¡Senderismo!

Hello again!

I’m sorry for not writing more often, but it’s quite a daunting task to sit down and attempt to explain this continuous adventure that is my life here.

I’ve decided that instead of biting off way more than I can chew, I will just focus on one thing at a time! That being said, last Saturday, I had quite the day. It all began at roughly 7 AM when Maria and I boarded the bus across the street to meet up with other students from the CLM (remember, this is the school I attend here). We were heading up to the Cahorros mountains for a day of Senderismo (hiking)!! As you, my avid readers, know, everything starts and ends later here. This is why when my groggy roommate and I got on the bus we were completely shocked to see that it was packed. We quickly realized that these people were not early birds out catching their worms, but rather the night owls returning to their nests after a lonnnnng fiesta. People were smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol this cold Saturday morning as if it were still 11 pm the night before. As fashion is extremely important here, and we were sporting some great athletic gear, we got many strange looks from these stylish young partiers. After getting off the bus at the wrong stop, asking for directions three separate times, & a short sprint, we finally met up with the other young explorers. Our brave and fearless leader, Paco, took us to a nearby bus stop and we continued our adventure. While on the little bus that took us all the way up to the base of the Cahhoros mountains (not to be confused with the “palabrota,” curse-word, “cojones”), we stopped for gas (something I’ve always been curious to see a public bus do) and rang up a grand total of 122.56 Euros (or about 177 USD)!


As we were about to start hiking, the town welcoming committee strolled by (jokejoke)....




Really though, this hike was quite incredible. I’ve included some pictures, one of which probably needs some explaining. Paco took us to what is called “Paseo de Clave,” literally meaning “cleavage walk.” This is because the basic set up of the trail, if you can even call it that, is a narrow concrete path that runs along a river about 4.5 feet below. There are boulders/tall rocks on the other side of the concrete path, and at times the rock protrudes out, making it nearly impossible to stand on the path. We had to cling to the rocks for dear life while shimmying down, and at certain parts even crawl. The name ”Paseo de Clave” comes from the parts where girls have to lean over and crawl, revealing their cleavage! (Sometimes Spaniards are funny people..)





All in all, the walk was beautiful, intense, and completely worthwhile. We walked over incredible suspension bridges, saw majestic views, and even saw a great waterfall.




Later that day, I went downtown to meet up with my “intercambio.” The CLM set me up with a Spanish woman, Elena, who is 28. She is an English teacher who is studying to take a National exam to teach in the public school system here in Granada. The point of the intercambio is that we meet at least once a week and speak in English half the time, and Spanish half the time. She is wonderful (see picture-Elena is in the middle, and her sister is on the left!) and her English is just about perfect! We’ll see if I actually end up helping her! I sure know she’ll help me though!




I spent a little time with Elena again last night and really can’t wait to get to know her better! I’ve decided that since I’m here to learn Spanish, the best idea is to meet Spanish people! This being the case, the other day, I created a “Tuenti” account. This is basically Spanish facebook! So far I have 6 friends(¡Que popular soy! Jajaja), and a few outstanding friend requests! It’s really fun to use and I can’t wait until I have more Spanish friends

I hope you enjoyed this longer post (my attempt to make up for lost time) and stay tuned for more!

¡Dos besos para cada uno de vosotros!

Las diferencias

Here are a few differences I've noticed over the past week between España and los Estados Unidos:

>Siestas really do exist
Every day, the streets of Granada slowly get quieter as cashiers and salesclerks lock up their shops and head home for a few hours. Around 2 pm, the city becomes practically a ghost town. In Spain, the most important meal of the day is lunch, and so families gather, overeat, nap, and then head back to work.

>Everyone smokes
Walk into a bar, discoteca, restaurant, or a cafe, and guarenteed you will walk out smelling like you rolled around in a giant ash tray. It's gross, unavoidable, and everyone ignores the huge stickers on each pack that say "fumar mata" (smoking kills).

>People are kind of cranky
Don't get me wrong...I love all of the Spainards I've met so far, but the culture here is very different. They call it "malafollar," which basically describes the general bad mood of people in Granada. I think that saying "sorry," "please," and "thank you" are the main things that mark me as an American! Here people just walk right into you without so much as making eye contact, workers say "díme" when you enter their store. This literally means "tell me" and this is all you get...not a "hello, how are you? Welcome, what can I get for you??" None of that! Maybe that's why no one tips here...

>Everything happens later (except of course, my morning classes)
Lunch at 2:30
Dinner comes around 9 pm
The time to go to the bars or for tapas is about 10 pm
Discotecas are almost empty until 2 am
And people return and sleep at 5 or 6 am!

(note to parents...this is just a cultural explaination..not my daily schedule!

>You can spend 200 Euros on a pair of shoes in a grocery store!
The SuperCore across the street from our apartment sells everything from fresh fish, to makeup, to prom dresses. And believe me, even though no one wants to say they bought their formal wear at a grocery store, it's NOT as cheap as you'd think!!

>There is a complete lack of censorship on TV
Since the tradgedy in Haiti, I've seen images that wouldn't be fit for R-rated war movies broadcasted on the 8 pm news. There is swearing and nudity, and it doesn't phase anyone! I'm not sure how I feel about this yet, it's just an interesting difference!

>Not everyone, everywhere speaks english!
Thank goodness! I'm actually getting to speak spanish the entire time I'm here! Even though Granada is somewhat of a tourist destination, 99% of the Spainards I've interacted with knew about as much English as most Americans know Spanish!

>Wine is cheaper than water
Maria and I made a quality purchase of a 33 cent box wine on her 21st birthday...we have yet to drink it, but I'll let you all know...

I could go on for hours about how the taxis are all Mercedes or Audis or how loudly the Spainards talk or how there is a bakery on literally every corner, but I will have to save these things for later.

As for me, now....It's 3:20 pm here. We just finished lunch, and as you've learned in this post..It's time to ¡echar la siesta!

La Vida Española

¿Que tal amigos?

Now that I've been here a few days (and gotten used to a few new things), I thought it would be a good idea to describe a typical day...but don't worry, I won't include too many details.

I took my "prueba de nivel" (placement test) and I am in level 6 (which is the lowest advanced group-the possibilities were 1-9). This means that for the first month or so that I am here, I will be taking Spanish class (grammar & oral expression you could call it) four hours a day. After a month, we will switch to "normal" classes; the options include everything from business to Moorish art (all taught in Spanish). We also have a Spanish Culture class that will last the whole semester. It is two days per week for another two hours. Today I was in class for 6 hours! I haven't had that much class in one day since middle school! Whoever said studying abroad was a complete breeze obviously went somewhere else!

Each weekday morning, Maria (my roommate from the University of Portland) and I wake up, get ready and by 8:10 am leave our little apartment. We live here with Manuela (our angel of a host mother) and Carlos and Conchi (Manuela's niece and nephew who are both in their twenties). The trade-off of having a great family is that we live extremely far from the school where we study. We need about 40 minutes to walk all the way across the city each day (it's about 2 miles). I've really been enjoying the walk, but today i caved and bought a bus pass (the weather has been extremely precipitous)! Lunch is the most important meal of the day in Spain, and so we have to come home each day to eat after class. Then, it's the custom to take a little nap (one of my favorite traditions here). After the siesta, most days, we end up walking back towards town to meet up with friends, do homework, go to culture class, have a drink, tapear (eat tapas/small plates-more on this later), or go out. This makes 8 miles in walking just for the commute! Believe me, my feet are feeling the pain!

Manuela says we will get used to it, but for now, I will just keep wearing different shoes each day!

Sorry for the somewhat mundane post, I will think of more interesting things to say, I promise! :)

For now, I will just say that the city is beautiful, my living situation is almost ideal (minus the marathon commute), & I'm very happy here!


hasta pronto.

Leeth
(that's how spanish people say Liz!)

Hola Europa

Dearest friends and family,

Welcome to my blog! Although I'm not familiar with the cyberspace protocol, I wanted to post before I embarked and to make note of my initial feelings and expectations.. Unfortunately, i had planned to do this from the airport where I expected to find free wi-fi. When I discovered that it wasn’t free, I decided to save my euros for more important things (like visiting friends in other parts of Europe!)…So here I am, already in Granada communicating with those of you back at home. As you may or may not know, I am beginning my adventures a few days late, and before I dive into this, I want to take a moment to explain my delayed departure. My grandfather, Milt Reiterman, passed away late evening December 29th and I decided to stay in the bay area for his funeral. He was a truly remarkable man, (evident in the hundreds of people whose lives he touched that were able to attend his funeral rosary and mass). I will never forget his warm laugh, passion for social justice, and big heart. He was the most generous person I know and has always been an inspiration. He would want me to leave on this adventure with an open and willing mind, ready for anything. He believed that if something was worth doing, it was worth doing well and BIG. I can only hope to accomplish half as much and touch close to as many lives as he did.

Now, my plan was to update you all on my day's adventures, but i am just way too tired. Instead, I will just write some random thoughts!

Things I learned on Lufthansa flight 455:
1. (Most) Americans must have something programmed in our DNA to dislike bubbly water because everyone else seems to prefer it.
2. If you sleep through peanuts, you can't have them later
3. yes they actually weigh your carry on!
4. and even though it's a 10 hour flight and they turn off all the lights, it's still impossible to sleep.

...post flight, I discovered that it's quite easy to avoid customs (but don't worry I would have passed through with flying colors had they stopped me) & that my spanish is way better than I thought it would be!! In my jet lag daze, however, I realized that the first person to speak Spanish to me was a janitor who politely laughed and told me that I was walking into the men's restroom...

Hopefully things will get easier with sleep. Which is what I am about to do!

¡¡Hasta pronto!!