A Weekend in the Mediterranean

Thursday night (June 26th) was such an exciting night. Instead of studying for our finals the next day, Saira, Ashley and I went to the Plaza Mina to watch the game. Spain played Russia in the semifinals and won in a shutout. The game wasn’t quite as exciting as the Italy game, but it was still fun. Ashley was trying to do a little homework before the game started and ended up making friends with the Spanish people sitting next to us instead. One guy insisted on doing her homework for her as she tried to explain that she was studying for a final exam. Needless to say it didn’t work, so we gave up on studying for a little while.

At first we were only going to stay for the first half, then the crowd just got bigger and we had great seats, so we decided to stick it out. After the game, we went back to study, but it was incredibly hot and we weren’t really in the mood to study. I had a small pity party with the girls and then Mom, but I finally ended up getting some studying done.

The next day (Friday the 27th) was pretty much an ordinary test day, I reviewed with Inés in the morning and took my test in the afternoon. It wasn’t hard, I feel like I actually over studied for it, because a lot of the material we covered on the test was what we covered in the beginning of class. It’s good, though, because that means I learned a lot more than I was supposed to, which is probably because I was the only one and we were moving at my pace. Anyway, after the test and lunch, we went to the beach to celebrate. We spent the whole afternoon at the beach, and it was nice and relaxing. Afterwards, we ate an early dinner (at 8:00) and went to watch Flamenco at La Perla de Cádiz. It’s in the new part, close to La Playa Santa Marîa, but it was definitely worth the walk.

When we got there, it was completely packed. I think this is the only event in Cadiz that people are actually early to. We found seats in the balcony, which actually wasn’t too bad because we were right in front of the windows, and of course there wasn’t air conditioning. La Perla is a venue where two professional Flamenco dancers compete against each other. The night we were there they didn’t declare a clear winner, but I think they get a sort of professional rating so they can compete in more venues. The first competitor was a woman who danced in a very traditional style. She had only a guitarist and singer/percussionist with her. I was completely caught off guard by the style because I thought Flamenco was a type of Latin ballroom, but it’s not. The dancer (male or female) dances by their selves along with guitar, singing and clapping. There are no drums, but occasionally one of the accompanists will drum on an African drum of some type, but there aren’t actual drums because it would distract from the dancer’s feet. Flamenco is a cross between Riverdance, tap and square dancing because the singer acts as a type of caller. It’s hard to really explain Flamenco without seeing it, so I’ll include a couple of links for you to watch. Either way, the second dancer was much less traditional and much more entertaining (I thought). The second dancer was male and he had about eight accompanists, and their production was much more theatrical. They each gave two performances and it was a very long night, but I loved it. It was an incredible experience, and I would love to be a Flamenco dancer.

Copy and paste these links to watch videos of Flamenco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYjTIJf4XB4
(This is at La Perla, but we didn't actually watch this guy dance. I have some of my own videos, but they take forever to upload. I'll be happy to share them with you all when I get home!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRrn-RdzLgQ
(This is an example of a female dancer, their costumes are much pretty but they don't move as quickly as the men. Watch how she provides some of the rhythm with her shoes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAx2RNONAQ8
(This is Paco De Lucia in the Mezquita at Cordoba. He is a world-famous guitarist and is famous for both flamenco and jazz. I absolutely love this video and hope you do too!)

We were tired from the heat and excitement of Flamenco, so we went back home to pack up for Tarifa. We left at nine the next morning (Saturday the 28th) by bus to Gibraltar then on to Tarifa. Before visiting Gibraltar, I didn’t really know that much about it. I didn’t even realize it was a British colony until they told us we needed to bring our passports along. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a British colony, but wasn’t a British colony until the 1800’s. I still don’t really know all that much about it, other than it’s the point where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Oceans meet, and so it was a fortress to guard the entrance into the Strait of Gibraltar. From a distance, it just looks like a huge rock that fell in the middle of the ocean, but it’s actually very beautiful. We took a cable car ride up to the top (which made me very nervous, but better than walking). Sometime in the past, someone brought apes to the island and over time they reproduced and now a huge colony exists. There are warnings everywhere not to have food or plastic bags, because they perceive it as treats and will attack you. They also warn you not to imitate the apes because they see it as a threat. On the way up, we watched as an ape climbed on top of a car as it was pulling away, and the family freaked out. It was really funny because they stopped and everyone got out of the car, and the ape climbed in the open window. The dad kind of got upset then the little boy got up close, and the ape made a flying leap for him. He screamed and ran away, but the ape was finally out of the car. There were apes everywhere, and for the most part; they weren’t even fazed by humans. They didn’t bother us until we were visiting the armory. From the top of Gibraltar, you can see Morocco, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. After we explored the top of the rock for a little while, we went down in the cable car to the midway point. At the midway point was the main inhabitations, as well as an old armory with canons built into the rock. There was a big trellis with a fountain underneath it, and it served as a kind of playground for the apes. We were walking under it, and my friend Ben stopped by one of the posts. There were two apes above him, and I don’t think he even realized it. All of a sudden, one jumped down onto his head. The other jumped onto his back, and they wouldn’t get off. A couple of the people from our group started freaking out, but Ben wasn’t upset about it. The first finally jumped off, then the other climbed down his back and grabbed a map out of his back pocket and scampered away. The ape tried eating the map but realized it wasn’t food and threw it down and ran away. It was quite the scene, and it was really funny. After that, the apes didn’t really bother us anymore, but they were very entertaining. Especially when we passed a man handing out uncooked spaghetti to them. Surprisingly, they were very human in that they would go back and beg him for more by pulling on his pants. He was a little overwhelmed, I think.

After we finished touring Gibraltar, we ate lunch in the village below. Our director, Juan, is obsessed with Subway, and desperately wanted to eat at the one in the village. The rest of us were looking for something a little more British, and stopped at a little café. Afterwards, we all got back on the bus and headed toward Tarifa. We arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon, and I was really impressed by the town. It was really small and very much a beach town. Our hotel was really unique, and Saira, Ashley and I shared a room—with air conditioning!! We also joked that it was our princess room because it had a mosquito net over the beds and two balconies. The bathroom was also done in hot pink tiles. It was by far my favorite hotel we stayed in. We walked around town for awhile, then we tried to go to a Moroccan restaurant for dinner. It was already completely reserved, so we went to a Mexican restaurant instead. I know, it seems very strange to go to a Mexican restaurant in Spain, but I think it was better than any Mexican I’ve had in the states. We walked around for a little while afterwards, but I think the spicy food bothered my stomach because I haven’t had any in a while, and I went back home.

Saira, Ashley and I stayed up and talked for awhile, and by the time we went to bed I felt much better. The next morning (Sunday the 29th), Ashley and I had an adventure as we tried to get breakfast downstairs. We had been looking forward to sleeping in all week, and we thought breakfast closed at 11:30 so we thought we had plenty of time to sleep in. We were wrong. Ashley went down at 11:05 and quickly realized we were very late. The lady was very rude to her and some of the other people eating breakfast started laughing at her. I’m kind of glad I didn’t go first, because her Spanish is much better than mine. I would have caused a riot I’m sure. Finally we got our breakfast and ate in silence and embarrassment. Everyone met downstairs at around 11:30 and we left for Bahia Claudia, which is supposedly the nicest beach in Andalucia and the windsurfing and kitesurfing capital of the world, as well as the location of an ancient Roman city. We walked through the ruins for a while, which was really neat because they ran a huge tuna fishing industry out of the Bay. There were remains of shops, the actual factory where they preserved the fish (with lots of salt) and got it ready to ship to other parts of Spain. They even had a spa to help people get the nasty fish smell out of their skin. It was very cool because I was able to get closer to the ruins than I could in actual Rome. The history of this area is extremely rich.

After walking through the ruins, we got to go to the beach (Playa Bolonia)! As I said before, this area is the capital for windsurfing and kitesurfing, so of course there was a lot of wind. I didn’t really think much of it, until the other girls tried setting up our umbrella, and it nearly blew inside out. I tried laying out for a little bit, but realized it was impossible because the sand felt like little needles penetrating my skin. Instead, I decided to head for the water, which was VERY cold, but the waves were huge and lots of fun. I tried swimming against the waves, which was a great workout but I lost both my contacts. Oh well, it was time to change them anyway. It was just a pain because I left my glasses on the bus. I really enjoyed the beach, other than the wind because we built a sand castle and spent a lot of time in the water. It was a nice change to be in the Mediterranean, but I was glad to get back on the bus and out of the wind. We were all really tired so on the way back to Cadiz I think we all passed out. It was just enough time to get rested up for the big game that night!

By the time we all got showered, there wasn’t enough time to eat at home before the game, so we found a restaurant with a TV that wasn’t too crowded. We had some really good and not so good tapas, especially Ashley with the chipirones a la plancha. Chipirones are baby squid, and la plancha means lightly grilled. They were pretty gross, especially because the inside was really slimy. I stayed on the safe side with chicken and pork, and we split an order of patatas alioli, which is our favorite. At halftime, we went to the Plaza Mina, where there was a giant crowd, of course. We got ice cream and found places to stand where we could at least partially see the TV. I couldn’t really see for most of it, but the crowd was electric. They were constantly cheering and singing, there definitely was never a dull moment. The crowd went wild after Spain won, and people were pouring water from their windows into the plaza and cheers and excitement filled the air. Everyone made a huge ruckus for a good half hour after the game, and we actually learned some of the cheers and fight songs. Unfortunately, the cheers stayed in my head forever afterwards, but we met up with our friends from the residencia and went to a bar for a little while. Ashley and I called it an early night because it had been a long weekend, and we started new classes today. We were dreading it, but looking forward to new teachers (for her) and actual classmates (for me).

Here is a clip of the video from Cuatro (which is the Spanish ESPN. The Plaza Mina wasn't quite as crazy as the Plaza Colon in Madrid, but you get the idea. They also show President Zapatera (the president of Spain) a couple times. It was really cool to experience a source of national pride. Americans don't really unite over a certain sport, even in the Olympics. I think I've brought luck to Spanish sports so far this summer, so it's a good thing I'll be back in the US for the Olympics ; )

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=J3av-j6bF0o

The new round of grammar classes started out like usual with a prediagnostic test with my new teacher, Laura. I felt much more confident with this test because I actually knew what I was doing. After the test, Laura was explaining the structure of class and the syllabus and had to spend about 15 minutes explaining the concept of a break to one of the girls in the class. She couldn’t understand why we needed a break in the first place, because “we aren’t little children, we can take a small break whenever we need it.” She also complained about how people in Cadiz always took breaks. It made me really mad because I can’t sit through four straight hours of class (I don’t know of anyone in their right mind that would) and I don’t really think the concept of a break is that hard to understand. She supposedly has been living here for a year, I would think that she’d be used to the laid-back lifestyle by now. At that moment, I was really wishing I was back in the classroom by myself. Already I could tell she would cause problems for the teachers, and would probably dispute every little thing they said. It was really frustrating and I felt really bad for my teachers because they had to deal with her. Hopefully it will get better as the week progresses, but I guess I should really learn to be careful what I wish for.

As for now, we’re getting ready to go to the movies with our friend Luis who is leaving for summer vacation tomorrow. He only lives about an hour away, so hopefully we’ll get to see him again before we leave. Hasta Luego!

p.s. The score was Spain 1 Germany 0. Quite a close game, which made it all the more exciting!!