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¡Hola once again from Granada!!
THE RAIN IS BACK IN SPAIN!!! It’s been a sad week – I come home every day from class completely soaked up to my knees, in sopping wet shoes, socks and jeans! No me gusta! However, last night my Senora found out I didn’t have an umbrella and was just using my rain jacket so she told me to take one of her umbrellas to school. It was very helpful today; however I realized I am no good at using umbrellas despite being from Seattle. I kept hitting the walls and other people’s umbrellas as I walked to school because the sidewalks are very tiny, and I even got it stuck in my hair! I think I should stick to my rain jacket from now on!
Last Friday we took a school trip to Córdoba, about three hours NW from Granada. It was a long bus trip at 7 in the morning; however it was well worth it. We went to the Mezquita de Córdoba first. It was so interesting to see what we had learned about in my art and architecture class. This mesquite was built in the eight century by Abd Al-Rahman I. This mesquite was then amplified and rebuilt 5 more times buy his successors until the tenth century. There are columns inside the original mesquite that are all different because Abd Al-Rahman took materials from many different buildings. For this reason, there are different bases at the bottom of each column to make them all equal heights.
It was beautiful inside, decorated in white and red (the colors of Córdoba). When the Christians took over reign, they built a cathedral inside of the mesquite. So now, there is a huge church in the middle of the mesquite – it’s very peculiar.
After seeing the mesquite, we went to the city of Medinat Al-Zahra, a city built by the Caliph Abd Al-Rahman III in the tenth century. It is thought that he built this city for his love, Sarah – or Zahra. It is only about thirty minutes outside of Córdoba and it was built because Abd Al-Rahman wanted to show off his power and wealth. It was covered by land for years and only discovered recently.
After the long day, we took the bus back home and I collapsed in bed! It was an exhausting day but well worth it! The rest of the weekend was filled with homework and having fun with friends.
Monday was our last cooking class. It was lots of fun and absolutely delicious! We made potato salad, stuffed peppers (pimientos rellenos) and natillas (custards). The rain started again on Monday and hasn’t quit! Now that its Thursday, I am all done with classes and have to start studying for midterms next week! My roommate’s (Camille’s) parents are coming from New York on Saturday, so we are going down to Malaga, on the coast, to meet up with them and spend the night there. They will be here for two weeks so Camille has been making plans to show them all around Granada and have them over to our Senoras for lunch! It seems like all the families and friends are arriving in these next coming weeks. I am headed to Ireland next Thursday so I am counting that as my “visit from my family.”
On Saturday my host mom took Camille and I to the children’s theater at a near by museum with baby Lucia. It was a very well put on children’s play however it was pretty grown up for little kids. It was about how God created the world in six days, but he should have spent more time on it because of all the problems that humans have caused in this world! I hope the kids didn’t understand it fully (for that matter, I hope I didn’t understand it either and it actually happened to a happy story…). As we were walking home we passed the police station and Loli, my host mom, told us she hoped she never had to come collect us from there! It is getting easier to express humor in Spanish! The other day, I asked my host brother if he had a cold, and he told me “no, I have a stuffy nose from all the cocaine!” Haha He was joking obviously, but it’s nice to know they feel comfortable enough to joke with us, and that they know we can understand them well enough to get their jokes!
I got a nice little package from my Aunt Nancy the other day. She sent me some salad dressing packets – because I couldn’t find any here - and a postcard from Seattle if I got homesick! Mom – if you could let her know I got it and thank her for me, since she doesn’t have internet, I would appreciate it! It was nice to get something from home! Makes me feel not so far away!
Alright, time for lunch! Hope everyone is doing well back home!
Oxox
Julia
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