First and foremost: Movies.
Walking my 30 minute walk to school everyday the city of Granada's entertainment people have just installed a gigantic red carpet down the main walking stretch of Granada. Flanking the carpet about every 15 ft. is a movie poster of every Audrey Hepburn movie every made. Turns out for the next week and a half (and this happens every year) the city of Granada celebrates "Constelación Audrey" - a movie festival of all of her movies. Now, I know that Audrey is considered an amazing actress.. but how can Spaniards (or anyone that doesn't speak English for that matter) enjoy her or appreciate her fully if she's being dubbed over? I imagine the respect I have for actors/actresses is partially due to their demeanor of talking, but I've never much thought about it. I also imagine this respect being somewhat ruined if said actor has some random Spanish voice actor dubbing their voice (and yes, trust me, Spanish dubbing is by far one of the world's worst right after the Chinese dubbing of the chorus in "Girlfriend" by Avril Levine) So basically, what I am getting at is: How can people really, completely "appreciate" (in the raw sense) an actor if they're only getting the visuals? - Also, another side note, does the same person who dubs, say, Brad Pitt, always get to be his voice-over guy? Anyway, I think I'm going to try and see a few of her movies during this festival before I leave for my trips on Friday.
Also, a topic of interest has been my homeless night. Now, I'm not going to spend my time retyping it, as I gave one of you lucky readers a preview. This fantastic reader was my (ex)roommate (that sounds so harsh??) Chelsea. So basically I'm going to copy and paste what I had written to her. NOTE: the grammar will be more terrible than it usually is as I was enjoying Turkish tea and a crepe while at an Arabic Teahouse.
Long story kinda short- my senora kinda rents out her house to people who're staying in Granada for like 1-3 weeks to just kinda stay somewhere while they study (apparently europeans only "study abroad" for that long). But anyway we had a guy named Pascual from France stay for a week and on Friday night he locked me out (we have three locks on the door and I have 2 keys for the door and the last one you're supposed to lock as the last person coming into the house.) Well, I go out to the discotecas and get back home around 4:30. Pascual has locked the unlockable lock. So i try ringing the doorbell but no one responds. So I basically just end up freaking, walking around the city in the rain, getting a shawarma (their equiv of like.. pita pit [maybe you had one in Istanbul or Czechishy?) and then giving up and sleeping underneath the stairwell of my apartments stairs.
Lovely.
Regardless, Granada is going really well. It's so much of what I expected while at the same time being so completely different from what I expected... if that makes any sense at all? I'm making friends outside of my AIFS program while also forming my own little niche in the AIFS program.
My senora is crazy and dramatic and I love (most) every second of it. We've moved fast - I was told that calling your senora "madre" takes time and a lot of patience, but that was all I wanted. I had some obsession with the challenge of getting my sra. to warm up to me enough that I could jump in for the kill (or in this case, to be able to murmur the word "madre" to her face). This, however, EXACTLY two and a half weeks later has been accomplished. She's been calling me her "nino" for the past week or so (you best believe I've been killing her with kindness) and today I called her madre whilst eating lunch (lunch, or food even, will be talked about in the next bulletin) in response to a "Ay mi nino ..." comment she made. Needless to say she shot up out of her chair and gave me a big ol' Spanish hug. And then kissed my forehead. SUCCESS!! (Or shall I say, EXITO!!)
Now, my friends here all know the food deal. I do not doubt that the Mediterranean diet is one of the best in the world for you, but I'm assuming when people say that they are talking about moderation. Ana, my senora (o madre, quizas), is obsessed with feeding me more than I've ever eaten in my life. I have told her on a number of occasions that the food she makes me is great, but is enough (especially because she, along with everyone elses senora, only eats lunch??) to feed a small nation - I believe the nation of Haiti would be a good comparison. I've started to be "rude" and not let her be satisfied (and me extremely dissatisfied) by not eating everything that she gives me just for my health's sake. I've been running more than I ever have in my life and I'm pretty sure I've gained cerca 10 pounds. Lately I've been pulling the "Ay me duele el estomago" card. I've at times even had to wrap up food in a napkin and then throw it out later (others at homestays are doing the same thing.. we had something similar to an AA meeting [what I'd imagine one to be like] for being over-fed yesterday). Not to mention (IF YOU'RE FAINT OF HEART AND HAVE A WEAK STOMACH DO NOT READ UNTIL NEXT PARAGRAPH) digestion here is the pits. Everyone's been so grumpy because no one has been able to, how do I say nicely, pass their food (see: shit) on a remotely normal basis. Some have chosen laxatives while others have just chosen fasting here and there while drinking ridiculous amounts of cafe con leche (I've chosen the last). If anyone wants to send me activa or something like that - please, feel free.
SPEAKING of sending things. If anyone would like me to write them, send postcards - whatever - just send me your address (facebook it to me or send the address via email to grantecutler@gmail.com)!! I'd love to and I think it would be something constructive for me to do rather than just sit around for hours on end waiting for a page to load. Also, if anyone would like to send me anything my address (not where I live but the programs office is:
Grant Cutler
Plaza del Campillo 2
Edificio Macia 3*E
Granada, Spain 18009
I think that's good enough for now. But I hope things are going well where ever you may be reading this!
jesus grant. that has to be the hardest i have laughed in a long time. damn that pascual! we have activa here in praha but i don't know if i could figure out the logistics of sending it.. perhaps you should come here and take a bulk load home.
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