@ 11,413 - feet

Whew, this weekend was an adventure! I succesfully made it up to the highest point on the Iberian Peninsula (though not all that high) ~ the summit of Mulhacen (11,413-feet).

I will admit, the weekend wasn't all fun....there were a few hiccups.

First, I got food poison on Thursday night & was throwing up all night...the climb was scheduled to depart Saturday morning so I debated just going back to Granada and skipping the whole thing. However, by Friday night I was feeling a bit better and managed to keep some food down, so decided to go for it!

The other hikers were three canadians from Victoria BC. Really nice folk- one of them is apparently a well known lawyer in Canada (he defended the Orca that recently killed a woman who fell into it's tank) and his son and another friend were with him. He had an interesting story - he had been in a bad ski accident 7 years ago and severed an artery in his neck. They though it had healed, but about 6 months later he sneezed and dislodged a blood clot which went to his brain and caused a stroke. He got bored with rehab and started climbing in a climbing gym where he met Dan (the other hiker). Since Chris' recover, they have climbed a mountain together about once every year!

On saturday AM we hiked up to Refugio Poquiera, a hikers hut on the south face of Mulhacen.

Hiccup #2 was that somehow the guide didn't book beds in the hostel (he thought he had, but the hut caretakers had actually told him there were no beds available). With nowhere to get a decent night's rest, we decided to snooze for an hour or two of on the benches and then do a night ascent!

At about 3am early on sunday morning, we set out for the 3.5 hr +/- trek to the summit. It's a pretty straightforward mountain (not technical), just a steady up-hill to the summit. We summited just before sunrise. It was quite beautiful, and eerie o climb at night - so quiet, with the only sound a chk-chk of crampons on ice.

We headed back down pretty quickly cus it was windy and cold at the top, stopped for breakfast at the hut and then booked for another 3 hours of hiking back to the car. Whew! An exhausting but also exhilarating weekend in the Sierra Nevada.

Full group of photos here! http://picasaweb.google.com/maikanicholson/LanjaronMulhacen?feat=directlink

Arquitectura of Francisco J. del Corral del Campo & Parque de las Ciencias

Nate (my SvR colleague) and Francisco met at a conference in Rio de Janeiro. Nate put us in touch and Francisco has gone above and beyond, welcoming me to the design community in Granada.

He teaches at the University and invited me to a collaborative workshop on scenography between the architecture & art department. The class was in the process of creating models relating to a work of Federico Garcia Lorque, the famous Granada poet. It was quite interesting, though to be honest I couldn't understand much of their explanations & commentary due to my emaciated Spanish skills (Thanks to Tom all I know how to say is traiga tu culo sucio a mi oficina, ahora mismo!).

Last Friday, he invited me and some of his students to tour the 'Public Spaces for Events Forum de Negocios.' The public spaces were created to augment a preexisting office building in southeast Granada. Photos below.

From the project description: "On the boundary of the urban city, next to the fertile low-land (Vega), just where urban geometries are replaced by rural ones, we propose a new landscape for events and celebrations placed close to an office building"


Above, Roof space # 1 - herb gardens & traditional plants from Alhambra and Generalife, red carpet highlights the interplay between urban and rural settings.

"Our landscape carpet tries to create a new reality to dialogue with the existing one instead of using other camouflage strategy."
The second roof space used an installation of recycled glass bottles. Francisco noted that they were very unhappy with the final installation of the bottles...

Francisco also expressed his dissatisfaction that the water feature was not being actively used by the building owners - That a place that intended to be lush with waterlilies and flowing water was still and inactive.

"Water is one of the main instruments used for shaping the different spaces. Its sound and presence modifies our feelings. It springs calmly some times, others its sonorous and rhythmic, it follows our steps on a water stair and propose our rest ending in a pond thanks to a channel guided by one of the designed strength lines."

The interplay between different materials & textures were accentuated by oxidized steel, which Francisco called "strength lines."

It was wonderful to hear Francisco speak about his work, and meet several of his students (though our conversations were once again limited to halting Spanish).

After the tour, I headed to Parque de Las Ciencias (the science museum) - across the street.

Entrance to the museum

museum landscape included many interactive features including playgrounds, fountains, water courses, solar panels, etc.

One of the exhibits was about taxidermy - means, methods & uses in museums and science.

I also went to an exhibits about Darwin, a journey through the human body & Ecology in Spain.

Interactive water feature

One of the museum buildings - jointly owned by the university...and the first building Francisco designed in Granada!

Bird & Cat profile (they're both real)

on spanish time

They have an interesting schedule here...I'm slowly adjusting to it, though I haven't mastered the Siesta just yet.

Late morning wake-up

late lunch@ 2pm

Quiet afternoons for Siesta time around 3pm

Stores are closed from about 2pm-5pm

5pm - Coffee!

10pm (or later) dinner

Everybody stays up late here - teenagers, children, babies, grannies, granddads and all!

A ski adventure in the Sierra Nevadas!

Our day begins with a 5:30 AM wake-up call. This is the time that a "normal" Spaniard would go to bed on a Sunday morning after a Saturday night out -- after the discotecas close their doors. On our way to the bus we see some of these discoteca-stragglers stumbling home to their beds.

This weekend, the buses to the Sierra Nevada Ski Resort are free! We get there extra-early to make sure we get a spot& are the first ones to arrive.

On the bus ride up to the mountain, the morning sunrise suggests it's going to be a sunny day. Juanito tells me it's going to be very busy - this year, they've had many weeks of bad whether and had to close the ski resort previous weekends. With the sun & free buses, the mountain is sure to be packed!

Below is Juanito (on the right), my roommate's boyfriend. Juanito is from Venezuela and is super outdoorsy! He is going to run a 100 kilometer race at the end of May. He lives just across the courtyard from our flat with his sister, brother in-law and two nieces. Juanito was the instigator of this ski outing. His family just moved to Granada from Venezuela about a month ago - this is the first time they've touched SNOW (let alone been on skis!)

We eat breakfast in the ski resort village - toast with tomato & olive oil and cafe con leche!

Below is my flat-mate Jenny (on the right). Jenny is from England and has been living in Granada for 3 years. She teaches English and does translations in her spare time. Jenny has also lived in France and Italy and is fluent in all of those languages. Coincidentally, Jenny worked with my cousin Tom when he was in Granada several years ago!

As Juanito predicted, the slopes are packed! The first half of the day, I only managed to get in two runs...the rest of the time was spent in lift lines. Apparently, Spanish folk don't believe in queuing in an orderly fashion - pushing one's way to the front seemed to be the method of choice - a dangerous ordeal on skis & snowboards.

Notice the lack of trees & varied terrain? It just can't compare to the Pacific NW - mostly groomers on this mountain...

Juanito gives ski lessons to the family

The crew at the end of a long day on the slopes!

Jenny is spent!

Me on skis? How strange! First time in 15+ years!

The ski village - apparently the Sierra Nevada is expensive because it is the only real ski resort in Spain...there is no competition so the prices are high! 2,000 euro for a week in a small apartment! The lift tickets were also very expensive - 41 euro for a day lift ticket.

It was worth it to get up into the mountains on such a beautiful day!

Realejo

My piso is in the Realejo neighborhood of Granada, which is the old Jewish Quarter of the City. The neighborhood is a labyrinth of calles, placetas (little plazas) & narrow callejons where overhanging balconies nearly touch. It's quite easy turn yourself around & end up somewhere unexpected; getting lost is a great to explore new places. Fortunately, with the mountains to the east, the Albyzin to the west & the Alhambra & Cathedral as landmarks, it's easy to re-orient & find your way back.

The neighborhood has been dubbed the barrio de giras (tourist neighborhood) because there are lots of expatriates & tourists staying in Realejo. However, it's still very charming y es mucho mas tranquilo que el centro o albyzin (the old muslim quarter). I'll just have to ignore the occasional local muttering "gira" under their breath while walking past me...

Promenade on Carrera del Genil

small local shops, each selling their specialized items

They've got Brompton's @ my local bike shop!

...La Panaderia...

...La Fruteria...

polychromatic spices

My local eco-tienda

A major landmark in Realejo is the Iglesia de Santo Domingo. It's a beautiful church, but its presence carries some dark overtones from the time of the Inquisition.

When Ferdinand and Isabella conquered the last Moorish territory in Granada, they launched a campaign to ensure that Spain would be thoroughly Christian, often using cruel measures; Muslims and Jews were forced to convert or otherwise face exile, imprisonment, or worse. Where the Iglesia de Santo Domingo is now was originally a synagogue, which was destroyed and replaced with the church. For the Christians who came to power in Granada, doing this was a way of sending the message that there would be no place for Jews in the new Spain.

My Piso

My first few days in Granada were predominantly spent searching for a piso (flat) to live in. In Spain, there is a website called loquo.com that is similar to craigslist. Unlike craigslist, however, the posters usually put very little information in their ads... something along the lines of...

"Se alquila una habitacion. Comparto piso con dos otras chicas y busco uno mas companero/a de piso. El piso esta muy centrico, grande y luminosa. Si te interesa, llammame a 555 555 555."

... no ages, interests, photos or desrciptions. Just a phone # and address. This resulted in halting "spanglish" conversations filled with long, uncomfortable pauses.

I thought I had found my spot, speaking to a potential companero de piso who is an architecture student from Brazil - sounds promising, right? Desafortunadamente, the piso was a wreck. Filthy bathrooms, dishes in the sink & the pervasive stench of wet sponges(credit to haley for that odor descrip.)and weed.

Don't fret, this post has a happy ending! I found the perfect Piso* and companera de piso**, through a friend of a friend. A charming two bedroom, split level flat with a English girl, Jenny, who has been living in Granada for several years.

*No Piso will EVER compare to the 1614

** No companeros de piso will ever compare to my 1614 roomies.

mi cama

La Sala

No hay horno! How am I gong to make gluten free, agave sweetened oatmeal cookies?

A view of the courtyard from my room

Act 1, Week 1: Blog slacker already...

I said I'd give this blogging thing a go, so here I am...a little behind already after a whirlwind first week traveling through england and ending up in espana.

Oy, i'm going to miss Seattle, my house, our fabulous dinner parties. Fish & Chicken taco night @ the 1614 for my last night in the states.

Nathan waiting for us to serve him food

The spread: Grilled chicken, pan fried fish, guacamole, black beans (whole & refried), chili lime cabbage slaw, poly-ingredient salad, tortillas ala microwave

Me gusta fish tacos y vino blanco

Week 1 consisted of..

First. A trip to Bristol to visit Dan
Second. A stop in Oxford to visit cousin Tom & his wife Claire
Third. A day in London to revel in college memories
Fourth. Granada, where i'll stay for the rest of march and april

BRISTOL
Dan said to me when I dropped him off at the airport in Seattle - "I bet you're the most likely (out of the Seattle roomies) to come visit me in england the soonest." I lived up to his augury, stopping through Bristol just 4 months later...

For those of you who did not meet Dan in Seattle, he lived with us for the month of October & won us over by cooking us pumpkin risotto, letting his tea water boil extra long (Dhoe was especially fond of this) and of course with his charming accent.

Bristol's Clifton suspension bridge, circa 1860s

Unfortunately my stay was very short. We went to a "shit italian" restaurant (their words, not mine) with Dan's roommates & medical school buddies, all lovely folk. The next day, Dan took me on a brief walking tour of the City.

dan & i playing on the train tracks

OXFORD
next stop was oxford to visit my second cousin Tom & his wife Claire. Tom & I met the year I was studying in London (upon the request of our parents) and were immediately relieved that we actually liked each other! Coincidentally, Tom & his wife Claire studied in Granada a couple of years ago...more on this and small world coincidences later.

Here we are, posing for a photo like all good chinese relatives do!

Unfortunately I didn't have much time to walk around Oxford, but from my brief visit it's how I imagined it: Classic english architecture & an abundance of well-dressed, scholarly looking ladies and gents. A photo from Oxford ~

LONDON

I took the train into London for the day (what wonderful commuter trains they have in Europe - fast, timely & comfortable). The weather was absolutely beautiful so I ended up walking around London for 7 or 8 hours, covering 10+ miles on foot.

I started with the old hang-outs & University College London campus (where I studied for my junior year of college). Oh the memories!

...to Schafer Halls, home of Me, Nikki, Shirley, et al.

Buckets of late night rice with soy, sriracha and a fried egg on top were consumed in this building...

...the to the UCL Quad...

...continued up Tottenham Court Road through Trafalger square...

...Along the Thames...with a nice view of The Palace of Westminster, Big Ben & the London Eye...

..through the "posh" neighborhoods of Kensington and Knotting Hill...

....With a beautiful sunset to end the day.