Sav´s travels

Hola...much belated!

It´s been, wow, almost 3 weeks I guess?? Lots has happened and I guess I allowed myself to become a little overwhelmed for awhile and then distracted...

Hmmm...well if you are following my sister´s blog, then she noted that my passport, my money, my ID...everything was stolen on the Las Ramblas in Barcelona...I had chosen not to write about it because at the time I was truly so angry that I didn´t want to colour the city with a black brush which can be easy to do when something bad happens in a place...My friend, yesterday, reminded me that I should have written because the experience, good or bad, is always worthy to write about (and helpful)...so that would have been on or around December 15th I think...I think I felt most badly about my friends, Bruce and Tanya who were new in Spain and had this as a part of their introduction...these things will happen everywhere and anywhere but I think they carried a lot of my stress with them in their first few days here (and meanwhile helped me out in every way)...life goes on, but a word of advice is that thieves are smooth (!) and you just can never get complacent with your belongings...it took about 2 seconds and that was that...Barcelona is an amazing place though and highly recommended is Park Guell, also the Montjuic area where the Olympics were held and some amazing art galleries and palaces are, the ocean and surfer-watching and just walking endlessly around the streets and exploring the many gems that are always hidden down Spanish streets. We spent 12 days there before we were Barcelona´d out...I got to touch the work of one of my worldly idols, Gaudi...which was worth the trip alone to me...but, I think no matter where you go, it´s the people you meet that make the place...this was no exception and easily overrides the situation I had there...

After this, we took an overnighter train, Tanya and I to my fave city, Granada...it was uncomfortable as always, but I awoke to having a handsome man covering me with his long black coat, so thankfully I looked so uncomfortable We have been here since the 19th now although everyone (Shi, Bruce, Tanya, and Travis (yet another Canadian..we´re taking over!)just left for Sevilla yesterday...for me it´s been a bit of a necessity to stay longer just to get my things organized, but I really, really wanted Tanya to see what this place has to offer...so we spent our days at the Mirador de San Nicholas, with the most picture perfect view of the Alhambra, drank (a lot!!) with an American couple who had come to Spain to let it all hang out (!), saw the Cathedral, ate (we´ve decided the main theme of being in Spain is deciding where you are going to eat next, went to my sister Pam`s party on the 19th which was a great mix of people...We spent our Christmas together and being my first Christmas away from home I was thankful to have my sister and friends there to celebrate...we started our day with a brunch of pizza and garlic soup and mucho wine! We then walked around (went to the Mirador) and then in the evening, borrowed the communal dining area at a hotel and made our own spread! It was really fun having bought our goods of tomatoes, olives, herring in curry sauce, tuna, mussels, cheese and bread at a somewhat divey convenience store (all for 11€´s only!)...Some of us learned to play Uker (sp?), the card game...my sister was the comic relief when we were having trouble following Bruce´s instructions...she had one of those rare laughing/crying fits that is contagious and unstoppable (on her part)...we also re-visted the Hammam (the Arab baths)which are the cure to many discomforts, mental or physical...if I never get to build my own house, I will build at least an Arab-style bath...so all in all we´ve covered a lot of ground here and I think all were satisfied...

I have been staying with a friend here in Granada and it´s been great...I have a kitchen to cook in which is muy exciting to me...I cooked a huge supper last night and for 6.82€ two of us can eat for two days...this is the way to go if you can swing it! I have decided that I feel completely at home in Granada and understand why so many foreigners make this their home for long periods of time (beautiful, relatively inexpensive to live in, small but international too, the Albaicin, the Muslim presence in culture and Islamic architecture, the list goes on)...yesterday, it sunk in how much time, relatively speaking that I have spent here when I began to run into people on the street that I have met in my time here...this is my thought, once you know the transit system of a city and can say hello on the street to a friend, it becomes to some degree like a home...even if temporary. I had lunch in the wonderful world of the Albaicin with a Spaniard, 2 Americans, and a French/South African a couple of days ago...fun and always interesting conversation when you have such a diversity...I have had the opportunity on this trip also to have some great, and sometimes challenging discussions about American politics...for me it is really cool to be able to step outside the North American sphere and be far enough away from the attached feelings that exist and the daily news and so on to be able to have everyone just lay some thoughts out on the table and engage in talk.

Tommorrow I am heading to Sevilla and then to Cadiz to ring in the New Year and then possibly to Morocco depending on the passport situation...This I would love to do more than anything! Such ancient cultures and yes, a little bit of fear of the unknown, but this is what makes it so enticing...

So I will keep in touch with the trip to Sevilla, Cadiz and Morocco too (because it will happen!!)...

Happy and safe New Year´s to everyone!

Mucho besos,
Savannah

For anyone who has been checking in with this blog, this is just a quick sorry for the delay in writing...the last week has been a series of adventures and misadventures involving thefts, the arrival of two friends, too many nights in the big city of Barcelona, an almost theft and a foiled attempt to bring Canadian jazz artist Michael Buble out for a beer...

I think I will be able to get to writing out the good and the bad tommorrow...just very happy to be back in Granada and need to catch up on some missed Zzzz´s....

Hasta luego,
Savannah

...time´s up!

Have had a great last 2 days in the little town of Barcelona...I think the best thing is that with just wandering around you are absolutely going to run into the most incredible things in Barcelona which is what happened to Shiloh and myself, and today, just me...yesterday, we went for a walk and came upon the Park Guell...a utopian development by Gaudi built near the beginning of the 20th century...you can visit it on the Internet and although I had heard of it before, we just sort of happened upon it on a day when we had no real plans...I wish it was something that I could have seen when I was 12...but still amazing at 28...the whole area that it is in, sort of makes you feel like Oliver Twist...like you will always only look in on the grandeur...but I was very okay with this too...we wandered around some trendy, but side streets, Shiloh had some wine and we just walked and walked where we came upon another amazing Gaudi creation, El Pedrera, an apartment block...we also went and saw a movie...the beginning was Vietnamese with Spanish subtitles...now that was a challenge! After this went home for another movie with our host and stayed up till 4 in the morning laughing at the disaster on the TV screen...

Today, got up muy late, had a lunch of dress-it-yourself falafel and then walked down to the water for the first time. It was about 15 or 16 degrees we figured, with sun and not a cloud in the sky...of course, we forgot our cameras, so have no proof for our Canadian friends.. After this, Shiloh and I went our separate ways and I spent a few hours walking along the beach after being enticed by the sound of crashing waves from some of the side-streest I was on...I watched the surfers make a go of it for awhile, and got kicked off some "dangerous" rocks by the police...which was a shame because it was the point that you could sit out on almost over top of the water and feel the splash of the waves...oh well...after this, just continued to wander and eventually made my way to the Las Ramblas where I met some Calgarians ( I know that neutral Canadian accent anywhere) and a Moraccan and we shared a pitcher of Sangria...perfect way to end a warm, sunny day...

A Gaudi link to some images...I think that he is the perfect meld of a child´s imagination that most of us lose and the math side that I was always missing...

http://images.google.es/images?hl=es&q=Gaudi&sa=N&tab=wi

Adios everyone...

Well, after two days of being the sickest I think I have been in years with the flu, I feel like a million dollars today and am happy to be alive again! This means my sister and I are taking on Barcelona today, me with a renewed energy.

We´re staying in Barcelona until about the 17th and then heading down to my favorite city, Granada, for some Christmas celebrations with family. My sister´s friend is flying into Barcelona on the 11th and then my friend will be here on the 14th...Alex just left and it will be non-stop from here! When I was in Orgiva, we had put out an email to friends saying that, wow, you should come to Spain and see all this, and amazingly we had 4 friends take it up! So it will be hectic but it´s always fun to see things through fresh eyes...also, I have to admit, that while Alex knows more Spanish than either of us, I am looking forward to testing my use of the language as a "translator" with our friends coming that don´t speak it all...kind of like where we were 2 months ago!

Nick, Alex´s cousin has been great...he has let us stay at his apartment longer than planned and this has taken mucho stress off my shoulders as far as $$ is concerned! He has introduced us to some great people and we´ve been invited to a party at a co-op artists gallery on the 16th...I guess anyone who has travelled knows that these sorts of invites are gems as it allows you to hang out with people in their regular environments giving you a much stronger flavor of a culture and people than just the (still amazing) tourist stops...we have had a lot of opportunities like this on our trip and I feel extremely lucky for it!

Today, I think we´re going to try to find some more Gaudi and gawk at it from the street...how amazing it is to be able to touch something that was created by someone like him...this is how I felt at the Picasso museum too...I have taken a number of art history courses, but didn´t realize how much more impacting it is to see the works up close...it´s like live music versus recorded...it´s alive when you´re right there! Also, as we haven´t quite made it to the water yet, I think it might be a nice day to head down to the beach for a juice (no wine...still a bit fragile!)...also a good day to check out the very enticing markets downtown...uh oh....

I am at the point in my travels where I am torn about what my future plans are...I know it´s worked out the best so far to take things as they come, but right now, it´s not as simple as that because of finances...I either make an honest go of it here so that I can stay longer, or I go home and work...but I had a dream that I left and had returned home and I think I must have had my face in my pillow because it felf so suffocating...I take it, that as much as I miss home, I´m not quite ready to return yet...

I finally got batteries for my digital recorder, which i haven´t used for about 3 weeks or so...I put them in and pressed play yesterday and am so happy that I was using it so much at the beginning of my trip...talk about baby steps! We were recording our sister Pam saying "hasta luego" so that we could say it the way Andalucians do!! I also captured my friend Ali, from Granada, talking about some of his work with the International Red Cross at 3 in the morning, which I am so glad for, because that entire night stands out to me as one of those "gems" we´ve had here. Also recorded was some amazing flamenco I captured in an alleyway by an old man and a younger man playing together, some crazy bird singing in a Plaza and about 18 other files I have yet to listen to...might make a good soundtrack to slides at home!

Today, just for fun, I am going to look for work as an English teacher (surprise!) but also the possibility of working with artists´ as a model which I have done a lot of at home...it´s a well-known fact that finding work in Spain is not easy for a foreigner but it´s no excuse for not trying I guess...

So this is enough rambling for today...at this point, I feel like, if anyone is reading and had questions about travelling in Spain, or some of the places we have been to, that I could answer some related questions...so feel free to ask!

Hasta luego,
Savannah