My Spanish Doppelganger

One of my best friends went to Europe after our high school graduation and saw this poster on the street in Barcelona: She (obviously) had to take a picture of it and send it to me because the name “Maria Figueroa” is really similar to my name, and, well, basically it’s funny to imagine that I had a secret career as a child belly dancer in Spain. Years later, we’ll still reference little Maria, when I jokingly bust a move, for instance. Finally, a few days ago, I had the brilliant idea to see what the deal is with this little Spanish diva. After a quick YouTube search and a lot of soul-searching, I’ve decided to post my findings:

I think this video is funny in its own right, all long-standing jokes aside. ¡Hostia! I can’t wait to watch more Spanish television programming when I get there…

Dear reader, if you are as astonished as I am by the musical talents displayed above, you should check out the truly chilling rendition Maria does of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” (in Spanish, “Voy a Vivir”) or my personal favorite, this heated collaboration.

La Furia Roja—Campeones del mundo

“…si vamos unidos no nos vencerán”

…united, they will not defeat us

The quote is from the song that was written for the Spanish National Team (NT) Selection for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  It is particularly powerful because the World Cup win has bolstered some of the most ardent patriotism ever for Spain, a country perpetually divided by regional politics.  The picture was taken by one of my friends who lives in Madrid.  After they won, the NT rode on top of a van through the some of the major streets in Madrid.  You can see Fernando Torres hoisting up the cup, and Sergio Ramos rocking a Carmen San Diego-style hat.  They better still be celebrating when I get there in late September!!!!  

My future home away from home

Starting in October, I will be teaching grades 7-12 in Binissalem, a medieval village a hop, skip and a jump inland from where I’ll be living, Palma, Mallorca.  Mallorca (in Catalan and Castellano, proper English title is ‘Majorca’) is one of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean (pictured above).  The smaller map shows a red circle, which represents Binissalem, and the yellow dot on the western coast of the island is where Palma is located.  Binissalem is the wine-producing capital of the region, or the bread basket, so to speak.  The famous Cathedral of Palma is pictured as well as one of the many coves Mallorca is famous for.  I will be teaching with a program through the Ministry of Education of Spain and assisting an English Language teacher in a bilingual public school.  They speak mainly mallorqui (a dialect of catalan) and castellano (or what we call Spanish), though it seems there are quite a few German and British expats on the island, from what research I’ve done.  However, I will be there during the off-season (October- May); so, I guess we shall see the logistics when I get there.  It should be an adventure to say the very least.

The Blog is Back in Town

So, after a brief hiatus (okay, a little over a year), I have decided to jump back on the blog-wagon.  I know many of you are dying to know if I ever left Malaga, and I can assure you… I did.  I just wanted to build suspense, you know, add a little drama and intrigue to the whole blogosphere… not to mention, I’m incredibly lazy (insert joke here about learning how to be lazy from the best, Spanish stereotype that it’s a lazy culture, blah blah blah hahaha hehehe blah blah blah).

Just to orient everyone, I had about a month left in Europe after that last post.  It was a truly remarkable month, that I apparently could not be bothered to remark upon (via blog, at least!).  That said, anyone who I have talked to since has heard about the trip to whimsical Granada with my sister and brother-in-law, the tapas fair in Madrid where we unknowingly ate a sandwich made entirely of pig ear cartilage, and, of course, the pièce de résistance of my nomadic Euro-life, a week spent gallivanting around Paris with the elite of haute society, namely my cousin and his wife, certain friends from my recent past and present, and of course, those notoriously charming natives.  Did I mention how amazing the flea markets are there?  J’adore parisian flea markets.  How pretentious do I sound?…  Don’t answer that.

Though I make no aim at retrospectively blogging the entire past year, a lot has happened in this time.  Not only has the Vulcan-style haircut that I got in Spain grown out, but I am now an aunt (times three), a university graduate (with distinction, damn it), potential law school applicant, and the recipient of a grant to teach in Spain in a couple of months.

Seeing as this is my come-back post, I just want to articulate a few goals for this blog, so I can take it in a little bit of a different direction.  This brief list of goals is more for me than you all, but, now that this info is out there, you guys can keep me accountable.  I hereby solemnly swear:

1 To write shorter, more frequent posts (EVEN though I struggle with the whole “it’s-good-that-I’m-not-blogging-because-I’m-enjoying-myself-too-much-to-make-time-to-blog” conundrum)

2 Not to write solely about my own travels, but rather to include some posts to profile current events, cultural dalliances, and linguistic tidbits that I deem interesting and somewhat relevant to my travels

3 Not to forget how to speak and/or write English just because I am trying to immerse myself in Spanish (namely, Castellano and/or Catalan).  I made some truly ATROCIOUS grammatical errors in previous posts.

Okay, so I hope you’ll allow me to be my best blogger and keep me honest, but not too honest, perhaps… these are ambitious goals after all!  And if I can change… and you can change… we can all change… maybe?  Rocky?  Anybody? Is this thing on?

Malaga in Brief

About a week and a half after Mom and Dad left, my friends and I found out that we were getting a long weekend (every weekend is seriously a long weekend in May in Madrid, to the point where they use the word “puente” or ‘bridge’ to jokingly refer to the tendency of madrileños to stretch the weekend out). So, on Wednesday 3 friends and I decided to go to the Costa del Sol on Friday. It ended up being a great decision. We took the bus, which is pretty cheap (35euro roundtrip from Madrid). Malaga is the birthplace of Picasso and Antonio Banderas. It’s really pretty much a beach town. The water was freezing and the sea floor was so course that the soles of my feet were red and raw, but the sun was out and the clouds were nonexistent. The ambience was fantastic, between the andalusian sun, the ancient bullring in the middle of town, the ancient walls leading to an old fortress (alcazaba), green plazas, fountains and flowers. Also, it turns out that people are generally pretty friendly to a group of four foreign girls. We got to hike up the alcazaba and had a gorgeous view of the city there, and we saw a Picasso exhibit. I also turned African on that trip, or one might say pulled a “reverse Michael Jackson.” It was a great vacation, which I obviously needed to get away from the grind (note sarcasm: this trip was less than 2 weeks after mom and dad left).

But seriously, people – I do work here! It’s just not interesting enough to write a blog about, though I am a nerd and my favourite classes here are Morfología and the History of the Spanish language from the 15th Century to modern times… Do you REALLY want a blog on that?? No.

I’m sorry these blogs are so delayed. I’ve been in the library! Last week was our last week of classes, and I had an exam and presentation yesterday in Morf. I think they went really well and I had a good chat with my teacher after the presentation. She told me I have a really good accent, but I mumble. My response: my mom tells me I mumble all the time in English. So, I’m working on that whole enunciation thing! In other news, my laptop is STILL in the shop – they are taking their SWEET time figuring out what’s wrong with it, and EMILY AND PHIL are coming tomorrow!

Also, for those of you who haven’t heard the mugging saga:

my cell along with my purse (wallet, lipstick, comb) were robbed from me when my friend julia and i were walking to catch the train at atocha at 5:30am. i was being verbally harassed around the sol area by an African man when we proceeded to walk to our train station. 15 minutes or so after the said harassment the SAME guy ran out of nowhere and was leaning against a stop sign in front of us, catapulted himself onto me (julia tried to intersect him, kick him with her boots, hit him with her ring and i tried to hit him off) but he ripped my purse off its strap and threw me to the ground. i had body scratches and a sore shoulder for about a week. julia called the police 5 times and they weren't answering then just told us to go to the police station and hung up. I was definitely a bit rattled, but have gotten everything cancelled and replaced, and fortunately no one got too badly hurt. Also, I only had enough cash to get home with; so, he didn’t get anything too valuable. It was, of course a shame, and we had been coming back from this fantastic party that Julia and I got invited to buy these two guys who own this awesome clothes store in Malasaña; so, it kind of put a damper on the evening…

Other than that, I have been loving this city. I have a terrace I sit on near the Royal Palace that is the perfect mix of sun, people-watching and quiet bustle. It is the perfect place to study! Also, I have been to some free art exhibits, including a photo exhibit from the MoMA, and an exhibit called “Sleeping Beauty” at the Prado. I also saw this movie called Sin Límites (in English, I think they’re calling it Little Ashes), anyways it’s about Dalí and my favourite Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca and how they allegedly had an affair. It was interesting, but nothing to write home about, although it starred Robert Pattinson (Edward from TWILIGHT) as Dalí. I am really looking forward to the end of exams (the 19^th) because I’ll have a week in Madrid to do my favourite things: lounge in sunny Retiro park, loiter around the Royal Palace, go to La Latina/El Rastro, rummage through old bookstores in Malasaña, catch some art exhibits and walk through the rich streets near Metro Salamanca. I went to a great Great Lake Swimmers Show the other weekend. Also, booked a trip to Paris FOR 6 DAYS (June 27^th to July 2^nd). I’m meeting up with 3 friends there, who actually are going to be there with a couple of friends from home. It will be grand! Anyways, so I guess this wasn’t so brief. Okay, I gotta go log in those library hours before the MURPHS come. I have an exam tomorrow and then two more on the 18^th and 19^th.

Some quick shout outs to:

MAURA for helping me get money while the rents were in India

Joe, J’lyn and Steve for sending me a sweet care package with zesty orange flavoured swine flu meds in it

And Sara, for finding THIS http://www.amazon.com/Oodles-Lindoodla-Coochy-Coodles/dp/B000ERAOJG for those of you who remember my beloved longlost childhood figurine that went by the name of “Lil’ Whistler” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUDaQbRKCTM

Okay, keep it real peeps, and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Parent Trap - España!

Mom and Dad visit! Met them in the airport in Barcelona (in different terminals, almost didn´t find them because we were all following the classic “stay where you are and it´ll be easier to be found” trick…. Luckily, they ended up calling me). I found them (with Cadbury crème eggs in tow, my one request for something from home, and we took a bus to the city centre where mom slipped on a puddle with her suitcase wheeling along. After that minor trauma, we took the train into Sant Cugat, where Dad’s cousin (Octavio) lives. Everyone was excited and nervous to see Dad’s aunt, but when we arrived, she wasn’t there… We walked around Sant Cugat and casually interrupted a wedding at the cathedral, then headed back to Octavio’s place for lunch. It was fabulous and Octavio told some very enlightening and downright interesting stories about dad’s family and Moçambique. We went into the city after that and embarked on our paella-fest (mom and dad actually came so we could do a paella pilgrimage). We walked through the Ramblas to the Port of Barcelona and the Colón statue where we saw a dirty hobo who looked eerily like Steve’s friend JJ, so much so that we took a picture. When we got back to Octavio’s, they were gone to a party.

The next dayñ, we went to church at the Cathedral in Sant Cugat and sat through a mass that was being said in catalán so I didn’t even understand it, but I’m pretty sure we got the gist of what was going on. We went into Barcelona again and walked around Sagrada Familia, had more paella, and went to Gaudí’s Apartment building (Casa Milá), which was really cool. The roof was bizarre, but there were some cool little stations that explained a bit more about Gaudí’s work and about the Sagrada Familia (the Eiffel tower of Barcelona, according to Octavio). It was cool learning more about what Gaudí was all about (nationalist revival in Spain that attempted to reconceptualise gothic architecture).

We flew into Madrid and caught a cab to their hotel, where we got in touch with Jim and Sheila. Once we got to their room, Jim had already gotten out his Tupperware bottles full of martini fixings. The party had arrived. Jim didn’t believe me when I said restaurants don’t open til 8, but guess what? They didn’t… and don’t! But, we caught some decent tapas and got to walk around Plaza Mayor to the oldest restaurant in Spain, or in the world is how they advertise it here. We had some roast suckling pig and called it a night.

The next day I had class and the elders had bus trips. I met up with them at their hotel after class, and they were exhausted and flustered, definitely proud of the steps they logged on their pedometers (matching pedometers… can you say “adorable”?!). We then went for tapas for dinner and got some chocolate con churros for dessert at the famous San Ginés Chocolatería,ñ which we all gobbled up and “enjoyed,” only to reveal to each other later that they weren’t really that good. That was the night I crashed in their hostel bed with them, which I would prefer not to talk about, and yes, the Plans, Trains and Automobiles joke about a hand being between two pillows WAS thrown around.

Next day, I had class, then my two closest friends here and I met up with the rents at the hotel, we had some drinks and then went for Indian with Jim and Sheils! Mom asked my friend from New Zealand if they “have their own government and everything”… ahaha sorry Mom, but it was kind of funny.

We had a big day ahead of us the next day. I met the gang at El Escorial, which is about an hour trainride from where I live. They had rented a car. El Escorial is a fabulous building, former royal residence with so much art. Also, this is where we started ordering the menu turistico, which is 2 or 3 courses, dessert and drinks for a fixed price around 8-10euros. Pretty good. We drove to Ávila from El Escorial. It was awesome, and the weather just got nicer and nicer throughout the trip. We ate their traditional sugary treat, the yema (which is just an egg yolk that has absorbed so much sugar that it is a gooey ball). We toured St. Teresa of Ávila’s birth home, which has been converted to a Church, and we even saw a relic of St. Teresa’s ring finger, which is preserved in the shop nextdoor to the church. We then went to church in the St. Thomas Aquinas church where the Catholic Kings (Isabel and Ferdinand) had a palace.

The drive from there to Segovia was gorgeous, almost like Tuscany as the Milways pointed out. However, we did get a little lost, as we were navigating using signs and maps of landmarks from guidebooks. Once we got into Segovia, we went to the place where Rick Steve’s recommended to go and had some delicious “lomo,” and it was funny how excited we all were when we ordered a salad and it was a real salad. Usually salad here is served with a fried egg on top and tuna… gross. The next day, we went to see the acueduct, the Alcazar and the Cathedral before driving back to Mad Money to drop mom and dad off at the airport so they could bounce back to Barcelona. After some hectic navigation, we ended up taking the metro to the airport and rushed a farewell to the Mils. Luckily, the next day, I got to say a proper goodbye/hug when I ran into them at Atocha (the Grand Central Station of Madrid… again, you’d think it was a small city, it was the kind of thing again where I never walk through that part of the train station usually, but went on a whim because my friend needed to use the bathroom and… bam. The Mils).

'Twas a LOVELY visit!

Blog-lag... ITALY

So, this is a QUICK run-through of my 10-day Italy trip from 2 weeks ago... Next on the blog queue is a record of when mom and dad (and Sheils and Jim) visited Spain! I've been having so much fun lately, that it's been hard to take a minute to sit down and document it... Also, I do in fact attend school here...

ROME- Before I even landed, I realized how much better-looking/dressed Italians are compared to Spaniards based on the other passengers. The guys are sometimes too well-dressed though. Anyways, the flight attendant was the first of many on this trip who assumed I speak Italian. I don't, and although it's VERY similar to Spanish, it's different enough for me to be confused as heck. I picked it up pretty well by Venice.
-Arrived into Rome via bus shuttle from Ciampino airport, got in touch with Leigh easily. It was late at night at Rome Termini, there were no cabs to be found and I was afraid to ask the creeps and drunks questions... also, I don't know there language so I found my way to the hotel
-Complimentary breakfast at the hotel in Rome was amazing- eggs, bacon-ish stuff- MINI-NUTELLAS and laughing cow cheese with good rolls… better food than Spain already. I made hot chocolate espressos on the coffee machine. It was like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory pretty much
- Got Rome Sightseeing Bus tour through the Piazza with the Bernini fountain (Piazza Bernioli), etc. bus dropped us off at Trevi where we posed with a creepy Roman soldier (then he held out his hand and asked for 10euros, I think we gave him 2… as if I’d pay to be forced to wear a sweaty helmet). I was surprised by Trevi fountain. I had seen it in so many movies (Lizzie McGuire!) and pictures and I imagined it to be in a more open plaza, but it was on the side of a building with two alleys on either side (weird). We had our first taste of pizza that day (in Rome, they fold it in half, it is was… too delicious) ALSO, gelato
-Played with tour volume on bus, but it wasn’t working!! Realized 20mins later that Mrs. Sanna and I were adjusting each other’s volume/language
- Saw Ides of March, Circo Massimo, and the Vatican on PALM SUNDAY… it was like a Catholic beehive, saw the Roman forum, Pantheon, Coliseum
-At the Coliseum, ran into Matt Cairns… we had known that each other was in Rome, but we didn’t think we would be able to all meet up… so, it’s a small world in the life of a tourist
-Circus Maximus was really cool. It used to be an animal market back in the day (WAY back in the day that is)… also, it’s where the she-wolf allegedly suckled Romulus and Remus
- Went to a Restaurant that first night that served the best pasta on the trip potentially (penne alla arrabiata)… I have the address of the place still!
-Next day we took a cab-ride of death to the Vatican, where we had a tour
-Vatican fun facts: Adam’s body in Sistine took 4 days to paint… Michelangelo didn’t even like to paint, priests as late as the Renaissance could marry/ there were popes who had multiple wives and kids, the word ‘nepotism’ comes from the Italian word for ‘nephew’ because popes chose their nephews for prime positions in the papal hierarchy, saw “the torso” and Rodin’s “thinker. The map room was cool, the maps were pretty much correct other than their orientation which placed Rome as the North! There were lots of pagan figures i.e. Mars (sun god) in the papal gardens… have only been open to the public since 1940’s. In order to get there, you walk through a room where Leonardo DaVinci lived! The Vatican City has a passport… and a birthrate of zero. They won't stamp your passport upon entrance :(

Took the train to FLORENCE, walked through the Mercato Centrale (filled with leather bags, jackets, shoes, scarves)… wandered to the Duomo (the beloved church there), but we didn’t know it was the Duomo… we were very impressed by it though. Went to a restaurant for dinner, where the guy showed us to take toasted bread, cut a garlic clove in half and rub it on the toast, salt it, add olive oil and pepper and it is… delicious. The next day, we went on a bus tour of Tuscany. It stopped at Siena where that horse race (il palio) is every year. It was a really cool place, well taken care of. The bank there is the oldest in Italy, and the city is divided into “contrada” or neighbourhoods, each with its own symbol i.e. a shell. We saw St. Catherine of Siena’s burial place… and a creepy construction worker took a picture of me (weird). "Siena" comes from phrase meaning “son of”… the She-wolf is the symbol of Siena, city rival is Florence (ask me about the Ponte Vecchio Butcher/ gold flood story). The church there is pretty amazing, we called it the "Zebra church" because the inside was thick stripes of white and black marble
-Then we stopped at San Gimignano, another medieval hilltop town. Tuscany was amazing. We ended the day off at Pisa, which is a crap town minus the massive fenced off green area that has a church and gorgeous row off buildings that lead up to the Leaning Tower (again, not what I expected)
-They had PASTA VENDING MACHINES in Florence… ridiculous.
- Ran into Leigh Sanna’s Canisius friends on the street in Florence and ended up having dinner with them before we visited my friend Jen who is studying in Florence!
-The next day we went out with Jen and met up with my friend Tommy from high school. It was karaoke night at the bar we went to; so, we sang some Backstreet Boys (it was his choice)

VENICE- took the train in from Florence then a water bus, got lost a million times getting to our hotel because things they consider streets there are what I consider alleys. I was navigating and Mrs. Sanna and Leigh’s aunt had HUGE rolley luggage, so it was pretty bad… Venice had the best ambience. St. Marc’s square at night has an unforgettable aura. With the church lit up and orchestras playing Vivaldi on the café terraces lining the wide open piazza… unbelievable. We met up with our friend Kelly from high school, who joined us for Venice and then was going to Oviedo, Spain to hang out with Leigh. The Ponte Rialto is the huge main bridge, and we got a gondola at Piazza Manin. The gondolier offered us a free nighttime gondola ride, but we didn’t go because Mrs. Sanna didn’t want us to. We saw a house where Mozart lived and Casanova’s house (across from a church, how’s that for irony)…. And we spent Easter morning having coffee in St. Marc’s square. Unforgettable views in Venice and Murano glass items everywhere. It was my favourite excursion, though the Roman food was pretty good.

We had AMAZING weather the whole time, and I was in Rome during that fatal earthquake that was fairly closeby, we were about 30km from the fault. I slept through the earthquake, but everyone else kind of half woke-up. Leigh's Aunt Wendy thought they were being robbed. Italy was fantastic. I am still tired, fat and broke from it. Loved every second though/ can't complain. When I got back to Madrid, my friend Brigid from high school was meant to be in Madrid, but I didn't have phone credit and she didn't have internet at her hostel; so, I was afraid I wouldn't see her. Wouldn't you know, I walked down a path I NEVER take to a destination I always walk to in the city center, and I see her little face in the window of a RANDOM restaurant! We got to hang out the next night, and it was great having a familiar face in Madrid!

Sorry this post took so long. I've had some school work and some visitors :) of which I will talk about in my next post! Contrary to popular believe, I do attend school HOWEVER we have the long weekend off for Dia 2 de Mayo (yes, in Madrid we celebrate 2 de Mayo, not 5 de Mayo)... ANYways, my friends and I are headed to MALAGA for the long weekend to lie on the beach at on the Costa del Sol (the south coast, on the Mediterranean/ overlooking the strait of Gibraltar). It's my first foray into Andalusia, and I cannot wait! I really deserve a vacation, it's a hard life... just kidding/ don't kill me everybody. I'm thinking of you guys! I'll try to be better about the blogging!
PS- SOME of my Italy pics are up on kodakgallery... My computer freaks out at uploading, so I will try to upload the other ones later :)
PPS- keep the Ellie pics/vids coming, I can't get enough. Wish I could have been at the B'tism