Budapest/Semana Santa

Well, it’s pronounced “BudapesHt” but whatever. Anyway, I went to Budapest with 2 friends for 5 days, and it was great! Budapest is one of those cities that are authentically OLD, not one of those cities whose city council decides to re-vamp all the buildings to be new but look old and vintage, but it’s really old, and it shows. It seemed like all of the buildings are super old, have Byzantine-style architecture and black or grey ashy-colored outsides. There are obviously also lots of old monuments and religious buildings—St. Stephen’s Cathedral: huge and gorgeous; the largest synagogue in Europe and 2nd largest in the world…don’t know the name, oops; and other religious stuff….anyway, I’ll stop rambling and maybe organize my thoughts.
First of all, Budapest was originally 2 different cities separated by the Danube river, Buda and Pest. At some point in history…? they united and now it’s a huge city, and major tourist attraction for it’s beauty and history; Buda is the more suburban part of the city, while Pest, where we stayed, is more metropolitan and has all the shopping, exhibits, monuments, restaurants, etc.
So to begin, I’d say the whole language barrier was by far the hardest thing to get a hold of, or rather to accept. I remember when we first arrived and made it to the metro station to get to our hostel, we were standing in the middle of it all, literally turning in circles because we had absolutely no idea where to go, how to get to wherever we were going, nor obviously how to read all the signs. True, lots of people speak English, or at least a little bit, but it was all hustle and bustle so we just felt lost and helpless. Luckily we made it on a metro after figuring out the stupid ticket system, and a nice guy heard us speaking English on the metro trying to figure out where to get off, and he spoke fluent English and was really helpful, getting off with us, walking us to our hostel, and marking on my map cool things to see and do. Great first impression! But anyway, that feeling of not being able to communicate or understand what people are saying to you, or how to ask a question, or anything, is a really terrible and hopeless feeling. It was one that I know we all felt and experienced many more times throughout our time there—like me trying to order my friend a pizza on the phone, or my friend being yelled at in Hungarian in a museum, we think for carrying her backpack but we’re not sure, or a lady in another place telling us to do something that we clearly didn’t understand, etc.—it’s just so overwhelming. I honestly cannot remember the last time I felt that helpless and useless. They talk to you, and you really have nothing to say in return, other than give a blank stare and raise your eyebrows. Like when I was trying to order the pizza, we were in the hostel and there were several people sitting around listening, digging through guidebooks for expressions I could use, laughing hysterically, etc., and it was all funny and all, since I called twice hoping for an English speaker (we’d stopped there before and the guy knew English and Spanish, so we just figured he’d answer….HAH), but I had to hang up after the first time because my saying “pizza” “angolul?” for ‘english?’ was getting me nowhere, and then the second time I just remember thinking, this is ridiculous. It’s funny and I’m cracking up, but it was maybe the most stressful/overwhelming 30 seconds of my life…if had to live like this, I honestly don’t know how I’d survive. I mean, of course I’d try to learn the language, but mannnnnnnnnn. Just imagine immigrating to another country in search of a better life or something but not knowing the language: what the hell do you do? I guess in hindsight it’d be stupid to move to a country where you don’t speak the language, but it happens, so the problem exists…ahh. In the end the pizza fiasco failed, and my friend went hungry. Imagine that, hungry in Hungary…HAHHHHHH.
Aside from the language barrier, we did a lot of cool things. Budapest, or maybe all of Hungary, is known for their natural thermal waters (is that English?—aguas termales—)so we went to one of those, and left smelling of sulfur, but feeling refreshed and relaxed. We went to the huge synagogue that I mentioned before—apparently designed by a Catholic, so the architecture inside is pretty distinct for a synagogue, but still pretty—we went to a couple museums on the history of Hungary and also on the Soviet/Communist occupation and Hungary’s role in WW2, went to the citadel, saw some great views of the huge city, walked a ton, ate even more, and made a lot of new friends at our hostel. We stayed at this hostel called Bubble Budapest, so if you ever go, stay there! There were people from England, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Canada, US, etc. We all went out together a lot, spent maybe too much time together, but had a great time!
Oh, and the weather in Budapest might be even weirder than Texas. On our last full day there, we were out and about seeing the last things we could, and it was sort of cloudy, sort of blue skies, normal. Well, all of a sudden it starts to SNOW. Not rain, but snow, legit snow. So that lasts for just a bit, like 5ish minutes and then it starts raining, and then like 20 minutes later, we have clear blue skies and temperatures like 10 degrees warmer. Yah, weird. So then like an hour or two later, we’re walking across this huge bridge and what do ya know? It starts snowing AGAIN. Whattttt? Anyway, I just thought it was crazzzy.
Oh, and then on a completely unrelated note, on our flight back we stopped in Munich, and omg I saw the most german looking guy ever. Well actually, several of them; it was insane!!! I just remember looking at him and immediately thinking, that guy is GERMAN, sooooo german!! And the german people were really nice, so I think I’d like to go back there sometime, spend some quality time in the country eating sausages and beer and feeling like I can actually fit in with the blond-haired people. but I wonder…will I be able to order any food?!?!? I mean, I don’t speak german. Speaken-zie deutsch? NOPE.

To say the least, traveling is nice and rewarding and eye-opening, but it’s always nice to go back ‘home’ and speak the language and be able to communicate.


After I came back from Budapest, I spent the rest of my time here in Granada, experiencing the true Andalucian Semana Santa. Basically there are tons of processions with old and young people alike, lots of music, standing in the cold, carrying the heavy statues and 'palios' or those big things that have the Virgen Mary, etc. sitting on top and are intricately decorated, etc. Here, Easter is all about the few days before, especially the processions and everything else that goes on on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then on Sunday. I went to a couple processions Thursday night, and one of them, 'la procesion de silencio' is apparently one of the most famous and special. It starts processing at midnight, and as it reaches different parts of the city, all of the lights are shut off in that part, and everyone is supposed to be silent, obviously, and the people in the procession are all wearing black and carrying candles, and then there's the big Jesus on the cross. It was nice, honestly not all that it was hyped up to be, but maybe because the idiot beside me decided that the SILENT part of the procession was the perfect time to start eating his stupid sunflower seeds and drinking from his coke wrapped in a plastic bag and talking to his girlfriend. moron.
But it was all nice; really different. No easter egg hunt this year, just the normal crackers and tea and unripe pear for breakfast. :)

the little old lady

So since the beginning of the semester I’ve had a lot of free time between and after classes, and I was just going crazy and didn’t know what to do with it all. Well, it’s gotten better, I have a pretty normal routine now, but I was like, I might as well do something worth doing at least during a portion of my time. Sooo I decided to try and volunteer somewhere, so basically I kill time with other people, AND I speak Spanish while doing it. Well get this. I first went to Red Cross and talked to the lady, and she was like, oh well, you’re only here till May so we don’t want you to start anything now. And I was like, fine, if you don’t want me to even play with kids that’s fine with me, someone else will have to want me. So I found this place online called Fundacion Albihar and the lady there was sooo nice and overwhelmingly welcoming to me, and was so glad that I had found the place online. The fundacion does several things, but the one that fit my timing and schedule the best was to be paired up with an old lady and just talk with her, listen, take a stroll, whatever. I mean, it’s not much (at all), but ok let’s face it, old ladies are adorable, especially when they speak Spanish and you have absolutely no idea what they’re saying but still they somehow adore you and think you're the most amazing person for listening, and it’s always interesting to meet new people and here their life stories, and mannnnnnn I’m telling you, little old ladies LOVE talking about their life and their families. So anyway, yesterday was my first day to go and meet her, her name is Socorro, she’s in her 80’s, has trouble walking, but is a mouthful, and super friendly. I went with the director lady so she could introduce us, etc. and they just ended up talking the whole time, but I’m going to start seeing her after Semana Santa, which is this upcoming week, and basically all I do is go once a week, or whatever we agree on, and just take her on a stroll, sit and talk and listen and just provide good company for her for a couple of hours. Not bad.
Oh and so she lives in this apartment building—like everyone here—but there was some serious bad planning, or a major lack of planning, put into the building because there is no elevator! Come on, people. If apartment buildings are the only form of living conditions here in the city, you just HAVE to expect that either, a)old people will live there and will need an elevator at some point, or b)that people will, like most Spaniards, make this the one home they’ll have, and thus they’ll GET old, and will eventually need an elevator if they ever want to breathe in the fresh air and not waste away on their couch day after day. Ah. I got really mad because that was one thing they were talking about for Socorro. Luckily she’s just on the first floor, and for the most part she can go down and come up on her own, but it’s really just not safe for her or anyone else in a similar situation. Urgh.
Anyway, I’m excited to listen to all her stories, and I just know I’ll get an earful of them, but it should be good for the both of us.

un buen fin (de semana)

This past weekend was wonderful, for various reasons. First of all, the weather was good...except at night HOLY COW i think it gets colder now than it did at the beginning of the semester...and I just don't function in cold weather...but during the day it's getting warmer and warmer so that's good. Also, my friends Brennan and Lori came to Granada from Barcelona, which them prompted me to finally call my friend Anna who studies here in Granada, and we all went out for tapas and hung out. Apparently everything is suuuper expensive in Barcelona, and their living situation isn't really the same as mine, the city's too big for their taste, etc., so basically I got some perspective from them and then like overnight I developed a deeper sense of appreciation for Granada. No joke. I mean, I have it good here: FREE TAPAS!, good weather, i can walk pretty much anywhere in the city without having to take the bus, we don't even have a metro, it's not to expensive, i have a host family who gives me food, the great Andalucian/Granadino accent that I have grown to love and pseudo compare the chilean...doesnt always work but it's worth a try...
So yah, thank you, Brennan and Lori, for making me appreciate what i have...

alsooo, my host sister, Maria, and her friends invited Lara and I to go with them to the beach on Saturday, and we had a great day in Malaga. Two americanas, and 9 crazy espanoles taking forever to get it together in the morning to go, then taking a while to finally hit the road and get going, then picking up people, and finally making it there and wandering the city (Nerja--beautiful!) in search of a supermarket so we could buy food, then FINALLY making it back towards the beach and setting up camp. crazy day. The drive up there (down there?) was really pretty, especially once we were driving along the coast...all the cities are full of gorgeous white houses and apartments lining the coast--which is an amazing bright blue color--with palm trees, clear blue skies, and ah! so pretty! The beach we went to was pretty small, but really nice because we got our own little alcove to claim as our own, and then we just chilled there for the rest of the day...so relaxing!!....unlesssss the spaniards decide to declare you as the one to pick on...every LITTLE thing i did at least one of them was like, "que haces, cati???" (what are you doing???) so of course i had to justify everything i did...and! everything was my fault! they said that "it's always been that way" but i was like, since when? so of course, whenever anything happened...who's to blame? me! maybe because i'm blonde? maybe because i'm an easy target? i have no idea...but anyway! a great weekend!!

and here in just a few days, on friday, i'm going to Budapest!!! Going with my friend Ryann (a guy) and my friend Austen (a girl...i know, confusing...) and it should be fun. even though the forecast says it's supposed to be in teh 40-50s and raining the whole time...ehh!

slight change of plans...

So I was going to go to Morocco this past weekend, but a few...digestive problems(?) shall we say, got in the way and I ended up staying home and chillin' with the senora instead. I'll be going to Morocco at the very beginning of May now, instead, and with a group of complete strangers. It should be fun. This weekend I went out and tried to see more of the city on my own, and really wanted to go see the Plaza de Toros...so I get out my map, make my way over there (it's really pretty close...now i know) and what do you know? it's closed. So the closest I got was seeing the outside, but then i was walking around it (it's just a huge arena basically, lots of football stadium seating), and I found an open door, so of course I went in and got to peak in at the arena...it's huge! I can't wait to be able to actually go there and see some bulls running around...

In other news...oh, trivia of the day. So in Chile, it was normal for there to be American tv shows and movies on all the time, with the normal english spoken and subtitles. There were also programs and movies that were dubbed into Spanish but I'd say that was far less common. On the other hand, here in Spain you basically never hear english on the tv or at movie theaters (unless it's a musical like Sweeney Todd and they sing in English and then speak in spanish...it's really quite funny...) So I was wondering why, if there was a reason, that Spain has such a strong 'dubbed culture' as my professor described it today. Wellll, turns out that during Franco's regime, he was so patriotic, so nationalistic, against other languages, etc. that he implemented a law calling for pure dubbed music, tv, movies, etc. Apparently he didn't want Spaniards getting the real message of the movie, etc. in case it dealt with something that might interfere with his power and control over Spain. Obviously today such a law doesn't exist, but Spaniards just became so accustomed during his multi-decade stage of power that it's stayed...hmm

a bit of cynicism...
Last week, Spain had it's first presidential debate in 15 years (the second, and last one for this year is today; elections in a week) and so obviously--or perhaps not so obviously--I, and Lara, wanted to watch it. However, we lucked out to have a senora and her two daughters who are somehow so adamant about how much Zapatero sucks and has screwed this country, and they want the other guy to win, yet they don't know anything other than that Rajoy-the 'other guy'- will fix it. And so when Lara and I asked about the debate and whether or not they were going to watch it, they responded that they already know who they're going to vote for and that politics are stupid. And well, there's only one tv in the house, so lara and i just dismissed ourselves to our rooms. The Simpsons are obviously much more important. And tonight the same thing is going down...they'll bash the govt. and then turn on a word-game show, for the 9823472908 time in a row. Last week one of my professors asked us who all hadn't watched the debate, and i had to explain that my senora 'didn't want to,' which i think surprised him, and he responded by saying, "next week, make your close-minded woman listen to something of importance!" that made me happy. hahha

weather's warming up; flowers are slowly blooming, and after Semana Santa I can finally wear sandals and be socially-acceptable!