I've been back in Winona for less than two hours and I've already been to the library, the wholesale fruit store, and my favorite Mugby (on Mankato). I've been accused of never staying in one place long, which is probably accurate since I've been in the country a week and this morning I was already throwing everything in the ridiculous suitcase (see first post) to head back to the little blue house in Winona.
Being home was nice, too. I saw the fam, went to the beach, painted some ceilings, saw a few BFFs in the cities and at home, and worked at Karl's. Yes, the same Karl's Red Rock Cafe I said I was never going back to. It was a long weekend and I made alot of money, and since I only come back for a few days inbetween long months of absence, they miss me and think I can do no wrong when I'm there. Works for me.
I don't start work til Thursday and have no other responsibilities in Winona, so my plans for the next two days pretty much include cleaning, unpacking, and watching an unhealthy amount of Friends. And murdering all the ants that seem to think it's ok to put up residence in my kitchen.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
I´m leavin on a jet plane
My flight leaves tomorrow. If I happen to greet you with a kiss on both cheeks, speak with a lisp or in spanglish, wear funny things, or own a ridiculous amount of prada bags, don´t judge me.
I´ve been in Europe.
I´ve been in Europe.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
I suppose it´s been awhile
You might be happy to know that after a big scare Tuesday night that all my pictures were permanently deleted, the first two or three weeks´worth are currently being uploaded to facebook. My camera is really struggling though and I don´t know what´s wrong with it. Surprising, I know, since my camera knowledge is so complete. We´re just hoping it hangs in there long enough to document the last few days in Spain and deliver the pictures to my computer at home.
So, what have we been up to this week?
Monday morning our cooking class was cancelled for a Moroccan party for the women that come to and work at the center. We had a great turnout and lots of wonderful sweets and Moroccan tea. I love Moroccan tea and am hoping to discover a teteria in the cities when I return. But the party was a great experience to hear the women chatting and singing. Some girls we had spent time with last week explained some different Muslim songs, foods and traditions, like the five-day wedding ceremony. Yikes.
Tuesday there are no classes at the center but we get a huge supply of fruits and vegetables to give to the immigrant families. Most of these families came from Morocco to make a better life for themselves, but the job market is not great right now and it´s been really difficult. The fruits and vegetables help the women put food on the table for their families. The shipment came really late so Katrina and I ran to the market and picked up a few ingredients and made cookies while we waited. Katrina´s baking reputation far outshines my own, but my roommates will be glad to know we use the same recipe and everyone loved them.
Wednesday we also cancelled classes and went to Gilbraltar, which is owned by England. We were hoping to get our passports stamped, but they hardly glanced at my closed passport when we walked through, and the wait getting out was nearly 2 hours, so again they hardly glanced at them. Really? I mean seriously, I could have smuggled so many things in or out of that country. I don´t know what one would smuggle from Gibraltar, but I could have. When we arrived at Gilbralter is was cloudy and foggy, so even the view from the top of the mountain wasn´t spectacular. As the day went on, the clouds burned off some, so we did catch a glimpse of Morocco across the strait. By the time we got OFF the mountain, the clouds disappeared so I´m sure the view then would have been amazing. Gilbraltar is very touristy, which I think is unfortunate, but still very cool. It has a sweet history of conquests and such which I need to learn more about, but it´s basically a huge rock (mountain) at the southernmost tip of Europe which is owned by England but pretty much in Spain. The narrowest part of the strait (of Gibraltar) is also here, so you can see Africa across the Meditteranean Sea. We took a cable car up the mountain and saw the monkeys. There´s all these apes running around on the mountain that the locals almost see as sacred, and while they are wild animals they are very used to tourists and will jump on the cars and look through your bags if left unattended. To be honest they made me a little nervous, especially with all the signs that say DON´T FEED THE APES, APES WILL BITE. But it was fun and there were lots of baby apes too. My camera was on the fritz at this point but I know Katrina got some good shots. We had a classic british lunch of fish and chips before we left and did some shopping as well. I almost bought a thimble just because it was so ironic - I used to collect thimbles and while I saw nothing dutch about this place, all the thimbles had windmills on them. I hate windmills. Joanna was like "you hate windmills?" as if that was odd, and I told her it was a long story. If you lived somewhere in which all the people around you thought it was Holland, but you knew to be Iowa, you would hate windmills too. Think about it. Anyway, I digress. It was too cold to enjoy the beach that day, but we stopped at a British store so Katrina and Ab & Habiba could get some English groceries. Spain sells very different groceries and while you can find most substitutes, some things you just can´t get in another country. I think Katrina bought six cans of rhubarb. She was like a kid in a candy store.
By the end of the day I had a migraine and the long ride back home didn´t help (one good thing about MN would have to be flat, straight roads) so I´m laying low this morning. Feeling better though, so we plan on trying to find salsa dancing lessons one more time tonight!
So, what have we been up to this week?
Monday morning our cooking class was cancelled for a Moroccan party for the women that come to and work at the center. We had a great turnout and lots of wonderful sweets and Moroccan tea. I love Moroccan tea and am hoping to discover a teteria in the cities when I return. But the party was a great experience to hear the women chatting and singing. Some girls we had spent time with last week explained some different Muslim songs, foods and traditions, like the five-day wedding ceremony. Yikes.
Tuesday there are no classes at the center but we get a huge supply of fruits and vegetables to give to the immigrant families. Most of these families came from Morocco to make a better life for themselves, but the job market is not great right now and it´s been really difficult. The fruits and vegetables help the women put food on the table for their families. The shipment came really late so Katrina and I ran to the market and picked up a few ingredients and made cookies while we waited. Katrina´s baking reputation far outshines my own, but my roommates will be glad to know we use the same recipe and everyone loved them.
Wednesday we also cancelled classes and went to Gilbraltar, which is owned by England. We were hoping to get our passports stamped, but they hardly glanced at my closed passport when we walked through, and the wait getting out was nearly 2 hours, so again they hardly glanced at them. Really? I mean seriously, I could have smuggled so many things in or out of that country. I don´t know what one would smuggle from Gibraltar, but I could have. When we arrived at Gilbralter is was cloudy and foggy, so even the view from the top of the mountain wasn´t spectacular. As the day went on, the clouds burned off some, so we did catch a glimpse of Morocco across the strait. By the time we got OFF the mountain, the clouds disappeared so I´m sure the view then would have been amazing. Gilbraltar is very touristy, which I think is unfortunate, but still very cool. It has a sweet history of conquests and such which I need to learn more about, but it´s basically a huge rock (mountain) at the southernmost tip of Europe which is owned by England but pretty much in Spain. The narrowest part of the strait (of Gibraltar) is also here, so you can see Africa across the Meditteranean Sea. We took a cable car up the mountain and saw the monkeys. There´s all these apes running around on the mountain that the locals almost see as sacred, and while they are wild animals they are very used to tourists and will jump on the cars and look through your bags if left unattended. To be honest they made me a little nervous, especially with all the signs that say DON´T FEED THE APES, APES WILL BITE. But it was fun and there were lots of baby apes too. My camera was on the fritz at this point but I know Katrina got some good shots. We had a classic british lunch of fish and chips before we left and did some shopping as well. I almost bought a thimble just because it was so ironic - I used to collect thimbles and while I saw nothing dutch about this place, all the thimbles had windmills on them. I hate windmills. Joanna was like "you hate windmills?" as if that was odd, and I told her it was a long story. If you lived somewhere in which all the people around you thought it was Holland, but you knew to be Iowa, you would hate windmills too. Think about it. Anyway, I digress. It was too cold to enjoy the beach that day, but we stopped at a British store so Katrina and Ab & Habiba could get some English groceries. Spain sells very different groceries and while you can find most substitutes, some things you just can´t get in another country. I think Katrina bought six cans of rhubarb. She was like a kid in a candy store.
By the end of the day I had a migraine and the long ride back home didn´t help (one good thing about MN would have to be flat, straight roads) so I´m laying low this morning. Feeling better though, so we plan on trying to find salsa dancing lessons one more time tonight!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
A Few More Things
Some things I forgot to add:
Openair windows, mountains and ocean and tropical flowers. When you order coffee in Europe they bring you shots of espresso. How incredible is that? Almost makes me wonder why they have afternoon siestas!
Tonight we are going Salsa dancing! Apparently there is a place downtown that gives free lessons on Wednesday and Thursday nights in downtown Malaga and Katrina´s friend says its lots of fun and is going to bring us. We´re pretty excited.
Before we head out today Katrina and I need to learn aerobics. I started an exercise class on Fridays for the Muslim women at the community center, and last week we did mostly pilates since I´ve done alot of pilates over the last couple years. The women were glad for the class but asked if next week (tomorrow) we could do dance aerobics with music. Being the agreeable pushovers we are, Katrina and I said yes. We keep putting it off because we have no idea what we´re doing but I think the new plan is to make it up as we go along. And no there will be no pictures. Ha.
Openair windows, mountains and ocean and tropical flowers. When you order coffee in Europe they bring you shots of espresso. How incredible is that? Almost makes me wonder why they have afternoon siestas!
Tonight we are going Salsa dancing! Apparently there is a place downtown that gives free lessons on Wednesday and Thursday nights in downtown Malaga and Katrina´s friend says its lots of fun and is going to bring us. We´re pretty excited.
Before we head out today Katrina and I need to learn aerobics. I started an exercise class on Fridays for the Muslim women at the community center, and last week we did mostly pilates since I´ve done alot of pilates over the last couple years. The women were glad for the class but asked if next week (tomorrow) we could do dance aerobics with music. Being the agreeable pushovers we are, Katrina and I said yes. We keep putting it off because we have no idea what we´re doing but I think the new plan is to make it up as we go along. And no there will be no pictures. Ha.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A Taste of Spain
A few things I really love about Spain:
Their sense of time is much more laid back. People generally get up in the morning, go to work, then go home from 2-4 to eat a big lunch and take a nap. It´s like a nation-wide nap time for adults. This, my friends, is a fabulous idea. Then dinner is at about 9pm and people stay up late. I feel like this was my schedule last year too, and I approve.
People aren´t glued to their phones. Mine is currently sitting on a dresser in Minnesota and I don´t miss it a bit. But it´s nice that people walking down the street (not to mention driving) are actually paying attention and not yelling into their mobile phones.
The fashion is incredible. Anything goes. Some key words for you: manpris. fannypacks. overalls. skinny jeans. scrunchies. scarves. something we´ve lovingly dubbed "genie pants" and are wondering if this trend will ever make it back to the states. I doubt it. Then I´m not even going to start on the shoes cause i could get carried away, but they are beautiful.
And por supuesta, it´s hot, and I love that. My freckles also love that. You might even be able to call it a tan.
Let´s see.. what else. It´s close to the rest of Europe so everyone has been everywhere and speaks every language and I´m kind of in awe of that and really jealous. Katrina and I were looking for a cheap weekend trip to Italy but we´re not good at finding those 99cent flights to other countries.
But our other plans for the week include salsa dancing on Thursday and lots of afternoons on the beach and pool. Eventually we also have great dreams of having a working refridgerator and possibly internet. It´s been an interesting couple days.
On another note, some of you may be interested that I´ve been doing great and only had one headache in the whole two weeks. Most of you probably know the headache saga and the years and years of doctors, tests, diets, medication and nothing really helps. Who knew I just needed to move to Europe? I´m sure my Mom will be sooo excited to hear that news. ;)
Their sense of time is much more laid back. People generally get up in the morning, go to work, then go home from 2-4 to eat a big lunch and take a nap. It´s like a nation-wide nap time for adults. This, my friends, is a fabulous idea. Then dinner is at about 9pm and people stay up late. I feel like this was my schedule last year too, and I approve.
People aren´t glued to their phones. Mine is currently sitting on a dresser in Minnesota and I don´t miss it a bit. But it´s nice that people walking down the street (not to mention driving) are actually paying attention and not yelling into their mobile phones.
The fashion is incredible. Anything goes. Some key words for you: manpris. fannypacks. overalls. skinny jeans. scrunchies. scarves. something we´ve lovingly dubbed "genie pants" and are wondering if this trend will ever make it back to the states. I doubt it. Then I´m not even going to start on the shoes cause i could get carried away, but they are beautiful.
And por supuesta, it´s hot, and I love that. My freckles also love that. You might even be able to call it a tan.
Let´s see.. what else. It´s close to the rest of Europe so everyone has been everywhere and speaks every language and I´m kind of in awe of that and really jealous. Katrina and I were looking for a cheap weekend trip to Italy but we´re not good at finding those 99cent flights to other countries.
But our other plans for the week include salsa dancing on Thursday and lots of afternoons on the beach and pool. Eventually we also have great dreams of having a working refridgerator and possibly internet. It´s been an interesting couple days.
On another note, some of you may be interested that I´ve been doing great and only had one headache in the whole two weeks. Most of you probably know the headache saga and the years and years of doctors, tests, diets, medication and nothing really helps. Who knew I just needed to move to Europe? I´m sure my Mom will be sooo excited to hear that news. ;)
Friday, June 5, 2009
I am the Special One
It didn´t take Katrina all that long to decide that I was "the special one". This could have something to do with the fact that we repeatedly say the some thing at the same moment (in multiple languages, even) or the fact that I just have a knack for finding myself in interesting situations.
Scenario one: my swimsuit broke the second day I wore it.Granted, it was just the clasp keeping it together in the back, but this still made it unwearable. After many laughs and attempts to use random hooks and pins, I discovered a keychain is pretty much better than the plastic clasp that keeps your swimsuit together in the back. You can imagine the time it took to come across this genius discovery, much less the time it takes to put fabric loops through a keychain before discovering you´ve twisted your swimsuit while doing so, making half of it inside out. This may have been the point at which Katrina first broke into the "you are the special one" song.
Another moment came about last night at the Morrocan tettaria (tea house) last night when we all ordered our tea. Morrocan tea is a fantastic experience that I greatly reccomend. The couches and colors and sweet lighting and decorations all add to the experience - and the way they make tea is sometimes quite the process. Anyway we all ordered our tea and they bring out sugar (they LOVE their sugar) and glass tea cups and individual teapots and tea cozies and a Morrocan version of biscotti. Everything was beautiful and wonderful minus the fact that I had everything but the hot water. Katrina started singing again. There are pictures to go along with each story probably but we still don´t have working internet unless we are at the center, which is where we are currently.
There are more stories but my first exercise class has finished and we are going with the couple Katrina works with for lunch.
Scenario one: my swimsuit broke the second day I wore it.
Another moment came about last night at the Morrocan tettaria (tea house) last night when we all ordered our tea. Morrocan tea is a fantastic experience that I greatly reccomend. The couches and colors and sweet lighting and decorations all add to the experience - and the way they make tea is sometimes quite the process. Anyway we all ordered our tea and they bring out sugar (they LOVE their sugar) and glass tea cups and individual teapots and tea cozies and a Morrocan version of biscotti. Everything was beautiful and wonderful minus the fact that I had everything but the hot water. Katrina started singing again. There are pictures to go along with each story probably but we still don´t have working internet unless we are at the center, which is where we are currently.
There are more stories but my first exercise class has finished and we are going with the couple Katrina works with for lunch.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Centro Cultural de Luz
This week we are at the center each morning. Yesterday was food distribution day, so we put together bags of donated food for the women to pick up for their families. It was a little crazy and busy but fun to see some of the same women again and some new ones, too.
In the evening we met up with two girls who occasionally attend the center with their mother. Their mom is one of the most enthusiastic of the women that go to the cooking classes. She´s always there with a huge smile ready to jump right in and help us with whatever we´re making. Today we made gazpacho, a cold spanish soup. It was pretty good - there are lots of different variations so we decided the one we made might need some tweaking. Bec and I are still working on understanding the conversations going on around us. We could talk to the women a little today. They tend to break out in arabic and then ofcourse we don´t stand a chance, but the Spanish we can comprehend. The girls we met were very sweet and pretty fluent in English. (as well as french, arabic, spanish, and italian, maybe a few others. sheesh). They showed us around some of their favorite parts of the city. They just moved here from Tanger this winter so it´s been hard for them to meet new friends. Their mom told us today they really enjoyed our time last night, so that was cool. We wound up walking about 12 or 13 miles yesterday between going to the center and back twice and around town with the girls. Thats half a marathon if you´re keeping track. Typical for us this trip, too.
This afternoon now that class is over we are going to a Tanger restaurant that the same woman and her family own. Katrina raves about couscous, and I´m not really sure what it is, but we´re about to go eat some. The internet was working for about an hour yesterday but we have to call our friend the tech guy again and get it fixed at her apartment again. It was quite the ordeal yesterday. Spain is very laid back and they come when they want, regardless of our schedule or if we plan to be home or not.
In the evening we met up with two girls who occasionally attend the center with their mother. Their mom is one of the most enthusiastic of the women that go to the cooking classes. She´s always there with a huge smile ready to jump right in and help us with whatever we´re making. Today we made gazpacho, a cold spanish soup. It was pretty good - there are lots of different variations so we decided the one we made might need some tweaking. Bec and I are still working on understanding the conversations going on around us. We could talk to the women a little today. They tend to break out in arabic and then ofcourse we don´t stand a chance, but the Spanish we can comprehend. The girls we met were very sweet and pretty fluent in English. (as well as french, arabic, spanish, and italian, maybe a few others. sheesh). They showed us around some of their favorite parts of the city. They just moved here from Tanger this winter so it´s been hard for them to meet new friends. Their mom told us today they really enjoyed our time last night, so that was cool. We wound up walking about 12 or 13 miles yesterday between going to the center and back twice and around town with the girls. Thats half a marathon if you´re keeping track. Typical for us this trip, too.
This afternoon now that class is over we are going to a Tanger restaurant that the same woman and her family own. Katrina raves about couscous, and I´m not really sure what it is, but we´re about to go eat some. The internet was working for about an hour yesterday but we have to call our friend the tech guy again and get it fixed at her apartment again. It was quite the ordeal yesterday. Spain is very laid back and they come when they want, regardless of our schedule or if we plan to be home or not.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Malaga
The cathedral in Seville was unbelievable. Katrina hasn´t been able to get her internet fixed since we´re always gone during the day, so pictures will still have to wait. We spent a few hours gawking at the domed ceilings, intricate carvings, the gargoyles, the relics, and the beautiful statues and colors. Katrina and Bec know a lot more about history and art, so we were able to appreciate the significance of alot of the art. Unfortunately the bell tower was closed that day, but Katrina promised to show us her pictures later. Kind of like I keep promising you pictures of our adventures.
Our next adventure was going to be Gilbraltar on Saturday, but the bus schedule did not coincide with ours, so we went to the beach instead. I can say that I was in the Mediteranian! The water was gorgeous and the sun was HOT! I probably wore more sunscreen than I ever have but still have a nice tan. Be jealous. Katrina practically looks like a Spaniard. I think the fact that the three of us kept both parts of our swimsuits on may have put us in the minority on the beach. Oh Europe. Anything goes.
Yesterday we went to church with Katrina. The songs were fun but since everything is in Spanish and the pastor spoke muy rapido, I was completely lost during the rest of the service. Katrina said he was one of the hardest to understand. The rest of the time I can usually follow a spanish conversation well enough to understand what´s going on, but not neccesarily contribute. I´m still working on it. After lunch we went to some Muslim ruins in Malaga (Sundays are free tour days - we are the queens of free tours by now) which were also pretty sweet. We started out in the lower part of the fortress and worked our way through. I believe it used to be the city walls to protect the Muslims from the Christians during war. Seems as though the two groups were always on one conquest or another. Part of the ruins were fenced off, which we thought should connect to the upper part of the city. Being the curious, adventurous women that we are, and not wanting to walk all the way around, we climbed a wall, jumped a fence and got the other side. Ofcourse by the time both Bec and Katrina jumped the fence, I´m pretty sure a lot of people saw me. But we explored for a while and once I was convinced we would get kicked out of the country, we climbed back unnoticed by the crowds. We rock. And we have yet to get in trouble, even though the whole week we were traveling Bec didn´t have her passport.
This morning was our first day at the center. Katrina taught her cooking class and we made Pasteles de chocolate y queso untar or cream cheese chocolate cupcakes. It´s getting easier to understand the women, but half the time they speak Arabic, and then I don´t stand a chance. Add that to the list of things I need to learn. It was the first day when the classes were moved back to the morning time, so lots of women came to bake and chat and go to spanish class.
We are off for more adventures this afternoon! Katrina has a women´s Bible study at her apartment tonight so we´ll get a chance to meet more of her friends.
Our next adventure was going to be Gilbraltar on Saturday, but the bus schedule did not coincide with ours, so we went to the beach instead. I can say that I was in the Mediteranian! The water was gorgeous and the sun was HOT! I probably wore more sunscreen than I ever have but still have a nice tan. Be jealous. Katrina practically looks like a Spaniard. I think the fact that the three of us kept both parts of our swimsuits on may have put us in the minority on the beach. Oh Europe. Anything goes.
Yesterday we went to church with Katrina. The songs were fun but since everything is in Spanish and the pastor spoke muy rapido, I was completely lost during the rest of the service. Katrina said he was one of the hardest to understand. The rest of the time I can usually follow a spanish conversation well enough to understand what´s going on, but not neccesarily contribute. I´m still working on it. After lunch we went to some Muslim ruins in Malaga (Sundays are free tour days - we are the queens of free tours by now) which were also pretty sweet. We started out in the lower part of the fortress and worked our way through. I believe it used to be the city walls to protect the Muslims from the Christians during war. Seems as though the two groups were always on one conquest or another. Part of the ruins were fenced off, which we thought should connect to the upper part of the city. Being the curious, adventurous women that we are, and not wanting to walk all the way around, we climbed a wall, jumped a fence and got the other side. Ofcourse by the time both Bec and Katrina jumped the fence, I´m pretty sure a lot of people saw me. But we explored for a while and once I was convinced we would get kicked out of the country, we climbed back unnoticed by the crowds. We rock. And we have yet to get in trouble, even though the whole week we were traveling Bec didn´t have her passport.
This morning was our first day at the center. Katrina taught her cooking class and we made Pasteles de chocolate y queso untar or cream cheese chocolate cupcakes. It´s getting easier to understand the women, but half the time they speak Arabic, and then I don´t stand a chance. Add that to the list of things I need to learn. It was the first day when the classes were moved back to the morning time, so lots of women came to bake and chat and go to spanish class.
We are off for more adventures this afternoon! Katrina has a women´s Bible study at her apartment tonight so we´ll get a chance to meet more of her friends.
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