A Delicious Weekend

This past weekend was filled with all sorts of interesting experiences. I got to attend Carmen, a ballet converted into a flamenco performance, and I experienced el día de San Frutos, a holiday here in Segovia.

On Saturday, I attended Carmen at a local theater here in Segovia. The basic premise of the show is that there is an alluring woman named Carmen who attracts two (well multiple, but two main) men. When she chooses one of the men, the other kills her in frustration and fury. Originally it was composed as a French ballet but was set in Sevilla, Spain. What this production did (as do other Spanish versions of the show) was made the show more Spanish by replacing the ballet with Flamenco and making much of the music Spanish (while retaining the most famous movements from the ballet). The dancers were amazingly talented and the flamenco was moving. One of the best scenes was a fight between two of the suitors of Carmen. The force behind the flamenco gave the scene the same intensity of a real fight with lives at stake. Something about the rhythm hooked me; I really can't imagine the show as a classical ballet.

The Plaza at midnight

This Monday was the celebration of San Frutos (Saint Fructus) in Segovia. The day seems to center on a legend about the statue of San Frutos that stands above the entrance of La Catedral. It is said that every year, San Frutos turns a page of the book he is holding and that when he finishes the book, the world will end. Sunday night, much of Segovia turned out to the Plaza Mayor to watch the turning of the page and to have a share of sopa de ajo (garlic soup). Two other girls from the program and I went and stood in line for about an hour to get soup. Unfortunately, that meant we didn't get to see the page turn, though I was able to see it later on the local news. It turns out there is another, mechanical book that is brought out in front of la Catedral and a page is turned at the stroke of midnight.

Sopa de ajo

The soup was quite delicious and certainly more potent than anything else I've eaten here. It was basically a garlic broth with chorizo (sausage), bread, and eggs (made like egg drop soup). It was filling and warming, the perfect thing for a chilly night in the Plaza. There was a bit of a fiasco when we realized that we needed to purchase tickets to get the soup, but thanks to the nice old ladies standing in line behind us, we got it figured out. We also learned later that we were allowed to keep the clay bowls in which the soup was served as souvenirs.

hueso de santo

postre de San Frutos

On Monday, I purchased the dessert unique to San Frutos. It was a pastry shell filled with egg cream and topped with a sugar syrup and almonds, and to top it off, it was decorated with a little bird (because San Frutos lived as a hermit in the mountains and it is said he had an affinity with birds). I also tried a dessert called hueso de santo (saint's bone) which was a marzipan (almond paste) sweet in the shape of a bone (kind of).

Something interesting that I have observed in our family that our site director here has confirmed is that children in Segovia are rather mimados (spoiled). My host mom does absolutely everything for me and all my host siblings (and a lot for my host dad as well). She cooks all the meals and I'm not allowed to help cook. She also serves all the food out when we sit down for a meal. I'm pretty used to doing my own laundry; I've been doing it at least since middle school, if not before (correct me if I'm wrong, Mom) so it's hard for me to get used to having my host mom do all my laundry for me (which includes her ironing all my clothing as well). My oldest host brother, who is 30 and lives in Madrid, still brings laundry home for my host mom to do. Our site director has told us not to resist it, because we probably won't get the chance to be so mimados ever again, and that our host moms like to mimar (spoil). It's a very different thing to see, especially since I feel like I've been taught from a pretty young age how to take care of myself and be independent. But I will try to enjoy it while I am here (it probably won't be too hard).