Let's do the time warp...again!

I have been writing a post about my trip to Alicante all week. Still not finished (don't worry, it's not a novel. Maybe a novella at best), but I figured I'd release it in snippets. Here is the first part to set the mood for the whole weekend.

I got back from Alicante on Sunday, and it was quite an experience. Emotional, confusing, fun...

 Let’s start with the train ride. It’s a short ride from Valencia, since it is in the same province. It only took an hour and 45 mins. As I was arriving in the Alicante train station, the weirdest feeling swept over me. I have had it before.

It’s a bit hard to describe, but I’ll try my best: it’s a form of confusion of where you are in time and place. I know, it sounds pretty abstract. But when I came into the Alicante terminal, I was confused for a moment (or more) regarding where I was, what was home, where I am in my life, etc. It’s like I was traveling in time, and I was really there, and it all looks the same, so it washes over you for a minute that two years haven’t passed by and that I was still there, Spring 2010, studying abroad in Alicante, living with my host family, hanging out with my friends Carly and Sarah and Scott and Drew etc. It is really confusing and strange because you can’t remember where your “home base” is. Is this a vacation? Am I back “home”(as I would call it when I was abroad in 2010)?

I am familiar with this feeling because I have had it before when going to the states back in March 2009, when I went home for my Nana’s funeral. I was back in the states after only been gone for a couple months (the semester began early January). The feeling wasn’t as intense as other times I’ve had it, but it was the first time it ever happened. Was I done studying abroad? Was it summer already? Was I ever in Spain in the first place? Although I had the answers to all the questions, the whole place/time confusion messes with your perspective and you really aren’t sure about the answers anymore. It happened again when I went home (to the states) for Christmas just a few months ago.

And it happened again in Alicante this past weekend. My friend Sarah experienced the same sort of thing after returning to Iowa from being in Chile for almost six months. She felt like when she returned home, the whole Chile experience felt like a dream. Contrary to Sarah’s experience, I have never felt that way when I finished my semesters abroad. If you have never studied abroad, this is something they tell us in the orientation about returning home: it is a sort of reverse culture shock, resulting from the change you feel inside versus the relative non-change you see in your home in the states. It’s like time stood still for them, but it flew by for you.

But I never felt this time warp feeling when returning home. Yes, there is homesickness (of your non-home in Europe, strangely) and jet-lag, but I never was confused. I think it is from the closure you get at the end of the semester. You say goodbye to your host family, your teachers, your friends. You see your friends go away in their buses, you experience packing your bags with souvenirs, and you think the whole plane ride home about home and what you miss and what you cannot wait to see/do once you arrive. But when I made these short excursions to the states and Alicante for less than a week each, the “goodbyes” are more like “see you soons” to my host family, so you don’t get the closure that allows you to move on to the next setting.

 Now that you know about the whole time warp feeling, you can imagine how strange it was for me during the entire weekend.

(more to come in a future post)

Judging by your movie collection...

Cristina informed me recently that after her uncle passed away, she got to keep his entire movie collection.

He has a massive movie collection, and I just spent yesterday and today going through it all.

How many, you ask?

Well, he keeps them in those little paper CD sleeves, and they have four shelves, 20 inches wide, filled with DVDs. Each row probably has over 70.

I picked out movies that I want to watch, and I noticed a pattern. See if you can guess by my picks:
Across the Universe
I, Robot
Young Frankenstein
Watchmen
Twilight
Ray
The Prestige
Marie Antoinette
Tommy
Aviator
Walk the Line

Figured it out yet? Well, about 70% of those movies either are biopics about musicians (Ray, Walk the Line), are musicals with real rock songs (Across the Universe, Tommy), have kickass soundtracks (Twilight, Marie Antoinette and Watchmen) or feature musicians (that's trying to fit I, Robot in the mix here with Will Smith). Then Young Frankenstein is thrown in for good measure, and The Prestige and Aviator because maybe I didn't want to go too girly in my choices?

But seriously, if you haven't heard those movie soundtracks yet, GET ON IT.
Twilight: pop, emo, punk music
Marie Antoinette: mixes new wave punk music with classical
Watchmen: All over the place, but it made me think My Chemical Romance could do more than emo, and they used Bob Dylan in the opening credits and it was amazing, as well as making KC and the Sunshine Band sound so cool during a flamethrower scene. Yes, disco and flamethrowers.


I was going through the DVDs, and I could only make a stereotypical assumption of her uncle based on the following finds:
Pink Flamingo (created by Roger Waters, of Hairspray fame. The movie starred a transgender)
The entire Roger and Hammerstein collection (And Oklahoma! starring Hugh Jackman)
Transamerica
Several unknown romantic comedies about homosexual couples
Several movies I didn't know the plot of but used any circular letter to display gender symbols
Moulin Rouge!
Marie Antoinette
Several Andy Warhol movies
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
Twilight
Like, any movie starring Ginger Rogers or Fred Astaire or both


When Cristina came downstairs, I was like "I have a question, and I do not mean to offend if I am wrong. But was your uncle gay?"

"Yes, yes he was."

I knew it.

Alicante, here I come!

As you are reading this, I am on my way to Alicante (or already there).

You may recall that Alicante is the second city where I studied abroad (in 2010), and it is located in this province so it's not too far. Only a 1h 45m train ride. 

Today is gonna be a busy day: As soon as I arrive, I am walking straight from the station to the off-campus classroom by the port to see Lourdes (my business Spanish teacher and Carly's Spanish grammar teacher). I have her to thank for my knowledge of Inditex (talk about big business...Zara, Bershka, Women's Secret, pretty much half the stores in any given Spanish mall) and Spanish resumes and business plans etc etc. She invited me to come to her class, saying it would be nice to have her students see what people can do after studying abroad. I feel like "show and tell" and it feels awesome.

But I won't have too much time to spend because then I will be hopping on the bus to campus at the University of Alicante (UA) to see Carmen (my teacher for the class prepping me for the Spanish language certificate). I have her to thank for preparing me for my DELE exam which got me the B2 certificate in the Spanish language. She was amazing, and at the end of the semester invited us all over for dinner at her apartment (funny story, I remember Scott popping open the champagne out the window and the cork flew in the neighbor's pool). 

Seriously. There was a lotta booze.

But again, not too long there. As soon as Carmen goes on her lunch break I am off to Radio San Vicente, where I will see Loly (the radio director) and the whole radio station crew. Hopefully I will grab some to-go lunch and have it with Loly at the office.

Then, I will head back to the UA to meet up with Rocio, and we will drive to go pick up Dante from school.  Did you know he is now four. FOUR! Did you know kids grow older over time? I sure didn't. I bet he talks all the time now. I wonder if he remembers me. I wonder if he still has the toy cars that my parents bought him two years ago. 

And then Saturday and Sunday are free for me to enjoy with Rocio and Dante, since Rocio invited me to stay with them in their home. I am super excited.

I also plan on grabbing some cupcakes, too...OF COURSE.

Pulled pork and Budweiser.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have photos from American night. I didn't go overboard this time, and only took several. 

Click on any picture to blow it up full screen.

I just love this picture because Lucia is at the end of the table wearing a leotard, looking super serious as Maria and Dani listen intently to whatever she is saying. "...And that is how the Union won the American Civil War."

This photo (and Lucia's facial expression) make it a lot more believable when I tell you that Lucia wore the skirt UNDER the leotard instead of on top. And she wore it allllll night.

You can see the chips and guac and cocktail meatballs in the foreground.

Left to right: Maria, Monica, Lucas, Lucia, Maria, Dani, Marina, Mayte.

Cristina and Mari Carmen. Here you can see the punch bowl!

Mashed potatoes, baked mac and cheese, punch, green beans, Caesar salad, iced tea, pulled pork, hot dogs...it's like HOME!

That's Laura peeking in on the left, and Mari Carmen's husband holding up his pulled pork and Budweiser. Pichon and Jose Enrique are standing up.

Marina, Miguel (Mayte's BF), Maria, Josep (Maria's BF), Lucia, Dani, Maria, myself

Oven baked smores. Mmmmmmm....

I know, there weren't a lot of close ups of food. I figured faces were more important.

"I always thought the white stuff was cheese!"

So here was my menu for American night, and a rundown of the reactions to the various foods.


Appetizers
Chili Dip
Cocktail meatballs
Guacamole

Drinks
Punch
Arnold Palmer

Sides
Mashed potatoes & gravy
Green beans
Baked beans

Main Courses
Chicago-Style hot dogs
Meatloaf & gravy
Pulled pork sandwiches
Baked mac and cheese
Chicken pot pie turnovers

Desserts
Smores
Ice Cream pie with Oreo crust
Chocolate chip cookies
Brownies
Peanut Butter balls

I know it sounds like a lot. There were 14 people including myself, and I wanted to make some food I know they probably haven´t had before, so I got a random sampling of stuff that I thought was very "American," and therefore went a little overboard. Yes, there were leftovers.

Let´s start at the beginning. I felt very much like my dad on Thanksgiving, with food already in the oven before people came over, and a list planned out for the "schedule of events" aka "when to put stuff in the oven and take it out." I also felt very much like my dad, shooing people out of the kitchen while trying to be a friendly host at the same time.

Dancin' in the Kitchen

So I am in the midst of making my American Night meal for Cristina and her fallas friends. Let me share with you some of the process I have gone through to make this meal possible.

One of the appetizers I am making is my mom's chili dip. Super easy: cream cheese, can o'chili, then cheddar cheese. Pop it in the microwave and it is gooey, heart-attack deliciousness.
Cream cheese was easy. They even have Philadelphia brand. And Light! So that heart attack will be minor.
I got the can of chili from Carrefour, which is pretty much a Target/WalMart on steroids. They have an international food section where they had English food, American food, Asian food, Mexican food and Tex-Mex. Tex-Mex apparently is very distinct. The Mexican food section was composed of all Old El Paso brand products, which is an Americanized Mexican brand that sells taco kits and "nachos" (which is what they call tortilla chips here). I grabbed some "nachos" for my dip and a trusty can of chili con carne.

Just now I was prepping the chili dip for later by putting the cream cheese and chili in a bowl. When I opened that chili...well, it was a wondrous smell. And I know that canned chili looks like dog food...or worse...but it smelled like home. A good smell, don't worry. I even tasted a little from the lid, which sounds disgusting and totally is, but it was great. I even broke out into song from the future excitement of eating this dip, the song "Put your hand upon my hip, when I dip, you dip, we dip."

In the mean time, I cooked some meatballs in the oven for my mom's meatball appetizer recipe (sweet chili sauce and jelly on meatballs). There were 24 in the pack, and there will be 14 people, so I wanted 28 meatballs. I made 4 extra from the meatloaf meat (pork and beef mix) which is different from the pre-made meatballs (pork). It's really obvious which ones I made. PS, pork cooks pink, which just looks gross.

Speaking of pink meat...

Hot dogs, Chicago style, is on the menu. Okay, not exactly Chicago style. There won't be sport peppers (too "spicy" for this crowd) and no celery salt (really hard to find). No poppy seed bun (hard to find) and no Vienna beef dogs (ew, pork pink meat! Though they are Oscar Meyer, which is American, which has to count for something). BUT don't you worry because I am stocked up on sweet green relish, pickles, tomatoes, onions, and yellow mustard so it will be partially "dragged through the garden."

"Wait, can someone call the dude in the helicopter? THE SPORT PEPPERS ARE TOO SPICY!"

More posts about dinner to come soon...

Fallas Video!!!

Just a few random moments/memories I wanted to share about Las Fallas:

Almost everyone in the group lost their voices, starting on day one. The second morning of Fallas, Marina, Cristina(not my host mom, but her friend), Maria and Josep slept over at the apartment we stayed at (it was an extra empty apartment owned by Cristina's parents). When I woke up, Marina was on the mattress across the room in her sleeping bag. She whispered loudly in a gruff voice (like I said, she lost her voice), "MELISSA. MELISSA. DO YOU HAVE A KLEENEX?" Maria was laughing because I didn't hear her, and Marina said "Guys, will you please help me over here?" referring to how they needed to gang up and shout to me because Marina couldn't do it alone. Then, about 15 minutes later (we were all still laying down), she said "I'm really hot." Cristina told her to take off her sleeping bag, and Marina replied, "I can't. I am not wearing any pants."

One of the nights over dinner, the conversation turned to the USA and cultural differences. Laura and her husband got married last fall and took their honeymoon on a road trip to the southwestern US. She was telling me about things she encountered, such as:

• "They had ice machines in hotels! They have these little tubs with lids in your room, specifically for ice! You go to the machine (there is one on every floor), and you fill it up with ice to keep in your room! We had one of our hotel rooms near one of those machines, but we didn't know how noisy it would be in the middle of the night! It was a learning experience!"
• "They like ice...almost every restaurant gave you ice in your water. I always had to ask for an extra cup because I like my water room temperature, so I always took out the ice."
• "What are those bags called for extra food from restaurants? Doggy bags? I love that phrase!"

Everyone at the table was as amused as she was by these American wonders. I asked her what the weirdest thing she ate was, and she said Beef Tartar. I have heard of it, but I didn't know what it is. She told me there was raw meat in it, so that is probably why I've never had it.

Then the conversation drifted to my American experience aka: my life, and more specifically, high school. Some of the questions asked:

• "Did you have cheerleaders at your school!?"
• "Did you have Prom? Who'd you go with? Did you get one of those wrist flower things? (corsage) Did they have PUNCH to drink at the prom?! Did people really pour alcohol in the punch bowl!?"
• "Did you have LOCKERS!?"
• "Do people really get rejection letters from universities when they apply? Is it really that big of a deal?"

They were so amused by these things and the responses. Everything they were referring to, of course, was something they had seen in a movie. So some were accurate, and some were not (like spiking the punch...since our school just had pop cans). 

One of the nights was costume night, and Marina left right after dinner to meet with a friend, then came back for the dance part (after dinner, the casal turned into a private night club--fallas people only!). So she had to take off her costume, which she was wearing over street clothes. However, she decided to "change" right next to the table, so one of her friends made a comment that she was doing a strip tease (again, she was fully clothed underneath) next to us. In response, Marina took off her costume's belt and started swinging it around her head in this jokingly-sexy way, and almost hit three people at the table behind her. It was hilarious.

That night, during costume night, all of the men at one of the tables dressed up as the Village People. Then, later during dance time, the DJ played "YMCA" and "In The Navy." I thought it was great that people gestured the wrong letters during the YMCA, just waving their hands in a general upwards direction if they weren't sure (the letters are obviously said in English, which many don't know). 

Mayte had a fairly new boyfriend, who wasn't in the casal, so she was constantly calling him on her cell, then sneaking off to chat for an hour. One of those times, she came back downstairs where we were eating after being gone for nearly an hour, and our whole table (my host family's friends) start singing the Spanish equivalent of "K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Mayte with the baby carriage..." She was a little embarrassed. 

Anyways, the moment you've all been waiting for: The video for Las Fallas.



Some explanations of on-screen stuff...
0:00-0:31 La Mascleta--The noisy firecracker show they did every day at 2pm March 1st until the end of Las Fallas. Marina, Maria Carmen, Maria, Lucia and Pichon are all there with me.
0:31-0:37 Fallas monuments and lights throughout the
0:38-0:43 Nachete (Maria's nephew), Lucas, and Dani running around the casal when they were bored.
0:43-0:45 Dani, Maria and Lucia staring at our giant falla monument.
0:46-0:56 The DaVinci fall monument. It was huge.
0:57-1:02 Hospital-themed falla (the large falla of the casal that Marina made her falla for)
1:02-1:19 Various fallas monuments from throughout the city, including the AWESOME lights for the France-themed falla.
1:20-1:33 Photos. See my other post for descriptions.
1:34-1:41 Pasacalles with our casal faller.
1:42-1:48 Marina's carousel falla monument that she designed, painted and constructed. You can see the awards it won, also (3rd place in special section, 2nd place for cleverness and humor).
1:49-1:50 More pasacalles of our casal faller, this time in the morning.
1:51-2:00 Lucia, Lucas and Maria throwing firecrackers and poppers.
2:01-2:17 Various fallas monuments
2:18-2:21 Pichon made paella one night, and that's Jose Enrique trying it out.
2:22-2:27 A casal faller heading to the ofrenda in the morning, view from our apartment's balcony. Notice the bobbing dresses dancing to the music...
2:28-2:51 Laura, Maria Carmen, Mayte, Marina, Jose Enrique and Pichon, everyone dancing. Jose Enrique and Pichon reenacted the dance scene from Dirty Dancing when the DJ played "I've Had the Time of My Life." To be honest, they knew more about the dance than I did (I only remembered the jump-into-his-arms part)
2:51-2:58 Some other costumes in the casal on costume night. Yes, that is a man dressed as Snow White.
2:59-3:00 You can see some of the "Village People" dancing in the background...
3:01-3:02 Every night, before dinner, the fallera mayor descended down the stairs as everyone stood up and applauded. Then we all took our seats when she took hers.
3:03-3:14 The kids' costume night: Sherlock Holmes, cute kitty cats, Dani as a fireman, Maria as Minnie Mouse, and Nachete as a pirate. It was really cutely organized: The kids got to the stairs, were asked their name and costume on the microphone, then they walked down the "runway" to the front, where they got a pair of spring-loaded googly eye glasses.
3:15-3:17 Marina getting her prize with the little falleras from the casal that she designed her falla monument for. They go up on a stage in the town square, pose for a picture, and pic up a flag/banner to carry around town in pride.
3:18-3:19 Dani with Lucas's and his school mascots, Peca y Lino. Lucas had them over the weekend to take pictures of to put in Peca and Lino's journal, like the traveling gnome.
3:20-3:25 More pasacalles with our casal faller. Like our very own marching band that followed us.
3:26-3:33 Monday night there was a random Christians and Moors parade.
3:33-3:37 The giant virgin Mary statue, whose dress is made of flowers from the Ofrenda. It is huge, as you can see.
3:38-3:42 More of our pasacalle
3:42-3:49 Skirt fluffing, bandana tying, dancing, flower grabbing, veil arranging...all steps for the big Ofrenda! Marina is the one getting her veil arranged by Cristina's mom. To be honest, her dress was my favorite of the whole group.
3:50-4:02 The Ofrenda.
4:03-4:39 Monica lighting the wick (for the kids to go off and light firecrackers), Lucia's school's falla monument, kids from the casal setting off fire fountains, fireworks from the falla monument burning, our fallera prepping to set our falla monument on fire, Dani looking on in his fireman's costume, our mini falla monument burning all the way to the ground, as the music from our marching band plays on.

The falla from Lucia's school took three minutes to burn. The kids made it, and it was mostly paper and cardboard. The professional falla infantil from our casal took over 15 minutes to burn (it was the same size). The latter was made with styrofoam and wood.

Yes, it smelled bad.
Yes, I probably took 3 years off my life from being in attendance.
Yes, ash flew into my hair.

Yes, it was amazing to watch.