Big Life Decisions

Palabra del día: Huelga
Translation: strike
Frase: Ayer había una huelga de educación en la universidad porque el gobierno está haciendo muchas recortes, y por eso nadie fue a clase.
Translation: Yesterday there was an education strike at the university because the government is making lots of budget cuts, and because of this nobody went to class.

Comida del día: Manzanas crujientes (Apple crisp!)
This isn't actually a Spanish food, but last weekend I taught my host mom how to make it!  It was quite a success - everyone loved it and I got to eat one of the delicious fall foods I've been missing (there aren't a lot of pumpkin or apple flavored things here).  I also gave her the recipe so that she can make it for future students that she hosts.

Doesn't it look good?  Sole said it was a "gran triunfo" (big triumph!)

Foto del día: I'll actually give you two!

The last three weeks I've gone on visits to the Alhambra with my Islamic architecture class.  In addition to getting to look at beautiful views like this one, we got to go in VIP areas that average tourists aren't allowed to go in.  Fun fact: Spanish people use the word VIP but it's pronounced "veep".

Last week I went on another IES hiking trip, this time to a region called the Alpujarra, which consists of small villages in the mountains.  It was beautiful although a bit cold, because last week was the beginning of the season of snow on the Sierra Nevada.  That means that soon instead of hiking I can try out some skiing!

Last week, I made a very big decision: I'm staying in Granada for a second semester!  It's not very often that I completely change all of my plans for the near future, so the decision sort of took me by surprise. However, I put a lot of thought into this decision and now I'm incredibly excited to be able to spend more time in this new place that I've quickly grown to love.  People keep asking me my reasons for this drastic change of plans, so I'm going to do my best to explain my thoughts here.

When I left for my semester abroad, I was terrified of being so far away from home for four months.  Although I go to school far from home, I've always been able to easily go home for vacations and the occasional weekend, so being in a different country for such a long time was a hard concept to grasp.  However, the time has been going by so quickly and I've been enjoying Granada so much that about a month ago I started thinking that four months wasn't long enough.  At first, I ignored these thoughts, for a few logical reasons: 1) Classes at WashU are of  higher quality and fit my interests better than IES or UGR classes, 2) I miss my family and friends quite a lot, and 3) I don't like changing my plans, especially when I've put so much effort into figuring out exactly which classes I will take for the rest of my time in college.

I felt ok about this decision for about a week, which was just enough time to miss the IES deadline for signing up for a second semester.  But after a week of trying to convince myself that I had made the right decision, I couldn't stop thinking about how short four months was starting to feel.  Instead of looking forward to returning to a familiar place, familiar people, a familiar daily schedule and a familiar language I was already incredibly sad about having to leave Granada behind.  I decided that I had made the wrong decision and started looking into the possibility of staying for a full year.  As it turned out, it was still very possible!  Somehow, even though I didn't decide my majors until halfway through sophomore year, there is still a 95 percent chance that I will be able to finish both of them on time even with another semester abroad (a 95 percent chance because everything has to go according to my new plan.  If it doesn't, it's ok because it will be worth it for another semester in Granada!)

The other day, I went to a grocery store that I hadn't been to before and tried to buy some apples.  The line at the cash register was very long, and when it was finally my turn the cashier asked me how much the apples weighed.  I stared at her blankly, and she stormed off to go weigh the apples herself at a weighing station next to the apples in the store.  An annoyed customer then explained to me (in accented English, easily identifying me as an American), "You have to weigh them!" Everyone else in the line just glared at me, and when the cashier returned I sheepishly apologized and left the store as quickly as possible.

Moments like these are becoming less and less frequent, but they make me realize how long it takes to adjust to life in a new country.  After eight weeks here, I felt like I had mostly adjusted to the daily schedule and could find almost everything I needed, but it took much longer to understand certain aspects of the culture and to get to know Spanish people.  I think that the more adjusted I am, the more I will be able to fully experience living here, instead of worrying about how to live here.

I have a few goals for next semester.  First of all, I'm looking forward to spending more time with my new Spanish friends.  I easily made friends with other American students in my program, but it takes longer to get to know Spanish people, especially with the language barrier and the fact that they already have established lives here.  I feel that I am just starting to form friendships with Spanish people, and I learn new things about the language and the culture every time I have a conversation with one of these friends.

I've also changed my attitude about my classes, and I'm planning to study a bit more going forward.  It was fine to take some time off to enjoy the culture of Granada, especially when I thought I was only going to be here for four months, but I'm pretty sure it's dangerous to slack off for a full year!  Although IES classes are easier than WashU classes and I haven't been thrilled with my class at the university, I've discovered that if I put in a little extra effort I can actually learn some interesting things.  And since many of my classes relate to the culture of Granada, I can often see and experience the things that I'm learning about firsthand.  My other academic reason for staying in Granada is that studying abroad for longer goes perfectly with my growing interest ethnomusicology.  I'm looking forward to taking more music classes next semester and possibly experimenting with learning some flamenco guitar!

In terms of other plans for the next semester, I'm thinking of doing an internship teaching at an elementary school, of living in an apartment with Spanish students instead of staying in my home-stay, and of starting a big band with some members of the band I've been playing in, all of which are things that will help me to become more immersed in Spanish life and culture.  I also have a long winter break and two weeks off in the spring, which means much more time to travel!

To try to sum things up, I'm sad that I won't be able to see family and friends for such a long time and to miss another semester at WashU, especially in terms of classes, music opportunities, and Orchestrating Diversity.  But the opportunity to stay in Granada another semester was just too exciting to give up!  I'm excited to see what surprises Granada has in store for me for the next six months, and to see what it's like to actually live here instead of stay here on what has until now felt like an incredibly fun, rewarding and educational extended vacation.

Morocco

Palabra del día: lhmdullah
Translation: Thank god
In case you can't tell, this word is Arabic, not Spanish. Ahh too many languages! I would love to use it in a sentence but I don't actually know enough Arabic to do that.  I do know that people in Morocco use this word all the time and it can solve all sorts of tricky situations.  It came in handy when trying to get rid of ridiculously persistent beggars and when refusing third servings of delicious homemade Moroccan food from the family I stayed with.

Comida del día: tea
People in Morocco drink tea constantly, with and in between every meal.  I usually don't like sweetened tea, but this tea was so overly sweet and the fresh mint leaves were so good that it tasted more like a dessert.  I liked it so much that I asked my Moroccan host mom to teach me how to make it!  The lesson was a bit confusing because she only spoke French and Arabic and I don't speak either of those languages, but I think I got the general idea.

      

Recipe:
First make normal tea by boiling water and adding loose leaf black or green tea.  Add a giant block of sugar (she probably added 2/3 cup of sugar for 2 servings of tea!).  Bring the tea to a boil again to melt the sugar.  Wash a big handful of fresh mint leaves four times, then squeeze the leaves in your hands to get the flavor out.  Add them to the tea.  Pour out a cup of tea, then pour it back into the pot.  Repeat (I have no idea what the purpose of this step is).  Enjoy!

Foto del día: 

Beautiful view of the rural village that we visited in the mountains

There were so many times during my five days in Morocco when I felt the need to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  Some of these moments included riding a ferry to Africa, bathing in the public baths, listening to the call to prayer, sleeping and eating in a Moroccan home, stopping on the side of the road during a long car ride to ride a camel, and eating lunch and having a discussion with a Moroccan family  in a rural village. IES organized the trip through a touring program that enables American students to fully experience the culture of Morocco rather than just the tourist attractions.  I felt incredibly lucky to meet so many hospitable people and learn about a country that is so different from anywhere I've ever been.  The trip was too long for me to write about everything we did, but I will try to give some of the highlights and discuss some issues that I learned about that are present in Moroccan society.

Trip highlights:

Gibraltar: We stopped in Gibraltar for an afternoon before crossing the ocean to Africa. Gibraltar is actually British colony on the southern tip of Spain.  We had a picnic on the beach and then took a tour of Gibraltar's famous rock and hung out with the crazy monkeys.  Thankfully I avoided having one land on my head but some of my friends weren't so lucky. Although the monkeys were cute, Gibraltar felt incredibly touristy to me and I was bored after a few hours.  I was also confused by the bizarre mix of cultures: I didn't know if I should be speaking Spanish or English (with a British accent), and all of the prices at the numerous British pubs were listed in pounds instead of euros.

Homestay: One of the coolest parts of the trip was staying with a Moroccan family in Rabat.  The family I stayed with was a mother and her 21 year old daughter, and apparently the father lived there too but I never met him (my tour guide told me that in traditional Moroccan families the men sometimes don't eat with the women, so that could have been why).  The daughter spoke some English so we could communicate pretty well with her, but the mother didn't speak any and the daughter wasn't good about translating.  One morning for breakfast, the daughter wasn't there, but my friend Claire and I still managed to have something close to a real conversation through gestures and the occasional French or Spanish word.  I was surprised by how much we could communicate without a common language! Moroccan families use the space in their houses very differently.  All of the rooms are lined with soft benches (basically couches) that are used for sitting, eating or sleeping.  The night we got there they handed Claire and I blankets and pillows and pointed to a room that had some unoccupied benches which then became our bedroom.  We ate most of our meals in one room but we ate breakfast one morning in a different room...food is transported on trays to wherever is most convenient to eat.  There were enough rooms in the house to designate a living room and a dining room, but it seemed like a room was just a room and could be used for any purpose.  I was slightly worried about the bathrooms before going to Morocco because we were told that many of the houses have holes instead of toilets.  As it turned out, my homestay had a toilet so there was nothing to worry about.  I did try one of the "Turkish toilets" at a cafe though, and it was surprisingly easy to use!

Food: The other benefit to the homestay was the chance to try authentic Moroccan food.  Moroccan people usually eat with their hands by scooping up food with pieces of flat bread (they actually only eat with their right hand because traditionally the left hand was used instead of toilet paper...)  A common food is called tagine, which is actually the word for the ceramic dish that the food is cooked in.  The dish is placed in the center of the table and then people scoop up the food in front of them directly from the serving dish (although in my homestay they provided us with plates and forks, probably because they correctly assumed we would struggle to eat with our hands).  Other delicious foods I tried were couscous with vegetables, Moroccan soup with rice, lentils and chickpeas, and Moroccan pancakes for breakfast, which were kind of like crepes without any filling.

Hammam: Hammam is the Arabic word for public baths, and going to the public baths was definitely an eye opening experience and like nothing I have ever experienced.  Public baths are an ancient tradition in Arabic culture that are still used in many countries today.  People go to the baths about once a week, and it's seen as a way to socialize and relax as well as to get clean.  It also serves the religious purpose of cleaning oneself before praying.  Most people go to the baths once a week.  Some people shower throughout the week but the Hammam is supposed to be such a thorough cleaning that you only need it once a week.  Hammams are completely normal to people in Morocco, but 12 American girls attempting to use one must have been quite a sight for the people who were there going about their business.  It is basically a giant steamy room.  Everyone has a bucket of hot water, soap (you can bring your own shampoo), a stool to sit on, and a mitten/ loofa.  You first use the soap, then you use the loofa to scrub off dead skin.  People sit there and scrub for half an hour or more, and they also scrub each other!  Some people in my group loved the hammam and were thrilled about how smooth their skin felt afterwards.  I did enjoy having smooth skin, but I had mixed feelings about everyone's dirty water splashing all over me...I think I prefer bathing in private, but I am definitely glad that I had the opportunity to experience such a unique part of Moroccan culture.

Countryside visit: Another eye-opening experience was the meal we shared in the house of a family in a rural mountain village.  We had a translator who helped us talk to the family, and we basically asked them anything and everything about their lifestyle.  They also made us delicious couscous and showed us the beautiful views in their village.  The family consisted of a husband and wife who live with the husband's mother.  The wife is from another village nearby.  They have three adorable kids and some animals (goats, cats, and maybe a donkey?)  We talked about education a lot: each of the women had had one year of education, and the father had 5.  They did say that they would like their kids to stay in school for as long as possible.  Someone also asked if they would ever like to move to a city, but they responded that they were happy with their lives in the village.  They said that they wished their was a hospital nearby, but they were better off than some villages because they have a school.  Another interesting part of the discussion was when we were talking about marriage, and they asked if any of us were married.  Since the typical age of marriage there is 18, they must have been surprised that none of us were, while in the meantime it was strange to us that they get married so young!  It's always nice to be reminded that cultural differences go both ways, and I enjoyed getting a glimpse of a much simpler way of living in such a beautiful place.

Bargaining: The last day of our trip we went to Chefchauen and did some bargaining for souvenirs at the touristy shops.  I've never bargained before and it was actually a lot of fun!  The downside is that I'm not very good at bargaining and I definitely got ripped off.

Discussions: Our touring program put a big emphasis on meeting Moroccan people, and I learned so much from talking to people from all walks of life.  In addition to the homestay and the countryside visit, we had a discussions with students at a women's center in Tanger and university students in Rabat.  Some issues that came up include:

• Immigration: What for me was an easy 45 minute ferry ride from Europe to Africa is not such an easy journey for many people. I had always considered illegal immigration to be an issue unique to the United States, so I've been somewhat surprised this semester to learn that many of the same issues that come up with illegal immigrants from Cuba or Mexico are present here in terms of people immigrating from Africa to Europe.  People try to immigrate illegally on boats that don't always make it across the ocean.  If they do make it across, immigration officials will often catch them and send them right back to Morocco.  This is a contentious issue because oftentimes these people are immigrants from sub-saharan Africa and are seeking asylum in Europe, which means that Europe has an obligation to accept them but doesn't necessarily comply with this obligation. On the way home from Morocco we actually entered Spain on land, since Spain actually owns a small city in Africa called Ceuta.  The border was filled with people buying things in Morocco and bringing them back to Spain and vice versa, as well as tons of security making sure that no one slipped through.
• Religion: Within a few hours of being in Morocco, we heard the Islamic call to prayer, which is projected five times a day from the mosques.  Religion was definitely evident in Morocco in people's daily lives, clothing, homes and in the government. 
• Freedom: An interesting point in the discussion was that the students said that they felt like they had freedom of speech and could express what they want to, as long as they don't insult the king. After the discussion, our tour guide told us her own opinion on the subject (she is an American who did peace core in Morocco after college and has now lived there for four years).  She told us a story about a couple who was arrested last week for kissing in public.  A group of students decided to protest their arrest and staged an event where they all formed pairs and starting making out.  The police immediately broke up the protest and arrested some of the students.  Our tour guide said that the students could have been sugarcoating what they were telling us a bit, possibly because of pride in their country or as a way to counteract some of the negative stereotypes that many Americans are said to have about Moroccan people or Islamic countries.
• Women: All of the students we talked to said that things have been improving for women in Morocco.  More women study at universities than men (although it is still harder for women to get jobs).  Recently a law was passed that allows women to file for divorce.  Gender differences are definitely still evident though.  Free time is spent in separate locations, with men in cafes and women in homes, and women are still expected to dress conservatively, although traditional religious clothing is not required (and not all that common either, except in the big cities). 

I could go on, but for a change I actually have some homework I should probably do, so instead I'll leave you with this classic tourist  photo of me on a camel.