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"In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself." -Anonymous

Friday, December 31, 2010

Istanbul: Day 1- "Lost and Alone"

I dıdn't sleep much the nıght before my flight. I was too anxıous for my trıp, and kınd of worried about leaving Chulo.  I got up at 8am, and was out the door by 10; onto a long metro ride to the aırport. When İ arrıved at the aırport I realızed ıt was a good thing that I had gotten there early.  İt was 11am and my flıght was at 12:25, but both the check ın and security lınes were extremely long.  When I fınally made ıt to my gate ıt was already tıme to board the plane, so İ thought.  The attendant made an announcement that the flıght would be delayed 30 mınutes, whıch turned ınto an hour.  When I fınally got on the plane, İ would have fallen straight to sleep, but thıs Spanish couple kept talkıng to me.  Luckıly, they were really nıce and funny, so İ entertaıned them for a whıle.  We were anxıously awaitıng the in-flıght meal so we could pass out afterwards.  The flight attendants only spoke English and Turkish, so İ was translating for the Spanısh couple. The meal was surprısıngly good.  Havıng mısunderstood me, the flight attendant brought the woman wıne ınstead of beer.  As I was sippıng my orange juıce, the Spanish woman ınsısts that I split the wine wıth her and pour it ınto my orange juice. Who am İ to say no to wıne?! 

İ soon fell into a deep sleep.  We fınally landed in Istanbul around 6:30pm. İ forgot about the whole visa fee/stamp process.  I waıtıng ın lıne alongside the Spanish couple for about 30 minutes; just to get  stupid stamp. I was supposed to meet my friend Leah at my hostel at 8:30, but that did not look too promısimg.  İ had no clue where I was. All İ had was a piece of paper full of numbers and dırections İ had written down. The lady at the ınformation desk was able to tell me in very broken English which shuttle İ could catch to get to the city center.  In less that 20 minutes İ boarded the extremely hot bus, and was on my way.  When I got off at Taskim Square, I asked the drıver to point me ın the dırection of the main street. Unfortunately, I did not understand a word he was sayıng.  A Brıtısh man, who obviously spoke Turkish, offered to help me.  Havıng no other option, I followed him down the main street, Istiklal, assumıng that İ knew how to get to the hostel from there.  As we were walkıng he told me that this street, Istiklal, is said to be the busiest street ın Europe!!  We parted ways, and he told me to follow the road to the big gates. As horrıble at directıons as I am, İ was confident that İ could fınd ıt, but İ got very turned around.  İt began to rain, and İ was walkıngdown the busiest street in Europe wıth my rolling suitcase, no phone, and no knowledge of the Turkish language.  I hopped ın the nexted taxı İ saw, knowıng that İ would most lıkely be overcharged.  İ didnt care. 

When I fınally arrıved at the hostel, late, İ was relıeved to fınd that my frıend was runnıng late as well. İ put my thıngs down and when İ got back to the lobby she was there waitıng! Thank God! İ gave her the biggest hug and off we went to roam the streets of Istanbul. We went to this nıce posh bar, where we sat ın a heated area on couches outsıde.  Every bar ın Istanbul has hookah, so thats what we did.  Our waıter was really cool and spoke about 5 languages. he trıed to sneak out of work to come hang out with us, but to no avail. We assured him we would come back and vısıt.  The restaurant we found on a backstreet had an ınteresting appeal.  When we walked in, the first thıng İ noticed was a Turkısh woman sıttıng ın a huge pıle of flour ın a corner of the restaurant, makıng some kınd of bread/tortılla thing. The very same bread was then placed on our table wıthın 5 minutes! Yum! I had a great plate of chıcken somthıng (most thıng İ ate İ dont know the names of). 

Stuffed and sleepy, we set a tıme to meet the followıng day, and I hıt the sheets.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Dia Internacional de Derechos Humanos (International Day of Human Rights)- Dec 10





For International Day of Human Rights, Amnesty had a tent all day on the street.  We handed out information about Amnesty, and about our 5 focus cases; Prisoners of Conscience in Gautemala, Romania, China, Gambia, and Tunisia.  We had letter written to the governments of each country, and we asked people to sign the letters.  We collected over 2500 signatures in one day!!

Sevilla Part 2

I was sooo anxious to go to the flamenco show at Carboneria! O, how I missed "mi musica flamenquita!" (Watch the video!) We got there around 10:45pm and it was already packed to capacity for the 11pm show.  I of course made my way to the very front so I could see the clearly the precise steps of the flamenco dancer's heels.  As expected, it was amazing!  The singer sang from the very pit of his stomach, so we could literally feel the words he was singing. 

The next day we met up with my friends again, and had a very interesting adventure.  We ate more great food, including churros y chocolate again, and then we ended up at some random bar for dinner where we encountered a slew of funny characters.  I won't go into detail, but the night was filled with a lot of tinto (wine), and some rebojito, a typical Sevillian drink, that we made ourselves. Great fun!

On our last day in Sevilla, I met my friend Pia, who lived in Sevilla for a while before.  We decided to have a very American meal, hot wings.  We sat and caught up on each other's lives for hours, over wine of course.  It was good to see that crazy girl.  We had some crazy memories from Sevilla, and the same love of the city.  Later, I went to visit my senora, the woman I lived with for the first half of my yea abroad.  When I called her a few weeks before, to tell her I was in Spain, she informed me that she was in the hospital.  She had been in there almost a month, with a gallbladder infection. She is about 72 years old, and her husband is 78.  They are the cutest, most traditional Spanish couple. I decided to sneak Chulo into the hospital to cheer her up.  Because Spaniards are so lax about everything, I was able to bypass the info desk with Chulo in purse, without even being asked where I was going.  I also bought her some pink roses.  She was very happy to see me, and we talked for a while.  Her husband, who has always loved me, was there as well.  He is the funniest old man ever!  He used to sneak me anis, a typical liquor, in my tea at lunch.  Her youngest daughter was also there.  I talked with them for a while, but it was a bit sad to see her in the hospital with so many tubes in her arm.  She was sooo anxious to get out of the hospital, and return to her normal "wifely duties."  I once asked my senora what she did before, as a career.  Her answer was simple, she said "I did this."  Her whole life had been dedicated to her household, cooking and cleaning, and taking care of everyone.  She loved doing it.  To be in the hospital was taking away her livelihood.  One of her granddaughters, who was not allowed to visit, called her while I was there, and she began to cry.  I could not stay any longer. 

That night, before leaving Sevilla, we went to eat some great cheap pizza at this Italian bar.  All natural ingredients.  As we headed to the bus station at 11pm, I could not help but smile the whole way.  I love Sevilla!  I will never forget the memories it has given me.  It's tattooed on me!  "NoDo," no me ha dejado.  Sevilla never left my side ;-)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Rainy Bliss in Sevilla

After spending a year in Sevilla, most of you know how in love I am with the city.  I was more than anxious to get back for the first time.  The 6-8th we had vacation time for another random Spanish holiday, so of course I wanted to spend every minute of the break in Sevilla.  Before the trip I was a little nervous about bringing Chulo along.  He is technically a very travel friendly dog, because he is so small, but it was his first real trip so I was apprehensive.  We were taking the night bus, which was 6 hours, so I assumed he would sleep the whole ride.  Did I mention I absolutely hate bus rides/road trips!? Kate and I met at the bus station in Madrid at 1am and I stashed Chulo in my big purse with a blanket, hoping that no one would notice him.  We made it on the bus with no problem, the lights went off, and Chulo immediately went to sleep.  I, on the other hand, could not sleep at all!  I was a terrible, long, boring and sleepless bus ride.  I should have taken the Nyquil my friend offered me.

We arrived in Sevilla at 7am, exhausted and cold.  Luckily, my good friend who I studied with in Sevilla was letting us stay at her house with Chulo.  We decided to try to find our way walking to her house, in an area which I had surprisingly never heard of.  As you can imagine, we got lost.  We walked around the city with our suitcases trying to find her house, which was hidden through the winding streets of Sevilla. It felt sooooo good to be back in my second home!  Though I was dead tired, I couldn't stop smiling down the street.  Many great memories were made in Sevilla, and all of them were coming back to me at that moment.  When we finally found my friend's house, it was about 8am.  We wanted to go straight to sleep! Her house was freezing so we hit the sheets with our clothes on and were out until about 12. 

We went to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants Los Coloniales.  We had to wait to be seated for almost an hour, we were starving, but it was soooo worth it! O how I missed solomillo al whisky, and the typical sweet red wine; my heart and stomach were content!  The rest of the day was spent walking all over my favorite parts of Sevilla, in the rain, showing my friend around too.  I went to see my old apartment as well.  Sevilla has an irrestible charm that I had fallen in love with once before.  That night, we went to a cute new, modern tapas bar in the centro, and met up with some of my old friends from there.  We had little bite sized kobe beef burgers and some delicious croquettes.  Later, we did a classic botellon in the streets before heading to the club, Buddha, where I lost my friends.  My the time I made it home it was around 6am. 

The next day, Sunday, we went to another on of my favorite spots, San Telmo, where we ate a very unique and tastey purple salad, a vegetable "cake" that was delectable, and some argentinian beef with spicy mustard.  I had forgotten how much I used to love eating out in Sevilla; great food, great prices!  I had Chulo in my purse as usual, but he was getting restless and wanted out.  I put him on my lap and gave him some bread.  The manager came over, noticed the pooch, and asked if I wanted some water.  I assumed he was talking about me.  He brought over a dog bowl of water and placed in on the chair next to us! What? That would never happen in the states! We would have been kicked out of the restaurant for sure! I love Spain, and I love that everyone is so enamored with Chulo! 

After lunch I left the girls and went to go visit the 3 little boys I babysat/taught english to.  I had maintained contact with their mom, Betsabe, and now she was pregnant....with her first girl!! I was excited for her, because the three boys were quite the handful.  She is due at the end of December, but  she looked great, hadn't gained a pound! The boys were exactly the same as I remember them, bad as hell! They went crazy over Chulo; a little too crazy.  They were treating him like a little play toy, and throwing him around and grabbing him by his neck! I had to hide him from them at one point.  I sat and talked to the parents for about an hour while we drank tea and ate some chocolate treats. 

I walked through the pouring rain back towards my friend's house.  I met in the centro to get some sweet treats and some hot chocolate y churros. Yummy! 

On Monday I finally got to eat my cazon en adobo I had been yearning for the past year and a half!  Cazon is a typical Andalusian fish, fried, in a special seasoning. I literally stuffed my face!  Later, we went to some of my favorite sites, the Reales Alcazares, the old palace, and Plaza de Espana, where I was surprised to see the small river flowing.  There were boats as well, which were not there before, so I had to hop on one! My friend was apprehensive about taking the boat ride because the clouds were darkening, but I was very insistent.  We eagerly jumped in the boat, with Chulo in hand, and no more than 2 minutes afloat it began to pour!  We were trapped in the middle of a small lake, two small girls, and an even smaller puppy.  Neither one of us could manage to row the boat at all.  We moved back and forth, side to side, in the same small area for about 10 minutes.  When we finally started to move in the right direction, it began to rain even harder, and we noticed people were staring and laughing at us.  We laughed as well; hard.

Later that night we went to my absolute favorite restaurant, La Madraza, and ate very well, yet again! I wish I had taken pictures of all the plates of food we ate in Sevilla; absolutely delish! And wine after wine after wine, o yes. ....... (To Be Continued)

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Beautiful Chaos- Brazilian Celebration through the streets of Lavapies

Reggae Concert @ Tabacalera

Can you understand what they are saying!! I did! A few words stick out though...."marijuana, marijuana...mo' fyya, mo' fyya!" LOL

Turkey Day in Madrid- Never Have I EVER!

A few days before Thanksgiving, I attempted to explain the meaning of the American holiday to my Slovenian, French, and Spanish roommates.  This was a quite comical, hour-long conversation.  They could not understand the relationship between the pilgrims and the Native Americans, nor why that relationship somehow leads to our big feast.  I tried to describe the table set-up and how we go around and give thanks for things.  Then, I suggested that we have a real Thanksgiving dinner at the house, just between us roommates.  They we all in!

On the actual day of Thanksgiving, I actually sat in my bed all evening, taking care of Chulo who had diarrea.  I ate a tuna and cheese sandwhich for my Turkey Day dinner; sad, I know.  That Friday we had our dinner.  The girls, still not understanding the intensity of the Thanksgiving feast, made salads and desserts.  I decided to make Curry Chicken for the first time.  I cooked the chicken in a skillet first, then I added coconut milk and curry powder.  I put the mixture in a larger pot and added water, potatoes, and carrots; simmering for about 30 minutes.  I served it over white rice, and it turned out great!! Not your traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but very satisfying nonetheless.  Then, the fun began.

After we finished our meal, we broke out the bottle of vodka we had brought to share between us.  Of course I volunteered to mix drinks.  The plan was to drink up, and stay in and have a night of girl talk.  We had all dressed up, and we all put on Frenchie's fire red lipstick; which looked pretty ridiculous actually.  After a bit of drinking, we started playing the game "Never have I ever," which led to many new and interesting discoveries about my roommies, which I will keep to myself, lol.  Around 1am we decided that we had to go out.  I told my bouncer friend that we would be coming to Sol y Sombra, to ensure that we would all get in free.  We scurried to the metro to catch the last one.  Upon entering the club we were warmly welcomed with shots at the door.  You can imagine how my night ended......

Beautiful Chaos

So I have been on blog hiatus because I was writing about this past weekend before, and I accidentally deleted everything!!  I was quite upset and I never re wrote it.  Anyway, here it goes again...

(Two Saturdays ago) I was really in the mood to go out, but the only problem was I had no plans.  Around 8pm, my Egyptian friend called me and asked me if I wanted to go to this Turkish jazz concert with her.  Of course!  I had been wanting to go to the Madrid Jazz Festival forever.  My friend happens to work for Casa Arabé, so she had free tickets to the show! I met her at the theater at 845pm, and I must say I felt a bit under-dressed, because the concert hall was quite fancy.  This type of jazz was indescribable.  I was like Bollywood meets jazz, and then runs into neo-soul. Very cool, different.  The group took the stage and included a bass and keyboard player, and a singer strumming this strange mini guitar-like instrument.  There were also 3 dancers who would randomly skirt the stage, dancing a "semi-belly dance," while skirting the stage.  The lead singer was dressed in a typical Turkish garb, which consisted of a quirky tall hat, huge pants, and bright colors.  We sat and listened to the rhythmic tunes of the rare jazz music for a couple of hours.  At the end of the show, the strange guy with the hat ran into the audience, jumped on top of a chair and played his weird guitar instrument until the whole crowd was on their feet. 

After the concert, I really wanted to go to this flamenco bar that I thought was free.  Flamenco in Madrid is hard to find and expensive usually.  I walked in and asked them if we could sit at the bar for the show.  We were tricked!  We soon discovered that it was in fact 30 euros for the show and you had to eat as dinner as well!  Needless to say we left the bar. My friend had another bar in mind nearby.  It was a Syrian hookah bar/lounge with food as well.  I devoured a delicious "kebab!"  We sat at the bar for a couple of hours, and then another friend text me and told me they were at a bar nearby, Sol y Sombra.  We walked over to the discoteca, where we found a long line, and I was sure we would have to pay at the door.  Just to be sure, I walked up to the door and asked the doorman how much it was.  He told me it was 30 euros, and then smirked at the other security guy.  I told him they were crazy, and asked him to stop joking and tell me how much it really was to get in.  They asked my friend and I if we were from Dominican Republic, and they were sure that we were.  When we told them where we were both from, Chicago and Egypt, they thought we were lying.  We joked around with them for a bit, and then they asked to see our ids.  They were shocked that we were actually telling the truth!  They told us we had to teach them English, and they let us in for free!  Love connections.  The place was nice, but we did not stay that long because it was very hot inside and we could barely move!

After spending the whole day in my pajamas on Sunday, my roommate invited me to this Brazilian festival/parade in the streets at 6.  I quickly got ready and when with her to Lavapies.  The festival was to honor a Afro-Brazilian slave and revolutionary, who was killed fighting for black rights.  Very hippie-like ceremony, with tamborines and drums, and dancers.  We paraded through the streets for about 2 hours in celebration mode, then we made our way to the usual Brazilian bar, Maloke.  There we were treated to live Brazilian music and singing, and of course I had the typical Brazilian drink, Caipirinha (sp).

Beautiful Chaos filled weekend!