Semana Santa en Granada (26th of March to 1st of April)

Semana Santa is our spring break, just a week that doesn't have school. Well that's what the majority of school  kids would say. Semana Santa is what some people in Granada celebrate, in preparation for Easter. It really is a festive time in the city of Granada, the weather is usually nice. Lots of people go to El Centro, and other neighborhoods like, Zaidín, Albaicín, and a few others to see "las procesiones" (Processions or ceremonies). In these processions people carry a large statute of Jesus Christ or Mother Mary, or other important figures that are apart of "la cuaresma" (lent). I am not very religious, but it was still cool to see some of these processions in the Spanish culture. Unfortunately, it rained the entire week of Semana Santa. So I only was able to see two processions. But regardless, it was a unique experience. Here are just a few pictures..

Statue of Jesus



Although these men appear to be a part of the Ku Klux Klan, in reality they are not. They are simple people who hide their faces in sin as a cultural custom of las prosesiones




These two girls are daughters of my host mom's friend. they were preparing to march in the processions. They also happen to be Flamenco dancers



The Alhambra

So I have lived here for 6 months and I finally saw the Alhambra.
But wow, it has left an image in my mind that wont go away. It really is incredible like the whole world says it is. It is the reason why Spain is in the 5 most popular countries for tourism. It is the reason why there are so many "guiris" (the local term for foreigner) in the city of Granada. It's a thousand year old master piece. But what I really want to brag about, is the fact that I took a girl on a date to the Alhambra... and I didn't even have to pay for the tickets... My aunt got them for free because she has connections with some of the staff there... so fellas if you can beat that, I wanna hear what you got that's better than this, right now, and ladies, if you think a man could do better than this, I also want to hear it now! Well... I guess I wont be so arrogant, and I'll just end with, it was a really fun date. I have this "friend" named Carmen... well that's just it. She's a  really cool person, and I enjoy being with her. Here are some pictures of the Alhambra.

Garden of the Alhambra

Tower of the Alhambra

Me and Carmen

"La Fuente de los Leones" Fountain of the Lions

Quite an image

One of the better days in my Life!!

just take advantage of it!

I've reached the point of no return... It's official. I'm at home. This has become my home. It's interesting that everyday I wake up and get into my daily routine; I have no idea that I'm just an exchange student passing a year of my life here... I've become a member of my host family now. I am considered as a cousin, nephew, son, brother, and a grandson. My family here treats me as one of their own. I have started playing soccer with my uncle Carlos's' "men's league". I've had my better games and my worse games, but he invites me back every time. I have spent countless hours in my other uncle Angel's bar with family and friends.. yeah I pay for what I order, and sometimes he invites me to a drink. Mondays are the "eat lunch at grandma's house" days. And then after we have finished eating, we go to my aunt Fuensanta house, to have some coffee and watch the "tele novelas" which all kind of suck, but grandma gets into them and sometimes swears at the TV... all too hilarious. I have found some peace here.. It's such a relief..

Yet my departure date is always in the back of my mind. I realize now it's not a permanent arrangement, only a year. I can only remember when at the beginning of my exchange a year seemed to be a long time... and now here I am passed the half way point, and I realize time is like a bird because it was made to fly with such grace. I am greatful now for every moment that I have experienced here, both the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the normal and the mad, the outrageous and the rad!  I've gotten the chance to know so many people that it's incredible. In a city that I have only spent 5 months in, whenever I am on the streets I always run into people that I know. Whether I know them from school, basketball, soccer, or just that funny thing that happened during last nights party. I have also gotten to know Granada very well. I have the map almost memorized in my head because I am getting myself where I need to be all the time. I have a new navigational tactic, it's called getting lost! I've gotten lost so many times, but I always have a general sense of where I am going, so I always find my way... and in the process of getting lost, I always find a new way!

I, up to this point have not one regret, for that I am happy. For that I can call this place home. For that, I'm not sure if I want to leave. Fortunately I have a lot of time left... Enough to make a smooth exit, because when I leave, I don't know when I'll be back. So now, I just take advantage of it!

Summary of a month and a half.... Dec4-jan14

So I have realized that the Spanish way of life has consumed me to the point where it has made me forget to blog....
Well right now I write my summary...
So when I said the Spanish way has consumed me, I mean it literally. The other day I met some guy and he asked me "Where are you from?" and I said "Jun..."(the small town in which I live). I didn't realize that he was referring to my nationality. Another funny incident occurred when my teacher called out "Is Jose here?", I just remember looking around thinking to myself.. "Who is Jose?"... This is because everyone here calls me Guti. I had forgotten my name for a couple seconds... :(
I also feel totally at home here. When I think of my house here in Spain, its home, it's where I live. Its no longer the place that I'm just staying in.
Another thing is that I have been asked countless times, when I leave, when will I come back to Granada... I always respond "Cuando dios quiera" jaja which means "when god wants it"...
My friends on my basket ball team call me Guti el "Granicano" ( a mix of Granadan and American)

So what have I been up to?
Well school, it was hard. towards the end of the first trimester; I was totally beat mentally. Yes, I did fail a few classes... but this next trimester I will pass... I made a promise to myself... a New Year's resolution.

But I got to spend Christmas, New Years, 3 Kings day, and my birthday here in Spain!
here are some pictures of Christmas Eve, or in Spain referred to as " La Noche Buena" (The good night).

Me playing a drum at the Christmas party

Me playing guitar with Yered

Me playing guitar with my uncle Angel

Me playing guitar while my Tio Carlos plays the caja 

Well I have officially adopted the Spaniard form of life

So I have been here for 3 months... and I feel like I can't speak English anymore... I've had two English tests since I've been here, and I didn't pass either with a 10. Its like when I am speaking  English with my fellow American exchange student, Jess Nelson, I notice how bad I speak English. For example I remember parts of  past conversations.
Jess-When do we have to go the next rotary event?
Me- Well know do I.... I mean I don't know...
Jess-How did your math test go?
Me- I think I didn't doos it well.
Jess- How well can you speak Spanish?
Me- I talk Spanish good.
Jess- Have you noticed that since we have been here our English has gotten worse?
Me- It's gotten to the point where my English teacher thinks I can't speak English, so she makeded me do problems in class.

It's just what happens when you have been speaking another language all day, everyday, for 3 months straight.

I have started a rap group with a friend... Yes, you guys can all laugh but I think its cool! I'm doing it because I still want to be a part of some kind of composition of music... so I'm learning how to speak in rhyme, its harder than I thought but I'll get better in time. But one things for sure rapping is pretty fun, I'll show you all my songs when they are done. Because I've adopted to the way a Spaniard lives, it's just what the experience being an exchange student gives.

My basket ball team is in first place in our league.... How cool!!!
We beat the 2nd best team in Granada, and I had a 20+ point game!

Getting better at break dancing.... I can do a head stand!

Passing all but 2 classes...
(P.E. and Math)
these are both really hard classes... and yes P.E is hard! (Harder than I thought, harder than most of the classes)

Well that is all I got for now....
Bye

The Little Things that still mess me up

So in Spain, obviously a few things here and there are different.. but the thing is, these different things are still confusing me. So I shall list them:

First of all the Metric System.
So when any one asks me how tall I am, I really don't know how to respond, I guess I can say "I think I'm about 175cm" because if I told them I was 5'9" no one could percieve it. I feel the same about kilometers. I'll ask someone "How far is the park", or "How far do we have to walk", and they respond by saying "about 4 kilometers", and I have to like think for a second to do the math. I really don't know how big a kilometer is, I can't like put an image of it in my head.
I will also include degrees celsius in the metric system... I still don't get it; I just get that 0 is freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) and 100 is boiling (212 degrees Fahrenheit).

Elevators
What keeps getting me every time is that the floor on ground level is floor zero, not floor 1. In the USA floor zero is like a parking garage, and floor 1 is ground level. Its a small thing that keeps gets me.

No street names
There are hardly any street signs, when I say this I am referring to the names of the street. You kind of just have to know what street you are on.

Military/World time
They use military time on all of the clocks... Yet no one ever says "Its 22 O'clock" they still say its "10 O'clock". But I still have to stop and think for a second to understand what time it is.

Street Lights
They exist, but no one stops at a red light... well they do, only if there is oncoming traffic.

The Date
In the USA if it was the 3rd day of February we would write it like this 2/3/11... Over here in Spain, the day comes before the month and looks like this 3/2/11.

Well these are just a few examples!

What? Seriously?

So I just joined a break dancing group... What? Never done this stuff before! I need to gain some more muscles.. I´ve lost  lot since I have been here! But I´m excited to get this started up!

Also the crazyest thing happend in class today. So I was sitting in my English class when the teacher tells the class ¨Today we are going to listen to a song in English¨ so I was thinking to my self cool what song....
when she played the song  heard a familiar drum beat... too familiar and than... I realized it was the song I had wrote with my band...! Wow we were listening to my song ¨Oh Mari¨ in my english class!!! Then the class made me sing it... I know there is some pictures and photos... but as of now i still dont have access to them...
but that was the coolest weirdest thing ever!