Ahhhh…I know. It’s been about 39,000 days since I’ve last posted. All I have to say about that is.
Life happens.
And so now I will do my best to fill you in on everything important that you’ve missed in the past 2 weeks.
Random things that I forgot to mention on my last post:
- I forgot my agenda (assignment book/planner) under my desk in my class at the university. This occurred on a Tuesday evening. I went back to the school on Wednesday morning. I could not get into the classroom since class was in session. I checked the lost and found and several offices in that hall. Nothing. I checked Thursday before class. Same. Nothing. It was gone. My perfectly organized life was taken from me and left in shambles. I had to buy a new, significantly less structured agenda with the little money I had. I was a mess…Note: apparently your name, address, class schedule, and the fact that only exchange students have class in that room, does not affect your chances of a safe return. Now I know.
- The night before this occurred (I decided it would be more dramatic to list this second, even though it is now not chronological), I lost my novella for that same class. Lost is not the correct word. I know where it is. But I can’t get it back. It sits there teasing me every day…In my bedroom, there is a giant wooden unit that consists of shelving and drawers, the armoire, cabinets, the bed frame is attached. It rests up against the wall, but there is a little bit of space behind it. In a few places on this contraption, the wood paneling on the back is no longer attached to the shelving. It is in one of these spaces that my poor San Manuel Bueno, mártir fell to its imprisonment…I was then faced with 3 options: 1) Try to move the wooden unit myself to get the book back. 2) Tell my host parents, and have them help me retrieve it. 3) Buy a new book for 7 €. After realizing that there was no way moving the unit full of video sets, encyclopedias, and other whatnots being stored there, was worth a little novella, I decided to buy a new one (because I didn’t have the heart to make my host parents help me…justification, I wouldn’t put my grandparents through this and they’re kind of comparable).
- Problems with my Sevici bici (my bike…bicicleta=bicycle, “bici” for short). It wouldn’t let me take out a bike with agreeing to charge my account 9-something euros. I don’t think so! I filed a complaint online. Two days later, they responded. “It has been taken care of yesterday.” Ok.
Where I left off for real:
- Saturday evening I went to La Feria de Naciones (a month-long festival that they had in the park, where you could buy things from different stands selling food from all over the world and other trinkets) and La Plaza de España with María and Ale (my host sister and her boyfriend). We weren’t gone for long, but it was nice to get out and hang out with Spaniards. I enjoy spending time with them because I can communicate with them much better than I used to and because it makes me feel like more of the family…This time I taught them a few English phrases, such as “food baby.” Success.
- Sunday I went to Córdoba. I hadn’t been sleeping well and I was frustrated with people back at Bradley not sufficiently communicating with me and travel plans falling through, so I was grumpy. In Córdoba, we were all randomly put into groups with the program tour guides that we get for all of our weekend day trips. I was not pleased with my group. The four people that annoy me in my program just happened to placed with us. It felt like I was reliving every junior high field trip, where my valuable learning experience was being sacrificed for the behavior of the people randomly assigned to my group…I had Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum flirting with one another, asking questions that had already been answered, and photo-bombing every chance they could get. Worse than them however, was the Dementor. She has one of those droning/annoyed valley-girl voices and literally cannot say anything positive. She sucks all life and happiness out of the room. Not kidding. Also, several sites were closed (the guides did not anticipate this) because it was the day of Córdoba’s saint, meaning it was a city holiday…Anyway, everything on earth was annoying me this day. It was one of those days.
- I had eaten so much so the weekend. A lot of heavy foods and sweet foods that one person should probably not consume so much of. That, in combination with a lack of sleep and induced amount of stress is not a good combination. Needless to say, I was getting sick and that just topped it off. I had an upset stomach and my head was throbbing. I told my host mom that I did not want dinner because I had an upset stomach. She gave me something like Tums, but slightly chalkier and with a flavor of peppermint. It helped a bit. For the next two days, she made me foods that were more subtle. She was so concerned. Bless her. At one point she hugged me and said, “You just look so sad.”
- Later in the week, I discovered that I there was a conflict with two of the courses I needed to register for. Really, there was a simple solution. Nothing, however, is that simple in a bureaucratic system. Not naming names or going into too much detail, I will say that although I knew it would all work out in the end, I was beyond frustrated and I was stressed and I still felt slightly sick. I knew that the only real thing that would help was sleep, but I had no time for that…Without my parents’ support and the random cheerful messages I got from my friends back home, I probably would have been lost somewhere in the Twilight Zone.
- My Sevici card, which worked for about 3 days, decided not to record my bike return correctly. Again. But this time was different—apparently, it thought that I had checked out my bike for 3 ½ days and charged me about 76 €. I have temporarily refrained from bike use and filed another complaint. We shall see what happens this time!
- I took Aisha to fnac (it’s like Barnes and Noble and Best Buy combined). Afterward, she took me to Beta Bookstore, which is an old movie theater transformed into a bookstore. It was so cool. I looked at all the children’s stories in Spanish and started to get really excited about all of the teaching possibilities these books would provide…Basically, Aisha had to drag me out of the store, because I couldn’t leave on my own…Then, she introduced me to La Campana, the famous pastry shop in downtown Sevilla. It was glorious. They have nice old-fashioned looking tins filled with baked goods. I know I shouldn’t spend money on this, but I love tins and I would definitely regret not getting one. So in 10 years when you come to my house, I will be displaying it proudly in my kitchen decorated with various glass jars and tins that I’ve collected.
- Last Friday, I volunteered at an elementary school, teaching the kids about Halloween. We did a few activities with them and explained the basics of the traditions we have in the U.S. Halloween is a new phenomenon here. The kids know about it and some dress up and go to the Toys ‘R Us for a big party, and the college-age people dress up and go out to the discotecas and other parties…It was a fun experience overall, but was very unorganized. It was discouraging when we had a difficult time communicating with some of the 2nd graders, but they were full of energy and all talked quickly and at the same time. They enjoyed their activities. We made paper spiders and did face painting. The 6th graders were easier to communicate with, but we were only given one activity to do with them—the mummy wrap. This clearly is not sufficient enough to stimulate 6th graders for longer than about 10 minutes…we did our best to explain the history of Halloween, etc. A good learning experience for me, if nothing else.
- It was cold and rainy, so I bought myself a University of Sevilla sweatshirt…I severely underestimated the weather situation here before I left. It gets pretty cold now at night and in the morning. Who knew?
- When I arrived home after a day out on Saturday, my family was all gone. I took full advantage of this situation and had a nice hot shower, ate the dinner they left me in the oven, skyped with my parents for a while, etc. It was very relaxing…Apparently my family got home at 4AM. They had been at a wedding. The next day, my host mom was in bad shape. She explained that she doesn’t drink much at all, but champagne always makes her sick. This led into a nice conversation about weddings and Día de los Santos (which was the following day) and local Christmas time traditions. She explained that it is tradition for the family to go to the cemetery on Oct. 31st (the day before All Saints Day) to visit their dead relatives, but she was too sick to go this year. This was interesting to me because in Mexico, they have a similar tradition, which is more elaborate (because they don’t celebrate Dia de los Santos), called Dia de los Muertos. They have special pastries/dulces called huesos de santos that are made on this weekend every year in the pastry shops. Naturally, I tried some. So good!
- Last Sunday, I went to a borderline fast-food restaurant called Papasá. They have giant baked potatoes loaded with tons of toppings. I indulged in one in honor of the Boy Scout Troop #40 baked potato that I get every fall at my hometown’s annual Pumpkin Festival. It was my little taste of home.
- I had no plans for Halloween because I thought that I was going to take a day trip to Jerez the following day, to tour the famous wineries there. But those plans fell through and last minute, Claire and I decided to go out. At this point, the stores were closed, so we bought a cheap witch’s hat and pumpkin head band from Open Cor (open 18 hours a day…like a 7-11) and wore black dresses. We wandered to a couple different places, hung out in a plaza for a while, where we were pulled into many random photos with locals who were covered in make-up and looked like crazy surgeons. While heading home, I had to pee severely (This is actually an issue here, because we walk everywhere, which is a fair distance apart, and there are hardly any public restrooms. At night you can forget about it, since nothing is open). So we found a hidden corner/alleyway and I peed in the street. I’ll share this with everyone. I don’t care…We then got churros, which were consumed so quickly that we hardly remembered them. Not the best Halloween I’ve ever had, but definitely the most interesting.
- This brings us to this past week. Bradley registration stress. (Finally got it all worked out!) Class by day, studying by night. 4 midterms in 2 days. Not enough sleep. Should have studied more, but life happened, so I did what I could. They went alright. We’ll see. After my last test last night, I went to a cooking demonstration/class with my interest group. It was about Mexican food. I pressed home-made tortillas and got recipes (they will be made when I return home). I then had tapas with a friend.
Last, but not least…I slept. It was glorious.
Random learned fact that I need to share to clear up possible future confusion:
Remember when I explained how I saw street vendors running away with their goods to go set up shop in alternative locations? Well, I found out why they do that. Apparently, in order to sell things on the streets, you need a permit. Many of the vendors are illegal and have not paid for a permit. When the police come by, the vendors run away, because they could be fined for not having permission to sell things on the streets, and these fines are pretty hefty. Now you know.
Information about Córdoba:
I know I made Córdoba sound awful earlier. It’s actually really cool, but my perception was off because I wasn’t feeling well and had a bad day.
Córdoba has a famous mezquita (mosque) that was built during the age of al-Ándalus. Al-Ándalus signifies the Iberian Peninsula under the reign of the Muslims from 711-1492 (this is not limited to Spain, as many people think, because “Spain” as a country did not yet exist at this time and the area where Portugal now is, was also a part of this region). Córdoba is especially important because it was the first capital during the Muslim reign in the peninsula. The typical structure of a city in al-Ándalus was very significant and important to their way of life.
A city consisted of 3 parts: the alcazar (the palace), the mezquita (mosque), and the mercado (market).
Alcazar:
This was a huge palace surrounded by fencing because in the event of an attack from the enemies, it was able to house the entire city, protecting it from within the walls. Because the city naturally divides into regions (kind of like what we consider counties), the fortress consisted of several sections in order to keep people organized, etc. The alcazar is typically located on the highest part of land for more security. From day to day, it was considered the political and military center of the city, where all of the official government things were located.
Mezquita:
The mosque was very important because for Muslims, life was centered on their religion. A large city consisted of two types of mosques: the aljama and the barrios. The aljama was the largest mosque in the city, where all residents could enter to worship. This is where the oration was every Friday. It served as a reference of gratitude to the government for their defense and protection, and was a symbolical representation in times of religious and political ceremonies. There were also smaller mosques in the different barrios (neighborhoods) of the city. These were less important because they were just for the people in that section of town to go worship each day. In general, the mosques were thought of as a place of religious education, which was important to their culture, as well.
Mercado:
The market was a very important place. Unlike markets of previous city structures, this was very organized and professionally run. There was an almotacén, who was in charge of overseeing the market and keeping track of the regulations set in place. They actually had set rules on how certain things should be measured and how often things needed to be cleaned. Of course, there were other things such as taxing that they noted. For example, they made it certain that the Jews and Christians knew that they were not equal to them. There were zocos (different sections of the market) to organize by type of good being sold.
Córdoba is a unique place, because this city structure can still be seen. Although the mosque was converted into a cathedral when the Christian king and queen took over, much of it was preserved. They literally placed a traditional looking cathedral in the center of the mosque in order to have both the style and function they wanted. An interesting fact is that both the mosque in Córdoba and in Granada is not oriented correctly toward Mecca, as mosques are designed to be.
Note about the title:
I learned this old Spanish saying the day I went to pick setas. It means a lot to me because I think that this is the very belief that defines my life. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that it will all come together in the end. Having faith that things will work out, even when it all seems to be falling apart, is what carries you through the rough patches. My past 2 weeks were fairly exhausting, but this saying made me realize just how great my life is and what I have to look forward to.
“La última que se pierde es la esperanza.”
The last thing to lose is hope.
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