How I learned to stop riding the bus at night and survive the ghetto.

Since it is absurdly hot here as I may have mentioned before I went to buy an electric fan with Emmy. The fan is now y new best friend (sorry everyone, youve been replaced) but getting it was quite the adventure.

First we went to El Corte Ingles, the Macy´s or Sears of Spain at 5PM. They didnt have any but they recommended we go to the shopping center a ways away so we did. We walked really far and got there to find that in the entire mall they only had 2 fans - one of which was way too big and the other way too expensive. We were about to give up and go home hot and disappointed (cuento de mi vida) until we remembered that there is a Spanish Walmart! Its called Alcampo and while I am not a fan of big box stores, we needed fans. We were on the complete other side of the city so we bussed it over to Alcampo and got fans! It was fantastic and we also bought food. So we had lots of bags and large boxes with fans and we decided that walking back to the university might lead to our death from exhaustion so we tried to take the bus back and this is where it gets interesting.

We waited for the 20 line which goes up to campus only to, 20 minutes later, realize it didnt run during non school months such as August. So we changed plans and got on the 8 bus which we had seen on campus earlier that day. The bus drove and drove until we started to think that for some reason it didnt go to campus. A guy who had been standing up at every single stop and looking around as if he should get off at each started to talk to me and I asked him if the bus went to campus. Not at night, he responded. Fuck. We got off teh bus and decided to try to navigate our way back to the residencia but the guy on the bus followed us and kept talking. He said he would walk us back and even after our protesting he left us little choice but to follow him since we were completely lost and had just found out from him that the part of the city we were in was the ghetto. ¨There are lots of drugs, gangs, fights, and people will drive up on a moto behind you and stab you if youre not careful,¨ he told us. So scared out of our minds, lost, and weighed down with shopping bags we followed him.

Sketchy act number one was that the guy was standign at every stop on the bus but sketchy act 2 was when he told us that he knew a shortcut and tried to take us down an alleyway. Emmy and I stopped and asked DONDE ESTAMOS EN EL MAPA. MUESTRANOS. Since he didnt point out our location we were once again left no choice but to follow him. This is where i thoguht Emmy was goign to die because as we came out of the alley, Emmy was at the mouth of it and a moto started speedign up behind her. I remember thinking ¨shit, shes going to get stabbed by a guy on a moto like our creep tour guide mentioned. Luckily, Creep knew the guy on a moto and nothing happened.

We continued walking and then Creep tried to sell us hash. We politely declined and e then told us that people mix additives with hash so its cheaper to make and they sell fo rhte same. Those aditives are actually poison so if we werent careful we could smoke poisonous hash and get sick. FORTUNATELY his hash didnt have those but he coudl sell it to us at an incredibly cheap price of 10 euros. Great. Now he was trying to poison us with his cheap hash. Once we got out of the ghetto my nerves calmed a little bit but Creep didnt stop being weird. ¨I have agirlfriend. Her name is so and so. We dont have problems. I dont have problems. We have no problems. We are very goo dtogether. She doesnt have problems. No problem. problemproblemproblem etc...¨ for about 5 minutes straight. Then he told Emmy she looked like a tomato. Smooth.

Anyways, we got back to the base of campus and told him thank you, we could walk from there but he insisted on walking us to the doorstep of the residencia. He said it was on his way anyways and I asked where he lived and he pointed in the opposite direction. Go figure. We talked him out of following us but he insisted I take him phone number. I will promise you all now that Creep is not getting a phone call from me.

Time for class. Hasta luego.

For the linguists....aka Hoda

Today I actually went to the clase de gramatica and I loved it because the profesor talked about the derivation of pronouns and articles from Latin and naturally, the nerdy linguist Matt took over. El profe explained how at one point the Latin-Spanish language used words like Ille, Illa, and Illum for masculine, feminine, and neuter respectively then at one point the Illa changed to Ela and when used with feminine nouns that start with strong ¨a¨sounds like agua or hambre, the last ¨a¨ of ela was eventually omitted because it was the same sound as the first sound of the noun. This all seems logical and super cool if you are a linguist BUT THEN he said ¨and today people say el agua and el hambre because thats what they know, but they dont know that they say that because years and years ago people made a mistake and changed it to ¨el¨. EXCUSE ME?!?! A mistake!!??? Oh you damn prescriptivist. He lost major points today.

Soy idiot.

I just missed my first class of gramatica today. I mixed up the schedule in my head and thought i had break right now but no. I have class. And in Cadiz they told us that if you are late to a class just dont go because the teachers get really super offended so Im afraid to show up now that its 20 minutes into the class. Soy inteligente... At least Christianna is online so I can talk to her instead of being in my room all alone thinking about what Im missing below.

Polvo´s in the air

Granada is enveloped by a giant dust cloud. From our dorms on the hill you can´t even see the city below. Instead its a brown-grey curtain of dust. You can even smell the dirt in the air. Oh and its still like 38 degrees C.... I dont know what that is in american temperature but its hot.

I also found a discoteca in a mall. It looks fun and its called Mae West.

Schwarma, will you be my burrito?

So its been a long week here in Granada awaiting the ILP program but it has been a good week also. Mostly I walked around the city and explored different areas. I have yet to visit the Alhambra because it is the peak time for tourist season here. This means that if I wanted to go visit the Alhambra now I would need to wake up t about 530, head over the the ticket office, wait in the lone that has formed by 6AM, and wait until 8 when the tickets go on sale for the day. After that, if I would be lucky enough to get the first tickets, I would stat my tour an hour later at 9 when the Alhambra opens. Yes, ridicuouls, I know so I have elected to wait until later in the year, winter perhaps, when there are no tourists and I wont have to wake up at an ungodly period of the morning just to wait for another 4 hours. I also bought Entrevista con el vampiro since I have neither read it nor seen the movie and I should start practicing Spanish in ways other than ordering food and asking directions.

I was approached one day by foreigners and they asked me for directions to the Alhambra in their very bad Spanish accent when I was down by Plaza Isabel la Catolica. Why me? I don’t look like I speak Spanish, I don’t think I look like a Granadino, and Im pretty sure they came up to me while Emmy and I were speaking in English – kind of a giveaway that we´re not locals. Basically I pointed in the wrong direction and told them – allí

I started a book called Perfume which I thought was related to the movie about a crazy man who tries to make perfumes out of women he abducts because he has an incredible sense of smell. So far he´s only been severely disfigured by diseases and strangled one girl. Im already halfway through the book and its disappointing. I hope he starts going crazier soon.

I got to make my own food! Since the hostal has its own kitchen and fridge Emmy and I made pasta. Lots of it. AND WITHOUT TUNA IN THE SAUCE!!! Anyone who was in Cádiz last month will understand that sentiment. Also, I have found my new burrito! Some of you may know how big of a fan I am of the burritos back in California and it is one of the greatest disappointments as pointed out by Hoda in another of my blog entries that burritos don’t really exist here. So, par recommendation of Hoda I had a schwarma. These delectable burrito-esque foods are delicioso. Ill spare you from a description of their creamy sauces and warm crunchy wrap with various stuffings but in conclusion, they are close enough to burritos in structure and enjoyableness that I am comforted. (p.s. you should all eat a burrito in honor of burrito lovers living in Spain. We miss them.)

A quickie...

Im in Granada now and staying at this backpackers hostal that has only been open for 5 weeks. The owners\security guard\only two people that work there and ex surfers who are really laid back. They smoke everyone out....every night. I sleep on an airmattress that makes a lot of noise if you move around on it and the person on the top bunk changes every night as people come and go. HOWEVER, Granada is awesome.

Ok, now to the point of this message.
I dont have internet at the hostal so I wont be able to blog much this week (sad, I know. try to be strong). But once I move into the dorms on the 24th Im sure there will be many stories to tell about the borrachos that wander the streets and play incredible flamenco guitar music, the schwarmas that I have yet to try, and many other things.

Hasta luego!

Futbol es guai.

So last night we went to the huge BBQ thing on the beach and we heard it was big but we had no idea. Imagine the crowd at Porter meadow on 420 (for all you Santa Cruzers) and multiply that by the 7 kilometers of beach that this event took place on. This craziness usually lasts until 6 or 7 in the morning when the cops come and kick everyone out. Why BBQ so much? you might ask. The answer is futbol. It was the end of the Cadizian futbol season and although Cádiz lost, people still like to BBQ...and drink. The funny part is that the day before was a dia festivo for some religious observance that no one knows the significance of. So basically everyone took that day off and chillaxed. Then the next day for futbol reasons it was the largest party I have seen in my life. Way to prioritize, Spain.

I also got more passport photos taken and as expected, worst photos of my life. I kind of look like a cracked out chipmunk. I hope the professors at University of Granada appreciate them.

I miss burritos.

A breif summary

Since I suck at actually writing to people I thought that a blog would be helpful to spread any news that's worth reporting. So I'll do my best to keep this blog alive. Here's a recap of what's been happening since my arrival in Spain...

Upon arrival in Seville, after 23 hours of traveling, I found that my baggage had been lost. First time ever that that's happened to me. It ended up coming a week and a half later so I was wearing the same two pairs of clothes for the first week of meeting all the other students and professors. Yeah, I felt cool. P.S. in this case cool = dirty.

The beaches are amazing here and it is worth going every day except for the tragic fact that I am uber white and burn very easily. I have to catch up to the experienced beach-goers in my group but I'm making progress.

We've gone on a few field trips including an excursion of El museo de los diques. Just in case you don't speak Spanish this translates to roughly a Dock museum. Yes, a museum dedicated to docks. Like where boats tie up to in the water. As you could probably tell it was FASCINATING.....

My room faces a stone wall across the street but if I scrunch up into the corner behind my desk I have a semi view of the plaza de la catedral outside the residencia which is actually really beautiful. I have pictures but of course I forgot to bring my cord to get those pictures off of my camera. Soy genius. Pigeons also like to land on my windowsill so we're buds. They are kind of the inspiration for the name of my blog palomas en la plaza. That and also all the times when I walk through plazas and a child thinks its hilarious to scare a flock of pigeons (flock? herd? who the fuck knows.) which then swarm around you and fly menacingly close to your face.

I have met some very cool people here in Cadiz and some who I will not miss once we go our separate ways to other cities in Spain (but shhhh, dont tell them). Overall Cadiz has been great despite the sarcasm laced through the sentences of this blog entry and I will be a little triste to leave but Granada is sure to bring more adventures. OH MY GOD one more story before I go -

Last night Emmy and I were sitting in the plaza de la catedral sipping on some cervezas and vino when a man came up to us and asked for money. I decided to pretend that I was a total tourist and that I didn't know Spanish so with my best American accent and confused expression I repeatedly told him that I didn't understand what he was saying, but he didn't get the hint and kept asking until he decided that a fantastic way to communicate his motives without words would be to remove the bandaid from his left eye thus revealing his...lack of eye. He pulled open the gaping hole in his head and said "give me a euro". I'm glad I have watched enough medical shows to be partly desensitized to the body so that I didn't have nightmares last night. Unfortunately his fleshy crater did not convince me to give him a euro so he covered up his eye again and walked away.

More to follow. Paz afuera.