Hello Morocco

This past Sunday through Wednesday, I went on a trip to Morocco with Crossing Boarders Education. I will try to keep this post short, while still capturing the highlights of the trip. Not an easy task, but I will do my best.

Day 1 - Sunday

3:45 am bus to the airport for our flight at 7:00 am. Praise the Lord, our flight left on time. This was a blessing considering that Spanish air traffic controllers went on an illegal strike on Friday and Saturday. We met our program leader, Katy at the Marrakech airport. The first thing we did was to have lunch with some Moroccan students. Afterwards, we split up into groups and went around the markets with the students. I went with two other girls from Arcadia and two Moroccan guys, Ami and Chalil. They did a great job of showing us both the tourist market and the more local market. I found it ironic that the market geared to tourists was full of "ethnic" things - scarves, leather purses, bronze lamps, silver teapots, wooden camels, etc. However, the local market was full of American-style leather boots, velour track suits, and other American label sport clothes. After a refreshing drink of orange juice with ice cream, we got into the van to head to the village of Amzmiz.

Once in Amzmiz, we paired off into groups (Kelsey and I decided to room together) and were taken home for dinner by our host families. Our family was a dad and mom, one son, and two daughters. This first night definitely had some awkward moments. We ate chicken tagine from a communal bowl, with our fingers. Yum! It felt very homey and nice. The electricity went out for a while, so we ate by candle light.

After dinner, our hosts were gracious enough to provide us with a shower. Since they go to the hamman, the public bath, they do not have a private shower. Even though it was just a bucket of hot water (heated on the stove) and some shampoo, it was one of the most refreshing showers I have ever taken.

Day 2 - Monday

We woke up at 7:15 am for breakfast, bright and early. Breakfast was simple - bread, oil, and some cheese. The amazing thing was that the cheese tasted exactly like cream cheese, making this the closest thing to a bagel and cream cheese that I have eaten since I left the U.S. Who woulda thought?

After breakfast, our host mom and sisters popped in a DVD of Moroccan music/dance. Kinda like aerobics, but with a lot more hip action and shimmies. One of the sisters got out her traditional outfit and they got Kelsey and I all dressed up. It was really nice to have the mom fix the headscarf and help me into the clothes. It felt very close and motherly, something that I have been missing here in Spain.

Then came the dance lessons!

At 10:00 am, we met up with the rest of the group to head to the Couscous Association for lunch. This is an association that employs divorced or widowed women to help them support themselves. We met this old lady (pictured on the right). Her story is quite interesting. She does not know how old she is, but she got married at around 12 years old to a man 15 years older than her as his second wife. She has 7 children, who are all married. After surveying our group, she decided that she wanted one of the guys as her husband. It was so funny! She made him taste her couscous and promised to take good care of him. There was laughter all around.

After lunch (couscous with hands is harder than it seems), we met up again to visit the potter and blacksmith and to take a hike around the village. Of course, the scenery was lovely and it was an awesome chance to get to know the students some more. I even managed to communicate some with one of my host sisters.

In the evening, we ate dinner with our host families again. We were joined by a cousin and her daughter. After dinner, all the boys were shooed out of the room and the DVD came back on. This time, things really got crazy in that little room. Even Momma got up to dance. Kelsey and I were happy to find out that the cousin is a professional henna artist, so we got beautiful henna designs on our hands. It was a wonderful end to a fabulous day.

Day 3

In the morning, we ate breakfast and said tearful goodbyes to our host families. Then we were off to a local market, where we saw all sorts of produce, including live chickens, and recently slaughtered meat. Nothing quite like seeing a sheep's head lying on the ground. The most entertaining part of this was the donkey parking lot. Yes, you read that correctly. Check out the pic to the right.

After a snack, we got back in the van to return to Marrakech for an afternoon of sightseeing and shopping. Katy, our program leader, was awesome. She took us to another women's cooperative, where I was able to buy the majority of my gifts at a good price. She also took us to see a palace and had just the right balance of giving us a bit of a tour and letting us wander on our own. The rest of the day we had free to shop.

Let me say this. Most people would say that you can get things very cheap at the markets in Morocco. I would say that this is true IF YOU ARE AN EXPERT BARGAINER. These vendors have been doing this for years. It is hard to say which they enjoy more: completely ripping off a tourist or getting a good fight from one. Although it was quite intimidating, I am proud to say that I bought my last remaining gift at a reasonable price, after talking the guy down 320 dirham (about $40 less than the original price). We ate dinner at the hotel and then had a re-cap session on the roof, talking about what we had learned.

So what did I learn? Several things. Firstly, you don't need a lot to be happy. Plain and simple. Secondly, open-mindedness does not mean believing that everything is true or right. It does not mean being unsure of what you believe. Open-mindedness is the willingness to evaluate your beliefs and to change them when appropriate. It has nothing to do with the strength or non-inclusiveness of the belief system itself. At least, that is my opinion. I could probably list some other things, but then this blog would turn into a novel about Morocco. So if you want to know more, make sure you ask me and I will be happy to oblige.

This week, alas, is my last week in Barcelona. I have final exams and such coming soon. Dare I mention home at this point? I will be coming back on December 28th. But not before I hit up Florence and Paris! So stay tuned!

Besos!

Shades of Rose

This past weekend, I stepped out of Spain for the first time since I have gotten here, and into Lisbon, Portugal. To put it simply, it was absolutely beautiful there and I had a lovely time. In fact, it is probably my top trip since I have come to Europe.

My flight left on Thursday afternoon without mishap and I arrived in Lisbon in the evening. In addition to dealing with a significant language barrier for the first time in my travels, this was also my first solo trip. Nothing like doing all of your firsts at once. I managed to get myself onto the correct bus, but then got lost when it came to the tram. I got a taxi and, to my relief, the driver was an Irishman and spoke English. Actually, he was so reassuring that I started to become worried. He kept saying, "Doun't worry, sweethaht, I'll git yeh there in a jiff." After he repeated this several times, I started to wonder if I was actually being kidnapped. It didn't help that the Alfama Patio Hostel is in a very old part of the city that does not seem to be safe when you first drive through it. Praise the Lord, he really was just a nice man and I got to the hostel with no trouble.

I didn't do much Thursday night except for talk to my family for Thanksgiving, which was actually no small thing. It is hard to convey this across the Internet, but it was completely wonderful to see everyone via Skype and it really uplifted my spirit.

Friday dawned and I was up bright and early. After a wonderful breakfast at the hostel, (hard-boiled eggs and pancakes!!!) I set off with my list of things to do.

The highlight of my day was definitely the Castle (picture to left). This is Portugal, which means there is nothing blocked off, there are no side railings on the steep stairs up to the towers, and there are no guards telling you "you can't go up there." So I climbed all over everything. Of course, the views were incredible. And there were peacocks wandering around!

On Saturday, I decided to go on a day trip to Belem, which is a town about 25 minutes outside of Lisbon. First, I hit up the Feira de Ladra, the "thieve's fair," where I bought two much-needed leather belts and a fabulous leather purse. When I walked back to the tram stop, I ran into the two American girls and the dude from New Zealand who I had met at the hostel the night before. The Kiwi ended up accompanying me for the day in Belem, which was great. We got along famously and it was nice to have some company. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and we walked along the coast and then went to get some of the famous Portuguese pastries that Belem is known for. The shop there has been running since 1837 and one bite of their signature pastry makes you understand exactly why they have been in business for so long. It was delicious. Tired and satisfied, we hopped back on the tram and returned to Lisbon. The picture above is the Tower of Belem, and the picture below is me at the top!

But the day was not over yet! Saturday night was a free BBQ with homemade sangria and a live DJ. Spontaneous salsa dancing, delicious food, and then suddenly, a blackout! But that didn't stop the fun. Martin from Ireland picked up his guitar and we had a sing-along by candlelight. I learned that the only truly international songs are the following: "One Love" by Bob Marley, "I Want to Hold your Hand" by the Beatles, and "La Bamba" by who knows who. The DJ then invited us to his club in Barrio Alto, so we went off to dance the night away.

On Sunday morning, I did a last bit of furious sight-seeing by going to the Tile Museum and then up to the Chiado neighborhood. I absolutely loved the tiles in Portugal. To the right is one of my favorite patterns that I saw.

One of the other amazing things about Portugal was the colors the city. (Yes, now I explain the title of the post). When you looked out over the city, all the rooftops were rosy red. The streets were full of muted yellows and blues. In the churches, the marble seemed to have a rosy tint.

Don't worry Lisbon, I will be back.

La Sagrada Familia aka reverting to being a tourist in Barcelona

Today, I decided that it was high time for me to go and see La Sagrada Familia. (Please excuse the bad pun). For those of you who don't know, La Sagrada Familia is a very large church in the center of Barcelona designed by Gaudi. It was started in the 1880s and is still in construction. Gaudi's plans were for an absolutely enormous structure, with around 16 towers and multiple detailed facades. Unsurprisingly, Gaudi died before the work was finished, but he left enough sketches and small-scale plaster models for the building to continue far into the future.

After seeing so many Roman and Gothic-inspired churches throughout Spain, La Sagrada Familia is a breath of fresh air. It is certainly majestic, but also whimsical, colorful, and airy. A church structure that actually encourages joy. How novel!

I climbed the tower on the side of the Passion facade and was able to get a beautiful view of all sides of the city...and of the construction on the building. There were a few aspects of the building that I really enjoyed. The style of the various sculptures is really cool - very square and sharp, but still conveying emotion and movement.

I also loved the ways that the stained glass windows inside the church throw color on the walls. I have posted a few more pictures below.

Overall, it is a really cool building and I am glad that I reverted to being a tourist today to check it out.

The Dali Museum

This past Friday, we had a trip to the Dali Museum in Figueres and then a tour of Girona. As of now, Dali and Picasso have become my all-time favorite painters. I went to the Picasso Museum expecting Cubism, and came out understanding the breadth of talent that Picasso truly had. In the same way, I went to the Salvador Dali museum expecting Surrealism. What I saw was a genius of an artist - a sculptor, a decorator, a animation creator, and a designer. Dali has a huge breadth to his work and he was extremely creative! He was also very eccentric. Many people thought that he was certifiably crazy, but I am not so sure. He was always acting his persona in public. It is hard to know how he was in private, with just his wife Gala.

Above and to the left is a painting that Dali did on a very small doily. It is very tiny and it's a good demonstration of Dali's attention to detail with his work. Can you see the grasshopper? How about the fish? And the ant? The woman's face is his wife Gala. He used her as a model for much of his work. To the right is another painting that I really liked.

Check out this funky sculpture!

The components of the face, above and to the right, are actually life size objects set up in a room. The lips are a sofa. The eyes are paintings on the wall. When you climb up some stairs and look through the lens, it turns everything into one cohesive 3D face...of the American actress Mae West.

So basically, I loved almost everything that I saw in the Dali museum. I wish I could go back there and spend a bit more time looking at the paintings, but alas and alack, that will have to wait for a different trip to Europe.

After we finished with the museum, we took the bus into Girona. We had a brief guided tour of the city, where we learned about the Cathedral and got taken into some neat places with cool views.

The one other highlight of this trip was that I got to eat a very American style chicken sandwich and it was quite satisfying.

And that's it.

Besos!

San Sebastian y Bilbao

Last weekend, I took a trip to the north of Spain with my friends Jake and Kelly. We had a fabulous time exploring San Sebastian and Bilbao. Here's the story:

San Sebastian

We got on the bus very late on Thursday night and arrived 7 hours later in San Sebastian. Upon discovering that our hostel did not actually have 24-hour check-in, we chilled in a bar from 6:30 am until 9 am. This ended up being a great time for us to get to know each other a bit better. Once we dropped our backpacks at the hostel, we set off to explore the city. San Sebastian is in the shape of a horseshoe, with a small mountain at each end and with beaches curving around to connect them. We set off immediately to climb Mt Urgull. It was a GORGEOUS day, bright, sunny, and surprisingly warm. After hiking around for a bit and seeing the beautiful vista, we then proceeded to the center of town for lunch. The place we chose turned out to be great. Jake was brave enough to try squid in ink! Satisfied, we proceeded to walk along the beaches until we got to the other mountain. At this point, the temperature had reached 25 degrees Celsius...which is quite hot for November! I stuck my toes in the water. Ahhh. Once we reached the other mountain, we took the funicular up to the top. On the way, we met a kind couple from the area who gave us the names of some tapas places to check out. At 6 pm, we finally returned to the hostel for a very much-needed nap before dinner.

A word about language:

El Pais Vasco (the Basque country), has its own language, which is called Euskara. Euskara is not at all related to Spanish. In fact, it is not even a Romance language. It has been around since at least 1000 BC, although historians have not been able to put a definite date on its development. The oldest written samples of Euskara are from Roman times. When we arrived, we went to the tourism office to find a map of the city. They gave us a multi-lingual phrase book with a bunch of useful words in Euskara. It only took us a few glances to realize how unrelated it is to both Romance and Germanic languages.

For example:

Please (English)

Por favor (Spanish)

Si us plau (Catalan)

S'il vous plait (French)

Per favore (Italian)

Mesedez (Euskara)

No (English)

No (Spanish)

No (Catalan)

Non (French)

No (Italian)

Nien (German)

Ez (Euskara)

Anyway, this little phrase book came in handy and we tried out our Euskara wherever we went, sometimes with hilarious results.

Okay, so we have just had a rest at the hostel, remember? At around 8 pm, we went out for pintxos, which are little appetizers. The pintxos culture here is quite strong. On the weekends, the bars are hopping with people. The idea is to order just a few pintxos at each place and to stay on the move. We had all sorts of things, but the real stand out for me was the foie gras at La Cuchara de San Tomas. Let me tell you, it was one of the most amazing things I have ever eaten. We ate sheep's cheek, mushroom risotto, salmon with anchovies, you name it. And it was all delicious.

Bilbao

We took an early morning bus to Bilbao on Saturday. It was another beautiful day. I actually did not like Bilbao as much as the other cities I have been to in Spain. It is kind of a strange city. However, the thing that made it worthwhile was the Guggenheim Museum. We were there for almost 3 hours, and justifiably so. Why the architect chose to stick this museum in Bilbao, I am not sure, but there it is. This museum does not just contain art, it is a work of art itself. The building is fascinating. But the true highlight was Richard Serra's huge steel sculptures. This guy is a genius. The sculptures were so huge that you can walk around and through them. I am not sure I can explain anything about this, so it is worth a google. And that was pretty much what we did in Bilbao. Oh, and we ate more wonderful food.

Since I had not yet replaced my camera, I have no pictures of San Sebastian or Bilbao. However, if you look on my Facebook wall, I have been tagged in several pictures with Kelli and Jake, and my current profile picture is of me playing on the beach in San Sebastian.

And that's the update!

Besos!

Keeping the Budget

Sometimes, I get a little worried about how much money I am spending here abroad. It is kind of weird you know, I am just going through it at an astonishing rate. Traveling almost every weekend really takes money! It is also something that I don't do nearly as much at home.

However, the good news is that I did a thorough analysis this morning of my spending, and I have actually been doing quite well with my budget. I am right on track! I have spent a bit more on travel than I expected, but I have also spent less money day-to-day here in Barcelona. So I have upped my travel budget and lowered by day-to-day budget for the remainder of the trip, and I am confident that I will not come back penniless.

The most fascinating thing to me is that I have never been good at meticulously recording everything I spend. However, I think that I have sort of an innate sense of how much money I am spending. I just praise the Lord that he has given me this ability to keep a firm handle on my finances without having to be too neurotic about it. I am truly thankful.

Besos!

comment concerning last post

I apologize for the photos below getting all out of sync. They were fine in my draft!

Besos!