A Couple Semana Santa Pics

What the...? Did a KKK member forget to check if there was any colored clothing left in the washing machine when he was washing his robe? Nope, it's Semana Santa. These guys are repenting for the past year's sins (hide their faces while doing it) and walk around with the processions during Holy Week

JC cruisin downtown. There are tons of these that parade around the city all week

Like this one of Mary. These things are enormous. Each one weights over 3 tons

and about 30 of these guys get underneath these statues and pick them up just using their necks. These rolled up shirts/towels are the only bit of cushion they get. Then they walk for around 7 hours.

JC in Triana (my neighborhood)

Here's a video if you want to see them moving/hear the music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMMp2uTj0QU

Pretty great to see

Berlin Pics

Me and Abby

Berlin Wall

Really cool plaza. That's a protestant church and there's a Catholic version of it (exact same building) right behind me

All the crosswalk guys have funny hats

Brandenburg gate

Funny accents, backwards letters, weird money: must be eastern Europe

Great day in Prague

that's the astronomical clock. every hour it has all this crazy stuff go on so people are always there watching

View of Prague from the top of the crazy clock

Wenceslas Square

Charles Bridge

It’s been a couple weeks since my last update, so here goes another long one. As far as school goes, everything’s still good. I had 3 tests 2 weeks ago and think I did fine on all of them, and I have my poetry class midterm this Wednesday. I know I’ve already mentioned this, but both the professor and the poets we’re reading are crazy, so we’ll see how that goes.

The more interesting info is that I had my first of 2 spring breaks last week and it was a blast. I met up with a bunch of friends from home (Luke, Jessie, Betsy, and Abby) in Prague for the first part, and then headed to Berlin with Abby for the second part.

I’ll start with Prague. I really had no idea what to expect before. At least in other countries I’ve had a general idea of some sights I wanted to see, but in Prague, nada. I guess I’d heard of the Charles Bridge and King Wenceslas, and I’ve seen Vin Diesel’s cinematographic masterpiece XXX, but that’s about it. I mean do you really know anything about any country in eastern Europe? Me neither. Pretty much just picture dark, run down buildings, overcast skies, maybe a fire in a trashcan here or there, and lots of angry people. That wasn’t really what I pictured Prague like I guess, more just east Europe in general.

Well I got there last Thursday and first thing I had to do was switch some money. Their money is called crowns and I think it’s about 4 crowns = 1 euro. I’m still not exactly sure what the conversion rate is if that gives you any idea of what the money aspect of the trip was like for me. It really seems like it shouldn’t have been that hard, but when the pressure was on and I was ready to pay for something, I cracked. People could have been charging me whatever and I would’ve just been handing over money. “O what’s that? You want my debit card too? Sure, here’s the pin number. Enjoy.”

Once I had some money, I took the train towards the town center and found the hostel. Luke, Jessie, and Betsy were already there and our place was pretty awesome. We had 2 rooms with our own kitchen and huge bathroom. Really clean, nice, and cheap. We got some dinner that night, walked around and drank for a bit, then Abby came in Friday morning. We spent most of the day just walking around and it was incredible. Prague is a beautiful city and we had perfect weather. There’s tons of neat architecture there, and pretty much everywhere we went smelled like a tailgate. Ate a ton of meat like sausage and pork knuckle, had some awesome sauerkraut, and lots of cheap, good, huge beers. Real frat. At night we checked out a bunch of different bars, but the coolest one was the place where there are taps at every table and you just pour your own beer whenever you want one. Then there’s a big screen showing how much you and the other tables have drank, so it’s kind of like a big race.

On Sunday, everyone started splitting up and Abby and I took the train to Berlin. The trip took about 5 hours, but it was a really pretty ride and definitely beat flying there. We started out winding along the river, then there was a ton of really green open fields, some huge hills, etc.

Now like in Prague, I had some preconceived notions and questions regarding Berlin/Germany. For example, are German Shepherds just known as ‘shepherds’ in Germany? And is German chocolate cake just ‘chocolate cake?’ Still not sure so let me know if you figure that out.

Also, I had a somewhat skewed image of what I pictured the Berlin fashion scene to be. I pictured people wearing lots of leather, lots of metal chains (perhaps a studded chocker necklace or bracelet), maybe a leather vest or hat. Not sure why, but that was the first thing to come to my head. Basically, Berlin was where weird dominatrix fashion would meet biker gang fashion. Thankfully (or perhaps unfortunately) that wasn’t the case. Berlin was an equally awesome city and I had a blast there. We stayed at this place called Wombat’s Hostel, probably the nicest one I’ve staid in. During the day, I took a really good tour that showed us a bunch of German landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and old Nazi Air Force HQ. One interesting part was when our guide pointed out a parking lot. There was really nothing to catch your eye at this place. It was just an unpaved parking lot with no signs or anything around. Turns out that was where Hitler’s bunker was and where he committed suicide. Our guide said the gov didn’t want anything to commemorate Hitler so this was the best thing they could do – make a crappy parking lot and try to forget the place. Now people bring their dogs there and poop on it (the dogs I mean. Maybe some people do too?)

O ya and we saw the hotel where Michael Jackson was holding his new baby out the hotel window.

On another day we went to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp right outside Berlin. Tough to describe that but something definitely worth seeing.

At night, we hung out at the bar at our hostel quite a bit and went on a pubcrawl one night. The hostel was a great place to meet people and lots of us ended up going on the pubcrawl together. It was pretty funny looking back because I’m sure there won’t be many times in life when I’ll be sitting around drinking with people from Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, England, etc all in one place. Really fun night with one massive hangover in the morning.

The food and beer were great there, too. Lots of snitzel, currywurst, and other meat dishes for super cheap

I’m back in Sevilla now to catch the 2^nd half of Semana Santa. It’s this huge Holy Week deal going on here and started on Palm Sunday (last Sunday). Most people get at least part if not the whole week off, and every day there are processions in the street. It probably sounds like a parade, but is quite a bit different. First off, there are people dressed up all over the place that are wearing the same outfits the KKK wears (Spain had them first). These guys are part of the procession, along with a band. But the biggest part are the pasos. These are these enormous elaborate statues that sit on big platforms and most of the year are hanging out in churches. For this week, though, they get to catch some air outside. Each of these dudes weighs over 3 tons, but during the processions (which can last around 7 hours), about 35 guys get underneath them, pick them up using their necks, and then parade super slowly around the city. So each guy has around 170 pounds on his neck. I personally would rather be in the band or KKK outfit, but the guys underneath see it as a sacrifice or repentance and it’s actually pretty competitive to be underneath.

The pasos are really cool though. It’s sort of like watching a huge, moving version of the Stations of the Cross. The different statues depict some aspect of JC or Mary’s life during the week. Pretty neat. I went and watched them yesterday with Concha, her daughter Ana, and Ana’s family. Ana and all her family are great. She’s super nice and has some cute kids. Concha is still doing good too. We had some beers yesterday after one of the pasos went by, and she got pretty drunk after 2.5 of them.

That’s all from here. I’m going to London on Wednesday so looking forward to that and will post some pics when I get back.

Stay classy,

Mark

What's been happening in Spain lately?

Gibraltar

Monkey catchin some rays

And monkey pullin jack's hair

Not sure how well you can see this, but that's africa in the back

Sorry it’s been a while since the last post. I’ve got plenty to talk about now though so you won’t have to read a watered down blog entry.

I’ll talk about last weekend first and start with a question again. What place do you think of when someone talks about the British flag, pounds for currency, and funny British accents. Britain right? Wrong! Well actually that’s right, too, but I’m thinking more of Gibraltar.

You’ve probably heard a little bit about it, but in case you haven’t Gibraltar is a British territory that sits about as far south as you can get in Spain. I went with a group of 7 people last Saturday to check it out and it ended up being pretty awesome. To get there, we took a bus from Sevilla (about 4 hours to get there) and then really only had about 2.5 hours to check out Gibraltar b/c the last bus left at 4. So we were sprinting most of the time, but still worth it. One of the guys we went down with (named Adam) had found us some British tour guide on the Internet, and this guy was waiting for us in a bus right as we crossed the border.

The border crossing was pretty funny. You show up, hold up basically anything that resembles a passport, and stroll on in. No lines, no hastle, no problem. After that, we hoped in the tour guide’s car and took off. This guy was hilarious. We went to the tip of Gibraltar first, and from there you can see Africa. Not super well, but you can see it (I couldn’t make out the shape of any elephants/zebras/etc, but I’m sure they were right there lookin back at me).

After that we headed up the Rock of Gibraltar. It’s exactly what it sounds like – a giant rock, also has a cave in it. The cave was really neat inside (not quite as cool as the one in Aracena but still pretty sweet) but we were basically flashing pictures as we sprinted through. I’ll skip the easy stereotype here of our far east neighbors.

When we came out of the cave, we walked into a scene from Jungle Book. Again, not sure how much you know about Gibraltar, but it’s a really weird place in that there are these wild monkeys everywhere. I guess some British soldiers brought them over from Africa because they thought they were funny/cute (true), some boy and girl monkeys escaped, and now they are hangin around all over Gibraltar. They’re pretty friendly around people and some will climb all over you. They’re normally pretty laid back, but there’s one thing they just go crazy for, and that’s food. Whenever these guys see a plastic bag, they assume there’s food inside and go wild trying to get it. We’re talking druggie lookin for the next fix wild. Our guide warned us about this, but I guess another guy standing by me later that day didn’t get the same warning. I had been looking at one monkey that looked like he was about to fall asleep, but then he saw this man with a plastic bag in his hand and this monkey’s eyes we’re instantly enflamed. He tore off and started jumping all over this guy trying to rip the bag out of his hands. Pretty funny. Wish I would’ve been quicker with the camera.

After chillin with the monkeys for a while, we had to book it back to the bus station because ours was getting ready to leave. Made it just in time.

Outside of traveling, everything’s been going great in Sevilla. Classes have been pretty easy for the most part. My poetry teacher is crazy and I have no idea what the poem we’ve been reading all semester is about, but I wouldn’t have a clue in English either (it’s Altazor by Vicente Huidobro if youre interested in checking it out. I’m sure his poems are great for some people, but I don’t understand a damn thing).

I’ve been going out quite a bit, blowing through money like it’s going out of style, and picked up a bit of a pastry habit. I walk by about 5 or 6 pastry shops everyday on the way to/from class and cant help myself. The things are too good and there’re 1,000 different kinds to try. I guess I shouldn’t judge the monkeys so hard because I know exactly what they’re going through. I’d be rippin plastic bags out of strangers’ hands too if I knew there was a chance there were pastries inside. Which I guess there could be? I guess if you hear reports on the news of an “enraged American” in Sevilla with chocolate smeared all over his face and ripped bags in his hands, you know what happened. Sevilla be warned

Also, as far as nightlife goes, we’ve found some pretty cool places. There’s one really neat place I don’t think I talked about in any of the other posts, but it’s a hole in the wall flamenco bar called Carboneria. It’s a really discreet place – no signs, only two red doors that look like you’re going into someone’s house. Then every night from 11-12, they have flamenco performances. Pretty cool, free to get in, not too expensive to drink.

My coat got stolen (borrowed?) at a different place one night. I’m surprised it took this long for something like that to happen. I’m a pretty easy target

O ya and probably the BIGGEST NEWS EVER happened last Friday. Laura, the 25 day returning champion of Pasapalabras (Spanish game show), finally won the grand prize of 282,000 euros. Concha and I had this girl pegged for a champion from the beginning and here we find ourselves. What a day

Outside of that, been trying to check out as many bars/clubs as possible and been having a great time. If you want to know a little more about what life in Sevilla is like, check this video out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1t3FnasmgY. I fit right in.

I’ve got my first test this week for my Arab World/Politics class on Wednesday. Tuesday night I’m goin to the Sevilla vs. Moscow soccer game. And as far as this weekend goes, maybe go to Cadiz again? Maybe Portugal? Somewhere else? Not really sure so guess I’ll have to leave you with a cliffhanger and you can check back later to find out

Trip to Paris

Me and Sam

Any St. Thomas More people out there who had Ms. Rapp in 6th grade will appreciate this. Notre Dame - probably have seen the cartoon movie about how this place was made 10 times

Cool sunset from a hill overlooking Paris. The Eiffel Tower is a little to the left. Pretty sure im gonna win Mizzou's photo contest with this one so to any competitors out there, just give up

the louvre

From Friday - Tuesday I was in Paris and man was it awesome. I went with Jack Campbell and Sam Morse and we had a blast. I didn't think I was gonna make it at first because the air traffic controllers in France decided to go on strike the day I was supposed to fly out. Real sweet, france. But I found a flight out the next morning and ended up having plenty of time in Paris. We stayed at a hostel about 15 min from the Eiffel Tower called Three Ducks. It was pretty funny going in because a lot of the reviews online said things like "don't stay here" "this place is gross", "not even good for a last resort." it ended up being fine though. the price was right and a good location.

we saw everything i wanted to see - eiffel tower, notre dame, saint chapelle, the louvre, arc de triomphe, the orsay (art museum id never heard of before but it was really cool), latin quarter, napolean's tomb, moulin rouge, montmarte area, etc and had plenty of time to just walk around and hang.

the food was all incredible. i ate a ton of crepes, plenty of bread/cheese, and one night we went out for a nice dinner. i tried the most french thing i could find - escargot appetizer and steak tartar (looked just like hamburger meat but was really good).

the nights were a blast too. my computer is gonna die any minute here so sorry this is short, but i also gotta mention that one of our roommates at the hostel was a french wine salesman-pretty funny that he was the first french guy i met. stereotypes are true,

Some Granada Pics

This is the Alhambra in Granada. My camera didnt work so I took this off the internet

Aracena?

Alhambra. I took this one

Concha: A Case Study

I would guess most of you have seen an old person before. They look just like you or me, but sometimes tend to have funny quirks about them. Maybe they smelled like mildew, said things that were politically incorrect, etc. Well Concha is said old person, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to write a little bit about her. I should also mention again that she’s an incredibly nice person so hope this doesn’t sound too negative.

As mentioned before, it’s just Concha and me living together. That means we have tons of together time and a very intimate dining experience. I figured I’d start with that. For lunch, we normally eat around 1:30 or 2 and dinner is around 9. Concha is a fairly old lady, and has a very regimented schedule we follow. Lunchtime = Spanish Wheel of Fortune. Dinnertime = Passapalabras (gameshow), followed by the news, followed by Arayan (soap opera). Variation from this (channel 5) is a no no. The funny part of the night tends to be the commercials. Since we’re watching the same channel every day, we tend to see a lot of the same commercials. Now having said that, Concha always likes to explain to me why the commercials are funny, how you need to pay attention to catch what product is being sold, etc. Even though we’ve seen it 100 times already.

Here’s an example of one. This commercial is of a fat man in the bathroom dressed up as a ballerina. It’s an ad for some sort of throat medicine, and basically the ad is the fat guy dancing around in the bathroom.

And action…

Concha (laughing) “Look, look! Did you see that?”

Me (what I’m thinking): “I’ve been sitting next to you for the past hour. What else would I be looking at?”

Concha (explaining): “Now you see, it’s funny because the man is overweight AND he’s dressed up as a ballerina. It’s funny. Now if you didn’t see it, they are advertising a medicine for the throat”

Me (laughing inside/thinking) “Ooooooo. That humor is just way over my head. Thanks for the explanation haha”

End Scene

What makes it better is that we’ve seen this commercial probably 10 times, but it still gets an explanation. Pretty funny.

In an unrelated note, Concha used to have a cat, but it died last summer. Apparently it tried jumping out of our 5^th story window to catch a bird and missed. At least that’s the story Concha told me. Rumor around the apartment has it that the cat got fed up with the tv routine and decided this was the better route.

There's some more funny stories from her I'll write about sometime, so check back soon

Also I hoped to spark some debate in the comment section underneath. Feel free to weigh in. The topic is “Old people eat funny.” Discuss