feliz navidad

Happy Christmas

The past few weeks have been relatively low key in Malaga, because no one was really in Malaga. There was a holiday last week so many of my friends had 10 days off from school and went traveling to various places (Paris, Dublin, Brussels and Amsterdam) and I got to go home for a wedding! Despite a minor hiccup in Paris thanks to a snowstorm in northern Europe I made it home safely, got to see friends and family and go to a beautiful wedding. Since we've all gotten back everyone has been relaxing, recovering from their holidays and getting ready to go home for Christmas. So, here are some pictures of the Christmas decorations in Malaga as well as some wintery activities. Enjoy!

I don't know what this street is called...

Plaza Constitución

Calle Larios

Alameda Principal

Alameda Principal

Alameda Principal

Alameda Principal

Definitely missed my calling

Just a private ice rink for two

Plaza Mayor

Plaza Merced, just down the street from my apartment

Christmas at my favorite coffee shop, Cafe con Libros

A traditional Belén (Nativity Scene/Bethlehem) at a girl I tutor's house

gobble gobble

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year, namely because it centers around one of my favorite activities: eating. Also my favorite food in the entire world, mashed potatoes, is featured prominently, so you can't go wrong. Normally at home I spend my Thanksgiving lounging on the couch watching hours of football (not soccer) and stretching my stomach muscles for the impending feast. This year, some adjustments were made. Rather than casually doing nothing all day, I went to school where I taught the reproductive system to a giggly class of 4th graders (just as awkward as you would imagine...) and tried (and failed) to avoid the germs floating around my concrete palace. It's difficult to avoid 300 sniffly children screaming "Enseño!" (Teacher!) and reaching their little hands out to grab you. However, my fellow countrymen and I were not about to let a little thing called the Atlantic Ocean keep us from indulging in our favorite gluttonous holiday. So, 8 Americans, 3 Brits, 2 Italians, 2 Scots and a Swede gathered around the table to share in a delicious traditional feast. It was really lovely to have some nice people to share the meal with. Along with the 5 kilos of mashed potatoes that I made we had turkey, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, gravy, corn, garlic mashed potatoes, amazing brie dumplings that I will dream about forever, dates and bacon (sounds weird but is actually delicious), apple pie and pumpkin pie. It really felt like Thanksgiving after we all finally finished eating and realized the intense physical pain caused by the ridiculous amount of food we consumed. My friend summarized the day perfectly, "If Americans know how to do one thing, it's eat."

Pumpkin pie, the one on the right is organic

Thanksgiving veterans and some newbies

Tommy the Turkey

The table

Carving

The spread...before we devoured everything

Me and Sandra

Yum.

gooooooooool!

It's no surprise that the Spaniards love love love their soccer/football/fútbol, whatever you want to call it. Their love for the sport is deep seeded, hereditary, passionate and after winning the World Cup this summer, stronger than ever. I myself am a huge sports fan so I love the intensity and pride that accompanies the sport. In Spain there are a number of leagues and levels to professional football, but the highest is La Liga. The most well known and most successful teams in La Liga are Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, homes to some of the best footballers in the world. There are 20 teams total in La Liga, including Malaga. Unfortunately, Malaga is not having a very good season thus far and is currently ranked 16/20. Despite their lack of success, the fans are not deterred.

My friends and I went to the game against Levante (currently in last place) on Sunday and the entire stadium was packed. Home games are played at Estadio La Rosaleda, about a 25 minute walk from the center of the city. The stadium holds 28,963 people (Wikipedia, whattup), so it's not a huge facility but it was crowded and bleeding blue and white for the game. Proudly sporting Malaga colors and garb we made our way to the stadium excited for a day of futbol. While at home our football games are packed with men and women, my three girlfriends and I stood out like sore thumbs inside the stadium. The only other girls I saw at the game were with their novios (boyfriends) and glared at us when we started shouting and getting into the game. Sorry we're spirited! Happily, Malaga won 1-0 and we got to witness everyone going crazy when they scored. GOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!! There most spirited and loudest section of fans (where we obviously want to sit at our next game) is full of British (of course) ex-pats and retirees who sang Malaga fight songs throughout the entire game. We're going to do some research, figure out how to get tickets for that section and teach ourselves the chants and songs so that next time we can be just as into it as they were. Just our luck, it started to rain 15 minutes into the game, but, superfans that we are, we stuck out all 90 minutes. It has rained about four times in my time here, and of course it rains when we have to be outside. Even though we looked like drowned rats by the end, it was a great afternoon.

We bleed blue and white.

Vamos Malaga!!

the best 3 euro i've ever spent

Last weekend some friends and I decided to venture to another nearby city where my friend Erica teaches, Torremolinos, for its annual wine festival. This was, in short, the best 3 euro that any human being has ever spent. Ever. Our 3 euros bought us an entrance fee and coupons for five glasses of wine...we didn't use any of the tickets. Instead we milled around making friends with the various vendors, sampling their favorites and attempting to talk about wine in broken Spanish. Many of them were older men, so they found it endearing that a group of American girls were trying. That or they were being creepy, but we had a great time. I used my very basic knowledge of wine that my oenophile father has passed down to me and actually managed to have a couple real conversations about the vineyards, aging process and storage that created the various wines. Bravo, Sam. Torremolinos is a huge British ex-pat/retiree city so after the festival we explored for a little while before having hamburgers and french fries for dinner. I had never been so happy to see a burger in my life.

This man asked us for our autographs, we signed various famous (male and female) names

a brief clarification

Those of you who've been reading my travel updates from the start (Hi, Mom) may be wondering why I've changed my blog's name a couple of times. Basically, I didn't like the other ones, and you can't just make brilliance appear whenever you'd like. I actually don't think my current (and hopefully) final title is anything near brilliant but it does encapsulate my life in Spain pretty well. Here, my life is about 50% croquetas and 50% confusion. What are croquetas?, you may ask. Answer: they're heaven. A typical Spanish food, they're fried balls of cream and ham. They're absolutely delicious and a balanced part of my diet. Cream=dairy, ham=protein, olive oil (for frying)=omega-3s. Basically if you grab a couple fruits or veggies every day croquetas can be healthy center of your balanced diet. I'm working on surveying the various croquetas around the city in order to find the perfect plate. So far there is a clear leader, but I've been directed to another location by my friend, another croqueta fiend, and I'm trying them tonight to celebrate the end of law school applications and the start of "the long wait". Fingers crossed, please.

The second half of the name, confusion, is pretty self-explanatory. Although my Spanish is improving every day I still find myself a step or so behind in most conversations. For example, this morning, I finally sucked up the 60 euro membership fee to join the nearby gym because it's too windy and cold to run outside now, and in my attempts to get my "abono" I ended up in a five minute exchange in which I thought I was talking about a social security card but the man behind the desk was actually asking me for my health insurance card. Sadly, I had neither with me, but since it's Spain they let me join anyway as long as I promise to bring it next time I go. Such trusting people, the Spaniards.

In other updates, the kids at my school are still crazy. Last week a ten year old with a fauxhawk winked at me in the middle of my lesson. It was not an accidental "I-have-something-in-my-eye" kind of wink, but a full on, head tilted, come on kind of a wink. I was so floored that had I been talking (we were playing Hangman, a classroom favorite) I probably would have had one of my ever so flattering coughing fits. Tutoring is going well, my students are so nice and eager to learn. It's also a nice opportunity to practice Spanish with their parents and get some snacks! Last week I got a slice of homemade cake and yesterday a Mantecado. Mantecados are traditional Christmas treats; slightly doughy, slightly sugary cookies about 2 inches across and an inch and a half high. My host mother in Sevilla always used to bring them to me and my roommate and we loved them. Last night I had a cinnamon flavored one. The parents tell me that because I'm tall I can eat a lot and therefore they give me lots of food. I don't counter them.

I realized that I never posted anything about Halloween, so here is a brief synopsis. Spaniards, who love any and all excuses to party, take Halloween very seriously. Despite the fact that they just started celebrating about five years ago they've wasted no time creating their own traditions. Our impression that Spaniards dress up as scary creatures was correct; foreigners, however, don't. Therefore, in comparison to our other friends dressed as fairies, doctors and the like, we looked terrifying. Credit to my friend Gina for the amazing makeup, but wow, we looked insane.

Heartbreaking.

adventures in architecture

In the eternal US v. Europe competition, there is one category in which the states don't stand a chance: castles. Every European country loves castles, I don't care if they don't like each other but when it comes to castles they are all in the same boat. The castle in Malaga is a fortress known as the Alcazaba-Gibralfaro. Located just around the corner from my apartment (not kidding) this massive structure from the eleventh century once housed the Muslim rulers of the city. The Alcazaba is the lower section of the fortress, the Gibralfaro located a twenty minute almost entirely uphill climb away. Due to its Muslim origins, the Alcazaba has many traditional features of Islamic architecture prominent in Spain after the Reconquista. There are intricate mosaics, dome structures, pavilions, gardens, bright colors (although most of those have faded) and geometric shapes. I wandered around the Alcazaba last week one day and was shocked at the size and intricacy of the architecture. The interior of the palace is connected with various gardens and patios that lead to smaller puertas (gates) and a smaller palace within the palace.

Up a connected walkway and a mountainside (literally), the Alcazaba is connected to the Gibralfaro. This section of the fortress dates back to the 14th century when it was built on the sight of a lighthouse, which is how it got its name: gebel-faro means rock of the lighthouse. Ferdinand and Isabella conducted a three month siege against Malaga, during which time the military used the castle as its fortress. The Malagans finally gave up when their hunger became too much to bear and Ferdinand and Isabella gained control of Malaga. Spaniards would give up for food, and then take a nice long siesta to sleep off the food coma. Much of the Gibralfaro was destroyed during the military battle so what's left is evidently just a small piece of the entire structure. What's left is absolutely massive. We explored for over and hour and there was still more to see, but like true Spaniards, hunger won out.

In addition to exploring the fortress/castle, I finally made it to the cathedral that I walk past nearly every day. This may sound quite obvious since I'm talking about a cathedral in Catholic Spain, but it was stunning. I was shocked at how much the outside, which is still very pretty, compared to the inside, which is unbelievably beautiful. While there is nothing extremely original about this cathedral, it actually reminded me a lot of the one in Sevilla, the details and intricacy are just incredible. There are many small chapels that line the outer edge of the cathedral, each one dedicated to a different saint. In the center of the cathedral is the main altar, organ and chapel with wooden carvings of over fifty saints. The craftsmanship is breathtaking.

I can't do any of these structures justice with my descriptions, so here is an obscene number of pictures to help to you along...

Looking out at the Alcazaba

View of Malaga from the Alcazaba

Patio de los Naranjos (Orange Trees)

Alcazaba

Alcazaba Gardens

Alcazaba

Alcazaba

Before the hike to the Gibralfaro

Gibralfaro

"What's left" of the Gibralfaro

Gibralfaro

Gibralfaro

That's nice, I guess

Malaga

I feel like this picture should come with an organ

Cathedral

Cathedral

Cathedral

Cathedral

Main entrance to the Cathedral

One of the many decorative Chapels

Boom.

Very tall Cathedral

Cathedral