It has been a while.

So I tried to start my internship last week, and I went in on Monday to read some material and get to know FMP (el Federacion de Mujeres Progresistas... the Federation of Progressive Women) and by Monday night my throat was so swollen that my glands were almost touching and it hurt to swallow. The doctor said I had strep throat. So then I didn't go in Tuesday, or Wednesday, and then the office was closed Thursday and Friday for Corpus Cristi.

For our vacation, we went to Granada and Malaga in the south of Spain, and they were wonderful. As much as I loved going to the beach in Malaga, and swimming in the Mediterranean for the first time, Granada was so much more incredible. We walked through the cathedral in Granada, and it was so beautiful. We also made it to la Alhambra, which is a really old fortress/palace on top of a hill that has incredible middle-eastern architecture and designs. So much history and beauty in one spot, something we really don't have in the U.S. That's our beach in Malaga. The picture with the fountains is the Generalife by la Alhambra. So gorgeous. Imagine the ancient parties they had there.

Today at "work" I looked more at the organization of FMP, and I read a lot of their books that they've put out for public education on various subjects, on issues from sexist language (sexism in the Spanish language, which is incredibly interesting because all of their nouns are gendered), to relationship violence, to educating the youth about sex-trafficking issues trata de mujeres con fines de explotacion sexual "the treatment of women with the aims of sexual explotation" through a comic book. It blows my mind how much ground FMP covers and how well they work to be the liasons between different women's groups and the government, and other agencies, such as immigrants and whatnot.

I've also attended a few "talleres", workshops, that they put on for the women in the community, mostly the older women. Tuesdays it's social craft time, and Wednesdays theres a technology workshop, and then an hour of English, where they're happy to have me. My Michigan accent comes out real strong then though, cuz sometimes these ladies can't pronounce the words the same as me, and I realize that I'm skipping my t's and butchering my dipthongs. Woops. Next time I've decided that I'll say the words with a Brittish accent.

Tomorrow I'm going on a day-trip with the FMP to go to a sort of conference "discusiones" as they called it, on various topics and whatnot. I would love to just sit and listen and learn, because I'm still not confident in my speaking Spanish as much as I'd love to be, but no matter what I'll put my best into it, because I want to get the most out of it. Plus they're going to feed me all day :) And I really want to save money because vacations are expensive, and this weekend I'm going to Venice! I'm so excited.

Today I realized that Spanish has kind of clicked in my brain to a point where when someone speaks it to me, I automatically understand, and the level of translation is gone. It feels awesome. My speaking is a little farther behind though, because I don't have the extensive vocabulary just yet and I find that I can express myself up to a certain point, but when I don't know a word my brain stops and wants to say it in English and then poo.

And now, pictures.

In Granada, you can see the Sierra Nevada, and palm trees. Crazy beautiful.














If you turn your head to the side, you can see the beautiful altar of the chapel in Granada.
Also, la Alhambra had so many beautiful details in the windows and the tiling. The Alhambra is on top of a huge hill. That's from like 20 feet outside of our Hostel. Nice view, eh?

There's gotta be an easier way to do picutres on here. Oh well.

Time for sleep, I have to get up early for that conference tomorrow.
I'm going to try and post more often now that my internship is really starting. Yay!