An uneventful adiós
June 22, 2008 at 11:03 pm | Posted in Why I love Granada | 1 CommentTags: caprichos
It’s my last night in Granada. Last night in Granada. Last night in Granada??!!
It’s really quite anti-climactic, as most of the people I knew (granted, there weren’t that many) left a couple of weeks ago. I kinda feel like those were my last days too because I accompanied friends to do lots of “last” things — ice cream cones (see below), walks by the Alhambra, tapas-ing, etc.
My real last weekend (the one that’s still in progress) has consisted of the following:
-more ice cream cones. by myself except for once. I always feel a little guilty as if I were drinking alcohol by myself instead of eating fruity and/or chocolatey deliciousness.
-looking at job boards and thinking about applying to some and then not applying for fear of actually getting said job. (it’s probably better that I didn’t apply.)
-facebooking. trying to absorb the fact that I’ll be seeing some of these faces in person in just a few days.
-cleaning. discovered lemony-fresh cleaning liquid in my closet and now my floors are fit to be eaten off of.
-packing. I love packing because it lets me weed through my belongings and get rid of (recycle!) the things I don’t love enough to lug through an airport — clothes that don’t make me feel pretty, for the most part.
-walking. alone or accompanied, this activity has been my way of getting closure as I part ways with this city. I doubt there are many places with the charm and ambiente found in Granada, which is why I’ve compared it to a vacuum, catching people off guard and sucking them in for good, either physically or in their hearts. Today I walked past a couple of bored-looking American girls who were undoubtedly studying abroad and I thought, what’s wrong with them? Don’t they see what’s around them? And I realized I’m ready to feel the way I used to feel about Granada somewhere else. It’s good I’m leaving now. And it’s not sad because I know I’ll be back.
-baking. not cakes or cookies, or anything fun like that, but myself. ”En Granada en verano, no se puede estar.” (You can’t be in Granada in the summer.) Now I understand what everybody meant. My apartment’s so hot in the afternoon that I have to close the Persian blinds and strip down if I want to hang out in the living room. Outside, the streets are empty from lunchtime until dusk because everyone else is also closed up in their pisos naked, with the blinds down.
*BTW – this doesn’t really fit into this post, but baking reminded me…I just found out from the Metro Pulse online (a Knoxville magazine) that there is currently a cupcake craze in Knoxville, possibly influenced by the debut of the Sex and the City movie. I told Jaime, who is coming to visit in July, about this news and proceeded to show him google images of cupcakes so he would know what to look forward to. *
-eating. I ate lunch with my Spanish host mom from two years ago (seen below performing her famous napkin tricks) to say goodbye, and I remembered why I put on a few pounds that year. Some goood food, but heavy, and served in portion sizes more than twice my norm. but I indulged for old times’ sake.
And that’s about it. Tomorrow I leave for Madrid, and Tuesday I fly home.
Bizarre, I tell you.
P.S. I should mention that during the writing of this post, SPAIN BEAT ITALY at soccer! We had the windows closed and we could still hear everyone shouting and singing from their apartments and on the street.
Getting sentimental
June 19, 2008 at 10:59 pm | Posted in Cultural education, Why I love Granada | Leave a commentTags: observations
Only in Spain (that I know of…feel free to correct me or add to the list):
- would you entertain yourself during your late-morning run through the park by listening to groups of old men dressed in their Sunday best complete with hats chatting on benches to pass the time before lunch.
- would your English students make a timetable of the day placing lunch between 2 and 3, followed by a two-hour siesta, followed by dinner at 11 p.m.
- would you see girls wearing shoes that match their belt that matches their bracelet that matches their scarf that matches their earrings.
- would you hear flamenco-inspired rock blaring from cars or flats with open windows on your walk to the grocery store.
- would you see plastic bags hanging on random doorknobs in out-of-the-way neighborhoods for the baker (or bread stork?) to leave a fresh loaf of bread in the mornings.
- would you go out for tapas and cervezas with your middle-aged teacher co-workers and end the night by eating churros con chocolate at 1 in the morning.
- would you go to a lookout point with a view of a 13th century palace in the middle of the night and hear a could-be professional guitarist tocando flamenco and singing with all of his heart in-between sips of his beer.
- would you go to one of the best rock climbing sites in Europe and see a man, in the middle of his first-ever climb outside of a gym, spontaneously belt out a flamenco song inspired by his friend’s guitar-playing on the ground below.
- would you be convinced that you shouldn’t start feeling like a grown-up or worry about trying to do grown-up things until you’re at least 30.
I could continue, but as this post is beginning to resemble one of those Facebook groups dedicated to one study abroad destination or another, I’ll stop here.
I’m back, but not for long
June 11, 2008 at 12:34 pm | Posted in Cultural education, Real-life adventures, Why I love Granada | 2 CommentsTags: caprichos
I’ve been a bad blogger. A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks that has kept me away from the blogosphere.
My job at the high school as a language assistant ended on May 29th (yippee!!), and then on the same day Ann and I left for Madrid, from where we flew to Budapest via Brussels and then took the train to Prague.
Two places I have been wanting to see ever since I studied in Wales and my well-traveled British friends showed me pictures and told me they were the most beautiful places they’d ever been, Budapest and Prague did not disappoint.
Brussels was not a place I had thought so much about visiting, but we just happened to have an eight-hour layover there on the way to Budapest, so we aprovechar-ed the afternoon to enjoy some typical Belgian food and what is supposedly the best hot chocolate in the world.
Instead of boring you with all the details, I’ll put up a few pictures of some of the highlights as proof that we went:
Manneken Pis, a fountain with a guy peeing that locals dress in random outfits like this one, was listed as a must-see in Brussels, so I was a bit taken aback by how tiny it was. The mass of tourists crowding around it to take pictures made the scene even funnier.
I think I would agree with the claims — this is probably the best chocolate in the world, and it hit the spot on this gloomy, fresquito day I was not dressed appropriately for. But I’d be willing to try other so-called “best chocolates” just to make sure.
Toward the end of our first sightseeing day in Budapest, I said I couldn’t go to sleep until I had seen a pretty view. Aesthetically, the city is not that impressive, which is understandable considering all the war damage it suffered. But after having heard so much talk about how amazing it was, I exited every metro stop hoping to see what stirred everybody up. As our last touristic venture of the day, we climbed up to this church on a hill, took in the view and then continued happily on our way to get some food and cervezas.
Ann, who spent a month in Prague a few years ago, told me I should rub this statue if I wanted to come back to the city one day. It worked for her, after all. Prague indeed lived up to its reputation of being one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. With its gothic buildings, spires and cobblestone streets, it looks like a page out of a fairy tale. Ann said she always thought it was like Disney World without the rides — built for our amusement. I would say that pretty much sums it up.
To bring our last night in Prague to a close, we went to a brewery and restaurant recommended in a NY Times guide to the city. Here I became reacquainted with my love of breweries and homemade brews. We also ate some goulash, which is a beef stew typical to Prague. It was so good I tried to clean off the sauce left on the plate with my fork after we’d devoured all the meat. We had thought about going out for cocktails later that night but left the brewery feeling satisfied and ready for a movie and bed.
All in all, it was a good trip. But having spent extended periods of time in foreign places to study and work, I think I’m spoiled now and need to spend more time than just a few days in any given place to really feel like I’ve been there. Basically, I feel like it was a preview for longer trips to come.
I got back in Granada last Friday and am currently de vacaciones except for a few lingering clases particulares, which my broke self is grateful for. I have two more weeks in this city before I go home for I don’t know how long, and it seems like the time is right and yet I can’t quite believe it’s true. I’m just trying to soak up my surroundings and do the things I love and others that are less fun but necessary before it’s back to the tarmac again.
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