Have I introduced you to my Spanish family? I sure love them!
Marde, Padre, Silvia, Antonio, (me) Jesús
I have dedicated this first month of being in Spain to
going to studying Spanish. I have been going to a Spanish school to begin to learn the
grammar and basics of Spanish. I am enjoying it. It is a challenge, but my
classes are good. My teachers are great! It is a really cute school in the
heart of very heart of Granada!
It takes me about 45 minutes to get to school
from my house. I take the bus into
Granada and then I walk through the city center past some beautiful streets, and
fountains and buildings to the small streets that are filled with bohemian and
Arabic gift shops. The shops have lots of beautiful colorful fabric, pillows,
clothing, wall hangings, leather bags, earrings, etc.
The first time I saw this area I was walking through the
Carmen’s with Antonio. The Carmen’s what the white houses are called up in the
hills of Granada.
They are beautiful. The streets are paved with small stones
and brick, a lot of areas in a mosaic style that is very common to Granada. there are also some really fantastic views!
As
we walked down the narrow streets we turned and all of a sudden there were
bursts of color.
The look, mood and energy of the street that we entered onto
was quite the shift from the one that we had just come from. My eyes widened as
I took in the sights of all the beautiful color and energy that was a blatantly
different from where we had been – all changing in a single block.
School went really well last week. I switched classes- I
like my new teachers and I feel like I
progressing in my learning at a better pace for me. Before I felt like I
was barley scraping by in my understanding of what we were speeding though in
class.
I am learning that it is not required that I run faster than
I am able. And I have realized this past week that it is even ok to walk when
needed.
This week it is the Corpus Christi festival in Granada. On
Wednesday we went to a parade. My teachers hooked us up with a cool place to
watch the parade from on a balcony above the street.
The parade was full of energy and it was short and sweet! (My kind of parade) There is a lot of history and tradition in this parade... Including:
A very large King and Queen of Spain and an Arabic King and Queen
People with large heads carrying balloons to hit the crowd
with.
Bands playing, lots of confetti, (which would be my sister Andrea's favorite part...right An?)
The crowning event of
the parade is a woman on the back of a dragon...
Yeah... I don't get it either. And I asked my Spanish
friends what the deal is with the woman on the dragon and all anyone knows
about it is every year the woman's clothes changes and it is supposed to be an
unveiling of what the fashion of the next year will be.
This year she looked kind of oriental. Huh.... I will have
to turn to the all knowing source of Google and see what more the people of
the world know about this tradition- cause I am curious.
Me and my classmates and teachers:
Angela and Lucia (teachers) Sabine and Christoph (both from Germany)
After the parade we walked around, got ice-cream and then sat on the from steps of a cathedral to finish up our conversation class. This was the view:
Thursday as I walked to school I realized that Granada was
very quite, and has a very different feel to it. There was a distinct shift in
energy.
When I got to the Main Street they had blocked it off to
traffic and set up folding chairs on either side of the street. They were
spreading greenery on the street blanketing the blacktop.
This was in perpetration for the religious procession that
would take place in a couple of hours.
We had gone to the fun parade the day before... My teacher
said that the religious procession was slow and boring so the school opted out
of bringing the students. Religious processions are not included in the list of
norms that we have in my Mormon upbringing. So I was interested in seeing it
anyway. It's tradition here is Granada! I am here to experience the culture and
customs of the Spanish and with Spain's religious influences being largely
Catholic this is something that is embedded in the history and culture here.
(School schedule is a little different this week because of
the festival - we don't have classes on Friday this week for the holiday, so to make up for Friday this week
classes are a little bit longer:
Grammar class: 9:30-11:30
Break: 11:30-12:00
Conversation class: 12:00-1:45)
So after my grammar class I went out to see if I could catch
part of the procession. I heard a band playing down the street so I ran toward
the noise. A man saw me and called out, "you're late!" At least I am
pretty sure that is what he said to me - "something something tarde"
He said...trade means late... I learned THAT in Junior High
school! Ha!
I nodded and smiled and continued towards the music. I
missed most of the procession but caught the tail end of the band and saw many
people walking dressed in what I would call their "Sunday best" and
there were a number of religious fancy looking poles and banners.
There were beautiful little girls dressed in white dresses.
And many of the women were wearing heals. They walked along the greenery that
was laid out along eh street earlier. It was nice to catch what I did.
The school I am attending has a lot of activities and
excursions that are available to the students... I haven't been to any yet but
decided to join in after classes. We hopped on a bus and went up to the fair
grounds. It was really hot out! Our teacher lead us to a big tent where
everyone ordered drinks and food.
I enjoyed people watching and had some fun
conversation with fellow schoolmates.
At the fair grounds many of the girls were wearing their
fancy flamenco dresses and traditional clothing. There were a lot of people on
horses, dresses up, even little ponies pulling small carriages. So Cute!
I thought that the horses and their rides must be in a
competition at the fair... Antonio told me that night that there is no
competition- people just dress up and ride their horses to go and show off and
have fun.
I hope that we can go back this weekend later in the day
when it is cooler and all the lights are on. (Sadly I didn't make it back... but I am glad I got to go for the short time I did and get a few photos)
Friday I was able to get laundry done, clean my room, and so
some work... Progress on working was thwarted when my bestie in Illinois was
looking for a distraction from his own work, but it was a welcome interruption
to work! It was nice to FaceTime with him for a while.
Later Antonio informed me that his cousins had a performance
at the elementary school. So we headed over there.
Walking through the gates into a big courtyard in front of
the school there was a large crowd gathered in front stage. We found Antonio's
family who had save a couple of seats.
The principle was yelling (the Spanish speak loudly) into
the microphone. People around were complaining that he had been speaking for
too long and were eager to get on with the show! Everyone was here to see the
children - so patience to hear the schools principle carry on and on were low.
Then THIS happened!
And THIS!!
(we were a little worried about the placement of one young mans sword in this number)
And THIS!!!
It was a glorified primary program! I was eating it up! The
weather was perfect, the children were absolutely adorable! It was a really
good time! Antonios little cousins are SO CUTE!
We went back to Anto's parents and got Chinese food -
Yeah it was an 11:30pm dinner... But that is not really out
of the norm here.
Have we talked about the eating Schedule that the Spanish
have?
Morning breakfast
2 or 3 o'clock is their big meal for the day
Merindar is around 6
Dinner some time between 9-12 pm
Also everything closes from 2-5 in the afternoon. Cause
people go home to eat and siesta (take a nap) and then they re-open their shops
at 5.
I am learning to really appreciate naps here! It is too hot
to really want to do much in he middle of the day so people take a nap. Some
days I nap- other days I read. Then when it gets cool enough later at night I
go out for a run.
Earlier this week Antonio and I took the doggies out for a
walk. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! We ended up walking for about 2 hours and
Antonio realized that we had ended up in a pueblo that his friend lived in. He
called them and they invited us over.
They have a new little puppy… he is SO CUTE! I didn’t have my camera on
me at the time… but they came over to visit us yesterday and I got a couple of
pictures… SO CUTE!
Sunday I went to church... as I do. We took this photograph after Relief Society:
Spain is beautiful!
Just look at this!...
Today, after school I decided to take a different bus home cause the 155 said it would not be there for another 24 minutes. I was going to wait and read my book but then I remember Antonio telling me that I could take the 156 if I wanted to. Apparently remembered wrong cause the other option was the 159. the 156 just skirted around the edge of Armilla (which is where I live) and goes to Las Gabis (the next town over) There was a beautiful church there that I wish I could have gotten a photograph of! Maybe I will go back there, but on purpose. haha
I ended up paying to ride the bus again (lame) for a return trip back to Armilla. I got off the bus at a location that I recognized. Good thing I have a really good visual memory. (Antonio and I had taken the puppies for a walk around this location once.) So I knew the general direction to go and I was able to find my way back. It wasn't bad, I got to see another town and wander a bit. Plus the weather was beautiful.
Adam gets home tomorrow and Antonio has his final exams this week... next week we get to go to the beach and begin really start sight seeing and doing some more fun stuff. I am excited!
No comments:
Post a Comment