Science, Olives, & Soccer

I had a very exciting past weekend. Saturday morning I got up fairly early to go help Lisamarie move houses. She is moving into an apartment by herself and will no longer be living with a family. I think this is good for her because she’ll be able to be more independent and do whatever she pleases. I know she’s a little afraid of being lonely, but Jess and I can go over there whenever she wants us to. I am hoping sometime this week we can do another cooking day and movies or something. I don’t know if I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs that last month we all made paella and tortilla Espanola together. The paella was absolutely delicious and could not have been better. The tortilla Espanola also turned out good, but not nearly as good as what you can get in the restaurants. I think my favorite tortilla Espanola here is the one we have in the lobby of Hotel Macia Condor after Rotary meetings. Anyways, back on track. Saturday afternoon Lisamarie, Jess, Jess’ roommate and his friend, and I went to the Parque de las Ciencias. It’s kind of like a mix between Cosi, the hands-on museum, and the Detroit Science Museum. There was so much to see, but we got there only 2 hours before it closed. It’s one of those places where you could spend a whole day looking at everything. We only made it to a few things in the short time we were there, but what we did was really cool. First, we went to the birds of prey exhibit. They were having a show outside and explaining things about the birds. Then, we went to the human body exhibit. I learned a lot about the body, of course, and there were a lot of hands-on activities you could do. After, we went to the butterfly house. You could go in this building and the butterflies just flew all around you. This was probably my favorite part, but I wish there were more butterflies flying around. I only saw a few types and I think most of them were hiding in the greenery. We wanted to go to the observation tower, but it closed just before we made it there. O well! It was a really fun, relaxing day there. Sunday was a day of accomplishing activities that I had on my list of things to do before I left Granada. In the morning, Jess, Lisamarie, and I went on an olive oil tour. I found this place online and they came and picked us up in the center of town to take us to the tour. It was a great package and an ok price. The tour took place in a small town outside of Granada called Niguelas. It took about 25 or so minutes to get there. Once we got there, our tour guide started out by explaining the olive trees, the irrigation system, and the different types of olives. She told us that you can tell the age of an olive tree by looking at the size of its trunk. We went to this olive tree with a huge trunk and she told us to guess how old we thought it was. I said 300 years and I was right! After, she took us to an olive oil making mill from the 15th century. It is no longer used, but the process of making olive oil is still very similar. We got to learn the entire process and I learned that of Spain’s total olive oil production, Andalucía (the southern region where Granada is) produces 80% of that. That’s a lot of oil! Also, many people think olive oil is from Italy, but really the majority of it is from Spain. Spain makes the oil and then sells it to Italy who packages it with their own mark and country and exports it to other countries. I don’t think this should be allowed, but I guess Spain isn’t doing anything about it. After we toured the mill and learned the process, the guide took us to test 5 different types of olive oil. They were all extra virgin olive oil, which is the best kind, and all from the region of Andalucía. I think my favorite one was the one from Granada; although, I could be biased. J When we did the tasting, our guide taught us how to professionally taste the olive oil. First, we warmed it in our hands in the cup it was in and then smelled it. Once it was warm, we drank a little bit letting it first touch the tongue, then the palette, and finally the throat. We were testing for fruitiness, bitterness, and the strength of the pepper taste. After we drank some of it, we ate the rest of it with bread and then ate an apple to clear our palette before testing the next kind of oil. The tour lasted about 3 hours and then we were driven back to the center of the city. It was well worth going. I ate lunch at my house when I got back and then met up with Lisamarie a little later to go to the Granada soccer game. We got the cheapest tickets you could get at the stadium and they really weren’t that bad. The only sacrifice we really had to make was not being able to see the scoreboard because we were sitting right under it. We had a lot of fun at the game and Granada beat Jerez 4-1. I’m super glad I got to see a game before coming home. I think it was a great cultural experience.

Catching Up

It has been way too long since I’ve blogged and I have so much to tell you guys about! So much has happened in Granada in the past two weeks. First, I’ll start out with the Rotary events. When we were at the Foundation a few weeks ago, one of the kids mentioned that they wanted to play BINGO, but the Foundation didn’t have the game. Since we are supposed to be helping them with their homework and teaching them English, we decided to make our own BINGO game and bring it to play with the kids. Jess and I made 12 different BINGO sheets with a mixture of letters and numbers up to 50. Last Monday, I played with the kids. It was so much fun! I let them take turns picking the numbers/letters out of the envelope and then we said them in Spanish and in English. After a little while, the kids were starting to get a little restless except for Said (3) and Eladia (11). They wanted to play until someone won. Said won and then after, Eladia went around and played everyone’s cards. She really liked the game. I think we’re going to try to play again next week, but I think we need to bring a prize/candy/incentive to keep their attention longer. Overall, I think it was a success. On Tuesday, March 9, Jess and I went to Laura’s high school to give another presentation about the high school education system in the U.S.A. to promote the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Our presentations went extremely well and the kids were a lot more respectful of us at this high school then they were at the last. I really hope that from the few presentations we have done, we can influence at least one person to participate in this great program and organization. I think, though, that just by giving these presentations we are being ambassadors and helping to promote the image of Rotary in a country where few know about it.
Aside from the events of Rotary, the city of Granada has had its share, too. Last weekend, as we were walking home, we witnessed a Pro-Life gathering. There were a couple hundred people of all ages gathered in the center with signs, music, balloons, and pins. It was really cool to see something like that. I don’t think I’ve ever really experienced anything like that outside of the university campus. The same day in front of the Palacio de Congresos, a government building, there was a big congregation of Moroccans. Spain is part of the European Union and during this term, they are the country with the power, or the one that gets to hold all of the meetings and stuff. This day the meeting happened to be in Granada. There was a ton of security because a lot of important people were there. The reason for the Moroccans being there was that the meeting was with all of the important people from the European Union and the President of Morocco to discuss their relations. These relations included terrorism, importing/exporting, water boundaries, etc. All of these people were outside voicing their opinions on the situation. It was a very peaceful and interesting gathering to see. It was another thing that I have never really witnessed before. The following day was “Working Women’s Day” in Spain. This day is in honor of women who work in Spain. Years ago there was a fire in a factory that killed many women due to rights not yet established for them and so since then, this day has been created in honor of that. I didn’t really realize how big of a deal it was until we stumbled upon the parade. Part of the city had been closed off so this parade of women with their signs and a few floats could march through the center. It was extremely impressive and what impressed me even more was the substantial amount of men that were also marching in the parade with their wives, sisters, daughters, relatives, and friends. The people of Granada are very active and this past week has really been proof of that.