Saturday February 28, 2009
I am feeling 100% better just in time to enjoy the wonderful weather this past week. Definitely better than the snow and rain we had when we first arrived a little more than a month ago. Each day this past week, it has been in the low 60s in the afternoons. The mornings are still rather chilly, but the warmer temperatures in the afternoon ease the pain of my late afternoon classes. The Plaza Mayor has been packed with people, mostly students or tourists, every day enjoying the lovely weather. I love to go down to the bank of the Tormes River, the southern boundary of the city, and sit and read on pretty afternoons. It’s a good 20-minute walk from my house, but let’s be honest, what isn’t a good 20-minute walk from my house.
I have furthered my Spanish cultural experience this week. It began last Friday with a tour of the cathedrals in Salamanca. Yes, those of you who have seen my pictures, the HUGE beautiful cathedrals that can be seen for miles. After more than a month of being here, I finally stepped through the threshold, and I must say they are even more amazing inside. There are two, the Old Cathedral and the New Cathedral. I know, original names right? Well the Old has Romantic architecture and the New has Gothic styled architecture. I never really new the difference, but now I’m an expert. The insides of both buildings are dramatically different but both very uniquely beautiful. We also got to go to the top of the New Cathedral and see the view. It was amazing! The wind though made it a quick trip up and back down. Afterwards, a couple of us decided to get churros and chocolate. I’m not sure if I have mentioned these or not, but they are a must have in Spain, according to the books; however, I’m not a huge fan. The churros are fried dough, similar to a doughnut, but crunchy and not round, so I guess not really like a doughnut other than it’s fried dough. Anyway, you are to then dip said churro in a cup of warm melted chocolate. I can eat them every now and again, and if you come to Spain, you must try them, but I don’t think I could make them a staple in my diet.
This weekend I got to experience the typical Spanish family as well. Actually, this was not the typical Spanish family. Those actually have just one or two children. My Madre’s children all came over for lunch on Saturday. She has five children, four of them are married, and three have children of their own. It was incredible. We all sat around the table together. They were all very nice, and the food was incredible! The brother that picked me up on my first day told me he could tell I was understanding a lot more, and my host brother Alberto said that I was speaking a lot better too. I know I’m not fluent in the slightest sense, but those two comments made me feel so good. I enjoyed the spending time with the family, and Maria was all smiles the whole weekend. She is such a happy grandmother!
My next cultural enriching experience came on Sunday when I attended Misa or Mass for those of you who don’t speak Spanish. Don’t worry I had to look it up too. Being that I am not Catholic, I had no idea what was going on. Oh yea, it was in Spanish too. Maybe that’s why I really didn’t know what was going on. I’m determined to find a Protestant church before I leave. I will have you know that that is like finding fruit in a candy store. Also, I found it very interesting how empty Mass was. I have learned that Spain is traditionally Catholic; however, very, very few Spaniards actually practice Catholicism. My Madre told me that here people are baptized and married in the Catholic Church simply out of tradition. Which brings me to my next cultural experience, Carnaval. It is celebrated for about a week before Ash Wednesday. Every day we saw people dressed up in costumes. At first we were quite confused, for Halloween is still eight months away, but it’s a Spanish tradition to do this before Lent begins. The children even had a break from school on Monday and Tuesday of this week for Carnaval. Yes, the grandchildren, Marcos and Alejandro came over at 8:00AM both days.
Next experience: it is said that the new religion of Spain is Fútbol. My Spanish Culture teacher told us that Fútbol is the religion, and the bar is the temple of Spain. I found this to be very true on Wednesday night when Liverpool battled Real Madrid in Madrid. I went to a bar with other people from my group to watch the game. It was so fun though a little tense. The atmosphere was great though, and the bars have free tapas when games are on. I might just frequent these events more often. Liverpool won, so we left quickly to avoid any aggression that might have followed.
Thursday night, Maria asked me is I would like to watch one of her children’s weddings. I said sure. We watched all two hours of the ceremony of her youngest daughter, Chus who is married to Jesus, and all of the extra features too. The wedding was very different from one in the States. It didn’t look like they really did the whole rehearsal prior to the actual event thing. This further proves their highly relaxed lifestyle. I don’t think I could handle the Spanish wedding personally. It was a beautiful wedding though, and half way through, Maria brought in the popcorn. How often do you get to see a wedding and eat popcorn? It was good bonding for us. At the end of the video, she said that we could watch the other three another night. All two hours each, but if there is popcorn, you can count me in.
I ended my Spanish culture-enriching week with horseback riding. Six girls went, and when we got there, we were all very excited. I haven’t actually been on or near a horse since I was 12 at Girl Scout camp, and this was very different from Girl Scout camp. I was very anxious. We all got on our horses. Mine was Carmelo. He was a pretty good horse too. We began our 2.5 hour ride. Five minutes into the trip, one of the horses freaked out and kicked another horse. The horse was ironically named Princessa, oh those divas. Anyway, this set the tone for the trip. The girls on each horse were really not comfortable at all, but we continued. We passed a slaughterhouse, and then trouble began. We came upon some other horses that apparently were not very friendly. All of our horses began to gallop. Three of the girls had enough and dismounted. There were some tears, so we decided to head back. All in all, it was a great experience. I loved the 45 minutes I was on the horse, but the horses weren’t the most well trained horses, and we really had no idea what we were doing. I guess I’ll just have to go back to Girl Scout camp to safely and comfortably ride a horse again.
Well this concludes my Spanish adventures for the week; however, yesterday morning, I also met with an English teacher at a school near my house. My friend Francesca and I will begin assisting her next week with her English lessons for children ages 3 to 12. I’m really excited about this because it will give me a chance see the Spanish school system. From the little I saw, it seems very, very lax, so this is bound to be a great experience. I’m sure I will have many stories to tell. Now onto further Spanish enriching activities, I think I’ll look into the siesta and see how that really works. Hasta Luego!
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