Christmas Time is Here

Last weekend I went to London, a place that embraces Christmas like nowhere else I have ever seen. I guess there is a reason Love Actually is set there. Coming home to Seville was a disappointment because they were being pretty Grinchy in terms of Christmas decorations. However, this all changed this past Thursday. The christmas lights were turned on, and suddenly, Seville became a magical Christmas wonderland.

On Friday, my friends and I had an incredible meal at Oveja Negra (HIGHLY recommended), and then wandered through the city center, admiring the lights. El centro has been packed lately, no matter what time of day. All the stores have been closed all weekend, so I'm not entirely sure what everyone is doing. Anyways, after several failed attempts to take pictures in front of the giant light-up tree, we headed to the Christmas fair. This consists of various booths selling gifts, a skating rink, and a ferris wheel. Everything is sponsored by Kinder (a European candy company). It is incredible. 

Tacky or wonderful? You decide.

You can't see the Kinder logo on the Ferris Wheel, but trust me, it is there.

Yesterday, Rocio took us to the convention of "conventos de dulces" in the Alcazar. Here in Andalucia, most of the convents make special sweets for Christmas. Many of the nuns are cloistered, so you have to buy them through a special turnstile. However, this weekend, all of the different convents sent their sweets to one place. It was overwhelming. I'm not quite sure what I bought because I could only understand about half of what the vendors were telling me, but I guess we will find out when I get home. Rocio met up with two of her BFFs and we all stopped to hear some Spanish Christmas carols. Last night, some of my friends and I went to a bar and then had a very strange interaction with a group of "tunos." A "tuna" is  group of university students who dress up in special costumes and serenade people. They are especially active at Christmas. The ones we met last night had definitely been out of college for a long time. There were lots of requests to kiss us (all of which were denied) and somehow we all wound up singing "Wonderwall" together. 

You might be thinking that I have had such a thrilling weekend, but mostly I have been studying for finals. It is a "puente" (long weekend) this weekend, so I have four full days of studying. At least I can listen to Christmas music. It is getting colder in Seville, and I am on a despearte search for gloves. Christmas in Seville is nice, but I am so ready to go home. One more week!

Blog final del seminario de JYS

Esta semestre, hablamos mucho sobre la idea del viaje. ¿Que es un viaje? Para algunos, es la oportunidad para descansar y disfrutar, un respiro de la vida diaria. Por otros, el viaje es una aventura, un experiencia del desconocido. Algunos personas viajen para trabajar o para visitar familia. Finalmente, algunas personas viajan para aprender. Para mi, esto es la razón más importante para viajar. Por viajar, podemos aprender cosas nuevas y entender el mundo mejor. Cuando viajamos, encontremos cosas que cuestionan nuestras ideas preconcebidas y los estereotipos sobre un gente o un país. A través de mi experiencia en España y otros países este semestre, yo he aprendido mucho sobre otros lugares, otra gente, mi país, y más importante, yo misma.

Este semestre fue mi primera vez afuera de los Estados Unidos. Tuvo muchas ideas preconcebidas de España. Pensaba que mi tiempo en España sería una vacación larga. Traje muchas como champú y la pasta de dientes conmigo porque pensaba que todo los productos serán diferentes que en los EEUU.  Pensaba que se enamoraría con España y nunca querría volver a los EEUU. Mis ideas preconcebidas fueron muy incorrectas. En muchas maneras, España es mucha más similar a los EEUU que había pensado. Hay un Dunkin Donuts y un Starbucks. Puede comprar el jabón de Dove o el champú de Garnier. Tiene las mismas películas y las mismas canciones porque la influencia de la cultura americana es muy fuerte. Una aula en una escuela aparece exactamente la misma como en los EEUU. Los niños se quejan a sus padres en la misma manera. Sin embargo, hay grande diferencias que no esperé. No pude creer las comentas racistas que oí de maestras y niños jóvenes. No me gusta salir por la noche aquí porque no puede ocuparme de los comentos de los hombres o la manera en que los hombres tratan a sus mujeres. Me pareció muy extraño que muchas personas viven con sus padres para un tiempo muy largo y no quieren ser independientes. Como un estudiante de educación, tiene muchos problemas con la sistema de educación aquí. No todos los diferencias son malos. Me sorprendió que las calles son tan llenas de personas en la noche, pero me encanta eso. Los dos besos fueron muy extraños al principio, pero ahora me gusta esta parte de una cultura muy amistoso y cariñoso. Muy rápidamente, me di cuenta de que aunque me encanta España, nunca puedo vivir aquí por un tiempo muy largo. Echo de menos los Estados Unidos mucho, y mi tiempo en el extranjero me ha dado un apreciación nueva para mi país.

Mis viajes este semestre han sido un experiencia invaluable para mi. Nunca he aprendido tan mucho en un tiempo tan corto. Se que quiero viajar a través de toda mi vida pues que siempre estoy aprendiendo cosas nuevas.

Tarea Semanal 13

El Día de la Constitución se celebra el 6 de Diciembre. Es el aniversario de la Referéndum Constitucional de 1978, que ratificó la Constitución. La gente no tiene trabajo y muchas tiendas están cerradas. Cada año, un grupo de estudiantes lee la constitución en el edificio de parlamento en Madrid. También, el Congreso de los Diputados tienen Jornadas de Puertas Abiertas. Los 3 y 4 de Diciembre, El Congreso de los Diputados están abierto a los ciudadanos y ellos pueden ver el edifico y aprender sobre el sede de parlamentaria.

El Día de la Inmaculada es el fiesta de la concepción inmaculada de la Virgen María. Es el 8 de Diciembre. Es una fiesta religiosa en la religión católica y una fiesta publica en España. En Sevilla, se celebra esta fiesta con el baile de los seises. Esto es cuando un grupo de niños bailan y cantan en frente de Retablo Mayor de la Catedral y llevan. El costumbre es muy viejo y los trajes, bailes, y canciones no han cambiado desde el siglo XVI. También, este día es el principio de la temporada de navidad en España.

A Blue Thanksgiving

As soon as I decided to go abroad, I immediately started dreading the prospect of spending Thanksgiving away from my family. Thanksgiving is possibly my favorite holiday. Every Thanksgiving, I wake up and look out the window to see people running the Feaster Five in the cold while I am in my warm bed. This particular act of schadenfreude brings me so much joy. Then I go downstairs and watch the Macy's Parade in my pajamas with my family. In the afternoon, my family and I play dictionary and eat dinner. It is such a mellow, stress-free holiday. It broke my heart to not be there this year. What did I do this year on Thanksgiving? Well, I walked through cold, wind-driven rain to class, then sat in my wet shoes and socks for hours. I watched a disturbing movie about the Spanish civil war. I taught kids about renewable sources of energy. It was a normal Thursday.

However, there were some events this week that put me in the thanksgiving spirit. I had my second-graders make hand-turkeys and tried to teach them the story of Thanksgiving (some was lost in translation). Suzy and I tried to make a pumpkin pie for Rocio. We bought pumpkin pie filling at the American import store, Taste of America and struggled through measurement conversions, ingredient differences (we had to make the crust out of Digestives) and Rocio's general lack of baking utensils to create a mostly edible pie. Success! Rocio made a special Thanksgiving lunch for us. She insisted that we take pictures of the elegantly laid table and of her carving the chicken (alas, no turkey). She told us that it was "just like in the movies!" It was adorable. On Thursday night, our program hosted a dinner for us at a restaurant that used to be an Arab bath. There was turkey and apple tart. It was nice to be surrounded by other Americans on Thanksgiving, all of whom were probably also missing home. The wine was good, so that helped too.

Note the "rapper turkey" that one kid made

Thanksgiving was a hard day, but not as hard as I thought it would be. For most of the day, I was too busy to even think about what I was missing. The dinner with my program was really nice and made the day feel special. The hardest part was talking to my family and seeing them about to sit down to dinner together, knowing that I could have been there if I had not decided to go abroad. It was also hard to be in a country where no one cares about Thanksgiving. To Spain, it is just another Thursday. It made me feel so far from home. But, in just a few weeks, I will be home for Christmas. I cannot wait to see my family and feel part of everything. Until then, I will try to appreciate the time I have left here in Spain. See you in two weeks, America!

JYS Seminar Blog- Giles Tremlett

En la lectura para este semana, Giles Tremlett habla de las polémicas políticas actuales en España. Giles conoce España muy bien, pero no es español. Es británico, y ha vivido muchos años en Madrid. El dice “Although I now consider this to be my city, I am really an extranjero, a foreigner.” Él es más que una turista, pero no es un nativo. Me identifico con él porque tengo sentimientos similares. He vivido en Sevilla para tres meses. Ya no soy una turista, pero no soy sevillano. Vivo mi vida diaria aquí, pero en muchos momentos me siento como un extranjero. Puedo hablar español, pero desde el primer momento que hablo una palabra, es obvio que soy extranjero. No puedo fingir ser española aún por uno momento. Conozco la ciudad, pero nunca me siento como en casa. Todavía no entiendo todos los manierismos de los sevillanos o todos sus expresiones. Me siento más cómodo con otros americanos que los españoles. Echo de menos mi país.

Porque Giles vive en España, se da cuenta de unas características de España que no son evidentes a los viajeros que no pasan mucho tiempo aquí. Habla mucho del ruido en España, una cosa que yo también me doy cuento de.  También habla de los palabrotas comunes de los españoles. El uso de las palabrotas también son un diferencia grande para mi. Como Giles, porque he pasado más tiempo aquí que un turista usual, me he dado cuento de diferencias sutiles en la cultura. Esto significa que conozco la cultura mejor que una turista, pero también que la ciudad y cultura han perdido un poco de su encanto para mi. Estoy acostumbrado a ver la Giralda o el río cada día. He visto las partes de la cultura que no son muy atractivos, como el machismo, el racismo, o el gran énfasis en las apariencias. Es muy difícil a vivir en el extranjero, y pienso que Tremlett escribe sobre esta experiencia muy bien.

Tarea Semenal 12

España es uno de los países más desarrollado en la energía solar y eólica en el mundo. Es el país con las más horas del sol en todo de Europa, pues la energía solar es muy efectivo, y es el cuatro productor más grande de la energía eólica en el mundo. En 2010, 23% de la electricidad en el país fue de la energía solar y eólica. Hay grandes empresas de energía limpia en España: SENER y Abengoa Solar para la energía solar y Iberdrola, Accionia Energía, y NEO Energía para la energía eólica. España puede producir mucho energía limpia, pero el gobierno no puede pagar para todas las innovaciones. Porque la tecnología cuesta mucho más que gana, el gobierno tiene una deuda grande. El gobierno tuvo que recortar los subvenciones del gobierno para las plantas de energía limpia. El julio, pasó un ley que restringe las ganancias de las empresas de energía limpia. Esto reducirá la deuda del gobierno, pero las empresas son muy enojadas. Acciona dijo que esta ley va a perjudicar su impresa y quiere luchar contra el ley en el Corte Suprema. También, muchas personas que producen la energía solar no puede devolver el préstamo del gobierno porque el gobierno recortó los subvenciones.

Los Estados Unidos usa un porcentaje más pequeño de energía limpia que España, pero esta industria está creciendo rápidamente. Por ejemplo, Abengoa Solar construyó un planta de energía solar muy grande en Arizona el año pasado. Acciona Energía tiene 7 granjas del viento en los EEUU. Irradia Energía quiere desarrollar proyectos de la energía solar y eólica en los EEUU.

The Mysteries of Cadiz

This week was a rather hard one for me. Going home seems so close, but yet so far. I have about three weeks left. Because it seems so close, I am worried that I will not have enough time to do all the things I want to do here in Seville and am starting to get nervous about finals. But because it also feels so far away, I really miss everyone back home and wish I did not have to wait so long to see them. I want to be able to enjoy my remaining time here, but all these pesky emotions keep getting in the way.

This week in my “Spain through Travel Literature” class, we read an essay called “Plural Spain” about how each region of Spain is so distinct. It made me realize that I don’t really know Spain at all. I have only been to places in Andalusia and Madrid. I have not been to Barcelona, or the Basque Country, or Toledo, or so many other places in Spain that differ wildly from Andalusia. People ask me “How is Spain? What is it like?” I can’t answer that question, because I have not been to all of Spain. I only know about Seville, and Seville is definitely not all of Spain. It makes me sad that I have spent so much time in this country but only know one small part.  I wish I had been able to travel to other parts of Spain. However, this realization motivated me to at least see more of Andalusia, so I decided to spend a day in Cadiz this weekend,

Cadiz is a port city about 1.5 hours from Seville. My friend Sam and I took the train there on Friday. I didn’t know too much about Cadiz, only that it is on the water, which was enough reason for me to want to go. The first thing we noticed after getting off the train was the wind. There is rarely a breeze in Seville, something I did not notice until I felt the strong sea-breeze in Cadiz. We had no firm plans for our day, which is my favorite way to travel. The first thing we did was go to the Cathedral. I wanted to climb the tower there, but it was under construction. “It’s under construction” would be the theme of our day in Cadiz. We had a little ego boost when after buying our cathedral tickets in Spanish (you have to pay for the cathedrals in Spain, I feel like Jesus would have a thing or two to say about that), we asked for our audio-tour to be in English and the guy replied “Are you sure you don’t want the Spanish version?” It was a nice compliment about our Spanish. We wandered around the cathedral for a while. then found our way to the market in the middle of the city. It was sort of like a Spanish version of Reading Terminal Market. We were very excited. I got a plate of shrimp to take advantage of our proximity to the ocean. Shrimp here are served with their heads still on. It was slightly disconcerting and I was confused about the correct way to eat it. They were very salty and tasted different than any shrimp I have had in the U.S.

After lunch, we headed towards the beach. As soon as the boardwalk became a beach, we saw a walkway heading out to what looked like a castle. We decided to investigate. The walls of the walkway were low, and we occasionally got sprayed by the waves. The castle was called Castillo de San Sebastián, and it was actually a fortress from the early 18th century. Because it was a cloudy day in November, it was mostly deserted, and felt extremely eerie. Many parts of the fortress had “no trespassing” signs on it, and the whole thing seemed to be falling apart. We joked that it would be a perfect setting for a video game about the zombie apocalypse. There weren’t really any signs anywhere, so it felt incredible mysterious. However, it was one of the most visually interesting places I have ever been. The sight of the crumbling castle walls surrounded by the sea was any photographer’s dream. It was very cool, and I don’t think I will ever forget it.

Castillo de San Sebastián

There was a similar castle a few hundred yards away. It took us about 15 minutes of wandering around it to figure out that it was being used as a contemporary art museum. We entered the chapel to find a destroyed sandcastle and were very confused. We went into another part of the castle and saw a closed door, which turned out to be part of an art exhibit called “The Closed Door.” I was not impressed.

Afterwards, we went to a cafe that was showing American MTV, which I’m pretty sure you cannot get in Spain. How was this playing on the TV, you ask? Another Cadiz mystery. Cadiz serves as a port for a lot of cruise ships, so it is a big tourist town. However, because we were there in November, it was fairly empty. Because it is the off-season, a lot of things were closed or under construction. Most of Cadiz seemed to be slowly falling apart. The day was overcast, which added to the eeriness. I felt like I was in a murder-mystery show. On the way home, we listened to “Serial” on the train (I’m obsessed- everyone should listen to it), which further added to the association between Cadiz and something sinister. However, it was a very interesting day, and I was thrilled to be near the ocean.

I’m not sure what my last three weeks here will be like, but I hope that I can take advantage of my time left in Spain.