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Published: March 15th 2010
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View from Sacramonte La calle/ the street
I think I’ve mentioned before that everyone spends their free time in the streets. Homes are usually very small, and are only meant for family and close friends. When I say spend all their free time in the streets I mean ALL their free time. I was walking home from the movie theater one night, and it was raining pretty hard and snowing at the same time. It was pretty gross, but everyone was still on the streets. It’s really neat to see everyone out and about though. However, this also makes it really difficult to get around. The Spanish culture in general is very touchy feely, so they always walk arm in arm (which also makes it really difficult to walk at a reasonable pace). They also walk very slowly, which doesn’t fly with me. There is a time and place to take a stroll, but when I have some place I need to be, it makes it a chore. The only thing that’s worse than following a group of people with linked arms when you have some place to be is following a bunch of pigeons. Did I say pigeons? I meant pigs with wings.
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It was St. Andalucia day, so we went hiking in Sacramonte Never in my life have I seen pigeons so fat. They also don’t really fly. They just trot. If you get right up in their space they’ll fly to a few feet in front of where they were, then you’re both right back to square one.
One day I was walking past a plaza, and I saw two kids that couldn’t have been more than 15 years old. They were sitting on a bench and clearly in the midst of breaking up. I found this rather entertaining, purely because of the body language. There was about a foot in between the two of them (which is unheard of here), the girl was in tears, and would only look at him from the corner of her eyes. The boy was leaning forward with his head in his hands, and would occasionally look at her with an expression of “what do you want me to do?” He was clearly torn between not knowing if he should reach up and touch her, or just get up and leave, because they were both beyond words at this point.
Woops!!!
One day my host sister took my roommate and I out to grab
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Sacramonte some coffee with her and her friends. They were all so nice, and were very patient with us. After we got some tea, we went out to grab a bite to eat. By this point I was tired. It takes a lot of energy to have to think so hard about what you’re saying, and have to be so involved when you listen. Some days are easier than others. Sometimes I’m on the ball, and others I feel like it’s my first day learning the language. By the end of everyday you are just exhausted, and you hurt. Physically and mentally you just hurt. So I decided to take a breather and stopped listening for a bit. This was a bad idea. Before I go any further, there is a television show here about delinquent teen-agers called “Generación Ni-Ni” (Generation Ni-Ni). Ni-Ni means ni estudia ni trabaja (without study and without work)… When I finally pulled myself back into the conversation I heard them talking about not working or studying, but I missed the tense, and what person they were talking in. So I said “oh como genereación Ni-Ni” (oh, like generation ni ni), well, they were talking about themselves.
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View of the Alhambra So I had just offended the entire table without meaning to. They had also all just gotten done with very extensive exams, and are very intelligent, nice people. I just about died.
Stuff like this is expected to happen, but I was on the verge of tears later that night when I was trying to explain to my host sister what had happened, and that I really didn’t mean it. She kept making fun of me for it, which didn’t help, but she said that making fun of people is part of the culture. This made me feel a bit better.
Hippies
You would not believe the amount of hippies there are here. To be a hippie here isn’t the same as being a hippy in the US. It’s not a way of life here, or a belief. The hippies here, aren’t from Granada, and usually aren’t from Spain in general. They are all foreign. And per every hippie there are at least two large dogs. You’re not a true hippie here unless you have a dog. The hippies usually live in the caves by the Albízin. This is unfortunate, because the Albízin is my favorite part of
Granada. On the other hand, this is always a great place for people watching. It’s just not a place you should find yourself alone at night.
When they aren’t living on the streets or in the caves, they are living; I kid you not, in vans down by the river. I run past them every day. Take a shower hippie!!
La casa/ the house
I run along the river about 5 times a week. It's beautiful scenery, but not many people live down there, except for this one house. It's one of those houses that you don't come across very often. This particular house is nestled into the base of the mountain, and is in desperate need of some TLC, but it has a beautiful garden. I've only ever seen one old man there, and a cat. It's a house that kind of makes you stop and wonder what's its story? Did someone get married there? Did someone die there? Did the old man who only tends to his gardens lose a loved one there? I have so many questions about this house, but I think it's best to leave this one to my imagination. I can imagine
that some great parties were thrown there, that there was a pool, and the whole family would come to this house every summer and play in the river. I really love that house.
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