No tirar los papeles en el suelo. Guardar silencio en la iglesia.

19 Noviembre 2007, Lunes

This morning I went to volunteer at Sagrado Corazon de Jesus and ba bum BUMMMM….I had to give an oral quiz to my little Spanish pupils. One girl begged me “Please Estela! Ask us easy questions!” and I just laughed. (not evilly hehe, ok maybe a little).

After class, I met up with Cristina and showed her pictures of my life back home. Her reactions were really interesting, as I showed her pictures from freshman year of college, which is the equivalent of what she is doing now. Her main speculation is that friends are really important, or rather, that I have a lot of close friends to which I explained, since at school you live on your own, your friends become like family. (she was not convinced, nor could she imagine living on her own, as she told me her parents do everything for her).

20 Noviembre 2007, Martes

We watched a peculiar movie en cine hoy. Después, phew it´s hard to switch languages sometimes, I was just typing in Spanish and my first few English thoughts were in Spanglish. Anywho, we had monsoon like weather today, so I stayed in the office most of the day, catching up on internet stuff. I feel so disconnected from American culture, today I got invited to see a movie with my sorority that I hadn´t even heard of but I think is fairly popular in the United States. I´ve never really felt homesick at all, but I feel it a little bit now, I don´t miss places or anything, more like experiences, feelings, and people. For example, I usually do not look forward to the Christmas season and hearing the same songs over and over in the stores, but I kind of miss all of that cheery shit. Oh well, I will be returning quite soon (sooner than I want to admit) and I am sure that I will be having nostalgia for Spain like loooocoooooooo.

My baby Spain niece is making the house a much cheerier place. I love to hear Señora laugh at the baby coos, and having Inma in the house is great. She is the nicest of the three sisters and really makes an effort to talk to me and make me feel cared for. Señora and I have grown closer also, but I still don´t understand her a lot of the time.

21 Noviembre 2007, Miercoles

In my university class about modern history, we have been learning about the history of Israel. Of course, I know the story, but hearing it in Spanish is quite entertaining. A lot of the time I look around at my Spanish classmates, frantically taking notes and wonder what they must think, never having met Jewish people, but watching documentaries about the Holocaust and subsequent creation of a Jewish state. It´s also interesting to hear my professor talk (at length and in monotone) about all of these issues, and I keep waiting for her to show some kind of bias, which so far, she hasn´t.

I went home for lunch today for the first time in over a month I think. (crazy). I had lunch with all of my Spanish sisters and we had lovely conversation. Inma, like I already said, is the nicest, and definitely the most grown up because of having the baby, but she is always smiling or tending house, or just being generally productive. Maria José, the oldest and the director of a school, is the most serious. She doesn´t really talk to me, but does yell at Juan a lot. Marion is the baby of the girls, although she is obviously a grown woman of probably 37-40 years, she is such a child! She whines and giggles, and makes fun of Señora. I´ve never seen her wash a dish, but I like her a lot, and she is quite nice to me as well. I´m also getting more used to Juan, who still weirds me out, but I´ve come to enjoy talking to him during lunchtime. Everyone is obsessed with baby Claudia, and for good reason. Imagine, Señora has 4 children but only 1 grandchild, and she probably will only have one more if Inma decides to have another kid. This is so typical of Spanish families, Señora has countless sisters and brothers in law, and talks of Christmas (actually La Noche Buena, or Christmas Eve) dinners with tables heaving under the weight of so much food, but only 2 kids to buy gifts for (one other cousin has a child). Marion and Maria Jose are the typical liberated Spanish woman, with lots of education and friends, living their own lives but choosing to not have families (which is why there´s definite population issues in Spain).

Today was our last cooking class which makes me sad. I´ve come to love Wednesday night with Isabel, our jolly Spanish teacher who doesn´t speak unless spoken to and doesn´t really let us help much. We made this amazing cream of leek (I think) soup, fried eggplant, and amaaazzziiinnnnggg flany tarta de chocolate. After class, I went home and because of the recent weather, our power went out. Poor Señora was bustling around the house trying to find candles while we entertained the baby. There was still light upstairs so we all went there, and I played cards with Juan and Señora. Señora has issues with blood pressure, so I was a little worried because she told me she wasn´t feeling well, so I entertained her with my (one) amazing card trick and shuffling, something the Spanish can´t do and are amazed by. Spanish cards are different than American cards, and Señora had never seen American cards before so I showed them to her. Juan taught me a few games, and then I taught them War (the only game I could think of).

Since Christmas is definitely in the air, we have started to talk about Christmas traditions and whatnot. Here, they celebrate La Noche Buena and Los Reyes Magos. On the 24^th, all the families get together and have turkey. At midnight everyone goes to mass, and then Papa Noel brings presents for the kids. There´s also special Christmas sweets that are very typical called polverones, mantecados, and alfajores. On the 6^th of January, more important for Spaniards, the Three Kings come and bring special gifts for the kids. The kids put out their shoes overnight, and then the Reyes Magos put gifts by them. If the kids are bad, the get coal put in their shoes. (we saw some candy coal being sold in a shop hehe)

Similar to US tradition, the kids write letters to the Reyes Magos and take them to the Corte Ingles (a huuuggeee Macy´s-esque department store all over Spain) where the ¨cartero¨ or mailman accepts them. Apparently, he has to be a black man dressed up as an elf, I saw a picture and asked Juan about why the person had to be black, and Juan just shrugged and said…¨Es tradición…¨ (I think it has something to do with Black Peter?) Kids also go to El Corte Inglés to sit on Papa Noel´s lap, but Señora crinkled her nose when she told me this, saying it was more commercial than anything.

Roasted chestnuts have been sold on the streets since early November, filling the air with a sweet smell and lots of smoke. They are absolutely delicious. Mmmm….

22 Noviembre, 2007 Día de Acción de Gracias

Thanksgiving. I was missing my family so much today, as I´m sure everyone American who can´t be home for Thanksgiving was. As I told Cristina and my Spanish family about Thanksgiving traditions, I felt the first pangs of really missing home. I didn´t do anything noteworthy today, just had class, met with Cristina to talk, and had lunch at home. Afterwards, I went and Skyped it up with my family. It was so sad to hear my nephew´s voices saying ¨Auntie Stella, come home!¨(all the more cuter because it was in Russian). But I was ok, because even this part of not being home for Thanksgiving makes one really think and learn things, about how something so big and important in one country is absolutely nonexistent in another. In Europe, each country is a lot more conscious of other´s countries traditions,´ unlike in America, where we don´t learn about anything but our own (or make up holidays like Cinco de Mayo…).

Luckily, our program had a special dinner planned for us. On my way there, I walked by the cathedral and decided to give Neha a call, figuring she was probably missing home too. As she picked up the phone, she told me she was standing at a sketchy metro stop in Washington DC. All of a sudden, I heard the strains of ¨If I was a rich man…¨ from an accordion player across the street, one of Neha´s favorite songs and one which she likes to sing constantly without knowing the real words (hehe Neha, someday we will learn them together). I thought of the true intensity and magnitude of the world and even life, imagining myself standing by the famed cathedral of Sevilla, calling my Bombayite best friend, standing on a sidewalk in DC. OK bear with me, and please don´t roll your eyes, because if you´re reading this, you know I like to think about the larger picture.

Our program decided to treat us to a Spanish dinner after realizing that imitating a true American meal would be impossible (mashed potatoes? Cranberries? Whaaatttt?). About half of our program was there, the other half was traveling. We had true Spanish fare…jamón Iberico, picos, sopa, bacalao con tomate, and (ok not so Spanish) tiramisu for dessert. I sat near Celeste, our amazing director, and some of the rest of our coordinators. I love this program so much, I feel like I really lucked out. There are some definite negatives, but overall, the quality of my study abroad experience has been…..impeccable. We toasted Lchaim, yes I know…so weird in Seville, as I explained what it meant to the directors.