Queso, Vanguardista, y Portugal

I may have forgotten that I had a blog for the last few weeks but I'll chalk that up to being pretty busy. In any fashion, this will be my third post and it will also not contain very many pictures. I hate seeing a big block of text as much as anyone else but the sad reality is that my precious iPhone may have some water damage after an excellent weekend in Lisbon. At this point I'm praying that the power of dry rice, a Ziploc bag, and a week's worth of time can work some magic and get my only convenient mode of picture taking and going on Facebook contacting my loving family to function properly once again.

Two weeks ago I went to a cheese factory that makes one of the most famous cheeses in all the world: torta de casar. It is regarded as a Spanish delicacy and has apparently been made since a farmer way back when wanted to preserve his goat milk in the ol' Iberian Peninsula. The factory/museum smelled uh...I suppose pungent would be the best word to use. We got off the bus and could instantly smell this reeking farm which was a cross between protein powder, dirty gym socks and manure. So in that case I guess it just smelled like the men's locker room during football two-a-days. Anyway, we sat through a presentation that was difficult to understand and then finally got to see the massive amounts of cheese that they make. I'm sure you've seen my pictures on Facebook thus far, but I've never seen so much beautiful wheels as I did that day and they smelled absolutely delicious. There was different hard cheeses, torta de casar and this fantastic herbed hard cheese that I still get shivers down my spine when I think about our tasting afterwards. 

Torta de Casar: sooo creeeamy

If you couldn't tell, I loved this factory and wish that I could've bought a wheel to bring back to the States.

This same day our group went to 'El Museo de Vostell' who was part of the vanguard movement in art, or what I always thought of as "that strange, modern art that doesn't mean anything." I have to let you know, I no longer am under the same assumption after my time at the museum. Wolf Vostell was a German artist who fell in love with Spain, and in particular a Spanish woman, and decided to stay here and make art. 

¿Por qué el proceso entre Pilato y Jesús duró solo dos minutos? (Translation: Why did the procesion between Pontius Pilot and Jesus only last two minutes?

Fiebre del Automóvil (Translation: Automobile Fever)

Having a guide made this trip so much more insightful into the meanings of these works. Granted, they're still kind of out there and I had no clue what the guide said about the airplane one up there. What I did learn is that Vostell was a genius and at times appeared to be able to see the future. I'm sure that sounds crazy, but the reasoning for some of his eclectic art made sense and often times would be made years before an event would happen. For example, he made a piece that told the sad story that students would one day be hooked to radios and televisions and would just be products of mass media. While our generation isn't necessarily hooked to TV's or radio, it's hard to find someone that doesn't have their phone literally attached to their hip. Social media can be a scary thing and although it brings it closer it can block out people's true personality by claiming it to be stupid, weird, or uncool.

To end on a better note, my favorite part by far was the exterior of the building where there was a beautiful lake and other gorgeous scenery. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to walk around the lake but this is another reason Vostell is awesome. He said that nature is it's own piece of art and bought up all this land to preserve it so people can take it all in. What a guy!

Finally, my trip to Lisbon. Because I don't have many pictures to put up because my phone is still wet I'm not going to talk to much about Lisbon. What I will say is that it was spectacular city even if it rained most of the time we were there. The culture is similar to Spain, but the language is gorgeous (and super confusing and sounds like Russian Spanish) and the fact that it was the capital city on the ocean was a huge contrast to being in Cáceres that barely has enough water to function. If you ever are able to go to Lisbon make sure you eat the seafood, and the bacalao (cod)  in particular 

Bacalhau a bráz (Bacalao Dorado or Golden Cod)

It's basically just olives, cod and potatoes, but it's fantastic. I wish I could spend more time in Lisbon, but I have a feeling my wish to see other places and lack of time abroad won't afford me to do so. 

Other quick updates: 1) I went a neighborhood cookout and it was awesome and met a ton of cool neighbors, 2) I've bought a ton of postcards from different places thus far and want to send them to people so let me know your address if you want one! 3) I'm going to Salamanca next weekend so keep a lookout for new (and shorter) post, and finally 4) sorry for the long post! I miss back home but the constant adventure here makes me want to stay here forever so if I don't come back you know why. Also since my phone is messed up, send email's or Facebook message me until further notice. Love you all and keep in touch!

¡Adiós!

Gitanos, Hakuna Matata, y la Caca de las Palomas

So, I'm gonna warn you all in advance that this will probably be a veeeery long post, but trust me...it will be worth it.

This week has been one of the longest weeks I have ever had in my life: I was sick, I was jetlagged, I had some difficulties with the language and I learned how hard Spaniards go at the discotecas. And let me tell you, I wouldn't change it for anything. I have learned so much Spanish and culture in week that I really can't believe it. But anyway, enough with this mushy, "woe is me" post I'm just gonna write what you all want to read. So the way that I'm going to try to write this post is put some Spanish words that I've learned or are significant to something that I did in the week and expand on them a bit. If it works well for me I'll keep it going haha.

GITANOS, n., (hee-tah-nos): translation: gypsy 

On Wednesday we continued our orientation and went to mercadilla, which is just an flea market. There are super cheap clothes, a ton of food and a ton of people. The only thing that I bought was licorice because I was nervous that if I bought any of the fresh food my mom would be, not necessarily upset, but along the lines of "I could've bought that for you."Anyway, I came back and told mi familia española (Spanish family, if you will) that I went to this market and they asked me if I saw all the gitanos. I hadn't really ever heard this word so they had to describe them which was a lot of talking slow and acting out which didn't help. But I ate lunch with all of them and they continued to explain this to no avail. So later that night I was talking with my sister Ester when she brought it up again. She got her computer and then all of these people started showing up in the family room like Ana, Javi, Ana's boyfriend Roberto (which has gotten confusing because my family calls me Robert) and a friend of the girls that was over because they heard what we were talking about. I realized that they're just gypsies, but my whole family was ragging on them because of their accents, culture and lack of jobs. Basically all the gypsies in Spain, according to my family, make money by stealing, selling drugs, or working at the mercadilla. But a lot of them actually have a ton of money and spend on it on huge parties and weddings. At any rate they should me this show La Palabra de Gitanos which apparently is also a show in the US called Gypsy Weddings(?). They were trying to point out how weird of an accent they have, and let me tell you, they have a very strange culture. They dance all the time, as in I'm pretty sure the entire wedding was just a big dance that the pastor sang and they all clapped and danced haha. If you want a good laugh you should look it up and check them out.

Tell me this man isn't wearing the most ridiculous thing that you've ever seen. Oh and they bride's like 16...so there's that. Also I guess the bride is pretty ridiculous as well haha. 

So a couple of times when we're at the club, I'll tell Ester, Ana, Roberto and their friend Concha to dance like the gypsies and we all start clapping and dancing and laughing because it's so ridiculous. But to be honest, I have no idea if I saw any gypsies and cannot tell the difference between theirs or any other accent in Spanish because they speak so damn fast. 

HAKUNA MATATA, n., (hah-koo-nah mah-tah-tah) translation: a problem-free philosophy created by Timon and Pumba of Lion King fame.

So the only reason I really put this in here is so that I can talk about my family and how much of a delight they are. They is so much dancing and singing in this house that sometimes it's too much. When we were eating dinner the other day, I was trying to figure out how to say peach in Spanish because we eat fruit for dessert every meal and its a tough word to say (melocotón). After I got the hang of it my sisters asked me how to say it in English, and this all happens very often in my house. But then they started reminiscing about how they used to watch James y el melocotón gigante (James and the Giant Peach) and wanted to learn how to say it in English. One thing lead to another and all of a sudden we were talking about the Lion King and all of the girls in my family broke out in to the Spanish version of Hakuna Matata haha. My brother also loves reggaeton and will frequently start playing it in the kitchen or on the patio and start dancing and often Ester will join with him, dancing the bachata. There are so many little quirks to these guys and it's funny to see how our cultures are different!

So in Cáceres at least, people only party on Thursdays and Saturdays, which sounds strange but it makes sense when you see how they do it. Basically when you go out the night starts at 2:30AM or later and goes until the sun comes up so you can get some coffee, churros and head back for some sleep. I didn't stay up that late on Thursday because we had class but I had an awesome time bar hopping and dancing at the discotheques. Mauro and I hung out with Ana's boyfriend, Roberot, for the most part and taught him English slang. So far he's got 'swag', 'swerve' and arguably the most important 'YOLO' down. He's an awesome guy and we all had so much while he went out with us both nights. He went to my university my has recently taken his equivalent of boards for nursing school which is why he was here for the week. His boards basically consist of sitting in front of a board of registered nurses and doctors and another audience, getting peppered with question after question for 10 minutes and they decide whether he did adequately. He rocked it out and got a 9 out of 10 on it, so he can now start working! But he had to leave yesterday unfortunately and was very sad to do so. I'm hoping we can both make it up to Salamanca to visit Ana and Ester and hang out again.

LA CACA DE LAS PALOMAS, n., (la ka-ka day lahs pah-loe-mahs) translation: pigeon poop

We got a tour from one of our history teachers around la Ciudad Antigua (Old Cáceres) which is gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of when Charlie and I went to Rome, just condensed. I wasn't aware of the rich history of Spain and the number of times different parts were inhabited by different religions and tribes. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to uploading pictures, but I'm sure you can see some more on Facebook from other people at K or if they tagged me in them. While we were walking back throught the Old City, I was talking to my professor when I heard something splat on the ground next to me and low and behold...'twas shit. A bird pooped on my shoes and part of my ankles, but I found myself lucky. My professor had it in his hair and down the back of his shirt. At first I was not happy, but like the cacereño way I chilled out and laughed it off because in a disgusting kinda way, it was hilarious. This drunk guy that we started talking to offered to help me clean it, which I declined but looking back on it, the whole situation was pretty funny. Anyway, the day after I had painful stomach virus for about 24 hours (I'm fine now though!) and I couldn't figure out what it was from. Being sick in a foreign country is difficult, because 1) I don't know any words to express that I'm sick other than "I feel bad here" 2) you can't really focus on conversation even when you're feeling better because you're not 100% on top of jetlag and 3) you don't want to go to the hospital just because you don't know what to expect. But like I said, I got better by drinking some light lemonade and very salty soups so it's no big deal. It could've been the poop on my feet or other poop in that just floats around in the air that I picked up, one will never know.

In a nutshell, I'm still doing awesome and trying to get used to how this country lives. It's weird that the whole house stays up until 1:30 AM on any given night, but I'm getting used to it. Oh and on Saturday night we stayed up until 8:00 AM at the clubs and then went and got coffee and churros, so that we pretty sweet. I love it here, and I miss most ALL of you so please let me know how you're doing every once and while! 

Chau!

El primer día

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to write a quick blog  post since there's nothing up quite yet, but basically all of my website are in Spanish so I want to get something down before they kick me off for no reason. I don't know if that happens, but I don't think my padres would know how to fix it if did.

So while I'm here in this magnificent little Mediterranean country, there are a few ways you can get ahold of me/stalk me/whatever have you. First and foremost is on this blog, Facebook (which is why I'm sure you've heard of the blog in the first place), Whatsapp (a texting app on iPhone and other mobile devices), by email at Robert.Schultz11@kzoo.edu and of course Skype where my username is frendlylemonade12. I want to know what every and all of you are up to so please get ahold of me and I'm sure we can make it work, but just keep in mind that I'm six hours ahead of the eastern time zone.

Sooo, after about 12 hours of layovers, flights, and one 4 hour bus ride later, I'M IN CÁCERES! I haven't been able to explore the town much since I've moved in, but I will for the rest of the week with the rest of the K group. Seeing as I got into town at 8:30AM I still had a full first day and regardless of how jetlagged I was, I stayed up until about midnight just talking and interacting with my family. We live in a beautiful four story home in the city with a huge patio, a patio, and most importantly...a pool.

I have a madre, Ana, a padre, Emiliano, and three siblings Ana, Ester, and Javi. Trust me, there is no shortage of conversation in the household. The madre Ana knows absolutely know English and at times I feel awful because for some reason I can't understand what she's saying for me. So her daughters will give me a VERY rough translation in English and I can try to respond accordingly. Ana and Ester are both students at the University of Salamanca which is in another town in the state, but they're still home for at least another week. Ana is 22, Ester is 20, and Javi is 10 and they all speak English to varying degrees and always want to know how to say different things or pronounce different words. I was kind of bummed initially that there was so much English in the house, but they try to use it sparingly so that I can learn Spanish as well. Javi is such a cute little guy and we played pool games for about an hour yesterday. He's not exactly the most athletic type so I had to take it easy on him unlike something I would ever do for say...Charlie or Pete. He is very good at English for his age and apparently he's this crazy chess player and loves to bike in competitions so I'm hoping he can kick my tail if we ever get the chance to do some of those activities.

Both meals so far have been absolutely delicious, although my stomach was pretty sour from the first day from some chicken I had on the plane. We had cerdo barbacoa (barbecued pig) and gazpacho con queso for lunch and they were absolutely delicious and I can see right away why Europeans are not as obese as Americans. They cook the meat without a ton of spices (i.e. salt and preservatives), and our dessert was fresh fruit. After we ate, we talked about how colleges are set up in the US and other things that I honestly just can't remember because we talked so much.

I think the last thing I really want to say is that I brought them some gifts from Heilman's Chocolate shop and they were so excited. Emiliano brought out some small liquor glasses with his favorite liquor made from these nuts that are native to the region. We gathered around trying the chocolate truffles, caramel popcorn, and dried fruit and if they didn't like them, they lied extremely well. All of the kids attempted to read my mom's note that was an extended way to say thanks for taking me in and some of the other English pamphlets that came with the chocolate and it was hilarious. My family is great and I can't wait to get to know them as the rest of this journey unfolds. Emiliano also said after the full day that I am officially the fourth son of their family because of how much they like talking to me and the fact that I brought them gifts. I guess it just goes to show that some great chocolate can make people say some crazy things!