day trip to jerez

      taryn and i left early monday morning with the intention of visiting the clock museum and peacock park. alas, both are closed until the end of the week. we still had a kick ass time :) the day began with coffee and pan tostada before running to the station to make our train. we snoozed a bit with our ipods on for the 45 minutes it took to get to jerez.
      our first stop was el catedral de jerez, built during the early 1700's. what interested me the most were the carvings on these MASSIVE armoires inside. i've only seen those designs in and around mosques; i don't know very much about jerez history, but was just recently reminded of the muslim occupation of iberia. the visit induced chills. the cathedral is amazing. absolutely amazing.

      afterwards, we made our way through the shopping district and stopped for ice cream. taryn had this fucking AMAZING vanilla scoop that had the perfect amount of cinnamon. we took pictures along the way, and finally came to the palace of time. unfortunately, the entire area was closed for the month. we'll visit again, no doubt. i mean... come on. a museum with over 300 working clocks (all set to the same time) dating from the 17th century til now? and a park with peacocks?!
      jerez also has a zoobootanical garden, so we decided to wander on over. that was closed as well. but there was a nice park with a swingset (you BET we took full advantage) and benches for napping close by.

      after a short siesta, we got tapas and made our way back to the train in time for dinner. mmm...

      and we make our way to the canary islands february 28th - march 2nd :) volcanoes and the world's oldest tree and most gorgeous beaches and a cheap but amazing all-inclusive resort and ferries OH MY

why i will never drink again:

      1. because no one should consume upwards of 12 units of alcohol in a 3 hour period.

      2. because no one should bite people who they're dancing with.

      3. because no one should dance so inappropriately that they have a 3 foot gap between them and innocent spanish bystanders more out of horror than curiosity.

      4. because no one with 2 x chromosomes should attempt to pee in a urinal. in a public restroom.

      5. because no one should ever vomit in a urinal. in a public restoom.

      6. because no one should ever be that person slumped on a couch mumbling to anyone who will listen, "i want to go home".

      7. because no one should ever fall out of a bar and yell, "WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY? 'I LIKE COMPUTERS?' " in response to a friend's suggestion to talk to the bartender who previously expressed interest the weekend before. with said bartender standing 4 feet away.

      8. because no one should have the intention of walking home but end up about 40 minutes away on the other side of town because they cannot. read. the street signs because they cannot. see. straight.

BAILAR!

      so i had my first discoteca experience this past weekend. we were at nahu drinking and dancing a little, but everyone peaced at around 2 or 3 for telepizza (for seattleites: think regazzi. lo mismo aqui: no matter what country you're in, you still want pizza when you're plastered at 3a). mikaela and i decided to stay, for whatever reason i don't even remember, i just didn't feel like leaving yet. this group of guys sat next to us and were talking amongst themselves for a bit, then turned to us. we started talking, joking around and drinking and whatnot, and they told us that they were going to a discoteca and wondered if we might join them. dijimos, "obbbbviamente!"

      we walked to el punto de san felipe and finally reached this MASSIVE concrete building that had several discotecas: dance floors just absolutely stuffed with people. and we all just danced. it's amazing how different dancing here is. no one grinds. no one. no pressure to impress or attract anyone. i saw maybe.... 3 couples kissing, and not in a vulgar, "my hand is down your pants and everyone else can see my tongue" kind of way. such a change from, say, blue chalk cafe. or any of the bars on the ave. it was a very, very nice change. the guys kept doing this silly, "i'm going to put my finger on your head and i want you to spin like a doll" move. estabamos borrachos, sin duda. but it was a really nice level of drunk. not the sloppy, knock drinks over drunk. definitely made understanding spanish a lot harder though, no puedo mentir :) there was a girl in the group, mara? maria? who was so good at dancing. it was ridiculous. a bit of flamenco mixed with, well, whatever you want to call what we do when we dance at a bar or a club. at around 7:30a (you read that right), we decided it was time to go home. they walked us back to our respective homes and we exchanged numbers so we could meet up in the future. so much fun. so much fun.

      my flight to rome for spring break has been paid for :) i think i found an amazing (location, price, amenities, security, everything - wise) hostel and will discuss the option with sara, kelly and emily tomorrow. so excited!

      now back to writing my final redaccion for the orientation class.

i'll be more creative next time

      nothing much to report. k2 is going well; it's been a while since i've studied grammar (in 303 we just write papers. papers papers papers), so it's a lot of brushing up. but i need it. we're assigned these 1 page responses on a different topic each night. so far we've had: happiness, loneliness, and consumerism. this weekend's topic is "the legalization of drugs". should be interesting. correct me if i'm wrong, but ritalin's chemical makeup is not that different from speed, yes? has marijuana is a proven painkiller, yes? i don't think all drugs should be legalized by any means (we can't very well put perpetually lethargic people on cocaine, now can we), but either we reinforce our current laws (because we've let a LOT of shit slide) or legalize the ones with proven medical pro's.

anywho, time to hookah. wherever we go, i'm sticking with sprite for the night.

me encanta cadiz

      i shouldn't be allowed to write when i'm sleep deprived to the point of hallucination. "not as stale as qfc, has warmth and life and cookies for tea"? what?? anywho, i'm coherent now, with stories and pictures to share :)

      so my second night here, the group from the program and i shared a couple bottles of wine with churros and chocolate before dinner (we never even made it to an actual meal. disaster). i'm already a lightweight, and i probably (update: definitely) could have done without any more drinks afterwards. but genius leilani had a couple beers at o'connell's with taryn afterwards. i was the american that almost fell off her stool at the bar. so when i get to the front of my apartment building, i find that the gate is closed. being too drunk to discern the difference between closed and locked, i assumed the latter and climbed the fence in 3.5" heeled boots. and inevitably fell on my face. my cell phone came out of my pocket during this ordeal and fell apart once it hit the ground. i put it back together with no problems, but as soon as i turned it back on it asked for an unlock code. i punched in random numbers for about ten minutes and eventually gave up, running with the assumption that i'd killed my sim card. when i got to the door of the building, my key wouldn't work. so i sat around for a bit, debating whether or not to just buzz my apartment and risk a grumpy confrontation with my host family, or to wait outside until some fellow drunkard made their way home and let me in. i chose the latter. instead of a shitshow with a key showing up, i got an old woman with a scowl. "necesita ayuda?" she asked warily. "si... es mi.... primer... noche... mi llave no funciona..." i stammered. she (thankfully) believed me and let me in, and from then on it was smooth sailing to my bed. i had to explain to my host mother what happened so that she knew exactly why she was giving me another key to the building. thankfully, she just laughed and said it wasn't a problem. but, note to self: stick to 3 drinks. forever.

      other than being a public mess, i've been good about exploring and not drawing attention to myself. i'm getting to know my way around the major streets a bit better, and hopefully it will all be fairly familiar by the end of the week.


      today was the first day of the orientation classes. basically just speaking in spanish and going over grammar and lexicon for 4 hours a day for 2 weeks before we start the classes at the university. i'm really happy that we're doing this, because i would be completely lost in a spanish literature class without this preparation. magical realism is already difficult enough to understand in english. the class went well; we were initially assigned to a specific group, and once we got together we took an exam to make sure that we were in the right place. after that, we were given a handout with all sorts of getting to know you questions, like, "who likes the color yellow?" or "who has the biggest feet in the class?" or "who likes japanese food?" we went over those for about 3 hours, and then were done. then mikaela and i wandered around the tide pools at the beach near our apartments for a bit before returning to our respective families for lunch. my host mom prepared this AMAZING, thick tomato and pepper soup with fried fish on the side. me encanta la comida aqui. and now, i'm here. we have to write a paper about the cultural differences between the us and spain that we've seen so far. the professor looked at us like we were crazy for asking how long it was supposed to be. i guess being a stickler for length is solely an american practice.

estoy aqui!

      saludos de cadiz! i slept through most of the flights, and when i wasn't slipping blissfully into dreamland with the help of a wrap around neck pillow, i was powering through sedaris' naked and starting mcewan's on chesil beach. upon arrival into madrid, i was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by this:


      alas, i failed to surrender half a euro for my share of a strawberry chupachup. and then i somehow was upgraded to business class from madrid to jerez, which was nice. i got to snack on a cream cheese stuffed croissant and dried apricots. interesting combo, but i have a troubling tendency to eat everything.

      my host parents are such sweet people. they're THAT couple that collects ornate, porcelain thimbles and showcases them in a glass box that hangs from the wall. and when i had unpacked most of my things (i have yet to decide where to put my clothes, since my shoes and coats seem to occupy the entire armoire. feist.) and taken a shower, my host mother sat me down behind a (huge) bowl of stew, and when i demolished that, a (huge) plate of homemade french fries and chicken au gratin. and an apple, which i was shocked to see, after being given the "don't expect fruits and vegetables in spain, their diet consists mainly of carbs and starches and you will all inevitably gain 20 pounds" lecture by the program director in seattle. between bites i would look out the window onto the atlantic, amazed by how close we were. stone's throw. no less. it would take me less than 2 minutes to walk to the beach.

      after lunch (this was at 5p), my host mother and i decided to take a stroll through el parte viejo. cadiz is like the dream i always have and never want to wake up from. we had churros and thick hot chocolate for dipping. then i bought some shampoo and conditioner (halfway through my much needed shower prior to dinner, i realized that i just had a bar of soap and shaving cream. both inexcusable substitutes for a clean scalp and shiny locks) from this huge supermarket. there was something different about it, though. not as stale as qfc or safeway, but packed with life and warmth and a billion types of biscuits and cookies to have with tea. the last errand was to movistar for a sim card, which i promptly sucked dry via a long distance phone call to my mother (who, afterwards, put my sister on the phone. at this point i could barely speak english, much less spanish, thanks to jetlag, and my sister got quite a kick of my numerous unfinished sentences). so i'll have to put more money on it now. but at least i have a phone and a phone number here.

      it's going to be a serious problem if i don't make the one foot leap to my bed. time zone changes have destroyed me. here's hoping that i have more pictures and stories to share this weekend before k2 orientation.

to anyone who gives a shit:

      i want these shoes so badly that it is not even funny:



      that is all. back to packing.

3-2-1 and i'm havin' fun

      i leave in less than 36 hours. i've packed once, but am going to repack everything, ie take out what i will never wear or use while abroad. i'm just that anal. ahhh!

      i went to the city with grayson on monday with hopes of visiting the exploratorium. no such luck... it's closed on mondays :( however, we took some wonderful photos of our adventure around the palace of fine arts:



      it's been a nice break. got everything i needed before leaving and made peace with people :) tomorrow will be spent with my mother and sister, running some last minute errands, and repacking everything (must. remember. to weigh out. my bags. before leaving.).

      it's going to be a 20 hour travel day (i have a KICKASS neck pillow and books by huxley, sedaris, faulkner, mcewan, tolkien, and gogol) on thursday, and on friday by 2:15p i will be in jerez de la frontera, ESPAÑA!!!

where is fruit by the foot when you need it?

      new years' eve was lovely. nicole and i went to madison and 5th (and blew roughly $50 each on crab cakes, spinach and ricotta gnocchi, pumpkin risotto, and pomegranate martinis. worth it. WORTH IT.), and celebrated the countdown at blue chalk cafe. they were giving out free glasses of (surprisingly decent) champagne. i sang Journey - Don't Stop Believin' at the top of my lungs when it came on. we danced well past the point of perspiration. kai picked me up at 2a. and my countdown kiss? why, that's a secret i'll NEVER tell! i couldn't resist bringing Gossip Girl into the entry :) all in all, a wonderful start to 2008.

      since drinking was kept to a minimum, the following morning wasn't spent nursing a hangover until 4p. elaine and i feasted at buck's for breakfast (word to the wise: get on their croissant french toast as soon as you can). then i went on a borders spree with a christmas gift card. 8 books should sustain me through the 21 hours i will spend either on the plane or at the various airports.

      mara and i went to the city for dim sum and shopping and we found this:



      i went to sacramento again to visit nichole. we ate wonderful food, visited her mom's studio (she takes AMAZING photographs. amazing.), and watched "the namesake", which i am now in love with and curious to read the book. this photo's from a different artist at the studio, but the sculpture fascinated me. you can't see it, but there's a lock over her crotch and no key in sight.



      ho hum. one week until i leave the country. until then, it's packing, seeing the last of you randoms, and convincing my mother to buy me a new camera. the one i've had since early high school has a lens problem, again, and the last time i went to get it fixed, it cost me $150. the canon powershot sd1000 is $180 including tax and works beautifully. hmmm!

      time for chocolate consumption in front of the television.