I have found Granada!

On Sundays my residencia does not feed me.  I have been eating out on Sundays so I can try all the delicious restaurants in the area.  Well eating out will eventually become spendy and quite unhealthy.   The Spaniards LOVE their food fried in olive oil, I have discovered this is from the Arabic influence that is prevalent throughout Al Andaluz (southern spain).  NOT healthy. Although I believe all the olive oil is the reason the Spaniards have luscious locks and I would love to have their hair and nails, I just can’t keep up.  So Sundays have become salad and stroll days. 

Common sight to see laundry out windows

             Last Sunday Julia and I made a lovely Salad with lettuce, avocado, and tuna, it was quite delicious.  We then had our afternoon stroll.  Our destination was the lookout point in the Albaicin.  We had a rough direction of where to go and headed that way.  Julia and I do not really follow directions, this way we find things we were never looking for and it is much more exciting.  The Albaicin is an old neighborhood with little white houses packed into the area. The streets are narrow and twist around like a labyrinth, I really don’t think there was a plan to them.   Eventually we make it to the lookout at the top of the hill and we enjoy live Flamenco music and a breathtaking view while we munch on our dried kiwis and mangos that we bought at the market.  The sun is warm on our backs as we relax and enjoy people watching.  There are children and dogs running around.  The gypsies are selling hand crafted jewelry and paintings while they socialize with friends.  Truly a great atmosphere.  La Alhambra is beautiful against the snow covered Sierra Nevadas that are towering in the distance. 

            We wander around after our snack not yet wanting to return to our homes.  Taking some 

Flamenco Singers

random back roads we come out to another spectacular view of Granada. Getting lost is always a success! (Although we are never truly lost, don’t worry) We climb back down and when we reach the foot of our hill we see a stairwell covered in Graffiti, naturally we decide to go back up and check it out. It takes us time to find alleys that lead us to the stairwell and it was quite the trek.  I don’t think we could have spent our energy on anything more worthy than finding this stairwell!

Alice in Wonderland? 

 The stairwell was stunning from afar and up close it was glorious.  Words do not do the artwork justice.  Granada is known for its graffiti and it is so crazy that we stumbled upon it up on a hill in a rough neighborhood.  Exploring this stairwell I must say was the best time I have had in Spain so far.  When I finally make it to the top I step into 2 years of good luck! What am I talking about? While I was looking up and checking out the art I stepped into a delightful pile of dog poo at the very top of the stairwell, with both feet.  Hmm fantastic.  Fun fact, in Spain the people believe that accidentally stepping into dog poo will bring you good luck for a year! Apparently I was a very lucky girl on that day hah.  I like the way they think.  I could hardly be mad after the stairwell and then becoming lucky J

Locals enjoy the beautiful day

Monday, school started again and I went with other members of my program to volunteer at an after school program in the poorest neighborhood of Granada.  The ten of us ended up getting lost on our way.  People in the neighborhood stared at us and hollered that we must be lost.  Hmm that is reassuring.  We finally found the place and we were greeted with chaos.  The house is tiny and the kids and desks are squashed into a room with poor ventilation.  Some of the children do not have running water in their homes so the first thing they do is wash their hands when they get there.  Many of the kids do not have dinner so 

snack is the most important part of the program.  Most of the parents are illiterate so they do not help the kids with homework, therefore the kids are behind in school and need extra help to catch up.  This program is supposed to help the kids get on track with school.  I think for the older kids it is most importantly a program that keeps them out of trouble. 

This little girl chased her dog, Abu, around the plaza while her mother sold jewelry.

The kids do not speak a word of English.  The younger kids were wild.  Standing on the table, pounding the table, screaming delightfully etc. When they went home the older kids came.  

By this time our group of volunteers shrank to 5 of us.  I don’t blame the ones that left, the kids are truly exhausting.  Well the older kids were worse.  Immediately they call us girls beautiful and the boys ugly hah. Such darlings.  These kids do not speak English and they use slang Spanish so basically we were clueless.   They were making jokes about us, and of course we could not understand them.  There were obviously a few that were mellow.  I cannot blame any of the kids for the behavior because they were never taught good manners, that is what they are learning in school.  They loved my light hair and my eyes.  They all have dark hair and dark eyes (most of their parents are gypsies).  They said I have eyes like the heavens. There is apparently no such thing as an inside voice for them.  It is a constant game of whoever talks the loudest is heard. We colored with them and eventually there was some order.  We learned about renewable energy and an energy song J In the end I think only 3 of us are going to go back to help out with the younger kids on Mondays.  Sorry no pictures of the kids, this area is not the place to be waving a camera around. 

If I ever get homesick this is where I will go

Off to Paris for the weekend! Hopefully it is not too cold.  My down jacket will come in handy for sure. I will post next week when I get back from Paris and before I go to Rome!

"Stairs" we climbed to reach the graffiti

 

Glass catching the afternoon sun

Granada! First impressions and getting to know the city!

Granada! I arrived to Granada in the evening and everything was dark.  I could not see much of anything so the city was still a mystery to me.  I would have to wait until morning.  My residencia is located in a prime location. It is very close to the main meeting point for my program, 10 minute walk to school, 3 minute walk to the post office. AND it is located in the prime shopping district.  I told my sister, Britta that I would not be shopping much, but it happens I came during rebajas (sales) time and they have excellent leather shoes over here.  

Graffiti near my home.  Beautiful.

My residencia is similar to an apartment.  I have a Spanish roommate, named Lydia.  She is very sweet, but goes home for the weekends so I have not seen  much of her.  She does not speak English so I assume I will learn Spanish fast.  In our room we have 2 beds, 2 wardrobes, 2 desks, 2 night stands, and a window.  We share a bathroom that is quite nice with 3 other girls.  We have a kitchen for the 5 of us that consists of cupboards, refrigerator, microwave, sink, stove and oven.  The stove and oven do not work :(  

View from my window

Our room gets cleaned twice a week and our bedding changed once a week.  Our clothes are washed every Monday (washed, line dried, ironed, folded and mysteriously reappear in our room) (house elves?) 

We eat breakfast lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday in the main dining room with other people in the residencia. We are on our own for Sundays. 

Plaza Trinidad (bird poop plaza)

In the first couple of days I explore the city.  There are plazas everywhere with nice benches to sit and eat your freshly baked pastry. :)  There is a church literally 20 ft away from my residencia and on Sundays I hear the bells ringing all day.  There are cafes/ bars/ restaurants EVERYWHERE I am not sure they differentiate between the three like we do.  I suppose each little place starts as a cafe in the morning then turns into a restaurant in the evening then a bar late at night.  Regardless of when you go they always have cafe con leche.  

My street.

Cafe con leche, my new favorite drink.  It is basically espresso shots that are poured into a tiny little cup and then they put warm milk in it for you.  On the side they give you a ridiculously large sugar packet.  Everything here is small except their sugar packets hah.  At most of these cafes you can get freshly squeezed orange juice, so great!  

Cafe con leche! 

Beauty and the Beast tapas!

Tapas! An excellent way to fill up without spending much money.  So basically when you go to any bar at night and you order a drink they will ALWAYS give you a snack called tapas.  The size of the snack depends on the bar you go to.  In Granada all tapas are free, this is not the case in other cities in Spain.  My favorite place for tapas is la bella y bestial, beauty and the beast.  It is a tiny bar that is always packed with locals.  The atmosphere is always relaxed and fun.  I generally have to stand at a counter because there are no table open even at 7pm (considered very early on Spanish time).  My go-to drink that I know how to order is vino tinto de verano, a very popular drink here.  The first plate of tapas in this particular bar includes a pasta salad, a sandwich with ham and cheese, and french fries with a dill sauce.  So basically you can get a drink and a plate of food for 2 euro.  

Spanish Time: Ridiculous

The main cathedral in Granada 

The Spaniards have a very interesting/ frustrating sense of time.  No one is ever in a hurry.  Class starts late everyday.  Mother, you would fit right in here! When you walk on the sidewalk people are practically dragging their feet, which I find rather annoying because I tend to walk like I am on a mission.  Basically Americans can be picked out not only because of looks/language but also because we walk with purpose.  This may be the hardest thing for me to adapt to.  

Food schedule: Prepare to be hungry!

Breakfast consists of toast with coffee.  Lunch is not until 2 or 3 pm.  The time in between the two meals is the worst! My stomach starts growling by noon and I still have hours to go until lunch.  I have learned to have a snack in between.  Lunch is generally the largest meal. Dinner is between 9 and 10 for most people.  Snacks have become regular in my life.

I visited La Alhambra with my program.  La Alhambra is a beautiful fort in Granada.  It was the last holdout of the Moorish people.  It is now a mixture of Muslim and Christian cultures and architecture.  The Alhambra has a spectacular view of the city.  We visited it in the winter, but I will go back in the summer to see all the beautiful gardens.  

View from the La Alhambra

                        

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On the first Sunday here in Granada I went to the movies with some friends.  Our intentions were to check out different parts of Granada, but we discovered everything is closed on Sunday.  We went for a walk and we saw many people going in and out of a building so we decided to check it out.  The building was a mall and the stores were closed.  Why were people there?  We then found the movie theatre.  We decided on the Iron Lady, La Mujer de Hielo.  We had an hour to kill so we got coffee in a cafe in the mall.  Next thing I know there are children hanging on my chair, looking at me.  I tried to talk to them but they just looked at me.  Then my friend, Julia, figured out they were looking at my hair, because it is blonde hahaha. The parents finally called them back over to their table.  When it was time for the movie and we ordered our tickets without too much difficulty, success!  We were the first ones there so we picked our perfect seats (which are about 2 times the size of theater seats in US).  People started piling into the theater.  A man approached us and said something in Spanish and was pointing at the 3 of us and our seats.  No idea what he was trying to say, but we thought is was something along the lines of assigned seating.  Embarrassed, we got up and slowly snuck out of the theater.  We found our tickets and looked for our seat assignments.  We didn't really know how their seating order went so in the end we waited until the movie had started and found 3 empty seats hah.  

Getting around in Spain is very simple.  A bus ride to the beach is 11 euro roundtrip.  I went to the beach in Salobrena for a day trip with some friends.  Salobrena is a cute little town located on the Mediterranean, an hour bus ride from Granada.  It was about 60 degrees in Nerja, not too warm but warmer than Granada.  We laid on the beach in our jeans and long sleeves and we were perfect.  It was super relaxing and a great time for writing in journals/ reading.  

We found a nice little restaurant on the beach and had lunch.  For appetizers we had calamari and for my main plate I had a mushroom, egg, salmon, shrimp dish... it was interesting haha.  The wind picked up a bit so we moved to a different part of the beech to have our siestas.  

                                       

                                              Little town of Salobrena

 

Outhouses on the beach :)

The fountain of King fernando and Queen Isabella that I pass
everyday on the way to school.  

I have started my classes! I am taking four classes in Spanish Monday-Thursday and the occasional Friday.  I have class from 10-1, perfect.  My classes are grammar, writing/speaking, traditional song and dance, and History of Spain.  My grammar class is going to be by far my most difficult class, but I think I will catch on soon, I hope.  I was super scared of my grammar teacher and apparently the whole class was too.  I now know that when she makes fun of us she isn't trying to be mean and embarrass us and I am beginning to like her sense of humor.  She forces us to learn fast and puts us on the spot to make sure we are retaining the information.  Not a word of English is spoken in her class.  My oral class is small.  There are about 10 of us and we tend to do fun activities.  My history and song/ dance class are taught in Spanish, but I am getting most of the information because they enunciate and speak slowly.  So far I really like all my classes and I don't dread them, so that is good :)

Hicuri, my cafe I go to during a break in classes

Tostada y cafe con leche 2 euro at Hicuri!

 Julia and I spent last Saturday touring the Albacin (neighborhood known for the gypsies, great crafts, and pickpocketing. The older section of the city built up to the hills and it is located right under the Alhambra).  We of course started our day off right with Ice Cream!  I had Kinder and sweet cream, Julia tried the Cookie ice cream.  All three flavors were delicious. 

Ice cream in la plaza Trinidad

The day was beautiful.  No clouds, no wind, and plenty of people out and about.  We strolled along the Albacin and checked out the fun shops with crafts and TONS of scarves.  I have decided this is the place for me to get my flowy skirts. We wandered and found an outdoor gym(strangest thing, they have workout equipment outside for anyone to use).  

We eventually got ourselves lost. (We have decided getting lost is the best way to explore).  When our stomachs were rumbling we found a tea shop.  We entered and the decorations were very interesting.  There were lamps hanging everywhere and curtains draped in decoration.  On each table stood a hooka shisha.  We sat on pillowed benches and our table was knee height. Not what we were expecting at all! Haha. 
      We got the house special tea with milk and crepes.  The crepes were delicious.  Our tea was a bit too sweet, tasted like warm milk with a little flavor and a ton of sugar. Apparently Granada has spectacular tea because of the Arabic influence so we will try a different tea place next time. 

It was still a fun experience though.  We successfully made it through the day with all of our belongings still.  I think as long as you don’t wave your purse about and always have a hand on it pick pocketing is not too big of an issue. 

Our tea brewed in milk

 Closer view of the tea