La Policia

In order to share this hugely important revelation I have had regarding the police, I would first like to share two recent events in my life. The first takes place in Madrid and the second in Morocco.

A couple of weeks ago, at the onset of our trip, we spent several nights in the beautiful city of Madrid. On our second night, my friend Sarah and I were walking down the street toward our hotel, when suddenly a small riot formed and made itself known.

Sidebar: I’m not sure what is making the news in the US, but there is somewhat of a “revolucion” going on here in Spain. Even in Cadiz, protestors have been sleeping in the plazas, demanding a political change for their country. This particular event happened right before some elections, so the city was a little on edge.

Suddenly, people started fleeing the streets as if the riot was headed straight towards them. The two of us started panicking a little bit but were quickly comforted as we saw the police running our way. “Thank God, the police are here,” quite literally went through my head. For a split second, I felt relief and a small sense that everything was going to be okay. I almost didn’t believe my eyes when I saw a policeman take out some kind of beating stick (sorry for my lack of knowledge in police weaponry) and beat a woman, whose only crime was slow feet, across the back and leave her there. It was then that I realized that the people were actually running from the police.

Shocked, Sarah grabbed my wrist and we ran into the closest building, which, thank God, just so happened to be our hotel.

The second story takes place in Tangier. It is a little less “thrilling,” but contains all the same amount of “shock” element. I’ve already filled everyone in on Zeezy and how he quickly became a very important person in my life. When we first decided to allow him to be our guide, I was still a little unsure about it and I let it show. He tried to appease my fears by saying, “Want to ask the police? Here, come here. This policeman right here will tell you that I am an official guide,” which is exactly was the policeman did.

Although it makes no difference to me, I have good reason to doubt Zeezy is or has ever been an official guide. At the end of our tour, he dropped us off right before we reached the gates where we had encountered said policeman. At first, he didn’t say why he wasn’t taking us through the gates, but after we paid him (with a very generous tip thanks to Tyler) and took our pictures with him, I think he finally decided to trust us. After asking him to clarify the directions to our ferry several times, he told me, “The reason I can’t take you past the gates is because the policeman is going to want some of the profits.” I'll let you fill in the obvious blanks.

We (the three amigos) had also been forewarned not to take anything from anyone because apparently people will hand you drugs, call the police on you, the police then arrest you for illegal drugs, get money for it, and give a portion of it to the people who placed the drugs in your hand in the first place. I’m sorry. What?

I could easily take these stories and spin them in a way as to find some political scandal that carries throughout all government systems or complain how our tax dollars are feeding crime and inefficiency even in the US. I’m not going to do that. There is a reason that I felt a sense of security and safety when the police first appeared in Madrid. The subconscious connotations I have made with police officers are that they will protect us innocent bystanders and “catch the bad guys.” In Marruecos, I thought that a policeman’s word was good and trustworthy. In the US, I have to believe that it actually is.

Granted, I realize that nobody is perfect, and there are police officers in the US who are power drunk (ahem, traffic cops), and I’m sure that there is even the occasional scandal within the system. Nevertheless, I know for a fact that if I ask a policeman for help, he won’t lie to my face so that he can make a little extra money—or worse, beat me across the back and throw me to the ground.

What I’m trying to say is, I am grateful for the officers of the US who protect us everyday and give us a feeling of security, even if it is only subconscious.

My goodness, what is happening to me? I’m so patriotic I don’t even know what to do with myself.

In other news, I had the best frozen yogurt of my entire life today right after I went to el “Super Centro” to buy peanut butter and jelly (Did I ever mention I’ve been craving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the past like two weeks?). Peanut butter doesn’t exist here so I had to substitute it with Nutella. I ate three sandwiches with it. Sue me.

Yesterday was our weekly “futbol” game. I sprained my ankle and spent all last night icing it. Mi hermano says that if I practice once a week for a year that I will be very good. Little does he know that in four weeks, I’m going back to America where “football” is only for dudes.

La Aventura de Tres Amigos en Marruecos

My grandpa used to tell me the most absurd stories. He would sit for hours on end recounting his adventures of youth and telling tales I almost never fully believed. I think most of us have a grandparent, or even parent, who meets this description. There really is just no logical way all of their stories in their entirety could be true.

Yesterday, I went to Morocco. For those of you who are even more geographically challenged than I, yes, that is in Africa. My yesterday is filled with stories that I know I will tell my grandchildren one day, and there is a very good chance that they won’t ever fully believe me.

Actually, the real story begins even before our arrival in Tangier. The real story begins at approximately 6:46 am with the words, “I forgot my passport.” In my experience, those kinds of phrases are almost always followed up with a very clever, “Just kidding.” But not this one. This one was followed up with Sam (the planner and organizer of our three-amigo trip) throwing his backpack to the floor and sprinting straight out the door. Did I mention our bus was to leave at 7:00 am?

As Tyler (the 2^nd of the three-amigo trip) and I sat at the bus stop staring at the clock, we were 100% sure Sam would never make it back. One way to the front step of his house is about a 15 minute walk, and he only had 14 minutes to not only go both ways, but to also run inside and find his passport. “Oh well, we can still take the 11 o’clock bus?”

Then, a miracle happened that goes by the name of, “Sam is a beast.” With quite literally seconds to spare, he came running through the door, and the three of us (after I screamed a little bit) made a dash for the bus. We bought our tickets on the bus as it was pulling away. I honestly still do not understand how Sam could have possibly made that run in the time that he did. Before yesterday, I would’ve said it was impossible.

After the passport incident, I should have been prepared for anything that was thrown our way. But that, of course, would have just made things too easy.

The bus took us to Tarifa, where we were to find the ferry to take us to Tangier. Fortunately, we managed to do that with no real problems. And as it turns out, a “ferry” is more like a cruise ship slash airplane combo. Imagine the outsides of a cruise ship and the insides of an airplane. Boom. Spanish ferry.

Once the ferry arrived in Tangier, we all moved to the bottom of the boat where a huge levered door very slowly and dramatically, with lots of beeping and clanking, lowered onto African soil. As soon as it hit the ground, an entire mob of men ran onto the ship, yelling and grabbing people’s arms, trying to be their guide or just straight out hustle them. And when I say, “ran,” I am not just choosing a general term to describe some kind of movement. I quite literally mean that they ran onto that boat. Both Sam and I actually have it on film; however, they both cut off after we realize the immediate danger our cameras were suddenly in. 

We lasted about 10 seconds before someone decided to make us his innocent, American prey. The conversations went something like this:

Guide: Let me take you through the city.

Sam: We don’t want a guide.

Guide: I’m not a guide; I’m just a hustler.

Me: Clearly, you don’t know what that word means.

I’m not going to lie. By the time we reached the city, I was scared. [Sidebar: If your name is Karen or Tom Losinger, either skip over this or just know that I am okay and I’m not going back to Africa, so esta bien.] As if our light skin and American clothes didn’t give us away enough already, my blonde hair was practically begging the Muslims to hustle us. I am not exaggerating when I say we turned every head we walked by.

Sam, Tyler, and I had previously decided to explore the city by ourselves and to not waste money on a hoax guide. But as the three of us stood in the middle of this entirely new world, we all reached the same conclusion: get a guide, or very possibly get killed.

There was no dispute over who we wanted to be our guide. It was a man whose name sounded something like “Hazeez” (I’ll call him Zeezy) and spoke perfect English, which was entirely necessary since the only two acceptable languages there are French and Arabic (neither of which we know anything about). Zeezy had foreseen that we would change our minds about getting a guide and told us that he would wait for us to come back and get him. I guess he had encountered college kids before, because that is exactly what we did.

I think I am just going to preface these next few parts by saying that Zeezy was a gift from God. I didn’t trust him at first, but as we all later agreed, the three of us most definitely would have been robbed or harmed one way or another during that trip if it had not been for his protection and guidance. Even still, at the time, I was in constant prayer that the next ally we were led down wasn’t going to be our last. I realize how dramatic that sounds, but if you had seen the surroundings we were in, you would know how serious I actually am.

Remember the movie “Taken” with Liam Neeson? I used to like that movie. That is, I liked that movie up until yesterday when the possibilities of that actually happening to me skyrocketed to pretty good odds. The only difference between me and the girl in the beginning of that movie is that my dad (I love you Dad) is not Liam Neeson, and I could very well die at the hands of a old, fat, Muslim man. Zeezy didn’t help calm those fears. In fact, he increased them by telling Tyler and Sam, and I quote, “Stay close together, you don’t want to lose her. If we do [lose her], she will end up in someone’s harem tonight.” Oh, is that all?

Anyways, Zeezy ended up taking us to all the places we had been planning to see on our own, plus some. We saw a snake charmer, went to Kasbah, shopped in the markets, ate at a Moroccan restaurant, and…rode camels! Okay, we didn’t really so much as ride them as much as we walked in circles on them, but even still, it was pretty memorable.

Other than another incident of forgetting to get our passports stamped and sprinting through customs to make our ferry back to Spain, I can’t think of any more real issues to report.

All in all, I could not be more pleased with myself for going on this adventure. It was terrifying, but I also thoroughly enjoyed myself. You know the saying, “There’s a fine line between love and hate.” Well, there very well may also be a fine line between being scared for your life and having the time of your life.

I can also say that never before have I felt such, in the words of Sam, “a strong allegiance to Spain.” Until yesterday, I have felt like the outsider that I am in this world. But when our ferry docked back onto the shores of this beautiful land, I felt like I was home. More still, as I walked through the streets of a very different world in Tangier, I was also so proud to be an American. Call me cheesy, but America truly is “The Great,” and I love it dearly.

PS. Stay tuned for more details of Spain and Africa in a little expose I like to call: La Policia.

Intercambios Linguisticos

About a week ago, some of us UGA kids got together with some English-studying spanish students for a good old "language exchange." We were given different topics of conversation, alternating between languages, and paired up with a partner of the opposite language to speak for about 10 minutes en cada tema. I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty good about myself after those little exchanges. Turns out my spanish measures up quite nicely to some people's English. I had to speak super slowly and in words with no more than 2 syllables to get any point across.

For a split second, I was frustrated that the amount of comprehension that was happening was close to zero, but when that second was over, I fell even more in love with mi familia, and even mis profesoras, who have to deal with my spanish every day. Those poor souls. I would never be able to put up with being forced to speak like a dysfunctional robot for two months.

All in all, el intercambio was a fun experience, so when it came time for the next one (a noche), I was excited to go and feel good about myself all over again. Feel a twist coming on? If so, I give you permission to feel good about yourself for about 5 seconds because you are exactly right.

So last night was the second intercambio. (Ps. your time is up). First of all, there were barely any estudiantes espanoles there to begin with, but the few that I did talk to were essentially bilingual. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure we spoke in English 86% of the time.

Here's to hoping for poor students at the next one.

Agua.

Faucet water here tastes surprisingly similar to good old Georgian water. In fact, it is more similar than the difference between GA and FL water even, which makes no sense to me, but it is what it is. The water is good, but restaurants refuse to serve anything but bottled water. I guess I can see why, considering how much bank they make with this practice. Come to think of it, I’m actually quite surprised we are given the option of a free glass of water in the US. I’ve never before appreciated that small luxury. Thank you, US of A.


That's really all I have to say about that. 
Chao. 

Mercado Doceanista

Did I mention that I live practically inside the Plaza de San Antonio? If not, then consider this a formal warning. I live in this plaza, and thus I have to pass through it to go essentially anywhere. Simple physics. You can imagine my excitement when two days ago I was walking through the plaza and saw a bunch of people hard at work setting up tents and medieval-looking flags and banners. After investigating the cause of all this raucous, mi madre told me that it was a book festival. Dang it. I have little interest in Spanish books. Oh well.

Then, a small miracle happened. The book festival turned out to actually be a food and artisan festival! Woohoo!

So, after two days of anticipation of what was supposed to be the best festival of my life, it finally arrived today! In fact, I am sitting in the middle of it right this very instant. Don't let my use of exclamation points or even the happy lead-in paragraph fool you. I am not pleased. As it turns out, I resent this festival very much. Not only can I no longer sit to use my computer without first buying something to eat, but I also can no longer see any remains of the beautiful plaza that I once called my home. I look to see the pretty view from my favorite bench and am surprised to see a pig being skewered and slices of octopus tentacles being handed out as free samples. Those aren't free samples! Free samples are when you walk through the food court at the mall and get all the sugared pretzel bites you can hold from Auntie Anne's.

Not to mention there is this trio of "musicians" playing bagpipes in innocent passerby's faces. Last time I checked, this wasn't Scotland. Okay, so maybe bagpipes are a European thing in general, but that noise should be outlawed, or banned from public areas at least.

I know I complain, but really, it is still so beautiful out here. Am I right? The festival only lasts four days, and knowing me, I will probably miss it when it's gone.

Algunas Diferencias

1)  Public bathrooms: And by this, I mean, there are none. No existen. And for this reason, I’ve learned to not be surprised to see kids (with parents by their sides) peeing on trees planted in the middle of the streets. This is acceptable behavior. Additionally, places like Starbucks or McDonald’s print numbers on all receipts that then become codes to enter their bathrooms. A very literal interpretation of “customers only.” I learned this the hard way by trying to use the bathroom after I already threw my receipt away…que mal suerte.

2)   Streets: The majority of the streets here are wide enough for one car and one car only. The kicker is that not one of these streets is one way. While walking to school the other day, I saw a small child almost get run over at a 4-way intersection due to the lack of stop signs. And it’s not just small children; one time I saw a full-grown person almost die. No wait. That was me, and it was every day that I have been here. I swear I’m going to die in the streets of Spain.

3)   Daily schedules: The US would be wise to follow in the footsteps of Spaniards. They wake up late, go to work for a couple of hours, close shop between 2-5:30 pm for siesta, and then go back to work until dinner. Of course, it is super frustrating to us Americans who want to shop mid-afternoon but are prohibited by literally everything being closed. It’s a nice system I guess, but I honestly wonder how it is maintained. A sound businessperson would want to take advantage of staying open while all the competition isn’t bringing in any revenue. Por eso, unfortunately I doubt the siesta system would ever work in the US.

I

I have more of these in mind so look for more to come in the furture! Also check out my new pictures if you haven't already done so.

xoxo

Sevilla

This past weekend was our first free weekend in Cadiz...so of course we took a trip to Sevilla. 

It was truly indescribable. I could not have even imagined a place like it. Every time I turned around there was another beautiful castillo, catedral, estatua, fuente, o jardines...no big deal. We spent several hours in one garden (Real Alcazar) alone. All the buildings are so exquisite y antigua, but at the same time, there are high speed trains running through the middle of the city. I was standing in front of La Catedral de Sevilla, thinking of the history and incredible architecture, when suddenly a "train" that looks like it belongs in a movie like "I, Robot" sped right in front of it and threw of the whole feel. Sevilla is somewhat of a contradiction.

I had such a great time in Sevilla, which I could easily go on and on about, but nothing (and by "nothing" I mean Madrid and Sevilla, as that is all I have seen thus far) can surpass Cadiz in my mind. It's surprising to me how much this place already feels like home. On the bus ride from Sevilla I kept thinking, "I'm so excited to be home!" We came back around seven and spent the evening on the beach, watching the sun set over fishing boats y El Castillo. God's creation is amazing.

Bedtime.

Look for pictures tomorrow!

Chocolate con Churros

I'm not going to lie, I have not exactly loved everything I've eaten here. The other day mi familia ate a bowl full of sardines (scales, spine and all related things still intact), and I simply could not eat it. I felt super bad, but for pete's sake that crossed a couple lines in my book. With that said, there are a couple things here that almost all American taste buds would die for, which go by the name of "chocolate con churros." Think of the best funnel cake you've ever had and then think of dunking that funnel cake into chocolate--amazing. Granted, the chocolate here is very different than what we are used to; it's much less sweet, so most of us poured sugar all over our churros before dunking them in chocolate. There's a reason Americans are known for being fat, and it's probably because we come to other countries and cover our foods with sugar, salt, mustard, butter, salad dressing, and the like. So far, the only kind of "condiment" I've seen used is oil. They do love their oil here. Everything is swimming in oil. So, as far as oil goes, I guess we are doing okay.

Mi madre prepares every meal for us--She is so precious. Every morning my roommate and I wake up to hot chocolate and toast, croissants, "donos," or some other kind of pastry. Lunch is always eaten together as a family, and the food has varied from "lentejas" to potatoes and tomatoes (which in my mind is nothing but oil soup) to sardines to what we had today, which was eggs and some kind of cheesy sticks. We don't eat dinner con la familia because they go to bed so late here. Mi madre cooks for my roommate and I to eat dinner around 10 (5 hours later than my normal senior citizen dinnertime), and they eat about 2 hours later. It's crazy.

Yesterday my roommate and I bought nuestra madre some flowers in La Plaza de Flores, which is about a 4 minute walk from where we live. I've never seen anyone so happy to receive flowers. Nuestro padre se llama Pepe. They have a daughter a bit older than us, a dog named Sombra, and a bird named Pablo. Me encanta mi familia de Espana, but I love my real family bigger, and I miss you guys a lot!

xoxo

I pretty much love it here.

Today was another winner. Surprisingly, I love my classes. The professors have grown on me...yes, in one day. But seriously, they are so patient and even more hysterical. 

After class, I went on a tour of "La Catedral de Santa Cruz" (look it up on Google, it will blow your mind). I am constantly being amazed by all of the history in this city--obviously so different from anything we have in the US. 

I went on my first run today (the optimistic me was planning on going everyday, but let's face it, that isn't all that realistic). Even still, it wasn't as much of a run as it was a leisurely stroll--I ran down the bridge to "El Castillo de San Sebastian" (again, Google) and had to stop just to take in everything I was seeing. I still can't believe I am here!

Go back to Facebook to check out a couple of my pictures I've taken thus far!

Finalmente, I got this dumb thing to work!

Buenos dias los Estados Unidos! Currently, it is approximately 11:30 am, and I just got out of my first class of the day. I have about a two hour break until the next one. Los profesores seem so great, however, they don't speak a lick of English, which makes it impossible to ask what certain words mean.

Yesterday we finally arrived in Cadiz. I really loved Madrid, pero esta ciudad es magica. Los edificios y arquitectura son muy antiguas--the streets are super skinny (with a lot of mopeds!) y mi casa is on the 3rd floor of a building along one of such streets. As I was walking out of mi casa esta manana, I couldn't believe that I am getting to live there! Me encanta mucho. I have taken lots of pictures and will post some as soon as I get a chance. In the mean time, look up "La Plaza de San Antonio" porque mi casa is along one of these streets. Magical, right?

Mis padres son muy amables pero ellos tienen un accento muy diferente than what I am used to. I accidentally spoke English en frente de mi madre yesterday and was very quickly, but thoroughly, reprimanded for doing so--it is very rude to speak English in front of people who do not know it, apparently. Needless to say, this is the first time I've "spoken" English in a good while.

Eso es todo for now, pero escribire again tomorrow.
Con todo mi amor.