Food: Week 2

Here it is, the pride of Spain: Paella! 

Saffron and rice with veggies, jumbo seafood with eyeballs and antenna, calamari, chicken, and those are mussels, right? When I ate this for the first time in Spain 3 years ago, I knew I had turned a culinary corner and vowed to try everything in front of me from then on. I still have some "texture issues" as my good old American family has taken to calling it, (still getting used to the texture of seafood because I never used to eat it) but no longer consider myself a picky eater which I think is a good step in the direction of adulthood? 

OK. This is going to shock my mom. I was sure I wasn't going to like this because I don't care for mushrooms very much and almost never eat them, but these had a basil/garlic/bay leaf pesto sauce which I liked a lot and I ate it with my precious bread. Still not crazy about the texture of mushrooms but the taste was great. 

These are like onion rings but instead of onions it's calamari inside! These were awesome, I probably would eat them with ketchup next time. 

I loved this. It was perfect on a fall day when I was feeling kind of sick. It's lentil soup with potatoes and chorizo and it tastes a lot like the navy bean soup with potatoes and ham that my mom makes, only chorizo has a much stronger flavor than ham. Seriously yum. 

This is like potato salad with tuna and more veggies! I still don't like olives very much which is probably a Spanish sin...

Another amazing soup - chick peas/garbanzo beans, potatoes, carrots, and spinach. 

Snack time! A churro and one of the best donuts I've ever had. 

Rice with a fried egg on top and little hot dog/sausages and chorizo on the side. 

Went to a really nice restaurant for a coffee and had this with it. Yum. 

Grilled Cheese and Turkey! 

Mini Yogurt! 

Calzada de Calatrava

Sunday, October 12, 2014

So my mostly internet free weekend has been pretty awesome! My host family brought me with them to "el pueblo," which means town but to them means their "hometown." Augustina and Augustin grew up and met here in Calzada de Calatrava and then married and moved to Ciudad Real which is only about a half an hour away. My family has a second apartment and spends a lot of time here in the summer. There's a patio area they use a lot and they also have a "corralon," which is a garden/patio area with a high wall around it that also has a garage, a room with a fireplace, tables and chairs, and a bathroom. They have a small above ground pool and they spend a lot of time there in the summer also.  

On Friday at around 9 we went to a screening of a film that one of the locals made that shows all of the local traditional festivals and fiestas. It went through the whole  year from La Semana Santa (Holy Week) to the feast day of the patron of the town, Salvador del Mundo. Every town has different feasts and celebrations but most of the ones in Calzada involved a procession through the streets from the church with a large kind of parade float with the giant crucifix or statue of the Virgen Mary on it. There's also specific outfits for each festival and then brass bands usually march along with the procession. It's very interesting stuff but also hard to explain. 

Then at around 11 or so I went to a few bars with my host sisters and met a few of their friends. We had non-alcoholic beverages and tapas and I played fooseball! One of their friends, Alvaro, said he loved me in English which was pretty funny. He said it was difficult to be romantic in English haha There was a little dancing at the "disco" we went to but everyone said the big night to party was Saturday. We were out until about 3:00am anyways; this is very typical in Spain to go out late and stay out late. 

 Not sure if I really explained tapas but it's another amazing part of Spanish culture. Whenever you go to a bar or cafe and order a drink, you get a tapa, a small dish of food that's like an appetizer but you don't get a meal afterwards. You get a dish with every drink you order so you can end of having a whole meal of tapas and it doesn't cost very much. Some examples of tapas: Serrano ham with crackers/bread, tortilla española (omelette with potatoes), chicken chunks (better than Frickers), meatballs, potatoes (in many forms, but mostly fried or like breakfast potatoes), small sandwiches, kabobs, etc. Last night I think I paid 2€ for 2 small beers and tapas which is about $2.50. So cheap. 

Anyways, on Saturday we slept late and then went to an outdoor market that had lots of clothes, shoes, and purses for sale, had some tapas, took a long siesta, and then ate again. We painted our nails and were finally ready to go out at about 11. We took some pictures before we went out and that felt very familiar haha we went to a couple of bars/cafes for cokes and beers, and then went to the disco again. We got a huge punch bowl of tinto de verano for 8€ split between four of us and we each had 3 glasses. Again, so cheap! We did a little dancing and I met a bunch of people. One guy who is obsessed with the US told me his dream is to travel Route 66, that he loves the Oakland Raiders and the LA Lakers, and he knew where Cleveland was! My new friend Alvaro and I danced a little salsa and talked for a while, with him speaking English and me speaking Spanish! It's really good practice for everyone that way! We got home at about 5am and then slept until 1! My college days have been good training for this but I'm a bit out of practice staying up so late. 

Another thing I've had to get used to is whenever you see your friends here, meet new people, and say goodbye, you give them "dos besos," which is that Euro thing you've all seen where you kiss each other on each cheek. It's very different from the American handshake, obviously but it's not a bad thing. It's kind of like hugging people in the United States when you first meet them, for me maybe? I don't know but I feel like I've dos bes-ed half of Spain by now with all the people I've met.

Also the family has a kitten at their hometown house! His name is Fermín because he was born on the feast of San Fermín in July. He's so cute and we became best friends of course. They call him Mini or Minmin which is adorable. 

Anyways it's siesta time again. I'm not sure when we're going back to Ciudad Real today but then I'll have Internet so I can publish all these posts. 

Siempre,

Emily 

Food Roundup: Week 1

If you know me then you know I love to eat just about everything. Food is a very important part of the culture here in Spain and I intend to try everything put in front of me. I'm going to try to take pictures of what I'm eating, not for the sake of slapping an Instagram filter on it (that will only be sometimes), but so you all can see what kind of things we have here! My family eats very healthily because my host dad had a heart attack about 10 years ago.

Breakfast is pretty light here, with juice, a piece of fruit, cookies that are a little like vanilla wafers, sweet bread, or other pastries.

This is the kind of milk we have, it's shelf stable I think so it was room temperature this morning when I had it with Nesquik. 

On the left is yogurt with candy to dump in it, and on the right are the galletas or cookies. 

I haven't looked this up but I think it's like Nutella and it goes well with the cookies of course. 

This is some type of melt in your mouth pastry with sugar on the outside, I can't remember the name. 

I think that these are like Swiss Rolls but I haven't tried them yet! 

Here's a kind of juice I got at a cafe yesterday, it's like Mediterranean fruits: 

Lunch time is usually around 3 in the afternoon after kids get home from school.
Meatballs and French fries and bread:

Sardines and bread and croutons for the vegetable purée soup we had:

This is some kind of potato soup that was really good and chicken. 

This is the kind of melon we have a lot, it's sort of a mix of cantaloupe and honeydew but it's just called melón. 

We eat bread everyday, often twice a day, and I think it may be my favorite thing when it comes to food here (along with chorizo). I haven't been able to find a bread in American grocery stores that compares. It's the right amount of crunchy on the outside an soft on the inside and perfect to mop up whatever other delicious sauce is on your plate. 

Everyone keeps asking me if there is a typical food in Ohio but I can't really think of one. I keep saying that we have a mix of foods that people eat, from pasta to pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, tacos, and Asian food. Oh well. 

Siempre,

Emily 

Cervezada de Química

October 10, 2014

My host sisters were trying to explain to me what Cervezada was all week but I had no idea until I got there on Thursday! Apparently it's a university sponsored party that happens every week, and it's great. Each department of the university takes turns sponsoring it and it costs 5€. Get this: they use a water park! It's closed during the school year so it's the perfect place for this. There's a DJ and allllll the university students can come and bring their cervezas (beer) or botellones (bottles) of alcohol and whatever mixing drink they want. I saw a lot of calimocho (wine and coke) and tinto de verano (wine and Fanta de limon). "Cervezada" is a type of "Botellon," which is simply the drinking in large groups with bottles of stuff. This one was sponsored by the chemistry department and next week it's the med school/department. There were security guards there but I didn't see any trouble. People were dancing in the pool area that had been emptied and going to the bathroom outside the gates in the field next door. Luckily I'm no stranger to this activity, as my parents took us on many camping trips with no bathrooms. I can't really think of anything to compare it to, maybe like Dayton to Daytona for one day a week from 4ish-11ish and without the free beer? Anyways I went with Ana and met several of her friends which was awesome. We went back to her friends Marichi and David's apartment and ate pizza, watched Spain lose in futbol, and talked about all kinds of things in Spanish and in English. We did an awesome exchange of "do you watch this show?" "do you listen to this artist?" "have you seen this movie?" Everyone was so nice and now I have more Spanish friends on Facebook woo! Here are some pictures so maybe you can understand what I'm talking about a bit more. 

I feel like my English is already suffering because I'm trying to think about how to say everything in Spanish, but I suppose that's a good thing. Anyways, more posts are on the way and I will post this one once I get back to somewhere with wifi.

Siempre,

Emily

Mi Familia

Day 3
Yesterday I came to my host family's apartment at about 7:30 p.m. to meet them. The flat is interesting to me because I don't see many families living "the city life" in apartments at home. It's on the 3rd floor and has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a dining room, kitchen, and living room. I'll try and snipe some pictures soon and add them in here. 

My host mom's name is Augustina and get this, my host dad's name is Augustin! I have 2 host sister's named Fatima (25 yrs. old) and Ana (24 yrs old). Fatima teaches English and Ana is learning English so it's been fun communicating back and forth in English and Spanish. My brain gets tired easily I've found because sometimes I'm trying to think in Spanish and they're trying to speak in English, so it gets a bit confusing. Ana also plays for the Ciudad Real Futbol team! I'm hoping that one of these weekends I can go watch her play. The family goes to the "hometown," Calzada I think it's called, on the weekends so that's where I'm going this weekend! The family has been super nice and welcoming, although I've barely heard Augustin say 3 words haha. 

Today I slept late, went out for a walk and some tapas (beer and potatos with aoli) with Ana and her friend Maria, came back for lunch of pasta CON CHORIZO (chorizo es mi favorito) and melon, and then slept a little more. We are going out tonight a little later to meet some of Fatima's friends I think. (Side note: it throws me off when the family shortens her name to Fati, it sounds like they're calling her "Fatty" to me!)

Tomorrow is my first day in the school which is exciting! I've been reading some of the other CIEE program people's short blurbs on Facebook about their experiences and most of them sound great! It will be nice to have a schedule! I'm also already getting in contact about teaching English lessons in Ciudad Real, like one on one conversation lessons, so that will be great for extra money.     

I know most people don't care but I'm trying to look like less of a slob over here so here's my outfit of the day. 

Siempre,

Emily

Ciudad Un-Real

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Ahhhhh!!!! Still can't believe I'm here. Katie and I were talking about how we weren't uncomfortable at all here because it feels like coming home. It's like we stepped right back into our old Spanish life and every tiny cobblestoned street we turned on felt familiar to us somehow. 

Toledo is a beautiful historic city and so we all walked around and got lunch when we arrived. My first Spanish meal was tapas of course! Partridge pâté, beef stew, croquettes, tuna and potato salad, Manchego cheese and ham, and patatas bravas with sangria! 

Then in the evening we met back up with group for dinner at this yummy restaurant with lots of little alcoves to fit us. It felt like we were in a little cave. I had more pâté, croquettes, and cheese, an egg and sausage biscuit, veal and potatoes, and ice cream with wine and sangria again. 

Then we went to the roof of our hotel which had a nice bar area and a bunch of us played Cards Against Humanity! It's a good way to get to know everyone haha  I wish we were all going to be staying a little closer to one another but it will be good to be a little separated so we make Spanish friends. We're all going to make travel plans together which will be nice. This was the panoramic view off of the balcony in my hotel room with the Cathedral in the distance. 

Today we woke up and had a light breakfast 

and went to our orientation at the library of Toledo: 

We learned a little more about our roles in the school and got some practical information. Then we met our tutors! Maribel is a 34 year old English teacher in the school I'll be at in Daimiel, but she lives in Ciudad Real which is about a half hour away. She picked me up from orientation and we drove about an hour and a half to her apartment. She ordered pizza for me (a very delicious peperone) and I met her boyfriend Samuel. Samuel is also an English teacher; he was born in Portugal, then went to South Africa when he was a year old and spent 17 years there, and then went back to Portugal for 15 years. They're both pretty cool to say the least and we got along well. (ALSO she told me I looked very Spanish right after I met her AND she says my Spanish is good!! Those are THE highest compliments and I love her for them).  She showed me my timetable for school and explained how things would work. Then we went to the city center, met her parents, and took a walk! 

Ciudad Real has about 75,000 people so it's about double the city of Dayton proper without suburbs. I had some ice cream (Chocolate Brownie), met one of Maribel's friends, and talked to the boss of the English academy where Samuel works to inquire about whether I could teach English lessons for "pocket money" as she says. The answer to that question was "vamos a ver," so "we'll see." I'm so excited and grateful for every aspect of this experience and I can't wait to see how this will change me and make me better. It feels so unreal to be here, and thus the punny title of the post. I'll probably be hashtagging it so prepare yourselves. 

I think I'll save my introduction to my host family for the next post because it's 12:58pm here and I am ready to sleep for a whole day. 

Siempre,

Emilia