I guess I’ll start at Halloween, a holiday which every year gets more popular in Spain. I guess only within the last 10-15 years was it adopted here, and now it seems like most children celebrate it in some form, but it’s nothing like the party holiday it has become in the US. Our Halloween is a lot like Carnaval here where people dress up in funny costumes. I went to a friend’s Halloween party on the night before dressed up as an “old basketball player who doesn’t know when to retire” (due to my limited wardrobe) and I won a free drink from the owner of a bar for the best costume, but in all honesty nobody was dressed up on the 30th, even though it was a Friday. For the 31st I was a “Jipi” (hippy) and went out around the centro here.
A few days before Thanksgiving my friend David stopped by Malaga on his European tour and I tried to show him the sights for the limited time we had. Mostly we went around trying or cooking good food and doing loops around the centro. Then on Thanksgiving Day we went to Berlin together and stayed with his friend Maxine who had a nice big place right by the metro. I think this was my first Thanksgiving that I didn’t really celebrate, as we spent all day in transit and ended up eating sushi for Thanksgiving dinner since that was the only thing open by the time we got there. I have a couple friends from Malaga last year who live in Berlin so it was great hanging out with them and catching up a little with familiar faces. Plus, one works at a night club and we literally were VIP all night, with everything we wanted free all night at a pretty upper-class place.
I had spent a week in summer ’05 in Berlin with my cousin so I had already seen most of the major tourist sites, so this time we hit some spots a little off the beaten path. We went to a sweet outside Turkish market with a lot of good food and fresh produce/cheese/bread etc., to the part of the wall still intact as it was 20 years ago, complete with guard tower and “kill zone”, and to an old Stasi prison in the East. This is where all the revolutionaries, authors, musicians, and other “criminals” who were caught speaking against communism were taken. You could be sentenced to prison for telling 
a joke about communism, writing something privately about the party, or even KNOWING that someone had spoken about fleeing and not having turned the person in. The place was preserved exactly as it was, complete with physical torture devices used in the 50’s when the Soviets were running things. In the more modern sections what struck me most was not just the measures taken to monitor the prisoners, but that there were equal amounts of supervision taken to keep the guards and other employees in check.
There was NO trust anywhere, and everyone
in communist Germany was always sleeping with one eye open, knowing that at any moment they could be being watched. It was my first time leaving Malaga this year and even though I don’t really have the same travel bug as I did the year before, it was nice to get out and feel refreshed. The next weekend was a 4 day weekend in Spain and I went with my roommate to his hometown called Valverde del Camino in the province of Huelva. We spent the first night in Sevilla with his sister and her boyfriend and went to a couple of flamenco bars that were surprisingly not touristy. The next day we drove to Valverde to his parents' house where all his 4 other siblings had arrived too, with significant others and children to boot. It was a full house, and they really made me feel like I was part of the family. Combined with meeting all Pablo's friends and the small town atmosphere, it was the closest thing to "home" I had felt in a long time. Mannn it made me miss home a lot, but at the same time I soaked up all the love they showed me like it was from my own family.
We went to a party the first night where I wouldn't be surprised if literally everyone between 16-30 in the town was there. Had some amazing home cooked meals, with Pablo's mom cooking for 10 every meal and somehow still whipping out masterpiece after masterpiece. Visited our friend Angus who lives in Ayamonte which is the south westernmost point in spain, so we crossed the river and went to Portugal for a few hours for some pastries and to see the xmas decorations. Went to church TWICE, each mass 1 1/2 - 2 hours where everyone knows each other always so I stood out. Went to "el campo" aka the countryside for Pablo's dad's bday on tuesday where we made a fire and cooked meat over it and had a meal everyone together. That was my favorite part. Going for walks out in the middle of nature with pine trees, animals, farms etc. Felt so much more like home compared to the insane density of where I live and the smells of construction and bus exhaust.
So that's been my life as of late. School is about the same, though the kids seem to behaving themselves worse and worse as the year goes on. I organized a charity drive for xmas with the other teachers. I bought a little xmas tree and made ornaments that had gift ideas on each one, so each teacher takes an ornament and brings in that gift, and then I'll most likely take it to the church next to my apartment to be donated. It was nice having a responsibilty... something to organize, execute, and complete, albeit something relatively small.
In the end, I won't be coming home for xmas break. Now more than ever I REALLY wish I could come home. When I first brought it up to my parents, they both reacted as though it wasn't really the best idea, which kind of turned me off to the idea at first. That, and the money, despite finding the cheapest ticket I had ever found for $580 round trip london-SF. I really wish I woulda just bought the ticket at the onset and not thought about the money or what others thought, because right now the thought of going home for a short visit I think would not only be fun, but actually beneficial to kind of refresh and reflect on how I'm going to approach the rest of this year. Now the tickets have gone up ridiculously, and my grandma in Germany is not doing so well, so I'm going to be going back to Germany again this year for the holidays. Have I ever told you how much I hate money???
So, I know I'm not very good at writing these, but if anyone has any questions, or suggestions, make my day and leave a comment! Oh and I made an album with full size images of some of my favorite pictures of my year here last year... check it out http://picasaweb.google.com/LSpurgeon/SpainAndTravels20082009# PAZ! btw my spanish is now officially on point! feels good...
No comments:
Post a Comment