¡Las fiestas del Pilar!

The festivities of Pilar are wild, beautiful, overwhelming! And money-draining (not me personally). The school gave us two extra days off, Thursday and Friday, to enjoy all the sights and sounds. 

On Wednesday night I went out with several friends. We walked along the Paseo Independencia, which is a big avenue in the center of Zaragoza with shops, restaurants, a movie theater. It's always filled with people. During Pilar there are also food booths set up on either side with food from different communities in Spain, including the Canaries and the Balearic Islands, and vehicles aren't allowed down the Paseo either. So my friends and I strolled around, looking at the booths, and then we decided to walk to the Plaza of Sieges (la Plaza de Sitios), where there are more booths, but with jewelry, clothes, pictures, and other material things. In the middle of the plaza is located a very beautiful fountain. I don't know what it's called, but I took a picture of it. 

Throughout the night it had been thundering and lightning, but not raining, and all of a sudden 
it started to pour out! My friends and I walked quickly/ran back to the Paseo, where we stayed in a store until the rain settled down a bit. Then we found a place to eat: one of the food booths which offers food from the Canaries. We knew that because there were posters of the islands hanging up on the walls. We ate fish (I don't know their name.) that reminded me of Smelts, bread with tomato sauce and a really strong blue cheese, lamb, french fries, and, of course, bread! Afterwards we went to Smooey, a frozen yogurt place, and I bought a small chocolate with almonds. It was so good! We stood in a circle outside the shop while I finished my dessert. One of the guys that works at Smooey came over and started talking to us, in Spanish, because he was sort of friends with one of the girls we were with. He asked us which state we were all from, and when he got to me, instead of the US, he thought I was from Tokyo! That was very funny. I told him I was Chinese instead. After I finished my fro-yo, we walked to the Plaza of Pilar, right in front of the Basilica of Pilar, where there was a concert. Apparently there are always free concerts during Pilar, which I think is really nice because it offers a nice place for all the people to go to hang out, dance, chat, you name it. The Plaza is so huge that screens have to be set up around it so that everyone can see the concert. We got pretty close to the stage, the music pounding and spotlights flashing and sweeping over the crowd. The band was playing Spanish music, some popular songs I guess because the Spanish teenages were singing along. We stayed there for about an hour I think. After awhile it got a little boring, so we left and tried finding other friends. The time was a little before 1 am. Finally, a friend and I both wanted to go home, so we said goodbye to the group European style, kissing everyone on the cheeks, and headed back towards Paseo Independencia and our homes. I went to bed around 1:30. 

Two nights ago, Thursday, I went out with my host dad, Jesús, after 10 pm. We walked to the 
Plaza of Pilar, but only stayed like 5 min, and then we went to a bar where we drank 
decaffeinated coffee with sugar and milk. So far I've had Spanish coffee three times. It tastes 
okay. I don't really like the strong aftertaste. The bar we sat in was going to close at 3 or 4 am! We left it a little after midnight, and I went to bed when we got home. Yesterday, October 12th, was the official day of Pilar! I'd say that it's as big as Christmas is in the US. I got up at 10 am, and when I came out of my room, my host sister, Beatriz, was getting dressed up in the traditional costume of Pilar. She was going to offer flowers to a statue of the Virgin of Pilar in the Plaza of Pilar. The Flower Offering is the big event of the day, and it starts at 7:30 in the morning and lasts until late afternoon. Men, women, children dress up in traditional costumes and walk through Zaragoza to the Plaza of Pilar, where there is a huge, bare monument that looks like a pyramid and has a statue of the Virgin on top. Throughout the day, the monument is covered with flowers, and in the end it looks spectacular. I walked to the Plaza, which took such a long time because the streets were packed, and met up with a friend. We looked around for a bit, and then I returned home, just in time for lunch. The first course consisted of lettuce, ham, asparagus, green olives, and mayonnaise; the second course jumbo shrimp and lamb. For dessert a slice of pineapple and ice cream cake! My other host sister, Isabel, and her boyfriend, Antonio, also came over for lunch. While we ate, the TV was on, broadcasting a bull event that had occurred that morning. It was "Las Vaquillas," (The Heifers), and in it a bunch of men from the crowd get into the ring with a cow and try to provoke it, having it chase them and sometimes headbutt them. It looks scary to me. 

I went out again that night. I met up with some friends around 8:30 pm in front of the SYA school, and we walked towards the Ebro River to see what was being offered there. We wanted to try something new. A street runs parallel to the river, and on the side closest to the water, there are food/candy/trinket stands all lined up next to each other. None of us had eaten dinner yet, so we searched for a good/cheap place to eat, and we found a stand that sells different kinds of sausage. My friends and I chose "longaniza," but I don't know what it is in English. That's a small problem about learning Spanish: I learn words in that language but don't know them in English. Maybe there isn't a direct translation. Anyway, the sausage and a piece of bread were skewered on a long stick, and they were very good. My friends had told me that there was a crepe stand nearby, and seeing that I had never tried one before, I really wanted to buy one. The one I picked had chocolate and white chocolate on top, and it was nice and hot! Also a little difficult to eat because I had to use my hands, but so worth it! A little while later one friend left to go home, so my other friend and I walked around Pilar some more, listening to the concert a little and talking about various things. We checked out this little store (don't know what it's called) and found a small jazz ensemble inside: one pianist, one drummer, and one bassist. They were quite cool. First they played a rendition of "Happy Birthday," and after some random tunes. They could've been improvising for all I know. Two men in front of us started to dance, bending their knees, waving their arms and hands, and stepping side to side in quick movements. They were having a lot of fun. After maybe half an hour, we decided to head back home, the time being a little after midnight. These past nights, I haven't been as tired as I expected to be. Maybe it's because I'm in a whole new and different country, or that I've been getting enough sleep at night. Whatever it is, I'm glad that I'm able to enjoy the Spanish nightlife, which is much more spirited and crazy than during the day. 

The fountain in the Plaza of Sieges.

The bread with tomato sauce and really strong blue cheese.

The fish that remind me of Smelts.

The Flower Offering parade.

The huge monument of the Virgin and the flowers.

The Basilica of Pilar.

Me with Beatriz, my host sister.

Spanish hot chocolate and churros I ate the morning of October 12th.

People from Ecuador.

Kira and Caroline in front of the Virgin monument.

The jazz band.

¡Un mes en España! (One month in Spain!)

I guess I was wrong about visitng Aguarón every other weekend because I'm in Aguarón 

again! I like it though; it's very peaceful, and the house is substantially bigger than the 

apartment in Zaragoza. We left the big city on Friday after 6 pm, and I guess since we arrived 

later than usual, we had sandwiches (bocadillos) for supper instead of a cooked meal. But 

they were good just the same! They had sausage and salami that had olives in it. We ate 

about an hour earlier than usual, 8 pm. For dessert we had yogurt, and when Rosa bent down 

to give Missy, her cat, the yogurt wrapper for licking, another cat attacked Rosa and 

scratched her! But it wasn't serious. Only a small scratch. It attacked because it was hungry. 

Rosa said that it belongs to her neighbor. After supper, I decided to watch a movie. I don't 

know if I've mentioned this before, but my host mom, Rosa, has many good movies! Most of 

them have won Oscars. The movie I picked that night was "The English Patient," which was 

about the ending of WWII. It definitely was worth watching! Moreover, once I learn Spanish 

completely, I'll watch it in Spanish, test out my much improved listening skills. 

The next day, Saturday, was pretty calm. There's nothing much to do in Aguarón, not like in 

Zaragoza where there are a bunch of stores and the rest of the SYA students are. For lunch 

we had cream of vegetable soup, pork loin, fried peppers, and kiwis. The peppers 

(pimientos) that I've seen in the US can be held in the palm of your hand, right? Well the ones 

here are huge! It might be hard to tell from the pictures, but believe me, they seem twice as 

big! And there was a big pile of them in the kitchen, so I wanted to take a picture of them. For 

supper we had them fried again, in addition to cooked tomotoes and eggs with bread. Hmm 

hmm hmm. So good. I love that the Spanish use the bread as a sort of sponge for any food 

that's left on the plate. No wasting food here. For dessert I had plain yogurt with sugar in it. On 

the sugar packet it said "El café da vida": "Coffee gives life." I thought that was funny. After 

dinner we went to the Casino. We sat outside, and since there was WiFi, Rosa told me to 

bring my laptop, so I did. I drank some strong Spanish coffee. Decafinated, quite small, and 

with sugar. I liked it, but I think it was a bit too strong for my taste. 

Sunday's lunch consisted of fried peppers a third time and beans with chicken and a small 

piece of sausage. For dessert we had pineapple (piña). We left Aguarón around 4 pm. 

I'VE BEEN IN SPAIN OFFICIALLY FOR A MONTH!!! It's felt both longer and shorter at the 

same time. How is that possible??? I've been thinking what it would have been like to do 

SYA Summer for five weeks only, and I'm very happy that I chose instead to do the whole 

year. If I were to leave Spain a week from now, I would not feel as if I had gained a lot of 

knowledge about the culture nor improved my Spanish very much. Moreover, I feel as if I've 

just found my rhythm here, and to leave so soon would be sad and sort of frustrating to me. 

This upcoming week is going to be very exciting and busy because it's the week of Pilar 

here in Spain! Which also means I only have 2 or 3 days of school this week so that the 

students have time to see and visit many of the events.  

Giant peppers.

Rosa's cat, Missy

¡El viaje! (The trip!)

This was the second school trip, and I enjoyed it very much! We left Zaragoza around 8:30 am, the bus ride taking about two and a half hours. We wound through the mountains called the pre-Pyrenees, and after awhile we finally saw the real ones! They were spectacular. 

It was chillier than I expected when we got off the bus at San Juan de la Peña, which is an unused monastery. It's important to Aragon's history because it was the place where the kings of Aragon were buried, and it was border of the community when it was first created. Originally Aragon was very tiny, stretching from the Pyrenees to this monastery. It's isolated, but I guess visited often. This will probably be my first and last time visiting it according to one of my teachers. 

From the entrance we saw a cavernous space broken up by many arches of different sizes. Further into the monastery a man was fixing a part of an arch. Next we walked through several rooms that held signs describing the monastery and ancient sculptures. According to one of my teachers, the sculptures that look like the one I took a picture of are over a thousand years old! Afterwards we stopped in the chapel part of the monastery, where on the altar was a fake Holy Grail I think with wine in it. And to the right was the room of the kings! I felt in awe when my teacher said that. I couldn't believe that I was that close to royalty! Next we moved to the roof. To the left of the door stood a beautifully and intricately carved archway. I think my teacher said that it is Gothic. In the open space was a rectangle made of pillars that had carvings on them, each one adding to a man story. The carvings were for the illiterate people so that they could understand the story. On the walls to the left and right of the door were writing of some sort, of what language I do not know.

Front view of the monastery.

Inside.

The man fixing the arch.

One of the sculptures over a thousand years old.

The chapel.

The Gothic archway.

The rectangle of pillars.

Strange writing on the walls.

Story-telling carvings on the pillars.

After we left the monastery, we stopped in a little pueblo called Santa Cruz de la Serós, where we rested and walked around for a bit. The pueblo is famous for its conical chimneys. There was a playground, so a bunch of us decided to have some fun on the seesaw. 

In the upper right hand corner can be seen a conical chimney.

A church in the pueblo.

Some cool ceramics.

A pretty flower that I really liked.

My friend, Caroline.

We stayed in the pueblo for about half an hour, and then we got on the bus again and rode to Jaca for lunch! (The j's in Spanish are pronounced like an English "h," so "Jaca" is pronounced like "Haca.") In Jaca there was a castle with a moat around it. What would you expect there to be in a moat? Water of course! But no, instead there were deer! It's to protect them. My group of friends went to a restaurant, and I decided to be healthy and ordered a salad, which I must say was very good. It had lettuce, rice, corn, carrots, shrimp, and crab! With olive oil and vinegar as the dressing. For dessert I bought some chocolate ice cream which I extremely enjoyed. After lunch we walked around the city and rested in a park that had a playground. (I've seen so many playgrounds in Spain!) After about two and a half hours, we boarded the bus and returned to Zaragoza. 

The deer!

Me in the park.

I love these trips for two reasons: I get to take a break from classes and learn more about the Spanish culture. 

This Sunday is the beginning of Las fiestas del Pilar! They last about ten days, and there will be much to do! Concerts, the traditions, food, dancing. The most important day is the 12th, the day of Pilar, which coincides with Columbus Day in the US.