
Love to all,
Kelsey
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Weekend in Madrid!!
Written March 15th.
Wow, what a weekend. It was fraught with emotional turmoil and anxiety and even anger, but it was also incredible and provided me wonderful bonding time with some of my new friends here.
So this weekend I went to Madrid with my program. On Friday morning, we left (early, too) on the five hour bus ride to Madrid. I sat next to Katie and we napped and listened to music all the way. We stopped in Toledo for a tiny bit, which was fun for me because I’d already done all the sights, so I got to enjoy hearing about the history and taking random pictures. There were some adorable doggies there, and one of them hit me with his tail! I felt loved and special.
We got to Madrid in the late afternoon, and Katie and I took a nap before going out for dinner with some other girls. I forgot my camera, which was a bummer because we walked by the Palacio Real and the Plaza Mayor, both of which were really lovely by night. We found a nice little Italian place that gave us two free bottles of wine for the six of us, and we had delicious pizza and talked about boys and life and travel and all that fun stuff.
Saturday, we went inside the Palacio Real, which was SO beautiful. One of our teachers told me that there had been a king who really liked clocks (or something like that, can’t actually remember the story) and that there were a TON of awesome clocks, so I made a point of noticing them, and they were really spectacular. Tables that were clocks; sculpture clocks; globe clocks; massive clocks; tiny clocks; they were all beautiful and unique. THEN, we went into this room—and YOU GUYS—it had a full quartet of Stradivarius instruments!!! I was about to faint. They are SO beautiful, and my teacher says that really awesome professionals get to play them for the King and his family!!! I was in awe. SUCH beautiful instruments.
All the rooms in the Palacio Real were exquisite, and all very different. I loved one of the rooms that had pale blue silk on the walls… another was decorated with ceramic walls… another was a lovely dusty rose color with lovely dark wood accents… it was overwhelmingly lovely, but also kind of overly decadent. I kept thinking how I would have NO idea what to do with all that space if I were the queen! I’m looking forward to my wittle apartment this summer, I think it’ll be a relief after seeing that massive palace.
After seeing the palace, Katie and Luis and Russell and Jess and a few others (can’t really remember who) and I wandered around shopping for awhile. It was fun to look at clothes and shoes and stuff, but I wasn’t in the mood to buy anything, so I got bored with it fast. We had lunch, and then Katie and Alissa and I went to the modern art museum, the Reina Sofia, which I ADORED, although I’m not sure the others liked it as much as I did. I was fascinated by all the Dali and Picasso and… well, other artists as well, but I’m bad with names. Picasso’s “Guernica” is in this museum, and it was really moving to see it in person. The museum also has a lovely little sculpture garden-courtyard, which was fun to wander through. After seeing the museum, we walked up to the Parque de Retiro and wandered around enjoying the sunshine. We wanted to rent a rowboat for half an hour, but the line was too long, so we just took pictures of other people in rowboats instead. :P
I was pretty exhausted by the time we got back to our room, so I just showered and took a nap before dinner. Dinner was uneventful; we found a little cafetería with relatively cheap, decent food and made a fool of ourselves trying to pay (haha). THEN, we met up with the group and went to see a play!!!! It was SO GOOD. Ok, so maybe just me and Luis thought it was awesome; I think everyone else gave up trying to understand and fell asleep for the most part, but I LOVED it! It was “La Ratonera,” or “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christy, and it had me on the edge of my seat—partly because I was trying so hard to understand, but mostly because it was really great. It was a murder mystery, and I had NO idea who the murderer was until the very end when he revealed himself. SO GOOD! And all the actors were pretty great, although one guy could have projected better and another kind of overdid some things that I thought didn’t need to be overdone. But that’s just me being elitist. :P Anyways, I was glad that I sat next to Luis, because he understood it perfectly (of course) and could explain things I missed, and also because he enjoyed it, too, and made me feel like less of a freak for getting so excited about it.
On Sunday, we went to the Museo del Prado, the main art museum which houses a lot of the works of Goya, Velazquez, El Greco, and many other important Spanish and foreign artists. I really loved the Flemish art wing, especially the seascapes, and also seeing Goya’s work transform over his life and into his Black Period—when he went kind of crazy and his paintings are ACTUALLY terrifying. The eyes he paints are the most simple yet expressive eyes I’ve ever seen… it was captivating. Of course, the “Meninas” was fabulous, but I actually preferred some other artist’s paintings of little girls (why can’t I remember his name??) which expressed a lot more interest, motion, and emotion to me. Ok, I’ll stop being an art snob now. :P
When we got exhausted from art overload, Katie, Luis, Russell, Mary and I went to lunch (I had a delicious sandwich) and then wandered around in the sunshine eating ice cream and enjoying Madrid. We ran into a mariachi band in the plaza Puerta del Sol, and Luis got really excited and it was very cute. :) Then, we kind of just window-shopped and chatted until it was time to go get on the bus to come back to Granada.
I’m sorry I can’t be more excited or expressive about these descriptions, but I’m still in a bit of a weird emotional place and it’s hard for me to get excited about this trip right now. It doesn’t help that I have a bit of a cold, and I always get grumpy and paranoid when I’m feeling under the weather. It WAS a wonderful weekend altogether, though, and I had some great bonding conversations with Russell (who reminds me of Heath a bit) and some really fun moments with Katie and Luis, so all in all, I feel good about how it turned out. Although in hindsight, I should have bought that scarf… ;)
I hope everyone I love had a fantastic weekend, and maybe one a little less tumultuous than mine. Tomorrow I’m going to see a Flamenco show, which I’m super excited about, so stay tuned to hear about that!
Pura vida,
Kelsey
Wow, what a weekend. It was fraught with emotional turmoil and anxiety and even anger, but it was also incredible and provided me wonderful bonding time with some of my new friends here.
So this weekend I went to Madrid with my program. On Friday morning, we left (early, too) on the five hour bus ride to Madrid. I sat next to Katie and we napped and listened to music all the way. We stopped in Toledo for a tiny bit, which was fun for me because I’d already done all the sights, so I got to enjoy hearing about the history and taking random pictures. There were some adorable doggies there, and one of them hit me with his tail! I felt loved and special.
We got to Madrid in the late afternoon, and Katie and I took a nap before going out for dinner with some other girls. I forgot my camera, which was a bummer because we walked by the Palacio Real and the Plaza Mayor, both of which were really lovely by night. We found a nice little Italian place that gave us two free bottles of wine for the six of us, and we had delicious pizza and talked about boys and life and travel and all that fun stuff.
Saturday, we went inside the Palacio Real, which was SO beautiful. One of our teachers told me that there had been a king who really liked clocks (or something like that, can’t actually remember the story) and that there were a TON of awesome clocks, so I made a point of noticing them, and they were really spectacular. Tables that were clocks; sculpture clocks; globe clocks; massive clocks; tiny clocks; they were all beautiful and unique. THEN, we went into this room—and YOU GUYS—it had a full quartet of Stradivarius instruments!!! I was about to faint. They are SO beautiful, and my teacher says that really awesome professionals get to play them for the King and his family!!! I was in awe. SUCH beautiful instruments.
All the rooms in the Palacio Real were exquisite, and all very different. I loved one of the rooms that had pale blue silk on the walls… another was decorated with ceramic walls… another was a lovely dusty rose color with lovely dark wood accents… it was overwhelmingly lovely, but also kind of overly decadent. I kept thinking how I would have NO idea what to do with all that space if I were the queen! I’m looking forward to my wittle apartment this summer, I think it’ll be a relief after seeing that massive palace.
After seeing the palace, Katie and Luis and Russell and Jess and a few others (can’t really remember who) and I wandered around shopping for awhile. It was fun to look at clothes and shoes and stuff, but I wasn’t in the mood to buy anything, so I got bored with it fast. We had lunch, and then Katie and Alissa and I went to the modern art museum, the Reina Sofia, which I ADORED, although I’m not sure the others liked it as much as I did. I was fascinated by all the Dali and Picasso and… well, other artists as well, but I’m bad with names. Picasso’s “Guernica” is in this museum, and it was really moving to see it in person. The museum also has a lovely little sculpture garden-courtyard, which was fun to wander through. After seeing the museum, we walked up to the Parque de Retiro and wandered around enjoying the sunshine. We wanted to rent a rowboat for half an hour, but the line was too long, so we just took pictures of other people in rowboats instead. :P
I was pretty exhausted by the time we got back to our room, so I just showered and took a nap before dinner. Dinner was uneventful; we found a little cafetería with relatively cheap, decent food and made a fool of ourselves trying to pay (haha). THEN, we met up with the group and went to see a play!!!! It was SO GOOD. Ok, so maybe just me and Luis thought it was awesome; I think everyone else gave up trying to understand and fell asleep for the most part, but I LOVED it! It was “La Ratonera,” or “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christy, and it had me on the edge of my seat—partly because I was trying so hard to understand, but mostly because it was really great. It was a murder mystery, and I had NO idea who the murderer was until the very end when he revealed himself. SO GOOD! And all the actors were pretty great, although one guy could have projected better and another kind of overdid some things that I thought didn’t need to be overdone. But that’s just me being elitist. :P Anyways, I was glad that I sat next to Luis, because he understood it perfectly (of course) and could explain things I missed, and also because he enjoyed it, too, and made me feel like less of a freak for getting so excited about it.
On Sunday, we went to the Museo del Prado, the main art museum which houses a lot of the works of Goya, Velazquez, El Greco, and many other important Spanish and foreign artists. I really loved the Flemish art wing, especially the seascapes, and also seeing Goya’s work transform over his life and into his Black Period—when he went kind of crazy and his paintings are ACTUALLY terrifying. The eyes he paints are the most simple yet expressive eyes I’ve ever seen… it was captivating. Of course, the “Meninas” was fabulous, but I actually preferred some other artist’s paintings of little girls (why can’t I remember his name??) which expressed a lot more interest, motion, and emotion to me. Ok, I’ll stop being an art snob now. :P
When we got exhausted from art overload, Katie, Luis, Russell, Mary and I went to lunch (I had a delicious sandwich) and then wandered around in the sunshine eating ice cream and enjoying Madrid. We ran into a mariachi band in the plaza Puerta del Sol, and Luis got really excited and it was very cute. :) Then, we kind of just window-shopped and chatted until it was time to go get on the bus to come back to Granada.
I’m sorry I can’t be more excited or expressive about these descriptions, but I’m still in a bit of a weird emotional place and it’s hard for me to get excited about this trip right now. It doesn’t help that I have a bit of a cold, and I always get grumpy and paranoid when I’m feeling under the weather. It WAS a wonderful weekend altogether, though, and I had some great bonding conversations with Russell (who reminds me of Heath a bit) and some really fun moments with Katie and Luis, so all in all, I feel good about how it turned out. Although in hindsight, I should have bought that scarf… ;)
I hope everyone I love had a fantastic weekend, and maybe one a little less tumultuous than mine. Tomorrow I’m going to see a Flamenco show, which I’m super excited about, so stay tuned to hear about that!
Pura vida,
Kelsey
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Close Encounters of the Spanish Kind...
I realized the other day that I forgot to mention something that happened on the bus to Toledo—or, well, the bus from Granada to Madrid, but our ultimate goal was Toledo. About twenty minutes into the five hour trip, there was a commotion in the aisle next to me and Nora (I was by the window, Nora by the aisle), and people started shouting for the bus driver to stop. I couldn’t see what had happened in the aisle from my seat, so I was confused, but when the bus pulled over, I sort of peeked over Nora and saw that a guy was laying face-down in the aisle. Apparently, he just slumped over and fell into the aisle. A couple of guys got him turned over and eventually he stood up with their help and they took him outside. When he was turned over and I saw his face, he looked so sad. He was crying, and just looked really sad. There was a med student on the bus that went outside with them, and someone ran to a gas station to get a bottle of water for him, and then we just waited for an ambulance to get there to take him somewhere to get checked out. It was kind of a surreal experience, but I’m glad it happened on a bus rather than a plane or something like that where you can’t just pull over. I was also impressed that everyone was so helpful and patient. So that was our little unplanned adventure on the way to Toledo. I hope he’s ok, poor guy.
This weekend has been a whirlwind and a workout! On Friday, I walked up to the Albaycín with Luis and Jocy to watch the sunset on the Alhambra and see all the lights come on and such. It was really fun to hang out with them and just sit and talk and watch the light change over the cityscape. We were sitting on this ledge-wall-thing that divides the lookout from the street below, which has a pretty big drop to the street. I’m afraid of heights, so I was sitting on the edge of the wall that was on the lookout side and trying not to look down at all on the other side, because it made my head spin. Luis and Jocy were on either side of me, and both were sitting with their feet dangling over the street-side, and every once in awhile one of them would forget they were sitting so close to the edge and be like, “Wow, I almost lost my balance, haha!” I kept getting nervous for them and like grabbing their arm in panic that they were going to fall over; it was actually really hilarious, but I was definitely relieved when we got up and moved away from the wall, haha.
That night, I went out with them and this other guy from our program, Russell, and these other Americans from a different program who were really nice and fun. We went to a tapas bar, and then to this bar called L’Scandelo where we’ve been developing a relationship with the bartenders and we get really cheap (sometimes free) drinks. Most nights, nothing extraordinarily exciting happens, but that night, I had two rather interesting encounters. First, this bachelorette party arrives and the bride approaches us to ask me and Jocy to help her do a puzzle. She’s probably in her mid-forties, and her friends had four different little challenges for her to do over the night, the first of which was the puzzle. Next, she had to get five people to jump rope—and yup, you guessed it, we helped her with that one, too! That was definitely the most interesting challenge, just because everyone had been drinking for at least a few hours at that point—and the bride was very drunk—so our coordination was not fantastic. I’ll let you imagine for yourselves the hilarity that ensued. Next, they had a little toy dartboard with magnetic darts and they split us Americans up into two teams of three and had us compete, with free shots as our reward. Of course, the bride was basically in love with us by then, and she ended up buying shots for all of us. Her last challenge was to get us all to sing a song in Spanish, which was almost impossible, because almost none of us knew any songs in Spanish, and we ended up kind of faking along with “Estas son las mañanitas…” which was hilarious.
My second interesting encounter was after the bride and her entourage left, and I was starting to think seriously about going home for the night since I had early morning plans. This random guy came over and started talking to me and Jocy and another girl (who was it at that point? I can’t remember her name, an American girl I’d just met that night). He was from Madrid and only in Granada for the weekend, and he said he was going to give us Spanish lessons, at which point I was already like, ok, sketchy man, whatever. Our first “lesson” was the two-kiss-on-the-cheek thing, which I was also wary of, but definitely expecting, since that is trick #1 that you learn to spot as a gringa (or guiri, as we’re called here) around sketchy Spanish guys. So he did the kisses with Jocy, and then with me, and then all of a sudden he had a hold of one of my arms and his other arm around my waist and was talking in my ear, saying, “Wow, just those two cheek kisses and I’m already in love with you!” So I’m like leaning back away from him, but he has me by the waist so I can’t exactly move away (don’t worry, I didn’t feel unsafe—this guy was a sketchmeister for sure, but he wasn’t dangerous, especially when I had a few good guy friends a few feet away if I needed them, so I was just kind of amused, and definitely not scared). He told me he was going skiing the next day and wanted me to come with him, and I just said, nope, I don’t ski, while still trying to subtly worm my way away from him. As he was wheedling and asking me why I was soooo busy I couldn’t spend the day with him, I got my hand free—success! After about five minutes of bantering back and forth and him saying, “come on come on come on!” and me saying, “no no no!” he said, “ok, I’ll give you thirty seconds to come up with a decent excuse not to come up to the mountains with me tomorrow” and backed away a tiny bit. As soon as his arm wasn’t around my waist anymore, bam, in swooped one of my new guy friends (Ryan, I’d just met him that night, but I think I might have a class with him?) and, taking my hand, leaned over and said, “Hey, are you ok?” I was kind of still reeling from Intense Madrid Man, so I just kind of smiled and nodded my head slightly, and he was like, “Are you sure?” And I just squeezed his hand and was like, “Well, UM.” And he totally took over the situation, stepped in front of me and engaged the Madrid guy in conversation for a few minutes, after which the guy said goodbye, looked at me kind of disappointedly, and left the bar with his friend. I was like, holy crap, I need to go out with you more often, new friend!! I mean, I could have eventually gotten rid of the guy, but when I’m a few drinks in, really tired, my Spanish is fuzzy, and the guy is particularly insistent and doesn’t give me any good reason to be particularly MEAN to him, it does take awhile to get them to go away. I am curious to know what Ryan said to the guy, because it worked really well and he didn’t even get feisty and try to pick a fight or anything! I always try NOT to let my guy friends get involved in a situation where a guy is hitting on me and I don’t want him to, just because if the guy gets upset or belligerent and violent, it’s very unlikely he’ll hit me (at least in Spain, from what I can tell), but it is VERY likely he would hit a guy friend who’s trying to defend me. Plus, I can defend myself pretty well, sometimes it just takes me awhile to put my foot down, you know? I’m way too nice. I feel like any guy who has the guts to come straight up to me and say, “I’m crazy about you, please go out with me” deserves at least a kind rejection, you know? No, maybe I’m just way too nice. Anyways, that was my second interesting encounter of the night.
So, after getting home and into bed at around 4 am, I woke up at 8:15 so I could go up to las Alupjarras with my friend Katie the next morning. Haha, weee! I was really impressed with how it wasn’t too difficult at all, actually. I was sleepy, of course, but I didn’t even have a headache or anything like that. My hair still smelled like bar, but I just put it up and said to myself, I’ll deal with that later. We didn’t really have a plan, so once we got up into the mountains, we just got off the bus in a little town called Órgiva, and were like, now what? Once we realized how stupid we were for not having planned anything at ALL, we couldn’t stop laughing at ourselves. We found the tourism office, got a few rather unhelpful maps, had a coffee and some lunch, and then set off on a random road out of town to explore the mountains a bit. We ended up having a blast wandering around the town and up this beautiful curvy road where we met a doggy friend, who we named Waldo. He was adorable and followed us all the way up and most of the way down the road, and I wuv him. It was a great day, and super fun to just get out of town and explore a different, beautiful part of the area with a good friend.
I got back home at around 7:30 at night, and went into my room for a bit to empty my bag and settle in. I put my headphones in for a few minutes while I was putting my pictures on my computer, and when I took them out, I heard Concha throwing up in the bathroom. I came rushing into the hall (of course), and her best friend was coming in at the same moment—Concha must have called her when she started not feeling well. Concha literally looked grayish green and like she might faint, but she didn’t want to go to the doctor or anything like that, so we put her to bed, and then her friend left. I was, of course, worried about her, but there wasn’t exactly much I could do—I know from experience that sometimes you just need to sleep that stuff off, especially stomach flu-like illnesses. I took a quick shower, then went to bed, too, but I left both our bedroom doors open so I could hear her snoring and know she was ok. Eventually I fell asleep (really early, I imagine, since I got into bed at around 10), and when I woke up at 10:30 this morning, my door was closed and Concha was up and about, doing her normal Sunday stuff. I got up and asked her how she was, and she said she’s feeling ok, although still a little punky, of course. She had plans to go see La Traviata tonight, but I don’t know if she’ll end up going. I told her to just sit down and take the day off, but she’s super stubborn and insists on doing SOMETHING, even if it’s just dusting, so that she doesn’t feel so useless. I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on her over the next few days, but I think the worst is over. Uy uy uy, what a semester of stomach illnesses it has been! What is up with that?
This next weekend we’re going to Madrid with our program, which is super exciting!! Then it’s only a few more weeks until midterms—eek! I have no idea what to expect, because I still haven’t turned in any work to any of my teachers, but I don’t think it will be TOO awful. I guess we’ll see. :)
I hope everyone is doing well and that you’re all enjoying the beginnings of Spring wherever you are!
Pura vida,
Kelsey
This weekend has been a whirlwind and a workout! On Friday, I walked up to the Albaycín with Luis and Jocy to watch the sunset on the Alhambra and see all the lights come on and such. It was really fun to hang out with them and just sit and talk and watch the light change over the cityscape. We were sitting on this ledge-wall-thing that divides the lookout from the street below, which has a pretty big drop to the street. I’m afraid of heights, so I was sitting on the edge of the wall that was on the lookout side and trying not to look down at all on the other side, because it made my head spin. Luis and Jocy were on either side of me, and both were sitting with their feet dangling over the street-side, and every once in awhile one of them would forget they were sitting so close to the edge and be like, “Wow, I almost lost my balance, haha!” I kept getting nervous for them and like grabbing their arm in panic that they were going to fall over; it was actually really hilarious, but I was definitely relieved when we got up and moved away from the wall, haha.
That night, I went out with them and this other guy from our program, Russell, and these other Americans from a different program who were really nice and fun. We went to a tapas bar, and then to this bar called L’Scandelo where we’ve been developing a relationship with the bartenders and we get really cheap (sometimes free) drinks. Most nights, nothing extraordinarily exciting happens, but that night, I had two rather interesting encounters. First, this bachelorette party arrives and the bride approaches us to ask me and Jocy to help her do a puzzle. She’s probably in her mid-forties, and her friends had four different little challenges for her to do over the night, the first of which was the puzzle. Next, she had to get five people to jump rope—and yup, you guessed it, we helped her with that one, too! That was definitely the most interesting challenge, just because everyone had been drinking for at least a few hours at that point—and the bride was very drunk—so our coordination was not fantastic. I’ll let you imagine for yourselves the hilarity that ensued. Next, they had a little toy dartboard with magnetic darts and they split us Americans up into two teams of three and had us compete, with free shots as our reward. Of course, the bride was basically in love with us by then, and she ended up buying shots for all of us. Her last challenge was to get us all to sing a song in Spanish, which was almost impossible, because almost none of us knew any songs in Spanish, and we ended up kind of faking along with “Estas son las mañanitas…” which was hilarious.
My second interesting encounter was after the bride and her entourage left, and I was starting to think seriously about going home for the night since I had early morning plans. This random guy came over and started talking to me and Jocy and another girl (who was it at that point? I can’t remember her name, an American girl I’d just met that night). He was from Madrid and only in Granada for the weekend, and he said he was going to give us Spanish lessons, at which point I was already like, ok, sketchy man, whatever. Our first “lesson” was the two-kiss-on-the-cheek thing, which I was also wary of, but definitely expecting, since that is trick #1 that you learn to spot as a gringa (or guiri, as we’re called here) around sketchy Spanish guys. So he did the kisses with Jocy, and then with me, and then all of a sudden he had a hold of one of my arms and his other arm around my waist and was talking in my ear, saying, “Wow, just those two cheek kisses and I’m already in love with you!” So I’m like leaning back away from him, but he has me by the waist so I can’t exactly move away (don’t worry, I didn’t feel unsafe—this guy was a sketchmeister for sure, but he wasn’t dangerous, especially when I had a few good guy friends a few feet away if I needed them, so I was just kind of amused, and definitely not scared). He told me he was going skiing the next day and wanted me to come with him, and I just said, nope, I don’t ski, while still trying to subtly worm my way away from him. As he was wheedling and asking me why I was soooo busy I couldn’t spend the day with him, I got my hand free—success! After about five minutes of bantering back and forth and him saying, “come on come on come on!” and me saying, “no no no!” he said, “ok, I’ll give you thirty seconds to come up with a decent excuse not to come up to the mountains with me tomorrow” and backed away a tiny bit. As soon as his arm wasn’t around my waist anymore, bam, in swooped one of my new guy friends (Ryan, I’d just met him that night, but I think I might have a class with him?) and, taking my hand, leaned over and said, “Hey, are you ok?” I was kind of still reeling from Intense Madrid Man, so I just kind of smiled and nodded my head slightly, and he was like, “Are you sure?” And I just squeezed his hand and was like, “Well, UM.” And he totally took over the situation, stepped in front of me and engaged the Madrid guy in conversation for a few minutes, after which the guy said goodbye, looked at me kind of disappointedly, and left the bar with his friend. I was like, holy crap, I need to go out with you more often, new friend!! I mean, I could have eventually gotten rid of the guy, but when I’m a few drinks in, really tired, my Spanish is fuzzy, and the guy is particularly insistent and doesn’t give me any good reason to be particularly MEAN to him, it does take awhile to get them to go away. I am curious to know what Ryan said to the guy, because it worked really well and he didn’t even get feisty and try to pick a fight or anything! I always try NOT to let my guy friends get involved in a situation where a guy is hitting on me and I don’t want him to, just because if the guy gets upset or belligerent and violent, it’s very unlikely he’ll hit me (at least in Spain, from what I can tell), but it is VERY likely he would hit a guy friend who’s trying to defend me. Plus, I can defend myself pretty well, sometimes it just takes me awhile to put my foot down, you know? I’m way too nice. I feel like any guy who has the guts to come straight up to me and say, “I’m crazy about you, please go out with me” deserves at least a kind rejection, you know? No, maybe I’m just way too nice. Anyways, that was my second interesting encounter of the night.
So, after getting home and into bed at around 4 am, I woke up at 8:15 so I could go up to las Alupjarras with my friend Katie the next morning. Haha, weee! I was really impressed with how it wasn’t too difficult at all, actually. I was sleepy, of course, but I didn’t even have a headache or anything like that. My hair still smelled like bar, but I just put it up and said to myself, I’ll deal with that later. We didn’t really have a plan, so once we got up into the mountains, we just got off the bus in a little town called Órgiva, and were like, now what? Once we realized how stupid we were for not having planned anything at ALL, we couldn’t stop laughing at ourselves. We found the tourism office, got a few rather unhelpful maps, had a coffee and some lunch, and then set off on a random road out of town to explore the mountains a bit. We ended up having a blast wandering around the town and up this beautiful curvy road where we met a doggy friend, who we named Waldo. He was adorable and followed us all the way up and most of the way down the road, and I wuv him. It was a great day, and super fun to just get out of town and explore a different, beautiful part of the area with a good friend.
I got back home at around 7:30 at night, and went into my room for a bit to empty my bag and settle in. I put my headphones in for a few minutes while I was putting my pictures on my computer, and when I took them out, I heard Concha throwing up in the bathroom. I came rushing into the hall (of course), and her best friend was coming in at the same moment—Concha must have called her when she started not feeling well. Concha literally looked grayish green and like she might faint, but she didn’t want to go to the doctor or anything like that, so we put her to bed, and then her friend left. I was, of course, worried about her, but there wasn’t exactly much I could do—I know from experience that sometimes you just need to sleep that stuff off, especially stomach flu-like illnesses. I took a quick shower, then went to bed, too, but I left both our bedroom doors open so I could hear her snoring and know she was ok. Eventually I fell asleep (really early, I imagine, since I got into bed at around 10), and when I woke up at 10:30 this morning, my door was closed and Concha was up and about, doing her normal Sunday stuff. I got up and asked her how she was, and she said she’s feeling ok, although still a little punky, of course. She had plans to go see La Traviata tonight, but I don’t know if she’ll end up going. I told her to just sit down and take the day off, but she’s super stubborn and insists on doing SOMETHING, even if it’s just dusting, so that she doesn’t feel so useless. I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on her over the next few days, but I think the worst is over. Uy uy uy, what a semester of stomach illnesses it has been! What is up with that?
This next weekend we’re going to Madrid with our program, which is super exciting!! Then it’s only a few more weeks until midterms—eek! I have no idea what to expect, because I still haven’t turned in any work to any of my teachers, but I don’t think it will be TOO awful. I guess we’ll see. :)
I hope everyone is doing well and that you’re all enjoying the beginnings of Spring wherever you are!
Pura vida,
Kelsey
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Meet my future husband
Written February 16, 2010
I’m listening to wonderful jazz and finally snuggled up on my bed after a long, but productive, day. Tuesdays, a woman comes early in the morning to clean the bathroom and a bit more of the house, because Concha has problems with her back and it isn’t good for her to do too much serious housework—like washing the floor on her knees or something. I always kind of wake up when I hear her working in the bathroom, which is next to my room, and then go back to sleep for another hour or so before I get up for breakfast. I don’t have to be at school until 11:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I like to get there about 15 minutes early to check my email and say hi to my friends before classes start. I had a great lecture and then a great discussion class this morning, and homework is starting to roll in. All doable, but I was so enjoying such a long vacation! :P Lunch was fantastic today, really scrumptious. We had a fish soup thing—more squidlies, but I’m getting used to eating them now, and have actually started thinking of my stomach as a fishbowl where all the little fishes and squid-ums can have a lovely little party. If anyone had any doubts that I am absolutely bonkers, I think I just did away with them. ;) ;) Anyways, along with the fish soup we had this delicious salad that reminded me very much of ceviche—clams, onions, tomatoes, lemon juice, YUM. And, of course, a hunk of bread and a wonderful Spanish orange—the oranges here are AMAZING.
After lunch, I went back to school to work out some travel details, and I think I have some exciting trip plans for March and April! Mid-march we have a week off—semana santa, the holy week before easter—and I’ll be heading to France to visit Kristin and Nora and meet up with Elisa! I am very excited. I’ll get to see Paris and Nantes and three of my favorite ladies in the world. :) Now, I just need to book flights and start looking into trains and places to stay. Then, mid-April, I’m going to go to Barcelona with a group of my new friends here! The plane tickets are shockingly cheap, and I am SO EXCITED to spend an extended weekend in this wonderful city. Yay!
Tonight I had the first classes of my Phonetics and Granada Seminar courses with José—the guy who also teaches Tutorías—and OH MY GOD, I am going to marry this man. He. Is. HILARIOUS. I will give you examples (because I’m nice like that):
At the beginning of Phonetics, he bumped the cord for the screen that all classrooms have that you can project things on—you know those that are annoying and never stay down when you pull them down? Anyways, so it starts swinging and clicking on the white board like a grandfather clock—tick, tock, tick, tock. And his eyes get huge and he turns and slams his hand onto it and says, in English, “I can’t stand it, it’s like a torture!” It was the cutest thing ever. Then, he put the cord up on top of the white board and it falls down, so he puts it up again and steps back and stares at it for a good thirty seconds. Then, turns to us and in total sincerity says, “I am scared!” I love this crazy v-neck-sweater-wearing Spaniard.
He was explaining how different phonemes are formed in the mouth, such as “Guh-guh—like in goose… kuh, kuh—conquer.” When we got to f, he said, “Fff, ff—fugly.” We were all so surprised that there was a pause, and then the whole class burst into laughter. I’m telling you, LOVE HIM.
While explaining the different sorts of phonemes we have in American English but aren’t in British English, he used the example of the ‘r.’ I don’t know why, but I just about died from too much funniness when he was saying, “Caaw, caaw, CAR. CAR. Caaaw, CAR.”
He speaks English very well, but still has a very Spanish accent and uses this one phrase all the time that just sends us into a tizzy of giggles: “It’s ok?” I don’t know why, just the way he says it is fantastic.
At one point while talking about gypsies, I think, he threw out an amazing X-Files reference that just about sent me over the edge. He said, “No one really knows where this custom came from, but it’s like Mulder and Scully, you know? The truth is out there.” This was the moment in which I knew I must marry him. Screw the thirty year age gap and the fact that he may very well be gay; it’s gonna happen.
Another really funny moment from the phonetics class was when he was having us practice our Spanish rolled ‘r’s, and everyone was going, “rrrRRRRrrrr… rrrRRR? RRRRR!!” And I turned to the girl next to me and I was like, “I feel like we’re all hitting on each other; it’s great!” It really was great.
Tonight, Concha fixed me a special dinner. Usually I just have a sandwich and a yogurt, but tonight I had a lovely roasted garlic and leek soup with apple cider vinager sprinkled on top, a small green salad and some fried little ham rolls, which are SO YUMMY. It was really to die for. I’ve kind of just had a to-die-for evening, it would seem. :)
Whoof, I bet you can tell how tired I am from my rather lack-luster entry today, but I really wanted to share about José anyways. I miss you guys a lot; I wish you were here so I could tell these stories over a coffee or tapas instead of over the internet. I’ve been trying to write postcards and letters whenever I have free time, too, because I know getting something personal in the mail is so much better than a blog or even an email. I hope you know how much I love you and can’t wait to see you again!
Pura vida, y que tenga un buen día!
Kelsey
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