Today is my LAST day of school here at Orippo. I have the last hour of the day free on Wednesdays and I am still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I don't have to come back here on Monday. I have lived in Sevilla and taught in Dos Hermanas for a full eight months. Even though I have complained about my school (and I am not really THAT sad to go) everyone has been really nice and said how much they will miss me, especially my little niños. They had a party for me yesterday and alot of them brought me presents! The girls brought a vareity of fashion pastic jewlery and one boy brought me a little angel statue. I thought none of the teachers really even knew why I was there but today la directora (who as of last month couldn't remember my name) presented me with a gift from the whole staff and proceeded to serenade me with "Porque es una chica stupenda..." Turns out Noelia got the gift of course, but hey, I'll take whatever good juju I can get.
I have learned so much this year, but I as I continue travelling and learning, the more discover how little I have seen and how much there still is to learn. Since February I have been debating the idea of renewing my teaching contract and staying here in Spain for another year. It has taken me months to decide what I want to do because both lists of pros and cons are long. (And we know how I feel about lists.)
Cons:
1. Not exactly getting the whole career/money making thing off with a bang. I make enough to get by and to travel on the weekends but I can't really save anything... or pay those pesky student loans... love you mom and dad!
2. I MISS MY FAMILY
3. I MISS MY FREINDS
4. Although this blog may suggest otherwise, living and working in another country, even one as beautiful and wonderful as Spain, is not easy. You take for granted being able to handle problems that arrive in your own native language. Try arguing with Spaniards sometime; not for the timid. Plus, one always seems to forget appropriate vocabulary when under pressure, or at least I do.
5. It gets lonely sometimes.
6. Spanish buerocracy is the horror of the universe.
7. The big one:One of the main rules for renewal is that if you want to repeat, you must repeat in the SAME CENTER. Yes, another year with the gypsies, the shit administration, mi enemigo juan anontio, the terror directora, all of it. AND, Noelia is not coming back. I have been saved this year by essentialy being her classroom aide. That way I was able to get used to the kids, they got used to me, and WOW, they actually LEARNED a few things!!! On my own however, going from class to class for an hour at a time, would not only be horrible, but also completely pointless and fruitless. I have tried a little with the 6th grade this year and the results have been nil. They are freaking animals. They literally just scream and run around the whole time. How am I supposed to teach them if they are too busy beating the crap out of each other to listen?
Pros:
1. Spain is beautiful.
2. Sevilla is beautiful and a great place to live. It's a great city and I have had a wonderful time here.
3. Although my Spanish has improved a lot, I still have a LONG way to go toward fluency. Living with Americans this year has been great for freindships and moral support, but not so good for the Spanish. It's just easier to spend time with people that understand you and make you feel comfortable. Next year I want to live with Spanish speakers AND take Spanish language classes at the University of Sevilla.
4. I have the travel bug. I have seen this year that I can make it work moneywise and I have big ideas for next year. I want to take less trips, save up and go farther. Greece. Ireland. Brussels. Prague. Rome....
5. This year I have gotten the hang of life here. The city, the people, what to expect and what not to expect. For example, something that one would THINK would take 10 minutes..... try 40. etc. The restaurant opens at 8, .... well they don't actually serve food until 9, feel free to wait though. Stores open at 5.... so they may or may not come back from seista... maybe 5, maybe 5:30, 6... The conversation of the two dudes behind the desk at the train station is MUCH more important than the train you are missing as a result.
I have learned that you can't uptight here. It's pointless. You just need to go with the flow, and accept the fact that things you want to accomplish today, may very well not happen for reasons beyond your control. But there is always tommorow.
6.I also have a few freinds Here. Well... like 2.5 really. Maybe 3.5 but hey that is a start, and way more than I had coming in this year. My freind and language partner Macarena has been an amazing help to me. She has been helping not only with Spanish vocab, but also with whatever other questions I have. Last night, she went with me putting up flyers for apartments next year (all in her neighborhood which is of course the best one). AND next week we are going to London together! I have been helping her with her English so next week she is going to get to practice a LOT and for once I can be the one to guide her through a city. Not that I know my way around London whatsoever but hey, I do know the language! Also, my very good freind Hayley Salvo is staying in Puerto, which is only an hour train ride away. We have some big plans for next year. I am also going on family vaycay with her later this month! Hooray!
7. STILL have not found the Spanish boyfreind yet!!! I do not know WHAT the problem is. Last time I was here, I literally had more novios than I knew what to do with but this time.... I just dont know! What, am I used goods at 22?!! Well, I am not having it. Next year, it's on. You know, for the language practice ;)
7. I MAY still be able to switch schools. It's actually not looking particularly good for switching lately, but, they have told me that if it is bad next year that they will switch me then. What I am saying is that it I already KNOW the situation there, and that it isn't good.... pero bueno, vamos a ver....
8. ....Basically, I'm set. I have so much left to learn and do, I'm so young, an it's just too easy paperwork-wise and just because now I am used to things, I have jobs, freinds, etc. to pass up. I feel like I have made most of the mistakes this year so I hit the ground running next year. I have 10 hours a week of tutoring already from this year, I am going to get a bike, I know where I want to live, I am going to take a class.... I'm just set. I have the rest of my life to work at the career that I will have for the rest of my life. So it basically came down to......
WHY NOT???
But don't fret too much everyone. I will be home for a full 3 months this summer, Christmas, then I will be back next june, for good. (well, you know, most likely ;*) I figure 2 years of langauge acquisition, life experience, and general enjoyment of one's youth, has got be worth waiting until age 24 to start grad school and then a career. Yeah, I think it will be just fine.
Just in case you are still not convinced.... check out my pics from this past weekend:
My favorite americans in Spain at the beach! ...what can I say.... life is GOOD!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/SurfSUpDude
I will be home in just about 3 weeks!
besos,
mc
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Alycia came to visit!
Hello all,
My how time flies when you are having fun! I can NOT beleive it is May already! Time flew especially fast the past two weeks because Alycia came to vist! We went out in Sevilla some, then we went to the feria in El Puerto so that Alycia could experience probably the most typical Spanish thing that there is, with the flamenca dresses, the tapas, el rebujito, dancing sevillanas and general revelry por todas partes.
Then had to come back to work, and I brought her in to meet my little gypsy darlings. Haha and she survived, although after 20 minutes we were literally running out the gate to catch the train back to Sevilla.
On Friday we caught a bus to Lagos, Portugal! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! The most gorgous beaches have ever seen. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend. We went to the beach traquilamente, went to delicious dining establishments, we partook of the culture via the local pubs. Actually, there is nothing to be found of actual Portugese people or culture in the bars or restaurants n Lagos, since they are all filled with European tourist, mostly British, with the occasional aussie surfer thrown in. Even most of the people that work there are not locals. But we still enjoyed ourselves very much, none the less. We actaully ran into some other teachers from Sevilla there, without even planning on it, thus showing that Lagos is quite the place to be.
All in all, Alycia said that her trip was perfect because she got to do the authentic Spanish thing, but also got to go to an entirely new country. I'm good, what can I say.
As always, pictures are much better at explaining than words : http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/ALYCIA
Hope all is well at home!
I will be back in SIX WEEKS! Get your party shoes on!!!
Besos,
Mary Claire
My how time flies when you are having fun! I can NOT beleive it is May already! Time flew especially fast the past two weeks because Alycia came to vist! We went out in Sevilla some, then we went to the feria in El Puerto so that Alycia could experience probably the most typical Spanish thing that there is, with the flamenca dresses, the tapas, el rebujito, dancing sevillanas and general revelry por todas partes.
Then had to come back to work, and I brought her in to meet my little gypsy darlings. Haha and she survived, although after 20 minutes we were literally running out the gate to catch the train back to Sevilla.
On Friday we caught a bus to Lagos, Portugal! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! The most gorgous beaches have ever seen. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend. We went to the beach traquilamente, went to delicious dining establishments, we partook of the culture via the local pubs. Actually, there is nothing to be found of actual Portugese people or culture in the bars or restaurants n Lagos, since they are all filled with European tourist, mostly British, with the occasional aussie surfer thrown in. Even most of the people that work there are not locals. But we still enjoyed ourselves very much, none the less. We actaully ran into some other teachers from Sevilla there, without even planning on it, thus showing that Lagos is quite the place to be.
All in all, Alycia said that her trip was perfect because she got to do the authentic Spanish thing, but also got to go to an entirely new country. I'm good, what can I say.
As always, pictures are much better at explaining than words : http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/ALYCIA
Hope all is well at home!
I will be back in SIX WEEKS! Get your party shoes on!!!
Besos,
Mary Claire
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Feria and since...
Ok, finally, here are my pictures from Feria:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/FeriaDeAbril
Not entirely my fault, my computer screen recently decided to die, so I have been using maggie's computer.. don't know if I will have time to fix mine before it is time to come home... oh yeah! I am coming home slightly earlier than expected for the summer, JUNE 21st! basically because I am going to travel to london and germany early in the month and after that I will be out of money with nothing to do adn no one to do it with. soooo I figured rather than chilling in my apartment in Sevilla (which will be unbearably hot by then) why not just hang out at home?!!
ANYway, feria, as you can see from the pictures, was pretty sweet. Sevilla has the biggest and most famous feria in the south of Spain so it was pretty cool that we got to go. The only problem for most extranjeros, or anyone who hasn't been in Sevilla very long, is that most of the casetas (party tents that make up most of the feria) are private, so you need to know someone to get in. There are a few public ones but they are, of course, crowded. Luckily, we are super cool and popular so we always had somewhere to go. AND, we are SO cool and important that in one of our freind's casetas we met the President of Andalucia!!! NEEEEAT!!! iIt would be like if you randomly met Aaaarnold downtown.... uhhh sweet!! He happens to be a mutual freind's uncle.... yeah.... we are kind of a big deal. I don't have the picture yet because it is on someone else's camera but when I do I will post it here!
Since then I have mostly just been working, it rained through feria and has been kind of yucky sincethen but this week it has started to clear up. Just in time, because my old 'pareja en crimen' Alycia will be arriving at the train station in just a few hours!!! This weekend we are going to go see a smaller feria in El Puerto de Santa Maria and stay at Hayley's. So, I will have to lend Alycia some of my feria gear: big earrings, flower to match the outfit, etc. Then I am planning on bringing her into school one day so someone from my life will get to see what my little gypsies are really like! After that is another puente (they do love thier long weekends here, God bless Spain) and we are going to Lagos, Portugal! It is only a short 4 hour bus ride away, I am excited!
After that there will only be one short month left of school, I can not beleive it!
Home all is well with everyone,
MC
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/FeriaDeAbril
Not entirely my fault, my computer screen recently decided to die, so I have been using maggie's computer.. don't know if I will have time to fix mine before it is time to come home... oh yeah! I am coming home slightly earlier than expected for the summer, JUNE 21st! basically because I am going to travel to london and germany early in the month and after that I will be out of money with nothing to do adn no one to do it with. soooo I figured rather than chilling in my apartment in Sevilla (which will be unbearably hot by then) why not just hang out at home?!!
ANYway, feria, as you can see from the pictures, was pretty sweet. Sevilla has the biggest and most famous feria in the south of Spain so it was pretty cool that we got to go. The only problem for most extranjeros, or anyone who hasn't been in Sevilla very long, is that most of the casetas (party tents that make up most of the feria) are private, so you need to know someone to get in. There are a few public ones but they are, of course, crowded. Luckily, we are super cool and popular so we always had somewhere to go. AND, we are SO cool and important that in one of our freind's casetas we met the President of Andalucia!!! NEEEEAT!!! iIt would be like if you randomly met Aaaarnold downtown.... uhhh sweet!! He happens to be a mutual freind's uncle.... yeah.... we are kind of a big deal. I don't have the picture yet because it is on someone else's camera but when I do I will post it here!
Since then I have mostly just been working, it rained through feria and has been kind of yucky sincethen but this week it has started to clear up. Just in time, because my old 'pareja en crimen' Alycia will be arriving at the train station in just a few hours!!! This weekend we are going to go see a smaller feria in El Puerto de Santa Maria and stay at Hayley's. So, I will have to lend Alycia some of my feria gear: big earrings, flower to match the outfit, etc. Then I am planning on bringing her into school one day so someone from my life will get to see what my little gypsies are really like! After that is another puente (they do love thier long weekends here, God bless Spain) and we are going to Lagos, Portugal! It is only a short 4 hour bus ride away, I am excited!
After that there will only be one short month left of school, I can not beleive it!
Home all is well with everyone,
MC
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
We went to Barcelona... and now its Feria!
hey hey,
I have been slacking with the blogs!
OK to sum up Barcelona:
I had been there before but neither of my roommates had so we did the must see touristy places, most having something to do with Gaudi. We went to the Scrada Familia which wascool because when I went 2 years ago I only saw the outside.The we went to see some of Gaudi's buildings and went inside La Casa Mila which was also very cool. Gaudi has a kind of Dr. Seuss style which I dig. WE stayed in a rather crappy hostel but it had a really cool location, right in El Barrio Gotico. Lots of cool shops and tapas places. Like Granada, Barcelona has a cool, hippy vibe but it is also very modern. It also feels like you have gone to a totally different country since the regional language is Catalan, not Spanish. We also stopped by the Picasso museum and of course we went to the Parque Guell.
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Barcelona
Now were are in the week of Feria here in Sevilla. Feria, which literally means "fair", is NOT a couple of cow stables, a hot dog eating contest and a Ferris wheel Although there is a wheel there somewhere, Feria is mosly made up of tents where people have parties all week along. A lot of them are private parties but others are basically bars that people can go in, dance, drink manzanilla (a strong wine tpical of the region), eat tapas and repeat.
Last night I went over to out friend Mati's house to celebrate the "alumbrado" or turning on of the lights which signifies the official start of Feria. We ate the traditional fried fish and drank manzanilla of course and then marched over to the Feria to watch them switch on all the lights at midnight. Once the lights were turned on everyone cheered and kissed each other, just like new years. We went in for a little and managed to get away by 2am, pretty good for a school night. Getting up at seven was rough this morning though, I must admit. I have to work one more day this week, even though my lucky roommates who teach in Sevilla proper do not! I was supposed to go to the Feria today but since it was POURING RAIN plans got canceled for today. It is supposed to keep raining all week long. The sevillanos say it never fails, it always rains during Feria. You couldn't really tell last night, the rain did not stop anyone from coming out, it was FULL of people, all dresses to the nines of course. I am definitely going either tomorrow or Thursday though, rain or shine!
Hasta Luego,
MC
I have been slacking with the blogs!
OK to sum up Barcelona:
I had been there before but neither of my roommates had so we did the must see touristy places, most having something to do with Gaudi. We went to the Scrada Familia which wascool because when I went 2 years ago I only saw the outside.The we went to see some of Gaudi's buildings and went inside La Casa Mila which was also very cool. Gaudi has a kind of Dr. Seuss style which I dig. WE stayed in a rather crappy hostel but it had a really cool location, right in El Barrio Gotico. Lots of cool shops and tapas places. Like Granada, Barcelona has a cool, hippy vibe but it is also very modern. It also feels like you have gone to a totally different country since the regional language is Catalan, not Spanish. We also stopped by the Picasso museum and of course we went to the Parque Guell.
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Barcelona
Now were are in the week of Feria here in Sevilla. Feria, which literally means "fair", is NOT a couple of cow stables, a hot dog eating contest and a Ferris wheel Although there is a wheel there somewhere, Feria is mosly made up of tents where people have parties all week along. A lot of them are private parties but others are basically bars that people can go in, dance, drink manzanilla (a strong wine tpical of the region), eat tapas and repeat.
Last night I went over to out friend Mati's house to celebrate the "alumbrado" or turning on of the lights which signifies the official start of Feria. We ate the traditional fried fish and drank manzanilla of course and then marched over to the Feria to watch them switch on all the lights at midnight. Once the lights were turned on everyone cheered and kissed each other, just like new years. We went in for a little and managed to get away by 2am, pretty good for a school night. Getting up at seven was rough this morning though, I must admit. I have to work one more day this week, even though my lucky roommates who teach in Sevilla proper do not! I was supposed to go to the Feria today but since it was POURING RAIN plans got canceled for today. It is supposed to keep raining all week long. The sevillanos say it never fails, it always rains during Feria. You couldn't really tell last night, the rain did not stop anyone from coming out, it was FULL of people, all dresses to the nines of course. I am definitely going either tomorrow or Thursday though, rain or shine!
Hasta Luego,
MC
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Semana Santa was 2 weeks ago... and it was awesome
Some of you still may have spring break, some have may have already (or long since) delved into the work world which does not cordially provide a week-long hiatus, but as for me, working as a teacher does have its perks! Yes, even though I have graduated from 17 years of organized schooling I still got to enjoy a spring break, although not like any I have had before. In spain it is not called ´spring break´of course, but, it being a dominantly catholic country, ´Semana Santa´, or Holy Week. In Sevilla especially, it is a very big to do.
The week before easter is actaully a bigger event than easter itself. All week long different churches around the city process with relgious ´floats´if you will, depicting different scenes of the passion of christ. And, if the church organization is really fancy, the have the jesus float AND a virgin mary one too. I went out to see many of these porcessions on Palm Sunday which was the most important day and it was quite impressive and unlike anything else I have ever seen. Luckily, my roommate Jennifer went with our native sevilla freind Mati, who has attended around 30 Semana Santa´s in sevilla, and she was more than happy to tell us all of the relative information and history of every procession that we saw. She also knew where to stand and how to get all of the best camera angels. Pays to know people. Monday we all went out with Mati again and hit some of the most popular processions, which meant TONS of people, stacked like sardins, waiting for an hour to watch a Jesús y la Virgín pass by. It was an experience.
By Tuesday I felt that I had absorbed a great deal of culture and history and felt it was time to do as many of the Sevillanos do and get the heck out of town to escape the literally thundering hoards of people that come in to see Semana Santa in Sevilla. So, I caught a bus down to Barbate in Cadiz to see my dear amiga Julia. We had big plans for going to the beach and surfing since she has an AMAZINGLY situated apartment, right on the beach with an amazing veiw. (She can SEE africa from her balcony. no joke.) I arrived late Tuesday afternoon, we can a cerveza byt he beach, some delicious tapas and observed the beach. Unfortunatly, by Wednesday mroning the weather had changed and it RAINED for the remainder of our beach weekend. sigh. we managed to entertain ourselves but we were getting a little stir crazy by the end.
Saturday Julia and Hayley came back up with me to Sevilla to attend Lydia´s going-away party as she had to back to Germany last week, sad!!! We will miss Lydia :(
As usual, photos are better at explaining than words, so here you go:
http://picasaweb.google.es/mclauerman/MiSemanaSanta
Take care!
Beso,
mary claire
The week before easter is actaully a bigger event than easter itself. All week long different churches around the city process with relgious ´floats´if you will, depicting different scenes of the passion of christ. And, if the church organization is really fancy, the have the jesus float AND a virgin mary one too. I went out to see many of these porcessions on Palm Sunday which was the most important day and it was quite impressive and unlike anything else I have ever seen. Luckily, my roommate Jennifer went with our native sevilla freind Mati, who has attended around 30 Semana Santa´s in sevilla, and she was more than happy to tell us all of the relative information and history of every procession that we saw. She also knew where to stand and how to get all of the best camera angels. Pays to know people. Monday we all went out with Mati again and hit some of the most popular processions, which meant TONS of people, stacked like sardins, waiting for an hour to watch a Jesús y la Virgín pass by. It was an experience.
By Tuesday I felt that I had absorbed a great deal of culture and history and felt it was time to do as many of the Sevillanos do and get the heck out of town to escape the literally thundering hoards of people that come in to see Semana Santa in Sevilla. So, I caught a bus down to Barbate in Cadiz to see my dear amiga Julia. We had big plans for going to the beach and surfing since she has an AMAZINGLY situated apartment, right on the beach with an amazing veiw. (She can SEE africa from her balcony. no joke.) I arrived late Tuesday afternoon, we can a cerveza byt he beach, some delicious tapas and observed the beach. Unfortunatly, by Wednesday mroning the weather had changed and it RAINED for the remainder of our beach weekend. sigh. we managed to entertain ourselves but we were getting a little stir crazy by the end.
Saturday Julia and Hayley came back up with me to Sevilla to attend Lydia´s going-away party as she had to back to Germany last week, sad!!! We will miss Lydia :(
As usual, photos are better at explaining than words, so here you go:
http://picasaweb.google.es/mclauerman/MiSemanaSanta
Take care!
Beso,
mary claire
Monday, March 17, 2008
England and since
Well I am sitting here with my cafe con leche and my torilla having breakfast, its 9:00am and I do not not technically need to be up this early. MY GOD WHY you ask? Because today I have to delve into the horrific world of (dun dun) Spanish buerocracy!! Yeah I have to run around town to collect some paperwork, and already there is a delay. SO, why not take this opportunity to catch on the bloggings...
England
On March 6th I actually boarded a flight and affectually flew from Sevilla to Gatwick airport, a grand sucess. (I now approve on the use of ClicAir airlines if anyone was looking for recommendations and/or my permission.) I had a lovely weekend relaxing and visiting with my family! Since I had basically been working since I got back from Morocco and then essentially boarded a plan to England, I was very tired so relaxing in Sevenoakes was a lovely change of pace. Papa made sure there were locally brewed ales in the house for me to try I had a great time catching up with Nana, Papa Lou and Mary. I also had the great pleasure of meeting Caitlin and visiting with her predocessors Rosie and missus Eeeefs! I even had the pleasure of witnessing a magicalfairyprincess dance performance, of which I have pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Primas
Nana and Papa showed me around the town and on the way back from a Pub visit with Papa I also got a cornish pasty; one mission accomplished! With all of the visiting and relaxing I didn't have a chance to take the train into Lodon but I think I may do that in June when I will basically be hanging around Europe with no idea what to do with myself. I am sure I will figure something out.
Since...
Today's date being March 17th, it is St. Patrick's Day! One of my favorite days at home, we are going to try to remember it here. Should be interesting though, since we are in the midst of Sevilla's famous Semana Santa, or Holy Week. I went out and saw several of the "pasos" yesterday which are tradtional relagious processions from individual churches in town that process to the cathedral and back again. Yesterday's Palm Sunday performance was very impressive. It relaly is like nothing else you have ever seen before. Today we will surely see some more, because to go anywhere in Sevilla during Semana Santa is to see pasos and to be surrounded by TONS of people because people come in from all around to see it. Today we will be of course immersing ourselves in Spanish culture but also remembering a bit of our own with St. Patty's. Basically we are going to stop in for a Guiness between pasos. I think that's more than fair.
During Semana Santa, the truely typcial Sevillano (or person that lives in Sevilla) thing to do is to take a vacation and get the heck out of town before all of the droves of people get in. So, after a few days of pasos I an going to take their example and head down to my friend Julia's place in Barbate, which happens o be right on the beach! It is spring break, after all.
I got a lot of really awesome pictures yesterday and I am sure I will get more today and I will post those soon!
Take care everone and HAPPY EASTER!!!
<3,
mc
England
On March 6th I actually boarded a flight and affectually flew from Sevilla to Gatwick airport, a grand sucess. (I now approve on the use of ClicAir airlines if anyone was looking for recommendations and/or my permission.) I had a lovely weekend relaxing and visiting with my family! Since I had basically been working since I got back from Morocco and then essentially boarded a plan to England, I was very tired so relaxing in Sevenoakes was a lovely change of pace. Papa made sure there were locally brewed ales in the house for me to try I had a great time catching up with Nana, Papa Lou and Mary. I also had the great pleasure of meeting Caitlin and visiting with her predocessors Rosie and missus Eeeefs! I even had the pleasure of witnessing a magicalfairyprincess dance performance, of which I have pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Primas
Nana and Papa showed me around the town and on the way back from a Pub visit with Papa I also got a cornish pasty; one mission accomplished! With all of the visiting and relaxing I didn't have a chance to take the train into Lodon but I think I may do that in June when I will basically be hanging around Europe with no idea what to do with myself. I am sure I will figure something out.
Since...
Today's date being March 17th, it is St. Patrick's Day! One of my favorite days at home, we are going to try to remember it here. Should be interesting though, since we are in the midst of Sevilla's famous Semana Santa, or Holy Week. I went out and saw several of the "pasos" yesterday which are tradtional relagious processions from individual churches in town that process to the cathedral and back again. Yesterday's Palm Sunday performance was very impressive. It relaly is like nothing else you have ever seen before. Today we will surely see some more, because to go anywhere in Sevilla during Semana Santa is to see pasos and to be surrounded by TONS of people because people come in from all around to see it. Today we will be of course immersing ourselves in Spanish culture but also remembering a bit of our own with St. Patty's. Basically we are going to stop in for a Guiness between pasos. I think that's more than fair.
During Semana Santa, the truely typcial Sevillano (or person that lives in Sevilla) thing to do is to take a vacation and get the heck out of town before all of the droves of people get in. So, after a few days of pasos I an going to take their example and head down to my friend Julia's place in Barbate, which happens o be right on the beach! It is spring break, after all.
I got a lot of really awesome pictures yesterday and I am sure I will get more today and I will post those soon!
Take care everone and HAPPY EASTER!!!
<3,
mc
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Morocco post (events of Fabruary 28-March 2)
*I have been quite a busy lady for the past 2-3 weeks, so, as a result, I am quite behind with my bloggings! I am going to break it up by major events, so don't be confused by conflicting dates. Today ( March 13th, the actaul date) is by first day of "spring break" or Semana Santa as they call it here. But I will update on more current events in a later post, as to stay in cronological order.*
Morocco
We set out to explore a new continent on Thursday and althought Morocco is a relative hopskip from Spain, it was still a pretty long journey. First we (my roommates Maggie and Jennifer, Lydia and myself) caught about a 3 hour bus from Sevilla to Algeciras and met up with our other travel companions to catch the 1 hour fast ferry to Tangier, Morocco.
Now let's pause for a moment to talk about preconceptions. Pretty much everyone we talked to warned us about the dangers of Morocco and told to keep our wits about us, make sure to use the buddy system, not to go out at night, etc. We were also told that between Spanish and English, we should have been able to communicate with everyone there. The latter statement turned out to be highly untrue (the population of Morocco mostly speaking Arabic and the only Western European language being French... by the way which none of us speak), so between these two factors we were a little jumpy when we first arrived. For example: After we discovered that we would not be able to lock our bags and would thus have to lug them around all day thus making us stick our even more as stupid tourists, we decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and take a taxi to some point in the city that our tiny guidebook said was sightworthy and go explore. Six of us piled into one taxi (they do not seem to be very uptight about seatbelts in Morocco) and we pointed on our map(our driver only knew french) to the written out place where we wanted to go. Now in HINDSIGHT we were very unnecissarily silly... but as the taxi approached a dark, narrow ally, with no tourists in sight and children started jumping on the trunk of the car (which didnt close, they could have snatched our bags) and then the alley ended in a dead end with a huge pile or particularly jagged looking rocks... and as the taxi pulled up there were about 20 men outside staring at us... we basically freaked out. Now, the poor taxi guy- he took us exactly where we said we wanted to go, we only had to walk around and there was an opening to the beach where we wanted to go to take scenic pictures. But, in that moment of panic, we lost sight of calm reasoning. I think it was Lydia, who only knew a few words of French that took charge of telling the man to keep driving and that our journey would NOT be ending in a dead end ally with a huge pile of rocks. We all started making motions wanting to go to a restaurant to eat something (ie somewhere populated where no one could stone us to death). Finally we found the common word sandwich, and we all started desperatly saying "WEI, WEI, SAN-WISH!!!!!" He was very confused but indulged us and took us to hi sfavorite sandwich shop, all the way back in the center of town. We all payed him double what we orginally agreed on and practically fell into this sandwich place.
There, in our sandwich haven, we took a deep breath collected ourselves, and laughed at how silly we had been. From that point on, half of the group decided to relax in the train station with the bags and Lydia, Hayley and I decided to explore Tangier a little bit. We found the market, which was very cool. Hayley flexed haggling muscles and bought herself a carpet!!! I was so proud, for the rest of the weekend she was our haggling, ball-bustin secret weapon. At 9pm it was time to board the night train for Marakesh! I had never taken a sleeper train before, it was fun! There are these teeny rooms with 2 bunk beds each. there were six of us so we split up 3 and 3 and in our little cabin we had an interesting character. She was an Irish artist that decided to move to a town ourside Marakesh to inspire her painting. She calmed alot of our nerves about Morocco and laughed at our taxi story. She said that it was actaully much safer in Morocco then in a lot of places in the US or in Europe. I always seem to be the one that the crazies like to keep talking to (haha, christ, what does that say about me...) and let's just say by the time that I pretended to have fallen asleep so she would stop talking I figured it was best to take any of her advice with a grain of salt.
We arrived in Marakesh about 8am, and set out to finish of riad (hostal). This proved to be a little challenging, considering our cabbie kinda knew where it was sort of, but not exactly. We found it, even though it was labeled as a restuarant and not as a hotel. A genius undercover operative, Jennifer pointed out. By the afternoon we all all figured out the showers and were ready to see the sights of Marakesh. Let's note here that Lydia picked up two stray Germans on the way that were having some bad luck (ie didn't plan ahead ie didnt book anywhere to stay... how very un-german of them) and luckily for them, even though our hostal was technically our place was booked, they let them stay on a few couches. So then there were 8 of us. The Americans decided to go check out the Souks market (proportedly the largest market in all of Africa) and the Germans took a bus tour. The market was really cool, complete with snake charmers, carpet sellers, spices, pick-pockets, aladdin-style shoes and pants... the wonders went on and on. That night we decided to error on the side of caution and went to eat at a place right next to our hostal (which was REALLY nice, a little out of our bidget but we figured what the hell) and then hung out on the rooftop terrace of our riad for the remainder of the evening.
The next day we went on a excursion outside of town which was SO AWESOME. Hayley signed us up and the deal was 45 euro for an all day trip which included a camel ride, a trip to a typica-berber (a nomadic people, or which many have settled outside of marakesh and still live in a very tradictional way) house, a hike up the atlas mountains to see waterfalls, and lunch. The drive itself was made it worht it, the scenery was amazing. I think the best way to describe this day is just to show the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Morocco
Basically after than we started out long journey back to Sevilla.
Ok, I will continue blogging later!
beso,
mc
Morocco
We set out to explore a new continent on Thursday and althought Morocco is a relative hopskip from Spain, it was still a pretty long journey. First we (my roommates Maggie and Jennifer, Lydia and myself) caught about a 3 hour bus from Sevilla to Algeciras and met up with our other travel companions to catch the 1 hour fast ferry to Tangier, Morocco.
Now let's pause for a moment to talk about preconceptions. Pretty much everyone we talked to warned us about the dangers of Morocco and told to keep our wits about us, make sure to use the buddy system, not to go out at night, etc. We were also told that between Spanish and English, we should have been able to communicate with everyone there. The latter statement turned out to be highly untrue (the population of Morocco mostly speaking Arabic and the only Western European language being French... by the way which none of us speak), so between these two factors we were a little jumpy when we first arrived. For example: After we discovered that we would not be able to lock our bags and would thus have to lug them around all day thus making us stick our even more as stupid tourists, we decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and take a taxi to some point in the city that our tiny guidebook said was sightworthy and go explore. Six of us piled into one taxi (they do not seem to be very uptight about seatbelts in Morocco) and we pointed on our map(our driver only knew french) to the written out place where we wanted to go. Now in HINDSIGHT we were very unnecissarily silly... but as the taxi approached a dark, narrow ally, with no tourists in sight and children started jumping on the trunk of the car (which didnt close, they could have snatched our bags) and then the alley ended in a dead end with a huge pile or particularly jagged looking rocks... and as the taxi pulled up there were about 20 men outside staring at us... we basically freaked out. Now, the poor taxi guy- he took us exactly where we said we wanted to go, we only had to walk around and there was an opening to the beach where we wanted to go to take scenic pictures. But, in that moment of panic, we lost sight of calm reasoning. I think it was Lydia, who only knew a few words of French that took charge of telling the man to keep driving and that our journey would NOT be ending in a dead end ally with a huge pile of rocks. We all started making motions wanting to go to a restaurant to eat something (ie somewhere populated where no one could stone us to death). Finally we found the common word sandwich, and we all started desperatly saying "WEI, WEI, SAN-WISH!!!!!" He was very confused but indulged us and took us to hi sfavorite sandwich shop, all the way back in the center of town. We all payed him double what we orginally agreed on and practically fell into this sandwich place.
There, in our sandwich haven, we took a deep breath collected ourselves, and laughed at how silly we had been. From that point on, half of the group decided to relax in the train station with the bags and Lydia, Hayley and I decided to explore Tangier a little bit. We found the market, which was very cool. Hayley flexed haggling muscles and bought herself a carpet!!! I was so proud, for the rest of the weekend she was our haggling, ball-bustin secret weapon. At 9pm it was time to board the night train for Marakesh! I had never taken a sleeper train before, it was fun! There are these teeny rooms with 2 bunk beds each. there were six of us so we split up 3 and 3 and in our little cabin we had an interesting character. She was an Irish artist that decided to move to a town ourside Marakesh to inspire her painting. She calmed alot of our nerves about Morocco and laughed at our taxi story. She said that it was actaully much safer in Morocco then in a lot of places in the US or in Europe. I always seem to be the one that the crazies like to keep talking to (haha, christ, what does that say about me...) and let's just say by the time that I pretended to have fallen asleep so she would stop talking I figured it was best to take any of her advice with a grain of salt.
We arrived in Marakesh about 8am, and set out to finish of riad (hostal). This proved to be a little challenging, considering our cabbie kinda knew where it was sort of, but not exactly. We found it, even though it was labeled as a restuarant and not as a hotel. A genius undercover operative, Jennifer pointed out. By the afternoon we all all figured out the showers and were ready to see the sights of Marakesh. Let's note here that Lydia picked up two stray Germans on the way that were having some bad luck (ie didn't plan ahead ie didnt book anywhere to stay... how very un-german of them) and luckily for them, even though our hostal was technically our place was booked, they let them stay on a few couches. So then there were 8 of us. The Americans decided to go check out the Souks market (proportedly the largest market in all of Africa) and the Germans took a bus tour. The market was really cool, complete with snake charmers, carpet sellers, spices, pick-pockets, aladdin-style shoes and pants... the wonders went on and on. That night we decided to error on the side of caution and went to eat at a place right next to our hostal (which was REALLY nice, a little out of our bidget but we figured what the hell) and then hung out on the rooftop terrace of our riad for the remainder of the evening.
The next day we went on a excursion outside of town which was SO AWESOME. Hayley signed us up and the deal was 45 euro for an all day trip which included a camel ride, a trip to a typica-berber (a nomadic people, or which many have settled outside of marakesh and still live in a very tradictional way) house, a hike up the atlas mountains to see waterfalls, and lunch. The drive itself was made it worht it, the scenery was amazing. I think the best way to describe this day is just to show the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Morocco
Basically after than we started out long journey back to Sevilla.
Ok, I will continue blogging later!
beso,
mc
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
+252.jpg)
