Fact: Parking in Spain is Crazy

Spain is such a unique place. I mean I am living in a completely different culture. So it is pretty obvious that there are things I see everyday that when I think about them, strike me a little funny. One being this problem that although the cars in Spain are all little euro cars, they leave about an inch of space between each other. I took some pictures finally after seeing this all the time. The only way they have to get out of their parking spot is to "bump" their way out. I named them bumper cars. All these pictures were taken on my street actually. Another quandary is also pictured. If there aren't any open spots, which usually there aren't people just double park. It is a very common practice in Spain. The picture actually doesn't depict it very well, but the other picture I wanted I couldn't take because the owners were standing outside their car. I guess cars aren't as valueable to people here. Today on my run I saw a man back right into a cement pole, and he wasn't a new driver. He jerked when the car hit, and then drove off! I wish I could have filmed it, I was laughing my head off!
Changing directions, I took a picture of my favorite candy I discovered here. Actually I didn't discover it, because honestly I probably would be too scared to try it if I saw it and didn't know how good it was. There are all different flavors, like green shell with pink inside(watermelon), greenish-brown shell with green inside(rootbeer?!), and my favorite is the one pictured pink with sour on the shell white inside! Nobody knows the name, but we all love them. I have gotten one for .20 euro at the Alimentacion one street from my house the last three days!

TOLEDO

Holy Toledo! No seriously, Toledo Spain is AMAZING! Conquered by the Christians in 1085, it served as the capital of Spain for some time, no Madrid has not always been the capital, actually Spain has had many capitals.(they are a little unstable)Toledo is rich in history and has been occupied by Visigoths, Moors, Christians, probably some Berbers as well. It is home to one of the largest cathedrals in the world. After 200+ years it was completed in 1493 one year after the Reconquista. We weren't allowed to take pics in the cathedral so I only have view of the outside. I guess you could say it was just another cathedral, empty, ornate, and grandiose. It did have some cool unique aspects, first, when prominent cardinals died they paid to be buried in the cathedral and then a red hat hangs above their tomb, until it decays, and then it means their bodied have decayed. Throughout the cathedral I would look up and see this wilted, dusty red hat, kind of weird! Another controversial piece of info,in the 1700's they tore a hole in the ceiling of the cathedral to allow more light on the transparient, which is a shrine to Mary, of coarse, and they decorated it like a window to heaven. I thought it was really cool, but some Catholics were offended at the defecation of the church.
We also visited a Jewish Synagogue right after the Cathedral. I thought it was interesting to compare the two places of worship, very different. The synagogue is one of three remaining medieval in all of Spain. Because the Jews were so persecuted in Spain it is a miracle it has survived this long.
Toledo is famous for swords(because the river surrounding it is the perfect temperature to cool steel), fancy pottery, and MAZAPAN! I ate six little mazapanes in Toledo! First was from the little nun's at Santa Rita's. You go up to a little revolving door and ring a bell, a little nun comes to the door and you tell what you want, and then put your money down, she rotates it out with your sweets! It was amazing! Plus mazapan is amazing and it is everywhere! That is what the picture is of, she got kind of mad at me for taking the picture! woops!We spent most of the time just wandering into building and through streets, we got lost a couple times, it was great. I also got to see the Burial of Count Orgaz, a painting by El Greco, one of the most famous. It was painted exactly in the spot of Count's tomb, but 200 years later. El Greco paints himself in the painting, and he is the only one not involved, and he stares creepily out at the viewer. The Toledo trip was so great. I loved to experience the small, antigua feeling. Here is a movie, not too great but I made it in Toledo looking out over the city wall!

Retirio Park

On Saturday after the Prado we walked up to this park called Retirio. It opens up into this fountain surrounded by statues and hedges, and in the spring probably flowers! There are tons of Spanish people around running, biking, rollerblading, paseoing(strolling). It is such a happy place. We got some pictures at these broccoli trees, they were so strange. As you walk up some stairs you arrive at another part of the giant park. It was my favorite. There is a huge stair case-plaza-statue thing that kind of reminds me of D.C. and a big pond with rowing boats. When we were there it was almost 60 degrees, so many people were just out soaking in the sun! It was such a good time. Oh and to mention how Americanized the world is, which I am not negative about, it is just funny, there was a Spanish Mickey and Minnie at the park! When we said Hola to Minnie, she responded in this low, husky spanish woman voice! Classic! well I included some pictures of Retirio, to date that is my favorite place in Madrid! For the pic on the right just click on it to see bigger view~

Museo del Prado

Yesterday was spent all in Madrid! Each time I go there I find something new and exciting!Whether it's churros and chocolate, or entertainers all over the streets, my cousin Mike stuck in lockdown at the MTC, it is always an adventure!Yesterday our entire group, nearly 40 people, rode into Madrid to visit the El Museo del Prado! It is one of the largest art museums in the world, to rival the Louvre, and the Met. Famous for its selection of two famous native painters Velazquez and Goya, it is a famous landmark of Madrid. Diego Valazquez painted in the Baroque era of the early 1600's. His art uses mostly warm colors and has a similar style of Rembrandt who was also painting around the same time. Valazquez's most famous painting, Las Meninas can be found in the Prado. We were able to see it yesterday. It is quite large, and is beautiful. When I studied it in art history, Miss Wood said that it is known as the best painting in the world. As we looked at it, I was trying to see why. First, I know because he painted it to involve the viewer. He painted if for the King and Queen, whose reflection is painted in the mirror. As I looked at that I almost felt as though I would see my reflection as well. Another interesting point is that Velazquez himself is painted into the picture.
Francisco Goya painted later at the end of the Romantic period in 1780's to 1820's. He is most famous for Third of May, which documented the revolution of the Spanish when the French invaded. He makes the armies out to be menacing, and the peasants are more glorified. I wasn't able to see Third of May because it was being restored for April. I remember writing an essay on it for my AP art history test so it would have been cool to see it! They also had hi works on display from hi Black Period. They were awful, he depicts gruesome scenes, such as the Roman god Saturn eating his children, in mostly dark colors, and the eyes of the people are white, to look crazy!
We didn't get to make it through the entire museum so we will be going back for sure.

Discotech!

I figure I have to write about my first experience at the Discotech! All the American white kids met last night at the Plaza to walk to the discotech because on Thursdays it is free! The first one we went to was Cabana, and the doorway was shorter than I was! It was just on the side of this small street and wasn't very big at all! Inside there were a lot of people, but we quickly realized that people don't really go to dance they go to drink and smoke! AH! So all of us entered the smoke infested place, and went to the dance floor to dance. The best part is they played great music, and it's really funny because it is all in English! I had so much fun dancing all crazy and everyone in the group was dancing too! All the Spainards looked at us with wonderment at how we weren't even drinking yet we were having so much fun! They played Rianna, Umbrella, it reminded me of home! After like an hour we decided to go to another one called Can Can! It was further away, but still in Alcala! This one was more sophisticated. They checked our coats at the door and everything! We went downstairs, not as much smoking, because this one had more Americans, but still a lot of drinking, people were asking us why we weren't getting drinks! We would say oh we don't drink and they thought we were crazy! We took up the whole dance floor again at the CanCan! This one was just like a U-State dance party they played all our songs, Nelly Furtado, JT, Oh my favorite was Hips don't Lie in Espanol!! They also played Spanish music and these two crazy spainards stood in a circle with us and we all tried to sing at the top of our lungs with them! We were laughing so hard! These boys did the funniest dance moves, they were trying to impress us, it cracked me up! What an experience, minus the smokey clothes, it was the funnest dance party ever!

Escuela en Alcalingua

So I just finished my first week of classes her in Alcala. The school we go to is actually called Alcalingua, which is the area the foreign students study. I am taking an institute class that has homework and stuff, at byu they call it religion, and we get a grade in it. I thought it was kind of strange that we get graded on how well we feel the spirit and write down our feelings, but I guess that is the way it is. Our teacher for that class is sweet! He is a native, Faustino Lopez! He was once the President of the Malaga mission in Spain and is now the CES director. He seems like a very button down shirt and tie kind of guy, yet he did crack some jokes. (although they were in Spanish, of coarse, so I could have just heard wrong). That class is all in Spanish. The teachers here don't know English so they don't have the option to ever speak it. That has been the biggest adjustment living in Spain, I sometimes just expect all the spanish to stop, because I need a rest, but it doesn't! Claro. My history class is in English, however, so I guess not all is in Span. It is History of Spain, we are reading books about every place we will visit. I think this will be very helpful. My two Span. classes son muy fantasicas! I have a two hour grammatical class and an hour ad a half conversation class! Both are taught by Angelica! I love this lady already. To start her appearance is sassy and stylish! She wears these tall boots and purple tights and colorful skirts! She has red, like maroon red, bobbed hair! She is a very pretty woman. She is also a great teacher! She tells us important things that especially pertain to Spain. She acts things out as she tells us, we all end up laughing a lot in the class! She is such a nice lady. One the first day she told us about her little three year old and told us how much she loves to be a mom and how important it is to raise kids. Her class is hard, but I have already learned so much spanish from her! I bet she is one of the coolest persons(is that right or is it people?) I have met here. I have also posted some pictures from Madrid! I have only been in the city once, but I am going today and tomorrow! It is amazing! Here is the Palacio Royal where the king and queen live! and the other one is just some girls and I in front of the fuente del sol!

El Barrio de Alcala

Today was also our first day to go to the ward here in Alcala. Cassi and I took the bus, which was right outside our apartment. We thought we would be the only ones, but as we got on, a family also got on, I asked them if they were going to la iglesia de los ultimos dias. They said yes, and then probably six more people got on at different stops to go to church as well. The church in alcala is pretty nice they have a building in a nice area. The homes around the church are called chalets and are like townhomes which are really nice in Espana. We met a cool couple who spoke English and Spanish, and walked home with them so they taught us words and some things about the area. Just a little aside, we saw the equipo de Alcala (the futbol team) and Carlos said that they think they are good, but they never win! Church in Spain is exactly like church at home. I loved it. Relief Society was great we had the first lesson in the Manuel, and read from our Spainish Jose Smith historia. The teacher spoke a little slower for us students and I understood pretty well. It is really cool to sing and hear prayers and lessons in Espanol. In Sacrement Meeting a new sister missionary bore her testimony, she has only been in Alcala for six days! I was sitting with another girl from the program, Emily Bourne, and we loved it because we could understand everything she said! Also the Madrid mission president spoke, who is also an american, so his Spanish was slower and easier to understand as well. The members in Alcala were all very nice and it was fun to come to their ward(barrio). The spirit was very strong at the Spanish ward, and I felt it even though I could not understand every word they said. There were a lot of missionaries in the ward and they were all excited to talk to us! I met one from Logan, ha he said I was the first person in Espana that he had met that knew where Logan was, and he was pumped when I told him I went to Utah State! Anyway it has been a great day, trying to find our way to church and going to the barrio en Alcala!

Estoy Viviendo en Alcala

Hola!I am officially in Alcala de Henares. It is a sub-city about a half an hour outside Madrid! I have not even begun to see Spain, but I love it already. When all the students arrived in Madrid,people stared at us, and on the Metro. Now that we are split up, I don't think we stand out as much so people don't think we are dumb Americans. Alcala is the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, who is the renowned author of Don Quixote.I will reaffirm Spanish culture is just as I read about. They wake up late around nine or ten and go to work. They wander the streets and socialize till twelve or one. The university students don't usually go out for the night till ten and stay till two or so. Last night I heard partying outside my window at 4:30, so the culture is very different. I live with another girl from the program, her name is Cassi. And together we live with Pilar Lorente. Pilar is way cool. She lives in an apartment, which is common in Espana. She is and older lady, but not too old maybe like seventy. She makes great meals, but they are huge. I can't ever finish them, and she tells me eat eat you meat is expensive! She doesn't speak a lick of English, a girl in the ward told me that is common in Espana, that not very many people speak English. Although we did give her some peanut butter today and taught her how to say it! She speaks a little slower and I don't have a hard time knowing what she is talking about. We try to ask her about all sorts of things, the government, different places in Spain,food. I have learned a ton from her, last night she made us a very common Spanish dish, la tortilla Espanola! It was an omlette with potatos and onions, and some green things! That is a little bit about our place and Alcala. (In the Pictures, on the left is Callie and I in front of La Casa de Cervantes, and on the right is the facade that leads into the courtyard of the Universidad de Alcala)