Sevilla

Hasta Luego Sevilla...

2010-07-03T13:33:00.001-07:00

So my time here in Sevilla has come to an end... and as I began packing, deciding what to keep and what to throw away...it struck me that even little ticket stubs and notes scrawled in my notebook suddenly seem like things I can't part with.

Much of the experiences here in Sevilla challenged me and at times the cultural learning curve seemed imposibly steep, but after looking through and reflecting on my notes and drawings I am realizing that this place and the people who live here have really impacted and inspired me.

Once I had finished packing I dropped by the chino- the corner zippy mart where I bought super glue, oranges and other random necessities- to say "tsai chen" (goodbye in chinese). Its funny how you can adapt albeit reluctantly at times and make a whole new life in completely different city across the globe- It makes me appreciate imigrants who leave everything familiar behind in search of a better future or freedom or opportunity...they come sometimes with no support and have to build their communities from scratch- and this really impresses me because I feel blessed to have a supportive and loving family which makes it possible for me to branch way out without fear of falling. But being away from that net of support really pushed me to test the waters and also to appreciate what I have.

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The Great Gaudi

2010-06-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

I visited my friend Dasha in Barcelona and she took me on a grand tour of the city to see Gaudi's masterpieces including El Parque Guell, La Sagrada Familia y otros edificios como la pedrera.

His unique style is highlighted even among the many impressive buildings in Barcelona. It is amazing that his work continues to stand out and is immediately recognizable, from its organic shapes, brightly colored tiles, and whimsical curves.

Monkey see monkey steal!

2010-06-23T04:58:00.000-07:00

Ok so in my experience wild animals tend to have a healthy fear of humans at least so I thought... but the monkey's in Gibraltar act more like we are in fact the ones who should fear. Check out the oversized primate next to me and you can see that he was certainly less than thrilled to have us encroaching on his territory.

The Barbary apes of Gibraltar are entertaining and amazingly smart- while eating lunch (inside a protected enclosure) we spotted one of them scurrying of with a pack of principe cookies...a few minutes later we caught him dextrously unwrapping the food and pulling out one cookie examining it and then eating it in small bites as though he knew the proper procedure- it looked like a furry oversized todler who had finally gotten into the cookie jar- and DID NOT want to share the spoils :)

We took a cable car to the top of the rock and the views were amazing! It was funny to hear and see english everywhere and I was impressed by the ease with which the sales clerks and tour guides flowed from english to spanish flawlessly.

It is quite a unique place and I am glad to have been able to visit it.

Dinner and Dancing

2010-06-06T04:20:00.000-07:00

So last night we went out for a girls night :)

The plan was to try out a new Moroccan Restaurant nearby....

The interior was decorated to the nines and genuinely felt like we were sitting at a fancy restaurant in Marakesh, with tiny candles, glass lamps, handmade tasheens, and traditional music filling the warm colorful space.

We had a lovely 2 hour meal with hummus, olives, various tasheens, moroccan mint tea and dulces arabes...

We were just begining to try our tea when all of a sudden the music got louder and out came a bellydancer! She performed for a few songs and then went back to change costumes. We discussed her style and wondered where she might be from, and then out she came again, this time with a more traditional outfit. Before we knew it she had come up to our table and invited the 3 of us to come and dance with her. :) We had a blast trading moves, dancing around and laughing together.

Once we had sat back down she came over motioning to the veins in her forearm "Viene de la sangre, no?" I smiled nodding and then she asked "where are you from?" I explained that I was Lebanese and that when I hear the music I cannon help but dance. She complimented our dancing and for joining her on the floor and we thanked her for a great performance.

After dinner we took a walk around Sevilla just taking it all in... it is crazy that in less than a week I will be leaving this amazing city.

2010-06-01T01:36:00.001-07:00

Feelin HOT HOT HOT-45 degrees to be exact!!

2010-06-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

SO we decided to go to the Reales Alkasares to draw on the hottest day we have experienced so far here in Sevilla.

11am and temperatures had already reached 45!!! (thats like over 100 degrees farenheight)

But we chose a place in the shade and drew one of the many beautiful fuentes in the extensive gardens behind the Alkasares. After several hours baking in the sun- i mean sketching, we walked around to see if we could spot the famoso pavo real!! And after about haf an hour we were just about to give up when we practically stepped on the thing as we rounded a corner. It was just sitting calmly in a pile of leaves enjoying the shade.

Needless to say we took loads of pictures and we were amazed at how close we were able to get to the beautiful bird ...perhaps he is used to the paparazzi -i mean after all his feathers really are exquisite.

The only funny thing was that compared to the female, the macho was much more beautiful and she looked extremely plain. But the grounds keeper was saying that the reason for the colorful feathers was merely to show off for the female and the rest of the time he had to drag the heavy load behind him lol its amazing what some creatures do to attract a mate.

Mas manana!!

2010-06-01T00:43:00.001-07:00

Out on the Town

2010-05-30T03:40:00.000-07:00

As my time in Sevilla comes to an end...I am trying to aprovechar all of the beauty, excitement and culture the city has to offer. This past weekend we went for tapas and a flamenco show at La Carbonería.

It makes me smile to see families out for a walk or just sitting down to dinner at 11:30 or midnight. Apparently as the summer nights get warmer the Sevillanos stay out later and later...

Sorry for the abbreviated posts- but exam time is also here and I am definitely feeling the time crunch!!

Más Mañana!!

We Are Family :)

2010-05-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad came to visit this past week and it was a whirlwind of travel, sightseeing and fun times :)

It was a wonderful and a much needed dose of family :)

We went all around Sevilla including a riverside bar with mojitos and great music, a traditional flamenco performance full of duende, La Catedral, La Giralda, Los Reales Alkasares and then the Costa del Sol.

We also sampled all sorts of tapas and local cuisine...here is a picture taken by our waiter who had studied abroad guess where??? JAX, FL lol it is such a small world!

We missed Mattman but I am sure we will have more adventures this summer with the whole family :)

2010-05-11T13:28:00.001-07:00

2010-05-06T07:06:00.001-07:00

Looking The Part...Moroccan Style

2010-05-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

Except for an unfortunate run in with a carpet seller who offered to show us some of the rugs his family had been weaving for centuries and would never pressure us to buy only to have a look, we had no real trouble with walking through the town and looking in little shops and bakeries.

Our first official perchase in Chaoen was a headscarf for me, because, as I mentioned it is a rural town and so the women there were more conservative and after a few too many glances in my direction I realized that it was perhaps improper for me to be flaunting my light colored hair which inadvertinly also announced that I was a tourist. So we popped into a small shop where the man was watching a Spanish novella and spoke a bit of broken English and found a reasonably process scarf to cover my head. Once covered we began to blend much better (Justin in a traditional Moroccan shirt and me in the scarf and a longsleeved blouse)

The next day after a bit of exploring and a formal lesson on how to wear on a headscarf- I asked the cook if she would mind showing me how to put it on properly to which she smiled and replied in polite french that it would be a pleasure. So several pins and some time later I emerged with my hair tucked away and looking rather local if I do say so my self. J

2010-05-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

2010-05-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

La Feria cont.

2010-05-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry for taking so long to post these pictures:

Before heading to Morocco we went to la Feria dressed in traditional wear to take part in one of Spain's most famous celebrations.

From Ferris wheels, to churros and chocolate...and of course people dressed in their finest trajes de gitana of all colors of the rainbow la feria is a lively family affair full of Spanish pride. I will include some crowd shots and some that can help you see the absolutely huge fair grounds full of striped tents and carnival rides.

2010-04-30T07:59:00.003-07:00

Chaoen

2010-04-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

So walking through Tangier was much like walking through any other port city apart form the fact that everything was written in Arabic and French and that the women wore headscarves and the men wore a combination of traditional clothes and western attire. We both felt like foreigners that first day and decided that we would try harder to blend in. To make a long story short we took a taxi to a neighboring pueblo called Chefchaoen for the night- we had looked it up on the web and found a great little guest house called Dar Meziana which was quaint and situated in the center of the little mountain town. Watching the scenery was breathtaking and we saw everything from lakes and mountains to sheep and horses and even huge evergreen trees next to palm trees!

Arriving in Chaoen was as though we had dropped onto another planet-as the taximan opened the door to let us out we were met with the sounds of donkeys and bells carrying loads of straw and artesania to sell in the local souqs, and a cacophony of conversation in a mixture of Berber (high atlas), Arabic, and French. Everywhere you looked were little pueblo style clay houses painted periwinkle blue with curiously shaped doorframes and flowers growing wherever they could find space to put down roots.

It was a charming place proud of its berber heritage and happy to welcome new visitors. After being led through the winding streets and stone steps of Chaoen to our guesthouse we were welcomed with a traditional Moroccan custom. We were seated on couches with satin cushions and were surrounded by pillows of all colors and sizes in the parlor, which was in fact an open courtyard and were then served Moroccan mint tea with some traditional sweets made of nuts and filo dough. It was delicious and very much needed after a long day of travelling.

Next we were shown our rooms which was on the 3^rd floor leading out to the terrace from which you could see all the winding little streets below and could hear the call to prayer which would be chanted from the tops of the local mosques 5 times a day. It was a beautiful place full of new textures and colors and I couldn’t stop looking around marveling at the intricate design of the rought iron trellace or the rows of fresh mint growing by the window.

I promise to add pictures between postings because words can only describe so much and the rest you will have to see for yourselves.

…

2010-04-28T15:39:00.001-07:00

Planes Trains and...Ferries?

2010-04-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

As we lugged ourselves and our equipaje onto the 9:30am bus to Algeciras, Justin and I considered the journey that was about to begin- neither of us had ever been to an Arabic speaking country much less one that also spoke French (a language neither of us had studied) we were exited and a bit anxious to get moving because the trek we had chosen was not exactly direct but in fact was travel as it was meant to be-a journey across space and time to see and experience another culture and its people for oneself.

And that was exactly what we were prepared to do-soak in as much as we could and take in the vibrant personality of Morocco…

Once we reached Algeciras we had to catch a ferry to take us across the Mediterranean to the tip of Africa ie Tangier. Apparently, this was a very big business because when we arrived and eventually made it to the port there was what looked like airplane hangers with counters offering ferries at various prices and speeds of travel as well as combinations of destinations and purchasing options. Thankfully our choice was relatively simple-just get us to Tangier ;)

The ferry was huge and we saw many Moroccans and several French families aboard on their way back to Morocco. It was exciting to receive my very first passport stamp in Arabic. As we disembarked there were people asking in various languages if we wanted a “tahksi” for “very good price!’ or if we needed a tour guide or even a guy pretending to be some kind of ‘minister of tourism’ Thankfully both of us have travelled enough to know that if we just kept weaving through all these people we could just be on our way.

2010-04-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Moroccan Adventure

2010-04-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Dear blog followers:

Prepare to embark on a Moroccan adventure full of colorful cuisine, rich textures, and vibrant characters…

In a land in a far away across the salty turquoise water of the Mediterranean Sea and bordering along the rolling red dunes of the Sahara Desert lies a country of cultural fusion and linguistic confusion- a place of red clay and elegant art which fills the soul with fresh air thin and full of history…this country that brings together the customs of Europe and Africa is a very unique and beautiful mosaic of colors, cultures, and cuisines.

Morocco

2010-04-28T10:49:00.001-07:00

La Feria!!

2010-04-20T02:59:00.000-07:00

La Feria!!

Fuimos anoche a la Feria!! It was a blast! The official opening of the festivities was at 12 midnight, the ceremony is called the "Alumbrado". Once inside we saw the casetas and the carnival rides including mini rollercoasters and ferris wheels ;) And there were stands selling everything from chocolate and churros to cotton candy, noisemakers and much much more. As it was the night of 'pescaitos' (fried fish with an andalucian twist) big companies and families held dinners in their casetas to celebrate the begining of la feria.

Each caseta is unique and is decorated with traditional spanish flare. It reminded me of looking at the rooms of a dollhouse: there was wood flooring, wallpaper and real furniture but the only funny thing was that the casetas all are missing one wall so that everyone can hear the music and see the dancing.

Today we are planning to go check out the festivities and wear our trajes de flamenco :) cant wait!!

mas mañana!!

La Feria

2010-04-20T00:14:00.001-07:00

Mi Projecto Creativo "La Cascada"

2010-04-14T10:45:00.000-07:00