A few weeks ago my program hosted a belly dancing class at a local belly dancing studio (yes, apparently those exist). I had no idea what to expect since I'm not all that familiar with belly dancing. Of course we all looked ridiculous, but I had a great time. The instructor warmed us up with small, simple steps and eventually we worked our way up to doing a dance with music. I considered the whole thing great preparation for our trip to Morocco, although the occasion to use my new skills didn't come up.
The instructor is the girl in the middle wearing black spandex and the jingly pink wrap. She claims the wrap improves your belly dancing.
On a more political note, on November 14 there was a national huelga, which is basically just a general strike, to protest the recent budget cuts, especially on education. They usually happen once or twice a year in Spain according to my professors. What makes it different than a normal strike is that everyone is given the option to decide whether or not they want to go to work. By staying home, they must forfeit their salary for that day in exchange for making a statement. Theoretically, everyone should be allowed to do what they want, but a lot of times the protesters will harass anyone who tries to go to work or any businesses that remain open. My professors told us not to leave the house until noon because sometimes the morning strikes can get violent. For me the whole day basically just felt like another national holiday because I stayed home all day and Aloana taught us how to make paella, which I will hopefully be able to reproduce once I'm back home!
The Friday after the huelga was Aloana's birthday so she threw a fiesta for herself. We spent a lot of time cooking and decorating on the day of the huelga. Aloana invited over her three girlfriends, who I had actually met before. Two of them are really old and weird, but one of them is pretty nice. Cristina, Francisco's oldest daughter, and her fiance Fran were also there thank goodness. The whole thing was a little awkward but I had a nice time.
My Thanksgiving this year was definitely a little unorthodox to say the least. Quite a few people had family or a boyfriend/girlfriend in town most of them kind of did their own thing to celebrate. However, my program planned a special lunch for us at this really nice restaurant. We had some strange appetizers to begin (I honestly have no idea what they were) and turkey with mashed potatoes for the main course. For dessert, the restaurant attempted to make pumpkin pie but it was not successful. Begonia, the program director, was cracking up just watching all of us take our first bites of the "pie." The turkey and mashed potatoes were delicious though! Everyone was kind of sad being away from our families during a holiday that is completely based on family time, but it made us even more thankful for all the people we miss at home.
This is the CEA staff in Granada. From left to right: Juan, Jorge, me (obviously), Dani, and Begonia.
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