Last weekend we had a "puente" which literally means a bridge, but in this case it means a long weekend. Monday was a national holiday because it was the Immaculate Conception. Oh Spain, are you secular? Are you Catholic? Well it's all very confusing. For example, the school I teach at is public. But you might not know it since the children attend Catholic religion class and there is currently a giant nativity scene set up in the hall and pictures of the Holy Family all over the school. I asked one of the teachers about this curiosity and she explained that religion is "optional" but no one opts out. As for the "belén", which is like a nativity scene but instead shows the whole town of Bethlehem, the teacher explained that this isn't just a Catholic thing, it's part of 
Spanish tradition. Hmmm..... whatever you say. I mean, I'm Catholic so what's it to me? But I happen to think separation of church and state is a pretty awesome thing. And while it doesn't function perfectly in the US (ahem, Utah?) I think we benefit from it in many ways. But Spain has a totally different history and culture and I don't know that it would ever be possible here.Anyway, for the puente my friends and I decided to head south to see the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the city of Granada in the region of Andalucía. Our Spanish friend, Angel, went with us and since he has a car it was a nice chance to see some Spanish scenery along the way. Driving south you have to get through the region of Castilla la Mancha. The best comparison I can offer is the really ugly part of Nevada between Reno and Salt Lake. You know when you look left and right and there's nothing for miles except flat land and death? Well that's sort of Castilla la Mancha. But once you get into Andalucía it's very different. Literally all you can see for miles are rows and rows of olive trees. All the houses in the towns along the way have white roofs, which makes for a pretty sight.
We finally got to the little town we were staying at in the mountains outside of Monachil. It's actually a stretch to call it a town. It was really a pueblito, a village of sorts, and it appeared to be deserted. But we found our hotel and a nice woman greeted us. It's funny because I can actually
differentiate accents around Spain now. Andalucíans often don't pronounce the last letters of words. So instead of "Buenas noches, tenéis una reservación?” it sounds more like, "Buena noche, tenei una reservacio?" or something like that. It wasn't too hard to understand. But it was really interesting to talk about it with Angel, because he was explaining that most people from other parts of Spain look at the southern accent as a sign of lack of education, stupidity, ignorance, etc. and that many Andalucíans try not to adopt a very strong accent in order to avoid that connotation. I told Angel that the southern accent had a similar rep in the US and he thought that was pretty funny.Our first night there we wandered over to a little cafe we had passed on the way in. We went in and were excited to find it was a cave building: all the rooms were natural caves. We went in one where a young guy was playing the guitar. We had some tea and enjoyed the music that was played just for us. We talked to the young man and it turned out he was from Argentina. Actually we knew this about one minute in because Argentineans pronounce their "y" sounds like "j" sounds. It's very beautiful Spanish. It was a really cool way to start the trip.
That night we went into Granada to get something to eat. Something that is unique to Andalucía is this great thing they do with tapas. If you go to a bar and you buy a glass of wine or a beer or something, you are served tapas for free. And not like a dainty dish of olives or something. But real food. So we went to a little place and spent
6 Euros for three drinks and three plates of food. Pretty sweet deal. We're not used to such hospitality in the big swanky city. I also got to meet up with a friend of mine from USF named Peter. He lived on my floor in the dorms Sophomore year and now he's studying abroad in 
Granada. It's such a weird/cool feeling to be able to meet up with someone in another country!
The next day we headed up the mountain to the ski resort. My friends wanted to ski but I passed. While I love skiing, I don't have any of the equipment or clothing with me so I thought it was more money and hassle than it was worth. Plus, can Spanish snow or mountains compare with Utah? Claro que no. I instead spent the day in a cafe reading a book and sipping something warm. I was just as happy. That's another nice thing about Spanish restaurant rules. You purchase something and you are in no way pressured to leave your table at any time. I bought a coffee and sat at my little table for like four hours. No pasa nada. We came back from the snow adventure and were totally pooped.
On Saturday we moved camp to a hostel in Granada. It was very small and cute with a terrace on the roof and great views of the city. We had a coffee and pastry and then 
walked all over the city. Granada is such an amazing city and I highly recommend a visit there. It was inhabited and ruled by Arabs for over 1000 years, so the Arab influence on architecture, food and culture is strong. We walked through the Cathedral square, the street vendors, and all over Albayzin, which is the Arab area of the city. We had some great Pakistani tea at one of the many famous titerias (tea houses) in Granada. Finally we met up with Peter and another friend of mine from home, Sarah, and had tapas.
The next morning I woke up before sunrise to go to the Alhambra. I had heard so many amazing things about it that I decided it was a must. In 
order to get tickets you either have to reserve them something like three months in advance or you have to get in the ticket line at the crack of dawn. Unfortunately we were left with the second option. Luckily someone at our hostel had told me that there is a secret ticket machine that only takes credit cards that no one seems to know about. This tidbit of info turned out to be true and we skipped the lines and were the first people let in. I felt like one of those kids who gets to skip all the lines at Disneyland because they won a contest.
The Alhambra is a palace, fortress and garden built by Moorish emperors in the 13th and 14th centuries, and later used by Charles V in the 
16th century. It is simply incredible. The palace has endless amounts of rooms with different patterned ceilings and the most intricate etchings done in marble walls. There are lots of fountains and arches and incredible views of Granada since the palace sits high in the hills. The gardens go on for miles and have lots of fruit trees and flowers I'd never seen. This isn't really a "words can describe" sort of thing so check out the pics.
We drove back to Madrid that day and I can really say it was an incredible weekend. I'm so glad I got to see Granada and definitely wouldn't 
mind going back.
This week was a really short one thanks to the puente. Nothing too eventful except that last night Real Madrid lost to Barcelona in futbol which is a sore subject around these parts. The rivalry between Madrid and Cataluña is a big one, and it has a lot more to do with it than soccer. As a Spanish girl said yesterday, "Cataluña... it's not Spain." It's pretty true. When I was in Barcelona I was really offended that people in stores and restaurants wouldn't speak Spanish with me. They would speak Catalan or even English, but not Spanish. Catalan is the regional language and it's sort of like a mixture of French and Spanish. Linguistic issues have become a hot debate in Cataluña as well as País Vasco and Galicia which also have languages outside of Spanish. For more info check out this really great article in the Economist:
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12501023
Anyway, I probably won't be posting again till 2009! I leave on Thursday for Paris and I will be there till the 29th. I'm spending New Years Eve here in Madrid and two of my roommates from San Francisco will be here. Then I'm heading to Dublin on Jan. 2-7 to visit my friend Eimear and her family. It should be a really fun vacation!
I will really miss Christmas at home this year. But I know I can spend every Christmas for the rest of my life with my family. So I'm keeping my spirits up!
I don't know that I will be able to send Christmas cards to all my family and friends... so let this serve as a big Merry Christmas to everyone I love!
Felices Fiestas,
Audrey
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