I went out for a bike ride today, like I try to do everyday, and this one started out just like any other. I rode to a town called Fuera probably 2 or 3 miles away, then I got lost in the orange groves exploring, and eventually ended up riding along the beach for a ways before I decided to come back.
On my way back was where things got fun. I took an intersection too fast, except I was on the bike path, and when I got back on the bike path, there was a wall there. Long story short, I went straight into the wall going almost full speed.
My bike was perfectly perpendicular to that wall, and as I was coming to it, I knew I was going to crash, so I was actually preparing to crash.
The miracle was that somehow I was able to clip out, and get my foot on the ground right as my bike was crashing, so the bike went down, and I somehow stayed standing- not even a scratch to me or the bike. I shook myself off, and just as I was ready to take off again, I pushed down hard on the pedal... and nothing happened. My front wheel, and my back wheel were bent badly; out of shape and out of function. Even after I took one of the brake pads off, the frame of the wheel still rubbed on the frame of the bike, so I was for all practical purposes stuck. I took off both wheels and tried to true them, and was able to straighten them just enough to make it so that they would fit in my fork and frame. It was a good 5 miles back to school, and I surely didn't want to walk. I was able to get going, and just as I passed the bike shop, guess who passed me on his bike? Non other than Mr. Eric Mathis. I told him what happened, and he recommended that I go to the bike shop since I was right there, but I told him I didn't have my wallet with me. He pulled out his, and gave me enough money to cover the cost of truing the wheels and took off, and so did I. When I arrived at the bike store, I was quite the center of attention in my bright yellow and blue outfit- spandex shorts and all. The worker there, whom I have become pretty good friends with from countless visits for other bike stuff, greeted me warmly. I explained what happened, and he brought the specialist out from the back. The specialist told me that my wheels were too cheap to fix, and that I would need new ones. He then went into his little workspace to look up the price, and came back and told me 130 euros, which I was just ecstatic about. The other worker, my friend, told me that normally they are 240 euros, and that made me feel a bit better. Hopefully I will be able to pick them up tomorrow. I have been debating about whether to take this bike back with me or sell it here, but after today, I definitely want to take it back. It is worth 130 euros more than when I bought it, so about 500 euros in all, and I can probably sell it for 200 euros at most. I would rather ship it back for about 200 dollars and have another bike at home than sell it for probably 150 euros when it is worth almost 500 now.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Trip to Andalucia, Morocco, and Gibralter 25-10-11
On Wednesday, the 19th, we left our hotel, and headed for Gibraltar. On the way, we made two main stops; one at Marbella, and one at Puerto Banus. We arrived in Marbella about time for lunch, so we had about two hours for free time, which included finding lunch. As we were pulling in, I almost mistook Marbella for Newport Beach area. Not only was it by the beach, which always helps, but there were little restaurants and shops between the main road and the beach. Not only that, but there were lots of bougainvillea, hibiscus, and birds of paradise- just the perfect reminder of almost any beach in Southern California. I asked Ana, our teacher, who was sitting right in front of me, how to say hibiscus in Spanish, and she said, "hibiscus", except it sounds more like [ee-bisc-oos] in Spanish because the h is silent, and the u makes the oo sound. I thought that was pretty cool- now I knew one of my favorite flowers in Spanish. I wonder how you say bougainvillea in Spanish? That was a joke. Anyways, Josh and I went to a super market, and I bought bread, tomatoes, and cheese, and Josh bought a bunch of bananas; I guess Josh wasn't really hungry right then. After we bought our food, we walked down to the beach to enjoy our food, the sand, and the sun. On the way, we stopped by a Chinese shop; half the price, half the quality. We went in, and this particular shop had an infatuation with male genitals. They were incorporated into everything imaginable from nutcrackers to bobble-heads. Besides all of these rather funny items, there was a bunch of other stuff too, like wallets, sunglasses, souvenirs, swimsuits, and dresses. I heard Eric saying that he wanted a euro wallet, because apparently, all of the euros were sticking out the top of his wallet, and I found a fairly decent wallet for 3.25. Sold. We headed out from the shop, and headed toward the beach. We met up with another classmate on the way, and we all headed out to the beach together.
This beach was very, very pretty. The town reminded me of Newport, the beach reminded me of Hawaii. The water was very clear, the sand was clean, and there were probably 100 skyscraper hotels on the edge of the beach. We weaved our way around a bunch of thatch-like umbrellas and lounge chairs, went right up to the waters edge, and sat down. It was very peaceful, and it was great to just eat, talk, take in the sun, and relax. After about an hour, we got up, and brushed ourselves off. The sand at this beach is actually superior to both Hawaii and Newport because, while it was still very soft, and clean, it was not dusty. When you brush your feet and your rear off, the sand actually comes off; all the way off. We went back to the bus, and were on our way once again.
When we landed in Puerto Banus, again it reminded me of the glitzy side of Newport, but this was about twice as nice. We saw plenty of Ferraris, Bentleys, Audi R8s, and any other expensive car you can imagine. We saw a mustang there, but the mustang actually looked meager compared to the others. This was a port, and there were boats everywhere, namely, yachts. Some of these yachts could have passed as cruise ships in my book because they were way, way, way bigger than you would ever need a yacht to be. Not only were there cars, and really nice boats, there was a little row of stores there, which I am sure charged about 5 times more just because of where we were. On top of all of the glamor in this area, just above the harbor in the hills were sparkling apartments, and I am sure, mansions as well. This place probably wasn't even for most of the doctors and other white collar workers in the area; it was probably for royalty.
Our next stop was Gibraltar, and the plan was that we would have three hours there for those who wanted to go see the monkeys; I wanted to see the monkeys. Since Gibraltar is technically a part of England, we had to go through customs. It was scary how easy it was; I barelly pulled my passport out, didn't even open it up, and was waved through. No baggage check, and no trouble getting in whatsoever. Since we had to park our bus on the Spain side, we had to get on city buses to get to where we wanted to go. A few people got on the first city bus, and left; the second bus was filled by our group, and they left as well. There were 5 of us left that didn't make it on to the first two buses, Josh and I included, but there was another bus right behind the last one, so we figured we would only be seconds behind the rest of the group. We boarded, and waited...and waited, and waited. We must have waited about 40 minutes just sitting on the bus, and we had no idea why, where we were going, or when we would leave. I think what happens is the buses don't actually leave until they are completely full. The first, and second one were full, but ours just sat half-empty. Finally, after at least 40 minutes, our bus started rolling. Again, we had no idea where we were going, or where to find our group, but this was a big improvement just to be moving. On our way to who-knows-ville-? we crossed an airport tarmac; we actually drove across an airport tarmac in a city bus, and I have never been so scared and yet excited in my life. The only thought I had the whole time we were crossing the tarmac was, "what if the air traffic controller falls asleep at the wheel, and we are t-boned, and flipped by an airplane going 100 miles an hour down the tarmac?!". We got to the very last bus stop, and waiting for us was Ana, our teacher. I have never been so happy to see Ana; never. When we walked out, I could see the relief on her face as well. She told us that everyone was already gone to see the monkeys, and if we just stayed straight on the main road, and went all the way to the end, we could find the cable cars that take us to the top of Gibraltar to see the monkeys. We started walking about an hour behind, with about two hours until we had to leave. We got about three-fourths of the way to the end, when we saw a sign saying something to the effect of "Personal tours of Gibraltar". We stopped, and saw a man with a minivan by the sign. The man walked up to us and said that the cable cars were out of order today, and going on his tour was the only way to see the cave, the monument, and the monkeys. It sounded good to us until he named his price, 25 euros per person. Normally, I would have done it, even if it was a little expensive, but the problem was we only had about an hour and a half until we needed to be back at our bus all the way back on the Spanish side, including another potentially long bus ride, and a lot of walking. Would I spend 25 euros for an hour and a half of a rushed tour that could possibly even be cut short? On one hand, this is probably our only time in Gibraltar ever, but on the other hand, 25 euros for an hour and a half of a rushed tour in a minivan?
We decided to turn it down, so instead of seeing monkeys, we had an hour and a half in an overpriced street of camera stores, handbag stores, and souvenir shops. I didn't really want anything, but I figured I might as well buy a few postcards, so I went to a shop, found two I liked, and walked up to the cash register, and asked how much they were. The man told me they were .70 euros each. Ouch! Just down the street I saw them for .45 each. I thanked him, walked back outside, and put them back on the rack I'd found them on. Since his store was the very last one on the street, Josh and I stood there about to turn around and walk back. The man, who was actually quite large, came out to the street where we were, and asked, or rather demanded to know what the problem was. I think at first he thought I stole them, but when I told him I could find them cheaper elsewhere, and didn't want to buy his. He told me rather rudely that this couldn't possibly be the case, and said that the cheapest he could give them to me for was a euro for 2. I really didn't want to buy them from him, buy I felt like I really didn't have a choice at this point. I reached into my little pouch and found about .93 cents. I told him this was all I had, because even though I had bills in my pouch, I sure wasn't going to pay more than .93 cents, especially after he was really, really rude. He thought about it, and took the money, and we were on our way. What did he have to think about? Those stinking postcards probably costed him .05 each, and here he is thinking about the .07 he would lose in a 1 euro purchase.
We kept walking, and unfortunately, everything was pricey, and all the stores looked the same. After about an hour of walking just for the sake of walking, we headed back to the city bus. As we were boarding, there was a man just across the way a little bit that fell down, and was convulsing. Despite the small crowd that went to help him, we could still see everything. When he was done convulsing, he stood up, pushed away all of those trying to help him stand, took two steps away, fell again, and kept on struggling. That is the kind of thing that I would normally laugh at on America's funniest videos, but there is nothing funny about watching a guy that has probably taken meth, crack, or some other highly illegal drug, and is hurting himself. About literally 30 seconds later, the ambulance arrived, and that was just the time we were leaving on the bus. For being such a crummy town, at least the ambulances are quick in Gibraltar. The only thing that could have made that day worse happened. Not only did Josh and I not have the best afternoon, but everyone who did go see the monkeys and caves came back with a plethora of stories and photos of how cool it was to be with the monkeys. I felt happy for them, but I also felt like I had been jipped. Now I think of Gibraltar as a crummy place, while everyone else has wonderful memories and photos to share. Josh and I had bad luck on the buses at the beginning, and that translated into missing out on an afternoon of some good times which will make great memories.
That whole evening, I was a little bit down from what happened with the monkeys and all, so I decided that the next day, I was going to do everything I could, and take as many pictures as I could.
What a day to decide to take lots of pictures and do whatever I could, because the next day was Morocco. In the first two hours of being in Morocco, I had already ridden a camel, been inside of a huge cave, and had a snake of unknown venom levels placed around my neck (really, unknown level- could have been harmless for all I know, but it looked mean, and that's what counts on camera). The "snake charmer" had two snakes, a hooded cobra, and that other big green snake we used for photos. This guy must have a death wish because he was playing with that cobra like he was Steve Irwin or something. He picked it up, and lifted it up to his head level, with its hood fully out the whole time.For lunch, we went to a Moroccan restaurant...in Morocco. Who'd have thought? The food was absolutely delicious; there was cus cus, bread, soup, tea, and other eats. There was live music, and it was nice, but to be honest, it sounded a lot like mariachi to me, and I am not the biggest fan of mariachi. When the musicians were done, one came around with a little plater for tips. I still had a few American dollars, and since it is so touristy where we were, they accepted American. I put $2 on the tip tray, because it looked like they weren't doing to well with tips since we were college kids. The guy thanked me, and the person next to me put a few coins onto the tray. What made me surprised, and a little bit mad was that the man left the euro on the tray that the student put, but picked up everything less than that euro, and put it in his pocket. The only thing on the tray was euros and dollar bills, and maybe one 50 cent piece; nothing less. This guy was making it seem that the tip needed to be at least a euro. If I had known that before hand, I would have put only 5 cent, and 1 cent coins on the tray; a lot of them. What made it even worse was that before he even started collecting tips, there was a 5 euro bill on the tray! These guys are ridiculous! Once he went all around collecting tips, the tray was emptied, and all that remained was that 5 euro bill. Here I thought these guys were not getting tipped well, but all of their tips went straight into their pockets! I got played, but it could have been worse.
When it came time for free shopping time, A group of us just wandered around a little bit, and made some new friends- unintentionally. Shopping in Morocco is very different in Morocco; you don't even need to go into any stores, because the vendors come out to you and beg you to go looking in their store. The entire day, no matter where we went, people were coming up to us and asking- no, pleading- for us to buy their stuff. Granted, their stuff was beyond cheap, who wants to be suckered into buying all of these useless things? At one point, I had one guy come up to me with an armload of stuff, and asked if I wanted to buy a wood camel, "no gracias", then he offered a keychain, "no gracias", then he offered a little guitar. Now, I had my eye on those little guitars, because they are not really guitars, they are a really cool looking instrument that was played like a guitar. When he offered, I was almost a little bit tempted... then he strummed it. Nope, not interested anymore. It sounded worse than a guitar I bought from Walmart when I was 12, and even that sounded awful; hopefully you get the picture. I said once again, "no gracias" and kept walking. We had been walking the whole time, and he followed me for about a block or two. Those people are intense. The worst part about it is that there is really no where you can go to get away from it- they would probably follow you into the bathroom if you tried to go there to get away from them. I walked past many shops, and all of the merchandise looked the same. I went into a little bigger shop that sort of looked like an Arabian Pier 1 Imports. The only thing I found remotely interesting was a seat cushion like the ones at my Grandpa's house; the kind stuffed, and circular, and have designs on the top. Of course the shop worker was quick to approach me, and told me $25 dollars, but I told him I didn't like it enough to pay $25, and I wasn't kidding. He asked me how much I wanted it for, and I told him $10, and that was 100 percent honest- I didn't want it enough to pay more than $10 for it. Of course he went down to $20, and $18, and I just stuck to $10. He said no, so I walked out.
My mother has taught me many things, and one of them is that if you want to barter, and get the best possible deal, you have to be willing to walk away, and in that spirit, I marched out of the Moroccan Pier 1. The more I thought about it, it would be kind of nice to have one of those cushions in my room, but I sure wouldn't pay $25 for it, and with all of the stories of Moroccan sellers jipping tourists, I didn't want to be just another tourist getting ripped off because I didn't know any better. Since all of the stores had exactly the same things, I figured it would be beyond easy to find another cushion just like it, and since most shops weren't as classy as the Pier 1 imitation, it shouldn't be too hard to get it for the price I wanted to pay, $10. My plan was simple; go up to a cushion, look just interested enough to make the salesman come over and make a bid, tell him I didn't really want it, and say that I only wanted to pay $10. I told Josh to come with me for moral support, and went about executing my plan. The store right across from the Pier 1 had a cushion on display in front of the store, so I went up to it, looked at it, touched it a little bit, and out comes my salesman friend. Amazing, all it took was for me to touch it, and out comes the salesman to make an offer. When he got there, he told me that he had many nicer ones in the back, and invited me to have a look. I followed him to the back where he had probably literally 100 of them in all different colors. He said $20, and I started my speech, "It's really nice, but I don't really want it...I have no use for it...Yes, it is very pretty, but it is not worth $20 to me...thank you for making that generous offer, but I don't want to pay $18, I only think it is worth $10... ...I understand how nice this cushion is, but I really don't think I want to pay more than $10...No, not $16, $10...No sir, I would not like to pay $15, I would like to pay $10", and so on and so on. After about 5-10 minutes of this, he finally gave it to me for $10. When I was paying, I only had 8 U.S. dollars left, and a 1 euro coin in my pouch, so $10 actually turned into just a little bit more than $9 by accident. I actually didn't mean to cheat him out of about 70 American cents, but it just kind of happened that way. With my one souvenir from Morocco under my arm, I headed out of that store, out of that street, and out of that town back onto the boat. The day in Morocco was fun, but I would never go back unless I had a reason to. It was really draining with all of the salesmen, and everything we did was very touristy. Nevertheless, it was fun anyways.The next day, we drove out to Sevilla, and we would stay there for the next few days. We arrived at the hotel, and it had a certain Opryland feel to it. Opryland is a hotel in Nashville TN that our family stayed at in 2006 for the teachers convention. This hotel is a 4 star hotel, has the same huge glass dome feel to it, huge lobby, and little flower plants everywhere.
After we go settled, we went to go see the Cathedral de Sevilla, the third largest cathedral in the world. The cathedral itself was cool, but what got my attention the most was the huge tower that could be ascended. Eric and I went up, and got some amazing shots from the top of the tower, but the view wasn't what impressed me the most; it was the bells, because this was a bell tower. There must have been at least 30 huge bells in this tower, and all were controlled with step motors, gears, and bicycle chains. Of course I took lots, and lots of pictures of the bells. After we saw the tower, we decided to go into the town and look around. The rest of the day was free time, so after we grabbed a bite, we just walked, and walked. Josh had joined us by this time, and he walked back with us to the hotel. Our plan was to hang out by the pool, but once I put my head down on the bead, it was over, and I was out for the next three hours. I woke up just in time for bedtime, so I went right back to sleep. End of story.The next day, we all went to breakfast in the hotel, and it was more like a feast. They had everything; pancakes, eggs, meats, fruits, cereals, sweets, and our favorite part, orange juice. This wasn't just any orange juice, not Simply Orange, Minutemaid, or Florida, oh no, this was the real deal. This was a machine that took whole oranges, sliced them in half, and juiced them right before your eyes! No human work necessary! Whole oranges went in, orange juice came out. Simple as that. It was the best orange juice I have ever had. Period. Since it was Sabbath, we all went out to the park for a little worship. Each class, A,B,C, and D had to prepare something for worship. Class A did charads, class B picked their favorite Bible verse and explained why it was their favorite, C did music, and D did testimonials. I was asked to say why I am an Adventist, and even though I accepted, I was really scared. I have never thought about why I am an Adventist. I had probably 20 minutes to think, and I couldn't think of any specific religious argument, or anything really wise to say in favor of Adventism vs. others, so I went up with almost nothing prepared. While I was up there, it just started coming to me, so I started talking. I truly believe that God was helping me through that, because it turned out amazingly well when I had just about nothing planned. I said that I didn't think that the argument for being an Adventist, or even a Christian wasn't as important as the simple reality that I am a child of God, and so are you, so is your family, your friends, and your enemies. The whole thing was smooth like jazz- it went too well for it just to have been me talking up there.
When church was over, we had free time. Eric, Josh and I rented a four person bicycle for a half hour. I drove, Eric sat up front with me, and Josh was in the back. This bike was configured like a car, and meant to be driven very slowly and cautiously, being careful of its surroundings. Whoever built this bike didn't see Eric Mathis coming. Eric peddled away furiously, and we must have hit 15 mph at one point- in something that was meant for probably about 5 mph. I was driving, and I used a lot of break, and a lot of the bicycle bell on there. I almost hit a horse-drawn carriage, due in-part to my good friend, Eric Mathis, and his cycling withdrawal. Now we know what happens when Eric is deprived of his daily rides; what are we going to do when we are gone a month on Christmas?!By about 5, we headed back to the hotel, and "chilled" for the rest of the night. We went to the supermarket for dinner, and got bread, sliced turkey, canned fish, and other goodies, and ate out by the pool.
On Sunday, we went to see the Alcazar Real, which is almost like the Alhambra; smaller, but prettier in some ways. It had many, many different beautiful gardens and buildings with beautiful Arabic architecture. After we left the Alcazar, we had some free time, and the we left for Cordoba.
Cordoba isn't a very big town, so there isn't a lot to see...or so we thought. Ana personally took us on a tour of Cordoba, and just when we were almost done, a flash flood started, and everyone got soaked. For dinner, we went to a Kebab place, and after, returned to the hotel.
On Monday, we saw a Mosque in Cordoba which was very interesting, but at that point, everyone wanted to just go home, so we were a little bit less excited about this than we probably should have been. We arrived home just after dinner, but the cafe was nice enough to stay open an hour extra for us.
It was a great trip with many memories made, and it really makes me look forward to Christmas travel. There are so many pictures I could download, but it would be better if you saw them all,
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2198242431945.2111538.1123793029&type=1&l=8642f0865a
If this link doesn't work, just go to my facebook page, they are all there.
Hasta la proxima vez...
Thursday, October 20, 2011
10-20-11 Trip Update
It has been a little while since I have written, but this time, I have an excuse. We have been out on the road for a few days now, and we have now seen Granada, Gibralter, and Morocco. I am going to talk about all I can remember up to now on the trip, so sit back, relax, and enjoy.
On the very first day, we rode 8 hours on the bus, and I slept for about 4 of them. We watched Slumdog Millionaire, and even though I wasn't paying attention for most of it, because I was doing something much more important with my time [sleeping], it looked like a very sad movie with a very sad ending; but of course, I wasn't paying close attention. We stopped at a gas station because many people needed to use the facilities, and I enjoyed very cheap entertainment as I walked straight into the men's restroom through a line of not-so-patient girls. Where we stopped, there was a mountain range that Christian, one of our teachers, told me was named "Sierra Nevadas". My first thought was, well that's original. He then told me that America copied Spain. Who knew?
We arrived at the hotel around 4 in the afternoon, and were given about an hour for lunch before the afternoon plans. I went to a Kebab place, which are a dime a dozen in Spain, and got a shwarma sandwich. Even though I was no where near Lebanon, and not at Zankou either, it was without a doubt the best shwarma sandwich on earth! The meat was fresh, the bread was piping hot, and the man put a special white sauce on it that just made the whole package heavenly. Another great feature of this sandwich was that it cost 3.50 euros. Maybe Arabic food is like Mexican food; the closer you get to the actual origin, the better it gets. After lunch, we all met at the hotel, and walked to many sites including a cathedral, a well, and the site of ancient Arabic floors. To get to all of these places, we had to walk through many streets dotted with small touristy shops with lots of Arabic stuff of Morocco for all of the folks who weren't actually going to Morocco [as I blow on my knuckles and wipe them on my chest boastfully]. Eric bought a huge Spanish flag for 6 euros.
After walking to all of the sites, it was well past time for dinner, so we all took to the streets once again looking for supper. A group of us found ourselves at a Chinese restaurant, and we all got a 4 course meal, including a drink and desert, for just under 6 euros apiece.
When dinner was over, we walked around some more, and met up with the rest of the group for our next item on the agenda; a show of Flamenco dancing. We have a class at the college of Flamenco, so that is a big area of interest with all of us. The show was great, but it started around 10:00 or so, and ended around 12:30, and we didn't make it back to our hotel until around 1:00am- we all went straight to bed.
We woke up fairly early the next morning, and went down for breakfast. They had 4 different types of bacons and sausages, runny eggs, cereal; the exact same kinds as we have a school every morning, many different fruits, and about 10 different breads with cheese and salami. We made do with what we had, which for some was only fruit and bread. At breakfast, Christian taught me a new phrase; "Hasta luego cara huevo", which means, "goodbye egg face". Even though it sounds rather rude, it is the equivalent of "see you later alligator" in the States. Our first stop to see was a monastery, and a rather creepy one at that. What made this monastery so creepy was that there were paintings of the murdering of martyrs everywhere; I mean everywhere. Not just painting that conveys they idea of how they were killed, oh no, I am talking very graphic paintings in every place you could imagine, including the dining quarters. Wouldn't that make for a nice decorating scheme in your own church or home?
Our next stop was the Alhambra. Just in case you don't know what the Alhambra is, in short, it is an Arabian palace inside of a Roman castle. Sounds big, right? Maybe big isn't the right word here, maybe ginormous, humongous, or enormous would be more fitting. The guide told us at the beginning of the tour that we would walk 4.5 km around the castle and never back-track even once. We took many, many pictures of beautiful gardens, gorgeous architecture, and majestic views of the castle and surrounding areas, and you will be able to see them when I get a chance to upload them.
After the Alhambra, it was time for lunch, so Eric, Josh, and I went to a restaurant called Fresco. Fresco was recommended by our teacher, Ana Fernandez, and if Ana recommends it, it must be good. It is set up exactly like souplantation, but Fresco is much, much better in almost all aspects. First of all, everything, from the salads to the fruits, to the pizzas, were as fresh as they could have been, and second of all, everything was done with olive oil, giving it that special taste. I was able to have tabbouli for the first time in a long time, and it was very, very good, even if it wasn't homemade the right way. For desert, Josh and Eric got soft-serve ice cream, or so we thought. Josh got chocolate, and Eric got vanilla; I had more tabbouleh for desert, even though I ended up trying both of the ice cream flavors. Josh's tasted like chocolate, but was very coarse and grainy; Eric's on the other hand wasn't coarse, but it sure didn't taste like vanilla. It tasted more like the plain yogurt we use for lebne. When we were done, we left, because that is usually what happens when you finish your food at a restaurant, and walked along. The way it was designed was that we would have from about 3 in the afternoon until about midnight for free time in Granada. We just walked, and walked, talked, and walked some more. Eric was able to buy his flag, and I was able to get a few postcards I really liked. We figured that we walked a good 10-12 km that day from the Alhambra, and walking around town, and we were all tired. I went up to the room, put my head on the pillow at about 9:00 pm, and didn't wake up until the next morning. I will continue with the next few days next time I get a chance, but it is now 1:30am, and we have to get up early tomorrow, so for now, ya esta.
On the very first day, we rode 8 hours on the bus, and I slept for about 4 of them. We watched Slumdog Millionaire, and even though I wasn't paying attention for most of it, because I was doing something much more important with my time [sleeping], it looked like a very sad movie with a very sad ending; but of course, I wasn't paying close attention. We stopped at a gas station because many people needed to use the facilities, and I enjoyed very cheap entertainment as I walked straight into the men's restroom through a line of not-so-patient girls. Where we stopped, there was a mountain range that Christian, one of our teachers, told me was named "Sierra Nevadas". My first thought was, well that's original. He then told me that America copied Spain. Who knew?
We arrived at the hotel around 4 in the afternoon, and were given about an hour for lunch before the afternoon plans. I went to a Kebab place, which are a dime a dozen in Spain, and got a shwarma sandwich. Even though I was no where near Lebanon, and not at Zankou either, it was without a doubt the best shwarma sandwich on earth! The meat was fresh, the bread was piping hot, and the man put a special white sauce on it that just made the whole package heavenly. Another great feature of this sandwich was that it cost 3.50 euros. Maybe Arabic food is like Mexican food; the closer you get to the actual origin, the better it gets. After lunch, we all met at the hotel, and walked to many sites including a cathedral, a well, and the site of ancient Arabic floors. To get to all of these places, we had to walk through many streets dotted with small touristy shops with lots of Arabic stuff of Morocco for all of the folks who weren't actually going to Morocco [as I blow on my knuckles and wipe them on my chest boastfully]. Eric bought a huge Spanish flag for 6 euros.
After walking to all of the sites, it was well past time for dinner, so we all took to the streets once again looking for supper. A group of us found ourselves at a Chinese restaurant, and we all got a 4 course meal, including a drink and desert, for just under 6 euros apiece.
When dinner was over, we walked around some more, and met up with the rest of the group for our next item on the agenda; a show of Flamenco dancing. We have a class at the college of Flamenco, so that is a big area of interest with all of us. The show was great, but it started around 10:00 or so, and ended around 12:30, and we didn't make it back to our hotel until around 1:00am- we all went straight to bed.
We woke up fairly early the next morning, and went down for breakfast. They had 4 different types of bacons and sausages, runny eggs, cereal; the exact same kinds as we have a school every morning, many different fruits, and about 10 different breads with cheese and salami. We made do with what we had, which for some was only fruit and bread. At breakfast, Christian taught me a new phrase; "Hasta luego cara huevo", which means, "goodbye egg face". Even though it sounds rather rude, it is the equivalent of "see you later alligator" in the States. Our first stop to see was a monastery, and a rather creepy one at that. What made this monastery so creepy was that there were paintings of the murdering of martyrs everywhere; I mean everywhere. Not just painting that conveys they idea of how they were killed, oh no, I am talking very graphic paintings in every place you could imagine, including the dining quarters. Wouldn't that make for a nice decorating scheme in your own church or home?
Our next stop was the Alhambra. Just in case you don't know what the Alhambra is, in short, it is an Arabian palace inside of a Roman castle. Sounds big, right? Maybe big isn't the right word here, maybe ginormous, humongous, or enormous would be more fitting. The guide told us at the beginning of the tour that we would walk 4.5 km around the castle and never back-track even once. We took many, many pictures of beautiful gardens, gorgeous architecture, and majestic views of the castle and surrounding areas, and you will be able to see them when I get a chance to upload them.
After the Alhambra, it was time for lunch, so Eric, Josh, and I went to a restaurant called Fresco. Fresco was recommended by our teacher, Ana Fernandez, and if Ana recommends it, it must be good. It is set up exactly like souplantation, but Fresco is much, much better in almost all aspects. First of all, everything, from the salads to the fruits, to the pizzas, were as fresh as they could have been, and second of all, everything was done with olive oil, giving it that special taste. I was able to have tabbouli for the first time in a long time, and it was very, very good, even if it wasn't homemade the right way. For desert, Josh and Eric got soft-serve ice cream, or so we thought. Josh got chocolate, and Eric got vanilla; I had more tabbouleh for desert, even though I ended up trying both of the ice cream flavors. Josh's tasted like chocolate, but was very coarse and grainy; Eric's on the other hand wasn't coarse, but it sure didn't taste like vanilla. It tasted more like the plain yogurt we use for lebne. When we were done, we left, because that is usually what happens when you finish your food at a restaurant, and walked along. The way it was designed was that we would have from about 3 in the afternoon until about midnight for free time in Granada. We just walked, and walked, talked, and walked some more. Eric was able to buy his flag, and I was able to get a few postcards I really liked. We figured that we walked a good 10-12 km that day from the Alhambra, and walking around town, and we were all tired. I went up to the room, put my head on the pillow at about 9:00 pm, and didn't wake up until the next morning. I will continue with the next few days next time I get a chance, but it is now 1:30am, and we have to get up early tomorrow, so for now, ya esta.
Monday, October 10, 2011
10-10-11
After our meeting with our Spanish friends, Eric and I biked to the bike store to buy a cadena (bicycle chain) for the bike that my new Spanish friend has graciously lended to me. Eric had previously told me of the fun he has had in there trying to communicate to the salesperson in Spanish. I was thinking to my-self that it couldn't possibly be that hard, but when I got there, any Spanish I knew went out the window, and Eric and I were pointing and nodding and shaking our heads until we were blue in the face. I bought a new chain, and I hope that the bike will be operational by tomorrow.
The last thing that happened today was that I played guitar for the praise band/choir-ish thing we have going here. On the campout, one of the main musicians saw me play up front, and invited me to play for the worship team. When I told him I didn't have a guitar, he just said it was no problem because I could just use his, because he usually plays base. Tonight was my first time playing with the group, and Igor has a very, very nice guitar! It is so nice in fact, that I am glad I didn't bring mine from home- it is that nice! We had a great time tonight, and we will be singing on Sabbath for church. Then of course on Monday, we leave for Andalusia, Morocco, and Gibraltar. Things are looking good as of right now!
Hasta el proximo vez...
Sunday, October 9, 2011
10-9-11
Today, we returned from our weekend camping trip. It is kind of funny, and kind of not; they "invited" us to go, but told us that the dorms would be closed, so we couldn't really stay. It was either go, or stay in a hostel for two nights. Oh well. Despite the lovely invitation, the trip was very nice. The camp was right on the water's edge- you literally go right out the gate, across the street, and you are in the sand. We just moseyed on over plenty of times. That beach could easily be the prettiest beach I've ever seen in my life. I am not joking. The pictures really don't do it justice; clear water, white sand, two different shades of clear blue water, plenty of flat rocks to skip, interesting shells to look at, plenty of volleyball, and basketball courts, and of course, plenty of date trees.
On the first night, one of the teachers found out that I play guitar, so I got a sweet invitation to play about 20 minutes before worship. I really don't mind playing with 20 minutes warning, but this time, all of the songs are in Spanish. Much to my delight, they turned out to be the same praise songs I know in English- in Spanish. The song service went great, and we had an amazing time after worship singing other praise songs, oldies, and camp songs. I never knew learning those camp songs would be so useful. We had an amazing round of 'We are Soldiers' going, and I was the leader, but the only problem was that you are suppose to stand up and yell something in English, and I kept picking the Spaniards. Despite this, we still had a great time, and a great finish with 'I like bananas'.
For cabins, or Caban~as as they are called here, it was definitely a bonding experience. Each 'cabin' had three dividers, so it was really three rooms inside a cabin, even though they said they had 21 cabins. Each room had two stories (sounds pretty good so far, right?), but wait, there's more; there were no bunk beds, or any beds of any sort at all. All there were were two stories of flat ground just wide enough for three single mattresses to fit side by side... on the floor. Still sounding good? It gets even better. Three single mattresses for each story, two stories. Quick math will tell you 6 people per room, right? Wrong. We had 8 people in our cabin, and some cabins had even more than we did. What was worse is that there are still traces of a cold going around, and one of the guys in my cabin still had it, or possibly had it, and I didn't want to risk it. I brought my hammock with the intention of setting it up between two trees and taking a Sabbath siesta, but it turned out, I slept in my hammock for two nights. I slept very well, and very alone thank you very much.
This hammock thing was good for me, but it became a problem for the rest of my compan~eros on the last night. My hammock blocked the exit to the room, so guys had to duck under me, or in Berney the giant's case, just step over me. The problem came when on Sabbath sometime, no one really knows for sure how, or when, but either the water was bad, or the kitchen served something that didn't quite agree with us, but the epidemic of diarrhea hit our camp over the night- and I mean all of our camp- about 300 strong, running to the toilets at all ours of the night- literally. Besides hindering the others in my cabin from relief, I got off sort of easy. I woke up in my hammock refreshed at 9 o'clock in the morning, but within about two minutes of waking up, I felt a pain in my stomach I have never felt before. Originally, I thought I just had to pee really bad, so I got up out of bed and started walking to the bathrooms. The problem is that the bathrooms are about 100 yards or so from the cabins, and about half way there, my swift walk turned into a waddle, and I realized then that it wasn't peeing that needed to happen. About 20 yards from the bathroom, someone started talking to me, so of course I felt the need to be polite, so I walked with them, even though I felt like making a very mad dash. On our way to the restrooms, someone asked us if we were sick, because over half of the camp was. They never said what kind of sick, so I said no, I just figured I needed to poop really bad and that was it. I was afraid over half the camp caught a cold or something else contagious, and I started to panic a little inside. When I finished my business, I talked with others who said that everyone had the diarrhea bug, and the worst part was that since everyone needed to visit Mrs. Murphy, or Sen~or John if you prefer, so frequently, that toilet paper was very scarce. I found this hard to believe, because there was a roll just sitting there for me at 9 in the morning. I wasn't lucky about the dirahrrea thing, but I was lucky that I had toiley paper, and I didn't have to get up three times in the night like my compan~ero, Walter, did. Well, it was quite the experience- all of it, the whole weekend.
One of our teachers told us of a Medieval market that was taking place tonight in Sagunto. Eric biked, and Josh and I walked. Speaking of bikes, I made a friend here who has a road bike that is broken, and he said that if I fix it, I can have it for the year. The short story on that is that it could cost 50 euros to fix the bike, but that is much better than 350 euros for a new one. Anyways, back to the Medieval market, Josh and I went with the sole purpose of finding the sword booth, and buying an authentic, or replica Spanish war sword. I was disappointed that they didn't have any weapon booths, but it was still a very neat experience. They had many booths with jewelry, toy swords, candy, food, rocks, and bonsai plants. You know, I never really got into bonsai plants, but hey, when I finally finish that puzzle my parents gave me for my birthday, I will have time to take up a new hobby. The only problem with my rational was that the cheapest bonsai plant was 15 euros, and that one was kind of ugly. The really good looking ones were 60, 75, and even 80 euros- for a sapling that someone took a pare of scissors to. I will make my own bonsai plant thank you very much. Maybe a tangerine tree, a fig tree, or one of those pine saplings you can get at the L.A. County Fair for free will do the trick. We turned onto a street that had food. Lots and lots of food. Namely, meat; Sausages, ribs, T-Bones, wings, whole legs of pigs, steaks, and of course whatever the delicacies they have here that you couldn't pay me enough to try. Also, they had a bakery with a bread loaf that was at least as big around as a medium pizza at Pizza Hut, and was about 6 inches tall in the center. You would need a gallon of olive oil just to dip that puppy, but of course since olive oil is one of the few mainstays of food supplies here, that won't be a problem. That is one thing I am contemplating, if oil is $30 for a gallon of the good stuff back home, would it be worth stuffing my carry-on with maybe two or three that might add up to $30 when I return home in June? Well, I have another 7-8 months to convince myself that that is a bad idea, but honestly, I am so tired right now, it almost seems practical. On our way out, I found a rock shop with a really nice brick of pyrite for 5 euros. I bartered with the lady to give it to me for 4, and went on my way. Brian Jacques would be proud. My souvenirs for this trip to date include postcards, flipflops, a handtowel, and a brick of pyrite. I still don't have a sword, but I will work on that at the next festival.
Well, it has been a great day, and a great weekend. It is 12:20am here, and I have homework still to do.
hasta el proximo vez...
On the first night, one of the teachers found out that I play guitar, so I got a sweet invitation to play about 20 minutes before worship. I really don't mind playing with 20 minutes warning, but this time, all of the songs are in Spanish. Much to my delight, they turned out to be the same praise songs I know in English- in Spanish. The song service went great, and we had an amazing time after worship singing other praise songs, oldies, and camp songs. I never knew learning those camp songs would be so useful. We had an amazing round of 'We are Soldiers' going, and I was the leader, but the only problem was that you are suppose to stand up and yell something in English, and I kept picking the Spaniards. Despite this, we still had a great time, and a great finish with 'I like bananas'.
For cabins, or Caban~as as they are called here, it was definitely a bonding experience. Each 'cabin' had three dividers, so it was really three rooms inside a cabin, even though they said they had 21 cabins. Each room had two stories (sounds pretty good so far, right?), but wait, there's more; there were no bunk beds, or any beds of any sort at all. All there were were two stories of flat ground just wide enough for three single mattresses to fit side by side... on the floor. Still sounding good? It gets even better. Three single mattresses for each story, two stories. Quick math will tell you 6 people per room, right? Wrong. We had 8 people in our cabin, and some cabins had even more than we did. What was worse is that there are still traces of a cold going around, and one of the guys in my cabin still had it, or possibly had it, and I didn't want to risk it. I brought my hammock with the intention of setting it up between two trees and taking a Sabbath siesta, but it turned out, I slept in my hammock for two nights. I slept very well, and very alone thank you very much.
This hammock thing was good for me, but it became a problem for the rest of my compan~eros on the last night. My hammock blocked the exit to the room, so guys had to duck under me, or in Berney the giant's case, just step over me. The problem came when on Sabbath sometime, no one really knows for sure how, or when, but either the water was bad, or the kitchen served something that didn't quite agree with us, but the epidemic of diarrhea hit our camp over the night- and I mean all of our camp- about 300 strong, running to the toilets at all ours of the night- literally. Besides hindering the others in my cabin from relief, I got off sort of easy. I woke up in my hammock refreshed at 9 o'clock in the morning, but within about two minutes of waking up, I felt a pain in my stomach I have never felt before. Originally, I thought I just had to pee really bad, so I got up out of bed and started walking to the bathrooms. The problem is that the bathrooms are about 100 yards or so from the cabins, and about half way there, my swift walk turned into a waddle, and I realized then that it wasn't peeing that needed to happen. About 20 yards from the bathroom, someone started talking to me, so of course I felt the need to be polite, so I walked with them, even though I felt like making a very mad dash. On our way to the restrooms, someone asked us if we were sick, because over half of the camp was. They never said what kind of sick, so I said no, I just figured I needed to poop really bad and that was it. I was afraid over half the camp caught a cold or something else contagious, and I started to panic a little inside. When I finished my business, I talked with others who said that everyone had the diarrhea bug, and the worst part was that since everyone needed to visit Mrs. Murphy, or Sen~or John if you prefer, so frequently, that toilet paper was very scarce. I found this hard to believe, because there was a roll just sitting there for me at 9 in the morning. I wasn't lucky about the dirahrrea thing, but I was lucky that I had toiley paper, and I didn't have to get up three times in the night like my compan~ero, Walter, did. Well, it was quite the experience- all of it, the whole weekend.
One of our teachers told us of a Medieval market that was taking place tonight in Sagunto. Eric biked, and Josh and I walked. Speaking of bikes, I made a friend here who has a road bike that is broken, and he said that if I fix it, I can have it for the year. The short story on that is that it could cost 50 euros to fix the bike, but that is much better than 350 euros for a new one. Anyways, back to the Medieval market, Josh and I went with the sole purpose of finding the sword booth, and buying an authentic, or replica Spanish war sword. I was disappointed that they didn't have any weapon booths, but it was still a very neat experience. They had many booths with jewelry, toy swords, candy, food, rocks, and bonsai plants. You know, I never really got into bonsai plants, but hey, when I finally finish that puzzle my parents gave me for my birthday, I will have time to take up a new hobby. The only problem with my rational was that the cheapest bonsai plant was 15 euros, and that one was kind of ugly. The really good looking ones were 60, 75, and even 80 euros- for a sapling that someone took a pare of scissors to. I will make my own bonsai plant thank you very much. Maybe a tangerine tree, a fig tree, or one of those pine saplings you can get at the L.A. County Fair for free will do the trick. We turned onto a street that had food. Lots and lots of food. Namely, meat; Sausages, ribs, T-Bones, wings, whole legs of pigs, steaks, and of course whatever the delicacies they have here that you couldn't pay me enough to try. Also, they had a bakery with a bread loaf that was at least as big around as a medium pizza at Pizza Hut, and was about 6 inches tall in the center. You would need a gallon of olive oil just to dip that puppy, but of course since olive oil is one of the few mainstays of food supplies here, that won't be a problem. That is one thing I am contemplating, if oil is $30 for a gallon of the good stuff back home, would it be worth stuffing my carry-on with maybe two or three that might add up to $30 when I return home in June? Well, I have another 7-8 months to convince myself that that is a bad idea, but honestly, I am so tired right now, it almost seems practical. On our way out, I found a rock shop with a really nice brick of pyrite for 5 euros. I bartered with the lady to give it to me for 4, and went on my way. Brian Jacques would be proud. My souvenirs for this trip to date include postcards, flipflops, a handtowel, and a brick of pyrite. I still don't have a sword, but I will work on that at the next festival.
Well, it has been a great day, and a great weekend. It is 12:20am here, and I have homework still to do.
hasta el proximo vez...
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
A Real Birthday 5-Oct-2011
Well, it is now 11:00 pm my time, and I need to get some stuff done, but I just want to recap a great day really quickly. If you are wondering why the title is A Real Birthday, It is because today actually felt more like my birthday than my actual birthday did. Today, I had two classes and got to sleep in until 10 am. That is always welcome. I was planning on going to Valencia today to a bike store to finally get a bike, but logistically, it wouldn't have worked out, because I would have to go on the bus and the train to get there, and I would either be carrying a very large box a very long way, or I would have to ride the bike all the way home, about 40 km. I talked to the P.E. teacher here, and he said he will let me know the next time he goes to that sporting goods store so I can go with him. Almost instantly after I decided not to go to Valencia today, the dean called me on my room phone, and told me my package arrived, so I ran down the stairs like a second grader on Christmas morning, got my package, and ran back up to my room. I ripped that package open as if I was being timed to open it. I want to thank my parents for the peanut butter, tapioca pudding, dates, and amazing puzzle they gave me. The puzzle is a map of my homeland that I miss so dearly...or at least I do now after seeing the puzzle. I will be entertained for the next week putting that baby together. Josh, Eric, Esther, and I then went to get gelato in honor of Josh's birthday and my belated birthday. After, Josh and Eric went back to the college, and Esther and I went to the beach and walked a long, long ways, and had a nice long conversation. We got back to the school around 9, and I found myself in a volleyball game...just happened to find myself on the court, and I played for quite a while. Now, I have plenty to do, so I am going to sign off now.
Hasta la proxima vez...
Hasta la proxima vez...
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