So, why Granada?

Now you know most of the background about my project. As a recap:
- I am writing a three-dimensional water quality model.
- I need a working hydrodynamic model to get my water quality model working.
- I have 2 summers worth of data to use to calibrate.
- I want to get my PhD someday and teach.

So, I'm done with my data collection. Now, when I say I am "doing research", it means I am sitting in front of a computer, writing and messing with computer code. Its a learning process and I still do not think I am very good at it. Once I write a piece of code I think will work, I have to 'debug' it. This is the least fun task of my job. It means I have to find my mistakes. Usually this means I placed a j where an i should be or vice-versa. It can take me a full week to find one little mistake. But, once I find a bug, I am oh so happy. Finding the bugs is like solving a puzzle, which I have always enjoyed. Once I have working code, I 'run' the model. Over and over again. It never works properly the first time.

So, if all I do is sit in front of a computer and write, debug and run code, why did I have to come to Spain to do it? The answer is simple: to get hands on help! In Davis, when I run into a problem, I can try and ask another classmate who is doing a similar project (writing, debugging and running a water quality code). Usually, he is pretty helpful. I can tell my adviser about the problem, but in general, he does not have enough knowledge of the model to be helpful. Usually, he tells me to e-mail Pete or Francisco to ask for help. And they are usually helpful, but e-mail to e-mail communication is not always the best way to fix problems with models. So, I came to Spain to work with Francisco. Together, we are trying to get the hydrodynamic model going, so that I can go back to Davis, add my water quality, and move on with my life.

Now that you know why I'm here, I can update you on how its going! Nice. . .

Who knew that I could miss. . .

• My cat scratching at my bedroom door at 6:02 am.
• My crappy, 100-year old shower
• My tiny bathroom
• My husband's coffee
  
• My Starbuck's commuter mug
• Begging John to move his car so I can go to work.
• My BIG (by Spain standards) Honda Civic
• Radio commercials
  
• NPR
• Working 12 hours
• Swimming in the cold and dark.
  
• Getting home late
• Cooking dinner at 9pm
• Tivo sounds
• Waiting for John
• Falling asleep on the couch
• Chicken
• Black beans
• Tortillas
• Whole wheat pasta
• Cheddar Cheese
• String Cheese
• Crackers
• Peanut Butter
• Chips & Salsa
• Spicy food
• Leftovers for lunch
• Diet Coke
• Yogurt
• Cottage Cheese
• Talking to my parents while driving home from the pool
• Calling my sisters
• Eating waffles
• My Kitchen-Aid (even just looking at it!)
• Packed brown sugar (how is a girl to make choc chip cookies?)
• Muffins
  

The Stockton DWSC

You have almost learned entirely why on earth I came to Granada. Bear with me, one or two more posts and you'll know it all!

As you may or may not know, when I graduated from Loyola Marymount University in May of 2003, I was heading to Cornell for graduate school. Cornell is in Ithaca, NY aka the middle of nowhere! I went, I tried, I hated, I decided to come home. The DiPalermo girls are just not cut out to living in snowy conditions, just ask Katie who moved to Colorado for a while, or Gina, who tried her hand at a winter in Boston. We come back to California every time. Anyway, when I decided to come back, I still wanted to be a graduate student, so I contacted the professor at UC Davis who I had been in touch with the previous year. I told him I wanted to come back to California, and asked if he had any more projects on Tahoe that needed graduate students. As luck (not sure yet if I would call it luck!) would have it, he needed a graduate student to start in July of 2004 on a new project, but not a Tahoe project. Since Cornell ends in late May, an early July start was perfect. John and I enjoyed another cross country trip and when I got to Davis, I was thrown into this new project. The project was the Stockton project. In August of 2004, and again in August of 2005, month long field studies were conducted in the Stockton DWSC. The data from these studies was meant to calibrate and validate a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model of the Stockton DWSC. The hydrodynamic part, SI3D, was to be completed by Stanford and the water quality part, the creation and calibration, by UC Davis (aka: me!)

After two summers of field work, the calibration was not going anywhere, deadlines loomed. Turns out calibrating the model (using Francisco's model in the Delta where Pete's usually is successful) was harder than we imagined. I was not actively involved in this calibration. I was busy taking classes and earning my masters. But once I was done with my master's research and thesis, I was ready to get going on the creation and calibration of the water quality model. But, here's the trick. It is impossible to write and create and calibrate a water quality model without an accurate description of the hydrodynamics (how the water moves). So, without the calibrated hydrodynamic model, I'm stuck without a project. Not a good thing for a PhD student.

There were a few months during this year (I would say February through June) when I was basically done with my masters that I was close to just throwing in the towel. My PhD research was going no where. In addition, my adviser was very busy with other projects. He is the director of the Tahoe Research Center, and spends half his time in Tahoe, and spends most of his time writing grants and trying to get money. He does very little actual research, the research he does do is at Tahoe, not for the Stockton project. But, he is the "Principal Investigator" for this project, meaning, to the funding agency, he is in charge. If the project doesn't get done, its his name that will be associated with the project. I was tempted to start a whole new project if thats what it would take for me to earn my PhD.

I do not plan to spend my career doing research. Really, I want to teach. My dream job would be at Santa Clara University, but another teaching university where I would have the opportunity to do small research projects and some consulting is my goal. I think that right now, with the knowledge I have, I could teach many engineering courses. But, to get a job at SCU, or LMU or Seattle U, or another Jesuit University or state school, I need a PhD. I was not willing to give up that dream over the stupid Stockton DWSC.

Another thing you should know is that there is a consulting firm in New Jersey that did a similar project to what I am attempting to do. Also, in the meantime, a dissolved oxygen aeration system has been placed in the DWSC. This system pumps pure oxygen into the channel. Will it fix the problem? I'm not convinced, but policy makers and politicians are. Its the easy solution. So, I'm climbing an uphill battle. My adviser, funding agencies and other scientists really have changed their focus from the problem in the Stockton DWSC. They have bigger battles to fight, like Delta Smelt and water shortages and fires. I don't blame them, but I am too invested in the Stockton project to abandon it. Oh, and by the way, Stanford decided to abandon too. Of course, this makes me feel like I've won a small battle. I'm doing something even Standford scientists couldn't handle. ha!

Spain's "Target"

Yesterday, I discovered a store that reminds me of a Super-Target and a Macy's smooshed together. It is called Hipercor, but apparently the store El Corte Ingles that everyone keeps telling me to go to is the same. I only browsed the first floor of this mega-huge store. When I walked in, I browsed the designer purse and accessory and make-up sections. Not super-high end stuff, but they had Fossil watches, Tommy Hilfiger purses, etc. Then, I entered the Target-ish area. Here I browsed the cheap clothes and shoes, then the aisles of the food section. Much better than the Mercadona I went to last week. Today, I might take a break during the middle of the day and go to El Corte Ingles, grocery shop, bring my food to the house, then come back down. I'm excited!
My annoying housemate is having people over for dinner, serving couscous with veggies YET AGAIN! Blech, I would prefer the frozen burritos John has been eating from Trader Joes. So, I plan to stay at work mega-late today. . .
Oh, and I'm going to buy some pashminas today! How exciting.

My run in with the gypsies (just for Joe)

Joe,

I ran into some gypsies yesterday. The tried to give me rosemary. That's their thing. The stand around (mind you, they don't look like your typical gypsy, they are just old ladies) near tourist areas (the Alhambra, the Cathedral) and try to give you a piece of rosemary. They stick it in your face, and try to stick it in you hand, and go so far as to walk with you as you try and rush past them. Then, if you take the rosemary, apparently they will try and read your palm, then ask for money. When they ask for money, you take out your wallet and take some, and their partner steals the rest. I kept my head down, walked quickly, kept my hands in my pockets and said "No, gracias". I saw some tourists pulling out a 10 euro bill today to give to them. . . I hope the gypsies didn't steal the rest! I'll try to take a pic, but then they might steal my camera.

Need a pashmina?

Not sure why, but there are pashminas for sale everywhere! And they are cheap. 3 euros for one or 2 for 5 euros. So, if you need a pashmina or 2, let me know and I will try to find one for you. They have all colors, and some fancy design ones too. I plan to bring home quite a few for myself. . .

Pics from home.

I was so happy to come to work today and find John had sent me some pictures of Boba. Amazing how much I can miss a fuzzy little animal. I think part of it is because I'm not so sure she misses me. I know John misses me, I know my parents miss talking to me. But, Boba still gets fed and played with. Heck, John misses me so much he lets the cat sleep in the bedroom with him. That never happens when I'm home!

In case you all might have thought John kicked the cat out of the house, here's proof she's alive and well! Not so sure about John, though, since he didn't send me any pics of him. Hopefully he is still in one piece after his rugby tournament yesterday. . .

The Alhambra

Yesterday, I visited the Alhambra, a Moorish palace on one of the hills in town. It was absolutely stunning, and do not think my description or photos do it any justice. I am trying to upload all my photos to shutterfly, but its being a pain in the butt. So, I will post a few here for now, and update you when I have more available on shutterfly.

I know that my version of why the Alhambra exists is not complete, if you are interested, I suggest reading the wikipedia entry, it is quite extensive. During my tour, I saw an old fortress/castle, a stunning palace and many gardens and fountains. The architecture was amazing.














Description of my pics (from top to bottom, left, then right).
1. A sign on the fortress wall indicating where I was, the Alhambra. Notice the stone wall? That is what the walls of the fortress looked like. Stone and clay. Amazing. I cannot imagine how long it took to construct the entire palace and city.

2. This is a horse reign on King Charles V palace. After the Christians defeated the Moors and took over the Alhambra, they tried to eradicate all traces of the Muslim religion. The built a Catholic church, and a palace for King Charles. It contrasts very much with the remaining buildings, but is still beautiful. King Charles ended up not staying in Granada very long, an earthquake freaked him out, and he moved to Madrid.

3. A view of the Palace of Nasrid through one of the many arches. This is the most spectacular of the palaces. It is full of amazing details and intricacies.

4. A view from the upstairs of the palace to one of the many garden/patios.

5. Me! Standing in a doorway. I love the shape of the doorways.

6. A view from the inside of King Charles V palace. The outside looks like a rectangular building, but once you walk inside, there is a circular inner courtyard.

7. A view from the top of one of the fortress towers down on the city of Granada.

8. This is some detail from the walls inside the palace. Every wall was covered either in etchings like this, many with Arabic words inscribed, or in colorful mosaics of tile.

9. Another door. Notice the etchings surrounding it.

10. A view of the "Myrtle Patio" (named for the type of plant on either side of the pond), showing a reflection of the palace.

11. Another patio and garden.

12. The Cypress walk leaving the gardens.

Good start to the weekend

I think I deserve a gold star for my efforts yesterday morning. I was meeting Marina at noon in Plaza Nueva for our trip to the Ahlhambra, but what is a weekend without coffee? So, I took the bus earlier than I needed to, stopped by a magazine stand to buy the Spanish version of "In Touch", picked a cafe and ordered myself a cafe con leche and a tostada de tomotae. Yum.

My model application

For my PhD project, I am doing 2 things:
1 - adding water quality state variable to SI3D. This will include nitrogen, phospohorus, algae, dissolved oxygen, and others. Here is a figure that shows all the state variables in my model. Each square is a state variable, and the lines that connect them represents an equation I need to solve. (NO3 is nitrate nitrogen, NH4 is ammonia, OrgN is Oragnic Nitrogen, DO is dissolved oxygen, SOD is sediment oxygen demand (the demand of oxygen from the bottom of the channel), BOD is biological oxygen demand (oxygen consumed by the death of biological material, usually originating from waste water treatment plants), A is algae, Z is zooplankton (little tiny swimming creatures, they eat algae), OrgP is Organic phosphorus and PO4 is orthophosphate.)


Each line also represents what can add to or subtract from each constituent. For example, NH4 can be broken down and become NO3, and during this process, oxygen is consumed. So, I have an equation that represents this.

2. I am applying my model to the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel, part of the San Joaquin River and San Francisco Bay Estuary System. This stretch of river is of interest because it has low levels of dissolved oxygen. Low levels of dissolved oxygen put a stress on organisms. In particular, salmon have a hard time trying to pass through water that has less than 4 mg/L of dissolved oxygen. The salmon that pass through the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel are endangered, so trying to improve their habitat and the likelihood that they can make it upstream to spawn is very important. One of the major factors causing a decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations is an increase in algae growth. This is called eutrophication, and is a problem in many rivers, lakes and estuaries throughout the world, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay. Eutrophication is a process where excess nutrients are introduced into a system, which increases algae growth (algae need nitrogen and phosphorus to grow, so if more is introduced, more algae can grow) . This can be a natural process, but in more recent times, human interaction with nutrient cycles have sped it up. Agricultural fertilizers, fertilizers for golf courses, and waste water treatment plants are just a few of the processes that directly add nutrients (esp nitrogen and phosphorus) into water bodies. The San Joaquin River valley has thousands of acres of farmland, and some waste water treatment plants as well. The river carries all these nutrients into the Deep Water Ship Channel, which is deep. When the water gets to the ship channel, it slows down and the nutrients just sit. With the addition of the sun, algae can grow. But, at night, they all die and consume oxygen. The oxygen produced during the day (photosynthesis) is not enough to combat the death and decay during the night, so oxygen levels decrease. Bad for fish. Because of this, some government agencies, including the EPA, have introduced a TMDL (total maximum daily load - a hot topic in my field) mandating that dissolved oxygen concentrations in Stockton remain above 5 mg/L during most of the year, and above 6 mg/L in September - October when fish migrate through the system. A TMDL is supposed to impose fines to people in the basin if the TMDL is not met, but figuring out who is to blame is the hard part. The goal of my model is to figure out the causes, and I think most importantly, use it to try and figure out solutions.

The model I use

So, to model the movement of the water I mentioned a few posts ago, I am using a model called SI3D. This stands for semi-implicit three-dimensional. I won't go into what semi-implicit means. SI3D was created at UC Davis in 1997 by Pete Smith. Its creation earned Pete his PhD. Pete now works at the USGS (United States Geological Survey) in Sacramento. He mostly applies the model to the San Francisco Bay Delta.

After Pete graduated, Francisco Rueda came to UC Davis and further developed SI3D. In particular, he added water temperature as one of the state variables. Pete's model was mostly used for the movement of the water and was sufficient for most estuary applications. However, water temperature greatly affects how water moves, especially in large lakes, so by adding water temperature, the model could be applied to a greater number of systems. Francisco used the model on Lake Tahoe and Clear Lake. But, Pete continued to use his model, without temperature.

Francisco's addition of temperature to the model earned him a PhD. After he graduated, he did a post-doc at Cornell (he left Cornell a few months before I go there). After Cornell, he moved here to Granada to become a professor. So, SI3D has two different forms and is used in Sacramento, Ithaca, NY and Granada, Spain.

After Francisco graduated, SI3D was not used very much at Davis. Mostly because none of the funding agencies were willing to fund a three-dimensional model. Modeling in three-dimensions takes more computer time, so the entire project takes more time, making it more expensive. And in some cases, one or two dimensional models are sufficient. For example, a river is usually very well mixed, meaning that from the surface to the bottom, the water has the same properties. So, the up-down direction of the model is a waste of time.

I started at UC Davis in June 2004, 3 years after Francisco left.

Nado Libre

I did it! I swam, in Spain! I brought my swim stuff with me, hoping I would find a pool. I found the pool, got a pamphlet, and had Josh and Gina help me translate. But then, for a few days I was still too chicken to head for a swim. As I've mentioned, the language barrier is difficult. I can only handle one daunting, new task per day. Tuesday was the grocery store, Wednesday was the computer store, so I guess today was the day for a swim. It was nice. The pool is 50m, and got pretty crowded, but I managed. It felt really good to feel comfortable someplace. I may not have mastered the language, but I was definitely one of the best swimmers at free swim. The swims cost 4 euros, kind of a lot. I might buy a pack of 10 for 29 euros and make a pledge to swim 10 more times while I am here. The crazy thing is thats only about every other day. . . 21 more days!

Time to walk to the bus station, I'm going to try and snap a few photos along the way.

Wish I could be at home begging my cat to sit with me while I settle in for another episode of Grey's Anatomy. . . oh well, conversations with Belgians and Germans will have to suffice for today.

Churros y Chocolate

Today, we went to a different cafe for our morning coffee / breakfast. This place had churros and chocolate, a typical Spanish breakfast. The churros here a slighlty different than the churros we are accustomed to from Disneyland and ball games. They are friend dough, but are not covered in sugar and cinnamon. They did bring a sugar bowl to the table after we ordered the churros, and some of us dipped our churros in the sugar. Often, churros are served with chocolate, which I can best describe as warm chocolate pudding. The churros are dipped in the chocolate. I did not order the chocolate today, but I will go back with my camera for more churros and chocolate before I leave.

Now lets see if I can stay awake after that greasy treat.

I forgot to tell you about the donkey!

On Saturday night, while bar hopping, I saw a donkey, not once, but twice, tied up to a door. The donkey was "dressed" very nicely. I neglected to take a picture because I didn't want to scare the poor thing. Anyway, eventually, I found out that this donkey was most likely the transportation for a guy at his bachelor party!

John, is there something you forget to tell me about Tahoe?

I had to buy a new flash drive. . .

Francisco told me where to go, but it was nerve-wracking none-the-less. I brought the old one (which for some reason tells me it has no more space when I know there is nothing on it!) and said the following:
"Lo Siento, no hablo espanol. Necisitio un. . " and held up my old flash drive. She got the picture and let me pick from two, a 1gb and a 2 gb. I picked the 1 GB. She was also nice enough to turn the computer screen and show me the price rather than speak it. I have found being told a price very intimidating, and I often just hold out some money!

That was my brave move for the day, swimming will have to wait until tomorrow. . .

Question. . .

If I can't understand the nutrient content information, does that mean the calories don't count?
This "Chocolate Extrafino con Leche" is really good!

I broke all kinds of Spanish etiquette today, I think. I ate lunch at my desk. Except for this chocolate, I think I'm ready to come home.

John is cured (why I'm here part 2)

The next step in modeling is to calibrate the model. This means that I tinker with variables to try and get my model to match my observations as best as I can. In the example from the other day, this would mean that I could try to change X, because perhaps John was going faster or slower than I thought.

The final step in modeling is to apply the model. This is usually the final goal. So, in our example, the question was, "where is John", and I can apply my calibrated model to guess where John is at any given time! Sweet!

However, the model I am developing, calibrating and applying is a bit more complicated than a man walking only from east to west.
Let's say suddenly John is cured from his crazy disorder! Ahhhh! Now he can walk west to east or east to west (which would be the negative of west to east) and north to south or south to north (negative of north to south). In fact, he can even walk at an angle, heading north-east or south-east. This makes my model a bit more complicated. Here's another figure for you to ponder:

So, now his velocity is a little bit more complicated because its not straight west to east. However, I can still try to guess his location, but my model gets a bit more complicated (now its two dimension!)

deltat = t/n
DO i = 1, n
D(i) = D_start + X_es*deltat + X_ns*deltat
END DO

So, this time I have two parameters (X_es anc X_ns) that I can tinker with to calibrate. Once its calibrated, again I can apply.

So, to understand what I am modeling, lets say there are 10,000 John's lining the street, they can go any direction, even jump up and down. And instead of John's on a street, its water molecules in a river. That's the initial part of my model, the movement of water. But, instead of trying to model individual molecules, I group them all together and model the mass movement of the water. In addition to modeling how the water moves, I model how certain chemical reactions occurs in the water and affect the quality.

Some cultural differences

Spain, particularly Southern Spain, is quite different than Northern California. Here are just some of the differences (small as they may be) that I have noticed.

1. Nobody here has iPods! Some people have mp3 players, but they are not nearly as common as I see in Davis. In Davis and Sacramento, I think at least 50% of people walking around have iPods.
   
2. Nobody here has those annoying wireless blue tooth cell phone things. I welcome this change!
3. Nobody here walks around with food or water. You cannot get a coffee to go. As I've mentioned, this is bothersome to me. I long for a big cup of coffee that I slowly sip at my desk. In addition, at home, most people carry around water bottles. I know that on most week days, I fill up and drink my 1000mL Nalgene at least three times. Here, I rarely see people drinking water.
4. Everything is smaller: cars, sidewalks, dogs, houses, washing machines, grocery stores, coffees.
5. No one else has diamond rings. I have not seen a single diamond ring. This makes me feel especially odd since they are such a part of American culture. I almost left my engagement ring when I came, but it reminds me of John, so I brought it. Also, the right hand is used for the wedding ring in Europe. I have thought about switching my wedding ring to my right hand to fend off Spanish men, but have not. If a guy tries to pick up on me, I won't know what he's saying anyway, so for now, I'll leave it.
   
6. People are much more affectionate here. I am slowly getting used to the double kiss thing.
   

I model for a living

This is the first installment of my expose exploring why the heck I'm in Granada in the first place. I am a modeler, a hydrodynamic and water quality modeler. This means that I 'build' models, but I'm not talking physical models like the Bay Model In Sausalito. My models are just equations. I use equations to explain how water moves and how this movement of water affects certain water quality variables (like water temperature, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen to name a few)

I even thought of an example, try and follow me. Let's say there is a guy names John who likes to go on walks. Here is a schematic. Engineers like schematics. I'm not an artist, so its a simplification! Engineers are also organized, so for reference, this is Figure 1 (in case I request you remember it later, I will say, recall Figure 1)

Figure 1: John walking along

Now, lets say, because I am John's wife (is it really possible that I am somebody's wife?) I am interested in trying to speculate where John will be at a certain time knowing that he likes to walk. As a modeler, my first step is to come up with a set of equations I think will describe where John will be at a give time. Time to dust the cobwebs from your left brain for a minute and recall some basic physics (basic physics, I know its in that brain somewhere, I'll give you some time. . . .)
physics
physics
remember, newton, gravity?

OK, well, anyway, in physics we all learned about velocity and acceleration. Velocity is distance over time. So it describes how long it take something to get from point a to point b. Like the odometer in your car. Since I'm an engineer, and since I'm in Europe, I'm going to use metric units. Don't freak, they are actually easier to understand and place together than English Units. So I know that Johns walks with a certain velocity, X (m/s). In paratheses is the unit for the parameter. I am interested in knowing the distance, D (m) John is from his starting point. D is my state variable, it is the variable I am trying to accurately describe, or model. I know that X = D/t where t is time. So, a quick little manipulation leads to D = X*t. Distance (m) = Velocity (m/s) multiplied by time (s). So, if I can reasonable estimate John's velocity, I should be able to, given a certain time, determine his distance from his starting point.

Step two for a modeler is to gather some data to test the set of equations. So, one day, I set up an elaborate system of monitoring points to measure how fast, on average, he walks. For simplification (I think I mentioned we like to makes things simple!), lets say that John has a rare disorder which forces him to only be able to walk from the west to the east. Only west to east, no straying, no bends, no curves, a perfectly straight line. After my day with elaborate measurements, I find that John walks constantly at a rate of 1 m/s. So now, I have a data set, hooray! When I say I am going out into the field, when I go sampling, I am collecting data from the river to use to test my set of equations.

The third step is to test my model to see if it works. I write my model using computer code, so when I write it, it will look like this

deltat = t/n
DO i = 1, n
D(i) = D_start + X*deltat
END DO

What? OK, I'll back up a minute. This is a 'do loop' So, I am telling the computer to do what is between DO and END DO n times, starting at 1 and ending at n. n is the number of time steps I would like to model during the time i am interested in. So, for example, if t = 20 secs, I can model what happens every 1 sec (deltat=1 and n will be 20), or every 2 secs (deltat =2 and n will be 10) and so on. The smaller my time step, the more accurate my model will be. Inside the loop, the computer will calculate and store the distance John is from the starting point at each time step. It calculates the new distance by adding to the old distance the velocity multiplied by the length of the time step. So, as an example, if X = 1 m/s, deltat = 1 sec and D_start = 0, then the following would be the result:

i D(i)
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 10
11 11
. . . . . . etc

OK, well, that ends lesson 1 of why I'm in Granada. Let me know if you have any questions!

Fin de Semana part 3

The final installment from my weekend!

Sunday
On Sunday, after staying out until 3am, I woke up at 8:30 to find a pay phone to call John. I found one fairly close to the house, and I finally got to talk to John. After our conversation, which cost me almost 5 euros, I went back to sleep, where I stayed until noon. I seriously can't remember the last time I slept until noon. When I finally woke up, I longed to sit on the couch with my cat and NFL. But, that was not in the cards on this Sunday. I also would not be able to cook that day because the markets are closed on Sundays. So, I worked for a bit, had lunch with the girls (if I have to eat rice and vegetables one more time, I might scream!), relaxed for a while, then decided to explore on my own. I knew that if I just kept hanging out with the girls I live with two things would happen, the first is that I would get sick of them and get even more homesick, the second is that I would not learn my way around Granada and therefore would be dependent on them even more. So, I decided to take a walk. I left the house around 6:oopm, my goal was to head down the Albaicin to "Mirador de San Cristobal", a view point of the Ahlambra. I was hoping to see the sunset and stay long enough to watch the Ahlambra light up.
The Albaicin is one of the most confusing areas. The streets criss-cross every witch way, but the view point is quite popular, and there were signs pointing the way. My first success was reaching the view point. Then, I got even more courage and decided to get an ice cream. I did this by pointing to the coin size I wanted and saying "limon". Luckily, the flavors were labeled. The ice cream, or helado, was quite good. I ate my ice cream and watched the sunset.


































I decided not to stay long enough for it to get dark, because I knew I wanted to continue my walk down the hill to the town center, and wanted a little bit of light to navigate the windy streets. I wanted to take a walk down what is known as "the Tea Street" (but in Spanish, can't remember it right now). This narrow street is lined with vendors selling all sorts of gifts, mostly Arabic in nature.





After I successfully found my way to this street, and then the main street of town, "La Gran Via", I explored for a little while, stopped in at an internet cafe, then headed home on the bus. I take bus #7. It was my first time getting on the bus alone. I did OK, I gave the man my Euro (i love the 1 euro and 2 euro coins, I with dollar coins would catch on!), but didn't stop and wait for my receipt. Oh well, lesson learned. Once I got home, I did a little more work, then went to bed. Successful weekend, adventures in Granada.

Next weekend I already have tickets to see the Ahlhambra on the inside, and hopefully I'll find a bar that might play the World Series or American football.

My next series of installments (amoung daily observations) will be an explanation of why the heck I came to Granada in the first place. This seems to be a popular question, and its difficult for me to answer. I think there are 4 people that really know the whole story: me, Francisco (the professor in Spain), Geoff (my adviser in Davis) and John, my huband.

A word on tapas

While eating tapas in Spain, I learned a little about the history of tapas. The word tapar apparently means to top or to cover. So the word comes from the time when a piece of bread was placed over the wine glass to keep out bugs. Eventually, bartenders staring adding meats and cheeses to the tapas. I think I like the tapas tradition. So be prepared for a tapas party when i return. I am actually heading to tapas this evening with Josh and Gina, 2 friends from San Jose. I met them for lunch earlier and got to speak English the whole time. Josh was supposed to stay longer, but he's chickening out and leaving tonight. This makes me sad, I like having him around.

I will have to update you with the rest of my weekend tomorrow, sorry to keep you hanging!

Fin de Semana part 2

Saturday Evening/Night
After the walk in the Albaicin, I continued with Jessica down the hill and saw some of the city center, including Plaza Nueva, the outside of The Cathedral which I would like to visit before my stay is over, and Plaza Bib-Rambla, where I took a picture of this fountain:


I've really been playing around with my camera options, and like the way this picture turned out, excpet that I wish the fountain was centered. My BIL Brian taught me a few tricks on how to take good pictures, so thanks Brian! Also in this plaza, I finally found a phone and was able to call my parents. During our stroll in the plaza, we saw a procession of some sort. I wasn't able to get a good picture, but it was a bunch of men dressed nicely carrying weird sticks. There was also a very ornate statue of Virgin Mary being carried by some men. I didn't ask questions. But the procession caused some street closures, so the buses weren't running. We caught a taxi home instead. We got home about 8:45. This seemed late to me, and in CA, if I got home at this time, I would call it a day, eat some take out and watch something on tivo. But not in Spain. In Granada, 9:00 pm is early, and is the time many restaurants open for dinner. So, at 9:30, Andrea and I left the house and went back to the city center for some drinks and tapas. Naturally, I had Sangria to drink. In Granada, the tapas are awesome because they are FREE! When you buy a drink, you get a tapa. Oh, and by the way, a class of Sangria costs between 1.50 and 2.50. I don't think I've seen Sangria for less than $5 in the US. Anyway, when you order a drink, you get a set tapa. Second drink, another, slightly better tapa. Some people stay at one place and get many rounds of tapas at the same place, and others go 'tapa hopping'. Here is a pic of the 2nd tapa, bread topped with chorizo and some sauce. I didn't like this tapa. I did like some of the others. The first was a slice of bread topped with a tuna salad mixture, served with olives. Also pictured below is my sangria. yummy! And, for proof that the prices here are cheap-o, a picture of a menu with white wine prices (ok, so its hard to see, but its about 1.50 euros for a glass of wine!).
















They stop serving tapas at midnight, which is long enough for me. But, just as the tapa bars are closing, the bars begin to open. Anna's boyfriend is a DJ so we went to the bar he was spinning at. I was hesitant at first, but he played great music, lots of 80s. It is funny to see Spanish people dancing and singing American songs. We stayed at this place for quite a while. It was fun for me to watch the bartenders, who seem to have it much easier than bar tenders in the US. The beer selection is small, and when somebody order a rum and coke, all they do is put three cubes of ice in a class, pour in some rum, and crack open the coke bottle. Very interesting. Here I am with Anna and Andrea. Three girls from all over the world, drinking together in Granada, Spain. Pretty cool, I have to say.



We finally went home at 3am. Boy, I was exhausted. In Granada, you can smoke in the bars, and for some reason, this made me feel extra drunk, I think. Oh, and they don't just smoke cigarettes. They smoke pot too. I have never smelt so much pot in the span of a week. Now I know why a friend who studied here for a year smoked pot while in Granada. Its hard to avoid, although I plan to avoid inhaling it myself. I mean, I know people in CA smoke pot ( when I was and RA, I had a girl kicked out of the dorms for that!), but I've never encountered in in such a public place. I don't think I will stay out so late very many times during my stay. I'd much rather get up early and explore the city without the crowds. I'm weird like that.

Fin de Semana 1 (weekend)

What a weekend. To be honest, it was a tough weekend for me. I miss the US. I think it was most difficult because the house I am staying at does not have phone or internet, which made contacting John or my family difficult. I did my best, and was able to get a phone card and find a few pay phones. Hopefully, next weekend I will have a key to the office and can come use the internet. I also find it is difficult for me to be around so much Spanish, sometimes I just need to be alone and think in English! When I am around a large group, I have to concentrate so hard to try and understand what people are talking about, its exhausting.

I did do some exploring of the city and experienced the nightlife a little bit. Here's a recap of the weekend:

Friday Night
On Friday night, I moved from the hostel to the house I am staying at. Then, Andrea and Jessica (my housemates) made dinner and some friends came over. The dinner guests did not even arrive until 10pm! Crazy. We had couscous with vegetables and cheesecake for dessert. Oh, and wine, of course. It is funny to listen to a conversation in Spanish and suddenly somebody says "couscous" because the word is the same. Anyway, it was difficult for me because at the dinner table, the conversation was in Spanish. And people from Spain talk so fast. But, it was fun to watch them, they are so expressive. Every once and a while, a small conversation was had in English, but for the most part, I just observed. The dinner guests left at 2am, so it was straight to bed.
Saturday
I started the day with breakfast (cereal! yeah!) then did work for a few hours. Then, it was time to break for lunch. Argh, one of the traditions I just don't like. We made lunch and sat around and ate lunch, then had tea. I would much rather have had more cereal or leftovers for lunch. After lunch, I took a walk in the neighborhood. It is a new neighborhood, and I took some pics:











From left to right, the photos are the sign for the neighborhood I live in, a smart car and a view of the many houses on the hill.

After the walk, I returned to the house and did a little more work, then I went with my housemates for a walk in the Albaicin. The Albaicin is the old Arab quarter of Granada. It is a maze of narrow cobblestone streets and offers many fantastic views of the city and the Alhambra. Also, close to the Albaicin is the Sacramonte, a neighborhood where people live in caves, sort of. The caves have house fronts, but they jet into the caves in the back. Lots of gypsies and hippies live in this area. I got a few good pics, but will return many more times and take more ( I was with people, sometimes I like to linger and take lots of pics at one spot. I learned this from my BIL!). Here are a few pictures of the neighborhood:

one of the many churches in the 'hood:

a view towards the Sierra Nevada foothills (i think!?) a cave in the Sacramonte:

me and Andrea: (see, I am actually in Spain!)
This post is getting long, so I'll start a new one with the rest of the weekend.

My new best friend

I'm thinking this book will save me many times this month. I already study it and try to form sentences in my head.

And this, my friends, is breakfast in Spain:

a piece of bread, toasted. On the table, olive oil and salt and pepper. Served with the toast, a little bowl of pureed tomatoes.
Step 1: order "un medio con tomatoe y un cafe con leche."
Step 2: coffee is brought to table in what looks like a tall shot glass. It is about 1/4 to 1/2 filled with coffee, but not the kind of coffee we are used to, its espresso.
Step 3: waitress brings warmed milk and fills glass with milk. You can have your milk "caliente" (steamed/hot) or "frio", cold. I get "caliente". basically, this is a latte. Its ok, but on my weekdays, I like a big old cup of coffee that I slowly sip at my desk. I have not seen anybody walking down the street with a coffee mug. Oh, and I looked, the closest starbucks is in seville.
Step 4: waitress brings toast
Step 5: smother toast with olive oil, then tomato, top with salt.

This really was delicious. Don't think i could have it as my breakfast, but for a mid-morning snack its ok. I bet its also good with cheese, yummy.

Oh, and the best part, the toast with tomato and coffee only costs 1.70 (euros. oh, i heard the dollar has gone down again. sucks, good thing i'm being paid in euros while i'm here =) )

Today I had a regular type of lunch. "Un bocadillo de queso". A cheese sandwich. I was too scared to order a ham sandwich. The ham scares me. There are literally cured pig legs hanging and laying around in cafes and shops. I have to get a pic, but I don't want to be rude. Is it rude to take a pic of a pig laying on a counter? I also got a coca-cola light. Not quite as good as a diet coke, but closer to diet coke than the "coffee" is to what I want. And the best part? They served it with ice! nice!

I just moved out of the hostel, waiting for Andrea to pick me up with her car to take me to her house. She made a cheesecake and is having some other students over for dinner. Hopefully I'll get pics with people in them tonight! And this weekend. There is no internet access at the house I'll be in, so you'll have to wait until Monday to hear from me again.

Miss you all!

Grande Coffee, por favor?

Granada Train Tracks at Dusk

Last night, I explored Granada a bit, but it was getting dark and I was alone and did NOT want to get lost. The language barrier is beginning to get to me. Even though I am surrounded by people, I can't understand what they are saying and can't partake in the conversations. This morning, I did go for un cafe con leche (oh how I miss my grande coffee from starbucks) and tried to talk only in spanish. It went ok. Not great, not terrible. I think if I was here for three months I might begin to catch onto the language. Here are some pics I took last night:

Where I am working:

The view from my hostel:
















A park near the hostel and institute:
















A picture of my grocery store receipt:















Visiting grocery stores in foreign countries is a lot of fun for me. Some things I noticed: the cereal selection was slim. But, I did notice they had Special K! nice!
Yogurt selection was huge! I remember this from Ireland too. They have so many different varieties of yogurts, its unbelievable.
Eggs and milk are not cold. This will probably always freak me out.
I think I was there during the dinner rush. In the US this would have been at 5 or 6, but here it was 8:30 pm.
I saw my first gypsy begging outside the store.

I thought the prices at the store were reasonable. 0.40 euros for a 1.5 L bottle of water, 1.60 for 5 gala apples (but they are not that freat!). 0.60 for a warm loaf of bread. Not bad.

I am working hard. Today I am going to move out of the hostel, thank goodness and move in with Andrea from Germany and Jessica from Belgium. Andrea is a student of the professor I'm working with and they have an extra room with a bed for me. Nice! This weekend I hope to explore the old part of town, and probably work a bit too.

If you're in the US, get a cup of coffee for me this weekend!

Soy en Espana

Hello Friends!
Welcome to my Spain Blog. I will update you with what I've been doing while visiting Granada for the month. I have been here just over 24 hours, and so far, so good, but I have already noticed a few cultural differences, and miss some things from home.

Cultural Differences:
1. I just can't get used to the kissing on the check to greet people. I'm used to saying "hello" and possibly shaking hands, or maybe just waving, but here, when you first meet somebody you kiss on both checks. I'm starting to get the hang of it, but I hope I'm not offending anybody when I am hesitant!

2. Work schedule. This morning, I came in about 9am, worked for about 1.5 hours, then we went to get coffee. But not like, oh lets go walk to starbucks and get a cup of coffee and walk back. We sat at a cafe and got "cafe con leche" which is pretty good. It was basically a cappacino. The coffee is very black and the milk is steamed. Anyway, everybody else ordered some food, mostly toast which was served with a little bowl full of pureed tomatoes. At first I thought it was strawberry jam. Also, on the tables was olive oil. So they poured olive oil all over the bread, then spread the tomato, then more olive oil and some salt. I bet its good, and I'll probably try it tomorrow. Now I'm working again, don't know when or where lunch will be, but yesterday I had lunch at Francisco (thats the professor I'm working with) house. It was a huge lunch with chicken, rice, salad, etc. Then I worked until 7pm and went to another students house for dinner. So, they probably work the same number of hours as we do in "the states" (thats how everybody refers to the US), but its stretched out over more hours.

Things I miss already:
1. I don't like the milk here. I think its whole milk. Blech. Its very heavy and kind of sweet. I want non-fat milk.
2. Scones and muffins. I like something sweet with my mid-morning coffee.
3. My husband. We've chatted already a few times on skype. Love that thing.
4. My cat. She's cute, but she doesn't talk to me on skype.

I need to take some pics soon, and I will, so stay tuned.