Life Here

I want to take a chance to reflect a little about what I do with my life here. Most of my blog entries are about a specific event or trip, but this will be more about the bigger picture. I’ve been blessed, I’ve had good luck, however you want to say it. I found a group of people here that immediately accepted me as family and it’s made my life here so much richer. Madge had a chance to see it when she visited me this past weekend. I had borrowed a sleeping bag from my friend, Sonia for us to use. Sunday night we had to go pick it up from the house. They invited us in and talked to us for quite sometime. They didn’t let us leave without having something to eat, and definitely wanted to give us more than we desired. They offered beds there as they didn’t know what Sonia was lending me the sleeping bag for, and they wanted me to explain to Madge that this was my home and my friends are always welcome. Musci (hope I’m spelling that right, it’s a Basque name) is definitely my surrogate mother. Piero (a Italian friend who was in a similar situation and who has now returned home to Naples) called her “la mama española.” Today Sonia and I went to see a free modern art museum here in Salamanca. I didn’t know it existed. Da2 (dados). After that we went and saw the Adsis Foundation in San Juan which I hadn’t yet visited. From there we went back to her house and I ate there with the “other” family. The group is divided into two houses both of which constitute my home here in Spain. I’m always amazed by their capacity to love. I wouldn’t say they love me as we normally use the word love, because they likely don’t know me that well yet. Still, they definitely show me that agape love that we always hear about. They always want to know how I’m doing, how’s my family, are my studies okay, how am I feeling with the Spanish, etc. After lunch (Oscar, one of the priests, prepared a baked salmon topped with chopped onions in orange juice. Ricisimo…) we take coffee in the living room. It was a tranquil day. Just being with them I absorb so much about Spanish culture and also I start to learn the expressions. For me, these are the days of note, when I’m not in classes and I’m not going out. I hope that by the end of my time here I’ll be able to give back to them some of what they’ve given me.

Macro Botellón

So part of the student culture here involves “ir de botellón,” which is intimately related to “ir de fiesta.” The latter means literally going out to party, and generally means going to bars and or discotecas(dance clubs). The former, however, just means going out and drinking. It means not in the bars, but rather buying liters of your favorite alcohol for consumption at home with friends or possibly even in a park or somewhere public. This brings us to the Macro Botellón which means exactly that…huge groups of people with copious amounts of alcohol. They don’t know how it started or who organized it, but through email and text messaging, many cities across Spain had a Macro Botellón last Friday the 17^th. In Granada it ended up being consented by the Government and 20,000 people showed up and partied without major incidents. Salamanca was a different story. The police heard of the plans to meet in two major sites and blocked off entry ways refusing entry of those with alcohol. Plans foiled all was quiet until about 2:30 when I guess the police found out that there were about 500 drunk people on the Roman Bridge. When they tried to break it up they had glass bottles thrown at them. Then they found another 1500 people in the Plaza de San Justo where the same thing happened. Throughout the city miniature riots had started. 11 of the cities trash and recycling bins were destroyed by exploding bottles of alcohol. Injuries and other costs are estimated to be about 24,000 euros for Salamanca. 16 people were arrested. In Barcelona it was worse and 68 people were injured and 54 arrested. I’m just lucky I guess. Friday morning I had left for Madrid to meet Madge. If there was a Macro Botellon in Madrid, we didn’t notice since we went to bed at 10:30 (yes on St. Patrick’s Day). However, it would explain the amazing number of sirens going all night long helping to keep me awake in the hostal.

Moving

Just a quick note. I'm not entirely sure which people have my address here. Anyway, it will be changing. I'm in the process of moving into an apartment with two other students. Please don't send things to the address I've given you. If you've sent a letter or something recently, thanks, I love surprises, but please also let me know. TTFN.

Toledo

So I finally made it to Toledo this last weekend. At first the roads were snowy, and two hours out we stopped and almost turned around because bus traffic was prohibited in Madrid. Things worked out in the end though and we finally made it. It´s another fairly small city, rich in history. What I loved the most was just the landscape surrounding the city. It´s surrounded on three sides by the Rio Tajo. It´s known as the city of three cultures for having housed Christian, Jewish, and Islamic peoples simultaneously. This mixture is noticed throughout the city in the Mudejar style architecture. Of the 9 synagogues that once existed, only 2 are left. Anyway, it was an awesome day and much warmer than Segovia. Here´s a shot of the city from a lookout point.

Of course, Toledo has a Cathedral as well. This one happens to be the 2nd largest in Spain, and the 5th largest in the world. (Take that Pearl.) On the inside it has two stunningly huge organs.

And what city would be complete without a castle. Also referred to as Alcázar, this one was closed for renovation, so this is the best view I got. It´s situated on top of the hill.And then my favorite part. This is the Rio Tajo (River Targus). On the hill on the left is an old school/training house for infantry.
And proof I was there.

Milk

Yes, this blog entry is devoted to the second great love of my life after peanut butter. Now I won’t say I’m a milk expert. I can't tell you where the cow was raised or what it's eating just by tasting its milk. Let’s just say I’m an ‘aficionado.’ I am, in fact, from the Dairy State. I’ve grown up surrounded by dairy farms, and even used to visit them for breakfast on the farm on my birthdays. My mom even has a strange fascination with the bovine creatures (dumb as rocks they are). Anyway, I’ve loved milk ever since I was little. At school where I finance an overpriced meal plan (the staff is amazing, I love them, but the food is expensive), I try to help make up for it by drinking at least two glasses of milk at each meal, three meals a day, 7 days a week.

Here in Spain I’ve very rarely had the occasion to drink milk. This hasn’t been terrible. I usually just have water. It’s easier to get wine here than it is to get milk. Sometimes, though, I do get it hot for breakfast with ColaCao (a chocolate powder like Nesquik). Not ideal, but better than nothing? I’m not sure. The milk here breaks two basic premises that I hold to be true. 1) Milk does not come in box. 2) Milk is not kept at room temperature. Yes, the milk at school comes in a box, but it’s at least in a bag in that box. I’m talking more like juice box, box. And room temperature? It’s kept on the shelves in the pantry. Today I was served it room temperature. No, this was an outrage. Milk should be cold; at the very least chilled and only occasionally hot. Also for all you skim milk drinkers out there (you know who you are), don’t even bother. The milk here is whole milk. The reason? In Spain the only reason to have milk is to mix with your coffee! Café con leche or Calimocho as the national drink of Spain? Maybe it should be put to a vote…ARGH!

Peluqueria

Finally decided to go to a Peluqueria and get my hair cut. There’s one just around the corner from my house that’s for Cabelleros(guys) and it’s a one man show. He’s pretty young and tells me he almost went to America to perform Flamenco. He plays the Cahon (percussive instrument of Flamenco style music). So we’re talking about that and he puts on a Flamenco music CD. Thus I end up having my haircut to a flamenco beat as my hairdresser clacks the scissors to the rhythm. It was interesting.

Going to try and go to Toledo again tomorrow. Luckily it’s supposed to be raining in all of Spain until Monday. It just started about an hour ago. Fantastic. :)

Segovia

Since our trip to Toledo was postponed until this coming Sunday, my friend Ann-Alexia of Greece asked me to come with her to Segovia. In my same province, it's about a 3 hour bus ride east and north. It's a fairly small city and has three main points of interest for us. (As a side note the city itself is a UNESCO world heritage site.) What she failed to tell me was that it would be -9 C in Segovia. Excellent...

It has a Roman Aqueduct, a Cathedral, and Alcázar. The Roman Aqueduct dates back to the end of the 1st century AD or perhaps the beginning of the 2nd. It's built from unmortared granit blocks and to me, is pretty amazing.Here's the Cathedral. To me it's very similar to the one we have in Salamanca. I read the informational packet which I forget at the moment, so I'll spare you the details.
Finally, Alcázar is a castle on the western edge of the city. Because of a fire in the 1800's, the building I saw yesterday has very little to do with the actual castle first built in the 11th century. It was the site of the marriage of Queen Isabella of Castille to King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Apparently the castle in Walt Disney theme parks was inspired by Alcázar.This is the entrance. The castle is surrounded by a deep trench which, unfortunately, no longer houses water nor alligators.
This is from the top of the keep seen in the first picture.
And finally one picture from inside Alcázar. There were also a number of suits of armor. This picture isn´t great. It was dark... Pretty, though.