Spain in the summer is great for shoppers. When July comes around, huge "REBAJA" signs are hung in store windows. Being that it's tourist season, there are signs all over the place that say 50% off or 9.99€.
Jenna and Bryce go out daily to buy all different types of clothes and accessories, so for the first time, Aliza and I went our own adventure down Gran Via in hopes to find some cool- European clothing.
We don't know whether we're picky or not, but there was NOTHING.
We went into every store - literally, EVERY store.. but no such luck.
Aliza did buy 2 post cards for 2€ but then realized that she got jipped because every little makolet/drink stand was selling postcards for .30 each.
When we got back to the dorms, Jenna and Bryce invited us to join them at a little Columbian coffee shop near the Retiro Park.
Being that it was only 7PM, Aliza and I made and ate our deli sandwiches (they were fabs) and went with them.
Bryce copied directions off googlemaps which is normally straightforward but somehow we had trouble finding it.
We asked a ton of people, who kept telling us to keep going straight until one kind gentleman told us that the coffee shop we were going to closed down (hence why we couldn't fine it) but there was another one 15 minutes away.
We decided that because it was only 9:30PM and Madrid never sleeps, we would go find it... and we did.
BUT, it was closed.
Bryce stood in front of the store in mourning but we promised her we would come back another time.
On the way back, we found a Hard Rock Cafe and we just HAD to go in to.
It was my first time in a Hard Rock and boy, did those ribs smell AMAZING! (I don't even eat them anymore when mom makes them for dinner, but just a whiff of that and I was panting like a dog on a hot day!)
From there, we continued and found a Haagen Daaz store! Obviously Aliza and I had meat for dinner and obviously only the packaged food was Kosher, but we sat at Haagen Daaz while Bryce and Jenna devoured their tiny 4-euro cups of midnight chocolate.
When we got back, everyone except for Aliza and I got dressed up to go out to a bar.
Because the 3 weeks just started, Aliza and I stayed back and instead made our first popcorn party!
What a party that was...!
But at least we were the only ones not hung over at school on Thursday!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Sharing the wealth....
And it's Monday again... 2 weeks down, 4 to go - but seriously, who's counting?! Surely not I!
It was weird coming back to school.
I guess after taking the train to some far away city, it felt as if it was winter vacation and i'm the only one who went to Puerto Rico and got a suntan.
Obviously, everyone made comments.
Being that I could not sit straight because my legs are burnt, it was easy to see that I spent some time at the beach.
School's going well.
Except, we're learning past tense- something i've never seemed to grasp in High School. Now we're learning not just regular past tense, but irregulars and all this stuff that just goes WAY over my head!
But Monday was a good day.
Why do you ask?
Because not only did we go to see Harry Potter 7.5 in english, but we went to the restaurant too!
(we figured that before the fast, we should get ourselves a nice dinner)
Harry Potter was pretty good. Aliza and I went with Shana and Brendon. It was a small group but better that way... this country is weird, in which just like airplanes, you need to get a seat number at the theater- so small groups are better! I expected it to be scary; I thought I would have to cover my ears and eyes, but either I grew up or the movie wasn't scary!
After the movie, the women went to the ladies room (obv.) and Brendon waited for us outside... but when we came out he was gone. It was like he vanished. We went all over the place looking for him and we emailed him, but no response, so we just left (he just left the theater too, but apparently he 'waited' for us!)
Shana joined us at the restaurant. She's a Russian Jew and not religious, but was SO excited to come with us. On our walk to the restaurant, we warned her:
a. they will give you a menu but not everything is on it
b. the waitress is NOT nice
c. the food is great but you need to order separate side dishes
d. don't be shocked if we get to the restaurant and it's not open
So we walk in and a young couple is already seated, which means that the kitchen must be open!
We take seats and a big family comes in, so we are completely ignored. (Classic, Aliza and I are thinking.)
Finally, asking for a menu for 10 minutes, she gives us the menu and then walks away to go talk to the big family that walked in.
After taking their order, she comes to us and again, tells us that what we asked for - chicken and couscous - are not available. So we order skewers, mini hamburgers, and chips.
We taught Shana how to wash and what brachas to say, which to Aliza and I was really fun...
Dinner comes and it's delicious as it was the first time.
As we're eating, we look over at the young couple and they are eating couscous... annoying, but okay fine. We'll live.
Then, we look over at the bigger table and not only do they have couscous, but they have chicken, too! - at this point, we were fuming!
We begin to talk to the younger couple... we were telling them what we were doing here and how we were dealing with the food situation...
The room is quite small, so the bigger table overheard us talking but didn't say a word to us.
Because they ordered earlier then us, we were asking for the bill when they were almost walking out the door... but the SUPER NICE waitress turned to the big table next to us and said: "That made invite for you."
We had NO idea what she was saying, so she repeats: "The man invite for you! Do you want me to speak in French, Spanish, Hebrew!?"
From there, we realized that the big family had overheard us and paid for our meal. We didn't even speak to them! Yet, they overheard our conversation.
When they were walking out, the father came over to tell us that when his son was in Rome, a Jewish couple paid for his meal, so they were giving back and we were the lucky kids!
Turns out, the son he was talking about knows Jeremy and Josh Feintuch (Michelle's brothers)... and they are very well off, so it was nice of them to share the wealth!
Shana came to Kosher dinner on the right night! And even better, she hopes to come again with us.
Hey mom, I saved you 30 euros!
Hope you all had an easy fast!
It was weird coming back to school.
I guess after taking the train to some far away city, it felt as if it was winter vacation and i'm the only one who went to Puerto Rico and got a suntan.
Obviously, everyone made comments.
Being that I could not sit straight because my legs are burnt, it was easy to see that I spent some time at the beach.
School's going well.
Except, we're learning past tense- something i've never seemed to grasp in High School. Now we're learning not just regular past tense, but irregulars and all this stuff that just goes WAY over my head!
But Monday was a good day.
Why do you ask?
Because not only did we go to see Harry Potter 7.5 in english, but we went to the restaurant too!
(we figured that before the fast, we should get ourselves a nice dinner)
Harry Potter was pretty good. Aliza and I went with Shana and Brendon. It was a small group but better that way... this country is weird, in which just like airplanes, you need to get a seat number at the theater- so small groups are better! I expected it to be scary; I thought I would have to cover my ears and eyes, but either I grew up or the movie wasn't scary!
After the movie, the women went to the ladies room (obv.) and Brendon waited for us outside... but when we came out he was gone. It was like he vanished. We went all over the place looking for him and we emailed him, but no response, so we just left (he just left the theater too, but apparently he 'waited' for us!)
Shana joined us at the restaurant. She's a Russian Jew and not religious, but was SO excited to come with us. On our walk to the restaurant, we warned her:
a. they will give you a menu but not everything is on it
b. the waitress is NOT nice
c. the food is great but you need to order separate side dishes
d. don't be shocked if we get to the restaurant and it's not open
So we walk in and a young couple is already seated, which means that the kitchen must be open!
We take seats and a big family comes in, so we are completely ignored. (Classic, Aliza and I are thinking.)
Finally, asking for a menu for 10 minutes, she gives us the menu and then walks away to go talk to the big family that walked in.
After taking their order, she comes to us and again, tells us that what we asked for - chicken and couscous - are not available. So we order skewers, mini hamburgers, and chips.
We taught Shana how to wash and what brachas to say, which to Aliza and I was really fun...
Dinner comes and it's delicious as it was the first time.
As we're eating, we look over at the young couple and they are eating couscous... annoying, but okay fine. We'll live.
Then, we look over at the bigger table and not only do they have couscous, but they have chicken, too! - at this point, we were fuming!
We begin to talk to the younger couple... we were telling them what we were doing here and how we were dealing with the food situation...
The room is quite small, so the bigger table overheard us talking but didn't say a word to us.
Because they ordered earlier then us, we were asking for the bill when they were almost walking out the door... but the SUPER NICE waitress turned to the big table next to us and said: "That made invite for you."
We had NO idea what she was saying, so she repeats: "The man invite for you! Do you want me to speak in French, Spanish, Hebrew!?"
From there, we realized that the big family had overheard us and paid for our meal. We didn't even speak to them! Yet, they overheard our conversation.
When they were walking out, the father came over to tell us that when his son was in Rome, a Jewish couple paid for his meal, so they were giving back and we were the lucky kids!
Turns out, the son he was talking about knows Jeremy and Josh Feintuch (Michelle's brothers)... and they are very well off, so it was nice of them to share the wealth!
Shana came to Kosher dinner on the right night! And even better, she hopes to come again with us.
Hey mom, I saved you 30 euros!
Hope you all had an easy fast!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
VALENCIA, SPAIN. The 3rd largest city in Spain.
Renfe is like an Amtrack. Just as expensive, but amazing.
Aliza and I spent our 2nd shabbos in Valencia, Spain.
We chose all of our shabbos spots based on where Chabad is, because who can survive without food?! Not us.
Straight from school, we left for the train station.
We lugged all of our clothing/food/books with us to and from school in fear of missing the train.
We were pleasantly surprised when we were early, but took our seats on the train for a quick rest before the train started to move.
Everything on Renfe was amazing:
The seats, the tray tables (which I’m using right now to write my blog), and even the bathroom (clearly my favorite part of all trips) were so high-tech and COOL.
The ride was only an hour and a half, being that this was an AVE- fast train.
We got to Valencia and with our mapquest-ed directions started our journey to the Florida Hotel.
Normally, Aliza and I are great at directions… HOWEVER, this one time we made a left turn instead of a right turn.
That stupid left threw us off completely. We had no idea where we were, but thankfully knew how to say:
“Perdon, Donde esta la Calle de Padila.”
No one knew what we were saying when we asked because the double LL is a problem for us, it just doesn’t roll off our tongues like it does for those Spaniards!
So finally, we meet a guy who tells us how to get there. We walk in the right direction, not realizing that we had passed the right street. We continued forward, just as clueless as we had been from the start.
Again, we asked a man to help us but he, too had no idea.
Even a Sanitary department street cleaner stopped to try and help us. (He gave us a map from his pocket… Gd knows where that came from!)
After going back-and-forth and passing our block about 10 times, we FINALLY got into a taxi.
Taxis here start at 3,20 euros…. Our taxi was 3,90.
Embarrassing much? I think so.
When we check in, we are surprised to see how beautiful our room is. NOT.
It is not very- Florida like, nor is it Hotel-like.
It clearly explains how we were each paying 25euros a night.
When you walk in, there’s a bed. That’s really it.
There was also a bathroom, but the room was so teenshky, that the door was a rolling door (you know, to conserve space).
We were very happy with it though. We just needed to sleep.
We started our adventure by walking toward the Chabad house to make sure we knew where to go when shabbos started (still no eiruv in this country!)
We made it there safely and stood at the door for a few minutes to make sure we got the right place. While standing there, a women (who lives in the building) turned to us and said “El ginocolejio no functiona” (or something like that).
We were cracking up – she thought we needed to go to the gino and we were too nervous to go in, but really we were just making sure that the address was correct!
We then turned back to our hotel, partly running, away from this creepy woman who thought one of us needed help… don’t worry. We know we’re in Spain, but we’re not partying THAT hard!
On the way back, we walked down Calle de Ruzafo. It was a nice quad with many stores. We walked in and out of each one, still empty-handed.
Maybe one day we’ll buy clothing in this country… one day…
Shabbos started at 9:00PM.
When we spoke to Mrs. Chabad, she told us that there is no minyan and we should come to the house at 9:00.
As always, we were prompt and at their door at 9PM (and grateful not to see the old woman again!)
It was really awkward when we got there. They have 4 kids (the oldest is 4 and a half). They spoke Hebrew and Spanish – but understood English. The communication was off, but it was okay.
When talking to the wife, she didn’t really get how frum we were or what we were. She asked if we knew Hebrew and if we were part of Chabad or ever dealt with them before…
We started to daven (because, yes, we know how) and were SO happy when other people came through the door. There were two couples who were not frum that came. There was an Israeli (like us) who was visiting her not-frum cousins, and two guys who were between 25-30 years old. (We were told that one of the 25-30 year old boys was bar mitzvahed the week before!)
After they davened, we all prepared dinner and began to eat.
Dinner consisted of: challah, Israeli-salads, and fried-fish balls.
Just goes to show that there really is no kosher food in this country!
Dinner was nice; it was definitely different from last shabbos, because in Madrid there are tourists, but here, in Valencia, there is no one frum at all.
It was nice to hear the way the rabbi spoke and gave over his dvrei torah and it was especially nice to hear the people ask questions about what he was talking about… it’s really just a totally different lifestyle from us.
Finally, at 12:40AM we left their house. The second we got into bed, we passed out.
The great thing about Chabad is that shachris starts at 10:30AM, so we got to sleep late!
Davening was quick and lunch was the same food as dinner was, so Aliza and I were quite hungry.
We quickly benched and left because the lack of communication (because we all speak different languages) was getting a bit awkward...
When we thanked them for their hospitality, because they really were so sweet, they invited us to come for Havdalah, which was great because we'd rather hear a real havdalah then have to say it over crystal light iced tea and the two candle sticks we have!
When we got back to the 'hotel,' the bathroom light and air conditioner were off. It was really annoying at first, but then we just ate (salami - thanks abba!), read, and slept, so it wasn't so bad. When we woke up from our nap and realized it was only 6, we knew we had a problem.
It was too hot and we couldn't be in our room until shabbos was over at 10:15, so Aliza chose a place on the map and we decided that we would walk to it.
It turns out, that the place we went to was the original gate of Valencia (we took the bus tours on sunday and they told us!). It looked like a huge castle and when you climbed to the top, you could see Barcelona and Madrid on its two sides. It was really cool looking over, but FRIGHTENING looking down!
By that time, it was only 745 and we had a long way to go, so we sat on a bench for a while and then decided after some time to walk around.
Walking around meant that we got lost in this huge-old city. It felt like we were walking down the roads of Yerushalyim, with cobblestone and old buildings.
As we walked through the town square, there were mini concerts being set up all over. There were churches all over the place and we saw two brides walking through the square... we also came upon a Renaissance/Medieval Fair. We walked through it and it was hilarious to see what these people were dressed as and what they were selling.
The best was a little merry-go-round that was being moved by a dressed up peddler... he was sitting on a bicycle and it spun the merry-go-round.
At about 8:30-9, we started in the direction of the Chabad House.
We didn't know what to do with ourselves and were nervous to go to Chabad early because it might be awkward!
We found a little grassy area near a gorgeous fountain and sat there for a while. There was a nice breeze from the fountain, so thankfully it wasn't too hot.
A little before 10, we arrived at Chabad. Thankfully, Rabbi was davening and Rebbitzen was saying her pirkei avot. Aliza and I played with the kids, which meant we just laughed at them because they were making up stories and just walking in circles.
A girl who had been at the Chabad house came for Havdalah, too. She is originally from Colombia but her and her family made aliyah to Israel 5 years ago. She was in Valencia visiting non-religious cousins, so she was at the Chabad for shabbat (like us).
When she showed up, the atmosphere was a little less awkward because she spoke both hebrew and spanish, so it was nice!
When havdalah ended, Rebitzen insisted that we stay for Melava Malka, so we did.
Again, we took out the salads - but she also made us omelets, which were great!
We spotted a Heinz ketchup bottle and were so confused because Aliza and I didn't think that the Heinz here was kosher - so when we asked her where the OU was and she showed us, we felt so dumb!
(now all we want is to buy ketchup!)
Sunday morning, we met the Columbian/Israeli at our hotel. She had no one to spend the day with, so we invited her to come along...
Originally, our plan was to go to a museum and then the beach, but the two were too far from each other... so instead, we went on the Valencian bus tours (I know, lame - right!?). But, it was actually really cool to see different parts of Valencia and then... one stop was the BEACH!!!!!
We spent four hours there and Aliza and I are burned to a crisp.
It's just so great how we could probably fry eggs on our thighs because there is so much heat radiating from us!
But it's okay, because Abba - my thighs are no longer the same color as Edward Cullen's white face -- it is now a gorgeous shade of rosey-pink.
Hope you all had as great of a weekend as I did!!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
What a week....
Last week was crazy-fun packed, but this week we took it a little slow...
After having such a wacky weekend, we were exhausted.
Waking up at 7:15 for school definitely did not help!
On Monday night, Joann, the "leader" of our trip took 'us' out for dinner. 'US' meaning Aliza and I watched everyone eat dinner while drinking Coca-Cola light.
The food happened to look great, until Brandon put cheese on his hamburger.
Could you believe that a nice piece of steak is only 12euro!? I can't. Just imagine the life we'd have if food was so cheap... our oatmeal dinner was fabulous though, I must say.
Cinnamon roll oatmeal + a cut up apple = mmmm good!
I forgot to mention that on Shabbos, we met two nice couples from Plainview, who were on a vacation in Madrid. They did nothing to prepare for their trip and we told them everything and everywhere to go.
On Sunday night, when we went to the restaurant (whose name I still do not know), we saw them and they offered us tickets to the two museums that Aliza and I were planning to go to that week.
So, Tuesday, after school Aliza and I went on a hunt for the hotel. A hunt, because it was in the middle of nowhere!
When we finally got the tickets, we then continued on our voyage to a second El Cortes Ingles because the Chabad Rabbi's wife told us there would be Kosher food.
And guess what: THERE WAS!!
Aliza and I picked up (more) crackers, CHEESE, deli packets, and MAMA OF chicken! It was a great day; we were so happy to have food, even though for the time being, we're pretty content.
At night, we planned to go Flamenco Dancing. So as Aliza's job, she writes down the directions and when we get there...there was nothing there! There was a building that was completely inhabited and a club (that we obviously went into) that was empty.
We were embarrassed to be in there because there were so few people, so we left.
Wednesday was a fun day for me but mostly because i got a 95 on an essay that I worked really hard on! I also had a quiz that I did well on, so that was nice.
I had a lot of homework, so obviously that needed to be done before I went anywhere.
Aliza and I went to the train station to get out tickets for shabbos... Valencia, here we come!!
Then, we met the "wolf pack" (as Bryce calls it) at the Reina Sofia museum. It was really nice, it was modern art such as Picasso, Dali, etc. but we didn't get to see that much because the tour guide brought us to only a few portraits, so we have the Plainview people's tickets, so we'll go again! WOOT WOOT. Oh, how much we love free things.
The girls stopped in Starbucks and Aliza and I found some Kosher snacks, so while they were all drinking coffee, we ate tortilla chips and edamame!
Madrid is a very welcoming city. The are very gay-friendly, and have a "quad" with a lot of gay bars. So from Starbucks, we took the train to Chueka (Show-eh-ka). It was a girls night, so it was really fun. We first went to dinner, as in Aliza and I drank Coca-Cola light, and thennn we went gay bar hopping.
It was really sad because the bars were empty (Well what do you expect on a Wednesday night!?) But of course, Aliza got picked up by a 50-year old woman!
It was hilarious.
The beer was gross and it was 1 AM, so Shanna and I left.
Thursday was not a good day:
1. I slept for what felt like 10 minutes
2. I spoke to my teacher in Hebrew instead of Spanish and I was MORTIFIED because I just sounded stupid (although i'm pretty sure I am the first Jew he ever met)
3. I had to present in my speaking class and it did not go as well as I had hoped.
4. I'm exhausted!!!
5. For some reason without realizing, I just start crying (this has been going on for a few days now - I think i'm just REALLY tired)
6. And of course, my water bottle spilled in my knapsack.
This all happened BEFORE 2 o'clock!
Laura came for lunch. She's leaving on Sunday to Israel, so we had a "goodbye" lunch with her, even though it was a BYOL (Bring your own lunch).
It was nice to see her again... but we knew we'd see her later that day because she had a REAL cello performance!
Aliza and I went as her family. She was so happy that we were there and we were SO happy to be there too because she plays so nicely!!
(Since Saturday night, she has played in Puerta del Sol twice and made 50 euro!)
Aliza and I also tried our airplane dinner. We bought it at El courte Ingles and figured it would be fun to eat... mine was good but Aliza's wasn't (the first good thing that happened to me today!?)
After having such a wacky weekend, we were exhausted.
Waking up at 7:15 for school definitely did not help!
On Monday night, Joann, the "leader" of our trip took 'us' out for dinner. 'US' meaning Aliza and I watched everyone eat dinner while drinking Coca-Cola light.
The food happened to look great, until Brandon put cheese on his hamburger.
Could you believe that a nice piece of steak is only 12euro!? I can't. Just imagine the life we'd have if food was so cheap... our oatmeal dinner was fabulous though, I must say.
Cinnamon roll oatmeal + a cut up apple = mmmm good!
I forgot to mention that on Shabbos, we met two nice couples from Plainview, who were on a vacation in Madrid. They did nothing to prepare for their trip and we told them everything and everywhere to go.
On Sunday night, when we went to the restaurant (whose name I still do not know), we saw them and they offered us tickets to the two museums that Aliza and I were planning to go to that week.
So, Tuesday, after school Aliza and I went on a hunt for the hotel. A hunt, because it was in the middle of nowhere!
When we finally got the tickets, we then continued on our voyage to a second El Cortes Ingles because the Chabad Rabbi's wife told us there would be Kosher food.
And guess what: THERE WAS!!
Aliza and I picked up (more) crackers, CHEESE, deli packets, and MAMA OF chicken! It was a great day; we were so happy to have food, even though for the time being, we're pretty content.
At night, we planned to go Flamenco Dancing. So as Aliza's job, she writes down the directions and when we get there...there was nothing there! There was a building that was completely inhabited and a club (that we obviously went into) that was empty.
We were embarrassed to be in there because there were so few people, so we left.
Wednesday was a fun day for me but mostly because i got a 95 on an essay that I worked really hard on! I also had a quiz that I did well on, so that was nice.
I had a lot of homework, so obviously that needed to be done before I went anywhere.
Aliza and I went to the train station to get out tickets for shabbos... Valencia, here we come!!
Then, we met the "wolf pack" (as Bryce calls it) at the Reina Sofia museum. It was really nice, it was modern art such as Picasso, Dali, etc. but we didn't get to see that much because the tour guide brought us to only a few portraits, so we have the Plainview people's tickets, so we'll go again! WOOT WOOT. Oh, how much we love free things.
The girls stopped in Starbucks and Aliza and I found some Kosher snacks, so while they were all drinking coffee, we ate tortilla chips and edamame!
Madrid is a very welcoming city. The are very gay-friendly, and have a "quad" with a lot of gay bars. So from Starbucks, we took the train to Chueka (Show-eh-ka). It was a girls night, so it was really fun. We first went to dinner, as in Aliza and I drank Coca-Cola light, and thennn we went gay bar hopping.
It was really sad because the bars were empty (Well what do you expect on a Wednesday night!?) But of course, Aliza got picked up by a 50-year old woman!
It was hilarious.
The beer was gross and it was 1 AM, so Shanna and I left.
Thursday was not a good day:
1. I slept for what felt like 10 minutes
2. I spoke to my teacher in Hebrew instead of Spanish and I was MORTIFIED because I just sounded stupid (although i'm pretty sure I am the first Jew he ever met)
3. I had to present in my speaking class and it did not go as well as I had hoped.
4. I'm exhausted!!!
5. For some reason without realizing, I just start crying (this has been going on for a few days now - I think i'm just REALLY tired)
6. And of course, my water bottle spilled in my knapsack.
This all happened BEFORE 2 o'clock!
Laura came for lunch. She's leaving on Sunday to Israel, so we had a "goodbye" lunch with her, even though it was a BYOL (Bring your own lunch).
It was nice to see her again... but we knew we'd see her later that day because she had a REAL cello performance!
Aliza and I went as her family. She was so happy that we were there and we were SO happy to be there too because she plays so nicely!!
(Since Saturday night, she has played in Puerta del Sol twice and made 50 euro!)
Aliza and I also tried our airplane dinner. We bought it at El courte Ingles and figured it would be fun to eat... mine was good but Aliza's wasn't (the first good thing that happened to me today!?)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
I dare us to do more in one day.
Sunday morning, 7:30AM we woke up to catch a bus to Toledo WITHOUT stupid Alejandro. Aliza, Laura, Michal, Miriam, and I got on the wrong subway, obviously, and then went to the wrong bus station... but after FINALLY getting onto the right bus after running after the wrong ones, I fell into the perfect seat.
Right next to an old, fat, smelly guy who's wife in front of me kept throwing up.... what a joy ride!!
When we got out of the bus station, we decided that instead of taking the bus up to the Jewish quarter, we would just find our way. We started up the hill and just kept going up and up and up... it was as if we were climbing Masada. It was such a relief when we got to the top!
The sights from the top of the mountain were breathtaking. We walked through the town and found random staircases and we just decided to go up with the hopes that we wouldn't get stuck, and low and behold we were standing at the top of the hill... looking down to see everything was crazy!
It was really SO cool!
When we finally went back down, we continued on our 'hike' to the Jewish quarter. It took forever and it was SO hot (Toledo is the hottest part of Spain - don't worry I got tan!!) but we followed the signs like stupid tourists to find it.
On the way to the shul, we were walking down this narrow alleyway when we heard some people speaking hebrew... just for fun, one of the girls said Shalom as she passed by. All of a sudden, a women starts screaming "Yehudi!!!!!! B'Spain!!!!"
We were alll cracking up; we took pictures with them and we were singing "Am Yisroel Chai" in the alleyways. It was such a classic Israel moment, but it really hit me that there are NO Jews in Spain, let alone Toledo.... No one lives here, yet, somehow, we met total strangers who we didn't know, who weren't even religious to sing with in the alleyways of Spain, where we were kicked out of so many years ago.
We continued on our "voyage"to find the two shuls in the Jewish Quarter of Toledo...
We got to the first one, paid our 2 euro and walked in.
The second we walked in, we realized that this wasn't a Jewish shul - it was a Messianic Jewish/Christian church -- kind of like "J for J" ....
Next to the painting of "The Virgin and the Milk" (as if we didn't get enough in Museo del Prado), there was a painting of "Kibbud av Va'Aym."
Interesting, no?!
So because we were with Chabadnicks, they went to complain and ask for their money back, but obviously... no such luck.
We really should've realized that there was something strange about it because the name of the shul was "Santa Maria La Blanca Synagogue."
Down the block was the REAL synagogue, also known as the Sefardi Museum.
It was crazy amazing. There were SO many things saved from the past and this once-shul had been taken over so many times by so many people... it was used as a hospital, as a war base, and so many different things, yet it was revived to it's former state... it was also very cool that this is the only shul that had both hebrew and arabic writing engraved on the ceiling.
There were a lot of different sefarim shown, clothing, utensils, mezuzahs, sefardi clothes, etc.
When we came out, we ate lunch in the shade... the weather was beautiful and we started our voyage DOWN the hill.
On our way, we saw the people who we met at the Chabad rabbi so it was funny running into them!
They were so excited to see us and made us take a group picture with them so that they could show their kids that they're ''cool'' parents!
They told us that they were going to a bullfight at night and alll Aliza wanted to do was get back to find out if we could go... and that's exactly what we did!
When we got back, we realized that the bullfight was only a few metro stops away, so we hopped on the train, paid 5 euro and watched the MOST DISTURBING SPORT ON THE PLANET.
I was appalled by what I saw!
People in the crowds were "oleing"and gasping and screaming all at the same time, it was priceless!
They taunt a bull and then just kill it!? - I don't know, but it was sick to me.
So, instead of watching all 8 bulls get killed, we watched 2 get killed and then left.
We met Laura (the cello girl) for dinner at the ONE restaurant, whose name I will not say because I can't pronounce it.
After giving us a menu and deciding what we wanted, the waitress told us that there are only three things available: kabobs, hamburgers, and steak.
Since the 2nd day of our trip, Aliza and I have been craving for hamburgers and french fries and when we heard her say those special words, we saw the light!
The best part: the food was GREAT!
There is nothing better then feeling full at the end of the meal... I can say I haven't felt that in quite a while...
Monday, July 11, 2011
THE SURVIVAL OF SHABBOS #1
Shabbos starts at 7:45 and ends at 10:36. Since before getting here, all I did was freak out about what I was doing to myself. I neglected to think that you are always bound to meet strange people in the Chabad house who can keep you entertained.
We spent all day running around and getting ready for shabbos... I polished my nails, which is always a group effort because I couldn't move for a good two hours (and then obviously I still managed to mess them up). Then we went looking for things for havdalah - we ended up buying three candles and box of matches, a orange (for the smell), and figured that crystal light was good enough for a drink...
We went to "el court ingress", a supermarket and I bought soy milk.
I know, gross, you're telling me - but all I want is coffee and there's one fridge for so many kids that I'm not buying a carton of milk for other people to use!
After spending a good twenty minutes trying to figure out what to do with our key, since there is no eiruv (and no I will not tell you where we put it!), we left for the Chabad house. We got there so quickly, we went into a few stores first because we were nervous to be there so early!
We met the family and felt very awkward until thankfully some women named Debbie from Monsey showed up.
Really, thank Gd for her!
Shul was weird. When we got there, we needed to wait on line to get in. A security guard (who looked 16), interrogated us before actually letting us in. When we finally got into shul and hiked up a thousand flights of stairs to the women's section, we scouted out for all the frum Jews and found... NO ONE.
We found one women and when we went over to her, we realized that she too was going to the Chabad house... so there went nothing!
After davening which was a little weird - only because we're not used to Sefardi davening, there was a big kiddush for everyone. It's really crazy how these people are so not in touch with their yiddishkeit (not religious at ALL - wear pants, use their phones, etc.) yet, they make it to shul every single friday night, shabbos morning, and shabbos afternoon.
We then met other girls who were going to the Chabad rabbi:
3 girls in Florence for the summer - Emi, Jordy, and Pam
2 Australians backpacking - Miriam and Michal
1 Ba'al Tshuva in Music School - Laura
The rabbi told us that dinner wouldn't be for another hour and sent us to look for a park, so we did exactly that... we all walked together, and hung out for a while; Laura told us her story and Miriam and Michal told us what they had been doing and where they are continuing to (keep in mind that they are fresh out of Israel!)
Dinner was fabs! We made sure to sit next to the Chabad Rebbitzen, so we could ask her where to get Kosher food from so it was very helpful.
They told us that for the last 34 years, they have been living in Spain.
They know enough spanish to get by and most of the food they have is shipped to them by one of their 14 - yes 14! kids...
The food was great; The rabbi made his own wine... everyone was saying it tasted like scotch, but how should I know!? and the rest of the food was real heimishe yummy food that I was actually full by the time we got to desert.
Sadly, there was no singing...
The next morning, we set an alarm for 8:30 - shul started at 9, but we were too tired so we slept until 10 instead.
We ran to shul, davened, and then just like at night, there was a big kiddish.
We sat with Miriam (from Australia) and the "Madridians" for a while.
Miriam was sitting next to a guy named Alejjandro who was hitting on her. He's about 35 years old, and she's all of 19 so it was really funny... until it got weird and he showed up at the chabad house for lunch AND sat next to her!
Lunch was cholent.. what else do you need??
The chabad rabbi was great; he was telling stories the entire meal about the rebbe and when there were no stories being told, Alejjandro sang for us.
Some people liked his voice, but I was more disturbed by his creepiness to enjoy his singing.
He offered to take Miriam to Toledo the next day, but she only said that she would go if we all did, so he was okay with it! He also walked us back to our dorm, when his apartment was around the corner from
the Chabad house.
Miriam, Michal, and Laura spent the day by us. They couldn't get into their hostel (because they didn't have the key). We hung out in our room and talked for a while.... Miriam and Michal were discussing the rest of the trip. Sunday night, they were planning to go Pamplona - the running of the bull (bulls are let out of a pen and people need to run away from it). It is not my idea of fun, but to each is own!
We got hot and bored inside, so we went to a park for a little - I scouted KOSHER ICE CREAM! It was the best day of my life, so we need to go back there one day... and then we were bored (and hungry) that even though we had already davened mincha, we decided to go back to shul to see if there would be food.... - what Jews!
It's really crazy how although the people of this shul are far from religious (carry, drive, use phones on shabbos), they all made sure to be at every 'service.'
They came to kabbalat shabbat, shachris, and shabbos mincha/maariv.
I was shocked! But, it was so nice that they were all there!
When shabbos was over, the girls came back to our room.
The girls dropped off their stuff at us, and with the chello on her back, we all went to plaza mayor.
She needed a chair to sit in on while playing, so Miriam took a chair from a restaurant and at the count of 3, we RANNNN.
After 45 minutes of playing (it was 2:00am), she had made 15 euros - just enough to come with us to Toledo the following day...
We spent all day running around and getting ready for shabbos... I polished my nails, which is always a group effort because I couldn't move for a good two hours (and then obviously I still managed to mess them up). Then we went looking for things for havdalah - we ended up buying three candles and box of matches, a orange (for the smell), and figured that crystal light was good enough for a drink...
We went to "el court ingress", a supermarket and I bought soy milk.
I know, gross, you're telling me - but all I want is coffee and there's one fridge for so many kids that I'm not buying a carton of milk for other people to use!
After spending a good twenty minutes trying to figure out what to do with our key, since there is no eiruv (and no I will not tell you where we put it!), we left for the Chabad house. We got there so quickly, we went into a few stores first because we were nervous to be there so early!
We met the family and felt very awkward until thankfully some women named Debbie from Monsey showed up.
Really, thank Gd for her!
Shul was weird. When we got there, we needed to wait on line to get in. A security guard (who looked 16), interrogated us before actually letting us in. When we finally got into shul and hiked up a thousand flights of stairs to the women's section, we scouted out for all the frum Jews and found... NO ONE.
We found one women and when we went over to her, we realized that she too was going to the Chabad house... so there went nothing!
After davening which was a little weird - only because we're not used to Sefardi davening, there was a big kiddush for everyone. It's really crazy how these people are so not in touch with their yiddishkeit (not religious at ALL - wear pants, use their phones, etc.) yet, they make it to shul every single friday night, shabbos morning, and shabbos afternoon.
We then met other girls who were going to the Chabad rabbi:
3 girls in Florence for the summer - Emi, Jordy, and Pam
2 Australians backpacking - Miriam and Michal
1 Ba'al Tshuva in Music School - Laura
The rabbi told us that dinner wouldn't be for another hour and sent us to look for a park, so we did exactly that... we all walked together, and hung out for a while; Laura told us her story and Miriam and Michal told us what they had been doing and where they are continuing to (keep in mind that they are fresh out of Israel!)
Dinner was fabs! We made sure to sit next to the Chabad Rebbitzen, so we could ask her where to get Kosher food from so it was very helpful.
They told us that for the last 34 years, they have been living in Spain.
They know enough spanish to get by and most of the food they have is shipped to them by one of their 14 - yes 14! kids...
The food was great; The rabbi made his own wine... everyone was saying it tasted like scotch, but how should I know!? and the rest of the food was real heimishe yummy food that I was actually full by the time we got to desert.
Sadly, there was no singing...
The next morning, we set an alarm for 8:30 - shul started at 9, but we were too tired so we slept until 10 instead.
We ran to shul, davened, and then just like at night, there was a big kiddish.
We sat with Miriam (from Australia) and the "Madridians" for a while.
Miriam was sitting next to a guy named Alejjandro who was hitting on her. He's about 35 years old, and she's all of 19 so it was really funny... until it got weird and he showed up at the chabad house for lunch AND sat next to her!
Lunch was cholent.. what else do you need??
The chabad rabbi was great; he was telling stories the entire meal about the rebbe and when there were no stories being told, Alejjandro sang for us.
Some people liked his voice, but I was more disturbed by his creepiness to enjoy his singing.
He offered to take Miriam to Toledo the next day, but she only said that she would go if we all did, so he was okay with it! He also walked us back to our dorm, when his apartment was around the corner from
the Chabad house.
Miriam, Michal, and Laura spent the day by us. They couldn't get into their hostel (because they didn't have the key). We hung out in our room and talked for a while.... Miriam and Michal were discussing the rest of the trip. Sunday night, they were planning to go Pamplona - the running of the bull (bulls are let out of a pen and people need to run away from it). It is not my idea of fun, but to each is own!
We got hot and bored inside, so we went to a park for a little - I scouted KOSHER ICE CREAM! It was the best day of my life, so we need to go back there one day... and then we were bored (and hungry) that even though we had already davened mincha, we decided to go back to shul to see if there would be food.... - what Jews!
It's really crazy how although the people of this shul are far from religious (carry, drive, use phones on shabbos), they all made sure to be at every 'service.'
They came to kabbalat shabbat, shachris, and shabbos mincha/maariv.
I was shocked! But, it was so nice that they were all there!
When shabbos was over, the girls came back to our room.
Laura who plays the chello decided that she would play in Plaza del Sol to see if she could make money.
The girls dropped off their stuff at us, and with the chello on her back, we all went to plaza mayor.
She needed a chair to sit in on while playing, so Miriam took a chair from a restaurant and at the count of 3, we RANNNN.
After 45 minutes of playing (it was 2:00am), she had made 15 euros - just enough to come with us to Toledo the following day...
The entire night we were calling Alejandro to make a plan with him for Sunday in Toledo, but we were out of luck... he didn't pick up his phone.
We: emailed him, called him (a million times), and even facebooked him - but he never answered.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thank Gd it's Thursday!?? NOTT
Thursdays are always the best in college because you know that once the day is over, school doesn't start until MONDAY!!! But, in this country, school is different.There is college on Friday.
It was such a let down when leaving class on Thursday and hearing the teacher say"¡hasta mañana!"
Oy, was it sad.
In the morning, when we were on the second subway to school, a boy from my class who I never spoke to before came over to me. He introduced himself as Daniel and asked me to show him how to get to school because he had gotten lost all the other times.
Aliza and I spoke to him the whole way there and back (home from school).
We found out that not only was he a Christian - but a devout Christian.
And even more, he was living in Philadelphia, in a seminary and learning how to be a priest. He was explained the theories of his religions, the importance of being a priest and how he would never get married... what a life for him!
In the afternoon, we went to El Museo del Prado, an art museum. You could literally get lost in it for hours. We saw all of the holy - Christian pictures, such as:
The virgin and baby
The mother and baby
The virgin and the milk
The mother and the milk
So it was A LOT of fun for us!
But as we kept going we found some other interesting paintings of the kings and their wives, flowers - which I loved, so we plan to go back and this time go right instead of left!
(Ilana... I went looking for you, but you weren't there!)
We left at around 7, and the sun was still out so we just outside on the steps to suntan. After about 5 minutes, Bryce got bored (yes, she has A.D.D.) so we decided to go for a walk and found the Botanical Gardens!
For 1.25 euros, we went.
There were hardly any flowers (they must have died from the heat), but it was fun to try to read the names... and we FINALLY took a lot of pictures.
At 9:30 when we finally got backkk we ate dinner - yumm tuna, and then disaster struck:
The internet wasn't working.
It was horrible; I almost felt the need to sit shiva or something.
We all NEEDED our computers and since it didn't work, what else is there to do?!
We went to sleep sad for the lack of internet and upset that we have school tomorrow...
It was such a let down when leaving class on Thursday and hearing the teacher say"¡hasta mañana!"
Oy, was it sad.
In the morning, when we were on the second subway to school, a boy from my class who I never spoke to before came over to me. He introduced himself as Daniel and asked me to show him how to get to school because he had gotten lost all the other times.
Aliza and I spoke to him the whole way there and back (home from school).
We found out that not only was he a Christian - but a devout Christian.
And even more, he was living in Philadelphia, in a seminary and learning how to be a priest. He was explained the theories of his religions, the importance of being a priest and how he would never get married... what a life for him!
In the afternoon, we went to El Museo del Prado, an art museum. You could literally get lost in it for hours. We saw all of the holy - Christian pictures, such as:
The virgin and baby
The mother and baby
The virgin and the milk
The mother and the milk
So it was A LOT of fun for us!
But as we kept going we found some other interesting paintings of the kings and their wives, flowers - which I loved, so we plan to go back and this time go right instead of left!
(Ilana... I went looking for you, but you weren't there!)
We left at around 7, and the sun was still out so we just outside on the steps to suntan. After about 5 minutes, Bryce got bored (yes, she has A.D.D.) so we decided to go for a walk and found the Botanical Gardens!
For 1.25 euros, we went.
There were hardly any flowers (they must have died from the heat), but it was fun to try to read the names... and we FINALLY took a lot of pictures.
At 9:30 when we finally got backkk we ate dinner - yumm tuna, and then disaster struck:
The internet wasn't working.
It was horrible; I almost felt the need to sit shiva or something.
We all NEEDED our computers and since it didn't work, what else is there to do?!
We went to sleep sad for the lack of internet and upset that we have school tomorrow...
WHAT A RIP OFF!
Like I said before, I really thought I knew Spanish.
I know I’ve said it before, but honestly, Senora gave me such confidence and being here has KILLED me completely.
I can’t carry on a conversation, let alone understand what anyone is saying when they talk to me…. Like today, in class when my speaking professor didn’t call on me because she probably saw how nervous I was!
When I went back to the bank with my passport, the women spoke to me SO QUICKLY. I grasped a few words which basically told me that she had made a mistake and that she cannot transfer over money.
Welll…. Woop-dee-doo.
I’m STILL broke.
So, Aliza and I went on a wild goose chase all around town to finally find ONE place that would actually exchange!
$200.00 is 114euro. WHAT A RIP OFF!
The only problem is that the money looks like monopoly money, so when I spend it, I don’t feel so bad!
No, I’m kidding – I really haven’t bought anything… I just bought some fruits, drinks, and a subwayway (shout out to Avi) card!
I also got more homework.
I can’t believe it.
It’s really such a pain, but don’t worry mom, I did it!!
At night, we were supposed to go to Flamenco dancing – yes Flamenco, not FlamINGO! But, Jenna wasn’t feeling well so we just decided to walk around town… we’ll save it for a better time! (aka – next week because the 3 weeks starts on the 19th)
Normally, we go left (that’s where the ‘broadway’ part of town is) so we decided to go right and found this beautiful fountain, a little ‘shuk’ that was called TARGET, and a PALACE!!
Yes, a palace! So we’ll explore that one some other day….
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
And school begins...
Those turnstiles (yes, that's how you spell it! I looked it up) at the subway really don't like me. One day, I might just jump over it because every single time I go through it (the 3 times), I have had a problem. What could I possibly do wrong?! You stick the paper thru the slot and it comes out the other side. But no, it has to cause me problems.... sooo classic my life!
We left early to school today because we were finding out where we were placed for class. But of course, on my first day to classes, everyone gets held up because of me and my stupid ticket.
When we finally arrive to find our classrooms, I realize that I am the only one in my new "clique" (aside from Bryce and Jenna who are in the advanced classes - they're majoring in Spanish) is in the same class, except for me. Again, so classic my life.
But, this time - i'm actually happy that:
a) I'm in a lower class then them
b) If I mess up, who do I get embarrassed in front of? NO ONE.
So i get to class and make my friends: Julie and James.
Class was okay. The professors spoke ONLY Spanish. It was cool learning that way because if you talk in english, they actually have NO CLUE what you're saying, so you really need to figure out how to talk to them... otherwise, you don't say anything.
My first professor teacher grammar. He did the whole o-as-a-amos-an thing so that was easy.
Really, thank Gd for Senora's tricks because without them - i'd really be in trouble! I taught J-squared the tricks I knew and they couldn't help but laugh at how excited I was to teach it.
My next professor - the speaking one - she's hard. She was great and the class was fun, but I know it's going to get harder so i'm nervous.
My last professor, for reading and writing, is whack. He told us to call him "Senor Perfecto" and then gave us homework to write an essay; I know this school is equivalent to Harvard, but who gives homework of the first day of school!?
When class was over I spotted a bank. I RAN for it; yes, I ran for the door. I asked the women if she changed over money "Cambio dinero?" and she said only with a passport.
I was annoyed for about two minutes until I realized that I could just go back tomorrow!!
We spent a part of the afternoon with Bryce and Jenna (and also some of the 'gang'). We have been answering all the Jew questions, which are really hilarious. The ultimate question has been:
How is it that on a windy day, boys kippas don't fly off!
We went back to the Jewish Quarter.
The man in the store told us that stores open at 5, so we were there at 5.
Of course, the stores were closed, so we sat on a bench for a little.
At 5:45, we went back to the store... the doors were still locked, so we just peeked in when from behind us, some women came over yelling at us - do you want to go in?
So of course we said yes and began to look at what there was... we saw a few things, there wasn't much but while we were browsing, a man comes over to us and asks if we want to buy because if not, he's closing up the shop.
We asked him when he's open and he told us 10-2 and 5-8 -- stupid siesta! But yet, why did he open at 545 and close at 548!? Who knows...
So we decided to go looking for the ONE restaurant in town to see the menu and prices. As we walked toward it, the guy who just basically kicked us out of the store was walking into the restaurant, which was closed.
He asked us how he could help - we asked him for prices and times and we were off... back to where we started from!
I guess this community really is small.
We left early to school today because we were finding out where we were placed for class. But of course, on my first day to classes, everyone gets held up because of me and my stupid ticket.
When we finally arrive to find our classrooms, I realize that I am the only one in my new "clique" (aside from Bryce and Jenna who are in the advanced classes - they're majoring in Spanish) is in the same class, except for me. Again, so classic my life.
But, this time - i'm actually happy that:
a) I'm in a lower class then them
b) If I mess up, who do I get embarrassed in front of? NO ONE.
So i get to class and make my friends: Julie and James.
Class was okay. The professors spoke ONLY Spanish. It was cool learning that way because if you talk in english, they actually have NO CLUE what you're saying, so you really need to figure out how to talk to them... otherwise, you don't say anything.
My first professor teacher grammar. He did the whole o-as-a-amos-an thing so that was easy.
Really, thank Gd for Senora's tricks because without them - i'd really be in trouble! I taught J-squared the tricks I knew and they couldn't help but laugh at how excited I was to teach it.
My next professor - the speaking one - she's hard. She was great and the class was fun, but I know it's going to get harder so i'm nervous.
My last professor, for reading and writing, is whack. He told us to call him "Senor Perfecto" and then gave us homework to write an essay; I know this school is equivalent to Harvard, but who gives homework of the first day of school!?
When class was over I spotted a bank. I RAN for it; yes, I ran for the door. I asked the women if she changed over money "Cambio dinero?" and she said only with a passport.
I was annoyed for about two minutes until I realized that I could just go back tomorrow!!
We spent a part of the afternoon with Bryce and Jenna (and also some of the 'gang'). We have been answering all the Jew questions, which are really hilarious. The ultimate question has been:
How is it that on a windy day, boys kippas don't fly off!
We went back to the Jewish Quarter.
The man in the store told us that stores open at 5, so we were there at 5.
Of course, the stores were closed, so we sat on a bench for a little.
At 5:45, we went back to the store... the doors were still locked, so we just peeked in when from behind us, some women came over yelling at us - do you want to go in?
So of course we said yes and began to look at what there was... we saw a few things, there wasn't much but while we were browsing, a man comes over to us and asks if we want to buy because if not, he's closing up the shop.
We asked him when he's open and he told us 10-2 and 5-8 -- stupid siesta! But yet, why did he open at 545 and close at 548!? Who knows...
So we decided to go looking for the ONE restaurant in town to see the menu and prices. As we walked toward it, the guy who just basically kicked us out of the store was walking into the restaurant, which was closed.
He asked us how he could help - we asked him for prices and times and we were off... back to where we started from!
I guess this community really is small.
Those turnstiles (yes, that's how you spell it! I looked it up) at the subway really don't like me. One day, I might just jump over it because every single time I go through it (the 3 times), I have had a problem. What could I possibly do wrong?! You stick the paper thru the slot and it comes out the other side. But no, it has to cause me problems.... sooo classic my life!
We left early to school today because we were finding out where we were placed for class. But of course, on my first day to classes, everyone gets held up because of me and my stupid ticket.
When we finally arrive to find our classrooms, I realize that I am the only one in my new "clique" (aside from Bryce and Jenna who are in the advanced classes - they're majoring in Spanish) is in the same class, except for me. Again, so classic my life.
But, this time - i'm actually happy that:
a) I'm in a lower class then them
b) If I mess up, who do I get embarrassed in front of? NO ONE.
So i get to class and make my friends: Julie and James.
Class was okay. The professors spoke ONLY Spanish. It was cool learning that way because if you talk in english, they actually have NO CLUE what you're saying, so you really need to figure out how to talk to them... otherwise, you don't say anything.
My first professor teacher grammar. He did the whole o-as-a-amos-an thing so that was easy.
Really, thank Gd for Senora's tricks because without them - i'd really be in trouble! I taught J-squared the tricks I knew and they couldn't help but laugh at how excited I was to teach it.
My next professor - the speaking one - she's hard. She was great and the class was fun, but I know it's going to get harder so i'm nervous.
My last professor, for reading and writing, is whack. He told us to call him "Senor Perfecto" and then gave us homework to write an essay; I know this school is equivalent to Harvard, but who gives homework of the first day of school!?
When class was over I spotted a bank. I RAN for it; yes, I ran for the door. I asked the women if she changed over money "Cambio dinero?
We left early to school today because we were finding out where we were placed for class. But of course, on my first day to classes, everyone gets held up because of me and my stupid ticket.
When we finally arrive to find our classrooms, I realize that I am the only one in my new "clique" (aside from Bryce and Jenna who are in the advanced classes - they're majoring in Spanish) is in the same class, except for me. Again, so classic my life.
But, this time - i'm actually happy that:
a) I'm in a lower class then them
b) If I mess up, who do I get embarrassed in front of? NO ONE.
So i get to class and make my friends: Julie and James.
Class was okay. The professors spoke ONLY Spanish. It was cool learning that way because if you talk in english, they actually have NO CLUE what you're saying, so you really need to figure out how to talk to them... otherwise, you don't say anything.
My first professor teacher grammar. He did the whole o-as-a-amos-an thing so that was easy.
Really, thank Gd for Senora's tricks because without them - i'd really be in trouble! I taught J-squared the tricks I knew and they couldn't help but laugh at how excited I was to teach it.
My next professor - the speaking one - she's hard. She was great and the class was fun, but I know it's going to get harder so i'm nervous.
My last professor, for reading and writing, is whack. He told us to call him "Senor Perfecto" and then gave us homework to write an essay; I know this school is equivalent to Harvard, but who gives homework of the first day of school!?
When class was over I spotted a bank. I RAN for it; yes, I ran for the door. I asked the women if she changed over money "Cambio dinero?
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Day 1: what is a siesta?!
I need money. I REALLY need money. The fear of walking in a foreign country with NO money is frightening.
I thought that coming here would be just like Israel, a change place on every corner. But no.
Some banks don't even exchange money!
Waking up with a fear of having no money.... AND waking up after not sleeping is pretty tough.
We got dressed and were supposed to meet Dr. Martinez at 8:30AM in front of school. The 9 of us (Aliza, Bryce, Jenna, Shanna, Lisa, Towanda, Brandon, Louie, and me) were waiting in the scorching heat for him.
Take note for those that make plans with Spanish people: 8:30 really means 9:15!
We took two subways to school.
Yes, I went on a subway.... and not just one, but TWO!
We obviously got lost on the way to school but finally got there 5 minutes before we needed to take our placement exams.
I did my best to fail, but either way, i'm sure I would. I really just know nothing!
When we got back, Dr. Martinez send me and Brandon to the "Caja Madrid." He told us that cambia means exchange and we should ask them if they exchange money.
We did exactly that: We asked a women, she said yes, we took a number (like in the chap-o-nosh deli counter) and took a seat....
The banks close at 2, did I say!?
At 1:56PM after having waited 20 minutes, a women comes over, telling us that her colleague is an idiot and they don't exchange money.
Frustrating, no?
Well, it gets better because as we walk down the block, we see another bank that has a picture for money exchange... but as we ran towards it because the clock is striking 2, they shut the door.
And again... i'm BROKE.
I know it's hot, but seriously. No one needs to go home to eat lunch with their families and no adult needs to nap and shut their stores down for 3 hours, smack in the middle of the day even though it's hot!
I was pissed. But when trying to make friends, you need to suck it up and deal with it.
I'm broke, it's hot (where is our AC,?!), and overtired but I knew I couldn't sleep... Aliza and I left our door open, hoping that our "friends" (acquaintances) would come visit and they actually did!
We were all hanging out for a while, finding things to do.. until we left to scout out the Jewish parts of town.
Forgetting that siesta is from 2-5, we set out at 3. When we got to the shul, we were SO excited!
There was hebrew on the wall! - a language that we actually know!
We waiting for a little and a man showed up. Our only way of communication: IVRIT.... it was beautiful!
He then explained to us that nothing will be open for us because it is too late-or early, depending on your sleeping schedule, and we should try to find it tomorrow.
Before leaving, we scouted out the 2 shops and 1 restaurant that way we would know where to go tomorrow.
After dinner (which was at 8:30) of mom's chicken cutlet - yes I thanked her - we, me and my NEW friends went out on our 1st excursion on our own. We took our first picture - of the girls - and then went to (read with a spanish accent) Plaza de Mayor, basically a large square with apartments and bars underneath.
There were people dressed up as "things" - like 'mthe tin man, etc, so it was cool to look at them.
Finalllllyyy, at 11:00PM when I was literally falling on my face, they decided to go to the Irish pub to celebrate the 4th of July.
Really?!! Celebrate, when all I want is my bed??
So, I did celebrate...in my bed, alone and going crazy that its just SO hot in here and Aliza is sleeping...I'm STILL broke, and nervous about school tomorrow... so, I complained to Sarit (obviously), who was actually really helpful (thank you) and finally when they got back at 3PM from the pub and after Bryce "accidentally" rang the doorbell (she says she wasn't drunk!), I finally fell asleep....
and low and be hold, it was 7AM again.
I thought that coming here would be just like Israel, a change place on every corner. But no.
Some banks don't even exchange money!
Waking up with a fear of having no money.... AND waking up after not sleeping is pretty tough.
We got dressed and were supposed to meet Dr. Martinez at 8:30AM in front of school. The 9 of us (Aliza, Bryce, Jenna, Shanna, Lisa, Towanda, Brandon, Louie, and me) were waiting in the scorching heat for him.
Take note for those that make plans with Spanish people: 8:30 really means 9:15!
We took two subways to school.
Yes, I went on a subway.... and not just one, but TWO!
We obviously got lost on the way to school but finally got there 5 minutes before we needed to take our placement exams.
I did my best to fail, but either way, i'm sure I would. I really just know nothing!
When we got back, Dr. Martinez send me and Brandon to the "Caja Madrid." He told us that cambia means exchange and we should ask them if they exchange money.
We did exactly that: We asked a women, she said yes, we took a number (like in the chap-o-nosh deli counter) and took a seat....
The banks close at 2, did I say!?
At 1:56PM after having waited 20 minutes, a women comes over, telling us that her colleague is an idiot and they don't exchange money.
Frustrating, no?
Well, it gets better because as we walk down the block, we see another bank that has a picture for money exchange... but as we ran towards it because the clock is striking 2, they shut the door.
And again... i'm BROKE.
I know it's hot, but seriously. No one needs to go home to eat lunch with their families and no adult needs to nap and shut their stores down for 3 hours, smack in the middle of the day even though it's hot!
I was pissed. But when trying to make friends, you need to suck it up and deal with it.
I'm broke, it's hot (where is our AC,?!), and overtired but I knew I couldn't sleep... Aliza and I left our door open, hoping that our "friends" (acquaintances) would come visit and they actually did!
We were all hanging out for a while, finding things to do.. until we left to scout out the Jewish parts of town.
Forgetting that siesta is from 2-5, we set out at 3. When we got to the shul, we were SO excited!
There was hebrew on the wall! - a language that we actually know!
We waiting for a little and a man showed up. Our only way of communication: IVRIT.... it was beautiful!
He then explained to us that nothing will be open for us because it is too late-or early, depending on your sleeping schedule, and we should try to find it tomorrow.
Before leaving, we scouted out the 2 shops and 1 restaurant that way we would know where to go tomorrow.
After dinner (which was at 8:30) of mom's chicken cutlet - yes I thanked her - we, me and my NEW friends went out on our 1st excursion on our own. We took our first picture - of the girls - and then went to (read with a spanish accent) Plaza de Mayor, basically a large square with apartments and bars underneath.
There were people dressed up as "things" - like 'mthe tin man, etc, so it was cool to look at them.
Finalllllyyy, at 11:00PM when I was literally falling on my face, they decided to go to the Irish pub to celebrate the 4th of July.
Really?!! Celebrate, when all I want is my bed??
So, I did celebrate...in my bed, alone and going crazy that its just SO hot in here and Aliza is sleeping...I'm STILL broke, and nervous about school tomorrow... so, I complained to Sarit (obviously), who was actually really helpful (thank you) and finally when they got back at 3PM from the pub and after Bryce "accidentally" rang the doorbell (she says she wasn't drunk!), I finally fell asleep....
and low and be hold, it was 7AM again.
What the HELL are we doing here!?
So, as you all know Aliza and I decided that it would be COOL to go to Madrid.
Well, it was really cool until we got here -- 2 flights, no food (obviously forgotten on the kitchen counter; Shimmy I hope you liked my bagel!), so it was quite an adventure!
Before coming here, I really thought I knew how to speak spanish. I thought that Senora really gave me the confidence to speak it... BUT, the second I got off the plane, I just felt stupid! I knew NOTHING! Even the cab driver didn't know what I was saying.
When getting off the plane, we were supposed to email Dr. Martinez to meet him and 'the group' on a walk. Obviously, my blackberry wasn't working. So after struggling with our luggage to the taxi, we figured we'd email him when we got to the dorms and took out our computers.
But low and behold, when we got there, he and 'the group' was waiting for us!
They waited a half hour in the scorching sun... I really though they would hate us for it, but THANK GD they found a bar right next door to our building or else... we'd be fried, not them!
We spent a good 2 hours walking and then finally - finally we sat down to eat. Don't worry, it was 8:00 PM.
After ordering a coke, because sadly squid and cow intestines are not Kosher, we sat for 3 hours with them. It was really fun until we realized how late it was, how much we needed to unpack, and how hungry we were!
After finally getting into bed at 12, obviously hot (why should the air work?!) and jet-lagged, we didn't fall asleep until 3... all we could do what question ourselves:
WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING HERE!?
WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING HERE!?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)