Life in General

I returned from Cadiz last Sunday with a cold, but a little bit of whisky on Monday took care of that and by Tuesdays I was feeling well again.  I make it a point to go out every night, not always to drink, but at least to meet up with some people and see what´s going on in the city.  You never know who you´re going to meet with so many travelers coming and going.  I am getting into a routine now and Córdoba is beginning to feel more like home.  

The two Spanish girls who lived with us are now gone.  It´s been about a week now and I find myself speaking English more often.  That´s not a good thing, so I signed up for a intercambio.  It´s a program at school that sets you up with someone from Córdoba who wants to practice their English and help you with your Spanish.  I met mine for the first time last week.  Lucky for me she prefers to speak more Spanish than English.  I had to almost force her to speak English.  I look forward to having dinner with her tomorrow.

This last Friday I was suppose to take a tour of the mosque with the school, but......  A little bit of too much fun the night before prevented me from doing so.  There was a Erasmus party at a club and I didn´t get home until six in the morning.  The group going to the mosque was suppose to meet at ten.  Needless to say I didn´t wake up on time.    On the bright side I live right next to the mosque and I can go in for free on Wednesdays so I´ll be sure to make it there soon.  Probably this week.  

I encourage people reading this blog, if there are any, to make comments or ask questions.  This will help me decide what I ought to write about.   

Hasta Luego

Cadiz and more

A lot to say but where to start?  Something funny, well you might not think it is, but I thought it was.  My International Relations teacher Antonio, who is an absolutely amazing teacher, told us a story about his experience studying abroad in France and how the French have a sort of superiority complex toward German's (this is in the context of talking about the world wars).  Antonio's French teacher told a joke in class that goes like this: What is one German doing alone?  Thinking.  What are two German's doing together?  Having a beer.  What are three Germans doing together?  Planning how to invade Poland!  I thought it was funny and so did the classroom of American students.  Well last night I just happened to meet a Polish guy hanging out with some German girls.  I couldn't resist.  I told the Polish gentleman the joke in front of the German girls.  He started laughing his ass off, and the girls gave me some pretty dirty looks.  I'm of course laughing and told them "I'm sure you have some shit to talk about the states so here's your chance."  They shook there head and started laughing.  In my opinion it was a good ice breaker.

I went to Cadiz this past weekend.  It's on the southern coast of Spain right where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic meet.  The sun was out and the water was warm.  It was nice to get a break from the exhausting heat in Cordoba and feel a cool ocean breeze.  The first thing we did was find a bar with outdoor seating on the water, drank some beer, and peered out to were Columbus set sail to the Americas on his 2nd and 4th voyage.  We stayed at a nice hostel called the melting pot.  It was cool because there were a lot of Erasmus (sp?) students at the hostel looking for places to live before school started for them.  Let me explain what it means to be and 'Erasmus' student.  It's a program in Europe, financed largely by Germany, that I think started in the 1990's with the hope of building a stronger European community.  Students get to choose a country where they wish to study, and go study there for one year with very few expenses.  I say few expenses because I've had some Erasmus students tell me they pay very little while some students tell me they don't have to pay at all.  It could depend how one spends there money, I don't know.  But it sure as hell beats being a 'eap' student who has to pay $9,000 to study abroad for four months.  Not to say I don't think eap is an awesome program, because it is, but it's just too bad students in the U.S. have to worry about the money aspect of things.  Ok so i'm done with that tangent back to Cadiz.  The Erasmus students were a lot of fun and we went out to some bars with them that night.  In the afternoon we walked around town and went to see a cathedral.  The ambiance was quite pleasing.  People sit on the step of the cathedral eating lunch while listening to the dual guitar band preform.  Pigeons were all over the place.  I don't know why I have this in my head but every cathedral has pigeons, and so far I've been right.  Maybe there's some history to that...  Homing pigeons?
Well I definitely have more to write, but I need to post this before the battery on my computer dies.  Hasta Luego!  

Oh if you want to see some pictures of Cadiz:  http://picasaweb.google.com/wtsteele3/Cadiz

You've got to be kidding me

It's easy to forget that the world follows the U.S. political activity and even the nonsense. Burning the Koran? It doesn't surprise me. Nor does it surprise anyone here. Last night (Saturday) Delia invited me to go out with her friends. About ten of us met around 11:30 to have some drinks and engage in conversation; of course this topic came up. We all thought it was absolutely ridiculous. They expressed sympathy for the families whose relatives died in the 9/11 attacks, but felt that making this an issue of religion is dangerous nonsense because a very small portion of the Islamic community is radical. They believe our military engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq strengthens the radicals. I told them they were preaching to the choir, and that the majority of Americans do not have the view the Koran fosters terrorism any more than, for example, the bible does. The debate about the construction of the mosque soon followed, and they were consistent in their belief of religious tolerance. The mosque should not be stopped from being built.

I think it's important to remember Spain has suffered its own terrorist attack in Madrid because their government supported the U.S. in sending military troops to Iraq. That being said they are not just a third party observer of these issues, but suffer from the consequences as well.

A little bit about my living situation:

On Monday I moved in with my host family. Another guy from my group lives there as well, his name is Andrew and is from Santa Cruz. The house is very close to school which is very convenient. We live with a single mother and her two daughters. Delia is 22 or 23 and her sister is 24. They are both studying for their exams that are coming up in the next week or two. Both daughters are very nice and patient with my Spanish. I am learning a lot from them. They have introduced me to many of their friends, and we have already gone out several nights this week. They even took me shopping once, and made it very easy for me. I had three girls (they invited a friend) doing the shopping for me picking out what they thought would look good. They would send me to the dressing room to put on clothes, come out so they could see, I would do a little spin, and then they would come back with a better size. Everyone seems to be much more fashionable here. The women are absolutely gorgeous and don't leave the house without looking good. Lovin it....

Hasta Luego,

P.S.

To my relief I saw in the news today that the burning was canceled, thank god.

First week

It has been six days so far in Cordoba, and I already know i'm not going to want to leave.  The city is absolutely beautiful.  I've put up the pictures I have taken so far (top right hand corner), but that is only around the place I live.  To enter the neighborhood I live in you enter through a castle wall where there are small communities and a mosque built by Arabs.  I am not quite sure when, I still need to take a tour and take pictures, but when I figure out the history of this place i'll be sure to post some interesting facts.  One of the requirements of this program is taking a history class.  This is the first history class I've taken that covers such an enormous time span, 2000 B.C. up to today.  Yes, this place is old.  Older than I can image.  I am finally getting use to the schedule here.  I have breakfast around 8:30 which consists of a cup of coffee and toast.  School starts at 9:30 which is only a 20-25 minute walk from my house.  I have three classes which are Spanish, History, and International Relations.  Everything is in Spanish.  Before we began our classes we had to take a language proficiency test.  To my surprise I place in Spanish 4, the highest level.  Class ends at one and then everyone goes home to have lunch between 2:30 and 3.  Lunch is huge.  So huge that if you were not tired before the meal you will be after, which is good because then it's siesta (nap) time between 3:30- 5:00.  Everything in the city is closed at that time and will not open until around 6.  Dinner is at 9:30 and is pretty light.  Last nights dinner was a small portion of cold mash potatoes with tuna and some sardines.  Good thing I like to eat just about anything.  There are quite a few students who complain about the food.  As for me I like it.  After dinner a lot of people just cruise the city enjoying beer and tapas.  You usually don't have a choice if you want the tapas or not because it comes with the beer for free.  Beer is anywhere around 1-3 Euro.  Hell of a deal.  Children of all ages are in the street playing futbol or just hanging out with there groups of friends.  It's more common for people to meet in the streets then at their house.  It makes sense.  It's a very comfortable temperature outside, and the antiquity of the city makes for a very ascetically pleasing environment.  Lovin it....    

Arriving to Cordoba

Getting to Cordoba was a lot longer trip than expected.  It took 28 hours from the time I left to go to the airport to when I actually stepped foot in Cordoba.  I arrived in Madrid at 7:30 a.m., about a half an hour ahead of schedule, but that didn't really matter because by the time I took the metro to the bus station there wasn't another bus to Cordoba until 2:00 p.m..  So I waited for about four and a half hours, and then sat on the bus for another four and a half hours.  I was able to hold my own in conversations with the Spanish I knew, except with the older lady sitting next to me on the bus.  She is from Cordoba and the Andalusian dialect she spoke was entirely different from what I am use to.  She never pronounced S's, and her lisp was almost comical.  I was exhausted by that time and her constant talking put me to sleep.  Once or twice she even woke me up to point something out, and then kept talking like I knew what she was saying.  I really had no idea what the hell was going on....  I just wanted to sleep...