pancakes and maple syrup

The morning came and everyone in the house made their way into the kitchen: Noni, Pepe, Patri and her boyfriend.  It was time for them to finally try pancakes.  The Beirdens were nice enough to bring me Bisquick and maple syrup so I knew that this morning was going to be spectacular.  First problem: cups does not translate into grams very easily.  Even though measuring cups measure volume and grams are weight (which is completely different) Noni's measuring cups were in grams.  I quickly converted it to liters though and added the half a liter of Bisquick to the bowl....weird I know. 

After cracking a hard boiled egg into the mix, I started to get worried about how things would end up....

I got a little excited and plopped a whole bunch of the pancake mix into the pan without letting it heat up all the way which turned it into a buttery mess.  Strike number 3.  The next strike came when I realized that half a liter was most likely a terrible conversion on my part since the pancake tasted floury...Things were not going well.

I mixed in some more milk until the batter looked right, re-adjusted the heat, and then started mastering the art of pancake making once again.  I spread some butter on them after taking them out of the pan, let them soak up a little bit of maple syrup, and then spread hazelnut chocolate spread on top with a layer of whipped cream...they were the best pancakes I have ever eaten in my entire life.  My Spanish host family would agree as well.

Rhode Island Visit

Today Peg and Jim visited me from Rhode Island I got to show off my city!  At around 1 o'clock I met up with them near the bay, took them through the town hall plaza and up to la Plaza de las Flores...a plaza filled with, as you would guess, beautiful flowers and flower shops.  Next to the plaza is the open-air market filled with fruits, vegetables, ham that costs $25 a pound, and all different types of seafood: snails, squid, chocos, huge tunas, swordfish, fluke, sea urchin, etc.  This of course was a prelude to the wonderful lunch we were about to eat.

In the same plaza is "las flores" which is from what I've been hearing; the best seafood place in Cádiz.  We got the surtido de pescaito frito which was 2.2 pounds of fried seafood goodness.  It came with whole fried shrimp, whiting, dogfish, fried sardines, chocos, and "huevas".  I put "huevas" in quotes because in the beginning we had no idea what it was.  We saw it in the market and it looked like a sack of some type.  When it showed up on our plate (deep fried) it looked like a fried ball of couscous or those tiny bits of shaved styrofoam balls that stick everywhere.  After a quick dictionary look up we found out it was a sack of hundreds of tiny fish eggs....I had two of these sacks.

We wiped out our plate and headed over to the Cathedral.  I acted like a tour guide and pointed out a whole bunch of things that a quick glance would miss and then I took them down into the crypt of the cathedral.  This isn't any regular crypt though, aside from the dead bodies this one is wide open with a room formed in a way that causes the voice to echo 15 times.  It makes it seem like those overemphasized echoes of people underwater (which is ironic since the crypt is actually below sea level).

From the Cathedral we walked up to my house and to the Plaza San Antonio (my plaza) and told them about some local myths and my experiences so far in the city.  It's hard not to love San Antonio so it made me more proud showing off my house and neighborhood.  We walked less then 10 minutes to my school (I gave them a quick tour) and then headed to the "Jurassic Park" of the city.

This tropical garden is tucked away next to the ocean and is filled with dinosaurs and a waterfall.  A little oasis in a bustling city and away from all of the pre-carnaval construction.  We went under the waterfall and around the park and ended up at La Caleta (the famous beach here).  We stopped for a quick drink, got a little tanner from the intense afternoon sun and then headed over to the sea-walk to take some final pictures and to see the most beautiful backdrop of Cádiz.

We walked along the edge of the city and made it back to the Cathedral where I showed them some ancient Roman ruins, some Roman roads, and a quick bathroom break/quick look at the Museum.  It was the perfectly spaced out 5-6 hour walking tour of the city!  Of course I skipped over some important parts like la Viña, la Plaza de España, Plaza de Minas, etc, but for a day-trip I think this was more than sufficient.  I had a lot of fun showing off my city and having someone appreciate what I was showing off.  Today was a wonderful day.

مراكش

The entrance to the Souk:  A dark archway leading into a maze of shops selling scarves, tea pots, jewelry, leather, bags, belts, knock-offs, lanterns.  Walls are filled from floor to the ridiculously high ceilings with hand crafted sandals and pointy colorful shoes.  Moroccans sit in their chairs while they stalk their prey; Spanish, French, British, possibly American? They judge everyone walking by.  Hola Shakira! Qué buscas? No response What are you looking for? Spices? No response écoute écoute! Qu’est-ce que tu cherche mon ami, take a look it’s free.  Then you respond No merci…Never respond.  Never make eye contact.  Never feel guilty for turning down a store owner because if you go in because it shows respect, because it’s good luck, because they bug you, because of the “student discount”, from sunrise to sunset you will only make it 10 feet in a souk that seems endless.   This is the entrance to pestering. 

The public transportation in Marrakesh is much more diverse than that of the Western world.  Americans have Ford, French have Peugeot, Germans: Opel, and Marrakesh: all of the above plus bicycles, bikes with motors, horses, and donkeys with carts.  The claustrophobic winding streets of the Medina are cluttered with pedestrians frantically avoiding veiled women on motor-bicycles and hooded fat-jedi-looking men with beards with wooden carts pulled by donkeys. While walking down the streets heed the sound of a revving bicycle and the grunt of pack animals about to run you down.     

I found the best and most beautiful thing about Morocco on the first day in the Souk. After being bugged by a Moroccan guy who followed us around and wouldn’t take NO for an answer, I said we were just looking for a place to eat. He shot off right away and said follow me, cheap good food. Come come! Being new to the Souk, my sympathy still worked its magic and I ended up following him to this restaurant. No menu. 1st course: fresh salsa of tomato, onion, cilantro, hot pepper sauce served with bread. 2nd course: chicken. 3rd course: un-identifiable meats. 4th course: Mint tea. 5th course: freshly picked clementines. Then mint tea again after. Total cost plus bottle of water: 55 Dirham per person ($6.70). The tea is like hot liquid sugar with a hint of mint. Absolutely amazing. Heaven in a cup. And the Clementines were so juicy that looking at them made them turn to juice. I don’t like oranges but in Morocco I ended up eating a bushel. Mint tea and Clementines: the pearls of Morocco.

While looking at the hoards of stray cats in the city and hovering around our table I had to wonder what type of mystery meat I was eating.....

Awaiting tomorrow

Sorry for the lack of blogs.  Ever since Córdoba it has been rainy and cold.  Other than school, there's nothing really to do here except for laying out on the beach or shopping and everything shuts down from 2 until 6.  This makes the rain extra depressing.  Bad news seemed to just pile up making this week absolutely horrible.  Thank God tomorrow I am going to Africa....Oh, I think I forgot to mention....in 7 and a half hours I'm heading to Africa.  I'm going to explore Marrakesh for 4 days, working through the souks, the medina, around mountains, and trying to absorb as much arab culture as possible. A dream vacation :)

Another accomplishment for this week was a flight to Barcelona.  From the 31st of March to the 3rd of April I will be in Barcelona!!  The flight from Seville to the city was 21€ round trip (originally 11€ before taxes and administration costs).  I've always dreamed of seeing the Sagrada Familia, parque güell, montuïc, Calle Rambla, etc.  I just got lucky with the absolute cheapest flight available (3,70€ there and 6€ back plus booking fees).  Let me remind those who are not good with geography that's 665 miles (that's a trip from Boston Commons to Central park in NYC, to Boston again, and then a trip back to the same spot in New York City!!)

Now I'm looking for a ticket to Ciudad Real at the end of February to meet up with my Spanish friends.  My first Spanish friends :)  I've been talking with them for a couple years now and will finally get to meet up with them...only problem; train ticket is 90€ yikes.

Off to sleep and off to Africa.  Bonne nuit!

Córdoba

A bus ride to Cortadura and then another four hours by bus and I finally arrived in Córdoba.  A few minutes later I ran into Antonio who took me around the city and then back to his apartment to drop off my stuff and to wait for some friends.  The night was filled with Chinese food, Wii games, and a catch-up on everyone’s lives.  One thing I learned is that Chinese food is very different in Spain: first off there are no fortune cookies.  Secondly, any order that seems big also includes a bottle of red wine free.  Thirdly, Styrofoam-esque shrimp ships come with every meal. And finally, it isn’t crispy. Oh, and spring rolls are actually delicious Chinese “empanadas”. 

The next day Antonio took me on a spectacular tour through the city.  I’ve been to Córdoba once before but only in the main square.  This was a tour from the suburbs into the city center and out of the main part of the city.  The mezquita, or the old mosque, was absolutely beautiful and the Alcazar and its gardens were even more astonishing.  For lunch we went to the main square and had flamenquín de pollo (a fried rolled up chicken breast stuffed with ham), calamares, and patatas a la pobre (potatoes, eggs, cheese and bacon).  It was possibly the BEST food I’ve had in Spain so far.  The chicken was moist, the potatoes were perfectly seasoned, the squid had an excellent batter, and everything was just perfect.  The only problem was that we couldn’t finish it because there was so much food!  A walk around the park, and an aerial view of the city brought an end to the perfect day.  Total cost: 15,50€.  An incredible deal for an incredible weekend   

The drunk who peed his pants

Friday: our final exams.  The last day of Exam Week in Spain until the next semester begins.  Listening comprehension, oral, written, reading comprehension, death.  We leave the class with some of us feeling confident and some extremely sad.  Luckily I fall on the confident scale.  After a quick lunch I head out to the beach to lay out and take advantage of this upper 60s weather and lack of clouds.  When the sun set we decided to go to the grocery store to pick up some things and then head home until 10:30.  When 10:45 came around, I made my way to the beach and met up with Kirsten and Jacqueline.  Jordan and Matt still weren't there so we ended up sitting on a wall by the boats talking.

From the other side of the beach we saw 2 people heading in our direction.  They came over, said hello, thought we were there for the Erasmus party but then decided to join us instead.  We hopped off the wall and made a pow-wow in the sand with our new friends Liz from Southern New Hampshire and Geoff from the Alps in France.  After putting on some music and talking another person walked towards us.  Now Liz is 23 and Geoff is 19 so we mingled pretty well.  The man who walked over had clearly lived a hard life and decided to try to forget it by drinking copious amounts of boxed wine.  He sits next to us.  Inches from me. INCHES. Awkward silence. I grab my obnoxiously large "dungeon key" in my pocket. Geoff speaks up for us all, thinking the drunken stranger will go away but it only keeps him longer.  I pretend to be from Belgium and Jacqueline from Sweden to create a language barrier but this man spoke too many languages.  We started in French, then Italian, then English, and then Spanish.  A well educated homeless drunk I'd say.  He peed his pants.  Finally the awkward situation was too much so I looked at the French guy, tapped my watch and said "T'es près?" I got a "oui" and then we all get up and walk down the beach.

We create another circle farther away in the shadows when someone else stumbles upon us: a girl from Germany and a guy from Italy.  Erasmus.  We like Erasmus.  The circle gets larger and then the rest of my American friends head over with all of our German friends, Australian friend, and a new guy from Madrid/the UK.  We talk, laugh and listen to music, new friends and old, until about 1 or 1:30 and then started walking into the city to one of our "favorite" places: Nahú.  The bar is packed so full that it is impossible to not be all up in somebody's business.  Advantage: You don't have to buy drinks.  Disadvantage: No room to dance.  A mix of American, European and Arabic party/dance/house music blasts through the bar.  Little circles form and a constantly moving line down the center is for the bathroom.  Let me reiterate the lack of personal space.  We teach the German girls how to dance American, and they teach us how to dance European.  Glasses fall off of shelves everywhere (I knocked over and shattered 4 from being bumped into so much).  Of course we run into Davide....He's everywhere, and at around 4 we decide to leave and just go home instead of going out (I'm going to Córdoba in 4 hours).  I still haven't reached a full tolerance for Spanish nightlife: i.e. starting at 3am and walking home at 7am.  It's really a cultural experience.

Here is what I've learned: Spain is a purely social culture.  At night everyone young is in the streets talking, then they go to the bar, and then they go to the club.  It isn't a subculture that does this, it IS the culture.  My host-father constantly asks if I'm going out and if I say "no, I have to study" or "no, I got school tomorrow", he looks at me confused says something along the lines of "but it's so boring in the house at night" and then lets it go.  Today was a special since it was a Friday and we were celebrating the end of our Spanish course.  I still haven't been to a club yet here, but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually.  This weekend, no.  This weekend is for beautiful and historic Córdoba.  La Mezquita, tiny roads, Spanish soul, and cultural treasure trove!!

The negatives

The Negatives to Spanish Life:

• Lack of toilet paper in public restrooms
• Terrible napkins
• Lack of hot water
• That big box I have to turn on and off before and after I take a shower
• Wet towels
• Dog poop
• Milk in the cabinet 
• Nightlife doesn't start until 3am
• The commercial Siesta between 2 and 6
• Pigeons
• Ketchup packets

Apart from these things I am absolutely in love with Cádiz, my homestay, my school and this country.  I wake up and walk to school everyday smiling and knowing that I picked the right program for me.  Cádiz is my little paradise.   

When monkeys attack

Today I walked to England.  A bus trip through rolling fields, windmill farms, and along the coast of Spain lead me to la Linea: the boarder town between Spain and Gibraltar.  Kirsten and I walked passed "customs" and then into the British colony filled with fish and ship shops, convenient stores, and tons of electronic/alcohol/smoke shops. After exploring around a little, Kirsten and I walked around until we found the cable car going up the rock of Gibraltar.  Along the way we ran into Davide ironically.  He seems to be everywhere.

Seconds after getting out of the cable car, monkeys started springing out of nowhere: from under the deck, from the trees, from behind the trucks.  There were monkeys everywhere.  We continued along the monkey path until we got to the feeding area with an incredible view of the peak of the rock.  The monkeys started attacking each other and viciously howling and bearing their teeth.  The older ones made me very uncomfortable.  Escaping the ensuing terror, Kirsten got jumped by one of the monkeys who then tried to steal stuff from her bag, rip out her hair and steal her scarf.  Vicious little things.

We walked up a dilapidated path to the peak with some of the most magnificent views I have ever seen in my life.  From the top I saw Africa, Spain, and the little British colony.  It was absolutely beautiful.  After hiking around the tourist free trails, almost having the Rock of Gibraltar to ourselves, we started our long....LONG trek down.  We managed to end up in a residential area about as far away from the tourist areas as you could imagine.  We started talking to a local at the bus stop, a kid about 16 years old, who helped us navigate around the city on the bus line.  And after seeing the real Gibraltar I must admit that I felt confused the whole time I was there.

Do I speak English?  Do I speak Spanish?  The people there are Andaluz-Spaniards who consider themselves British...Spanglish is king.  Ketchup packets are in English while Mayonnaise is in Spanish.  Menus are in English while advertisements and place mats are in Spanish.  The locals seems to speak English with a British accent but at the same time speak Spanish almost perfectly.... or they speak Spanish with an andaluz accent and English almost perfectly.  Families walk down streets and when the father speaks in Spanish, the daughter responds in English or vice-versa...¿could this be the future of America?  Is this bad? Is this good?  ....Idenity crisis!  

Today I stole a boat

Today was another beautiful sunny and hot day in Cádiz.  After classes I had lunch and then got invited to go to Gibraltar so I went down and bought my ticket...I leave at 7am tomorrow morning!  Talk about a spontaneous trip!  After buying the tickets (25€ round trip), I went down to the beach to lay in the sun.  I stripped down to my bathing suit and after a half an hour ran into the frigid ocean with my friend Teresa.  Me being from cold Rhode Island and her from freezing Alaska, we were able to take the unbearably numbing waves.  We got back on the beach and ran into an Italian friend and some Welsh friends of Teresa talked for a bit, and then dove into the ocean again with Davide (the Italian).

In the distance we saw an old boat floating near the shore.  An old wooden thing with the paint peeling off.  We ran over and pulled it up onto shore: the owner was nowhere to be found.  The welsh girl, Teresa, Kirsten and I decided to take it for a ride so we all huddled in and paddled off with the one paddle left inside.  Davide saw us from the distance and decided to swim out to join us.  The tiny paddle boat was now filled with 5 students, floating away from the beach into the open waters of La Caleta.  After paddling around for a bit we were able to get to shore.  By this time the sun was setting so the Erasmus students left and we went to the overlook to see the sun say it's last goodbye until tomorrow.  Perfect way to start the weekend.

Mexican with the Germans

Today was a beautiful day.  It was bright and sunny, somewhat warm, and a perfect day for the beach.  After class two Americans, 3 Germans, an Australian and I all headed to the one Mexican restaurant in Cádiz.  After ordering chicken mole unsuccessfully (there wasn't any left), I tried ordering 3 more meals which also happened to not be available today.  I finally just settled with a burrito.  It also turned out to be the best meal on the table!  Super spicy, with guacamole, jalepeños, and cheese.  We laughed, ate, talked and laughed some more until we went our own ways.  By this time it was 4pm so Matt, Jacqueline and I headed out to the beach.

Right next to the rest of our group were Yeyo and Javi (my house-brothers from Jerez).  We kicked around the soccer ball a bit and then I rolled up my pants, took off my shirt and took in the hot sun for an hour or two.  It was perfect weather.  One person went into the water and swam a bit, a couple others were oak-tree brown completely shaved with speedos that were way too small, and some other people were sitting with their friends on the beach like we were.  I walked around the shore for a bit and found an old Spanish Peseta (coin) freshly washed up by the receding tide.  It is all corroded with more holes than words but it still made my day.

I picked up a few shells and pieces of pottery that washed up, walked back to my towel and decided to paint a little. Some people stopped by to see what I was doing.  I kept on hearing "chulo"  when they'd look at it: a complement I hope haha. The sun began to set and I watched the sky turn from blue to different shades of red and purple: a sign to head home.  

The fortress in the middle of the sea

Walking down the thin cobblestone street I move farther and farther away from the main land.  Giant street lamps tower over me, waves crash all around me, the click-clack of my shoes gets muffled by the sounds of the sea.  This route is a solitary one; away from the hustle and bustle of the city to a fortress in the middle of the ocean.  I make my way down off the street onto barnacle covered black rocks torn apart by centuries of abuse from weather and mariners.  I climb down until I reach fresh sand revealed from the receding tide.  A few bricks and pieces of pottery poke up through the pebbles and further down the mini-beach I find inlets of crystal clear water.  The sun is setting.  I have found a moment of bliss…  There are a lot of those here.