A travel blog is among us

Awesome. Hey there, this is the first entry to document my trip to Alicante Spain. The following is an entry I wrote on the 10th of January.

Spain. What’s to say? I arrived on Wednesday, January 7 at 6pm. The planes were so uncomfortable & I didn’t sleep a wink. On the last leg, it was delayed for 2 ½ hours because of a strike. But no one would tell me why it was delayed (plus, they didn’t know what gate # it was or what time it would arrive so instead of relaxing, I had to stand at the monitors and watch for updates), so it left me crabby. I was even more steamed because the last shuttle to pick up students left at 4:30 so I had to pay for a taxi to take me to the hotel at 5:30, which cost $20 alone.

The first thing they had us do in the intro meeting was get really really close to each other and move around. This was to illustrate the lack of personal space that Spaniards have. We were uncomfortable being so close, but it probably would have been fine to a Spanish person. Secondly, they had us practice introductions to each other. Males greeting males shake hands, females & females give 2 kisses (one on the left, and one on the right), and male/female also 2 kisses. This is a very common informal greeting and it’s hard to get used to b/c I say “Hi, I’m Laura” and stick out my hand at the same time. It’s also very strange to greet a man and feel his whiskers brushing on my face.

The next day, I met Antonio at lunch. He’s an older student (in his 30s, I’d guess) but he’s very friendly and makes comical sound effects. He helped us out with table manners at lunch. They put a salad on the table, but instead of everyone scooping up a bit and putting it on our own plates, we stick our forks in the salad and all eat it together.That night, we also went out to Tapas, which is pretty much them serving us a bunch of dishes in a row. Very traditional food, although a bit odd. It ended with a dessert wine that’s more sugar than it is alcohol, and we learned “Arriba, abajo, al centro, adentro” which means “Up, down, to the center, and inside” (except it’s more catchy in Spanish).

We also took a tour of the city and visited two cathedrals. At WMS we talked about Spain being traditionally Catholic but everyone ultimately being their own god and making Catholicism an empty religion. These cathedrals were absolutely gorgeous, but they had a little slot machine where you could give an “offering” and it would light a little battery candle for you. At the front of each one, they had the altar (or whatever it’s called) and then a TON of huge, gold painted, ornamental items, like cherubim and angels and gothic designs. It was like King Tut’s tomb with all the pomp and circumstance… Everyone took pictures, but I thought it was a mockery of the most beautiful demonstration of love this world has ever seen. And it’s true: Spain is void of the truth. Tomorrow is Sunday and I don’t know a single soul that’s going to church. One of the missionaries to Spain warned me to stay close to God because you either “come back from Spain knowing God better, or come back estranged from Him” and I would prefer the former, please.

Anyway, yesterday I met my host family and did the kiss kiss thing. My host padres are old. At least 60, I’d say, but I don’t know for sure. Their kids are grown and moved out, though the son and his family eats dinner with them a couple times a week. Their house is quaint, but right in the center of the city so everything is very close. Last night we had French fries and Sanjacobo (breaded pork & cheese). Tonight I was watching her make dinner and we had a very hard time communicating. She said “plato de sopa” (plate of soup) and I said “how can you have a plate of soup, that doesn’t make sense” and it ended up being a soup bowl (that has lower sides, but is still a bowl, right?). Anyway, I told her I normally don’t like fish but I’d try it, so she fried some fish that were gutted and had their heads cut off, but they were still in fish form with the skin and stuff. Well, she fried that and when dinner came around, I cut the fish with my knife and started to eat it…until she pointed out that it still at the SPINE in it. So I tried to pick the spines out but there were too many little pieces, so she just scooped it into the trash. The miscommunication wasn’t my fault, of course, but she seemed kind of annoyed that I didn’t know how to eat a fish. Hey, there, I don’t live anywhere near a fishing village! Yeah…I don’t think she’ll serve that again. But the padre is very nice. He speaks a tiny bit of English and like to hum to himself.

I find that since I don’t have internet here yet (I’m typing on Word) that I can either watch TV, go to sleep, or go out—and neither of them seem appealing right now. But another thing: It’s freaking cold! They have a space heater in the living room, and under my covers it’s warm, but right now my hands are like ice and I’m wearing my heaviest coat. :-/

And other thing: The toilets! Ok: There’s this round button to flush, but the button is split into 2 buttons. When you push one side, it seems to flush lightly, like for liquid waste. If you push both of them together, it’s more thorough, like for solid waste. Good: conserve water. The problem is: the toilet paper doesn’t wash away with the liquid waste button…so how do the Spaniards use it? Do they just not use toilet paper for liquid stuff? Or do they use the big button even though it’s just for liquid waste, thereby nullifying the purpose of the little button? It’s very troubling to me, and apparently deserving an entire paragraph by itself.

Today we went to see the castle en Guadalest. It’s built inside of a mountain, so all of the walls were made of stone. It was alright, not terribly interesting, but the view from the top was amazing. Alicante is classified as a desert so everything was pretty brown and sparse, but still—the mountains were very cool. Then we went to the caves of Carlenobre. It was actually one huge room with natural drip forms all over and---crap. Whatever you call those spiky things that hang from the ceiling… Every single trip I felt carsick (me maleo) and I sat up front with the driver and tried to speak Spanish with him. So now I’m back in my room after getting a little lost and I’m also freezing cold.

So, the daily schedule is that we eat lunch (comida) at 2 pm, have a siesta (where all the stores except for restaurants close) till 4, and then dinner (cena) at 9pm. Monday we’re going to the university to have a bit more orientation and perhaps I’ll be able to use the internet soon!And this is my entry from today. The one I'm writing now. On a side note, they also say "Vale" instead of "Okay" which is really hard to get used to. Try it: say vale everytime you want to say ok.

Alright, so Sunday I ended up finding my way to a good church. I got there an hour early b/c i was so bored I just started walking. It was pretty awesome. Just like home, I'd say, except a bunch of strangers that speak Spanish. I had to leave early to get to dinner on time but I hope to become more involved. Today we went to the university and had a tour but I was in a sour mood and here's why:

In Raleigh, I play lots and lots of card games--poker, rook, knock-knock, everything. I also cook with Linda and at the XA house. That's what I do for fun. Here I have nothing to do and my host mother keeps her kitchen to herself. They watch soccer games all day and I have so much extra time it's not funny. So I was in a sour mood because I was not looking forward to being so incredibly listless all the time. I don't think it's any secret that I'm not the best at making friends. Don't pity me. I'm having my own pity party and you're not invited.

To keep busy today, I walked to the bank and got my very own bank account to withdraw money without a transfer fee, then I went and got a cellphone so I can actually contact people if I actually make friends. The cost is so expensive here (55 cents for one call but you can talk up to an hour for that much) so people say "Dame un toque" which means "Give me a missed call" because it doesn't charge if they don't pick up. So if I wanted to meet someone, I "Dale un toque" when I leave the house so they know i'm on my way. Cool, yeah?

Now I'm at a little cafe. I've been here for so long. I haven't kept track of time. The internet is apparently free so that's pretty dang awesome. It seems like everything here is pretty cheap. I know, for Europe it's surprising. But they have signs literally everywhere that says "Sales 60% off" so now is the time to go shopping!

Let's see, what do I have to look forward to in the next few weeks? We're going to take a group trip to Madrid soon. Apparently Madrid is having a huge snowstorm for the first time in 20 years. It's all over the news. Other than that, I have classes to look forward to. No, make that one class. For the next two weeks I'll have only one class Monday through Friday and then at the end of January take the other 4 Monday through Thursday. Oh boy, can't wait...

That's it for tonight. I hope to have more interesting stories for you later.