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June 02, 2008
Back from Spain.
I've been trying to work up to blogging since I got back from Spain. Let's see if this works!
Eliza and I had a good trip-- our first ever sister vacation! We spent a day and two afternoons/nights in Madrid, and the remaining five or six days in Cordoba. There were a few disappointments:
1. It was cold and rainy. I had promised Eliza that it would be sunny and hot. Why? Because I have been in Cordoba/Spain in May four times, and never has it rained! Never has it been cooler than 100-degrees out! I was beginning to doubt my memories, but all the native cordobeses assured us that this was not a normal May. We spent the week in the same jeans and sweaters and had to buy new, non-smelly clothes for the trip home.
2. Too much walking=injuries. I have some sort of tendon sprain in my knee, which kept me in pain for a lot of the trip and meant we spent one morning in a Cordoba clinic. Once I got my anti-inflammatory medications, I felt slightly better. What was I supposed to do? Not walk around? Eliza hurt her foot, too. We blame the deadly flip flops/cobblestones combination for her injury.
3. For a few days in Cordoba, we kept somehow not getting on the right food schedule. I don't know how it happened! So we'd end up hungry at the wrong times and unable to find anything to eat. Until our first really good lunch at the Patio de la Juderia restaurant, Eliza had a very grim outlook on Spanish food.
Other than that, though, it was a great time. We stayed with my friend Nadia (actually, with her aunt) in a house that was in a fantastic part of the city. I got to show Eliza my favorite things in Cordoba: the mosque, the gardens at the Real Alcazar, my old school, the windy streets, the Plaza de la Corredera, my favorite cafes and bars... We explored Madrid and went to the Reina Sofia museum, saw a lot of great contemporary art. We wrote an unbelievable number of postcards, which I can thank Eliza for, since I am never much of a postcard writer. And Eliza really improved in her Spanish that week-- especially with Nadia, who was a big factor in my own experience becoming a comfortable Spanish speaker. She never lets up, but in a friendly and funny way, to the point where we spent whole evenings with just the two of them talking to each other and Nadia saying, every time Eliza looked to me for help, "Your sister's not here! Ignore her!"
Plus, Eliza now likes olives. A big accomplishment.
Posted by kelseyfrost at June 2, 2008 04:24 PM
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