Oy hay mucho para decirte!

21 Septiembre, Viernes

Today we got to sleep in! We had a meeting about classes starting and then a guy from the Morocco Exchange program came to speak about their program. I was very on the fence about the program until I saw the video. Although they emphasize that they are not a tour group and are different, it seems as if they are a specialized tour group aiming to prove a point to American college students. I decided that I will get to experience many similar ideas when I travel to Israel, and though I aim to not regret anything or miss out anything, I honestly don’t think I will miss out on too much.

As a group, we had lunch at San Marco, an Italian restaurant. It was deeeliiiccciiouuuss. Salad, lasagna, and an amazing dessert. Afterwards, Natalia and I spent…… THREE HOURS at an internet café buying browsing the web for ever increasing ticket prices, but we finally bought some and have most of our weekends figured out. Here goes:

October 4-7…….. Barcelona!

October 11-14…….?????

October 17-20……..Paris (staying with my friend Camille hopefully)

October 26-28…….Granada (with our program)

November 1-3……...Portugal with my parents

November 8-10…….Cordoba (with program)

November 15-17….. Frankfurt, Germany (we’re staying with Natalia’s friend)

November 21-23….Valencia

November 27-30….???????? (maybe north Spain)

December 5-9…..ITALY!!!

So we have two weekends free, one of which Natalia’s “hermano” is getting married, so I threatened her with brutal words if she does not, somehow, get me invited to the wedding. So, you’re probably wondering, what ever happened to London? Well, gentle reader, Natalia was not permitted to enter London. So we had to pay to change our tickets, but it’s ok, because we are saving mucho dinero going to Frankfurt, where her friend lives, and we will stay with…not to mention, she’s going to show us around. I didn’t really care to go to Frankfurt, but it seems too good of an opportunity to pass up considering we have someone to stay with and really introduce us to the city.

Phew! That’s how I felt after those 3 hours…plus uber sweaty. I returned to the casa for dinner, which Senora has been really skimping on lately. Tonight, and I kid you not, she tried to prepare a frozen pizza. I found this highly comical because we get made fun of in the States for not cooking, and here I am in Spain, threatened with the idea of frozen pizza. Luckily (or unluckily), she burnt the crap out of it, but even though it was charred and black, she was like “Cena esta lista! Juannnnnnnnnn!” (dinner is prepared.) Juan comes downstairs, looks at the pizza and says, “Mama! Esta quemada! No puedo comerlo!” (mom it’s burnt, I can’t eat this) Senora’s like… “No, no,no! Esta bien…” and I was like… “Uhhh….” At this point I began to poke it to see if there was any nutritional value left in the carcinogenic black disc… Juan huffily ran back to the ridiculously loud techno music blasting from his room, and Senora muttered something about paninis as she was on the phone when this occurred. She reached down into the deep freezer and pulled out this frozen tuna panini thing we had the other night and began to open the box. My blood turned cold at the thought of eating the nutritionally devoid cardboard tasting “panini” again… I asked Senora to make a sandwich instead. OK, I realize I’m totally spoiled, but hear me out, this is really odd compared to what all the other kids tell me. For example, on Saturday, our Senora’s were supposed to pack us a “bocadillo” (sandwich) for our excurusion. Senora made me an omelet (very tasty) and put it between two pieces of bread. (not tasty) That was it. Natalia’s on the other hand, made her enough food for 3 people…and that’s how everyone else’s were….not that I need that much food, I suppose, but I guess I just feel like she doesn’t really care…

Anyway…..after talking to my parents, I left to go for a super exciting evening. It was La Noche Larga, an event where all of Seville’s museums opened their doors to the public for free, literally translated as “the long night.” There were also buses transporting people from museum to museum, and special performances throughout the night. I met Natalia at Plaza de Cuba and checked out the Mueso de Carruajes (carriage museum) before beginning La Noche Larga, which they should have called La Cola Larga because that’s all it was….liiinnnnnnnnnesssss and linnnnnnessss of people….(cola is line). We went to Plaza de America to see the museum of Spanish customs. There we ran into Jaoine and met some of her Sevillano friends. The museum was pretty cool, the exterior actually being cooler than the interior, since it was a mudejar palace (remember mudejar? The style that is a mixture of Christian and Moor design) complete with beautiful arches and terraces. There were these crazy teletubby characters performing melodramatic scenes, which was very interesting.

Now for the best part: I saw, hands down, the most raw and amazing performance of my life. In the patio, there was a flamenco performance by local professionals. Let me emphasize that the goal of La Noche Larga by the local ayuntamiento (city govt) was to promote cultural excursions for local Sevillanos, so this was not aimed at tourists at all. We entered the patio, which had an open part in the center for a bailaora, flamenco dancer, and cantaor, singer. (the words are interesting because bailador means dancer, but in the local Andalucian accent, it is pronounced “bailaor” so the word evolved to mean specifically an Andalucian flamenco dancer). The performance began with a guitarist and vocalist, of musical quality which was fabulous. The woman sang with the sorrow and passion that flamenco is supposed to embody, and I could feel goosebumps on my arms from the beautiful resonance of her voice. Everyone was in awe of the caliber of the performance, but then, the bailaora stepped out, a beautiful Sevillana wearing a black flamenco dress with flowers covering the sides and ruffles on the bottom. She danced with such feeling, such raw emotion. She danced as is nothing else in the world mattered but the dance itself. One could tell that she was dancing for no one but herself, and she was dancing from her soul. Flamenco, it seems, is a metaphor for life. It is beautiful and sad, intoxicating and delightful, filled with raw passion that cannot be described with words. The smooth and languid gyrations of the bailaora’s hips followed in stark contrast by the loud and precise clapping and stamping clearly emphasized how quickly life can change course. Neither the bailaora nor the cantaora smiled; flamenco is not about obvious emotion, it is about digging deep into one’s soul to find true meaning and passion. The proud stature and confidence of the bailaora displayed something most people strive for: the complete acceptance of one’s self, regardless of any outside influence. This performance really made me think, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so honest in my life. I stood transfixed for the longest time.

We wanted to go to the flamenco museum, so we waited for the bus for about 30 minutes, and then the bus gave us a nice hour long tour of Sevilla before stopping at the flamenco museum. The line for the flamenco museum was a mile long, and there was only an hour left to the program so we opted to hit Alfalfa for a few minutes, and then went home.

22 Septiembre 2007, Sabado

This morning I shlepped to the bus stop to meet the group by 9:30 AM in order to go to Jerez, then Cadiz. The drive was about an hour and a half through the Spanish countryside. Natalia and I rocked out to Russian popsa (ooohhh yeahhhhh)…

Jerez is a small town known for its extensive vineyards and wineries, called bodegas or vineros. We went to a vineyard called Gonzales Byass, known for its signature label, Tio Pepe. We ran into our American friend from last week there (the one who thought we were locals) which was quite comical, and quickly gave him an hola before scurrying off.

A cool part of the vineyard was this little building designed by none other than Gustav Eiffel, of Eiffel tour fame, which housed old barrels of wine with escudas (coat of arms) of all the countries which the vineyard had done business with. After our guide finished speaking, I ran over to take a picture with the Israel barrel. But as I was striking a pose, I actually knocked it over (mierda!). Natalia got it in a picture: (I fixed it, it was ok)

The fragrance in the air was intoxicating in itself, and the whole place just felt so relaxed. We went into rooms filled with brown wooden barrels stacked up and down, side by side, each over a hundred years old, and the ceilings were covered in grapes with the sun peeking through the lush green foliage. Cool fact: they make amazing sherry there, and the word “sherry” actually comes from the word “Jerez…”

After the tour, complete with a little train ride and video, we sat down for a wine tasting. They let us try a tio pepe sherry, and a dulce (sweet) which lived up to its name. Of course, everyone bought a souvenir in the gift shop. Oh so touristy…

We boarded the bus and headed to Cadiz, which is famed for being the port where Columbus came to, and in that time period, the port through which anything was shipped to and from the Americas. The city was actually founded realllly long ago, Macarena mentioned it was founded around the same time Moses led the Judios out of Egypt.

Now though, Cadiz is famed for its beaches. Playa Victoria is gorgeous and the sand es muuy suave (soft). There were lots of people on the beach, old ladies gossiping, young women tanning (sometimes topless) old women tanning (also sometimes topless) kids playing soccer, one woman playing paddleball with her son while smoking a cigarette…the water was blue and warm, and one could see the outline of the city in the distance. Needless to say, it was gorgeous. So of course, we walked along the shoreline, me stopping every so often to pick up a seashell, and then…….we had helado. Of course.