DONE!

So, I´m officially done with year one of grad school! Though I will be working a lot on papers this summer, it´s a pretty great feeling finishing the year. Ahhhh. Now time to relax. But not really, because my best friend Carrie is coming and I´ve got to start packing!! That´s quite difficult when you have over 30 pairs of shoes.....

Living with a host family

This is completely an excuse to not do a project that's due this week, but oh well :)

I love living with a host family. Most of the time. It's kind of strange, now that I'm 24 (woah!), that I live with a family in Spain that makes my meals and cleans my room, does my laundry, changes my sheets, but I speak all Spanish with them and I figured, this will be the last time ever that I will be pampered. 

Normally it's fine. I am a pretty independent person, so living with this family is great, because they are often out of the house working. But there are times, like right now, when I'm just like, "ughh I can't wait to live on my own." 

Why "right now"? Well, it's 3 PM. And I still haven't eaten lunch. I'm getting crabby because I'm hungry, but have to wait until they're done preparing lunch to eat it, logically. I just don't get it. 

I just wish that I could go into the kitchen, make myself a sandwich, and be done with it. But, it doesn't work that way in Spain. And that's all. One annoyance of living with a host family....

cravings

So, the Spanish food isn't too bad, but I'm getting a little sick of it. I guess more than anything, I'm just craving certain American foods. Here's a list of some places I hope and plan to go during the first, ohhhh, 24 hours back in town.

1. Chipotle. I actually think my parents are bringing it to the airport. Or having it waiting for me at home :)  3 veggie tacos, black beans and rice, fajita, mild tomato salsa and a little corn, a teeny eeny bit of sour cream and cheese, lettuce and guacamole. 

2. Geppettos pizza. plain cheese. with marinara to dip. with ranch to dip. a nice coke would be good too. 

3. Niko's (whose name has changed, to something I don't know): a junior gyro with everything, easy onion. yuuuuummy. 

4. Bagles. Preferably Brueggers. a square asiago one with plain cream cheese, or a wheat one with veggie light cream cheese.

5. good, grilled hot dogs. 

6. Mom's good pasta with good sauce. no more of this tomato paste ketchup-y spaghetti-o type sauce

7. Subway. a subway club with provolone, grilled. with spinach, tomato, cucumber, honey mustard and a bit of salt and pepper. YUM. 

8. sushi. yum yum yum yum. They have it here, but it's not nearly as popular. I've only ever seen one place in Alcala, but I'm sure there are several in Madrid. I am craving the shrimp tempura. my fave. 

I'm sure this list will be edited and added onto. But I'm off to a good start. I'll have a lot of catching up to do during that first day back, eh?

Was that a lawnmower?

I woke up this morning to a noise that seemed very familiar from my little suburban neighborhood back home: a lawnmower. Still half asleep, it almost comforted me. Until I realized that it could not have been a lawnmower, because there is very very very little grass in Spain. I mean, once you get out of the cities into more rural areas, especially up north, sure there's plenty of it. But if I were to look out my window right now, I don't think I'd see much...

[The noise, as it turns out, was the street cleaner]

I bless the rains down in africaaaaa...

Ok, so during my trip to Tunisia, Africa there was no rain. But that's a good song.

So what can I say about Africa? There is too much, really. But I'll give it a whirl.

I decided to go to Tunis (Tunisia), Africa for my spring break this year with four other people. I had never ever thought of doing that, but once my friend Kelsy mentioned it, I couldn't get it out of my mind. Easy as that. We headed to the northern coast of Africa for a week in a 4 star hotel on the beach. It was nothing less than an incredible experience--some good things, some bad, and a lot of really weird things :)  ...

1) We arrive at the hotel, like I said, 4 stars. I guess their star ratings are a bit different in Africa. We loved it, it was fine, don't get me wrong, but it's not what you'd expect. Everything was just fine. Food was just fine, though I haven't been craving anything that I ate there. Open bar selection consisted of: beer, vodka, whiskey, and a Tunisian rum, a couple of liqueurs, and juice if you'd like to mix. We're college kids, we're not used to a variety anyway. So this was a beach resort, as I said, with a big pool and a beautiful beach just beyond the pool. Does a 4 star usually give their guests beach towels? well of course. At the good ol' Riadh Palms, this was not the case. Are stray cats eating off of the enclosed patio tables a normal occurrence in a 4 star? Doubtful. But we were blessed with their presence for an entire week :)  Like I said, not complaining, just quite funny. 

2) The languages: French and Arabic. Luckily our friend Dustin is fluent in French. It would have been a lot more difficult without him there. I loved hearing the natives speak and seeing all the signs and products in French and Arabic. Obviously I'm a language lover. Many people spoke minimal English and their accents were so cute! They often called us "baby girl", and with their accent it didn't sound so bad. 

3) The markets: Some people hate them, pushy vendors trying to drag you into their stores, but I love them. I don't know why, I guess I just think they're kind of a fun experience. there are some interesting things that they sell--food, spices, perfumes, hookahs, souvenirs (they love the camels!!), lots of jewelry, purses, clothes...you name it. But what I like most is observing the people. They really are pushy, they'll say anything to get you in their store, and it is annoying at times. But it's what they do, it's how they live, it's their culture. And I really improved my bargaining skills! we actually bargained for a taxi ride back one time, ha.

4) CAMELS. We did go on a camel ride. Normally the ride includes: camel ride, horse ride, donkey ride, lunch, but we didn't want to make it a whole day thing so we bargained down the price and did just the camel ride. We ended up having the greatest guide and he did a few extra things for us since we didn't have the whole tour, like going to see baby camels. It was really funny, they were all making their camel-y noises and afraid of us, but being the tourists we are, we went in, took pictures, gave them kisses, etc. Then, since the tour is normally like 3-4 hrs, and ours should have been about an hour and half, we went back to meet with our ride....who came 15 minutes late, then 15 more, then 15 more...After a while, we were getting antsy (probably because we were still sitting on our camels...haha) so we went down the road a bit to where a group of native children were playing soccer. We asked our tour guide if we could go play with them...heck, why not? So we go, and it's us against the kids. We didn't understand each other at all, but it was so much fun, so liberating even. 

5) Sammy, "Vince Vaughn", Baby Louis, etc. These were just a few of the guys who worked at the hotel. they were super nice and funny, and after a few days of talking to them during "snack time" where they made pizza, little turkey sandwiches and CREPES (the same snack time where the cats were eating off the tables), they, like every man in Tunisia, asked us if we wanted to go to the "disco" with them. They were harmless, and the disco was right down the street. It ended up being a great night, and although it was difficult to communicate, we did so with gestures, by dancing, and by doing lots of cheers with our drinks :) It was sad to leave them at the end of the week.

6) Hotel animation team: normally in big hotels, they have the animation team, who organizes activities, games, workouts, contests, and usually has a show at night. The Riadh Palm's animation team more or less did this. But, just as the hotel was juuuust under its claimed 4 stars, so was its animation team. I guess the strangest thing for us was that they were all men, since in Muslim culture, women are kind of prohibited from things like that. So, all the games/activities during the day were led by the men, not so weird. But when we went to one of the night shows....you can imagine our reactions when we saw a group of guys dancing to songs that clearly should have a female character, like Celine Dion and the Titanic song. In several of the skits and dances, the men had to dress up as a girl. It was really interesting, but that's their culture and the way they've always lived, so by golly, good for them.

7) Living conditions: Obviously we didn't see too much of the poverty because we were in a resort, but we're sure it existed. After talking to several of the workers at the hotel, they were very open about sharing their lives with us. There was one whose father had died and at a very young age (maybe 12 or 14) he dropped out of school to start working and providing for the family. The average salary for someone who works at the hotels there is 300 dinar a month, which is roughly equivalent to 165 euros. A month! In one week I spent much more than that, and would buy silly things while there. Like a 4o euro day trip, a 15 dinar camel ride, a 10 dinar beach towel, etc. It just kind of makes you think, and although I've been complaining about the exchange rate all year, I still have much more than they do and should probably realize that and think about it more, especially when I think I've got it bad. 

 

I could go on. There's so much to talk about, but maybe in order to discover other things, you should go visit Tunisia. It was a great experience and I'm glad I went. Yet another culture to learn about and whose differences you can value...

Until next time...

Coffee break catastrophe

So, while studying for my midterms, I starting to feel a bit tired and decided that I needed coffee. Normally my host mom has coffee made in the kitchen, but there wasn't any. So, I decided to make some, I mean, how hard could this be?

I had never used this particular coffee maker, but it seemed as simple as any coffee maker I had used before. I got the bag of coffee grounds out and looked at it for the instructions. (I know how much to put in at home, but I think the coffee is a bit different here, much stronger, and so I wanted to be sure.) So I looked, and searched, and nowhere on the package did I find instructions on how many cucharadas (spoonfuls) to put in. A bit frustrated and confused, I just decided to try to make it how I normally do in the states. Done and done. Or so I thought...

I went back into my room to study a bit and after about 10 minutes assumed it'd be done. I was walking back into the kitchen, saying to myself "I'm going to laugh if I walk in and there's coffee everywhere..." Then I walk in, and...you guessed it...there's coffee EVERYWHERE. all over the countertop, dripped down to the floor. I was like, what in the world could have happened. When I opened the door where you put the filter in, it was a big coffee soupy mess. I tried my best to clean up without anyone knowing what had happened. Used paper towels and one of my own washcloths and then took the trash out. As far as I know, nobody knows. It's a good thing they don't know English and can't read this blog. :)

So, I still don't know what happened--what I did wrong--and still don't know how to make coffee. Which is even extra pathetic since I worked in a coffee shop. Maybe one day I'll learn...

spoke too soon...

I told my friend a few weeks ago that a great thing about Spain is that it's almost always always sunny. I should have kept my mouth shut:  Last week and this coming week, rainy and gloomy. Not fun :(  Especially when we have to walk to a lot of places. 

[Side-note: a HUGE pet-peeve of mine is when the bottoms of my jeans get wet. EW! I hate it so much.]

On a positive note, there's sun in Tunisia, where I'll be in three weeks!!

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello

The other day at school, I was walking out the door and a Spanish friend of mine was coming in the door. Normally, this same exact situation in the states would be something like this: 

me: Hey, what's up?

Paloma: Hey!

But, following the trend of most of my other blog posts, Spain is quite different...And this is, in face, how the conversation went: 

Me: Hola, qué tal? (hey, how's it going?)

Paloma: Hasta luego! (See you later!) 

It's completely normal here, but makes me feel like they're brushing me off, haha. I guess they're right though, we're just passing each other so we're shouldn't be greeting one another as if were were just meeting up. I thought it was funny anyway..

there's a comma, period.

I think it's funny that with expressions of numbers in Spain (and probably most of Europe and who knows where else), instead of using a decimal point, they use a comma, and instead of a comma, they use a period. 

for instance: the year is 2.008. 

A shirt may cost 39,99 euros. 

There are 3.894 people in this city. No, not three and 894 thousandths of a person. But rather three thousand eight hundred ninety four. 

In addition, while in Spain they (try to) drive on the right side of the road, many pedestrians pass each other by walking to the left. Actually, in Spain, people don't really move. If you don't want to get rammed in the shoulder or knocked out by that old lady's shopping wheeler-cart, go wherever there's room--left, right, jumping over her...whatever gets you out alive. 

Beer and waffles.

Where else would you go for these two delicious things? Belgium of course, are they really all that they're cracked up to be? 

100% yes. 

Brussels, Belgium, a beautiful town with friendly people (who all speak English! thank goodness), truly has a lot to offer. 

I, of course, splurged on edible things: 

Waffles. one word: yum. You can get really any topping you want, chocolate, ice cream, whipped cream, strawberries, other fruit, etc. etc. etc. I went with a simple belgian waffle with powdered sugar and it was perfectly warm, soft, sweet, and wonderful. Eggo doesn't come close...

Beer. two words. yum, strong. I don't really know the specific beers that I drank, but know that I liked them and that they will intoxicate you quickly. We went to one bar, Delirium, that is famous in Brussels. They have over 2000 types of beer there! I didn't quite get to try them all. 

Chocolate. I'm not too big on chocolate these days, (weird, I know)..but I did get a free sample of supposed Belgian chocolate with a glass of fresh mint tea. I probably should have tried the real thing from one of the dozens of chocolatiers around town....oh well.

Didn't try the mussels, because I think they're gross. Brussel sprouts are also not on my list of things for the last supper. The Mannequin Pis (a little statue of a guy peeing), was interesting. They, (you know, "they") dress him up in different outfits all the time. My friend Blake (whom I visited) told me that he has hundreds of outfits...

Whether it be quite old architecture (check out that Grand Place!) or new modern buildings, small winding streets or large public avenues, it is a wonderful city with wonderful people and I hope to return someday. 

Check out the photos!

free stuff!

So I went to recharge my phone yesterday (a lot of people have the prepaid phones here...), and the girl was very friendly and so she plopped down a couple "free goodies" on the counter for me. My friend Allison and I were like, hmmm, what are these things. They looked like square freezer pops, about 2 in x 2 in...those popsicles that come in a box, in long tubes and they're a liquid and then you freeze them and they're delicious? you know...

so anyway, they looked like those. bright orange. Turns out they're hand warmers. 1) most random free goodie EVER and 2) most random goodie from a cell phone store. 

That is all. Spain is funny...

oops...forgot to write in a month and a half...

So I'm beginning to thing that this blog is like my diary that I also forgot to write in. I think my las "Spain journal" entry was from September. How terrible. 

I suppose that a lot has happened since I last wrote in the good ol' blog. I went home for Christmas, surprising my family! I spent three wonderful weeks at home, eating American food, speaking English, sleeping in my own bed, enjoying carpet, driving my car, visiting family and friends, and of course, appreciating NOT having to think about the awful exchange rate and how much money I'm losing here in Spain....bummer. 

I got back to Spain the 13th of January and all has been pretty great this semester. New classes are fine, and the new kids in the group are really great. They are very high energy, and there are a TON of them, which can sometimes be a bit crazy during excursions and stuff, but for the most part they seem very fun and interested in learning, which, after all, is why they're here. 

We had our first group excursion Jan 25-27 to Extremadura and nos lo pasamos muy muy bien. We had great weather and a great time in general. It was nice because it's not as touristy as many of the places that we visit, but still equally as beautiful. 

This past weekend was the start of  "Carnavales", whose end indicates the beginning of lent. The major areas in Spain that celebrate Carnavales are Cadiz and Tenerife (I believe...) but there is usually a celebration in every city. (both the religious side, and the crazy party aspect..) Here in Alcalá, there were a lot of things going on, and my friends and I went out on Saturday night and dressed up. When in Spain...

I am poor, thus having to reuse my angel costume from Halloween. But no one has to know that! oh wait, I just made it public...

This weekend I'll be visiting my friend Blake in Brussels, Belgium, where he has been working since September. I'm really excited, and it'll be great to be there with someone who knows the area well!

Boring post, I apologize. I'll get some interesting topics going soon...

until then...D.

P.S. Here is the link to my photos. Carnavales not up yet...

http://picasaweb.google.com/daniellestanko