Foooood!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s time. Time for my food blog.

If you’re hungry, you might want to navigate away from this page right now. It’s best to read this post on a full stomach.

§ TThe first mention has to be the funfetti cupcakes I made last week. They were so delicious. Rosa girls, this is all you. In the process of making cupcakes, I realized two things. One, that Spain doesn’t have a word for cupcakes, only muffins (magdalenas). This is obviously entirely unacceptable. And secondly, my Spanish roommate didn’t know what sprinkles were. What they were called. Anything. Wow. I introduced someone to sprinkles! Isn’t that lovely?!? When Sara, Ellie and I bit into the warm cupcakes, someone said, “Now that tastes like America. Ummmmmm!” And it was true. The cupcakes were a lovely taste of home. Sandra also shared the cupcakes with several people who had never had them before, so it was a warm, fuzzy triumph overall.

§ I’ve also made a point to buy one fruit I don’t recognize at the frutería everytime I go. The results have been hilarious. My first adventure was the “cherimoya.” I looked up how to eat it on youtube and dug in.It was like eating the fruit glaze that sweetens cheesecake by itself. By the spoonful. That being said, none of us particularly liked it. It was too sweet. And it takes a lot for me to say that. We christened it the “dinosaur egg,” and I don’t know that I’ll buy one again. Good to know.

Doesn't it really look like a dinosaur egg?

It's a very fascinating inside!

§ Next fruit adventure: the mango. Yes, that’s right. I bought this ginormous fruit that I didn’t recognize. I asked the cashier what it was called as I was checking out. “mahhhh-co,” he said. “Mahhhco?” I repeated? “MAHHH-COOOO,” he repeated more emphatically. (My brain whizzed. That sound remotely like “mango!” Could it be?) True story: when I brought that fruit home and sliced into it, it was just a giant mango. Not a new fruit at all. And the poor shopkeeper must have thought I was a really confused person. However, the story ends in triumph: unlike the cherimoya, the mango was delicious. Hooray!

§ TThere are orange trees everywhere in Sevilla. Everywhere. They line many streets, poking out of the sidewalk every five yards so that you have to dart around when another person is headed your direction. And I’ve always wanted to take one of the oranges, bring it home, and slice into the middle. Little did I know, Sandra would provide me with this and more. Sandra brought an orange from her family’s home outside of Sevilla and she ate it. And I ate half. That’s right. I ate half of a “straight from a Spanish tree in sevilla” orange. It was lovely.

§ TToday, I bought two new fruits I had never seen before: a quince fruit (“mebrillo” in español) and a kaki persimmon. A quince fruit, it so happens, is too sour to eat on it’s own. Its portugese name is “marmelo,” and it’s used to make sweet jams and pastes. That’s right: I purchased the fruit from which we make marmalade. I don’t know if I’ll be trying my hand at that, but I now know more about marmalade than I ever have before. And you can too. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince#Uses ) The kaki can be eaten on its own, and I’ll let you know how that goes once I try it! For the very curious at heart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_persimmon

Wow. So it turns out that this post is already really long. I might just have to make this a two part blog. I would—I don’t have to split my blog about work into two posts, oh no. Just the blog on food. But alas, silliness aside, I hope this has been mildly interesting to read, since it was very exciting to experience in Spain. More to come, friends.

Por Fin! (Finally!)

Really and truly, writing a blog update has been on my to-do list for about a 3 weeks now. Sorry guys. And even now, I don’t know how excellent this is going to be. But here goes:

1) The lovely “Las Encinas:” I’m getting more and more settled into my job as the weeks go by. I’m even figuring out useful tricks for successfully teaching a world geography course (which is at time confusing in any language) in English to Spanish speakers. In class today, the Ciencias Sociales (History and Geography) teacher that I work with said, in a thick Spanish accent, (which is vital for the overall gist of this comment) "Wow. Katie. This is good. You're a real teacher. No other Americans ever do anything this good. You send to me so I can use next year?” I had a few thoughts about this. 1) Yay positive feedback! And my second, and more fuerte, or strong, reaction 2) what exactly is your past experience with Americans? (shudder.) Because obviously, my lesson was far from superb.

2) Other interesting things! Cooking. I’ve really been enjoying cooking here. For once in my life, I’ve had time to try out some of the recipes I’ve been hoarding. The only problem is that I have to use about a billion substitutions and conversions. One of these days, I’ll buy a Spanish cookbook, and that will be magnificent. I’ll be able to practice Spanish as I read the instructions, and chances are I’ll be able to find the ingredients as well. Bonus! Look for a post purely about Spanish food experiences soon! ;)

3) Running by the Guadalquivir River. I find that if I stay in the city for too long, I feel a bit trapped by all of the buildings. After all, I’m a biology major, nature lover at heart (right, Embug? You’ll vouch for that, eh? ;) ) All it takes is a short jaunt to the river, and suddenly I’m basking in open air, waving grasses, and often, the company of many fellow walkers, runners, cyclers, and rowers. It’s a jolly way to see the city, to be sure.

4) Overall, my time in Spain has been wonderful so far. It’s hard to even express how much I’ve learned so far. Much of it stems from the fact that as a Spanish language learner, I’ve accepted the reality that I will be viewed as unintelligent and somewhat useless—forced humility! It’s a healthy experience that can’t be replicated anywhere but in a foreign country. When I visited London at the beginning of the semester, I found myself asking way more questions and being quite more outgoing just because people could understand me. I’ll always value communication more from here on out!

5) I still stop and wonder at Sevilla’s beauty regularly.

Lastly, I do have a few prayer requests:

-That I would continue to try to learn Spanish with fresh energy. It’s hard to keep on keeping on, if you will, when it seems so vast at times. We’ve declared Thursdays (and maybe Tuesdays) as purely Spanish days in our flat—this is a beginning!

-That I would find a few key ways to get plugged into the community further, via intercambios, a church, private classes, or volunteering, to name a few options I’m exploring.

-That I would live for God’s glory every day, not for my own comfort or success.

Thank you, friends!

Que tengan un buen día, (I hope you have a great day,)

Katie