Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Holy Week) this year lasted from Palm Sunday, April 5, to Easter Sunday, April 12. For a week, the hermandades (brotherhoods) in Sevilla parade though the streets, carrying the floats of Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary. After about 6 hours of their procession, they enter the church again. The penitentes are dressed in KKK-like tunics, so it probably seems disturbing, out of context. Some carry candles, some bear crosses on their shoulder. Their identities are supposed to be anonymous, their penitence only known by God. In truth, though, the Semana Santa is more of a cultural tradition, rather than a religious one.

Here are some videos, so you can witness a bit of Semana Santa:


("El Silencio" is one of the oldest and most important hermandades in Sevilla. The entire procession is very serious. Spectators are expected to maintain the silence, but you can hear a saeta in the background, a flamenco-like religious song.)

Moe in Barcelona

Barcelona

I spent the past weekend in Barcelona. Christine (from IV) was going to be there, so I thought I should meet up with her, even for just one day. My flight was not long (about 1.5 hours), but I had some difficulty with Barcelona's train system. My directions told me to just stay on the train until I got to the Arc de Triomf station, but I think I was actually supposed to change trains at one point. I got off at the Passeig de Gracia station, and then just hailed a taxi. I was supposed to meet up with Christine at 12:15 at the Plaza de Catalunya, and I was afraid that I would arrive late. I turned off my cell phone on the plane, but totally forgot my PIN number, so I couldn't access my cell phone. That meant two things: first, I couldn't call Christine, and second, I had no idea what the time was.

But among the masses in the Plaza de Catalunya, Christine managed to find me. We walked down Las Ramblas, and headed to La Boqueria, a colorful market with meat, fish, and fruits galore. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Las Ramblas, especially since it's filled with human statues -- and some pretty good ones, I must say. At La Boqueria, I met Christine's friends from London. They were eating paella at a restaurant, but I just sat down and ate my chicken bocadillo that Meli had prepared for me (yay for not having to pay). Afterwards, we took a bus headed to Montjuïc (Mount of the Jews), where the Olympic Stadium is located. We got lost along the way, so I asked someone, in Spanish, how to get to the stadium. He must have thought that I didn't get what he said, or noticed my American accent, because he responded in English.

Before actually exploring the Olympic sites, we visited the museum. It basically gave a history of the Olympics and every sport. The coolest part, though, was getting to watch clips from the past Olympic Games. I watched the women's gymnastics during the 1996 Atlanta games, and it just amazed me how young the girls appeared (when I was younger, they looked so much older). We then entered the stadium, roamed around the general plaza area, and took some pictures. Since we were on top of a hill, we had a pretty good view of the rest of Barcelona.

Christine and her friends had to leave in the evening, so we returned to the downtown area fairly early. Her friends decided to go shopping, but I didn't wanted to be tempted to spend more money. I walked with Christine for a bit and just talked. But alas, I had to say goodbye to her, and I headed off to get some food. I headed to Maoz Falafel, where they give you an empty pita with falafels, and you can fill it up with whatever toppings you want – buffet style. After my filling meal, I decided to just explore the city. I walked up a big street that takes you to the famous Gaudi houses, Casa Batilò and Casa Milà (La Pedrera). I didn't think they looked that impressive, at least during the nighttime. I guess I expected something much bigger, something that didn't suddenly appear among the rows of typical apartment buildings. I kept walking up the street, expecting to somehow reach Parc Guëll, which didn't happen (only later did I realize that Parc Guëll is on top of another high hill). My feet ached, so I gave up and headed back to my hostel.

The next day, I explored the Citadel Park (Parc de la Ciutella), which is a large, lovely park. It's probably the most green space I had seen in all of Barcelona. I also heard some bits of Catalán – but out of context (that is, Barcelona), I'd probably have problems identifying it. I then tried to find the harbor and the beaches, but only found the port for the boats. Next, I explored the Cathedral and roamed around Barri Gòtic (the Gothic Barrio), which is basically the remains of Roman Barcelona. To me, it was a sharp contrast to the modern vision I had of Barcelona. The old Roman quarter was very quaint, filled with little shops and cafés, while colorful laundry, from the apartments above, swayed in the wind.

I read that the Picasso museum gets busy during the early hours, so I decided to kill some time by visiting Casa Batilò and Casa Milà again. Personally, I think these buildings look better during the daylight hours (especially when you can see the colors and intricate details). I only took pictures from the outside, since I didn't feel like paying to go in. I'm much more self-conscious when I'm taking pictures with Moe, so I tried to be as discrete about it as much as possible.

The Picasso museum is free on Sundays (yay!). The line was fairly long, but it moved quickly. The museum mostly features works from Picasso's early career, so it was interesting to see how his works had evolved. I also got to see Picasso's versions of “Las Meninas,” which at first glance, appear to be total distortions of Velazquez's original.

I probably spent about an hour or two at the museum, but without a watch, I really had no idea. I overhead someone saying that it was almost 5 o'clock, so I thought I should visit Parc Guëll. I thought it would especially be nice to see the view of Barcelona at sunset. I hopped on a bus that took me directly to the entrance of the park. The park itself was much bigger than I had expected. It doesn't only consist of the famous circular benches and the lizard fountain; it goes up and out to another hill. I spent a good amount of time exploring the different paths and taking pictures of the scenery. For others, though, it was basically a lover's playground. I kind of wished I could have shared the experience with someone, but I enjoyed my freedom and adventure.

The next day, I visited La Sagrada Familia, a huge church constructed by Gaudi, which has been under works for a while now. It consists of three facades, of the Passion, the Nativity, and the Glory. The Nativity facade was actually completed by Gaudi, and to me, it looks quite different from the Passion one, which was made by someone else. The Nativity facade is a lot more ornate, a lot more breath-taking, but the Passion facade has some interesting symbols (such as a grid of numbers that has over 310 combinations to add up to 33 – the age in which Jesus died). The interior (the Nave) is completely under construction, but you can see that it was designed to imitate a forest. Afterwards, I went to the top, where I had a closer peak at some of the Nativity facade. But I have to admit, I'm quite scared of heights, and I had a feeling that I was going to drop my camera at any point. Luckily, I didn't.

I decided to get a haircut from a Chinese salon, since peluquerias chinas are basically non-existent in Sevilla –- and based on my experience, only Chinese hair dressers have to guts to thin out a lot of hair. It was a bit difficult to communicate with the hair dressers, since I couldn't understand their Spanish (I'm not sure if they're more accustomed to speaking in Spanish or Catalán). They spoke Mandarin, but my Mandarin really isn't that advanced, so that was out of the question. But I basically got what I wanted: lots of hair cut and thinned out.

I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through Las Ramblas. I also headed back to La Boqueria, where they sell cups of natural fruit juice for one euro each. They're really addictive; I tried different three flavors within one hour. I also bought a pair of earrings from a local artisan. I'm quite pleased with them, especially since they shine with many facets of color. Thanks to my natural sense of time – or better said, my sneakiness at spying on other people's watches – I made it to the Airport bus station on time for my flight.

Overall, I had a pretty good impression of Barcelona. I definitely preferred it over Madrid, but the weather could have been a factor. However, I'm not sure if I would have liked to study in Barcelona. Although many people speak Spanish, many prefer to speak Catalán, which is a separate language altogether. It's also hard to practice Spanish when people want to practice their English, or think that they're doing you a favor by speaking in English. I guess it's going to take me a while before I can pass as a good Spanish speaker.

Spanish friends

I recently joined the University of Sevilla's Intercambio Lingüístico program, in which you practice the language you are studying (in my case, Spanish) with a native speaker who wants to learn your native language. I had my first intercambio with a girl named Saray. She's a bit older than me, but she's extremely nice and really chill. She dressed quite casually, which surprised me at first, since most of the women here dress well. She is currently studying architecture, so she taught me a lot of history about the city. She took me to the Reales Atarazanas, or the historic Royal Shipyards. It's located right in the center of the city, yet I had never even passed by it before. Saray told me that we could out for tapas sometime (Score! Believe it or not, I still haven't tried the tapas here). She even introduced me to her friends, and told me that I could go out with her and her friends sometime. I didn't expect to see this type of hospitality from Spaniards, since I thought intercambios, at most, only created superficial relationships. But I could see that she was genuinely interested in getting to know people, which I appreciated. Later that night, she sent me a text message, inviting me to hang out with her friends, and that I could bring anybody. At first, I felt like turning down the offer, because I had been out all day and thought I should do something productive (you know, like homework). But Andrea, my roommate, was begging me to go, saying that it's been her dream to go out with some Spaniards. I ultimately agreed to it. We went to a few bars, just talking to Saray and her friends. Most of them know English too, so it was fun to have bilingual conversations. One of the guys is from Valencia, and said that he would cook a paella for us (Score again!). Andrea and I left around 3:00 am, which is still a bit early for them. But I'm happy that I did decide to go out and challenge my social skills.

Moe in Granada

A real update coming soon.

Flamenco

I´m finally taking flamenco classes in Sevilla. It´s been a difficult to find the ´right´ teacher or class. Not only is my schedule a bit tight, but most of the renowned teachers (that my flamenco teacher recommended to me) have basically retired and passed on their studio to their alumni. Also, a lot of flamenco dancers don´t really dance traditionally, which has been my training. Triana (the neighborhood that I live in) actually has a few flamenco studios, but I decided to try out Andrés Marín´s studio, which is about 30 min. away from my house by foot. Andrés is known as a innovative contemporary dancer, so I already knew it would be a experience different from what I´m used to.

I decided to enroll in the intermediate/advanced class - not because I´m really that good, but because it fits better into my schedule. After watching one of the classes, I thought the footwork & choreography was relativey do-able. My first day wasn´t easy, though. My teacher back home really likes to show things slowly, to make sure we get things right, but here, it´s a different story. One of the teachers, Úrsula López, would show us a footwork pattern once, and then we had to immediately do it. No explanations, no breakdowns. Afterwards, we had to do it to a super fast compás (beat/rhythm). I was really sweating within the first 15 minutes! Towards the end, we danced (or should I say, the other people did) the seguiriyas - which is a dance style I´ve never actually danced before (it´s probably the most solemn style I´ve had to learn so far). I was a bit surprised, because I thought Úrsula´s class was just a technique class, not a choregraphy one. It´s going to take me a while to pick it up, since everyone else already knows the choreography, and there are a lot of non-traditional steps involved.

This past Tuesday, Andrés actually taught the class. Like Úrsula, he would show us a pattern once. It was´n´t easy for me, but the other students could repeat it immediately. We had to do a lot of fast footwork, and it was really easy to forget the sequence. I messed up a number of times. My toe was actually bleeding by the end of class. I found it so funny ´cause it´s never happened to me before.

It´s been difficult, but I am learning relatively quickly and I´m up for challenges. I´ve also paid for a month of classes so I have to stick with it.

La Universidad de Sevilla

After four weeks of pro-seminars (culture and grammar classes at the Center), I finally started taking classes at the University of Sevilla. There isn´t an actual campus, because the buildings are spread across the city. Fortunately, all of my classes are in the same building, which isn´t too far from home or the Center. The building used to be the Real Fábrica de Tabacos, home to the cigarette factory of Bizet´s Carmen (you know, that famous opera). There are a lot of open patios placed inside the building, so it´s easy to catch some sun (or rain) between classes. Some students also enjoy a quick smoke in the patios.

Here are the classes I´m taking:

Historia de Al-Andalus (Historia of Al-Andalus): Al-Andalus is the Arabic name for Andalucía. The first day of class was cancelled, because of the damage from the rain. The sign on the door said that the class was moved to a different classroom, yet still it was cancelled (apparently it´s normal around here). But we did have class the next day. One intersting fact: the name Al-Andalus is derived from Atlantis, the mystical island from the Greek classics. The Arabs, familiar with Greek knowledge, believed Andalucía to be an island.

Sociolingüística Andaluza (Andalucían Sociolinguistics): the professor is very engaging, and very nice. The first thing he said to us was, it doesn´t matter if some of us speak Spanish as a native language, and some of us don´t -- in his class, we´re all equal. We haven´t covered much material, but I´m excited to learn about the way the people of Andalucía speak.

Historia Medieval y Moderna de España (Medieval and Modern History of Spain): Except for one older gentleman, nobody showed up to the first day of class, including the professor. We ended up going to the aconsejeria (counseling services) of a few departments, asking what happened to the class (the guy did most of the talking, I should say). We were provided very little answers, and the counselors didn´t seem active in figuring out what happened. I don´t think I´ll be taking this class, due to the extremely low student enrollmenet.

Sociedad y Literatura en Hispanoamerica (Society and Literature in Hispanoamerica): the class is packed with extranjeros (foreigners -- probably all American). I think only four or five of the students are actual Spaniards. The first day of class wasn´t that exciting, as the professor only talked about the life history of one of the autors we´ll be studying. In general, it seems like professors here like to doddle on unnecessary details, such as the history of things (when the class isn´t about history).

Relato Hispanoamericano (Hispanoamerican stories): located in a medium-sized lecture hall, which surprised me a bit, because I´m not used to having literature classes in this type of a classroom. The type of work is similar to the other class, Sociedad y Literatura en Hispanoamerica, but this professor seems more interesting.

Cartografía de la memoria colectiva: la Guerra Civil y sus presentes (Cartography of collective memory: the Spanish Civil War and its presence): a class at the Center taught by an actual Penn professor, so I´m sure I´ll receive credit (which is also why most people are taking this class). The material sounds fascinating, but the readings are supposedly challenging and the professor tends to talk rapidly.