The halfway point! This is happy and sad. Granada feels like home - after spending a wonderful week gallivanting with my family, it was a relief to be back in a familiar city with people and a language that I know. I feel quite comfortable and happy in Granada. A friend of mine bought a tapas guidebook and we are branching out of the tourist-infested Plaza Nueva to places with Moroccan tapas, sushi tapas, and awesome cocktail bars. When I'm not drinking I go to class (jk! totally exaggerating). My midterms went very well, though classes here do not compare to classes at Scripps so I'm not surprised. I am most proud of my A in Islamic Art and Architecture, because I knew nothing about architecture or Islamic history before coming here. Yesterday's field trip was to the Generalife, the sultan's 13th century summer home outside of the Alhambra. The gardens were easily the most beautiful, serene place I've ever been. The Islamic version of paradise always includes water, gardens, and buildings and the Generalife is the perfect example of an Islamic paradise on earth. Of course, it's very different from what it looked like in the 13th century - the Reyes Catolicos built a few things that ruin the symmetry of the gardens and the plants are much more manicured than they were in the past.
I'm still struggling with the same old things in Spanish: my accents are everywhere except where they're supposed to go, and I can never remember to put punctuation outside of quotation marks. My vocabulary has vastly improved though (I think) and I am trying to incorporate new phrases when I say things instead of the simple standbys that I am used to using. Some of the more colorful phrases I've learned:
Ese tío está como para parar un tren = That guy is very attractive
Eres un bocazas = You have a big mouth
No me tomes el pelo = Don't make fun of me/Don't joke with me
Andas como si fueras pisando huevos = You walk very slowly
Some recent things:
1. Several weeks ago, we went to Córdoba for the day with the Islamic Art class and saw the Mezquita de Córdoba, a massive mosque that was the main center of worship for all of Andalucía until from the 1200s till 1492. After that, the Reyes Católicos liked the structure/location so much that they built a cathedral INSIDE it. It's the trippiest combination of architecture and looks horrendous/fascinating. We also saw the ruins of Medinat Al-Zahira, an ancient city built by Califa Abd Al-Rahman III. It took a lot of imagination to picture a place where people lived and worked among the rubble, but it was very cool. Apparently they were only uncovered and made available to the public in the last 15 years. Before that, only local kids knew about the ruins and archaeologists would pay them to give them tours of the place.
2. The other night, I ordered a margarita at a cocktail bar and the bartender asked me what I thought of it. I said it was good and he looked very pleased and said great, that means a lot coming from you! I just look like I know my way around a margarita I guess.
3. While walking back to the house the last week, I have run into employees of places in Plaza Einstein that I frequent, including a shawarma place and a café, and they recognize me and say hi! Awesome.
4. Tomorrow I'm going to pick oranges and go hiking in a nearby pueblo. Should be fun/delicious.
Un besote!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
No pasa nada
One of the classes I'm taking here is an internship/internship seminar with La Unión Iberoamericana de Municipalistas, a government organization that works with local governments of Latin American countries and holds conferences and training programs on how to be more efficient, how to fundraise, how to handle issues like recycling, unemployment, etc. etc. What I've been doing ranges from data entry to calling hotels in other countries to check availability for possible conferences. (http://www.uimunicipalistas.org/)
I like having an internship because I think I'm learning more about Granada society than I do with my host family or at my UGR class. The people I work with are really nice, and there are people from all over Spain and Latin America. My supervisor, Flavia, is from Argentina. The working environment here is very different from the U.S. and I had a hard time adjusting to the slower pace of working. I feel like employers in the U.S. do not take free labor for granted, and supervise you to make sure you're using your time wisely, and I like this because I feel like people take volunteer jobs to learn things. If I waste time in a volunteer job I feel like I'm wasting both a learning opportunity and valuable leisure time - I could be sleeping! For example, the first day I was at Casa Cornelia Law Center, I got to call clients and ask about their paperwork, etc. Immediately, I had to be confident enough to call strangers in Spanish and ask about forms I knew nothing about. Of course, I had to ask for help and eventually hand the phone to a real lawyer, but I learned a lot more than I would have if they had me spend the day touring the office.
My first few days at la UIM, my supervisor told me to check my email while she found something for me to do. They have interns all the time, but do not prepare projects for them ahead of time. So, I checked my email. I picked up some pamphlets and read about their programs, and I looked around their website while I waited. Eventually, I got to upload some articles onto their UN page (they recently won an award from the UN for a great newsletter on eliminating violence against women!). This was really frustrating because I had woken up at 7am on a day when I had no class to be there. We have a weekly internship seminar with other students in internships (there are 7 of us - all women of course! boys are lazy - working at la UIM, a library, a museum, a hospital, teaching English, a vet's office, and a cultural center) where we talk about what we learned at our internships and do some cultural awareness exercises. I mentioned that I felt like my time was being wasted when my supervisor didn't have anything for me to do. After a few weeks there, my attitude has totally changed.
"No pasa nada" is my new favorite phrase - This is just the way things are here. Going to breakfast for an hour and a half is not a waste of time, it's an important part of the work day. Un café con leche y una tostada is absolutely necessary. They enjoy their work because they develop meaningful relationships with their coworkers, and probably also because they close between 2 and 5 for lunch and a nap. I've realized that even when I have "nothing" to do, there are plenty of ways to learn and enjoy my work. I read articles on their website, I chat with my coworkers, and I generally have an upbeat attitude and that makes me much happier to be there. No pasa nada if I just sit and listen to them talk, or if I sit and read. If nothing else, I'm learning how Spanish people interact in the workplace, and enjoying the good company.
Something we read in the internship seminar is a good example of the difference in working style. Say you go to a butcher in the U.S. You take a number, and he asks number 1 what they want first - meat, cheese, fish, whatever. Then he asks number 2, then number 3. If he skips number 2 and serves number 3 first, everyone is outraged. There is an order to these things! Here, the butcher will ask customer number 1 what he wants - cheese and chorizo. Then he asks if anyone else wants chorizo, and serves it to number 1, number 3, and number 7. It doesn't matter that number 2 has been waiting longer. All the work gets done, but in a different order, and the butcher and the customers are all eventually happy. No pasa nada!
A few anecdotes:
- I came at just the right time, because everyone's birthday is in March so we eat cake (tarta, not pastel) all day. When it was Rosalida's birthday, we were about to start singing and I go "Estas son las mañanitas..." and no one else does! Here they sing "Cumpleaños feliz", and it sounds just like Happy Birthday. Lame.
- At this same birthday party, Rosalinda, who is from Bolivia, cut the cake, but the slices were not triangular. Apparently in Bolivia, they slice cake with a circle in the middle, then cut short and fat slices from the circle to the edge of the cake. This is so that the middle piece goes home with the birthday person. All the Spanish people and I could not imagine there was more than one way to slice cake.
- At breakfast the other day, they were talking about their upcoming conference in Toluca, México. Then they got on the subject of Catholics in Mexico, and Edna said she could not understand how such religious people could worship death. I was pretty confused at first - I do not personally know about death worshippers - but then I realized that she was talking about Día de los Muertos. I wanted to explain that it's not death worship, and that it's more of a cultural tradition than a religious one, but by the time I figured out how to say it they were on a new topic. I need to learn to speak up at breakfast.
besos!
I like having an internship because I think I'm learning more about Granada society than I do with my host family or at my UGR class. The people I work with are really nice, and there are people from all over Spain and Latin America. My supervisor, Flavia, is from Argentina. The working environment here is very different from the U.S. and I had a hard time adjusting to the slower pace of working. I feel like employers in the U.S. do not take free labor for granted, and supervise you to make sure you're using your time wisely, and I like this because I feel like people take volunteer jobs to learn things. If I waste time in a volunteer job I feel like I'm wasting both a learning opportunity and valuable leisure time - I could be sleeping! For example, the first day I was at Casa Cornelia Law Center, I got to call clients and ask about their paperwork, etc. Immediately, I had to be confident enough to call strangers in Spanish and ask about forms I knew nothing about. Of course, I had to ask for help and eventually hand the phone to a real lawyer, but I learned a lot more than I would have if they had me spend the day touring the office.
My first few days at la UIM, my supervisor told me to check my email while she found something for me to do. They have interns all the time, but do not prepare projects for them ahead of time. So, I checked my email. I picked up some pamphlets and read about their programs, and I looked around their website while I waited. Eventually, I got to upload some articles onto their UN page (they recently won an award from the UN for a great newsletter on eliminating violence against women!). This was really frustrating because I had woken up at 7am on a day when I had no class to be there. We have a weekly internship seminar with other students in internships (there are 7 of us - all women of course! boys are lazy - working at la UIM, a library, a museum, a hospital, teaching English, a vet's office, and a cultural center) where we talk about what we learned at our internships and do some cultural awareness exercises. I mentioned that I felt like my time was being wasted when my supervisor didn't have anything for me to do. After a few weeks there, my attitude has totally changed.
"No pasa nada" is my new favorite phrase - This is just the way things are here. Going to breakfast for an hour and a half is not a waste of time, it's an important part of the work day. Un café con leche y una tostada is absolutely necessary. They enjoy their work because they develop meaningful relationships with their coworkers, and probably also because they close between 2 and 5 for lunch and a nap. I've realized that even when I have "nothing" to do, there are plenty of ways to learn and enjoy my work. I read articles on their website, I chat with my coworkers, and I generally have an upbeat attitude and that makes me much happier to be there. No pasa nada if I just sit and listen to them talk, or if I sit and read. If nothing else, I'm learning how Spanish people interact in the workplace, and enjoying the good company.
Something we read in the internship seminar is a good example of the difference in working style. Say you go to a butcher in the U.S. You take a number, and he asks number 1 what they want first - meat, cheese, fish, whatever. Then he asks number 2, then number 3. If he skips number 2 and serves number 3 first, everyone is outraged. There is an order to these things! Here, the butcher will ask customer number 1 what he wants - cheese and chorizo. Then he asks if anyone else wants chorizo, and serves it to number 1, number 3, and number 7. It doesn't matter that number 2 has been waiting longer. All the work gets done, but in a different order, and the butcher and the customers are all eventually happy. No pasa nada!
A few anecdotes:
- I came at just the right time, because everyone's birthday is in March so we eat cake (tarta, not pastel) all day. When it was Rosalida's birthday, we were about to start singing and I go "Estas son las mañanitas..." and no one else does! Here they sing "Cumpleaños feliz", and it sounds just like Happy Birthday. Lame.
- At this same birthday party, Rosalinda, who is from Bolivia, cut the cake, but the slices were not triangular. Apparently in Bolivia, they slice cake with a circle in the middle, then cut short and fat slices from the circle to the edge of the cake. This is so that the middle piece goes home with the birthday person. All the Spanish people and I could not imagine there was more than one way to slice cake.
- At breakfast the other day, they were talking about their upcoming conference in Toluca, México. Then they got on the subject of Catholics in Mexico, and Edna said she could not understand how such religious people could worship death. I was pretty confused at first - I do not personally know about death worshippers - but then I realized that she was talking about Día de los Muertos. I wanted to explain that it's not death worship, and that it's more of a cultural tradition than a religious one, but by the time I figured out how to say it they were on a new topic. I need to learn to speak up at breakfast.
besos!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
17 de Febrero del 2010
Happy Wednesday!
School has almost totally officially started and I'm learning all kids of crazy Spanish things. Even though I was super stressed about Spanish grammar for the first couple of days now we are learning how to SPEAK and COMMUNICATE and it's pretty fun. We had a debate in class today about some university reform legislation called Plan Bolognia that is supposed to reformat all EU universities so that they have similar curriculums for the same degrees. There are lots of pros and cons here, but the main reason to oppose PB is because it will turn universities into "factories", rather than encouraging knowledge and personal growth. From what I can tell though, they will be making professors take into account student work and participation in grades, rather than basing grades only on a final exam. So really, I think this is making students more accountable/present in their learning AND making them more competitive candidates in the EU job market so I don't see what the big problem is. There is anti-PB graffiti all over the place. Obvi, students who are happy with their current coursework do not want to have to change what they're used to and old-timey professors don't want to learn how to teach. I'm sure there is more to it than this, but either way I was very excited to learn about something current, and host bro Pepe and I had a long chat about it when I came home. (p.s. one more reason that people are against the change is that it will make getting a Masters almost obligatory, which is extra school, which is more expensive. Like... £3000 more expensive. For an entire degree. Hearing this made me want to laugh/cry/be a Spaniard)
I'm getting used to using fun Spanish words in conversation, like frigo and coche and autopista. I started my internship, with an organization called Unión Iberoamericana de Municipalistas. I thought it would be awesome, but I've done mostly busywork which embarrasses me in front of the cool Spanish interns who are doing all kinds of... municipalidad-ing. So right now this is a major cause of annoyance, especially because I have to go there on Fridays when there is no class. I am crossing my fingers that it'll get much much better.
Still have not learned anything about immigration to Granada, which I am genuinely curious about. All I have gathered from observation is that Sub-Saharan African immigrants are great opportunists (I always know where to buy an umbrella at 7:30am on my way to class!) and that foreign students throw lots of parties. For my Spanish Experience of the Other class we get to do a project where we learn more about a minority group in Granada and how they interact with native Granadinos. My group is researching Arab immigrants (an excuse to try a lot of kebab places) to understand how Spanish people feel about immigrant groups dominating certain areas of the economy (also to try lots of tea places) when unemployment is over 20%. I'm expecting it to be super interesting/fun/probably not that educational because what can you really do in 3 months. STILL COOL.
Some pretty pictures :)
1) A yummy coffee shop very near IES called Pilar de Toro (pilar = fountain in a wall) where I had napolitanas (chocolate croissants) every day for a week until I realized I was the only one and peer pressure made me feel like a fatty. So pretty!
2) View from the Alhambra of northwest Granada
3) View of the Alhambra from IES' terrace. Gorgeous!
School has almost totally officially started and I'm learning all kids of crazy Spanish things. Even though I was super stressed about Spanish grammar for the first couple of days now we are learning how to SPEAK and COMMUNICATE and it's pretty fun. We had a debate in class today about some university reform legislation called Plan Bolognia that is supposed to reformat all EU universities so that they have similar curriculums for the same degrees. There are lots of pros and cons here, but the main reason to oppose PB is because it will turn universities into "factories", rather than encouraging knowledge and personal growth. From what I can tell though, they will be making professors take into account student work and participation in grades, rather than basing grades only on a final exam. So really, I think this is making students more accountable/present in their learning AND making them more competitive candidates in the EU job market so I don't see what the big problem is. There is anti-PB graffiti all over the place. Obvi, students who are happy with their current coursework do not want to have to change what they're used to and old-timey professors don't want to learn how to teach. I'm sure there is more to it than this, but either way I was very excited to learn about something current, and host bro Pepe and I had a long chat about it when I came home. (p.s. one more reason that people are against the change is that it will make getting a Masters almost obligatory, which is extra school, which is more expensive. Like... £3000 more expensive. For an entire degree. Hearing this made me want to laugh/cry/be a Spaniard)
I'm getting used to using fun Spanish words in conversation, like frigo and coche and autopista. I started my internship, with an organization called Unión Iberoamericana de Municipalistas. I thought it would be awesome, but I've done mostly busywork which embarrasses me in front of the cool Spanish interns who are doing all kinds of... municipalidad-ing. So right now this is a major cause of annoyance, especially because I have to go there on Fridays when there is no class. I am crossing my fingers that it'll get much much better.
Still have not learned anything about immigration to Granada, which I am genuinely curious about. All I have gathered from observation is that Sub-Saharan African immigrants are great opportunists (I always know where to buy an umbrella at 7:30am on my way to class!) and that foreign students throw lots of parties. For my Spanish Experience of the Other class we get to do a project where we learn more about a minority group in Granada and how they interact with native Granadinos. My group is researching Arab immigrants (an excuse to try a lot of kebab places) to understand how Spanish people feel about immigrant groups dominating certain areas of the economy (also to try lots of tea places) when unemployment is over 20%. I'm expecting it to be super interesting/fun/probably not that educational because what can you really do in 3 months. STILL COOL.
Some pretty pictures :)
1) A yummy coffee shop very near IES called Pilar de Toro (pilar = fountain in a wall) where I had napolitanas (chocolate croissants) every day for a week until I realized I was the only one and peer pressure made me feel like a fatty. So pretty!
2) View from the Alhambra of northwest Granada
3) View of the Alhambra from IES' terrace. Gorgeous!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Hobos y Sevilla y Ronda
Interesting thing I found out today: There are very few homeless people in Granada. There is more homeless shelter space than there are people that need it, which sounds crazy to me. I have only seen a couple of people sitting on sidewalks with signs, and they were older women (so not the druggie alcoholic bums we are used to).
One encounter with a (probably) homeless man: During one class, we had to find a particular plaza and when we sat down to talk about the place, an old man came up to our group. He was clearly not all there, and went straight for one girl and went HOLA HOLA HOLA HOLA HOLA HOLA and asked her for cigarettes. Totally ignored the other 15 people there. She said she didn't have any and he walked off, but came back every couple of minutes until we left and did the same thing. I'm sure it made her very uncomfortable but it was funny to see.
Anyway, we went to Sevilla and Ronda this weekend, for a day each. They were both very nice (Ronda was particularly gorgeous) but they both made me feel homesick for Granada. Coming back was a relief, because I knew my way around and it made me realize that I feel very comfortable here. In Sevilla we saw the Spanish Royal Family's summer home/a labyrinth (so scary!) and lots of gardens, and then a really awesome private flamenco show. Sevilla was more touristy and people were rude, but it is a much bigger city so if we had stayed longer it probably would have been cool instead of annoying. Ronda was very quaint but tiny, and we saw a bullfighting ring that made me a little sick to my stomach.
School started today, and I only had one class for an hour. The Spanish professor seems like fun and the class is really small, which is super nice. I also had my internship with La Unión Iberoamericana de Municipalidades. I'm not exactly sure what they do yet... but I got to upload some interesting articles on domestic violence to the UN website, so I got to read a lot in Spanish. That is definitely my major weakness, so I'm glad I get to work on that.
Unas fotos bonitas :)
One encounter with a (probably) homeless man: During one class, we had to find a particular plaza and when we sat down to talk about the place, an old man came up to our group. He was clearly not all there, and went straight for one girl and went HOLA HOLA HOLA HOLA HOLA HOLA and asked her for cigarettes. Totally ignored the other 15 people there. She said she didn't have any and he walked off, but came back every couple of minutes until we left and did the same thing. I'm sure it made her very uncomfortable but it was funny to see.
Anyway, we went to Sevilla and Ronda this weekend, for a day each. They were both very nice (Ronda was particularly gorgeous) but they both made me feel homesick for Granada. Coming back was a relief, because I knew my way around and it made me realize that I feel very comfortable here. In Sevilla we saw the Spanish Royal Family's summer home/a labyrinth (so scary!) and lots of gardens, and then a really awesome private flamenco show. Sevilla was more touristy and people were rude, but it is a much bigger city so if we had stayed longer it probably would have been cool instead of annoying. Ronda was very quaint but tiny, and we saw a bullfighting ring that made me a little sick to my stomach.
School started today, and I only had one class for an hour. The Spanish professor seems like fun and the class is really small, which is super nice. I also had my internship with La Unión Iberoamericana de Municipalidades. I'm not exactly sure what they do yet... but I got to upload some interesting articles on domestic violence to the UN website, so I got to read a lot in Spanish. That is definitely my major weakness, so I'm glad I get to work on that.
Unas fotos bonitas :)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Perritos
Granada is one giant leash-free park! Loooooving it. Here is "Esparky," my profesor Fabs' new baby walking with us to the Alhambra.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
La primera semana
Hola!!
Aquí no se dice "Qué onda," y aunqué yo no suelo decirlo cuando estoy en California, me encuentro queriendo decirlo aquí. Me tendré que acostumbrar a decir "Qué tal?" :p
After a week in Granada, I feel confident that I can get to and from IES without getting lost! This is a big deal for me, because I don't know how to get anywhere at home. I must have a better sense of direction than I thought. I also now know how to open the lock to my apartment building and apartment door, que es muy importante. All week, I waited for someone to walk in or out of the building to let me in. This is good timing, because now I can go out without having to worry about having to call my host mom to let me in at 1 in the morning!
The host fam is very nice and welcoming, and has been helping me to learn Spanish words that aren't used in Mexico. For example, elevador is "ascensor" and calentón is "brasero", gancho is "percha" and cobija is "manta". Salad spinner is centrifuge, but I don't remember how to spell that in Spanish. Refrigerador is "frigorífico"! I'm going nuts. Even with the vocab differences, nothing has been super hard. There are about 15 of us in the advanced level, and while many of them have a much better vocabulary than I do because of having taken Spanish for so long, I can at least speak more quickly and confidently. Surprisingly, my accent is considered very normal and I have been mistaken for an IES employee/University of Granada student a couple of times.
I have not done very much sightseeing, except for the Alhambra and the Albyzín (neighborhood under the Alhambra) and the Alpujarra. The Alhambra is a Moorish fortress and is very beautiful and has great views (miradores) of the city. It is very touristy and there are lots of hippies with their dogs all over the place. The Alpujarra is a neighborhood/area up in the mountains, about an hour drive from Granada. We did a hiking tour of the towns, which was the first hike I've ever been on. We took about 4 hours to go 8 miles and it was exhausting and totally worth it (minus crawling over some logs to get through a river, because I cracked my head on a tree branch). When we got to the highest mirador, I felt less inspired than I did nauseous and about to pass out. Seeing all the snow on the Sierra Nevadas was pretty nice though. I think hiking is not for me.
I have no deep thoughts yet, but I'm sure they will come to me.
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