the end of the beginning

Celebrating Taylor's birthday

The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster. The last week of my program, two weeks ago, was filled with finals for me and all of my friends. We were not fans of how IES planned the end--they scheduled our finals up until the day before everyone's flight home. Although these classes are a joke compared to classes at U of M, we still had to study and couldn't spend as much time with friends as we wanted in the last few days of the program. Finals went well, and those weeks really flew by. It was Taylor's birthday the Wednesday of finals week, and we had a really fun night. Went to my favorite café in Madrid, El Jardín Secreto, followed by a few gay bars in Chueca. Saturday the 19th came way too quickly. I made some life long friends this semester, and it was hard to say goodbye to them. Luckily, we have skype and email and a million easy methods to stay in touch!

Members of Taller de Música at the farewell lunch for IES


Last Saturday, I moved into my friend Jean-David's apartment. He's a friend that I met at the synagogue, and he has lived in Madrid for a few years for work. He was nice enough to let me stay here for the few days that I'm actually in town over break, completely for free. He is at home in Paris, so I actually have the apartment to myself while I'm here. ¡Qué guay!

My room/Jean-David's closet

Playing some tunes after dinner at J-D's






Last week, I went to Rosario's pueblo for Christmas. Although it was a very generous invitation, I wasn't sure at first if I should go, but in the end I'm really glad I went. Her pueblo is called Villanueva, and is near the "city" Benavente, about three hours northwest of Madrid. I took a bus there from Madrid. Should have been about a 3.5 hour bus ride, but the driver stopped at a gas station for about an hour and a half because he heard there was snow up ahead. Spain is so unprepared for the snow. Of course, when we continued driving, there was maybe a drip of slush, and that's all. It was really interesting to stay in the pueblo. Villanueva has one pharmacy, one doctor, one store, two pubs, two banks, one park, one school, and three churches. Everyone in the town is religious Catholic. Rosario's family was very welcoming, and I met everyone: her parents, Rosario (same name!) and Alberto, brothers, Jesús (born on xmas) and Carlos, and their kids Elena and Adrián. Both very cute, 3 and 2 years old. Rosario's house in the pueblo was nicer than I expected it to be...I think they have one of the nicer ones, as her dad owns a farm with 800 cows and they did pretty well selling milk. Rosario even took me on a walk (or maybe a better way to describe it would be a trudge) through the granja, or farm. Mooooooooooo.




Adrián

One of the days I walked into the kitchen to see a dead bloody baby pig lying on the kitchen table. Rosario's mom made this, shrimp, lobster, and a fish soup for xmas dinner. No comment. I asked Rosario's mom what it was like to live during the dictatorship, and she said that she and everyone during that time loved Franco, and that he was a great leader to really raise the country from poverty. This was a surprising answer to me as I've heard that this was really a time of oppression, and Rosario told me once she wasn't allowed to read a lot of books including those by García Lorca. As there isn't much to do in a pueblo besides sit and read and talk to family and friends, we had some really interesting conversations. When I left, I thought about how cool it was that I was able to go three days with zero English and feel almost completely comfortable--understanding almost everything, and being able to express myself pretty well. Although there are obviously huuuge differences between life in the pueblo and that in Madrid and even that in the states, there are some things in our cultures that do not change. For example, the way Rosario's mom interacted with her grandchildren was beautiful. They seemed to have a bond, an understanding between them that was so nice to watch. They would sing songs together and it was unbelievable the amount of energy Rosario's mom had to continue playing with Elena and Adrián for so long after being on her feet cooking all day. The love a grandmother has for her grandchildren just doesn't change no matter what culture you are in.

Rosario's mom and her granddaughter Elena

Painted by Rosario's mom of their pueblo


A few of my favorite questions from Rosario's family:
"So, how do Jewish people celebrate Christmas?"
"Chicago is where all the men where cowboy hats and shoot all the animals in the fields, like in the Western movies, right?"
After explaining a few rules of kashrut..."Oh, so you don't eat pig. But you can eat baby pig, right?"
"What do you think of that black guy? What's his name? Obama?"
"Jewish people always dress so nicely. I see them on the tele, with those nice black suits. All Jews are good looking, smart, and rich."



Left to right: Rosario, Elena, mother Rosario, brother Jesús, his girlfriend María José, father Alberto, and me

On the bus on the way back to Madrid, two people got into a fight. I think a man didn't like the way this woman was looking over at "his" window, and they started yelling. The entire bus then got involved with shouting and fists in the air. It was a pretty silly sight. Anywho, I am now back in Madrid for the weekend. Although I miss a lot of things and people from home, I am glad my experience abroad doesn't have to be over yet. A lot of exciting things coming up...Granada and Sevilla by myself this week, a visit from my friend Jack on new years, to Brussels, Amsterdam, and Brugge with Jack, then to Venice, Florence, and Rome with Raquel. Can't wait!

xmas markets, mosques, and baklava

Old town square in Praha

It is so nice to be back from a trip with a relaxing night and an extra day ahead of me before class! This weekend is another "Puente" in Madrid. Puente means bridge, and madrileños call long weekends puentes when there is a holiday on Tuesday and the two day weekend becomes a four day weekend, with Monday being the puente. I actually don't know what the holiday is tomorrow, but I'm guessing it's another saint's birthday. I went to Istanbul this weekend with Megan, Clare, and Taylor. We flew through Prague (so out of the way, but it was so cheap!) and Megan and I chose an earlier flight to Prague because we had a 9 hour layover there. It was perfect: we found a place in the airport to drop off our backpacks for the day, and headed out at 10am into the city. My friend Sara Rothschild is studying in Prague this semester, and gave us great directions to a few places we wanted to go...so we can't take full credit for figuring out the public transport system, but we totally managed with only a few pointers from Sara to get from the airport to an awesome brunch place to the St Vitus Cathedral on a bus, metro, and tram when there were zero signs in English! Went to a place called Radost for lunch where we shared a hot goat cheese salad that was delicious, and it was a very cool cozy café. Czech it out: http://www.radostfx.cz/restaurant/index_en.htm We also ordered a chocolate milkshake. We watched the waiter make chocolate milk, put a few ice cubes in the cup, and then shake it. I guess a chocolate milkshake in Prague is shaken chocolate milk? After our lovely brunch, Megan and I took the metro (they only have three metro lines in Prague! in Madrid, we have about 15) to a tram up to the St Vitus Cathedral. I guess we looked a little lost on the tram because a two ladies wearing matching berrets offered to help us as they were also going to St Vitus. They were very nice ladies-one was from Poland and the other from California, and both have lived in Prague for the past few years. They walked with us and showed us exactly where to go to find an awesome view of the city before going inside St Vitus. The cathedral had beautiful stained glass windows which Megan adored. Our next stop was the old town square where we found the cutest Christmas market! We went near a beautiful river by tram, and once in the market we walked by many stands selling hot rum or sausage or Christmas chochkees. We only had to wander a little bit by ourselves before Sara met us under the clocktower. It was sooo nice to see her--we realized it had been almost three years since we'd seen each other. It seems like she's having a great semester in Prague, although it's very chilly there! She was wearing the long puffy black north face coat that all of us Wolverines wear in AA in the winter. Sara took us to the old Jewish quarter, which is pretty close to the old town square. She showed us the Old New Synagogue, where the Golem is apparently hanging out in the attic! It was a whirl of a trip, and definitely worth waking up at the crack of dawn to be able to spend a few hours in such a beautiful city.

view from the St Vitus Cathedral

stained glass in St Vitus

Hebrew clock on the Old New Synagogue

Me and Sara

We met up with Clare and Taylor in the Prague airport (they only had an hour long layover). Istanbul was a very cool city. We stayed in the Metropolis Hostel in the old city, which was perfect for what we wanted to do. It's located right next to the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, and the Topkapi Palace--all highlights of Istanbul that we hit by 12pm on our first day there! We also enjoyed the New Mosque, the Underground Cistern, the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar. All of these are in the old city, and mostly within walking distance of our hostel. It was fun to walk around, although we realized almost immediately the difference in how women are treated there. While wearing "normal" clothes in the states or in Spain--jeans, sweaters, scarves and jackets- we were stared at and people made comments to Taylor like "oh, you must be a real man to have three women!" These comments were funny at first, but got very old after awhile. So did the staring. Also, why were there so many more men on the streets than women? This was only true in the old city, and we couldn't figure out where the women were. We mostly walked everywhere, but if our legs were tired, we took the tram it was a very easy, 1.5 Lira ride. Another highlight was taking a boat along the Bosphorus River! We embarked around 5pm, so we were able to catch the sunset on the ride. It was beautiful to see the sun set behind the mosques back on the European side of Turkey. That's right, the boat took us to Asia! Half of Turkey is on the other side of the Bosphorus, which is considered Asia. It was very exciting to be in a 6th continent--all I have left to check off is Antarctica!

man washing before entering the mosque


inside the blue mosque


inside the Hagia Sofia Mosque







In Madrid, I met my Turkish friend Ilay at the synagogue. He recently moved back to Turkey because he is required to join the army next Saturday. He was nice enough to show us around some non-touristy areas on Saturday. We met him in Taksim, which is across the bridge from the old city. This area looked completely different from where we had been thus far--it's a completely modern section of the city that reminded us of Puerta del Sol in Madrid! We walked down the main Taksim street and ended up at a restaurant for lunch where Ilay ordered us awesome Turkish food. He also taught us some essential words in Turkish. Hello: Selam or Merhaba, Thank you: Tesekkurler, No: Hayir. He also took us to the best baklava place in Istanbul! Yum. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by a market in the old city and while Megan and Taylor shopped for scarves, Clare and I made a very attractive friend named Emre, selling ceramics in a really nice shop in the market. He served us hot apple tea and invited us out with him that night. :)

Underground Cistern





string cheese!

On Sunday, we wandered around in an area called Nisantasi, where my friend Bahar, working now in Madrid, used to live. It is a "pijo" area... I would translate this Spanish word as upscale or posh. It was a fun walk until it started pouring :( We took this opportunity to sit in a cute cafe and play scrabble while drinking coffee and tea and eating little chocolates. For our last dinner, we ate at a place called Ciya Sofrasi, back on the Asia side. This was by far our best meal of the trip...at the front of the restaurant, you pick through the glass what you want, and the chef serves it to you right out of his pots. We shared a bunch of small dishes, and it was just delish! Besides for the men staring at us and whistling or making kissy noises, I loved the city because it was really unlike any city to which I've ever been. The mosques were architecturally beautiful, and what could be wrong with delicious baklava after every meal?


our tour guide Ilay

pomegranate party


blue mosque