Woah

I still amazes me sometimes how beautiful this city is. I think I've gotten over the honey-moon stage, where everything is wonderful, the people are wonderful, the food is wonderful etc. I know that this city has its problems too. One of my friends got mugged yesterday while walking through the Albayzin. He was by himself (i think) and it was at 5 am. So even though it wasn't very smart of him, it occurred in a well-lit area, and so I think i'm going to be a little bit more careful now.

To get myself out of the blah slump that I was in yesterday, I decided to walk around and take in some sun. It's been absolutely beautiful here, in the 60's and sunny all week. The mountains here are absolutely incredible, especially in the sun. They look unreal, like cardboard cutouts on the set of an old fashioned hollywood film. Occassionally I get the feeling of being in a dream, or in a play, like all of this is something I'm just watching, rather than doing. But when that happens I know I just need to slow down a little bit and stop being so overwhelmed. So to prove it to myself that this is something that I am doing, not just observing, I went on a randomness spree. On a whim I decided to start taking flamenco lessons with three of my friends. So I went to the studio, signed up and then went shoe shopping with the other girls. I randomly went with Patty to get my hair cut at some beauty school by her apartment.
Patty and i started talking about it, and we discovered that both of us have a secret obsession with spanish hair! So we decided to get our hair cut at a beauty school by her apartment. She had them dye her hair earlier this week and it turned out well, so Three hours later and a lot of handgestures (no mullett!), I come out looking significantly less.. well... like myself. I like it a lot. It's just one of those things where you look in the mirror and you see someone completely different. Kind of freaky.

I had my first flamenco lesson later last night at 9pm. I was a little bit nervous because the lesson was not with my friends (they had already taken two lessons, and I was behind) But when I got there the instructor was muy simpatica and the other girls were very funny as well. All american (of course) but with a different program. I feel a little weird doing somethng like flamenco because it seems like the touristy thing to do. But i've studied it in the past (the music history etc) and I think it's interesting. Also, I feel like i need some form of excersize since my host mom keeps feeding me so much! API told her that I was a strict vegetarian (?!) and that I don't eat sugar. I talked with her yesterday and cleared it up. the problem is, however, that my compañera is a strict vegetarian as well, and refuses to eat any fish, yogurt, or any meat other than chicken. So we get lots of potatoes, which is ok except it's all carbs. And hence my need for exercise.

When I finished class, I walked back to my apartment and got a call from some of my friends who were at a tapas bar near my apartment. They were having a little goodbye-get together for a boy who Amanda met in Madrid and then ran into him again in Granada. We went tapas-hopping for a while, stopped by the jazz club where this guy playing upright bass sounded absolutely amazing, but we didn't go in because the cover was 6 euro (i guess 6 euro is ok to spend on beer but not on jazz.. que lastima!)

Today in my rennaisance/baroque literature class, I fell in love with rennaisance/baroque literature! The professor was just talking really quickly and she seems really wonderful except I can't understand anything she's saying because her accent is so thick. It's a little upsetting. But then she read this poem called "Romance de La Pérdida de Alhama":

Paseábase el rey moro — por la ciudad de Granada
desde la puerta de Elvira — hasta la de Vivarrambla.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Cartas le fueron venidas — que Alhama era ganada.
Las cartas echó en el fuego — y al mensajero matara,
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Descabalga de una mula, — y en un caballo cabalga;
por el Zacatín arriba — subido se había al Alhambra.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Como en el Alhambra estuvo, — al mismo punto mandaba
que se toquen sus trompetas, — sus añafiles de plata.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Y que las cajas de guerra — apriesa toquen el arma,
porque lo oigan sus moros, — los de la vega y Granada.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Los moros que el son oyeron — que al sangriento Marte llama,
uno a uno y dos a dos — juntado se ha gran batalla.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Allí fabló un moro viejo, — de esta manera fablara:
—¿Para qué nos llamas, rey, — para qué es esta llamada?
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

—Habéis de saber, amigos, — una nueva desdichada:
que cristianos de braveza — ya nos han ganado Alhama.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Allí fabló un alfaquí — de barba crecida y cana:
—Bien se te emplea, buen rey, — buen rey, bien se te empleara.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Mataste los Bencerrajes, — que eran la flor de Granada,
cogiste los tornadizos — de Córdoba la nombrada.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Por eso mereces, rey, — una pena muy doblada:
que te pierdas tú y el reino, — y aquí se pierda Granada.
—¡Ay de mi Alhama!—

Which basically is about the last moorish king of Granada right before he lost Granada to the Christians. Very sad. She read it to us and then she started to sing it (apparently its a song!) and tap on the desk for us. It was so random, but so wonderful. I have such mixed feelings about that class because I am very interested in it, but it is very hard and I can't really follow what she is talking about. But for some reason, I really like it anyway. Like when she read us that poem, it was so obvious that she really loved teaching literature that I got chills. She's a very strange lady, older and has a very stoic face. She doesn't show much emotion, and speaks mostly in a monotone voice. But when she reads poetry everything changes. And I just think it's incredible.

Tonight I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do. There is a chance I might go to a jazz bar with some of my friends and just chill out a little bit. But then again, it's thursday night, I don't have classes tomorrow and I'm in spain with a bunch of crazy americans. So I can't be too sure what will happen!