Some Random Happenings...

Hola hola!

So, my time in Spain is coming to an end... only two more weeks until I touch down in Seattle for "good". However long "good" is, I don't know, because I'd really like to travel some more, but I do know that I'll be home for at least around two years. Haha, and now begins the "soul-searching" in terms of what I want to do with my future and career. I'm still pretty set on being a teacher, specifically for elementary kids (they're adorable), but I really want to do something with my Spanish. I am proficient (though I still make many mistakes) and don't want to lose that, especially after working so hard for two years, studying Spanish. So, we'll see what I end up deciding for a future career. I'm planning on finding out what my options are when I get home. I'll visit my alma mater (UW) and go to the career center, Spanish and Portuguese Studies center, and the Education center (for careers in education). I'll worry about that when it comes up. In the meantime, I'll focus on here and now in Spain (which is why I dropped Facebook for the last few weeks)... and that's now what I'll write about.

So, I still haven't described Semana Santa in Valladolid, Fiesta de Pan y Queso, Las Ferias in Sevilla, and my (canceled) trip to London on May 8th. I'll give you the super brief explanation of each because I still need to talk about my trip to Madrid, Bilbao and San Sebastian, and Barcleona/the Costa Brava with my host family from last year. I've also added a few new videos on Youtube.


Semana Santa in Valladolid
Semana Santa in Valladolid was crazy! It was surreal wandering the streets, smelling incense, hearing military march-esque drum beats in the distance, and then randomly running into colorful versions of the KKK carrying candles on poles and huge statues of Jesus and especially of Mary. I never really got over the sensation that these strangely dressed people were ready to attack me. Pretty much every American who I talked with (Canadians and USA folk) found the outfits to be quite unnerving. However, to the locals, it's completely normal and considered respectful and a way of anonymously worshiping and taking part in the Semana Santa processions. It's so normal that in a couple bakeries, they have Semana Santa figure lollipops, which I found to be hilarious.

One thing that really hit me about this holiday/event, or whatever you'd call it, is the idolatry. I'm not trying to be disrespectful at all, but since Semana Santa is an incredibly Catholic holiday, it doesn't surprise me. That's one of the big differences between Catholicism and Protestantism: Catholics have statues and many more objects in their homes and places of worship than Protestants. Of course, this isn't the only difference, but it was the one that really stood out to me during the Semana Santa processions. People became so emotional just watching the processions, and would go crazy over the Christ and Mary "dancing" in "El Encuentro". "El Encuentro" means "the meeting", which was basically a group of people (dressed in the typical Semana Santa garb, aka. the KKK outfit) carrying a huge altar thing with a statue of Jesus and another group of similarly dressed people carrying one with Mary on top. The two groups met in a plaza with their statues and the people carrying the statues swayed back and forth, so that they were "dancing". It really didn't look like that spectacular though and was just a little weird.

After that, I saw a ceremony where all of the typically dressed people walked into a church, took off their pointed caps (I was surprised at how many women there were!), and then set a Jesus on the cross statue on the ground and then proceeded to bow and prostrate themselves in front of it. That completely shocked me. I know that it was a statue of Jesus, but it was a statue nonetheless. Crazy. Anyways, I saw enough Semana Santa in Valladolid those few days and wasn't too sad to be leaving on my trip to Switzerland, Amsterdam, and Belgium. Semana Santa really is a different tradition from anything that I'm used to.

Fiesta de Pan y Queso in Palencia (Mid April)
This was a weird event. Apparently it started way back in the day when a priest went to Palencia to spread the Gospel and was stoned (though not killed) and chased up a mountain/hill to live as a hermit. Well, something bad happened (don't remember what it was) and was taken as a sign by the people to repent and ask forgiveness from this priest. Most people consider this a myth now, but really look forward to this day, which has become an event of national tourist interest. Basically, in the afternoon, people gather on a hill, where the Christ statue is (the 2nd biggest in the world, surprisingly), just below a shrine/chapel dedicated to that priest. Then, government officials throw thousands of small white paper bags with a small roll of bread and a small cut of cheese inside. People go absolutely nuts for the bread and cheese! We didn't realize how crazy it would become, so we were in the middle of it all, and regretting it after about ten seconds after they began throwing the bags to us. Most of the crowd consisted of burly, smelly, inconsiderate, and hungry men, some smelling of stale alcohol (one of the worst smells). That mixture created for a crazy crowd that would jump, push, and elbow each other just for some measly pieces of bread and cheese. From the way they were fighting, you would guess that iPods or iPads were being thrown to the crowd. Ridiculous. None of the three of us were able to snatch any of the bags, we were too busy shielding ourselves from the men. Haha. After we got out of the crowd, it was a lot better. I wouldn't go back to see this again though, haha, well, at least not as a part of the crowd. For those of you Spanish speakers (or want-to-be-Spanish speakers), check out this article: http://www.nortecastilla.es/v/20100419/palencia/lluvia-queso-cristo-20100419.html

Las Ferias in Sevilla (late April)
Like most of the many festivals that I've experienced all over Spain, this was definitely the most "presumida" or narcisistic that I've seen. Granted, I was watching from the outside, looking in at this festival, and I'm sure that if I had some Sevillian friends to dress up and enjoy the festivities with, I would have a different opinion on the festival. Basically, this is the one week of the year that women dress up in the typical Andalucian flamenco dresses (the ones with the spots and frills that everyone associates with Spain) and strut their stuff, drinking sherry, riding horses, and dancing the sevillanas in the tents, called casetas. I wasn't so impressed, especially after looking at the prices of some of these dresses. Some can cost over a thousand euros (about $1,300)! A lot of the women just seemed to be walking around (or riding on horses) just to see and be seen in their outfits. Haha, I was only able to see the Ferias during the day and was a tiny bit disappointed to not have seen it in the night, which is when the party really gets going (and stays strong until the sun rises). However, I did get enough of a dose during the day to imagine what it must be like at night. Not exactly my thing.

Outside of the Ferias, I was able to do a lot of sightseeing in Sevilla. I hung out with my friend, Leora, who I met last year in Barcelona, and her friends, and later that weekend, I met up with my friend Mimi, who I met here in Valladolid. I was incredibly impressed by the size of the main cathedral in Sevilla and the cool Moorish architecture and random side rooms, and especially by the amazing view from the bell tower. It was gorgeous and so worth the visit. I later chilled in the plaza below that was filled with cute trees and was a good break from the heat of the day (it was HOT in Sevilla even though it was only late April). The city is beautiful, the people are kind, it's teeming with tourists though, but that's okay because it's really a cool city. I wouldn't mind living there one day. :)

Trip to Madrid and Toledo (aka. Canceled trip to London) - May 8
It was quite the disappointment when I received an e-mail super early in the morning (2 am, while I was packing) from RyanAir, saying that my flight was canceled due to that damn Iceland volcano. The Valladolid airport was closed the entire day due to the wind shift that brought the ash cloud to Spain. I still wanted to travel though, so I decided to give myself a cultural experience in Madrid at the Prado and Reina Sofia (Queen Sofia) museums. The first night, I stayed at the Way Hostel, which was very nice, except for the nearly see-through, co-ed showers (I only had a handtowel, so I couldn't cover the glass with my towel... so I took a lightning-fast shower, haha). I went to the Reina Sofia Museum, which was interesting, but not exactly my style. There were a lot of art pieces by Picasso, Dali, and Miró, which are just a bit too weird for me. I do like a lot of Dali's art, but not the pieces that were displayed at this museum. The most famous piece at the Reina Sofia is "Guernica" by Picasso, which was painted for a World's Fair exhibition and depicts a historical event that happened in Guernica, which is in the Basque Country, in Spain. Basically, the Spanish dictator gave Hitler the go-ahead to test out some bombs on this small town, that served as the headquarters for the Basque rebels. It was a terrible event that killed many people (though, exact numbers aren't known), and was only one of the many atrocities committed by Franco during his nearly 35 year reign in Spain. Anyways, the painting is huge and very abstract. You wouldn't believe how many dumb tourists were trying to take photos of the painting even though there were two museum guards and signs everywhere saying, "no fotos!".

Then, my second day in Madrid, I went on a day trip to Toledo with Alicia, who I met last year through Cesar. She and I wandered the winding (and steep!) roads and alleys of this beautiful, Medieval city, which for a long time, was known as the "melting pot" of Spain because Christians, Jews, and Muslims were living together in peace. It is a beautiful city and you'll definitely get your exercise walking up and down the streets, however, I didn't find it to be as spectacular as everyone seems to say that it is. I prefer Salamanca and Segovia over Toledo. It's definitely worth a visit though, if you're already in the area.

My second night, I stayed with Alicia, and had some great meat fondu with her and her friend. It was a lot of fun talking with her and catching up. Then, my last day, I spend the majority of my time in the Prado museum, which is huge. Granted, the Louvre is a ton bigger, but the Prado is quite sizable as well. I spent a good five hours in the museum, following Rick Steves' guided tour and listening to the audioguide, while writing down my favorite pieces. The Prado is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Madrid... if you're into that style of art. I really enjoyed my time in there.

Bilbao and San Sebastian (end of May)
This was a super fun, last minute trip that my friend, Mimi (from NYC) and I went on during one of our long weekends. First we separately took trains to Bilbao (she was done with class a lot earlier than I was) and met up with each other and a dude from Peru in the city. We all talked a bit, met up with another American girl, and hit the hay early. The next day, Mimi and I parted ways with the other two and went to the new Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. It is such a crazy-awesome museum. The art is weird, incredibly random, and yet quite fun. I especially loved the exhibit called "Between Shit and Architecture" (not kidding)... well, the art was weird, just a bunch of heaps of concrete that looked like piles of (you guessed it) shit. I never knew that shit-shaped concrete could come in so many shapes and designs. haha. Look here: http://www.undo.net/Pressrelease/foto/1268309034b.jpg The art that Mimi and I both enjoyed the most (and were cracking up over) were the bent mirrors. If any of you know the art by the Colombian artist, Fernando Botero Angulo, then imagine me as one of his sculptures: short, fat, and rolly-polly. It was hilarious! That specific mirror was a cube with four varying degrees of fat-ness... in one, I gained maybe 50 pounds and lost an inch or two in height, and then each one after successively threw on the pounds and dropped my height until I looked like a Weeble. :) It was fantastic and brilliant. Anyways, we spent maybe two hours in the museum, then wandered the city a bit, had a picnic, and then caught the bus to San Sebastian.

We had a great time in San Sebastian. Our hostel was on the surfers' beach, which was super chill and beautiful. We mainly stocked up on food and ate stuff from the grocery stores to save on money, but one night we decided to check out the gastronomy of San Sebastian, which is what it is known for: the pinxos (pronounced, "pinch-ohs"), which are basically tapas. We went to a place that is called Fuego Negro ("Black Fire"), which had amazing and creative pinxos, but horrendous service! Mimi was fuming and I was dumbfounded by the service we received. Basically, we ordered, a waitress kept putting random pinxos in front of us (ones we hadn't ordered, but didn't know weren't ours because the food was so innovative and random), and our waiter kept coming by and getting mad at us for eating those and refusing the ones he brought (because we thought that we already had our food!). It was an error on their part, which they should have admitted... but, instead, our waiter began muttering under his breath about how stupid he thought we were, complained to another waiter in front of us, and then (and this is what really got me mad), he placed the soup (that he had given to us and then taken away) in front of another customer, bragging that it was one of the best dishes in the restaurant AND that it was "on the house". Luckily the food and wine was amazing, or else that would have ruined my night. Anyways, we had a great couple of days in San Sebastian, sat in the sun a lot, relaxed a bunch, and really enjoyed our mini-vacation. San Sebastian is definitely a destination for good food, a lot of beach time, and relaxation. I would definitely go back up to the northern coast of Spain. Next time, I'd like to go to Santander or Gijón.

Barcelona & The Costa Brava (Tamariu) with my Catalan host family
And, lastly, my trip to the Costa Brava, which I just got back from today. I left super early on Friday morning, at 12:30 am, on the Trenhotel, in order to sleep on the train and wake up in Barcelona. Due to some renovations in a certain type of class (the "butaca gran confort"), which I had reserved, I was placed in the worst seat, in "tourist" class. However, because I spoke with the employees (and they saw how shaken-up I was), they gave me a super spacious room with a bed, bathroom, AND shower! Oh, it was wonderful! It took me a while to calm down, but after I did, I slept super well and then took a shower... on the train! Unfortunately, I didn't have the same luck on my way back, when they had the same problem with the butacas. I had to spend the entire night, drifting in and out of sleep, switching positions in a chair that didn't recline. Haha, but enough about that... because the most important part of the trip was what happened in between those train rides.

I spend most of Friday catching up with Emmita (a friend from Lousiana, who I met last year in Sabadell/Barcelona), which was so fun. Then, I went to pick up the kiddos from school with the new au pair, and then there was a birthday party for some of the kids, so we all went, and I got to talk with a bunch of the mothers from last year. All of the kids were SO much bigger! It amazes me how fast kids grow! That night, we drove up to Tamariu, on the Costa Brava, where the family has a house on the beach. It is in such a beautiful location (and a gorgeous house too!), next to the beach, looking out at the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. I had such a wonderful weekend, catching up with Anna and Bernat (my host parents from last year), and playing with the kiddos, who I've missed so much. We ate very well at a restaurant and later, we had a very tasty barbecue at the house. It was so hard to say goodbye to them when I finally left on Monday afternoon... because now I really don't know when I'll see them again. It was such a great weekend and definitely worth the crazy train stuff. Oh, and I got my hair cut before I left! I know of an "English Hair Salon" that I went to last year, and I just happened to get the same hair stylist as last time. He's awesome and his name is Fes, super sweet, great to talk to, and amazing at cutting hair. He smoothed out my crazy mullet leftovers and gave me a cute bob. This is the first time that I've ever had short hair, and I like it for the most part. :) I'll grow it out from here on because I love long hair and definitely miss it (it's easier to style too), but I'm enjoying this short hair for now.

Fin
Okay, I think that's it for now. If you made it this far without falling asleep, kudos to you. :) Take care and see you all super soon!

Saludos desde Valladolid,
Linnell