Ok so I’ve been slacking a bit, but I partially blame it on my lack of internet over Semana Santa, or rather the only available internet was on a French computer and because the key placement is different trying to type even short emails was intensely frustrating. But there’s been a lot going on so here it is, probably not in correct chronological order….My theater class went to a private showing of a production called Experimental Lady in a tiny “theater” where most of the class ended up sitting on the floor around the stage. Our professor is friends with the two directors so we were able to discuss their goals and creative process with this experimental type of theater group with the directors and actresses. The play itself was about three women who planned and executed the murders of random men as a way to get revenge on the men in their lives who had mistreated and hurt them. There was a lot of fake blood and stabbing at a table and a mannequin with large kitchen knives and since the women were clearly crazy it made us uneasy to be sitting in such a small setting. I still don’t know how I feel about it and I left the theater really creeped out and kind of disturbed.
We’ve befriended a group of guys from Argentina who live here in Granada and they semi hosted/dj-ed an Argentina party at a club close to my apartment, so my roommate and I went, halfway learned to tango and spent the night being spun around the dance floor by a couple Argentineans. Needless to say we had a blast.
I went on my first date with a Spanish guy last week, which, though fun, kind of played out like a romantic comedy gone wrong. Turns out the reason Carlos was such a gentleman was largely due to him being a Spanish Marine and as the conversation turned political, as it inevitably does with me, I slowly found that he is one of the most politically and socially conservative people I’ve met in my life. He detests the Socialist president who was just reelected in Spain because he thinks Zapatero does stupid things like grant homosexual couples the right to adopt children, is intensely Catholic, is extremely against a woman’s right to an abortion (though his biological reasoning was WAY off), thinks voting is a right not a duty and refuses to do so because he doesn’t like anyone, and on and on. Unfortunately I have a hard time expressing my thoughts on these issues in Spanish because we would have duking it out over coffee. On the bright side I spent my afternoon practicing Spanish.
This past week was Semana Santa/Spring Break for all the students and four of us spent the first part of the week relaxing in a quaint seaside town called Nerja. It was packed with tourists, but it was nice to escape the busier life in Granada and go someplace where we know no one. And of course being on the beach on the Mediterranean was incredible. We also took the trip as an opportunity to eat everything but Spanish food and very happily feasted on Chinese, Brazilian and Italian food instead. The first picture is of our very stereotypically Mediterranean and beautiful view from the porch of our hostel at sunset. Tuesday night we found out that the bus drivers went on strike on Monday, so we ended up waking up really early with the intention of waiting at the bus station, with the hope of there being at least one bus running instead of spending another day on the beach, only to find that the strike had been resolved. I continue to be fairly confused by Spaniards.
My roommate and I stayed with a couple friends here in Granada for the rest of the week, which meant that we were well fed and entertained. Two of the three roommates are French exchange students who are also learning Spanish and English so I spent a fair amount of time the past few days hanging out with them and their group of French friends. I unfortunately don’t speak a single word of French (when asked I could honestly say that ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’ are the only two French words I know) so that meant I also spent a fair amount of time completely lost in the conversation. Semana Santa is a huge production all over Spain and I was very lucky to be here to see some of the processions, usually with ice cream or candied almonds in my hand, in some ways it’s more of a carnival type of experience than a religious one. One afternoon I spent about two hours wandering the city and I think I managed to watch parts of four different processions in different areas. One of my favorites was the one that filed straight into the open doors of the cathedral and the other was one at night with beautiful music and lots of candles. Watching the processions was also a very Spanish experience as no one seemed to be in any sort of hurry and the entire procession would occasionally pause for reasons that are still unclear. Though I’m far from Catholic myself it was still a profound cultural and spiritual experience in its own way. The second picture is from the beginning of the first procession I saw.
While I had a great week, saw incredible things, read a lot, relaxed a lot, slept a lot, met interesting people, talked in Spanish, I was so happy to come back home this afternoon and it was a joy to talk and eat with my host family again.
I’m missing home, it’s strange to not be in the states for my own family’s Easter traditions and I feel a little out of the normal Easter spirit because I am so accustomed to attending church services this week, but it’s all part of the experience. I hope you all have a very happy Easter with lots of eggs and the energizing fellowship of family and good friends.
bss
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