Foreign sickness

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Granada
June 12th 2012

Published: June 12th 2012

Well. I jinxed myself. Everyone on our program that went to Morocco got sick yesterday, and my roommate and I were just thrilled it hadn't hit us and we made it out unscathed. Well, that lasted until this morning. Julia got sick a little sooner and didn't sleep most of the night, I at least made it to my first class this morning but then basically slept the rest of the day. Our host mom is not the most.... loving person haha she keeps lecturing us on how we should have eaten yogur con bifida and taken the medicines and blah blah but too late now. So todays meals have been bread, more bread, oh, and more bread, with a side of plain, unsweetened yogurt at each meal. Any weight I have gained, disappeared today!

I dont think I ever wrote about the corido del toros or the féria so here it goes!

Corpus christi is huge in Granada. The whole city virtually shuts down, and we had wed- friday off for school- hence the trip to morocco. We went to the fair thinking that it would be just your normal fair, but boy were we wrong. It was basically a mini disney land and the gate into it totally reminds me of "It's a small world." They had rollercoasters, and log rides, and rows on rows on rows of food stands, and then there was a little kiddy section, the coolest part of which was a "carousel" but with actual mini ponies!!! Considering that we had just been to the bull fight, one of the girls in our group was all sensitive and feeling humane and thought it was so terrible that the ponies only get to walk in a circle for their entire lives, which of course is not actually the case, but she just couldn't get past it. It took a couple of us to convince her that cutting them free would in fact not be a good idea. There is a picture of her crying on my facebook of course.

There is no such thing as an occassion that is inappropriate for heels to the women in Spain. I saw higher heels on these fair grounds than I ever have at my sorority formals, and thats saying something. A lot of the little girls dress up in their flamenco dresses and have recitals early on in the day, but then wear the dresses to the fair. Oh and might I add to the parents reading this, we were at the fair until.... 2/230 am and there were BABIES- babies awake, and toddlers running around and 4 and 5 year olds stuffing their faces with sugar, so let me take this time to question, why do american parents feel the need for curfews? Clearly spanish children grow up perfectly fine!.. Kidding 😊

They have the most interesting rides, like a blown up tube, that sort of resembles a hamster wheel that little kids climb in and attempt to get to the other side of the pool by running in it like a hamster. They had a roller coaster that was extremely similar, and resembled the board game "mouse trap" that we rode on. There were definitely a few moments when I was slightly afraid for my life, but I figure going out in spain on a roller coaster at 230 in the morning isn't exactly the worst way to go. The ferris wheel..... or shall I say ferris wheel on steroids. First of all the little boxes they put you in hold 8 people and have seat belts. That should have been our first clue this wouldnt be your average ferris wheel, why would you need a seat belt for such a calm ride? So here we are just bumpin along in our little ferris wheel box when all of the sudden we get to the top and the speed quadruples and we are plummeting towards the ground and then shooting towards the sky. Ay dios mio! The poor girl in our group who agreed to suck up her fear of heights because of her FOMO (fear of missing out) was about ready to cut our heads off for putting her in such a life threatening situation. It was quite comical, after the fact of course.

El corrido del toros. First off, let me start by saying that I was thinking that this 3 hour long event was only going to kill 1 bull, however, there were 6. Not 1, not 2. but SIX. I have never become so desensitized to something in my life. Second of all. I am pretty sure the only reason spaniards even go to this thing anymore is to drink. Our host mom packed us a nice little picnic with some sandwiches and fruit and a juicebox- they're super cool for big kids here I swear... Anyways, we get into this little venue and start unpacking our little picnics, only to realize everyone around us has liters upon liters of sangria and tinto verano and then theres a million beers and lots of little premade sandwiches. So we were all like okay, lets just go down to the vendors and buy a drink. No. It is so common to bring drinks, that the only vendors are selling Ice, and cups. We didn't look super American at all. One of the girls who came late grabbed a bottle of tinto verano on her way in and so we all just kinda split that. Its not like you have to drink, but you kind of want to in this environment because its a little.... intense. Well anyways, so after we get past the problem of being the only non lush people in the stadium, the bull fight started. It really wasnt that bad, until the bull died. The parts leading up to that kind of reminded me of when we shine a laser pointer at the ground and the dogs go insane trying to pounce on it. Don't even try to act like you haven't done it because I know you all have. But then the matador kills it, and its just so sad, and it gets dragged out behind horses 😞 meh. They have dance breaks between each bull. I mean we aren't talking your average seventh inning stretch at the rockies game. No no. This is a SERIOUS dance break. There are bands that play music and everyone grabs strangers and dances with them. Its great. The best part, although kind of funny in a wrong way, was when the band started playing "I will survive"... punny. What else.... oh at one point we were all really confused because everyone in the crowd waved white flags after one of the fights, and then the matedor cut the bulls ear off. We later learned that it meant the crowd thought that the bull fight was the best one of the night and the matedor gets to keep the ear as a souvenir. I wonder what he does with it... that's not exactly something you just mount on the wall in your dining room to brag to the in laws about...

Might I just add people here are a little pushy. They do not move on the sidewalk, and the especially do not move if they are walking in pairs. Then you always have that SUPER not so precious couple who's faces are somehow attached to eachother while they are working. I usually can't help but gawk for a moment or two because I am so impressed by the fact that they haven't face planted or walked into a pole yet. If I had a euro for every time I say "perdoname" on my way to class I wouldn't have to spend any of my own money.

Well that is all for now. We were going to go to the disoctecas tonight, but everyone decided tomorrow would be better because 1. we will all feel better and 2. girls get in free so.... who can argue with that? The whole go out at 2 am stay out until 7 am thing is quite different than what I am used to. It's funny cause my friends back home are going out right around when I am still out too even though there is an 8 hour time difference! So instead of a crazy evening we are currently recuperating on the terrace watching the sunset with some tea. You have no idea how difficult it is to hold a conversation in one language while typing in another.

I am going to have no motivation when I come back because life here is so.... relaxed, I mean come on, I have a built in nap time every day. Anyone who would like to argue this is not in fact "the life" can feel free to take that up with me anytime other than 12-3 pm, because that is when I will be siesta-ing.

Hasta luego!

Mucho amor-

Annemarie

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