Long time no see...

Where have I been! The last couple weeks have completely flown by, and I've realized the last 10 (can you believe it?) will probably fly by quicker.  I'm in the full swing of life here.  I should be writing a diario for flamenco class, but instead I was procrastinating, happened upon the blog of a friend, and decided it was about time I updated.

Since I last wrote we went on an excursion to Córdoba, a fun but sight-seeing packed day.

We went to the Mezquita that reminded me of a candy cane palace...

sat in the pews of the Catholic church that planted itself precisely in the middle of the Mezquita to show their power...

decided against an art museum... and did some outdoor playground exercising/playing instead!





Something strange: We were waiting for our group to reassemble and a little girl, about 7 or 8 years old, with only a t-shirt and tights on came over and started patting our heads, as if to play duck-duck-goose.  We kind of just ignored her, figuring she would go away, but she started touching Celia's face, hugged Ashley and "attacked" me.  It was quite a bit out of our comfort-zone, but we didn't know what to do.  I tried to ask her questions: "¿Como te llamas?"  "¿Vives aquí?" but she kept on intruding our personal space.  We ended up getting up and walking away because we didn't know what else to do.  It was a strange experience for me because it was the first time I have ever felt uncomfortable or unable to relate to a child.

After this experience, we went to the ruins of Medinat al-Zahra - a palace made by Abd al-Ramam III to show his wealth and power.

Ashley and I overlooking the ruins

 

This past weekend I went to the Alpujarras, or the white villages, which are close to the Sierra Nevadas.  Celia had invited me along with her mom and a couple of her mom's friends, and I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to see another part of Spain. We took a 2 hour bus ride (first time using the public transportation here!) and were dropped off in Pampaneira which was lively with markets and music even though it was a Sunday.  After having to ask for directions twice we found a trail that took us to Bubión, another white village.

The trail was a lot more rugged than we were expecting, and Bubión was a ghost town compared to Pampaneira.  We ended up waiting for a bus back down instead of walking because of the trail being steep and us not having proper footwear.  It was a really nice break from being in Granada, and absolutely gorgeous.  By the time I was home, I was exhausted and appreciated the familiarity that Granada has become.

Today I visited the Alhambra for the 1st of 3 times we will see it.

We got special entrances into parts that aren't normally shown to the public because we were seeing it through a class.  We even saw a tower that students of IES had not seen in 5 years because it is being refurbished.  We had to fight off a couple angry tourists who didn't understand why they couldn't climb up the dim stairwells of the towers and down to La Puerta de las Armas. Other than that it was full of fun facts for class... and thankfully NOT for our midterm on Wednesday.

Well, now that I have thoroughly wasted some time/procrastinated it is time to return to the homework.

¡Adios!