Sant Antoní and San Sebastian

This next segment is about the Saint’s days that we had in Palma and Mallorca.  Sant Antoní (celebrated January 16^th) is the patron saint of small pueblos and animals in Mallorca and is mostly celebrated outside of Palma, which is a bigger city.  According to Xisca’s story (hopefully I understood all of it), St. Anthony went into a desert to pray and encountered the Devil.  They fought, and now people and children dress up as Demonis (devils in Catalan) and dance around and chase people with fire.  This happened at our school when two male teachers dressed up, complete with masks and ran into classrooms/through windows/kicked open doors trying to scare the children.  It worked as a few kids in each class (grades 1-3) were literally trembling and bawling.  Their costumes were quite scary actually, especially with the masks they had made.

San Sebastian is a little different, but during the same week (January 20^th).  We got a day off work in Palma for this holiday, which made me happy as I got a 4-day weekend.  Wednesday at school we had an assembly where the kids could bring their pets for the priest to bless.  I think this is actually part of Sant Antoni, but our school kind of combined both holidays.  The blessings were followed by Jordi, the music teacher, playing the Zambomba and a group of dancers showing us a typical Mallorcan dance. 

On Wednesday night we all went out to Plaza Mayor where there was a big bonfire and huge statues of people dressed in typical Mallorcan clothes.  As Amanda pointed out to me, the fire seemed pretty dangerous as there are apartments all around Plaza Mayor and the smoke/flames were escalating quickly. 

Whew!  I think I’ve caught you up with my travels, and life in general, as of now.  Amanda, Beckie and I are going to Berlin at the end of this month and I have friends hopping the pond for a week in March.  Spring will be a busy time in this apartment!  

Getting Caught Up

This post actually starts about a month ago on New Year’s Eve.  Taylor and I were lucky enough to stay at her friend’s apartment, which was close to a Metro station and, therefore, close to the center of the city.  The first day we were there, December 30^th, we walked around the city.  We have both visited Barcelona before so it was nice this time to leisurely stroll instead of running around trying to see all the sites in such a short time.  We enjoyed La Rambla, an awesome Hindu restaurant called Maoz, La Boquería (a HUGE outdoor market selling everything you can imagine), and, of course, Starbucks.  One thing I had never visited was Parc Güell (pronounced Park Gway), designed by Antoni Gaudí.  We made the trek all the way to the top, where we encountered our first (of many) hurdles to jump:  Taylor’s camera wouldn’t work.  The rest of the day we scouted around for another camera that wasn’t insanely overpriced in the tourist district of Barcelona. 

On New Year’s Eve there is a tradition in Spain to eat 12 grapes, one at every stroke of the clock at midnight; and, of course, drink champagne.  Well, Taylor and I were prepared-we’d bought both products that day and were happily making the trek down to La Rambla in dresses and high heels (mistake number one).  Let me preface this by saying La Rambla, and I’ve heard Barcelona in general, is known for pick-pocketing; especially when it’s as packed as it was on New Year’s.  There were literally people everywhere.  Personal space was NOT an issue.  After the clock struck we decided just to sit in a bar for a quick drink and then head back to the apartment; a very early evening.  It took us about 15 minutes to get to the bar since there were so many people on the street.  We literally got pushed by the mob that was Barcelona on NYE; if one of us would’ve fallen, we would’ve been trampled to death-no joke.  We finally make it to this bar and are about ready to order a drink when I realize my right pocket of my coat is empty.  It used to contain my Blackberry and my camera.  Perfect.  Needless to say, we did not stay for a drink, we just went home and I was in shock about my stolen items.  Taylor tried to calm me down by saying I could get another camera tomorrow, someplace would be open, it’s Saturday. 

Well, the next day everything was closed because it was a holiday (January 1^st) so I was sans camera for the rest of Barcelona.  By the time we arrived in Rome, after sleeping in the Barcelona airport and being up for most of the night, I was ready just to head back home to Palma. 

We were on our way to St. Peter’s Square where I FINALLY found a shop that sold cameras!  My trip was looking up.  The first place we toured was St. Peter’s Basilica, which was gorgeous-so many paintings and beautiful marble, it was unbelievable. 

After our Basilica tour we stopped at a small restaurant to grab some authentic Italian food (we both ordered pizza) and split a bottle of wine.  We were so tired and hadn’t eaten forever, so the wine really had an effect on both of us, even though it was a small bottle.  From the restaurant we went back to our hostel for a quick nap (it was 5:00 pm) but then just went to bed at 9:00 with the promise that we’d wake up early the next morning and do more touring. 

Over the next few days, we walked around Rome for most of the day from morning ‘til night and ate our way through the city.  I tried a few different pastas, tiramisu, cannoli, and pizza.  Everything was delicious-the Italians really know how to cook.  

We had an excellent time in Rome but were definitely ready to be home and sleeping in our own beds in Palma.  Not to mention the weather in Italy was a lot chillier than in Mallorca.  

¡Bon Nadal!

The holidays have been an interesting time in Palma.  This is my first year being away from home and my family and friends for the major events.  Though I miss the comforts of home-cooked meals, family Christmas games, and, dare I say, snow, Amanda and I enjoyed our Christmas here in Mallorca. 

On Thursday, the 24^th, my school put on an excellent Christmas program.  We went to the church, which is conveniently attached to the school, where some children were dressed as the Nativity Scene and others sang.  Each grade (1^st-6^th) either sang a song or played a song on their recorders. (Everyone remember those?  First instrument for most of us?)  The entire program was in Catalan, but I was able to get a couple things out of it.  Xisca (pronounced Cheeska), gave me details on some of the more important parts in Castellano, which was really helpful.

After the program, Xisca and our 3^rd graders went back to the classroom to have chocolate and potato cake.  The chocolate is a thick liquid, kind of like hot pudding but a little less viscous.  The potato cake has powdered sugar on top and you dip the cake in your chocolate and then drink the chocolate after.  I thought it was delicious but Xisca said the chocolate was burnt.  Could’ve fooled me. 

Once the students finished their treat, we played games.  I chose to join a group of Old Maid players.  Our deck was made of pairs, such as the snorkler and the fish, the hunter and the lion, etc.  Instead of the Old Maid, the card that you didn’t want was the Lobo (wolf).  I played a couple of rounds and then moved on to a Monopoly group. 

After wishing everyone a Bon Nadal (Merry Christmas in Catalan), I rode the bus home and was ready to start my Christmas break!

Instead of trying to track down a turkey or spiral ham, we went with a tradition that Amanda’s family eats on Christmas Eve: lobster.  Since neither of us had ever cooked whole lobsters before, I knew this was going to be interesting before we even set foot in Mercadona, the local grocery store, to get ingredients for dinner.  We approached the seafood section which is a little unlike that of stores in Iowa; instead of the fish fillets on ice, in glass tubes; the whole fish is just right out there for you to see (and smell).  When our turn came, the woman behind the counter gave us two feisty, live lobsters and we were on our way.

Amanda and I relied on YouTube and Google to teach us how to prepare our dinner.  It worked!  After about 45 minutes of prepping/cooking, Anna (an American friend), Amanda, and I sat down to dinner.  This was interesting because we didn’t have any tools to crack the lobsters.  Instead we used a pestle we found in a random drawer, some knives, and a pair of children’s safety scissors.  Looking back now, I’m lucky I escaped with only two battle wounds (those claws are SHARP!)

                                                                            Fear

                                                  Each lobster was probably about 2 lbs.

                Lobster, baked potatoes w/ "sour cream" (unsweetened greek yogurt), and salad.

After dinner, Anna and I walked to 11:00 Mass at the Palma Cathedral.  Our walk was beautiful; most of the streets here are lit with strands of lights in shapes or different Christmas sayings in Catalan.  Bon Nadal (Merry Christmas), Molts d’anys (many years), and Bones Festes (good feasts, I think) are a few common ones I’ve seen.  Plaza Mayor, our Main Plaza, had lights streaming down from its center.  It was really cool to see, and made me appreciate the differences between Palma and Des Moines.  I live in a beautiful city on and island in the ocean, what more could I want?

                                   Some lights from one of the main shopping streets in Palma.

                                  This was only a little bit of the crowd at Mass.  It was packed!

                                         More of the crowd and the front of the Cathedral.  

I wrote this post as a packing break; I’m stuffing a duffle bag for a trip to Barcelona to celebrate New Year’s Eve (Nochevieja-literally, “old night”) and four days in Rome, Italy with Taylor.  I’ve never toured Rome so I am very excited to see the sights, and of course, eat pizza, pasta, and gelato.  Best get back to work.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and will enjoy the start of 2011!  What's your New Year's resolution?

Prepping for the Holidays

No new big news from Palma, but I thought I'd give an update anyway.  Work is going well, everyone is still enjoying their jobs for the most part.  We have Monday through Wednesday off this week due to Spanish holidays; one is for the constitution and the other is for something else, I can't remember what the celebration is.  At any rate, I don't have to work until Thursday so I'm a happy camper.

Morrigan, my friend that flew here with me from Newark, was supposed to come spend a few days in Palma but instead got to spend about a day and a half in the Reus airport (about 2 hours away from Barcelona) and then a couple days in Barcelona due to the nation-wide strikes that were starting on Thursday night (the night her flight was supposed to land in Palma).  Needless to say, many vacations were shortened, if not ruined, on this long weekend.  The government passed an alert on Friday night or Saturday morning that mandated the air traffic controllers to begin work again or they could be jailed.  Many people were stranded, not only in Spain, but since the air space was closed as well, no international flights could land.  The airplane that Morrigan was supposed to be on was coming from Portugal, and apparently it turned around mid-air and went back.

We are thinking about getting a Christmas tree this week sometime, though it will be small and fake, it will still remind us of the holidays.  I'm being spoiled right now as I have the balcony door open and it's a high of 70 degrees today.  On December 7th.  A far cry from last year when we had a snow day at Iowa on December 8th.  However, just because it's gorgeous out doesn't mean I can't get into the Christmas state of mind by making paper snowflakes and other goodies, which will probably be happening this weekend sometime.  I can't believe it's already December and I've been here almost three months!

As far as my holiday travel plans go this year, I will unfortunately be missing out on the Sioux City trek with family.  Instead, an American friend, Taylor, and I will be spending Christmas here at home (with Amanda), New Years in Barcelona, and January 2nd-6th in Italy.  I've been to Barcelona before, though not over a major holiday, and am quite excited to return; it's such a beautiful city.  As for our Italy trip, we're going to fly into Rome and tour there for a couple days and then hopefully take the train to a few other cities; we're kind of just playing it by ear.  It will definitely be different from my normal holiday travels but I think it will be a lot of fun.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving, I know I have a lot to be thankful for.  Will write more later, but for now, I'm going to enjoy the sun and 'buen tiempo' (nice weather) on our balcony.

Frankfurt and More

November has been a pretty good month so far.  My roommate, Amanda, and I traveled to Frankfurt, Germany last weekend.  We flew into Frankfurt-Hahn airport, which is actually about 2 hours away from the actual city of Frankfurt.  I guess that’s what we get for booking really cheap flights.  Still worth it, as we arrived at our final destination after taking the scenic route.  Frankfurt’s countryside reminded me a lot of Iowa: green, lush fields, some crops, some cows, a few wind turbines, it was FREEZING.  I felt right at home.  When we got to Frankfurt we had to find our hostel, which ended up being in the Red Light district of the city.  What an experience.  We saw a few "questionable" deals going on outside our hostel and Amanda commented on seeing needles in the street.  Surprisingly, I still felt relatively safe and we were in a group for the most part.  

Our hostel was one of the better ones I’ve stayed in.  The staff was really friendly and all spoke great English, thank God, because Amanda and I don’t have a clue about German.  We met a German guy and a guy from Quebec who is now working in Paris while we were there and hung out with them for most of the weekend.  It really helped to have someone that spoke German with us, asking for directions and such and it was nice to have the company.  They were both traveling alone so we invited them to join us on some excursions.  Below is the Döm district; it had a lot of shops and eateries.  The epitome of what "German" was in my mind.

It’s interesting the people you meet in a hostel.  We were just there for the weekend, but are staying in touch and discussed traveling together again sometime if it works out.  I can’t say that I would necessarily do something like this in the United States, but in Europe, a lot of people travel this way, and it’s pretty fun.  I'm also warming up to the idea of backpacking this summer, so if anyone is interested in joining me, it's a work in progress.

The first night we were there, we went out with a couple guys to a bar and ended up meeting some English people.  One of them was from Liverpool (which, until that night, I thought was in Ireland-oops) and got really animated about the football (soccer) team and how much he hates Manchester United (a rival of Liverpool).  One of the Liverpool players went to Man U and now everyone hates him and is trying to take his face/name off everything he ever won for Liverpool.  I told him it was kind of like Favre switching from Greenbay to the Vikings and he said no, this was about a million times worse because American football is “a fairy sport” and “real men play rugby”.  Okay, thanks for the clarification…

The next day, I told our German friend to give us some ideas of authentic German food we could eat.  My only request while we were in Germany was that I get a giant beer and some saurkraut and a sausage.  I had wienerschitzel (pork filet breaded and deep fried on a bun) for lunch while Amanda and I walked around the town and took photos.  She had a bratwurst, which was amazing.  I generally don’t like sausage or a lot of pork, but, I figured, 'when in Rome...' and this weekend was an exception.  Everything we ate was really good.  We went to dinner at a quaint Bavarian themed restaurant where I got my large beer (1 liter), a pretzel appetizer with herb cream cheese, some type of sausages and saurkraut (delicious) and apple strudel to top it off.  Best meal ever. 

We also walked up (took the elevator) to the top of the Main Tower (pronounced Mine) where you could see Frankfurt from the balcony.  It was quite a view, the Main River passes through the city as well and is a scenic view from above.  I’ve decided I have to go back to Germany and see some other cities, it was so pretty and we had such a great time. 

School has been good; we’re getting into the holiday season so that’s fun.  I explained what I do for the holidays, meals, family gatherings, etc and told the kids about candy canes.  They don’t have them here I don’t think.  Instead they have something called turrón, which is an almond type hard candy/cookie.  I haven’t had one yet (something else the students didn’t believe), but I’m going to have to try one.  They’re all over the stores.

It’s getting a little colder here, the afternoons are still pretty nice, but the mornings and evenings are freezing (almost literally).  I’m trying to hold out on buying a winter coat, I stupidly left mine at home, but I might have to cave and buy one soon.  Maybe I can at least wait til January for the month long sales.  Those are so great, I’m looking forward to them already. 

I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the Thanksgiving holidays!  Thanks, mom, for sending me stuff for pumpkin pie, it’s impossible to find here.

Life in Palma

First off, I apologize for not having written in so long; to say I’ve been busy would be a blatant lie, I’m just lazy and enjoying the town.  Please forgive me…

The weather here is still nice, I can’t believe it.  Right now, It’s 11:30 and I’m on our balcony sipping coffee in the sun, a few wispy clouds are in the sky, and it’s a high of 70 today.  It’s kind of interesting though, in the mornings and evenings, it’s freezing (almost literally), but the afternoons are still pretty warm.

I’m finally getting situated at my school and trying to pick up a couple more hours (during the two hour lunch period) teaching English to the professors.  Most of the teachers ate the school are friendly, though during break they speak to each other in Catalan (a regional dialect, kind of a Spanish/French mix) and it’s impossible for me to understand.  To combat this, I’ve registered for an online class in Catalan.  I’m going to try to learn at least a little bit but we’ll see how the ‘teach yourself’ method goes.  They have workbooks at school that I’m going to try to obtain too.  I will keep you all posted.

Our biggest news this week is that we FINALLY have internet in our apartment!  Long gone are the days that we had to buy a café con leche (coffee w/ milk) at a restaurant just so we could use the internet.  Thank God.  And now, I can skype with people on a decent connection.  If you’re on skype, feel free to chat me up at kaylaesmith.

 In slightly more exciting news, last weekend my friends and I (about 10 of us) traveled to Manacor (small town, about an hour away from Palma) to go to a few bars and have dinner.  While we were out (around 2am) we saw Rafael Nadal!  Manacor is his hometown and he was back for the weekend visiting friends and such after playing in a tournament.  We ran into him at two different clubs and were able to get a photo with him!  He seemed like a nice, down to earth guy; he was taking pictures with everyone who asked.  Anyway, it was a late night-the clubs here close around 6am and we got the first train back to Palma.  Made it home and in bed as the sun was rising at 8am.  Needless to say, I was worthless for all of Saturday afternoon.  Worth it.

We have another holiday this Monday, All Saints Day. Kind of like our Memorial Day I think, though they told me it’s also Halloween, so I’m not really sure what people do on the actual holiday.  I don’t have to work though so I’m not complaining.  I have today off as well (Friday) and need to run a couple errands.  Better do that before siesta (STILL trying to get used to that, it’s going to take a while…)  I’m thinking about getting a bike, one of my roommates has one; I would love to be able to exercise while exploring the city.  The nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread) is starting to catch up with me. 

I also need to reserve/order a turkey.  Since, apparently, no one eats them here (they’re not in stores), I have to go to a carnicería (butcher’s shop) and have them get one.  I just hope it’s de-feathered and dead before they hand it over, otherwise you’ll all be hearing about that experience.  We’re going to cook Thanksgiving this year at our apartment (again, I hope to God it works out) which, could be an interesting feat because our oven is rather small and, extra bonus, there’s not temperature dials.  It’s just a fire.  I think I’m going to give it a test run today with some cookies (if I can find vanilla extract, good lord that’s a tough one).  If this completely fails, mom, I might need you to send me some vanilla and some almond.  Amanda and I just want chocolate chip cookies and we can’t find brown sugar, vanilla, or almond.  I’m sure they have it somewhere though, I’ll keep looking. 

Oh I almost forgot, we went on a short hike last weekend as well.  The scenery is so beautiful over here; you have the ocean on one side (well, all sides) and the mountains on the other.  We climbed up a trail to a castle on the side of a hill and the view was amazing.  We could see the port and out into the ocean.  For any visitors that are coming this way, it would be something fun to do one afternoon. 

Well, I better get this posted and run my errands before the daily shutdown.  Keep me posted on all of your lives, I love the emails!  Un beso a todos, chau!

Getting Situated

Needless to say, a lot has changed since I’ve last written.  I now have an apartment, a working phone, a few friends (yay!), and I can find my way around the city (for the most part).  I live with three other people, two Americans (Amanda and Dan), and a British girl (Becky).  They’re all pretty laid back and easy to live with; I got really lucky with the random roommate situation, thank God. 

We did have a few issues before Amanda and I could get the keys, which was extremely frustrating.  I was reminded multiple times of how much I despise siesta and the ‘no pasa nada’ (don’t worry about it) attitude that a lot of people have.  Our day started with the two of us trying to exchange Amanda’s traveler’s checks for cash.  Easier said than done, since NO ONE would take them.  We walked from bank to bank, standing in lines, only to be told that, absolutely not, why would you want to exchange traveler’s checks?  We FINALLY got to a bank that had a sign on the window saying they could do the exchange.  Perfect!  We waited in line for about the 20^th time that day, again, only to be told, “Well, this branch doesn’t do it.  The bank on the other side of downtown does it.”  So, with light at the end of our god forsaken tunnel, we make the trek to a Banesto bank on the other side of town.  We arrive at 2:10pm and banks, apparently, close at 2:00pm.  For the day.  Between the two of us, we decided to just withdraw the cash we needed for our apartment deposit and say, “screw traveler’s checks.”  Well, after my debit card got denied (at three different ATMs) I figured something was up.  I told Amanda we needed to find a café w/ Wifi ASAP so I could Skype my bank and tell them to let me have my cash, this is some type of emergency.  I call, and they say, “NOOOOOO you may NOT take out more cash!  You’ve reached your limit for the day, you have to wait til tomorrow.”  What.  I said, “Listen, I need to put money down for a deposit, since, I’M STILL HOMELESS, and it would be FAAAAANTASTIC if I could take it out of my own account.”  Abbbbbbsolutely I may not.  Well, that’s perfect.  Thankfully, the person Amanda was staying with offered to loan us 600 euros so we could still pay our deposit.  Woo hoo!  We can get our keys!  We went to the office to sign our lives away and arrived at our new home moments later.  There are a few things we need to get straightened out, like internet, a few kitchen appliances, and cleaning supplies, and how to work the washing machine, but other than that, we’re very happy living here.  It’s centrally located and about a five minute walk to our friends’ apartment.  Below are photos of our apartment.  The first is me (obviously) in the kitchen, next is our dining room, followed by the living room, and lastly, the view from one of the balconies.

Today, instead of unpacking and cleaning our rooms, we decided to hit up the beach.  This was my first trip since being here and I was amazed.  The water was crystal clear and there were rocks and sand to lie out on.  One thing I am going to have to get used to is the way the natives embrace their bodies.  Probably about 1/3 of the women I saw today were topless, either laying out or swimming.  Some were also in thongs.  Extra bonus.  I mean, I guess it would be nice to not have tan lines…  At any rate, though I’ve witnessed it all before, I was still slightly taken aback.  We all looked out the bus windows (the city bus takes you right to the beach!) and were speechless.  I really hit the jackpot by being assigned to this city.  It was so nice to lay down in the sun and enjoy the scenery, especially after we’d had such a terrible day yesterday.  We’re definitely going to have to hit it again soon.  Photos below are me arriving at the beach, and the view from the coast.  Be thankful I spared everyone the topless beach goers.  There were some bad ones.

Tomorrow I’m planning on walking to my school, about a 35 minute walk from the apartment, according to Google Maps, just so I can figure out the location of everything.  I’ve also been looking into calling one of the language schools here and possibly teaching a couple more English classes.  My friend, Hollie, apparently got another job with them and it pays really well for the time you invest.  It would be nice to have a little extra cash for traveling and stuff so I’m going to see what I can do.  Right now though, I’m just sitting on the couch, listening to music (in my own apartment!).  

One thing I did forget to mention is, Amanda and I witnessed (and participated in) a strike!  Here, and all over Spain, there was a workers strike on Wednesday, the 29th for a lot of businesses and public transportation (busses, trains, Metros, etc).  I’m not entirely sure what the strike was over, besides small businesses wanting the same rights as larger companies, but it was quite interesting.  People were marching with flags and other signs here in Palma and on the news, we saw a lot more in other cities.  The major cities, like Barcelona and Madrid, were feeling the effects of the strike a lot harder than we were here.  Many busses were egged and there was a photo of a police car on fire.  Below are a couple pictures from Palma:  The first is the crowd, followed by a march of people holding a sign written in Catala (the local dialect here), and last is another picture of the march, with people holding flags (we each got one!) and a tombstone with RIP.