Overdue from May 29

May 29, 2009

I still haven't gotten access to my money, because of Wachovia, but fortunately, my awesome parents got involved and transferred money to my account to tide me over till the 2nd.  Tonight for dinner, we went to a restaurant/cabaret called Gula Gula.  One of our TA's, Maria, tells me that "gula" is Spanish for "gluttony".  The food was pretty good- we were mostly eating from the salad bar, but the real reason people go is the drag show.  A few of our boys got short- unsolicited- lap dances from the performers, and after the show, argument ensued over whether or not the attractive woman tending the salad bar was biologically male or not.  (She sounded female to me and to the males on the trip, but I am assured by some of the other girls that she was not.)  We also got ragged for being Americans by one of the emcees, who pointed out that we '"didn't understand mierda", which was true, but we laughed and clapped at the right times, which is what matters.

Yesterday we went to Toledo.  Toledo is a medieval city about 30 minutes from Madrid by bullet train going at 250 km.  It's one of the oldest urban centers on the Iberian Peninsula, and there a Jewish community there for ages and ages until the pogroms in 1391 and the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims from Iberia in 1492.  There are two synagogues which were both eventually turned into churches and whose architecture has Muslim influence; this same influence can also be seen at the Catedral in Toledo, which has a Mozarab chapel.  Josh (one of the TA's) and I walked around the Catedral while he snuck photos, often behind me or over my shoulder. (In many European churches, there are signs that say "cameras prohibido" and employees who yell, "NO PHOTO!'")  One of the stunning things about the church is that there are paintings by El Greco all over- he lived and painted in Toledo and you can visit his home, which he bought from a prominent Jewish family- and the fresco on the ceiling of the sacristy has, in the place of an image of the Creator, the Hebrew characters that spell "Elohim".  Pretty cool, huh?

A group of about six of us got lost in Toledo and ended up getting ice cream and taking the bus back to the train station from the residential area, which was an adventure in itself.  I loved that the ice cream vendor greeted us genially in Spanish, Italian, and English: ("Bueno dias, señoras.  Buongiornio, signorias.  Good day, ladies.") The bus driver was less cordial, telling us to get on the bus in a rough voice and then kicking us off without telling us what was going on- we had to change buses- but at least he was looking out for us. 

The day before yesterday, Katie, Leah, and I went out for dinner.  We found a pizza for 10 euro and split it amongst ourselves and then split two helpings of chocolate con churro.  In the Plaza del Sol, which is the dead center of Spain, about a quarter to half mile from our hotel, we saw a band of young men performing with a circle of people around them.  Leah convinced one of the boys that I was Spanish and he pulled me into the circle and twirled me around for a few minutes and then asked me how I liked the music in Spanish.  I told him I was estadounidense and he switched to English.  Apparently they were all there from a Portuguese music school called Tuna ("not the fish").  It was a pretty cool night.

Tomorrow we are taking a walking tour of the old Jewish quarter here in Madrid as well as an exam, so I will save this to post  a later date and get to work studying and working on my school journal.