Family excursion...

Yes, tomorrow I am heading of with my in-laws and a nephew to a wedding in Alicante. That's a province on the east coast of Spain. Angelines can't come because she's got to work so I am representing our "family" (hehehe) at her cousin's wedding. We'll be taking two cars on this five-hour adventure. I'll be driving my mother-in-law and one sister-in-law and Angelines's brother-in-law and family will be in the other car (that's Antonia et. al. for those of you who know them).

It should be a fun time, although I certainly will miss Angelines. I've never met this side of the family before. These are her father's two living sisters and it's his nephew who's getting married. They didn't come to our wedding so I've only had a very brief encounter with one of the sisters (Angelines's aunt) two years ago. I'm glad that Angelines's nephew is coming. He's fun and I do adore the rest of my travel companions, so I'm sure we'll have a good time.

I have just packed my bags and am eating dinner...never mind that it's 12 am! I just wanted to write a quick quick update before heading out, or rather heading off to bed (don't you love phrasal verbs??).

I'll give a full report upon my return. :)

Spanish besitos.

Comunitaria!...por fin

Finally I am an official resident of the E.U. :)

Yesterday we went to Sevilla to pick up my I.D. card as a "comunitaria". We made record time at the Immigration Office: in and out in ten minutes tops! Of course we did come with all the appropriate paperwork and they had said at our previous appt. that we wouldn't have to wait in line (a line, I might add, that on this specific day was at least 100 meters long!). Nevertheless, the more contact one has with Spanish bureaucracy, the more one learns to accept these kinds of assurances with a healthy dose of skepticism.

So you can imagine how surprised we were when we showed the security guard our resguardo and cut in front of the ENORMOUS line to pick up the card. I was nearly skipping on the way out. Just thinking about it makes me smile. :)

That is the latest and most exciting news here.

besitos from Andalucia

Asparagus Time!

Today in the neighboring town of Sierra de Yeguas was the tenth annual Asparagus Fair. :) What fun! It was a sort of farmer's market Spanish style...that is to say with blaring music, castanets, and cerveza.

We went with a couple of friends and met up with a few more there. I'm sad to report that we really didn't end up eating too much aparagus. We had asparagus omelet, but I didn't see the grilled asparagus until we had to go and there wasn't time to order! :( It looked soooo good.

We got back to La Roda at about 4 o'clock. Angelines went to work, I had a coffee and FINALLY went for a bike ride on my new bike. Do you remember that I bought a bike during Easter Week? Well, I still hadn't gone for a ride until this afternoon.

I love my bike. I'll post a picture soon. Anyway, I went out for about an hour and a half ride. I went all the way up to the ermita de San Pancracio (that's where we celebrated our wedding). Those of you who came or have seen pictures know it's a really steep hill toward the end... I made it all the way to the top although my tongue was hanging at least half a mile out of my mouth! It was a beautiful afternoon and it was wonderful to ride around exploring.

Angelines and our friend ChiChi (not his real name).

This is how they used to keep track of the tab in most bars--writing with chalk on the counter. Now it's less common...probably because people would wipe away a few drinks when the bar tender wasn't looking (I was tempted). ;)

This was a group of musicians playing guitars and mandolins...I think even a violin or two with a group of dancers who accompanied the music with ribbon adorned castanets. It's typical in Malaga, apparently. La Roda belongs to the province of Sevilla and I've never seen such a thing; however, my sister-in-law, who lives in Sierra de Yeguas, Malaga, says it's typical at all of their fiestas.

Eat some asparagus to my health. ;)

Things that don't usually happen in bars...

At least not in the U.S., that is.

I do recognize that it's a horrible stereotype, but one held by most Americans (I think), that nothing good can come of spending time in a bar. I am here to say that at least in Spain that isn't true.

Some of you who know me better or have listened to me rant about "hanging out" in Spain (ie: going to the bars) know I'm not always happy about the fact that most social interaction happens in these places. However, there are times, like tonight, when I leave the bar feeling desahogada (literally "un-drown"). The bottom line is I'm open to meaningful, enriching, social interaction in any way shape or form...just so happens that many times I DON'T think the bar is the most conducive environment to such an end.

Today is an exception to the rule. I am just home now from the bar (being Angelines's...our bar) after a lovely 3.5 hours of wonderful conversations. Really, since I don't have to get up early tomorrow I was tempted to stay, but then again there are things I want to do and I don't want to be exhausted.

A bar does lend itself to a certain ebb and flow of characters that you can't get when you hold a social event at your house (at least not usually). I mean, in a bar some people have to get to dinner at home and leave, so you talk to others and then new folks come... When the chemistry's right, it's a beautiful thing. The spontaneity of my birthday experience, for example, could only have happened in that kind of setting.

I just felt the need to let those of you at home who may worry for my introspective, contemplative, opinionated and social self that spending so much time in and out of bars isn't about endless debauchery, although that may be an side-effect; in fact, it is another equally beautiful way of interacting with many people at once.

While the American comes out from time to time craving a small gathering at home, I'm usually quite content to let my new-found, inner Spaniard take me out into the calle (street).

Besos

Happy Baby to you...!!

No, I'm not pregnant! ;) That's how most Spaniard pronounce "birthday". The "th" sound is hard for them as is an English "r" so somehow "birthday" becomes "baby". And I was touched when Angelines (bad pronunciation and all) woke me up at 7am singing "Happy Baby to you..." Ha--too cute!

I had an atypical, but nonetheless lovely birthday.

The evening of the seventeenth I was ironing (so good and domestic of me, right?) and so I decided I wanted to talk with someone. I called my extra mom, Miriam's mom and we talked for nearly three hours! Then I called my family and had a nice conversation with my dad and finally, I got to talk with Miriam... At 5 am my time I got off the phone! It was just the way I wanted to start my birthday.

Angelines and I spent the morning preparing the bar for painting. We had to take down curtains, pictures and those of you who have been in the bar know there's a lot of work involved in taking down the giant flag hung over the bar. When we finished we headed out for our weekend cervecita and somehow managed to leave the house without our keys!

We were locked out so we went to my mother-in-law's for the extra key...which I also managed to lock inside the house. Luckily there was one other extra that our friend Nuria had! Anyway, we ended up staying out and about until around 12pm.

Jesus didn't come out, of course, and Antonio was only able to have two beers before he was off to his niece's bday party. Nuria was out of town. So I didn't celebrate with any of my closest friends, nonetheless the day was full of really fun, spontaneous interactions with people we don't usually spend time with. The owner of the bar where we spent the better part of the day bought me big pastry (a complete surprise) and even put candles in it for me! :) Everyone sang and we shared the "cake" with every one there with us.

Happy in Spain.

Coincidence?

Today was the funeral.

On the main street, as we were walking with the hearse from our friend's home to the church with at least fifty other people, I saw a mouse scurry through the crowd, dodging feet, down the street. Seeing a mouse in the street in the middle of the day is strange enough, but the thing is that this man's mote, nickname, in town was raton (mouse).

Coincidence?

I don't think so. Angelines commented that it was his spirit running away.

I agree.

De Luto--Mourning

After great pain a formal feeling comes--

The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff Heart questions--was it He that bore?
And yesterday--or centuries before?

The feet, mechanical, go round
A wooden way
Of ground, or air, or ought,
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment, like a stone.

This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the snow--
First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.

-Emily Dickinson

My good friend's father passed away this morning at 4 am. He's been in and out of the hospital for about two years now. During Semana Santa he was feeling well enough to go to mass and even watch some processions (in a wheel chair of course).

Death is always such a shock. Even though this man has been ill for a long time, there's nothing in the world that can prepare anyone for the absence left when someone we love dies.

Angelines and I spent about two hours in the "vela" (wake) this afternoon. The actual funeral will be tomorrow at 11. The family and friends will be with the body in their home until tomorrow when they'll go to the church for mass and then to the cemetery. There are a lot of rites and traditions surrounding death here. We went and gave our sympathies (el pesame) and two kisses to the family and then stood and sat in the doorway while more and more people came to do the same--very solemn, very mechanical.

I was reminded of Dickinson's poem. It gets to the very marrow of the surrealism that reigns when you find yourself going through the motions after a great loss--the cold, wooden, stone-like feeling that comes over us; the formal, ceremonious rituals of burial. Somehow we keep moving, keep breathing... And finally there's a moment of letting go.

Hugs from Spain

Exploring With Exceptional Company!

Today I was off exploring again. Yes, I think Spring fever has set in. I just can't stand to be at home when the weather is so lovely and the fields so green! Anyway, today's exploration was with Kristen my co-auxiliar in Casariche. I think the picture speaks for itself. Aside from the sun being in our eyes, we look pretty happy. ;)

We went back to the same area I went with Angelines on Tuesday, but we explored further along the road than I had ever been before. Originally we were going to go for a hike...but it turned out to be more exploring in the car and hopping out when we saw something too cool to drive by. All-in-all it was a perfect day, especially given the quality of the pasta salad we ate on our picnic (made the night before around three am...and under the influence of a few glasses of wine). It was to DIE for good. Honestly, we're thinking of opening a restaurant and serving just that; I'm sure it would be a hit.

Among other exciting things, we stumbled upon an ancient city from the 9th and 10th centuries. (Ah, living in Spain!) Unfortunately for us it wasn't free and they were closing early on a Sunday. We arrived just fifteen min. before closing so we weren't allowed to go in to see it. At least we know it exists now--it looks REALLY cool.

This is a picture (from the internet) of the typical mozarabe horse-shoe arches of the ancient church in the city. Apparently, from what we read, a lot of it is carved into the rock of the hillside--very impressive. I can't wait to go back to see it!

We wound our way along barely two-lane roads for the better par of the day and found some really great stuff. You remember the scary part of the hike that Angelines and I went on the other day? Well we found the end point today. Here's a picture for you:

To the right of the bridge known as "Los Balconcillos" (not sure why that's plural...), you can see the planks in the cliff face that make up the vertiginous Caminito del Rey. We were shocked to see two people climbing around up there...but, after watching for a while we decided that they were using ropes and clipping into the cliff side in case the rickety walk beneath them should give out. Just watching made me feel dizzy. All the same, I'm looking forward to the day that they restore the Caminito. That gorge looks tantalizingly gorgeous!

On the way back home we stoped by Fuente de Piedra a town just 10 min. from La Roda that's got natural laguna of 1,486 hectares. This year, with all the rain, it's got to be at least that big...maybe bigger. It is the largest laguna in Andalucia and flamingos (yes, pink flamingos!) come here to nest! In the past when I've gone, the water has been so low from drought that we couldn't really see the flamingos; they were to far into the laguna basin to be visible without binoculars. Now that there's so much water they were right up there on the shore where we were and we got some really great pictures.

So you can see, we had a full day of exploration all of which was accompanied by lots of good conversation.

It was a beautiful day.

"Cockstack"...and other happily forgotten words:

I promise I'm not being vulgar. Really. "Cockstack" was and maybe still is the English term for what we now call a haystack! That is, right up until the eighteenth century when Americans got squeamish about sex and our bodies in general.

Cock, as everyone knows, is another name for rooster. Well, it's actually the other way round: rooster is a euphemism for cock. Americans had (and still have) a lot of silly or valid (depending on your personal perspective) taboos about sex. Our language expresses those hang-ups. The wave of changes from British to American English that brought about the use of rooster, also gave way to "donkey" instead of "ass" and "weather vane" instead of "cock vane". Some people even went so far as to refer to "rooster roaches" instead of cockroaches!

Are you wondering where I picked up this bit of trivia? Well, really I did know about Victorian trend of word changing before I got on google this morning. There's a great book by Bill Bryson for those of you interested in language: The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way. I highly recommend it; Bryson is a great author.

That was my first introduction to all of this, then this morning in Casariche during the period where we're supposed to be creating bilingual science worksheets and such, Kristen and I got online and googled the etymology of "rooster". I can't remember why. This is what we found: http://www.abebooks.com/docs/CompanyInformation/PressRoom/2006-Aug-Sep-American-Heritage.pdf (FYI: the article I'm talking about starts on page 3 of the PDF.)

Really, it is worth reading. Very interesting.

So...you COULD validate our google searches with the argument that ultimately we were looking for information about English in order to be more informed, better teachers... right? Anyway, I don't think there's any harm in "wasting" time on the internet when you're learning new things.

Well, that's all.

This is my bit of trivia for the blog, fruit of my endless quest to be a more interesting teacher. ;)

(Ha! It sounds noble when I write it like that!)

All Work and no Play...

I've decided that part of my dissatisfaction with my job is directly related to the lack of "fun" I've been having (up until recently, that is). So my Holy Week vacation was just what I needed. And contrary to what you might think would be a normal reaction to my return to work, I've been happier and feeling very on top of things.

To make things even better, this morning Angelines and I visited El Chorro. We've gone many times before, but haven't gone on many day trips since I've had so much work these past months. Tuesdays I don't work in the morning and usually we go swimming at an indoor pool in a nearby town, but today we decided to make a morning excursion to this reservoir: El Chorro.

In Spain and especially in Andalucia (for it's desert climate) there are a lot of reservoirs to store water. Many of them were built under Franco. In fact, the word for reservoir in Spanish is pantano and Franco has been called "el padre pantando" for all the dams that were built under his regime.

This one was actually built (at least the first dam) under the reign of King Alfonso XIII at the beginning of the last century. This first picture is of that original dam. The king visited in 1921 to lay the final stone and was so impressed by the engineering (it was the first dam built to generate hydro-power in Spain) that he named the engineer Count of the Guadalhorce (that's the river)!

Here you can see...even the dams they built back in the day were prettier than the stuff done today! I mean, it's actually nice to look at.

Here's Angelines on our hike. There's a trail that follows the river from the dam to the town of El Chorro. It's called the Camino del Rey (The King's Path) for Alfonso XIII. We didn't do the whole walk. Aside from it being too long, there is a portion that's been closed because it is a boardwalk built along the side of the cliffs that are the river gorge and since its construction many planks have fallen into the river. Apparently they are repairing it, however, for rural tourism.

This is the actual reservoir at a record high this spring from all the rain we've had. When many of these dams were built they flooded old towns that were situated along the river. Just two years ago the water was so low that you could see the church steeple of the under-water ghost town! Now it's higher than it's been in fifty years.

And here I am, happy as a clam. Someday this spring I'd like to go back to run on these trails. Angelines was going crazy because she couldn't understand that I wanted to climb and run all over the place. She's decided I'm a cabra montesa (mountain goat)...it's true, what can I say??

Thank God for Spring!

Just a quick note to say I LOVE spring!

My Monday has been improved 100% by the simple fact that when I left work today it was broad daylight. :)

Funny, but so true. I just couldn't stop smiling on my walk back to the car, and suddenly everything seemed to be blooming and green. I'm not kidding. Obviously no new flowers had blossomed while I was at work, no trees had suddenly flowered; but something about the slant of light at a quarter to eight (yeah, I did get off work early) made it all look so much more spring-like.

Welcome long days.

Welcome crazy weather and flowers and green, green fields.

Happy in Spain.

Sabado santo

The last day of processions in La Roda is Saturday--yesterday. Since in the neighboring province of Malaga processions are forbidden on Holy Saturday, lots of people from nearby pueblos come to La Roda to see our procession. Really, it's amazing to see how it fills up!

For me, Saturday isn't my favorite. The procession is the Santo Entierro de Cristo (the Holy Burial of Christ) and Our Lady of Pain (Nuestra Senora de los Dolores); the Virgin's paso is beautiful, but I'm not particularly enamored of the great glass coffin which is the Santo Entierro--not my thing.

The paso of La Dolores is, I must admit, the most beautiful. It's got bells along the tops so that as is moves you hear the soft jingling of silver bells along with the normal creaking sounds that the paso makes as it's carried along. The palio (the canopy) is also beautiful and covered in gold embroidered stars... All that considered, I don't like it much.

Here in La Roda there's great competition between the hermandades (brotherhoods) of "La Virgen" (La Dolores) y "Jesus" (Jesus Nazareno). Apparently, the story goes that years and years ago, the two brotherhoods used to come out together. They were two separate brotherhoods, but one procession. La Roda has always been a railroad town. And the story goes that one year, crossing the railroad tracks a train passed in the middle of the procession, cutting it in two. Jesus, who always goes in front of the Virgin, left his mother behind on the other side of the tracks, and the members of the Virgin's brotherhood were so incensed that they decided to split with Jesus for good.

From then on each brotherhood bought their respective companions (the Dolores bought the Santo Entierro and Jesus the Virgen de Esperanza) and now they go out separate days and there's HUGE rivalry between the two brotherhoods. Needless to say it's hurts the "Jesuenos" in town that Holy Saturday is such a big deal here in La Roda!

The picture above is of one of the saeteros (a person who sings saetas) for the Dolores. A saeta is a song sung to the Virgin or Jesus in Semana Santa. They're a very mournful, wailing sort of song. This man sings to the Esperanza Macarena in Sevilla (some of you who have studied in Spain know that that's a big deal). He was amazing. Just listening to his songs gave me goosebumps. And the band that played to the Santo Entierro was INCREIDIBLE this year...the music at Semana Santa brings me to tears nearly every year.

Good Friday

So I'm a bit late for this post, I'll admit it, but as the saying goes: better late than never, right?? Anyway, I just wanted to say a bit about Good Friday here in La Roda since it is one of my favorite days...and this year took its toll with my feet! I don't wear heels, mind you, but even so, my feet were KILLING me on the walk home after the procession and some improvised help at the bar. I was limping...I kid you not. And all that after a day of ballet flats... Dios sabe how the poor women who wore heels all day ended up!

Friday is when Jesus Nazareno comes out carrying his cross (it's actually the same statue as Wed. but since his arms are movable they can put him in different possitions.). He is accompanied by Our Lady of Hope (Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza). And the most beautiful part of the procession is when he and the Virgin go through their neighborhood "Las Erillas" (that happens to be where Angelines was brought up). So I spent the better part of my Good Friday in my mother-in-law's house with the family, taking pictures, eating, chatting and laughing. ;) This picture is my sister-in-law trying to get all the young-ins to be still for sixty seconds straight. Ha!

Maundy Thursday

Thursday's procession goes down my street. This picture is from my living room window. We made it too late back to the piso to catch the Cristo, but the Virgen (La Mediacion) is my favorite anyway. If you look closely at the picture you can see the costalero's feet underneath the paso.

Most of you know this, but in case you don't, these huge floats, called pasos, are carried by people! Most of the Virgens are carried by men because they weigh more because of all the cloth used for their clothes. However, there are quite a number of costaleras nowadays. Here in town, the Cristo is carried by women.

For those of you who are also not religious, but studied in Spain...did you know that jueves santo is Maundy Thursday

in English?

This is the Cristo that the the Mediacion accompanies on the march through town coming out of the church. This is the image that's behind the main altar of the church all year round. Usually his paso is covered in red carnations, but this year they were purple irises. I like the purple better.