These past few days have definitely been full of ups and downs, in terms of trips, weather... I'll rewind.
El viernes por la mañana (Friday morning), we got up nice and early para coger el autobús (catch the bus) to our meeting place for the Córdoba trip-- one of the 4 trips we take with our program. Surprisingly, the bus was NOT as full as I thought it might be. I guess as the weeks go by, people are planning trips for these weekends and don't think it's worth sacrificing a full weekend for a day trip. As for us, we are always ready to aprovecharnos de (take advantage of) these opportunities-- especially because they're included in the package por supuesto.
The bus left promptly at 8:30, and the ride was only about dos horas (2 hours). I'm not going to lie, or sugarcoat anything here-- when we pulled up, I was taken aback by how plain the city looked. And I don't like comparing cities in that way, because each one is distinto (distinct) and radiates something special. But everything there just seemed very plain, washed out... oh yeah, and the rivers looked like pure running barro (mud). I guess it didn't help that it was rainy and miserable weather, either.
The first thing we did when we got there was visit the Great Mosque (Mezquita). I was really looking forward to this because it was a huge topic covered in our Art History class, so it definitely had meaning. To give you a little bit of history, the Mezquita was initially built in the place of an old Christian Visigoth Iglesia (Church) [San Vicente], and was ultimately considered the most important sanctuary of Western Islam when Córdoba was actually the capital of Al-Andalus-- you would never know that now. After Córdoba fell during the Spanish Reconquista (Reconquest), the Mezquita was finally turned into a church. The architecture is very impressive, and the mihrab, or prayer niche, is stunning. Traditionally, the mihrab indicates the direction of Mecca, and thus the direction the people must face when they pray. This particular mihrab, however, points south (versus east-southeast). The tour guide said there were multiple explanations out there as to why it isn't facing the traditional direction, but they all seem to have escaped me...
Also unique to the Mezquita are the rows upon rows of superimposed red and white arches that look like they could stretch on into infinity-- definitely take a look at these pictures, it's like being in a maze or a forest almost. We learned in class that the architectural design of these arches represents a flat out negación (denial) of the principals of pass and weight, such that it doesn't respect gravity-- instead, there is an immense, weighty bulk at the top of the arches, as opposed to the bottom, drawing your eye to the visual information on top. It seems like the architects were just rebels all around!
After seeing the Mezquita, we took a short walking tour around the "heart" of this small city. We walked through a few different patios (courtyards) that had once been residential and were later converted into more public property. A long time ago, families would open their private patios for a special festival, where they would serve food and decorate their property (mainly with flowers) in hopes of winning the big patio contest.
Our next stop on the tour was within the small Jewish Quarter to see the Córdoba Synagogue... well, what remained at least. We walked right into the tiny little courtyard and entered right into the main prayer room, which was no more than 20ft x 20 ft. We could see that there was another level (the women's gallery), but we weren't allowed up. I was kind of ticked off that the guide didn't talk too much about it-- the one and only synagogue in all of Andalusia! I raised my hand because I was curious about where the Jews of Córdoba go to pray, considering this synagogue is no longer utilized for prayer. She kind of laughed-- "No hay Judíos que viven en Córdoba" (there are no Jews here). All righty then... Outside the courtyard is a statue of Maimonides, one of the most renown Torah scholars of the Middle Ages, who happened to have been born in Córdoba.
The final stop-- or should I say pause-- was at the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (Alcázar of the Christian Monarchs). Although it had once been a primary residence of Ferdinand and Isabella, it didn't warrant much explanation from the guide who rushed us right through the palace and out to the Moorish influenced gardens.
From then on, we had free time-- demasiado (too much) considering how little there was to do with the 4 hours they were giving us. We walked around a lot and it luckily stopped raining, so we plopped down and had our bocadillos (sandwiches) that Vicki prepared. The rest of the day was literally about figuring out how to navigate the winding roads, which all managed to somehow create one big circle we couldn't break out of. By complete chance, we wound up back in the heart of the Jewish Quarter and found ourselves in front of La Casa de Sefarad (The House of Sepharad-- House of Memories). This exhibition is completely dedicated to the Judeo-Spanish (Sephardic) culture and has a handful of salas (rooms) to explore: The Domestic Life Room, The Women from Al-Andalus Room (SO cool), The Jewish Quarter of Cordoba Room, The Celebrations and Holidays Room, and the Sephardic Music Room. I guess my biggest revelation was that the "Hamsa" is a symbol shared in both Muslim and Jewish cultures, except the Muslims call it the "Hand of Fatima."
The rest of the day really just dragged on... Our biggest problem was that we still had sooooo much time left-- no fun in the rain. When it was finally time to go, we put our headphones in and passed out the remainder of the way home.
And so the much awaited GIBRALTAR trip had finally come... and, SORPRESA (SURPRISE)!! IT WAS MONSOON-ING LIKE WE'VE NEVER EXPERIENCED!! We bought the tickets through, non-refundable through DiscoverSevilla's excursions, so we were going [and now here I am with the worst cold of my life.. oh, hindsight...] It was nice to meet up with some Cornell people who were visiting from Madrid, so we were NOT low on entertainment by any means... pictures will be up soon.
They chartered 3 coach buses, and we were there in around 3 hours. The dreaded second we stepped off the bus to walk through customs and to the mini-bus tour area left me sin paraguas (without an umbrella) because it blew inside out due to viento muy fuerte (strong wind)... We we all in the same position thought, totalmente mojados (completely soaking wet) within 5 minutes of being there... great way to start off a full day! Believe it or not, though, we were in very high spirits at the time!
So the first thing we did was break off into smaller groups for our bus-tour of the Rock of Gibraltar with un hombre que hablaba muy malo inglés (a guide who spoke the worst English)... which is weird because it is a British colony and they do speak English there. We spent most of the tour just looking out the window and venturing guesses about what the sites must have represented. At one point, they had us get OFF the bus and take in the view of Europa Point, which you couldn't see anyway through the monsoon! After snapping like 3 pictures, we boarded the bus, sopping wet, again. We didn't really stop again until llegamos (we arrived) at St. Michael's Cave. We got to explore around-- kind of the same feel as that show, Legends of Hidden Temple. At the end of that tour, we were confronted by our amigos (friends) that we were so DESPERATELY awaiting: LOS MONOSSSSSS!!!!!! And were those monkeys friendly! These guys had no shame, running all over the place and sqwaking. Some lucky fans on our trip were even climbed on-- yes, the monkeys sat on people's heads and shoulders, modeling for the cameras. The cute little ones were swinging from everything, whereas the fatter ones just kind of plopped down in one spot for their photo shoots. It may have been raining, but valía la pena (it was worth it) to hang out with them for a little! Por fin (Finally), they had us get back on the bus to take us to the main Apes Den, where most of the monkey action took place. The second el conductor (the bus driver) opened the door, the mother of all monkeys ran on the bus and stole someone's lunch bag right out of their backpack and ran! It sat outside and, in front of everyone, tore right through it for a great feast. Well, they warned us about that... It was a lot of fun for the short time we were there.
After the excitement, we were left about 2.5-3 hours to explore the city... which we didn't really take advantage of because the rain just hadn't relented. Instead, our group made camp at a Subway "restaurant" we found-- how original-- and just ate and caught up. We were more than ready to leave when the time came, and so we boarded the buses-- really damp and uncomfortable-- and made the journey back to Sevilla.
Once again, we experienced the perks of living with such a great family when we came home. Ana was waiting for us anxiously-- it had been a full week since we'd seen her because she was in Paris, trabajando (working), and then we were away! She made us some hot tea and heated up a greaaaat dinner. We warmed up, talked our heads off, and were sent to bed-- "Niñas, NO salgáis!" (our orders: DO NOT GO OUT). Yes, Ana.
Laura and I woke up Sunday morning with the worst colds: Teníamos tos, escalofríos (we had coughs, chills), that throat drippy-thing... the works. We were really happy about having a lazy Sunday to just relax... we also had midterms to prepare for, anyway. The History of Art test was all essay prep-- we had the questions in advance, which was helpful. We got to write one at home, and prepare to write 3 in class-- piece of cake. We surprisingly spent more time reviewing than we ever thought we would-- 6 full hours! I'm sure no other student put in that kind of time, but one thing siempre (always) seems to lead to another with us.
On Monday afternoon, I had a nice heart-to-heart with Ana... It was really concerning her that I was still sniffling so she knocked on the door and entered with a box of tissues and a thing of her famous "ibuprofeno." It was definitely a more philosophical conversation, reminiscent of talks with Grandma Vivie, about how "la vida es tan corta" (life is so short)... to short to be anything but happy... She talked a lot about how she was forced to be resilient at a very young age-- she married Manolo when he was very much in limbo about his negocios (business), in terms of getting it together about whether to leave the family business or stick it out. She had two children, and had miscarried once, by the time she was 23. They moved around a handful of times, during which she miscarried 3 more times, but the family continued to grow regardless. She opened up about how hard it was to have been "tirando al suelo" (thrown to the ground/dirt), without enough support to really do all they wanted to do, and to have had to bury another child, but she said she just couldn't ever give up. I guess she knew I was upset about some things going on, and her point was that if she could endure all that she had, then I needed to re-evaluate and put things into perspective. She mentioned that she had thought about writing a book, and that the only way she would know how to write is from the perspective of a genuine optimista (optimist). Our conversation ended with a huge hug and kiss, and a command to go eat my dinner because "la sopa va a enfriarse!" (my soup was going to get cold).
The actual Art test on Tuesday turned out to be fine-- Laura and I were OVER-PREPARED. One again, the teacher came over to our desks, individually, to tell us that she had started to read over our take-home essays, and that we "light up her life." That was verbatim. You know, it finally feels good to hear that from a teacher though-- it doesn't have to be so dramatic, I get that, but I'm just not used to having my essays actually appreciated-- let alone ones I actually devote weeks to at real school.
I guess another accomplishment was finally buying a phone for the Magic Jack-- I had blown the other one out of the wall because it was cordless and way to powerful for the converter. Laura spotted a great little one, so lo compré (I bought it) without thinking twice. I've made some calls home, as you know mom and dad (and co.), and the connection is so clear! It was also nice to hear Grandma Natalie's voice-- I'm used to her weekly phone calls at school, and I realized how much I miss chatting. Won't be an issue anymore!
Some Vicki humor... I'm not complaining that she sometimes stares at Laura and me when we eat. I'm not complaining that she randomly interjects with weird fun facts and random English phrases. I'm not even complaining that she called me out when she heard me say "SHIT!" the other day ("No no no! We only say honey words!")-- I think she meant like sweet, or good (?) words. What we are kind of exhausted about is the cereal and milk situation... she randomly switched up the leche de soja (soy milk) brand that was working for us, to a brand that tastes like lentils and upsets my stomach to no avail. We tried hinting to her that maybe we can go back to the old brand and she got really confused. A few boxes later, when we really just stopped eating it, she got the picture and we're back to the better brand.
The other thing was the cereal... She started out buying us corn flakes, which are fine, but when she specifically asked if we had un pedido (a request) for something different, we told her we would love Special K. She even put it out there that they sell the cereal with chocolate bits! And we got SO excited-- the way to convey to people that we REALLLYYY want something here is to over-exaggerate facial expressions and go onnnn and on about how bueniiiisimo something is. And she was FEEDING off of that. So when she came home a few days later with 3 more boxes of plain, icky corn flakes, we were confused. We've had a few talks about how we would looove to try the chocolate cereal, and she seemed to get it... but then didn't buy it again. All right... it's fine. NO disappointment is the new motto. She has been nothing but incredible to us when it comes to cleaning up the room, packing us lunch for trips, and guardando la comida (saving me left over comida) when I come home late from my Monday/Wednesday classes. And I find it endearing that she never recognizes when a piece of fruit has truly spoiled-- "No no no. Está bien... solo tiene golpes!" (No no no. It's fine... it's just bruised)-- she says this as she picks the banana out of the garbage, rotting to the point that it is juicing in different colors. Man oh man.
Mmmm other than that, I think you're pretty much caught up! We FINALLY had a sunny day and I went out and had a photo shoot in the park and near the center.... Yeah, also I'm going to make a more sincere effort to acostarme (go to sleep) earlier on Sunday and Tuesday nights to avoid falling asleep in class-- which has embarrassingly happened in the 9AM a few times. Ana yelled at me after I told her I sit in la primera fila (the front row). "Oyoyoy Sarita!" I wish you could see the pursed lips and head shake she does!!! It's precious... In terms of trips, we are getting ready to go to Morocco for the weekend! It's all planned out nicely by DiscoverSevilla... we'll be visiting Tangiers, Chefchouen & Tetouan. Please pray for nice weather-- I think we deserve it!!
CIAOOOO!!!
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