Tuesday the whole group got to go on an excursion after school. We went to Comillas and Santillana, about an hour outside of town. In Santillana we got to walk around the village and see inside the church of Santa Juliana. Afterwards we had time to walk around so we went into a little bar and tried the local sidra. Not too bad! In Comillas we took a tour in the Sobrelleno Palace which was designed by one of Gaudi’s workers. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but after the tour the lady said “go ahead as long as I don’t see you taking them.” So me and my friend Kayley ran back and took as many pictures as we could. We were even able to sneak into the library as you can see. We then saw the El Capricho which was actually designed by Gaudi himself (Jewel this house made me think of you!). It was like a giant sunflower house. Apparently they have now made it into a restaurant and you can eat there. 
Sneaking in the library
Gaudi's El Capricho
Got to spend another long day at the beach Wednesday and that night there was a futbol game, Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, so we all went out to watch it at bar. Man they love their futbol. They town went nuts after Real Madrid won. We were walking through the plaza hours after and people were still waving the flag and singing what I’m guessing is their fight song. Before I knew how expensive it was I thought it would be cool to go watch a game one time but I think I could settle for this. It was definitely a fun night.
One of my friends parents left for Semana Santa (their Easter) so Thursday a couple of us went over to his place to watch a movie. This might be the one thing I have missed the most and by dying to do. Just sitting on a couch, feet up, curled up in a fuzzy, watching a movie. By the way no one here knows what a fuzzy is. I keep referring to my blanket as a fuzzy and no one knows what I’m talking about, which didn’t really help me in the ongoing joke about me being from the country. But anyways we kind of felt like we were in high school again. All excited when someone’s parents go out of town and trying not to touch anything the whole time we are there.
Castros
Friday a group of us took a bus to Castros for Semana Santa. I think it was just like an hour and a half outside of Santander. We got to watch a reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus or pretty much Passion of the Christ in live. It was an outdoor play that moved throughout the city and pretty much went all day. It started at 10 am and was over at like three. It was pretty long but so amazing to see. They had speakers throughout the town too so even if you couldn’t see it you could still hear what was going on. You could tell that so much work was put into making this. It was intense though! At the beginning one guy hung himself. It showed Jesus being whipped. The whips that they were using had red ink on them to make it look like he was bleeding so part of it was costume but they were still whipping him hard enough to leave welts. Can’t even explain what we saw.
Jesus being whipped
Most of us were on three hours of sleep so after standing for five hours surrounded by hundreds of people who have no idea what personal space was we were exhausted. Of course we had to get one beer and tapa afterwards but after that we were done. We went sprawled out on some stairs until it was time to take our bus back because we didn’t have any energy to walk around the town. I think everyone of us slept the whole way home.
Two of my host mom’s kids are in town and one son-in-law and are going to be staying at the house for the week. They are very nice and its fun having them here. The son-in-law speaks English and doesn’t really know any Spanish and her daughter, his wife, speaks Spanish and can’t really speak English so I haven’t quite figured that one out. It’s different to see the parent-child relationships here and just the whole family structure in general. It’s very different from how it is in the US. Here kids don’t even get there first job until after college. Nobody works before or while they are in school. I told them about my family and how my brother and sister are married and how old they are and it just sounds crazy to them.
Sad to be missing my favorite holiday! I know you guys are all sad to not have any of my treats during this fine holiday. I think we might try and go to a Spanish mass tomorrow and try to have our own little easter here in Spain.
Taking an elevator from the top of town to downtown
Santander from the elevator
No comments:
Post a Comment