I went to the Lázaro Galdian Museum on Monday. I was super excited when I walked down because it was snowing(!!!!), and it had been such a long time since I had seen falling snow. The museum is a private collection of art that used to belong to an individual family. The museum it is housed in is actually their renovated house (mansion, really), and in each room they have pictures of how each room looked when the family was living in it, so you can see where all the pieces of art were, which I really enjoyed. The collection was really quite varied. They had pieces that ranged from ancient Greek through twentieth century. There were statues, elaborately decorated hand fans, vase, drawings, paintings, antique weaponry, clocks, glassware, coins, ancient tools, you name it. What I also liked about it, besides the fact that it not only showed off the art pieces, but also that it was a manageable size. I managed to get in and out in about 2 hours, which tells you something, since I usually move very slowly through art museums. (For a point of reference, I still haven’t made it all the way through the Prado, and I’ve logged about 13 hours inside that building!)

My trip to Alcala revealed some beautiful architecture, as you can see in these photos. The only problem with my trip was that because we went on a Sunday, everything was closed. However, there was an open air sculpture garden, which we took full advantage of (see Facebook for photos) and the food that we ate there was delicious. We found this little restaurant, which was about the only thing open in the village, and it was jam-packed with families having their Sunday afternoon lunch. There were little kiddy tables where kids sat scribbling and drawing while their parents enjoyed a nice leisurely, Spanish, several-hour-long lunch. Overall, it was a very enjoyable day, although I probably would not recommend this location as a tourist destination.

I went to see the Moscow Classical Ballet perform two of Stravinsky’s most famous ballet’s Firebird and The Rite of Spring. I was very excited to see them because I love Stravinsky’s pieces and was excited to see the ballet performed along with the music, since it is not usually done that way. However, I was severally disappointed. While the overall performance and dancing was good, I felt the director had made some creative decisions that took away from the performance, rather than added to it. First of all, they had made the decision to perform with a recording, rather than a live orchestra accompanying the dancers, and I always feel that this is less emotional and interesting. Secondly, they changed the plot line of The Rite of Spring to be a love story. They also changed the order of the music in order to fit their new story line better. I found this to be intolerable. How can you mess with something so brilliant as Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring? Anyways. Overall review: good dancers but bad direction.  

A couple of weeks ago now, I went to Avila with my roommates. It is a beautiful, old town about an hour or so northwest of Madrid. It’s biggest attractions are probably it’s large, looming cathedral and stone wall surrounding the city. I was awed by the size and grandeur of the wall. From the second that I saw it when we arrived in the city, I found it incredible, and I couldn’t stop staring at it. The Spaniards I was with probably thought I was an idiot because for them it’s nothing too extraordinary. I know that I am starting to sound like a broken record, but the age and stateliness of everything that I see in Europe is incredible. I know that I am starting to sound like a broken record to the Spaniards I talk to about my travels, as well, since all I can ever say after a trip is “No tenemos nada así (We don’t have anything like this).”

Although the weather slightly dampened the good mood of the trip, (How fun is walking along a wall when it’s hailing?) we still had fun. It was great to travel with Spaniards because they know the city and the people, so we were able to get a great restaurant recommendation for lunch and meet up with some “locals” while touring, which always adds interest to any trip.

One of the most frustrating things for me has been trying to get a flu shot. I was told to go to Pharmacy to get the shot. Silly me, I assumed that meant they were going to give it to me there. But no. All I got when I started rolling up my sleeves were blank stares and a needle with the flu shot. They told me I had to find a nurse or doctorto give it to me.

The health insurance we receive with Fulbright is a private, American insurance. But Spain is a country that provides free health care to its citizens, so trying to find a doctor’s office that would accept my insurance was exasperating. I spent literally 3 full days spent walking around trying to find someone willing to give me the shot and was so annoyed that I was actually considering giving it to myself, which, for those of you who know my aversion to needles should find very impressive.

Finally, a teacher from the school gave me the number of his friend who was a retired nurse, and she gave me the shot off the record at her house in what I like to hope will be the sketchiest medical procedure of my life, but I’m not optimistic.

A long time ago, about a couple thousand years, there was a princess named Killsikiss.

She was beautiful, but when she was 15, a goddess called Wenchica made her ugly because when she was beautiful, she was a little bit stupid, and all the boys wanted her, but if she was ugly all the boys wouldn’t care about her.

Now she was at peace and happy, so one day a boy called Hante fell in love with her. A monster wanted to kill the princess because she was very ugly, but Hante came and kissed her. When the boy kissed her, she became beautiful again, so the monster didn’t want to kill her anymore. The princess was surprised, so she kissed him another time and told him to marry her.

This teaches us that beauty is inside us.

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My reaction…Man! It’s a tough world out there for a girl!!!

In an attempt to share some American culture with my roommates that they might not know, I tried to make sloppy joes. They didn’t turn out exactly right: the flavoring was a little off, but everyone claimed to like them. The only funny thing for me was that they barely put any meat on their buns. I had explained beforehand how they were called sloppy joes because the filling usually falls out all over the place and makes a mess, but my mine was the only one that actually did it!!

In return, my French roommate has made crepes; my roommate from Galicia made yummy Spanish tortillas (kind of like a frittata with potatoes in it); and my roommate from Extremadura made delicious meatballs in a lemon sauce. Only good eatings in my apartment!

I went to Segovia two weekends ago (but I’ve been really slow about updating my blog, sorry!!!). Segovia is probably best known for the Alcazar, which is the palace that the Disney castle and the Sleeping Beauty castle are based off of. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really able to get a good picture of the entire thing, but if you google image search “Alcazar Segovia” you can get a good idea of what it looks like. I did get some nice pix of the pretty turrets, though!!!

I don’t want to go into the history of the place too much, since this is also info you can find on the web if you’re interested, but I did want to include of the most fascinating and important facts. First of all, the original castle was built as an Arab fortress about 900 years ago. The word “Alcazar” is actually the Spanish pronunciation of the Arabic word “al-kasr,” which means the castle. Although it was never the capital, this castle was the site of the coronation and marriage of Queen Isabel (the Queen who financed Christopher Columbus’s journey to the New World). It was severely damaged by fire in the nineteenth century and restored in the most ostentatious of manners, which explains its almost ridiculous facade.

All the Madridileños (people from Madrid) told me that I had to the suckling pig while I was in Segovia, since it’s the speciality of that area. As an ex-vegetarian, I was a little nervous to try it, since for some reason I pictured it coming to me as a baby pig on a stick, but instead it was this cut, and honestly probably one of the most delicious things that I’ve eaten since I’ve been in Spain. The meat was soft, and the skin was crunchy, and the overall flavor/texture was incredible. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Although the Alcazar may be the most recognizable site in Segovia, it also is known here in Spain for it’s ancient aqueduct, built during Roman times. I hope these photos can give some idea as to the height and grandeur of the aqueduct, since that was what I was most struck by.

I learned a lot about foreign (well, particularly Spanish) perceptions of American Halloween this past week. Here is very much perceived as a holiday for young children, who are the only ones who dress up. Trick-or-treating has also caught on here a little bit, but again, only with the super young kids.

The other thing that’s really interesting is that the Spanish thought that Halloween was all about being scary or being dead. If you were going to dress up as something besides a witch, vampire, or zombie, you pretty much were expected to go as a gruesomely dead whatever. 

I brought in pictures to my classes as me dressed up in costumes both as a little kid and as a teenager/young adult to show them that Halloween is celebrated by pretty much everyone of all ages. The kids were definitely more excited to see pictures of me with my friends and to see us hanging out, though, than to see me actually dressed up. Although most kids did enjoy the picture of me as Hannah Montana (I know what you’re thinking Pitzer kids, that wasn’t actually Halloween, but it was still me in a costume that they could relate to).

I also scoured Madrid to find pretty much the only seven pumpkins in the entire city and carved them with a couple of American friends. (Pictures of the pumpkins can be seen on Facebook). I brought in the pumpkins for my school, putting them in different classrooms, the front desk, the canteen, etc. And the kids went crazy!!! They loved them. They could not believe that they were real pumpkins, and that I had actually carved them myself. (Apparently, they sell pre-carved, fake pumpkins on Halloween).

Here’s a great anecdote from teaching a Halloween class. I told the kids that the most popular Halloween costume this year in the United States was not a monster, witch, or vampire, but Lady Gaga, to try to show them that all the costumes in the US are not based on scary things. To which a kid in one of the lowest level English classes responded, “But Lady Gaga is a scary monster.” That joke would have made my day in pretty much any context, but the fact that a kid in one of the worst classes I teach could make a joke in English made my day.

What did I do personally for Halloween? On Halloween night, my American friend had a party at her house and made caramel/candy apples and mulled wine, and I made some roasted garlic pumpkin seeds. She had a huge party and required everyone who was invited to come in a costume (I went as a toreador). I promise to put up pix soon on Facebook, but haven’t done so yet.

I went to the Palacio Real last week, which is an incredibly elaborate example of (mostly) rococo Spanish architecture and interior design. While I was blown away by the intricacy of the designs on the walls, floors, and ceilings, I was disappointed by the fact that they had removed all of the furniture from the building. I would have been much more interested if it had been there, because I would have liked to have been able to visualize what everyday life was like for these people. If a room was a bedroom, I wanted to see the bed, not just the intensely decorated ceiling. Overall, I felt like I was left with more questions than when I entered the palace. For example, what happened to the Palace during the Spanish civil war? One would think that as an icon of the monarchy, it would have been a target, but nothing was mentioned. Overall, I think I have to do some research because while I know a bit about Spanish history, I really don’t know that much: more of a general overview rather than a significant understanding. 

Anyways, for photos, check on this gallery on this link.

My roommate from the province of Extremadura made me this delicious sopa de ajo (garlic soup) when I returned from Belgium. It’s made by browning whole cloves of garlic and then onions and then adding that to a chicken broth. Afterwards, eggs are added and stirred, much like in egg drop soup and bread is added, which gets soggy from the broth. It definitely hit the spot!

I went to the Prado when I returned from Belgium, and it was huge!!!! I spent 6 hours there, and only made it through half of the ground floor, and the 3rd floor. Granted, I am someone who tends to move a little more slowly through museums, but there’s definitely a lot to see. One of the exhibits that I saw were paintings by Goya that he made as drafts for weavers to make huge tapestries for the Palacio Real de El Pardo, an elegant palace outside the city. I am now hoping to be able to travel out to the palace within the next couple of weeks to see the tapestries, and the palace in general.