Festival de los Moros Y Cristianos

Last night I attended my first Spanish festival. It celebrates the history between the Mores and Christians, who both have controlled this area. It is incredible to see how a town incorporates their history, and to see a place that has that much history. The castles we saw were built in the 12th century, and many of the houses in the actual town are 300 years old. Each house will fly flags from whichever group they came from, but within the Mores and Christians there are a lot of subgroups, like clans, so lots of different flags. Another interesting thing is that each group has a building in the town where they stay together while the festival is going on. All together there are about 20,000 people dressed in costumes for the festival, with some of the costumes costing around $1,400. They are so incredible to look at! There are even some costumes that have the designs hand sown on the back, and they are not simple either, the detail on the faces, and decor of the designs are incredible. One thing I found interesting is that each group had a band, and a leader. the leader controlled the speed they walked, Mores walk a lot more controlled and slow, and the Christians walked really fast. Pirates, and Templar knights were Christians, I was kind of surprised that Pirates were considered Christians though. They even had kids leading their own groups of Mores and Christians. They all did a really good job.

All of the CMU students with
 some of the parade participants

Flags hanging from the balcony
 signify family ties

 I also tried some foods for the first time. Shrimp with garlic, was amazing at the first place, really fishy at the second place. I also had baby squid, okay I know that sounds strange, but it was amazing! it was not too chewy, and the flavor was great! Jamon Iberico, a famous Spanish dish. Russian salad, which is made with mayo and pickled vegetable, that was my least favorite, but it was still pretty good.

I have been getting closer to my host mom, and I really enjoy that we can sit down and have a conversation about anything, and she does not have to explain very much to me. We talked about life in general today, and I have really enjoyed getting to know her. I don't know their son, Cris very well yet, but the father, Cristobal, has been really kind. He has taken me all around the city, to make sure I can find my way around. He jokes a lot too, so that's fun except when I don't understand his jokes. When we went to the beach he even set my towel out for me. My host mom is just as attentive, always going out of her way to make sure I have everything I need.

This is one of the costumes the women wore
it was beautiful, this horse went is front of her
group, the horses were incredible. They all
were so well trained to dance in place. 

Saludos,
Damaris

Across the pond

Well I made it! It is pretty hot here, I really appreciate the air conditioning that my host family has. My flight went really well, I did not have any problems, which was nice, although I did not sleep at all on the flight, so I was awake for over 24 hours straight. I met some really nice people on the flight, one girl was on her way to France, she is originally form Morocco, so it was nice to talk about her cultural. The food on the plane was interesting. They gave us a kitkat for breakfast, along with several different things, which I did not eat because I was not hungry at all. The Airport food was expensive, it was $14 for a wrap, that had not flavor and a water bottle.  Below is a picture that I took from the plane, as I don't have any other pictures yet, but I uploaded this one because I thought the view was really beautiful.

There are a few things that I can think of that have really stuck out to me since I arrived, the first being that the first sign I saw flying into Madrid was in English, That was surprising. Also it is normal to wear slippers here in the house, all the time. Customs, and my host mom reminds me whenever she tells me something that is a norm. She bought me slippers this morning to have in the house, it may take a little getting used to. My host family has been wonderful so far, Fini, Cristobal and Cris their son. They have been so welcoming, kind and inclusive. Fini explained right away that because I was living with them I was considered family. As I write this it is siesta time here and we just got done having lunch, I had anchovies, which is kind of a first. I have had them a few times, but never whole, or fried, or preserved in oil with salt.They were a lot better than I thought they would be, I definitely prefer them to the canned ones I have had in Michigan. I also had sword fish, which Fini made in case I did not like the anchovies. They both tasted really good. Fini said she would teach me how to cook some Spanish food, she wants me to teach her how to make pancakes, so I think it's a fair trade. I am excited to have a few Spanish recipes that I am comfortable making. Hopefully I will have a recipe to post soon!

Saludos!