a weekend, córdoba, and spanish current events

hola a todos! today is monday and i am back at school after an incredibly full, wonderful, RELAXING weekend!

friday, after class, chelsea and i returned home for lunch and a good ole spanish siesta. i, personally, appreciate the spanish siesta very much, but unfortunately, have not had much time to take advantage of said siesta. friday afternoons are my saving grace, because i have no class, no meetings, and am able to finally relax and catch up on some sleep. so after a fabulous nap, chelsea and i headed out for the center of town. we first stopped at the cortes inglés (a giant hybrid between nordstroms and fred meyer) to buy a few essentials. then we made our way down town, where we walked around the center, enjoying the night life, and finally stopped at a little cafe for tapas. the food was great! we had some delicious garlic noodles and then a spanish form of brushetta (with ham instead of tomatoes), and it was delicious. after a leisurely spanish dinner (we didn´t finish until 11:30), we made our way across town to the fine arts museum. sevilla´s cutural arts office opened a bunch of museums friday night until 3:00 am. entrace was free, and they had special exhibits and shows. we went to the fine arts museum, and they had people dressed up as characters from famous works of art. these actors were explaining the significance of the piece, and it was so cool! it reminded me of the gilmore girls episode where they have the festival of living art (or something like that... mom knows what i´m talking about!).

anyways, we left the museum around 12:45--pretty early considering the spanish lifestyle. we returned to the center where we discovered (to our dismay) that the busses we definitely not running. so, we walked the 4 miles home, which was LOOONG! i got home and i was so exhausted that i completely fell into bed! it definitely made me grateful that i don´t go out late very often, because it´s such a long walk from anywhere cool (i.e. the center, barrio triana, etc.) to our house.

saturday morning came way too early, and chelsea and i headed out for the bus to córdoba. the drive to córdboa lasted about 1.5 hours, and we passed through some beautiful countryside. lots of olive groves and small villages. it was nice to be outside the city for a while. i´m definitely not as much a city girl as i´d like to think. i´m learning here that i need open spaces. anyways, we arrived in córdoba to a searing hot day (over 95 degrees... yuck!). our first stop was the alcázar en córdoba, and it was cool. the building definitely wasn´t as impressive as the alcázar in sevilla, but they had some absolutely beautiful gardens. i learned a lot about moorish arquitecture, and i even got to go inside an arab bath! the arabs used to bathe from head to toe before every prayer, and they pray 5 times a day! the baths featured a cold shower, a warm shower, and then a hot hot HOT shower! after reaching the hot shower, they would then use the warm shower and leave with a cold shower. it was interesting to learn about their history and also about how spot-on their method was as far as cleaning out impurities from their pores.

after the alcázar, we made our way through the jewish district of town and stopped at one of the local synagogues. the jewish population of spain was heavily persecuted during the inquisition, and many of spain´s old synagogues were converted into catholic churches. today, this synagogue is one of few that remains. it has beautiful arab arquitecture (somewhat ironic, right?), complete with intricate carvings in hebrew around every crevice of the wall. it was pretty beautiful, but not particularly impressive as more than 100 people were crammed into the very time one-room syanagogue. from the synagogue, we made our way down the street to córdoba´s mezquita (mosque). the mezquita is the largest and most impressive mosque outside of the middle east. its construction began in the 8th century, and, like most buildings in spain, it was changed and altered over time. it reached its current state in the 16th century, when it was converted to a catholic cathedral. fortunately, during the conversion, the spainards actually left much of the mosque in tact. the building is beautiful. a seriously of gorgeous striped arches support the entire structure and make an elaborate maze. i´ve posted pictures of the inside, but they really don´t do it justice. it´s an incredibly impressive structure. during its height as a mosque, córdoba was the most popular muslim center in europe, and numerous famous muslims (i couldn´t tell you names...) proclaimed that it was the most beautiful mosque in the world.

after leaving the mezquita, we had some free time, so chelsea and i wandered around for a while, shopping at the local artisan shops and trying to get too lost. we returned home to sevilla and were pretty exhausted, so we spent the rest of our saturday evening relaxing and dinking around the home. sunday morning, we woke up to the sound of rosario´s two grandsons, jaíme and carlos, playing around the front of the house. man, those boys are so cute but they have a TON of energy! we ate lunch with rosario, her daughter ima, and carlos (jaíme was taking a nap), and it was nice to have a leisurely lunch. afterwards, chelsea and i worked on homework for a while. then, she had a meeting with her exchange student. i went with her, as they were meeting at the large shopping mall near our house, and i wanted to explore. when i showed up, though, EVERYTHING was closed! i was a little shocked. i thought for sure the shopping mall or the cortes inglés would be open on sunday, but was i definitely wrong. so, instead, i hung out with chelsea and her intercambio, irene. irene is in her mid-20s and she´s a business person here in spain. she has studied abroad in italy and she speaks italian fluently (pretty impressive, really). she was incredibly nice, and i enjoyed chatting with her and chelsea.

life in spain is very different from life in the u.s. even though irene has a good job and is fairly successful, she lives at home because she cannot afford her own place. living in spain costs a LOT of money, and people generally can´t afford to move out unless they do it in pairs. this means that most spainards live at home until they are at least 30 years old. it´s pretty interesting, because that is definitely NOT the norm in the u.s. i couldn´t imagine having a good job and making a decent salary but still being unable to afford even an apartment. it makes me feel really happy to live where i live and enjoy the things that i´ve been able to enjoy. europe is great, but it´s definitely not for me for forever.

the rest of last night was spent working on homework, eating dinner with rosario, and going to bed. i woke up this morning to a cloudy day, which made me incredibly happy! it´s nice to have a little bit cooler weather, and i am DEFINITELY ready for fall! today marks my last week in the intensive period, and i am so glad! i´m ready for a little bit of variation in my schedule. i have orientation tomorrow, and i´m hoping that they´ll provide me some information. communication here at the center is a little bit frustrating. i don´t know my schedule yet for the continuation period and i feel like i never find out about anything until the last minute! it drives me CRAZY because i am such a planner! anyways, in class today, i learned that ETA (a terrorist group here in spain) is on the move again. last night, there were three car bomb attacks in three different cities in northern spain. fortunately, only 5 people were hurt and only one man died. the attacks seem to have been planned to damage buildings, not kill people. the damage though was pretty devastating. one bomb exploded next to an elementary school and completely ruined the entire building. it makes me worried and a little scared to think that there are people--spanish citizens--who are terrorizing their own people. ETA is comprised of basque people, and the basque people live in northern spain and want their independence (for those of you who did not know). anyways, it seems like the issue is pretty complicated (as all political issues seem to be), and though they haven´t struck for quite a long time, they struck last night. on top of ETA attacks, spain experienced some terrible flooding last night. i saw pictures of córdoba on the news, and the streets were swamps. houses where under a foot of water. in madrid, a mudslide destroyed an important road, and several streets where completely flooded with water, making driving impossible. it was weird to see córdoba so affected, when i had just been there on saturday. with all these things happening, please pray for my continued safety here. i honestly don´t feel at all at risk here in sevilla... the people are friendly and i feel safe, but it never hurts to pray, right?

on my way back to the center today, i got caught in a torrential downpour and my clothing is still wet two hours later. awesome. later this afternoon, chelsea and i are taking a tour with the center through the palacio lebrije, so that should be fun.

ciao!
-m