Post Office

I've had a handful of postcards sitting on my desk for a while and I finally had a break long enough to go drop them off, so off I went on my first (but certainly not last) trip to the post office.

I had seen it before in a plaza on the far side of Calle de los Reyes Católicos, but I couldn't remember where exactly. So, I went to the top of the street and started following it down until I saw it. It's tucked into the back corner of a wide, not-square plaza. From the outside, it looks like an official building, like a bank or a political building. I never would have guessed it was a post office if there wasn't a little sign hanging on a post in front of it reading "Correos." There were quite a few people sitting on the steps leading to a big glass doorway, the marble there was not heated by the sun.

I don't know why, but I was expecting it to be more like an American post office, where you walk in and get in line. This was something a little different though, slightly resembling a highly-efficient DMV. Ahead were a bunch of marble counter tops. It would have looked like a bank if there was bullet-proof glass in front of the people. To the left was a little machine. I looked at the sign. They broke down their services into four categories. Depending on your category, you had a series of options. To "enviar cartas", I needed to push the A button, take a number, and wait. I got A258, and the highest number of the occupied registers was A242 and there were only 3-4 open. I was expecting a long wait since the A registers don't only deal with things as simple as "enviar cartas", so I found a nice spot on a tall table to lean on.

Let me tell you, these people don't mess around. As soon as one was finished, they put a number on the board and a "ding" sounded in the post office. If no one reacted by the time the number stopped flashing, they were on to the next number. I saw one register go through 5 numbers within 30 seconds because it was just so fast. Needless to say, I made my way to the front quickly.

I walked up to my register and handed him my 5 post cards with a simple "Hola." He responded with a "Buenas tardes" or something similar, just a greeting. Looking down at him handling my post cards, all addressed to the USA, I felt like such a tourist, and I know he was thinking that, too. I heard him counting under his breath in Spanish (I don't know why, but that always throws me... People talking in Spanish, even kids talking in Spanish seems normal, but once they start just counting in Spanish, it always seems out-of-place, even though it's exactly as it should be) and punch a couple of numbers into his calculator. He turned his monitor so I could see it, pointed, and said slowly "Cuatro y sesenta y cinco". I got a little embarrassed and handed him a five. He counted out change and handed it to me with an "Aquí tienes. ¡Que tengas buen día!" and I only managed an embarrassed "Gracias."

There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I know I'm a foreigner, but I want so badly to be integrated into society here.

I left and started walking home, taking a much more efficient route since I now knew where I was and where I was going. I remembered seeing post cards for cheap near that part of town, so I started exploring. I managed to find a stand with post cards at half the price of the ones I had just sent, so I picked out a Euro's worth and went to pay. The cashier just held up a finger and said "Uno" quickly and quietly. I handed him the coin and he said "Gracias" as I walked out.

I decided I should just head back, so I did. I saw one of the guys from our program walking towards me and I said "Hey!" as he got closer to me. He jumped, a little surprised at my voice, and looked me over. "Oh... Sorry, I thought you were Spanish!" "Really? Cool! ...No one else does." I said before I could even think about it.

Too American for the Spanish... and now I'm too Spanish for the Americans apparently, haha.

You know... I think I'm okay with that.

Odds and Ends

So, yesterday we went to/inside the Catedral de Isabela la Católica. It was a beautiful, amazing place that I will post about, but since my last post was about the excursion through the Sierra Nevadas, I figured I should go through a few basic checkups before I overload you guys with too much awesome =D.

I believe I found my apartment! It's really close to the university in an area of town that I am more than familiar with. The place has three Spaniards living there currently (one is going to study abroad for the year so I will take her place for the semester). The bedrooms are spacious. There's a glass-enclosed balcony (to keep the cold air out in the winter) and, most importantly, they have a kitty cat!!! It's inexpensive, too. The only thing that makes me hesitate is they are on a year-long contract, so in mid-late February, I will need to find someone to replace me. Since that's when the people coming to study here for the Spring show up, I have heard it's a fairly simple task, but it does make me hesitate nonetheless. I will probably get back to her sometime this weekend.

A handful of us chicas are going dress shopping today! Should be fun... I can't spend too much money because of my current debit card issue, but I might get a skirt or dress if I can find a cute one for a good price.

Classes are going pretty well, I think. I will admit I need to put more time into doing homework though... We don't get too much homework, but there is so much here keeping me busy that I should probably take my time a little more with it.

I can't believe it's been over two weeks already. But I continue to see more and more of Granada each day, and I just absolutely LOVE it here... I wish my American people could see this...

Sean, Aimee, and I went to another tetería recently!! I will probably go at least once a week. Those places are just so amazing, comfortable, relaxed, and beautiful. Plus, the tea is AMAZING!

This is a Paquistaní tea. It's a Granada specialty and the locals LOVE it. So do I! It's sweet, spicy, creamy, and perfect. Their milk teas they brew directly into hot milk, as you can see. It's so tasty.

Today is Kirsten's birthday. Today at lunch, I went around to a few tables and told them to watch me and when I counted to three we were gonna sing. It was PERFECT. We got the whole cafeteria to simultaneously break out into a good old American Happy Birthday chorus. It was awesome and she was embarrassed, as any good birthday girl should be. We're going to get her a cake later, too, but shh don't tell ;).

Overall, life has been amazing and full of adventure. Now that we're all finally settling into it, it's really starting to feel like another home.

I would love to hear from you, so please email me, facebook me, or comment on my blog!!

Sierra Nevadas, Aug. 29, 2010

Today, we went on an excursion through the Spanish Sierra Nevadas.



That's them in the background (this is the view from the bus, which had seat belts, which was odd).

We got off the bus in the extreme outskirts of town. There was a river (it's a man-made canal but it's a natural river) with some GIANT ducks in it.



I'm telling you, GIANT.





Here are a few cool pictures from the town. The first one is Professor Madrid telling us all about the town and fruits and things around there. The second one is a guy actually using a pack mule to transport goods through the narrow streets. I had heard that that was the only way of getting heavy items through certain parts of town, but this is the first time I have seen one in use. The third is of a dog that didn't care for the mule much. I thought he was going to jump out of the window for a second, but he just watched the mule walk by...



This is a part of one of the trails we walked up. The open trails were very much like this, narrow and steep and dusty. From the top we got a beautiful view of the canyon.



Here I am in front of a mountain... overlooking the canyon...



That's me with a couple of friends, looking over the non-mountain-y side of the lookout. It was pretty, too.

After about 10 minutes of looking out, we began our hike through the canyon.



Only 4 people were allowed to cross this bridge at a time. It was very rocky and difficult to cross. I'm not afraid of heights, but I was a little nervous crossing this.



Most of the hike through the canyon was like this, on a narrow cement pathway next to the river. It was pretty and we all felt like ants. There were some Spanish guys rock climbing to the right, they were awesome.



Among the fruits growing around here were many, many blackberry bushes. This guy went across the river for them while we waited for the rock climbers to finish and the people to cross the bridge.



As we continued, there were points on the walk where the mountain jetted out farther than the path. They had these giant staple-like handholds we could grab to help ourselves across. In the distance, you can see some of us using them.



We also had to crawl under this thing. It was pretty cool.



Miranda was in front of me during the hike. She was a good sport and let me take cute pictures of her =).



Rocks made the path unusable at this point. We had to jump down into the river and hike around the problem. Luckily, the staple handholds were available here as well.



In a word: Majestic.






Just some CA kids enjoying a lunch break near the river.



Some of the guys thought it would be a good idea to try to climb this during lunch.



Most made it down just fine.



The one riding piggy back is Buck. I heard he fell like 30-40 feet and messed up both of his ankles pretty badly. He is going into surgery tomorrow and won't be able to walk (not even on crutches) for about 2 months. However, I don't really know him or his closer friends, so the information I have is second-hand. After seeing the size of his left ankle, though, I wouldn't be surprised.



It was beautiful though.

And lastly...



Someone was hiking with this little guy and I simply HAD to take a picture!! So precious!!!

Overall, it was an amazing day with a lot of new adventures. It stayed nice and cool in the dark canyon, and it was nice to escape the city heat, and, while I love the city life here, it was nice to get some outdoorsy time and see some of the different sites of Granada, the natural sites even older than any of the history I see in the city.

"Spanish time"

In Spain, everyone is always really, really late. Always.

One of the "monitores" once kept his group waiting for about an hour before they went out to tapas or something. Other times, they've/we've had to wait at least 15 minutes. Even classes tend to start about 5 minutes later than scheduled. They are definitely never "early" here.

Yesterday, Aimee and I went to look at an apartment. We were supposed to meet up "just after 5" which turned into "just after 8" and when we met up with him around 8:30, we had to wait about a half hour to get the keys from his friend. Naturally, we missed dinner which ended at 9:30, but we went out last night for food so it was okay, but I remember being REALLY frustrated with the guys there because dinner here on weekdays is already paid for, so I don't like paying for food when I have some available to me here.

But you know, it probably was one of the better things that could have happened to me, especially this early in the program, mostly because of how the landlords handled us. They weren't all business. They wanted to talk about all sorts of things, like the differences between Spanish and Catalán (which at the time was extremely irritating because I knew I was missing dinner to hear about the things they wanted to talk about). In the US, business is business and play is play. Rarely do the two meet and mix. But here, everything is relaxed, no one is on a schedule, and whenever you can mix the two, they do.

I don't know.. I just feel like there are some up-tight people in LA that could learn a thing or two from the Spanish. Take a siesta every once in a while. Don't be irritated at running late. Sometimes your schedule will get messed up and you know what? Sometimes, that ends up being for the better.

Perhaps I have a few things I can learn from them, too.
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Last night, while waiting for the landlord's friend to come, he lit up a cigarette and I noticed it bothering me more than cigarette smoke usually does. My nose got stuffy later last night and it hasn't gone away yet. I don't know if that cigarette in particular is to blame, but part of me thinks it is. I don't feel sick, just stuffy, but it is annoying. Hopefully it goes away...

Yesterday, I bought a Spanish chocolate bar called "Milka Triolade". It's a layer of milk chocolate topped with a layer of white chocolate topped with chunks of "darker milk" chocolate.

Today, churros con chocolate for breakfast =D. I've heard they are different than Mexican churros though. We will see.

Lots to do...

So this week has been a lot of introductions, adjustments, new friends, new life, and new city... I've finally gotten the hang of it and mellowed out a bit when we have our orientation and I realize just how much I still need to do...

1) Find classes/prepare my rough draft class schedule. We need to pick 6 classes to try, then we can drop up to 2, meaning I will have to take at least 4 classes. I think I want to take 5 though... Since I have to miss Winter quarter as it is and my major transfers EAP credits by the class rather than by the unit.
2) Find a place to live. So far, staying at the Residencia has been a lot of fun and a great way to meet people/get fed (haha), but we are only allowed to stay here until September 17th. Aimee and I are going to look at a place later today. Hopefully, they will let us rent out the rooms rather than the whole apartment and we get some Spanish/other foreign students to room with us. Part of the reason I wanted to come here was to improve my Spanish and I think that will be much easier if I'm not living with all Americans, and Aimee feels the same way. We've become really good friends the past few days, and I'm glad we're in the same boat as far as living arrangements.
3) Apply for my Tarjeta de Residencia. This is like a "Green Card" in the US, meaning I'm not a citizen, but I am a legal resident. My visa is only good for 30 days so I need the Tarjeta. Basically, anyone staying over 180 days needs to do this so they have your file on-hand at the police station.
4) Find out if I have a mailbox. I was told we couldn't receive mail here, but I have also been told we can but without direction to the mail boxes. I need to talk to someone in the admin for the program whether or not we can...

I'm glad I already registered with the US Embassy. That way, if there's a disaster or I get lost or something, they have all my information readily available. I'm also on their email listserv so I can find out information regarding security/nature/political uprisings/etc. So far, Spain feels very, very safe, but... you never know.

I suppose I'll start looking for classes now... Maybe I'll get a little time to read or something too. Relaxing is a very important part of Spanish culture, and I'm here to experience culture, right? ;)

Some favorites

My new favorite things as introduced to me by Spain.

Place to go: Teterías (Moroccan-style tea houses).

Thing to eat: I don't know what it is called, but it's a long pastry stuffed with chocolate cream and topped with chocolate gnash and powdered sugar. It's amazing.

Time of day: Siesta. The end.

Thing to read in Spanish: Cosmo. It's hilarious. And hey, it's good practice.

Meal of the day: Breakfast. Baguette toast is amazing and it will never get old. Although all the soups have been good thus far, too.

Random things: Scruffy dogs without leashes, drinking fountains, views, late sunsets, learning more Spanish.

Some of these have already been mentioned... but they are my favorite things.

First week of class!

So, a brief outlining of what we're doing as of now: The first month in Spain is considered the "ILP" (Intensive Language Program). This includes 5 classes (Grammar, Oral Comprehension, Reading, History, and Literature). Classes are from 9a-2p Monday-Thursday (or as we say 9-14 lunes a jueves). Right before is breakfast (toast with butter and jam or paté or 2 other toppings that I have yet to be daring enough to try since it's so early in the morning... I usually stick with butter and jam... Also, pineapple, orange, and peach juices, milk (and coca cao, aka Spanish ovaltine) café (muy fuerte) con leche caliente, or cereal). Starting at 2, there is lunch. Then it's siesta, wake up around 5, have the day/night to spend however you like.

Lunch and dinner have an "ensalada" (it doesn't always refer to a salad, though. It's usually a soup or other type of appetizer), a main course, and a dessert (usually fresh fruit, but last night there was this ice cream/caramel liqueur thing... at least I think it was caramel liqueur, or the caramel was just cooked down in a weird/burntish way...). To drink, there is water and tea. You can buy other drinks at the vending machines if you like.

There aren't many vegetables here. They eat a lot of carbs, meats, and fruits. An iceberg salad with cucumbers and tomatoes is probably the greenest thing we've had. I don't mind too much, but my stomach does. It's quite an adjustment compared to my eating style at home with at least one deep green with lunch and dinner. I always think about my mom when we get food and think she would be miserable with the food selection here, haha. When we have our own kitchens, I'm sure it will get better.

Classes have been pretty good to me thus far, but learning in another language is thoroughly exhausting. I definitely take serious advantage of my siestas every day, as do most people. It gets to be about 96-99 degrees outside every day during siesta time, so most people don't seem to mind sleeping it off.

Pasteles (pastries/cakes) are probably my favorite things. As are 1 Euro ice creams. It's a good thing we walk a lot.

After a whole week of adjustment abroad, I'm really starting to miss some things about home, but I am still absolutely loving life. I can feel that the excitement of the last week has taken its toll on my body and I think I need another noche de descanso. Pienso que voy a hacer mi tarea, leer un poco, y dormir mucho. Especially since I get up early to have a short chat with Mr. Christopher =) and tomorrow is another day out with our Monitor (a Granada native who's showing us around/the ropes/helping us with finding apartments and phones, stuff like that).

OH and I got a Spanish phone!!! It's probably the lamest phone I have ever owned, but I think it's my favorite thing ever. Plus, it makes life feel a little more normal to have a phone. I can't do anything international on it, but it's comforting to know I have a way to contact my friends here.

I hope everyone back home is well... Please email me your addresses so I can send you postcards after I buy some!!

I love you.