Las Palomas y Los Búhos

Las Palomas y Los Búhos--The Pigeons and The Owls

I have so many things to write about! And one of them is to explain the title of this post. First the pigeons. Most everyone knows that I really, really hate pigeons/am terrified of them. I've noticed that there aren't very many palomas here and last night my host dad explained this lack to me: the city of Toledo got a bunch of hawks to kill the pigeons because they ruin all the old beautiful buildings. I knew I loved this city.

Now to explain the evening I spent with my host parents on Thursday night. It started with mi padre (he told me to call him "mi padre," explaining that he is my dad while I'm here in Toledo) showing me his sword and dagger. The sword is an exact replica of the ones the US Marine Corps (or some other military branch, I can't remember which....) carry and all of those swords are made here in Toledo. The dagger is Arabian (I think) and both were given to him by one of their daughter's boyfriends. He was obviously very pleased and excited to tell me all about them. Then mi madre showed me all of their younger daughter's pottery and art work. She has made some INCREDIBLE pieces of pottery. They have her pieces all over the house and they're very beautiful. Mi madre was extremely proud of all her daughter's work and very happy to have me exclaiming over everything; I was really impressed. They are both so sweet, I loved having them show me the things that are important to them.

After all of this, mi madre and I started talking about the school system in Spain. She told about how their younger daughter went to school for ceramics for two years but then had to choose something different because a career as an artist just doesn't pay. While she was explaining all of this to me, mi padre came in and joined in the conversation. He is a very opinionated man and loves to talk. He told me that under Franco the educational system was MUCH better because not just anyone could go to school, only the very prepared could go. He said that now the standards are much, much lower and since just anyone can go to school no one is as well-educated or as well prepared for their careers. He also told me that his daughters were brain-washed by Communists or something when they were in school (I didn't quite catch all of this, I can't understand everything he says yet!) and so they didn't learn anything about the cultural heritage of Spain.

Then mi padre told me that I'm going to be taught that the Spanish Civil War started in 1937, but it really started in 1934. And apparently I will also be taught the wrong reason for why the war started. I haven't quite figured this one out, but I was fascinated! I was surprised he was already talking about Franco and the Civil War, because from what I read before I came I had the impression that it's kind of a taboo subject in Spain and most people have tried to forget about it. I'm practically jumping out of my skin waiting for my Spanish to be good enough to ask him more about all of this.

This is my room! I love it.

The other half of my room, as seen from the bed.

On an unrelated note, when I came home yesterday I found mi madre ironing my clean underwear. One of my professors had already told us that our host moms were going to iron our underwear but I didn't believe it until I saw it. Apparently it's just something that a lot of Spanish mothers do. It's so funny, slightly embarrassing, and very sweet of her all at the same time.

I really cannot believe I've only been here for six days. It seems like it's been about six years. Each day is so thoroughly exhausting and exhilarating. Every day when I get home, the first thing I do is flop down on my bed. Trying to listen to, understand, and speak in Spanish (almost) all the time is still very tiring. I still feel like (and probably sound like) a toddler when I talk to mi familia, but every day I can understand a little more of what they say to me.


On Friday morning we had a guided tour of the city with our school. We started in tour buses and went outside the city, up into the hills, to see the city from afar. We were met with this stunning view:

El rio Tajo and the Alcazar

The cathedral tower is on the left; the Alcazar on the right.

Toledo is essentially built on a giant rock and surrounded on three sides by el rio Tajo. Historically, this made it possible to very successfully defend the city. I love these pictures of the city. I love the way the houses look, all stacked together; I love all the rooftop gardens; I love the river; I love the way you can't even see all of the cathedral.

One tower and one dome.

The tour buses dropped us off just outside the city where there are seven or eight sets of very steep escalators that take you up into el casco of Toledo (the old, walled part). Then we had a little walking tour with a guide and she pointed out some of the important churches and told us more about the history of the city. It was very interesting, and all in Spanish, but I understood most of it. I learned that they wanted to build the cathedral like Notre Dame in Paris, with two towers. But when the went to build the second one they realized the foundation wasn't strong enough to support a giant tower so they finished it with a little domed tower instead.

I spent the rest of the day wandering the city with a few friends. We had our first meal in a Spanish restaurant. I had paella con mariscos (shrimp, mussels, clams), lomo con patatas fritas (pork with french fries), and a refreshing glass of sangria. We rested in a little park overlooking the river and went in a small museum where there were more gorgeous views of the river and the hills surrounding Toledo. There was a synagogue and museum across the street so we also looked around that.

View of the river and one of the ancient bridges from the museum.

This is a pomegranate tree right?!

And now to explain los búhos, the owls. There isn't actually that much to explain, it just went well with the pigeons. But anyway, el búho is the mascot of my school, el Fundacion Jose Ortega y Gasset. And the night bus on the weekend is called el búho, which fits in with explaining the little misadventure we had last night. We went on an adventure to find las discotecas and find them we did, but on the way home we needed to take el búho. Unfortunately for us, el búho arrived an hour late so this made for an extremely long night.

This is a really long post and next time I'll actually tell about the classes that I came here to take! So far I have loved all of my professors and I'm very excited to get started with my classes. But before that I have one more day of the weekend and so tomorrow we're going to go to a few more museums, finally take a look inside the cathedral, and hopefully go to mass there.

Hasta luego!