June 11-12 – La Granja, La Cucaracha, y La Playa

Disclaimer: This is going to be a pretty long journal entry since a lot happened over the past 2 days. But I promise that all the stories are good and are must-reads! Disfrute! (Enjoy!)

Fri. June 11th

My friend Ashley and I were given the opportunity to go on an excursion with the other U.S. program that is currently here. They are all from Loyola University in Chicago. We went to a place called La Granja (The Farm) in a town called Esporles. When I first heard the word “farm” I figured we’d be seeing some animals, crops, and typical farm stuff. This was not so. It turned out that there were some farm animals but it was also a giant house that was filled with history about how people used to live in the olden days. (It reminded me a little bit of Amish country).

I should also mention that this was the very first time that in rained in Mallorca since I’ve been here. Before I left my house at 9:30 AM, I was going to bring a sweater/jacket or an umbrella but didn’t think it would actually rain and that the clouds would turn into sun. Boy was I wrong. It rained a little while we were first waiting for our bus and then it would downpour while we were touring the farm. Only 2 girls in the other program were smart enough to bring an umbrella and raincoat. Ok, back to the story:

Outside in pens we got to see horses, burros, peacocks, roosters, chickens, turkeys, birds, and a few other animals. Inside the house we saw bedrooms, a toy room, bathroom, kitchen, dining room, sewing room, wine cellar, and even a torture room! I took a lot of pictures of all the interesting artifacts.

After La Granja, we went to a town called Valldemossa. I had already been there with Loli, Eva, and Sira, but I got to see a few more things this time with our excursion. We went to a small café and had the choice of ordering café con leche (coffee with milk) or chocolate caliente (hot chocolate). I chose the latter option and it was sooo good! It was literally like drinking cocoa powder because it was so chocolatey. We also got some more of the bread I had when I was last in Valldemossa. The famous musician Chopin lived in Valldemossa for a year and there were so many exhibits and a museum dedicated to him. We got to see a piano concert and then later toured a museum that had many artifacts like Chopin’s piano, sheet music, and various paintings. We got back to Palma shortly after 4 PM. It had been a long, but very fun, excursion.

After I got back, Loli told me that she was heading over to her husband’s clothing store to go shopping and invited me to come with. I got to see the store for the first time and Loli shopped for clothing for herself and for Paca (the abuela). After that, we went over to Eva and Sira’s house for a little bit. I played with Sira in her bedroom and she showed me how to play a game she made up.

Soon enough it was time for dinner. I was told that we were having “merluza” which is a type of fish. I told Loli and Jaime that this was the very first time that I was going to try fish and they said “But your last name is Fisher!” I explained an inside joke that I don’t eat my own kind, and they laughed. The fish was interesting and I ate it, but I’m definitely still a carnivore. After I was finished eating, Loli showed me the head of the fish that still had its eyes and everything intact. I replied with “Ewww.” She then wrote out the word “merluza” so I would be able to translate it on my computer to find out what type of fish it was. It turned out to be hake fish, which I’ve never heard of. We looked at some images on Google of hake and I told Loli that it’s a good thing I ate it first and then researched it after, otherwise I might not have eaten it all, haha.

And now for the most interesting thing that happened that day. I was getting ready to take a shower and everyone else in the house was already asleep. I walked into the bathroom and all of a sudden I heard a little chittering noise coming from the wall inside the shower. I looked up, curious to see if anything was there, and saw a cockroach bigger than the size of my hand!!! I managed not to scream aloud and knew that I had 3 options. Option #1: Close the bathroom door, run back to the sanctuary of my bedroom, and shower the next morning. Option #2: Attempt to shower and avoid the cockroach at all costs. Option #3: Go into my padres room and ask them for assistance.

Since I was slightly freaking out, I decided to go with Option #3. I tiptoed into Loli and Jaime’s room and whispered “Loli.” She’s apparently a very light sleeper and said “Díme” which means “Tell me.” I replied, “¡Hay una cucaracha grande en el baño!” (There’s a big cockroach in the bathroom!) She got out of bed, grabbed a giant can of bug spray, and proceeded into the bathroom. She sprayed all over the bathroom wall and opened the bathroom door a few minutes later. She told me that it was dead, but she lost visual contact and didn’t know where it had fallen. We both decided it’d be a better idea for me to shower the next day since the bathroom smelled of bug spray. I apologized for waking her up and she assured me that it was ok. We said goodnight and I went to bed. And that’s the story of La Cucaracha.


Sat. June 12th

I went to the beach at Arenal with my friend Erica for the day. When we first left, it was a little bit cloudy but it turned out to be very sunny and a great beach day! We were there for about 7 hours and had a lot of fun. We also met up with a friend she had met while in a hostel before the program started. And I’m happy to report that I only suffered minor sun burn after my day at the beach. I got burned on my upper thighs and the back of my legs, but nowhere else! (And the sunburn has already subsided and is turning into a nice tan color, which I’m very excited about).

After dinner, Jaime was watching the U.S.A. vs. England Fútbol (soccer) game on TV. La Copa Mundial (The World Cup) is huge here and it’s pretty cool because Spain is in the same time zone as South Africa. Jaime gave me a vocab lesson about some of the key words in soccer (like tie, referee, throw, kick, penalty, etc). He would spell out the words in Spanish (per my suggestion) and then I would show him what they meant in English. He explained the origins of the word “fútbol” and how it comes from foot + ball. He just laughed at the word “soccer.” The final score was 1-1, a tie (“empate”).