Still Two Selves

I've sat down several times and tried to blog about my trip with Mom, but for whatever reason my heart's not in it. Maybe because it was a relatively long trip and I'm tempted to go day-by-day (which would probably be boring to you anyway). Or maybe because I've entered my other life now.

I noticed when I visited home for Christmas that it felt like I'd never left and that was disappointing to me. I decided I needed to integrate my Madrid experience into my other experiences so that it didn't feel like a thing apart.

The same feeling greeted me when I came home a week and a half ago. It felt like I'd never left. Somehow I have failed to integrate my experiences. Somehow my life in Europe is completely separate from my life in the U.S. and vice versa.

I can feel the two selves struggling within me. The Home Self is slowly rising to the surface, called out of a long slumber by the proximity of loved ones and the blue mountains in the distance. The Traveling Self is slowly fading into the background, for the moment lurking sulkily behind my eyes, drawing my attention to the strangeness of these people I have known all my life.

The Home Self struggles to wake; the Traveling Self tries to resist drowsiness.

Photos from trip

At the moment am too tired to start recounting my travels with Mom, but at the very least I can post the link to the photos.

So here's the link to the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47986&l=bd175&id=595126014

Will start telling tales when I'm feeling better and have a bit more time.

safe arrival

Have made it back to Portland safe and sound. I have a bad cold but other than that am fine. Details will follow at a later date. I have a lot to catch up on!

Besos.

In Sevilla!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Mom and I are still alive and enjoying our time in beautiful Sevilla...despite the fact that it's 104 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT!!!

We may or may not go to Granada tomorrow (have decided against Córdoba), but we'll have to see. We have not gone into a single tourist attraction, though we have taken some great pictures and I've bought some stuff, some for other people and some for myself.

I will mention before I go that our trip to Sevilla started off interestingly. I misjudged what time we needed to be at the airport, and since I'd told mom to trust me she didn't double-check, so we missed our original flight. Luckily the next flight was practically empty and only and hour and a half later, so we hopped on that one instead.

I was really proud of mom for not losing her cool, and proud of myself for keeping my head (though I was super embarrassed!) and dealing with the situation calmly.

One more day in Andalucía and then we fly back up to Madrid, spend Monday afternoon there and then fly to Paris Monday night. The temperature will be much cooler, and I can't wait for the butter-laden food! Yum yum!

Besos! =*)

Notes

1. Saying goodbye to all my students is sad. I've had such a good time with them over the last ten months, and they're all so friendly, affectionate, inclusive, funny, fun-loving and wonderful people. I know I'll probably come to love my German students too, but Spanish people are special. They freakin' rock.

2. Last week I learned the difference between un coñazo, una mierda and una putada. Un coñazo is a boring situation; una mierda is something bad that happens but is really no one's fault; and una putada is something bad that someone does to you. Hm. Still need to find out how una porquería is different from all of the above. Anybody out there happen to know?

3. The amusement park on Saturday, for example, could be considered both un coñazo and una mierda. We waited in line for an hour just to get into the park, and then every ride we went on (I only went on 4 or 5) had a wait of at least an hour. The park was chock-full of teenagers scoping each other out, making out, horsing around, smoking in line. So in addition to it being hot and us spending a lot of time standing around sweating, I felt like the oldest woman alive. Note to self: amusement parks not so much fun after high school.

4. Part of the atmosphere of a Spanish bar or cafetería is all the noise. In fact, the people who work in these places seem to go out of their way to make as much noise as possible: really loud milk steamers, loudly banging freshly washed dishes around, calling out orders to each other from opposite ends of the bar. And then there are the customers, who are quiet when by themselves but if you get a group of 3 or more become rambunctious. I have to say that it all seems rather jovial and fun when you're in the mood, but when it's my first coffee of the day it's a bit of much.

5. Speaking of morning coffee, while I was getting one this morning at about 9am a guy came in and sat beside me and ordered a bottle of beer. At 9am. Which only further proves my point that the Spanish don't consider beer to be an alcoholic beverage; they see as a cool refreshing drink when you need a cool refreshing drink. Period.

6. The five basic Spanish food groups: pork products, fish & seafood, potatoes & bread, beer, eggs.