4-29-09

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Had grammar nice and early but at least it was a half hour later than the last few times! After class Whitney and I did some hiking and exploring. From Plaza Nueva we went up through the Albaicín to the Mirador which just never gets old, by the way. It was such a sunny, clear day so you could see the Alhambra perfectly. We wandered through the main plaza and up through a neighborhood until we took a dirt path with tall grasses and flowers. We came really close to some Gitano caves which was awesome! At the first one a lady and her daughter were playing with their dogs and she offered us a puppy. It totally caught us off-guard but they were adorable. The caves are partially natural and partially dug into the side of the mountain. The gypsies have random furniture, gates, and junk all around their caves; some even had doors with locks, nice fences, and cars. There were some power lines running above so we’re not sure if some of them have electricity and running water. At the top we climbed around the ancient city walls and to this really old building that supposedly was once a convent and is now a juvenile detention center. Last time Whitney was up there she saw some of the guys so she said she thinks it’s true. Apparently it’s also a place where people go to smoke pot. We wandered around to the other side which had an awesome view of the mountains and nature. While we were standing there TWO guys ran by. Seriously, some people are so hardcore – I was definitely sweating just getting up there! There was some graffiti and one said in English, “Homage to Granada – city full of dogs and fountains, drunks, squats, and poetry.” Interesting. Not exactly how I would describe it but not wrong either! On our way back down we took this random set of really nice stairs through what seemed to be the “farm” of the caves. There were lots of animals – horses, dogs, cats, chickens, etc. – but not a lot of crops. We got some weird looks throughout this whole adventure, especially since I was wearing a skirt and flats. It was totally worth it though, I had really wanted to see the caves and the views were second to none. We got a bird’s eye view of the city and its pueblos, the Alhambra, and even the Albaicín. Needless to say, we were pretty high up! It was so weird to walk through three totally different neighborhoods and three totally different cultures in just a half hour: Plaza Nueva, the Albaicín/Mirador, and las cuevas.
Came back for lunch, did some writing, and headed back to the CLM for some Skyping. I tried to get some more emails sent and get stuff worked out but it’s just a slow process. I did find out my student teaching placement (finally!) so that was an accomplishment! I’ll be with a lady in Knoxville for the first quarter then with Paloma teaching levels II and III. I think it’ll be a good semester but I was mostly relieved to have it all figured out. I got to Skype with Mom for a little while which was wonderful as always. I had to cut our conversation short though because Mitch got out of class and we HAD to get our plans made for the weekend. Taylor bought the last return ticket from Sevilla (or so we thought) so we had very few options on what to do. Trains were booked, there was nowhere to stay in Sevilla besides the bus station, there were no busses to Algeciras/Gibraltar, etc. so we were pretty much screwed. One of our brilliant ideas was to rent a car since we’d heard they were cheap but the minor problem we had was that Mitch wasn’t 21 and I can’t drive a stick. Like I said, minor problem. We checked some websites and none of them had cars left for this weekend so our last resort was a car rental company located in the parking garage across from Palacio de Congresos. On our way out we recruited Jeff who is coincidentally stuck in Sevilla as of now, 21, and can drive a stick. Perfect! So we marched all the way to the place just to find out they had NOTHING to rent for the weekend; they gave us a number of another place (at the airport) and when we called it was the same situation. Mitch left his passport with us, went back home, and crossed his fingers that we figured something out. For some reason it seemed like it was a bazillion degrees and Jeff was wearing a dark grey t-shirt with his backpack so when we got back he was in a full sweat.
I had plans to Skype with Mandy, Laura, and maybe Mom or Dad so I wanted to get everything figured out right away. We looked at the ALSA website again and when I played around with the number of passengers, the number of available seats changed! Luckily, the site was just messed up so all three of us got ida y vuelta J YAY!! For a little while I thought I might not be able to go to the bullfight.. We had some trouble with credit cards and and booking but it all worked out in the end.
After that whole fiasco, I got to Skype with Mandy and Laura! It was so good to talk to them J I got to see Kael and Mom, too! Everyone sounded good, looked good, and it makes me even more excited to come home. I poured out my graduation situation and they both helped me out a lot. Yet again, I had to run and cut the conversation short because I had a concert to go to. Tough life, right?
So before the concert, I met up with Sara, Christine, Whitney, and Cassandra and Hannigan’s then walked to Teatro Isabel la Católica. I hadn’t been inside yet but it was gorgeous. The opener was some dude who didn’t impress me much, but Manuel Carrasco didn’t let me down. I THINK he was the Spanish guy on European Idol but I could be wrong. Either way, all of the Spanish women in the crowd knew every word and weren’t afraid to sing right along. Actually, they weren’t afraid to dance, clap, or shout “quiero tener tus hijos!” at inappropriate times. They were so obnoxious and I was getting really frustrated with the ones in front of us. Una fila complete de friquis…