El Kapital

Hello All,

Sorry I don't update my blog nearly as much as you or I would both like to! I've been very busy with a variety of activities and tomorrow we head out to Andalucia. Andalucia's practically a desert but there's a 100% chance of rain for the next three days, go figure, but that's an entirely different post.

Anyways, Friday could be considered my true introduction into the Madrid nightlife. On Thursday my friends and I were planning on going dancing, but we were all worn out so we decided to take it easy and just do tapas. I had a great time, but I was definitely itching to get out. Friday night I had my chance. We first started by hanging out at the apartment of several students in my program. Their Señora was gone, so we figured it would be cool if we chilled there for a while. At 1:15 AM we decided it was about time to head to El Kapital, Spain’s most famed discoteca (nightclub). We hopped into a Taxi with a Kenyan who lived his whole life in Madrid. Random taxi ride; all I understood is that he was excited Obama is now President.

After our taxi to downtown, we hopped in line with a variety of other folks. We weren’t “on the list”, so the “non-list” line is a bit longer. However, it was still moving quickly so I didn’t wait long. We get in the door and pay the cover charge. I think it was 15€ for the ladies but I think I got charged 20€, you’ll see why in a sec. We walked in to a nice little lobby and the girls checked their coats. Then I was ready to see if this club was all it was cracked up to be.

El Kapital is a theater in addition to a club. The main dance floor has a stage (in which no band was playing, but rather some Chippendale-esque dancers found their groove). The ceiling was 5 stories tall and on the sides all the way up were private VIP rooms, like theater boxes, overlooking the floor. In the back, each consecutive story had a different theme (hip hop, latin, pop, lounge) and were sealed off from the main room by walls of clear plexiglass. Pretty much in every direction you could find music to dance to and have a good time. At 1:30, the party was just starting, so things were hopping.

When you dance for hours on end you tend to get really hot. Instead of trying to air-condition the whole building (most buildings in Spain don’t have central AC), every 5 minutes or so a MASSIVE blast of chilled CO2 would be blown in from the ceiling in one gigantic pillar of cloud! It was a really cool idea and it was nice to get a blast of cool air while dancing the night away.

Additionally, I would consider myself lucky to have such a fun group of people to go out with. Since 35 out of 40 people in our group are girls, whenever we all go out, all of us guys look like total studs. All the Spanish guys were extremely jealous because, as I looked around, I saw that the dance club was over 95% men. Yes, that’s correct. Let’s just say, if you’re a desperate Spanish guy, you’ll have better luck getting a dance at a nunnery than at a club in Madrid! I spent a lot of my time “rescuing” my friends from creepy drunk guys. It was pretty funny; if some guy came up and danced with one of my friends and she enjoyed the partner, all was good. But as soon as I got “the look” I’d grab her arm and pull her over to me as though she was “taken.” I’m sure that to some of these Spanish crazies I looked like a true player, but really I was just making sure we were all having a good, safe time!

At 4:30AM, several friends and I decided that 3 hours of dancing to heart-pumping music was more than our euro’s worth and decided to hail a taxi home. The taxi home was quite a humorous experience. One of my friends was slightly inebriated and in “desperate” need of a hamburger. It’s odd because though everyone parties ‘til the morning light in Madrid, there’s absolutely NO place like Sonic, Whataburger, or Taco Cabana to pig out at when you’re in caloric deprivation after dancing. Our oddball taxi driver pulled over on a side street and told us to hop out and see the lady “over there” for a good Peruvian sandwich. We couldn’t find this sandwich lady at all so we gave up. Ends up, the sandwich lady is illegal, so she runs around the block with a bag of homemade sandwiches and sells them to whoever can catch her. Yeah right, like I’m going to buy a sandwich out of a random plastic bag at 4:45 AM from a Peruvian lady in Madrid!!! Way funny. So, we got back in the car and headed home, disappointed in the taxi driver’s choice of post-party food.

After getting home, I was desperate for a shower, there’s no way I can sleep smelling like an ashtray. I showered and went to bed. Concha finally woke me up at 3 PM, afraid I had died or something since she didn’t hear me come in! All in all, it was a very fun cultural experience, but I don’t exactly think I can maintain the clubbing lifestyle. Madrid young adults are famous for being able to party all night, come home and shower, chug an espresso, and head back to work! No way in the world I could pull that off!

Well, good night, and I’ll update you from Andalucia!

Dios

First off, sorry for taking several days off from blogging. A couple days I was really tired and a couple other days I was trying to organize my thoughts on what my next post was going to be. Get excited because you'll get several posts in the next couple of days. The following post may make you think, make you mad, make you happy, make you sad. I tried to take my time writing it the best I can, so please don't dismiss it, even if you don't necessarily agree or know where you stand. It's a long post, but it has to do with my recent experiences in Spain, so read on...

The title of this post is Dios, the Spanish word for God. On Tuesday, I attended a prayer service for young adults at a local non-denominational church (Amistad Cristiana). My friend Danielle from back home had recommended this church as she studied abroad in Madrid several semesters ago. During the service, I experienced a feeling of safety that I haven't felt anywhere else in Spain. I don't know how to explain it, you just have to experience it. I've been a Christian for a long time, but I don't think you can truly understand the depth and breadth of the Father's love for mankind until you listen to other people, from other cultures and other languages, yearning to be closer to the source of the only unconditional love in the universe, Jesus Christ. God didn't just set the world in motion and abandon it. God is real, dynamic. His love is ever-reaching and knows no race, ethnicity, sex, nation, political party or social status. Sure, Christians are imperfect at times (okay, many times, I admit!), but the Lord is perfect, and even better yet, He has a plan for the world and He wants us, as individuals, to be a part of it.

This service reminded me of that fact, that God is waiting to meet us no matter where we are in life. I was also reminded of what the cab driver in Dallas told me before I left, something to the effect of "No matter where you go in the world, you'll find that all people are just like you and me." It's true. No matter how you try to convince yourself, you are not the only one struggling. There are others around the world wrestling with the same issues, doubting the same things, questioning the same ideas, having the same hurts, hang ups and addictions. Believe me, I've had them too. It's the human curse. But, there is hope. There is something so much greater that reaches you in all those corners of the world, in all those times you find your back up against the wall, all those times you think you are alone: God's love as demonstrated to us through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. He loved us so much as to send his son as the perfect sacrifice so that we might have a real, personal relationship with the living God.

One of my friends from school told me before I left that Europe is a relatively God-less place and that I would be challenged to grow in my personal relationship with the Lord. He was right. Though most Spaniards claim to be Catholic, most only go to church for baptism and marriage. As a result, not many people here know what it really means to be a Christian, to be a follower of Christ. I'll admit that I turned my back on God last semester, didn't want to listen to him, didn't want to spend time praying or meditating on His word. But going through life on your own sucks. This semester I'm hoping to get back on track; I hope to come back different than when I left.

Today I went to the official Sunday service. I don't know that I've ever been to a more genuine service. First, the church doesn't have enough space to fit everybody in it's building, so they meet in a nearby bar. Yes, a bar that smells a bit like ammonia because members of the church have worked tirelessly to clean it from the night before and set everything up for service. The worship team, mostly young people my age, stands on a stage that is set up and taken down every week, a stage where who knows what was performing the night before. But to have the opportunity to worship the Lord right in the community means so much to the members of Amistad Cristiana that they are willing to devote themselves to this. When I walked in, I was greeted by many new people, Rebekah, Ana, Esteban, and others. They recognized I was new and wanted to connect with me. It was all in Spanish, but all the better. During the service, I was amazed to see such praise devoted to the same Lord that I worship each week back home; that I worship here as well. There weren't any formalities here, no attempt for perfectionism, no attempt to "look trendy", no endless liturgies or "traditions", etc. Instead, the microphone kept slipping on the worship leader who was playing the piano so someone went up and fixed it. The offering plates were tupperware containers with a hole in the top. In other words, people were devoting their hearts to the Lord alone; no one was trying to sell you an image or a facade. They let their love for others, coming from the love that Christ first showed us, speak for their message.

I hope that you all have the chance to think about what I just posted. I hope you mull it over and think about it. Respond if you want. I know that so many times church in the States can just seem like either going through the motions or appears like a production, one doubts if there really is any life in the body of Christ sometimes. Believe me, I've had the same thoughts! But again, Christians are humans too, which means they tend to do stupid things, but Christ alone is perfect and we can rest assured in that. At the same time, questioning and considering are not wrong, instead they help you to seek truth and not become lazy and apathetic towards that which you may or may not claim to believe. I'm sorry for those of you who may have a negative view of Christianity, I'm sorry that it may have been an imperfect Christian (maybe even me) who somehow did something to hurt you or turn you away from the Lord. But remember, He alone is perfect.

If you have questions, comments, concerns, or would like to check out this whole God-thing out when I get back, please don't hesitate to let me know via comment on this post, e-mail, or facebook. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Hasta Luego.

Dejé la Corazón Mia en Segovia, Parte II

[The following post is a continuation of the previous post, so read that one first!]

Next, lunch requires nearly a post of itself. After walking around so much, everyone was starving. It was the first time I’ve been cranky a here in Spain; I wanted something good to eat. We decided on a very traditional restaurant in Segovia, near the main plaza. After we all got situated, I ordered the specialty of the house, which was a three-course menu of Segovian specialties. First we had a wonderful soup, judiones de la granja, also known as “Beans of the Grange.” These beans are large beans that were created by the gardeners of the Palacio Real de La Granja that I talked about in my last post. The soup was perfect for a frigid day. Next came the main course: Cochinillo Asado, or Roasted Suckling Pig. This is a very tasty, very expensive dish that is made in Segovia. A young pig is roasted whole and the meat is so tender, being such a young pig, that they bring it out to your table and hack it into 4-6 servings using plates. A very strange mental picture, but the plates demonstrate the skills of the cook (and of the waiter who dices as well!). Luckily for us, the pig was already served diced up, because Chelsi started crying over the poor dead piglet and my friend Melissa nearly swooned (I was actually pretty worried because she was getting hot, flushed, and had trouble breathing! Luckily when she stopped thinking about Poor Piglet, we were good to go!). We definitely looked like inexperienced tourists! Anyways, the meat was absolutely delicious, very tender. The skin had baked into a crunchy, glorified pork-rind that I found tasty as well. For dessert, we had Torta/Ponche de Segovia which is a rich cake that has been soaked in a liqueur and topped with a marzipan icing layer. Overall, it was one of the most unique and delicious meals I’ve experienced. I say experienced, because you don’t really “try” new foods in another culture. Everything about the experience is new. Also, I won’t tell you how much the meal cost, but let’s just say I’ll be eating sandwiches for lunch from here until eternity.

After lunch, the whole group met up in the Plaza Mayor for our tour of El Alcázar, or The Castle. The world used is of Arabic derivation, as are many words in the Spanish language, due to the presence of Moors during much of the Medieval Ages. Anyways, this castle was used by the Catholic King and Queen, Fernando and Isabella. Think Christopher Columbus. Anyways, this castle is absolutely gorgeous, with a very deep moat, towers, and slate roofs. Though not the official castle that Disney modeled, he used El Alázar as a reference. The interior was MUCH different from El Palacio Real de La Granja, which could be a result of the two centuries gap between constructions. Though much more Medieval, this castle had a beautiful interior, with original tapestries, thrones, suits of armor, woodwork and stained glass. Also, with our ticket, we got to climb the 141 steps to the top of the highest tower and look out over the countryside. Everything was absolutely beautiful in the crisp, cold winter air.

I think that was about all for our trip to Segovia. Everyone had a wonderful time, though we were exhausted by the time we got to the bus and everyone was asleep by the time we got back in Madrid. Our sleepy arrival and departure from Segovia made the trip seem much like a dream. I hope the pictures show how beautiful I found the city to be. Maybe you can see why I Left My Heart in Segovia!

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly in the Plain and tends to freeze everything in the process...

Hola Chicos,

Today is the second day of classes, first day for the TTh schedule. Waking up this morning was a real bear. once I finally decided to wake up, I didn´t have enough time to shower, so I feel grungy. Sorry if that´s TMI. Anyways, I stayed up way later than intended because I watched Spain´s version of Dancing With the Stars. Not gonna lie, it was pretty crappy. I mean, beyond the fact that I´ve never heard of any of the ¨stars¨, none of them could actually dance. However, they did use styles of dance common to Spain, like Flamenco and Pasa Doble. Also, the program was on Channel 1, which I think is owned by the government. Somehow they can´t make any money off their station, so for maybe an hour of program I got stuck with a full 30 minutes of commercials. With all the free time during comercials, I taught Concha how to dance the ¨Texas Two-Step¨. I played some good ol´ George Strait on my laptop and she gave me a straw hat to wear. She caught on quickly, so for a while we were scootin´ around the living room! I´ll have to get a picture of us sometime!

This morning I had my Theatre class, which I am 95% positive I will drop in the next three days. The class is comprised entirely of reading 6 plays, attending 3 plays, writing 6 long papers and 3 short papers. Not so sure I want to do all that for an elective (since I´m not majoring in Spanish!). Oh well. I´ll give myself time to think about it, so we´ll see (yeah right!). After class, a group of us went out to coffee at Starbucks. I promised myself that I wouldn´t go to any ¨American¨ chains like Burger King, McDonald´s, etc. Oh well. It´s actually pretty popular here to go to Starbucks and since a group was going... yeah. After that, we walked to eat lunch at a sandwich place that my friends had been wanting to try. I ordered the Alemán, or German, which was supposed to come with sausage, cheese, and a tomato sauce. I apparently can´t translate much, because it was a hotdog sandwich! Though a simple hotdog, it was probably the best one I´ve ever had! Who ever serves hotdogs with fresh cheese on a footlong french baguette?! I wanted to take a picture, but I didn´t have my camera on me. For about 3,50 €, it was the cheapest meal so far, though I´ll definitely need to grab some fruit on the way home today to snack on before dinner. Since lunch is the biggest meal of the day, a hotdog sandwich might not suffice.

Oh, and it´s maybe raining, snowing, or sleeting outside. I prepared by wearing tennis shoes, my north face, and a bright blue jacket. I definitely look like an America, but while the Spanish are ruining their leather shoes and trendy coats, I´m dry and semi-warm. Beat that, Europe. :-D

I have culture class and business Spanish later today, so I don´t get out of class until 6. I smell like a cigarette from the café, so it would be nice to go home and change at some point. I´ll probably rest tonight, per the usual. Some people have been going out most nights, but it takes me a while to get over a night out and back in the swing of things. We´re going on a field trip to Segovia this Friday, and a few of us are thinking about staying overnight on Friday and coming home late on Saturday. We´ll see.

Hasta luego.

First Day of School

This morning I woke up, dark and early, to one of my favorite cantantes, Julieta Venegas. She's from Argentina and I recognized it because I did a project in one of my classes based on her song, Me Voy. I say "dark and early" because though Spain is more geographically aligned with Wales, it's on the same time zone as Germany. As such, the clock should really read an hour earlier. Plus, all the tall buildings tend to block a lot of the early morning (and afternoon) sun. But back to my story. Anyways, after my usual tradition of using the sleep button twice, I got ready for my first day of school. I heard backpacks are kind of odd here, so I just used a plastic pocket folder left by a previous student in my room. Concha fixed tortilla, an omelet with cheese not to be confused with the American tortilla, and I had some coffee and golden grahams as well. After a leisurely breakfast, I was off.

I live close to school, which means I can walk and enjoy the sights as opposed to having to use the Metro. I could use the autobus, but I can only conquer so many things in one day (or week). Anyways, the city is just starting to wake up at 9am, with people rushing to work and the opening of many storefronts. Getting to school is pretty much a 20 minute straight line, though the massive traffic circle I ran into got me so confused I ended up walking a ways back the direction I started! Also, the street signs on the walls of buildings named after Spanish historic names mean nothing to me (though I do appreciate Spanish culture!), so after awhile, all the Fernandez's and Diego's and Geraldo's run together. Regardless, I made it to my first class on time, History of Modern Art in Spain.

I thought I would just try out the art class, but it ends up, I was already enrolled in it. Turns out, they enrolled me in 15 hours because I couldn't make up my mind which class to take (5000-level Spanish Lit. of Theatre or the art history). As everyone was checking their schedules, they all thought I was ridiculous and I had to explain to nearly everyone that I really only plan on taking 12 hours. Modern, or Contemperan~o, art was a great class that goes to the museum nearly every week. I can still go on the museum trips even with the lit class, but since I'm not majoring in Spanish, I figure, why bother taking the lit class. After Art was Marketing, which definitely is not taught by the American ex-pat that I was told it would be. Hmm...

After class, 3 of my friends (Melisa, Emily, Chelsi) and I decided to go out for lunch. I had to stop by the bank to change dollars to euros, so we casually looked for a place to eat. I really wanted a lunch of traditional menu del dia, so we picked Revi 40 for our first lunch. For 11 euros, I had an amazing meal at a great little restaurant that can only seat maybe 30 people. It was a really nice restaurant with tablecloths and our very kind and patient waiter was wearing a bowtie and all. The menu del dia consisted of 3 courses and came with wine, bread, and a simple tapas to taste. My first course was a wonderful soup for a cold day, consisting of potato, carrots, and bits of pork rib in a nice, thick broth. The waiter brought it out in a big pot and ladled it to us individually. Then came some dish, which I can't remember the name, but it was like thin pork steaks (tenderloin?) with an amazing, you-can't-believe-it-unless-you-tried-it pumpkin sauce (pure de calabaza). For dessert, two of us had fresh kiwi and the others had very good ice cream. Though I can't pay 11 euros for every meal, this one was fantastic!

After that, nothing is open in the afternoons, so I went to Melisa and Chelsi's apartment because it's really close and their madre told them it would be fine to have friends over to study (though we actually watched a movie). Part of the culture here is that it is not typical to entertain at home. Homes are considered private and only for family. Since I love having people over for dinner and movies and such, I think that that may be the only thing I don't like about Madrid. When the movie was over (Kung Fu Panda in English), we went out to run errands. One thing I absolutely love about Madrid is that the city streets are lined with tons of unique, family-owned stores and restaurants. There are very few chains, other than banks. As such, we went to a paper-store for our school goods, a market for vegetables, fruit, meat and cheese, a video store strictly to rent them another movie, etc. There are perfume stores, furniture stores, electronic stores, car stores (literally in buildings right off the street!), even a honey store! Every store has it's own character and unlike Philly or NYC, there aren't many abandoned or closed down stores. However, they are never all open at the same time! The Spanish time table is extremely hard to get used to! Banks are only open to the public 10-2, stores from 9-2 and 5-8, restaurants (other than cafeterias, that are cafes, not cafeterias) are open 2pm-5pm and 8:30pm-11pm, and bars 2pm-2am. So you have to plan your day in kind of an odd way.

However, I really, really like Madrid. It's like NYC, without the grime, glitz, chain stores, and people begging on the street, etc. You can walk all over the place, though I think I'll pick up a metro pass soon. One thing I'm tired of in Dallas is that everything is the same, the same chain restaurants, the same clothing stores, the same-looking houses, the same cars. It's boring. But here, there are many, many different stores and markets with all sorts of different wares. It's a bit expensive, since I don't exactly have a working income, but it's all good.

I also got my phone, which is kind of confusing and seems to have a bad battery. We'll see what happens there. I don't think any of y'all can call me unless you want to pay a pretty penny.

Tonight I think I may just have a quiet night in so that I can read a little and maybe to bed sooner than not. We'll see. Concha just returned to cook dinner. We're having some sort of creamed vegetable with dinner, either a zucchini or a cucumber- I couldn't tell. She also handed me a block of dark chocolate with honey to snack on. Much tastier and more savory than Hershey's (though I miss milk chocolate!).

Hasta luego,
JHunt

Spain!

Whew, so I'm officially in Spain! It's 5:30am local time and I just woke up (unintentionally, of course). I went to bed very early at 9pm because of the jet lag and I think I'm still getting used to everything in that regard. As such, I have a couple of hours before breakfast and heading off to Toledo with my class.

Here's the official rundown of the past, what, thirty hours (only thirty!?). First, I went to DFW with my Dad and got through the ticket counter and security fairly easy. One lady at the ticket counter questioned me about my group travel, but no issues. Once on the inside, I couldn't find a currency exchange, so I just plopped down and started reading Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. It takes place in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. So far, it's interesting. We got on the plane, and I got the very back of the bus, window seat, next to several fellow students. Out of the 40 people going to Spain from my school, 36 are girls And out of all that, I was the only guy on the group flight! Anyways, our flight was good, all 10 hours of it. Eck. We talked for an hour and a half, ate a pretty uneventful dinner, fell asleep during Nights of Rodanthe, woke up during Flawless and pretty much never slept after that. I passed some of the time teaching my new friend Lindsey how to play gin with cards. Also, we had fun joking with Mercedes that she is now la madre for taking care of the toddlers sitting next to her! Breakfast on the plane was quite forgetable, some sort of stewed collard green, an omelet-like contraption, hash browns, good fruit, roll, and OJ.

So we arrive in Frankfurt, everyone is extremely tired and we all suddenly come to the realization that NONE of us speak ANY german! Oops! Luckily everyone waited for everyone else as we got our passports checked, went through security again, etc. You know those groups of clueless tourists that you either get exasperated with or make fun of in the airports? Yeah, we were that group! I think my time in Frankfurt was more of a severe shock than arriving in Madrid. See, at least in Spain we are learning the language and don't feel like complete idiots. I have never felt so inadequate as when we ran around the Frankfurt airport.

Now, the flight from Frankfurt. Let's just say the flight attendant seemed to like me. Slight awk-ward. I'll chalk it up to the fact that all 25 of the rest of the people from school were zombies and I was still chatty and positive. The steward was really nice to me, so that works. He gave me two lunches (which were better than breakfast!) and a schokolade bar of his own. Also, it was really weird trying to communicate with him because he of course spoke german, but he was also fluent in English and Spanish. So I speak English, but also find myself thinking in Spanish because a lot of the other passengers were Spanish. I realized how behind us Americans are, because in the rest of the world it's entirely normal to speak two languages. However, our society is kind of ridiculous sometimes in insisting on English all the time. I think we may be doing our children a detriment by not teaching them another language early on. But I digress.

We arrive in Madrid and I feel much better than in Frankfurt, because I can get by pretty well here. Luckily, everyone got their baggage, but the really strange part is that we never had to go through customs. Nothing. I guess they stamped my passport when I entered the EU in Frankfurt and that was good enough? Whatever.

We ended up on tour buses (which I got yelled at by the bus driver for putting my feet on the seat?). Driving through Madrid was a lot of fun. It reminds me of New York, but with better architecture. Also, there are ads for things like Australia and other American/Western things, so at the same time it feels like East/South Dallas a bit too with billboards in Spanish for American goods. Once we got to the Fundacion , my familia, Concha and her son Carlos picked me up and we were off in a taxi to their apartamento. In the taxi ride was the first culture shock for me. Something clicked and I thought to myself, "oh God, I'm in a taxi with everyone and the radio jabbering in Spanish. I'm off to live with a family I have never met for the next four months." And that was it, no worries since.