10 Days in Cadiz: Veronica Shares Her Side of the Story

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You never realize just how far your daughter is until you travel 10 hours on a plane and 5 hours on a train to see her. Yes, this blog is from Carol or “Mommasita!”

Michael and I just got back from spending 10 wonderful days with Jerica! As a mom, there is nothing more comforting to know than that your daughter is being well taken care of, especially thousands of miles away. The program that Jerica went through for the study abroad program has been very impressive. They have placed her with a wonderful family who we had the privilege to meet and spend time with .

Jerica met us at the train station at Cadiz on that first day and we began the first walk of very many through the city. The city was beautiful and had so much history. She got us checked into the hotel and then we went to dinner. The hotels are notoriously quite tiny. You have to use your room card in order to have electricity for the room. You also need special converters for all appliances which I thought I was prepared for, however managed to “fry” my hair straightener with the first attempt (hence having bad hair in all the remaining pictures of the trip!). The beds are usually 2 twins pushed together and you may or may not have air-conditioning. I was so impressed by the amount of Spanish Jerica has learned and could fluently speak to anyone in Cadiz! Thank goodness as the city is 100% Spanish speaking and anything you may have to read is in Spanish as well. Sitting down to dinner that night made me realize I would likely not have a clue of what I would be eating for the next several days! The next day we were able to meet Jerica at the beach after class. It was humorous to me to be talking to my husband with a girl in the background taking her top off. At least he was facing me although the topless women and boys in their speedos was quite unavoidable! That afternoon we got to meet Jerica’ s host family and see their house for the first time. They are every bit as wonderful and crazy as Jerica has stated. They were so easy to be with and is clearly evident that they adore Jerica and take care of her well. Jerica was able to translate to them and back to us without difficulty. Again, I was so impressed by what she has learned. Josefa, her host grandmother, could not pronounce my name so she decided to call me “Veronica” for the remainder of the time! The house is amazing and built as most are in the early 1800’s. They explained to us that they cannot modify the structure in anyway or they could be fined. They are only allowed to paint. We met Jerica’ s roommate, Hayley from WA;, Josefa, the host grandmother; Pedro, the host grandfather; Milagros, the host mother; Jesus, the host father; Adrian, three year old grandchild; Mo, another exchange student from WA; Carmella the 17yr old host sister; Arturo the 20 yr. old host brother; and the newest member of the family, a16 yr. old HS exchange student from Brazil.

The third day we set out for Italy with Jerica. We took a train to Seville, plane to Pisa and then a train ride to Monoglia which is a small city just north of Cinque Terre where we would be visiting. I really enjoyed Italy and the language is beautiful. Fortunately there are enough similarities to Spanish that Jerica was able to communicate important items to them if necessary. I did not anticipate the weather being so cold nor did we anticipate the national train and bus strike they had the very next day! If you read Jerica’ s previous blog you have read all about it. I have to say that Jerica was a real trooper on the hike! Michael and I were really thinking that it was not going to happen with all of our backpacks and duffels. The view and landscape was so incredibly beautiful it truly did make you forget about the pain during the climb. Lucky for Jerica we did have all our stuff or I would have like to hiked the last 2 miles to the end which was notoriously very difficult! We were able to visit Milan at the end of our time in Italy just for the night. The train station in Milan is absolutely gorgeous. Actually all of the transportation that we had to use was very safe and very clean. Back in Cadiz we experienced their first tropical storm in many months. I really think it just waited for us to come. It cleared up early that afternoon and we were able to be out in the city again. We had been invited over to lunch at Jerica’ s host family and what a treat! We were served Puchero which consists of a rice soup with garbanzo beans in a broth from meat that has been soaking for 6 months. This was followed by beef and chicken with wonderful bread and fruit for dessert that I have never tasted before called chirimoya. It was truly an experience that one would never get just going on vacation and we were honored we were invited to be a part of the meal. The next day was our last with Jerica as we had to go on to Madrid a day early to make sure we caught our plane on time. I did note a few things that if you have traveled in Europe you already know and if not, it may be helpful for you to know!

1. Walking: lots of it! Everyone walks everywhere! Age 1-90; they all walk. Everyone is very fit and well dressed for the weather. We certainly did our fair share. It seemed like on any given day we walked at least 5-8 miles just getting to hotels, restaurants and all around the city. We were glad we packed our tennis shoes!

2. Food: They eat very light for breakfast; usually pastry and a latte. Lunch is their larger meal of the day usually around 2:30 and Dinner around 9:30. They do eat lots of fried foods but always using olive oil. They shop every day and eat only fresh food. They have a huge outdoor market with every kind of fish, meat, fruit and vegetable you can imagine. I wish I could have taken it all home with us! They literally have candy stores, pastry shops and gelato counters on every block; wow, what more could you ask for?!! Jerica and I indulged in Gelato pretty much after dinner on most days! I really miss our nightly walks of searching for the special Gelato place!

3. Bathrooms: not in abundance! If you find one in public it likely may not have a seat and if you find one in a train station in Italy you may not have a toilet at all but rather just a hole in the ground! Now I haven’t squatted like that since college and opted to seek out another avenue. The towels in Italy were what I would call a tablecloth in the US however they did have towel warmers which were quite awesome!

4. Hotels: not quite the Marriott. The rooms are usually quite tiny. The beds are very firm and usually are twin beds pushed together. You may have to turn on a water heater to take a shower and turn on the electricity when entering the room.

5. Shopping: No Wal-Mart’s here! The shops in Cadiz had a lot of similar things in every store. They did have some neat clothing stores and shopping was definitely cheaper in Cadiz than anywhere. The trick was trying to figure out what fit and if it would look appropriate in the US! I have to say everyone dresses very well in Spain and Italy. Lots of boots, leather jackets and scarves. All their clothes fit perfectly. No hoodies, sweats or ratty jeans here! And the babies… They were all little dolls! Each one of the dressed like china dolls. They were strolled in beautiful carriages and families were all together. Also noted were tons of dogs! All on leashes and well behaved. They were all kinds of neat breeds and very well groomed. It was really fun to see different ones each day.

6. Churches: They are beautiful and very abundant.

7. Lifestyle: I was surprised as it does not get daylight there until about 8:30 in the morning and sun sets around 7:30. Kids usually don’t go to school til 9:30 or 10 and go straight through til 2:30 or 3. At that time the families come together to eat their big meal. Shops and stores usually closed from 1:30 to 5:00 until they go back to work. They usually will work til 9:00 and then eat dinner around 9:30. In Cadiz, we literally saw no one on their cell phones texting and not even talking. We rarely saw an iPhone and if we did it was likely an American. Even though likely frustrating to our kids back home, it was a very welcome break from technology!

8. Language: In Spain we had our own personal translator by way of Jerica! When she was not with us it was a little more difficult as almost nobody spoke any English and nothing was displayed in English. One of the mornings I called down to the front desk to see how late they were serving breakfast and the lady kept giving me the bus times!

9. Safety: At no time I have to say did we feel any part of Cadiz was dangerous. Everyone kept well to themselves and it really appeared to be very safe. Children walked in all areas and you didn’t see anything that would remotely make you feel uncomfortable or feel unsafe.

Saying Goodbye to Jerica was sad but we know we will see her in about 8 weeks and Blake, her boyfriend will be there at Thanksgiving with her. She has had an incredible experience so far and we are so very proud of her! We are lucky to live in a time in which we are able to talk via Skype with her every day if we choose to do so. Having shared some of her experience helps us understand her blogs more clearly as well as understand some of her feelings and emotions upon her arrival in the US. Experiencing jet-lag ourselves right now we anticipate she will be exhausted on Christmas eve but wide awake on Christmas morning!

Adios to all!

Love,
Carol

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Comments

[Laurie]

Qué bueno ¡¡
Un encanto de relato ¡¡¡ No recordaba cómo puede ser visto un español fuera de su país o de Europa ¡¡¡ Me ha venido bien refrescarme la memoria. Me ha gustado toda la explicación: desde la diferencia de voltaje, el horario de las comidas hasta la llamada de atención de la falta de explicaciones en inglés. No recordaba haber sido vista de esta forma y me viene bien de vez en cuando, que alguien me abra los ojos para saber en qué paraíso vivo. Un saludo y muchas gracias.