Local Festivities

To supplement yesterday's post: This is a representative adorable child who is well dressed, and happens to match her well-dressed mother!

November 5th is a local holiday, but the preceding Sunday (today) was the celebration, so there were at least three parades in town. This one was 90 giant flags, called pandones, carried by different groups... Not sure if they are from the city or from the province of Leon. The pole had a metal hook on the bottom and the flag-carriers, mostly men, had on wide leather belts. Some were very careful and others did tricks, like no hands, lifting it up, balancing it on their chin, having someone climb up the pole, etc. One fell down but luckily not on anyone!

I also went running with Hailey and Melissa and we found a whole big area outside the city that's kind of hilly and has trails which are good for exploring. We'll go back for sure :)

Some cultural observations

Fashion: People dress really well. Of course styles (some more than others) have a European flair, but on the whole, I'm very surprised, and I love just looking at people. Women tend to wear jackets like those below. I found some pictures (from El Corte Ingles, a big Spanish department store, and H&M, also moderately popular here) to help you visualize. At some point I'll become creepier and take photos of actual people haha. 

 

Women also almost exclusively wear skinny jeans, and actually multicolored jeans are moderately common. (Emily, today my host sister wore a pair identical to your green ones!) Shoes are either boots (generally black or dark brown, and not too tall) or flats... I think it's too cold to not wear socks here but I guess they're used to it. Heels are also quite acceptable, and depending on the look they are going for (especially for younger girls, under 20 or so), Vans or Converse, or maybe other sneakers, are very popular. Most people seem to actually wear knock-off Vans, from the brand "Andy-Z", which are only $10 or $15... Might need to buy a pair of those since my Vans (which I obviously should have brought) are almost dead.

Dress seems to be rather more dependent on the time of year than the actual weather, which is what I saw in Greece too. When I was out this afternoon, I was only wearing a light sweater because it was pretty warm, and then when I was out tonight, I wore a warm jacket, gloves and a scarf (I may have overdressed slightly...) because it was cold, and it seemed like more or less, local women were wearing the exact same type of jackets both times. Bummer for them.

I haven't paid much attention to men's fashion, but jeans or neutral colored pants are the norm  along with a leather jacket or maybe a sport coat if they're dressing up. Occasionally I see a guy wearing pastel pants and a polo or some similar outfit too!

Aviators are by far the most common sunglasses. I feel right at home in that respect, other than many people have RayBans and I haven't been willing to shell out quite that much yet... If the weather here were getting nicer and nicer instead of colder and colder, I probably would though!

Children's fashion is the most interesting... Parents are willing to spend a TON of money on their kids' clothing, even though of course they'll outgrow everything in a year! The little kids (particularly in the age range of 3-6 years) are absolutely adorable, in large part because the girls might wear cute dresses, tights, nice shoes, and cute jackets and the boys wear a nice shirt/sweater, often pants that aren't jeans, and a nice coat, and none of this is bright pink and covered in butterflies and rainbows or sports logos; it's all attractive colors which match. I will definitely take a picture at some point to convey this!

Window shopping: It's a real thing here! Of course we use the term in the US, but in the evenings the streets are FULL (again, will find a picture to show this) of people walking around (either families or couples), socializing and looking in windows! Every store has a well-thought-out window display, and the majority have prices displayed because people actually look at them. Shopping also seems to be a pretty popular, although that's not quite so foreign to Americans. I will add, though, that since this is a European city, it's quite urban and residences are mixed in with businesses and stores and plazas so within the 100 meter radius my host my has mentioned, there are many cafe/bars, shoe stores, clothing stores, bakeries, a cell phone store or two, a couple pharmacies, and more. It's great.

Vino y tapas: At night, people often go out and get a wine (vino) or beer with friends. When I said cafe/bars before, that slash actually means the establishment is both things... in the morning you can get coffee (often this comes with some kind of bread, cracker, or cake and a small juice) and at night, you can go back and get a drink! It's weird when you're drinking a morning coffee and looking up at a display of alcohol... There are many local and Spanish wines served here, and I've discovered that I love their sweet white wine. I've tried some that's so sweet, I hardly know there is alcohol, and others that still taste like wine in addition to tasting like juice, and those are the best. Also, a glass of wine is only about $2! Even better is the fact that when you go out to pretty much any of these cafe/bars and you buy a drink, you get a "tapa"; which is a small plate of food, for free. It could be anything; I've had little potato cubes with lots of salt, a slice of bread with cheese, a fried cheese stick ish thing, and there are plenty of others too. Obviously not the healthiest, but not the worst either. The name originates from the verb "tapar", which means to put a lid or top on something, and they say that a long time ago, the small plate of food was placed on top of the wine glass, "tapando" the glass.

OK, this last bit doesn't actually fit neatly into a "cultural observation", but it's too cool to not include in today's post!

The San Isidoro Church has a historical light show in the summers on Saturday nights here, and while some of the history was lost on me, it was still gorgeous! It's basically 20 minutes of art (with accompanying music for the relevant period in time) projected over the face of the church, sometimes matching with existing architecture, but not necessarily. A summary of the historical events covered was projected at the beginning, but it moved too fast for me to read.

I took a bunch of pictures but since I was holding my camera and the image was always moving, they're a bit blurry and I had to lighten them after. Still, I hope you appreciate how pretty the colors were! I'm afraid I can't say which period the first photo is from, but the second is a representation of an art (I think) museum that's in town (present day!). I haven't seen it yet but our class is going there at some point. I will post more pictures and you'll be entertained by the resemblance! 

Counting Syllables

Pretty quite day here... We had our first Spanish 302 class, which is sort of grammar and composition. If we don't have to write a ton, I think it will be my favorite class because I like grammar, and our text (a giant spiral bound set of handouts) is intended for students, whereas some of our other texts are actual poems/stories or real movies. All the teachers are smart and excited about their subjects though, which I like.  In the lit/poetry class, we learned about rhythm and structure, primarily by counting the number of syllables that each line had, which a couple extra rules... a word ending in a vowel and then next word starting in a vowel counts as one syllable, and depending on where the accent in the last word is, the number of syllables can change (being done with a spanish linguistics class probably doesn't hurt my understanding). This took me right back to 10th grade English when we were tested on knowing where the stress in a word was. I loved this because it was probably the easiest thing I've ever been tested on, but it seems that even now, not everybody finds it as simple.

I discovered the nearby market that happens on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which had street vendors selling knockoff purses and scarves and such, and also farmers from the surrounding area selling their produce. I look forward to going back when I have a little more time. I also went in two stores which are H&M ish to look at their warm clothing, because I need to acquire more if it, but I'd rather pay a little more for another real outdoorsy jacket that I'll still wear when I get home. I caught myself considering some of the polyester puffy coats with belts which are reasonably fashionable here (or at least will be when it gets cold according to their standards) but then I realized that's not an item I would ever use at home! I also plan to buy a few thick sweaters because I realized that even though I brought 6 or so long sleeve shirts, they're not actually warm!

I went running with three other girls and we went further than last time, and it conveniently got warm-ish around then, which was a nice change! I am really enjoying running in a group, and also loved exploring the outskirts of town to get my bearings. We came back into town on the other side and ran a little bit of the way, but then walked the rest because no one runs in the streets. Unfortunate, because that would be a fantastic way to get to know the city... Also, everything is completely flat here, which I love :) 

Frisbee?

There are a couple things I miss a lot and of course that's near the top of the list! There's a great website for frisbee around the world, including all Spanish events, so I sent some emails today to a few different teams and I'm hoping to go play in a one-day tournament during the weekend I go to Barcelona. Theoretically, it's even a beach tournament, so the fact that I don't have cleats doesn't matter!

This morning, we had a tour of the Plaza Conde Luna, where our school is. It's one of the oldest parts of the town, and this is from the church, which is the oldest in town. I don't remember the year it was built, but I made a mental note that it is 1000 years old! (Obviously the wood has been restored since though!) 

We went through the museum pretty quickly, so I want to go back and take a closer look at a few things, because I'd have a better chance of remembering some of the dates and names if I read them rather than just heard them. I also spent part of the tour wondering about building codes, because some of the walls in our school/the museum are part of the original Roman wall. We don't have the need for anything like that in the US (although there are still very old buildings that are in use today...?) but there must be some regulations to meet and calculations to do. This question was, unfortunately, beyond my Spanish capabilities and beyond the tour guide's area of expertise, but he did assure me the building was strong and wouldn't collapse. You should probably expect more engineering musings since I don't have anyone to discuss them with here... You'd love this program though, Karstin. Guess why. Also guess why Eric wouldn't... and Joseph, I don't know... There isn't much pink hair here!

We had our first film (and it's relation to literature) class today. You may know that I know nothing about pop culture in the US, and I know even less about foreign films... This could be interesting. I've never analyzed film as a form of expression or art before, especially when I understand only 50% at best of what is said (movies are way harder to understand than most people)... I told my host family I was taking a film class and they were all appalled since they like American films way more. We'll see!

Back to School

Class doesn't seem like it will be too bad since it's in this room, which is in a beautiful old (but refurbished) building which is now also a museum (we're going to tour it tomorrow). The second photo is the view from the third story.

We learned about the trips we're going to take as part of the program and also covered the usual expectations of school/the program in general. We also had our first literature class with an extremely ethusiastic professor. I'm looking forward to learning from him, although we also have to write two 7 pages papers (in Spanish, of course) and I'm definitely not looking forward to that! 

In the afternoon, I bought a train ticket to Barcelona for a trip during a three day weekend in a couple weeks, and then we had a walking tour of part of the city, mainly of lots of churches and plazas. I can't remember all the names (although we're going to go back to several of the churches to actually visit), but everything is absolutely beautiful, and hundreds of years old.  

I also went running with Olivia and Hailey on the path next to the river (apparently the only place where one can run here--no one runs on the streets) which was great. I think I'll run a lot since that might be the only exercise option. Hopefully shin splints don't come back!

First Impressions of Leon

Spanish word of the day: disco duro. It literally means "hard disk" (or, more accurately, disk hard), but it's just surprising because in English, I think of that as one phrase, but I think of the word duro as the opposite of soft, rather than a way of describing technology. 

In a word: fantastic, and the same goes for my host family! I have a mom and dad (Gema and Juan Carlos) and two sisters (Carmen and Esperanza, 15 and 11 respectively.) They live in a condo in the center of the city, although since Leon is pretty small, it seems like everything is in the center of the city. I'll take some pictures of the house soon, but it's beautifully decorated (Gema and Juan Carlos are very into art) and very comfortable. I have my own room since they also have three sons who are in Madrid for college, and we have Wifi which is reasonably fast, so I'm all set. 

Fortunately, the Spanish accent here isn't very strong, so people are pretty easy to understand. Gema speaks the most clearly, but I can actually understand a lot more than I was expecting in general. Talking is a different story, since there is so much vocab that I recognize but can't quickly remember, and my recollection of all past or conditional tenses is severely lacking, but it won't be long before I can do those as well as ever, I think. Juan Carlos likes to talk about the government and politics and this can be kind of hard to follow, but I try because I want to learn about what he says!

I haven't done too much since I got here; the single longest activity was sleeping for 14 hours last night! It was my first time in a bed in a while, especially I didn't sleep much before packing. Gema made torta for dinner last night, which is kind of like quiche, and can vary significantly, but hers, at least, was basically egg and onion. Absolutely delicious. Since she has 5 kids, she's very used to dealing with picky eaters (not unlike my mom!) and asks me several times per meal if I like something, and assures me that if I don't, I do not have to eat it. I'm past that phase in my life, though, so I like everything I've had so far. 

I didn't meet the dad or girls until later on Saturday night because they were at a golf tournament (the girls, and the sons, play). I'm glad Dad and I took a class a few years ago so I at least know a little about it, and can go with them sometime. I briefly tried to explain ultimate to Gema and she thought I was talking about curling! Need to improve my Spanish and find a representative video... 

Today Gema and Juan Carlos showed me around the city (maybe town is more appropriate?) and it is fantastic. I think it will be a much better place to live than Quito or Ioannina were, and those were both excellent cities to be in. Everything is within walking distance and people clearly walk to do most errands. My family has a car which Juan Carlos uses to get to work since he works a couple miles away (which, now that I think about it, is still quite close compared to most American jobs), but Gema expressed her pleasure that she never has to drive anywhere, and most places she needs to go are within 100 m (give or take a bit, I think) of their house. Since today is Sunday they said that few people were out and about (and it's true that most of the stores were closed) but I was impressed by the number of people. You would never see that many walking down Front Street in Issaquah! There are a zillion (yes, Nick, THAT MANY!) bars here, and it seems like people, both my age or a lot older, go out all the time to enjoy some wine and tapas with friends. Juan Carlos says that it's normal to stay out until 3 or 4 in the morning... ughh. My schedule would ideally be bedtime at 10:30 when the girls go to bed, and then I could run in the morning before my 9:30 class, but we'll see. If i want to make local friends, going to bars might be better than going running since people don't seem to be big on exercise here. 

Speaking of bedtimes, I'd say it's mine right now! Tomorrow is day 1 of school (aka orientation, syllabus day, and a walking tour) which should be good. 

Hasta manana! 

The Beginning

Well here I am in Leon, Spain, for my final quarter of UW. I'm done with all my engineering classes but I have 15 credits left for my minor, so this program fits perfectly. I'm here until mid-December, at least, but I haven't bought my plane ticket home yet, so we'll see when I come back. Regardless, though, I'm here for a while and this is my third time on a major trip abroad, hence the blog title. If I'm not posting enough here and you still want to read about my travels, you can read my old blog! www.ecuadorandgreece.blogspot.com. 

Anyway, I left Seattle on Thurdsay evening and got to Frankfurt Friday afternoon. I chose a flight with a long layover intentionally, and since my luggage was in the care of Lufthansa, I left the airport for a few hours to explore. I've never been to Germany but I looked up the metro system and read a little about the sights while I was waiting at Seatac (thank you free Wifi!), so getting downtown wasn't too hard. I strongly disliked not being able to communicate in the local language though... Everything in the airport had English translations, of course, and my impression was that everyone spoke English anyway, but I hated being "that American" that didn't speak the language! However, the excursion was definitely worth it. I got off the Metro at a stop in the city center and saw a gigantic train station (it's odd to think that cities were built around transportation infrastructure... so unlike Seattle), the Main River, a number of beautiful buildings, ate a meal (I don't know if it was actually authentic or just looked that way for tourists) and lastly went to the top of a skyscraper for a great 360 degree view of the city. By then I had walked around for a while and I was satisfied to recognize lots of landmarks. 

I made it back to the airport without incident, save dozing off a couple times on the train. I found a quite boarding area and took a nice nap as soon as I got back through security! Then, when I was waiting for/on my plane to Madrid, I heard a lot more Spanish, which was much more comfortable. In Madrid, I found what was I think the only bench without any bars separating the seats on the outside of security. It wasn't the best sleep I've ever had, but I did finish my book. Now I need to find a bookstore with some English books because I only brought one! The next morning I met up with Olivia and Stephanie, who made slightly wiser choices in flight selection, and we found a train easily to get us to Leon in time for our 6pm meeting. I was awake for a total of 5 minutes during the train ride, but it seemed like a great way to travel, and much cheaper than flying. Of course, nothing will ever compare with buses in Ecuador... At a dollar per hour, they were certainly the most economical means of transport, which I miss!