a non-traveling post, how novel!

i feel like all of my blog posts as of late have been about travels--barcelona, italy, madrid, and, in a few days, there will be another post about granada. i'm so happy to have the opportunity to travel on all these adventures, but i can definitely say that this week of being stationary has been absolutely lovely. i've officially been in sevilla now for five days--the longest stretch of time for about a month. it's nice to be able to sit around and just relax, though my relaxation is tainted with the knowledge that i have about a month left in spain (wow... time flies by so quickly!) and that, during that month, i have so much to accomplish. i've successfully avoided a lot of the "study" part of my study abroad trip, and now, it's caught up with me. this week, i've spent a good chunk of time every morning working on one of my large projects due in less than two weeks as well as making preparations for my return to the states. these preparations include the incredibly daunting task of job hunting, apartment hunting, and applying for grad school. no wonder i put them off for so long!

this blog is just to catch myself up on a couple of things that i've been thinking about over the past few days. i know that people read this blog (and thanks to everyone who does), but it also serves as a sort of travel diary, and i feel the need to catch up on some things that haven't yet made it in here... so, here are some random thoughts.

election points-of-view:

in the past few weeks, my experience in europe has been pretty interesting. the u.s. elections happened last week, and it was definitely a unique experience to witness the elections from a foreign country. it surprises me how blatantly anti-republican the rest of the world seems. i did not meet a single spaniard or italian (i was in italy in the few days leading up to the election) who had anything even remotely positive to say about john mccain and sarah palin. the newspapers were covered with insults about the bush administration and the conservative candidates. the spoke about obama as though he is a messiah--come to save the u.s. from inevitable doom and our own self-righteous, self-interested agenda. according to the europeans, obama's going to fix the economic crisis, lift the blockade on cuba, end the iraq war, and completely restore relations with europe so that everyone is happy and content with their position. wow. sounds like a lot to accomplish, if you ask me. by the time the election ended, i was ready to be done with political talk. i understand that europeans have a strong interest in our politics, and i don't think that it is a bad thing that they do. i feel like americans are far too self-centered. we know hardly anything about the leaders in europe or global politics, and that's not good. however, i got thoroughly frustrated listening to all these spanish people talk about america as if they understand the situation completely. their understanding is that obama is good, mccain is bad, and anyone who votes for mccain is heartless and brainless. obama is the only one who can fix things. i got so tired of listening to people talk about things that they can't fully understand because they aren't american! they cannot know everything about american politics or have a full understanding of an americans' point of view because they are not there. it was a really interesting two weeks... i felt really frustrated at times, and, even though i am not the most conservative person in the world (nor am i the most liberal by far), i can at least respect both points of view. in europe, there is no respect for republicans or their conservative ideas. what a shame.

fall in sevilla:

i feel as though fall has officially arrived in sevilla. it's only nov. 14, so that can still be called fall, right? the weather is still warm--even balmy on some days--but the trees are changing and the city has christmas decorations up (woo hoo!). i can't believe that it is already halfway through november. normally this time of year, i'm making holiday plans, shopping for gifts, and just soaking up the christmas environment. here, however, it definitely doesn't feel anything like christmas. the only hints that the holiday season is even near are the christmas lights that hang unlit across the major boulevards. christmas is one of my favorite times of year, and not being at home and in spokane to celebrate it is going to be really hard. in fact, it's already been hard! just the fact that it should be christmas-like but it's not makes me miss home so much more than i would otherwise. it also makes me look forward to my trip to london (t-minus three weeks), where the city will be cold and complete with christmas displays and lights. i miss christmas! one really wonderful thing about sevilla in the fall/winter, however, are the orange trees. sevilla has a beautiful selection of orange trees, and they run down my entire street! ever since i got here, the little oranges have been growing. at first, we all thought they were limes, they were so small and emerald green, we couldn't imagine them growing into oranges. however, they have grown over the past weeks and when i got back from madrid, the trees were no longer decorated with small, yellowish-green baubles. instead, bright, fat oranges hang from every branch. these oranges make the entire street smell delicious, and the trees look so bright and happy. they are all God's natural christmas ornaments, and that makes me feel very happy (and a little cheesy...). i've eaten fresh oranges at every meal the past few days, and they are amazing, so fresh and succulent and sweet that it's hard to imagine that they aren't fabricated in some way. they are so much an orange--a perfect orange--that it's hard to believe they are natural. i can't wait to share them with my visitors in only nine days :)

random spanish culture... lessons from a guidebook:

so, as i perusing the guidebooks a few weeks back in preparation for my trip to barcelona, i found this information in one of them, and i though it was so bizarre and strange that i had to post it in my blog:

Christmas in Barcelona is pretty crappy. If you're in the city in December, don't be startled by what appears to be feces in the windows of pastry shops and in the hands of young children. These marzipan cakes, called tifas, are a popular Christmas treat, disgustingly realistic, but by all reports tasty.

The Catalan have an affinity for the scatological, which the Christmas season brings to the forefront. On Christmas Even, Catalan families place under their tree a delightful little treat called the Caga Tio--the "Shit Log": a box filled with candy, covered by a blanket. The children then beat the shit out of it (pardon the pun) with sticks, chanting in Catalan: "Shit, log, shit, you don't shit, I'll bash you with my stick!" The log bursts open rewarding the delighted children for their brutal attack on the defenseless log.

Visitors are also surprised by the infamous caganer ("shitter"), a fixture of Catalan nativity scenes. The traditional figures are all still there: the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the kings, the shepherds... and so is the caganer, a ceramic guy with his pants down, squatting to do his business--and yes, there is even a ceramic business beneath him.

While this character may seem shocking, to outsiders, Catalan's swear the little dude has the best of intentions. Catalans value regularity and regard the well-formed stool as a sign of fertility and fortune; the caganer fertilizes the earth and ensures the health of the land. Stool is a potent, if bizarre, symbol in Catalan culture. The caganer has even been officially sanctioned in the world of art through the works of Joan Miro, one of Catalunya's most renowned artists, who seems to have a special liking for the caganer... (Let's Go Spain and Portugal, 2002, pg. 330).

pretty interesting... i definitely laughed out loud when i read this paragraph! what a bizarre thing and what a weird way to celebrate the holidays! sometimes, foreign cultures just appear so strange to those who are not a part of them... guess i can be glad that i'm not celebrating christmas in barcelona! i'm not sure what i would do with all of the poop-shaped candy!

on that happy note, i'm off to another day... :)