Tarea Semenal 8

El Día de Todos los Santos se celebra el 1 de Noviembre. Es un día para recordad las muertes. .En el siglo IV y V, las cristianas hacen un día para recordar todos los mártires. En el siglo VIII, Pope Gregory trasladó la fecha de la fiesta al primero de Noviembre. En este día, muchos españoles vuelvan a sus pueblos para poner flores en las tumbas de los miembros de su familia. También, usualmente  hay una misa en los cementerios. Otra tradición es la representación de la obra Don Juan Tenorio. Las comidas típicas de esta fiesta son castañas, panneletts, huesos de santo, y buñuelos de viento.

Journeys through Spain

The past two weekends have been spent traveling to Granada and Madrid with my program. I was excited to go on these trips because 1) I want to see more of Spain and 2) they were already paid for and planned. I am very passive when it comes to traveling; I am willing to go along with what everyone else wants to do as long as I don't have to plan it. 

First up was Granada. We took a bus there, I think it took around 3 hours. Halfway there, the bus stopped at a rest stop. I didn't want to leave the bus- how exciting could a rest stop possibly be? I finally decided to stretch my legs and  proceeded to walk into the greatest rest stop ever. There were samples of olive oil and goat cheese. That is all I will say. We got into Granada around 1 and checked into out hotel. Our hotel was actually pretty fancy. There was a gorgeous terrace on the 8th floor. After settling in, my friends and I decided to walk around Granada. The most obvious difference between Seville and Granada is the mountains. Seville is completely flat, but Granada is surrounded by mountains. You can even see snow at the top of them. As we walked around, we noticed other differences. The University of Granada is very popular, and the influx of university students makes the city feel much younger and hipper than Seville. There were vintage stores, cupcake boutiques, and other tiendas chulas that you cannot find in Seville. After free time, we were taken to the capilla real to look at the bodies of Isabel and Fernando. It was only slightly less weird than it sounds. When I die, please don't stick me in a church for all eternity. That night, we went out for my friend's birthday. When I say "go out" I mean get 1-2 drinks and then go to bed. I do not have the money or energy to go clubbing. In Granada, most bars give you a free tapa with every drink. This is something I wish Seville had, it would save me a lot of money.

View from the hotel terrace

The next day we went to the Alhambra. What can I say about the Alhambra? It is incredible, and I think it is something that everyone should see before they die. It is crazy to think that Spain let it go to ruins for centuries because they refused to appreciate and accept their Islamic history. 

View from the Alhambra

Overall, two thumbs up for Granada. 

Last weekend, my program took us to Madrid. We got to take the AVE, the high-speed train. By bus, it takes about 6 hours to get to Madrid from Seville, but it only takes 2.5 hours on the AVE. The AVE was awesome and I feel like I can never take a normal train again. Their is tons of leg room, and TV's! On the way back they played Blue Jasmine- THE UNDUBBED VERSION. In Spain, this is a miracle. The AVE also tells you how fast it is going at all times- it was usually between 250-300 km/hour. 

After checking into our hotel (a rather fancy Best Western- I know that sounds like an oxymoron), my friends and I went to Chueca, the gayborhood of Madrid. It reminded me a lot of the gayborhood in Philly. Amongst all the overpriced "artisan" cafes,  tiny boutiques, and rainbow flags, I felt like I was back in the US. That afternoon, we went to the Prado and the Reina Sofia. I didn't get to spend as much time at the Prado as I wanted to because I was with my program, so I don't really have an opinion on it. However, I did get to spend more time at the Reina Sofia, and I can say without a doubt that I do not understand contemporary art. However, Guernica was cool. They are very strict about no pictures, so I had to sneak one.

Rebellious photo of Guernica (I had to pretend to take a picture of Caroline)

The next day, we had a couple free hours. My friends and I went to El Rastro, the Sunday flea market. It was great! I got a sweater for 3 euros. Afterwards, we wandered through el Parque del Retiro and went to the Palace (though we refused to pay the 5 euros to go inside). I feel like I did not get enough time to form a true opinion of Madrid. From what I saw, Madrid felt to me like any other major city. I didn't really feel like I was in Spain. It doesn't have the immediate charm of Granada or Seville. I expected to love Madrid, but I was mostly lukewarm.

Crystal Palace in Parque del Retiro

I have a tendency to think that the characteristics of Seville are representative of all of Spain, but that's not really true. Each city of Spain has its own local flavor, and it is interesting to compare them. I think I will secretly always like Seville best. 

It's Not You Spain, It's Me

“…to look on Andalusia is to love her, even while realizing that to live with her would put that love to a very stringent test” – Katherine Lee Bates

I am now more than halfway done with my time here in Spain. It no longer feels like an extended vacation, it feels like I am actually living in Seville. I love Seville, how could I not? The warm sunny days, the beautiful river views, the vibrant nightlife, the charming narrow streets: it an incredible place to be. However, like Katherine Lee Bates so wisely said more than 100 years ago in Spanish Highways and Byways, actually living here complicates and challenges the love one feels for this beautiful place. It is not all sunshine and sangria. The longer I am here, the more I realize that Spain and I are not meant to be. We can always be friends, but our romantic relationship is not going to work out. It’s not you, Spain, it’s me. My American values and ideas clash with some of the ideas and practices here in a way that cannot be easily overlooked.

The place in which this is most evident is at my práctica at a local private school. As an education student, I could not wait to learn about the Spanish education system and work with Spanish students. Spanish classrooms may look similar  to American ones, but there are some subtle but very important differences. Most evident is the different levels of discipline that teachers expect from students. In general, students are expected to sit in their seats and raise their hand like American students, but this rule seems to be more flexible than in America. In the classrooms I have seen here, students wander around the room and speak out much more than in the American classrooms I have seen. A teacher here might gently tell someone to go back to their seat or remind them to raise their hand, but I have not seen any consequences to their behavior. Also, there are different teachers for each subject in the primary school, and kids as young as 2nd grade are left alone in the class while teachers switch classrooms or talk to another in the hallway. You can imagine the mayhem that ensues when this happens. The older kids also have a different level of discipline than in the US. When the teachers are gone (which is oddly often), the kids have one student wait at the door to see if the teacher is coming while everyone else in the class does whatever they want. I have had 6th grade boys yell “guapa” at me in the hallway (they switched to “beautiful” because they thought I didn’t speak Spanish) and had 7th grade boys ask me if I owned a gun and if I had a boyfriend while their teacher was present (the teacher did not find these questions odd). I have yet to see any consequences when a student says they didn’t do they homework. All of this is not necessarily bad, it is just a major difference that I have had a hard time dealing with.

More subtly, but more concerning to me, is the emphasis on memorization and lack of creativity and critical thinking skills. Like so many other things in Spain, appearances are important. The students all have beautiful cursive handwriting and the little kids spend lots of time making sure they are cutting evenly and coloring in the lines with the right colors. However, from a US perspective, it seems that this comes at the cost of creativity. For example, every Tuesday I help with the “arts and crafts” after-school class. Last time, the project was to draw a house, cut out the windows, and put tissue paper behind the windows so they will be colored. The idea for this came from a book the teacher had, and he showed the kids the houses in the book as an example. He encouraged them to use the pictures in the book for inspiration, and many kids drew almost exactly what was in the book. However, one kid decided to go rogue. Instead of drawing a house using the vertical side of the paper, he drew a hotel using the horizontal side. The teacher told him that this was unacceptable and he needed to start over and do what everyone else was doing. The project would have worked with his original drawing, but it would have been different. Apparently, this is not okay.

There is a lot of memorization in the curriculum, and not a lot of analyzing or critical thinking. I also see this on the University level. My classes are mostly 2-hour lectures. There is a midterm and a final in which we are expected to regurgitate everything the teacher has been saying all semester. My history professor told us that there is joke in Spain that you have not studied if your elbows aren’t red (from resting on them while studying). He bragged about all the studying he did as an undergrad. I am a history major, and in my college career, I have not memorized a single thing for a history class. Instead, I have spent hours analyzing primary sources and crafting persuasive arguments based on evidence. To me this seems to be a better use of time than memorizing facts.

Another cultural difference that has been a huge issue for me is the use of time. A long-standing stereotype in Spain is their belief in “the eternal mañana,” that everything can be done tomorrow and they are never in a hurry. Though this might be an overgeneralization, I have found it to be mostly true. Obviously it depends on the person, but in general, “on time” usually means 5-10 minutes late (similar to Havertime). Emails go days, sometimes even weeks before being answered. Things are not very organized, and no one seems to give specific instructions. Suzy and I joke that the Spaniards are telepathic, because everyone seems to know what to do even though no one has said anything. People walk slowly and eat slowly. This is the perfect environment for a vacation, but not so much if you are an American trying to go about your daily life. Figuring out my internship was a slow and painful process. Trying to walk through Seville involves muttering “perdón” a thousand times as you push your way past slow locals and confused tourists. I plan on being late to everything, because if I show up on time, I will just have to wait.

I am not saying that Spain needs to change. If anyone should change, its me. However, I am an American, a New-Englander no less, through and through and there are some things here that are really hard for me to deal with. Spain is a wonderful, enchanting place… to visit. To live? Not so much. I’m sorry Spain. I will always have a special place in my heart for you. We just weren’t right for each other. I must leave in 7 weeks. It’s for the best.

JYS Seminar Blog- Katherine Lee Bates

"...to look on Andalusia is to love her, even while realizing that to live with her would put that love to a very stringent test" - Katherine Lee Bates

Me gusta mucho la lectura de esta semana, un fragmento de Spanish Highways and Byways por Katherine Lee Bates. En esto, ella habla de la belleza y el encanto de Andalucía, pero también sus defectos. Ella dice que Sevilla es un “fairyland”, que “The Andalusian lesure was a perpetual delight to us,” y que “we shall ever go homesick for Seville, her palm trees and orange gardens, her narrow streets like lanes of shadow…” Sin embargo, ella dice que hay mucha pobreza en Sevilla y una falta de educación. Ella enfoque mucho en el estado de las mujeres en España. Dice que “Love and religión are the only subjects with which a señorita is expected to concern herself,” y “A  more thorough and liberal education for Spanish women is the pressing need to-day.” Sus sentimientos complejos sobre Andalucía son expresados claramente cuando dice "...to look on Andalusia is to love her, even while realizing that to live with her would put that love to a very stringent test."

Me identifico mucho con esta cita. Me encanta Sevilla, pero después de 7 semanas, varios aspectos de la cultura han empezado a molestarme. Sevilla es una ciudad preciosa, y unas días no puedo creer que tengo la oportunidad a vivir en un lugar tan bonito. En mis primeras semanas aquí, todo siento como un sueño, o un “fairlyland,” como dice Bates. Sin embargo, ahora Sevilla ha perdido un poco de esto encanto. Las primeras semanas, me siento como estaba de vacaciones.  Ahora, me siento como vivo actualmente en Sevilla. Me he dado cuenta de aspectos de la cultura que ignoré en el principio. Todavía me encanta Sevilla, pero yo se que nunca puedo vivir aquí permanentemente y echo de menos los EE.UU mucho.

Como Bates, la status de las mujeres aquí me molesta mucho. No soporto la manera en que los hombres gritan a las mujeres en las calles. En Sevilla en la noche, me siento como un objeto. No me gusta el papel tradicional de la mujer en la casa, que es más fuerte aquí que en los EE.UU. No entiendo las normas de belleza absurdas o la gran énfasis en apariencias.

También, no me gusta la sistema de educación aquí, especialmente la énfasis en memorización. Cada día en mi practica o en mis clases en la universidad, estoy frustrado. Hay muchas cosas aquí que son muy diferentes que los EE.UU, y no puedo aceptar todas las diferencias fácilmente. Mi amor por Sevilla está siendo “put..to a very stringent test.” Aprecio los sentimientos de Bates, porque son muy similares a mis propios.

Tarea Semenal 7- Madrid

El Rey Felipe II convirtió a Madrid en la capital en junio de 1561.

Los símbolos de Madrid son un oso con un madroño. El oso ha sido usado como un símbolo de Madrid desde el siglo XIII. Hay varias teorías sobre porque el símbolo es un oso. Una teoría es que es porque el rey Alfonso XI cazó un oso en los montes cerca de Madrid. Otra teoría es que el oso es una hembra y representa la tierra fértil de Madrid. Hay un madroño para mostrar que el Council de Madrid son el dueño de los bosques.

Los dos museos del arte más importante en Madrid son el Museo del Prado y el Museo Reina Sofía. El cuadro más famoso en el Museo de Prado es Las Meninas de Velázquez. El cuadro más famoso en el Museo Reina Sofía es Guernica de Picasso.

Dos comidas típicas madrileñas son cocido madrileño, que es un guiso de diferentes verduras y carnes, y callos, que es parte del estomago de un animal.

Los dos equipos de fútbol más importantes en Madrid son Real Madrid y Atlético de Madrid. Los aficionados de Real Madrid celebran las victorias en el Fuente de Cibeles y los aficionados de Atlético de Madrid en el Fuente de Neptuno.

JYS seminar blog- Emilia Pardo Bazan

La lectura esta semana, “El Viaje por España” por Emilia Pardo Bazán, es una crítica franca de España por un española. Pardo Bazán tiene una opinión honesto y equilibrado de España. Ella habla sobre los hoteles inferiores y los ferrocarriles lentes y incomodos, pero también defiende España contra las generalizaciones que hacen los viajeros.  Ella dice que “no deben formarse de España un concepto unitario, porque no comprendería bien. España es múltiple, compleja, y sus regiones contrastan violentamente  las unas con las otras” (133).

Es difícil juzgar justamente su propio país. Esto es mi primera vez viviendo en el extranjero, y a través de esta experiencia, me he dado cuenta de muchas cosas sobre los EE.UU. que antes no he pensado en. Pardo Bazán compara España a otros países en su  crítica, y en la misma manera, la comparación con España me ayuda a hacer una crítica de los Estados Unidos.

Mi tiempo en España me ha mostrado unas cosas negativas de los Estados Unidos. En comparación con España, la gente de los EE.UU. no tiene ningún tiempo libre. Ellos no pasan bastante tiempo  con su familia, y siempre tienen mucha prisa. No paran para disfrutar la vida. Porque es un país bastante nueva, no hay tanta arte, historia, y cultura que Europa. Los edificios grandes de Nueva York y Chicago parecen frío y desolado en comparación con las calles preciosas de España.

Sin embargo, debido a mi tiempo aquí, yo aprecio los EE.UU. mucha más que antes. Primeramente, me siento muy agradecida por la sistema educacional de los EEUU y especialmente mi universidad, Haverford College. Mis clases en la Universidad aquí y las clases de mi practica en Maristas me han mostrado que la educación aquí es muy diferente que en los EE.UU. En las escuelas primeras y secundarias aquí, hay un enfoque en memorización y examines, no en pensamiento critico. Parece que no hay una afición por aprendizaje. La educación en los EEUU es más progresivo; hay más trabajo en grupo, mas discusión, y un apreciación de estilos diferentes de aprendizaje y diferentes tipos de inteligencias.  En la Universidad aquí, las clases solamente son una lectura. Todo es datos y fechas y cosas para memorizar. En mi universidad, hay mucha más discusión y un énfasis en pensamiento critica, no en la memorización de datos. Sí, hay muchos problemas en el sistema de educación de los EE.UU., pero personalmente, pienso que es mejor que el sistema en España.

Echo de menos la diversidad en los EE.UU de gente, cultura, comida, y pensamientos. Es un país completamente heterogéneo, y esto es una cosa única que no he apreciado hasta ahora.

Creo que la única manera en que una persona puede juzgar su propio país es a través del viajar. Por comparación con otros países, una persona puede ver claramente las características positivas y negativas de su propio país.