Reflecting now, this past weekend was actually so perfectly fitting for marking the halfway point of our time here. It was a whole mix of a lot of random activities that one probably wouldn’t get the chance or have the time to do as a traveler passing through. It was spontaneous, uplifting, smile-provoking, and definitely gave me better sense of the spirit of the people who live in this city and the people Granada attracts from all over both Europe and the world.
Thursday – Karaoke Night @ Hannigan’s
Thursday night the introvert that I am actually “tenía las ganas” to hit the town (gonna take the opportunity to teach you a quick & useful Spanish phrase here – “tener las ganas” means to feel like doing something!). So anyways, I met up with a couple of friends at a very modern, stylish bar with loads of beachy decor that honestly felt very Californian to me, and we ordered some delicious mojitos off their menu, which had tons of different varieties and fruit flavors to choose from. They were playing American music, which honestly from my experience is pretty typical of cafés/bars/discotecas here, and they just kept delivering SO many good jams!!! Honestly, it me wish that it was a discoteca instead of a bar because the music just made me wanna dance! It was a good time and mojitos always make me think of my Dad, who is very fond of them and even grows his own mojito mint in our garden at home during the summers.
Next stop was the highlight of the night – there are multiple Irish pubs in Granada, and I have also noticed them in most other Spanish cities I have been in thus far. Thursdays are Karaoke Night at a particular one near the city center called Hannigan’s, and the atmosphere was upbeat, multicultural, nonjudgmental, and insanely fun. There is a large bar with plenty of space, plus a large scattering of tables and booths all around a central raised area where the karaoke participants take the stage. The system was hilariously simple. On a table in this area is a single sheet of notebook paper that reads “writ your song here” (yes, writ with no e, but as a foreigner learning and messing up Spanish here every single day, I don’t judge). Then, there is a staff member that simply goes down the list, finds the song requests by typing in the title and “karaoke” on youtube, and everything shows up on 2 TVs in the corner opposite the area just above the door that enters the bar. I loved this positioning because anyone who walks in is immediately face-to-face with a loud, dancing, laughing group of people just doing there thing to a song that they love. We heard songs in Japanese, Spanish, English, and normally there are few things in the world that scare me more than singing in front of others, but the place was such a loud mix of happy people both talking and jamming along that I am fully certain that absolutely no one cared how anyone’s voice sounded. And this is good, because most people were pretty much just shouting the lyrics and trying to pass the mic off to their friends rather than having it themselves. My friends and I decided to sing “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls, and we knew we made a good choice when it felt like nearly everyone in the bar joined in after the first few lines. This included a woman in her mid-30s who immediately jetted out from around the corner, dancing, pointing at us, and singing along in approval. I am truly a person who when I go out I often find myself happy to be with people I love and appreciate, but also thinking of ways I’d rather be spending my time, and this night I can say that I had genuine fun. Thursday night karaoke at Hannifin’s is a definite recommendation if you find yourself in Granada and unsure of where the party’s at.
Friday – El día internacional de la mujer
Friday, March 8 was International Women’s Day. Strangely enough, I did not discover that this date is based upon an event that occurred in the U.S. until someone mentioned it to me today. It marks the date that the owners of a garment factory in New York city closed the factory and burned it to the ground, killing many of the female workers inside that were in the process of fighting for their rights to better wages and treatment. And on that rough and dark note, I will explain why attending the manifestation (protest/march) here felt so refreshing and empowering. We Americans here a lot both here and at home about the problem of machismo in Spanish society and culture. Sometimes I don’t love the emphasis because in reality, every country has problems that stem from toxic masculinity, but I do feel that there is a particular severeness to the problem and a stagnancy to a mindset of gender equality here in Spain. In the U.S., I wouldn’t say we really have a specific color to represent gender equality or reproductive justice, and if we did I guess I would say it is pink (just based off the famous pussy hats of the women’s march)?? Here, the color is purple and there is no doubt about it. I do not know this for certain, but I assume this is because purple, even for us in the U.S., is the color for domestic violence, and that is far and away the most prominent gender-based inequity issue here in Spain. Frequently, multiple times per month, there are news stories of boyfriends and husbands killing or severely injuring their female partners. Well, this day the streets were flooded with purple for these issues and all issues affecting women-identified individuals. (The manifestación for this day takes place every year beginning at the start of Gran Vía de Colón (the main avenue in the city) and marching all the way to the river.) There were young girls in funky outfits and face paint and purple lipstick, to grandmas dressed to the nines in purple scarves and even cute old men showing support in purple sweater vests. This event was by no means a celebration – and many signs made that clear, reading “this is not a vacation/celebration, this is a fight” – but there certainly was that warm sense of collective power and solidarity. A sense that acknowledged just how bad the world has gotten in so many ways, but also that reminded everyone that there is still so much more good in the world than bad and so many people with caring, feisty, determined spirits. It was an awesome, can’t-stop-smiling kind of night.
Saturday – a relaxing moment in Nerja
Saturday my gal pals and I took well-known day trip from Granada to a little coastal pueblo near Málaga called Nerja. It didn’t take more than 5 minutes in a café to recognize that this is a very common vacation and retirement destination for Brits and other Northern Europeans, who filed in slowly but surely with their cute hats, worn out sandals, and newspapers tucked under their armpits, ready to enjoy a slow, sunny morning with a hot tea and a classic Spanish tostada. We decided to take an early bus and therefore arrived in Nerja just after 9:00 a.m., which I would highly recommend. The ambiance of the place was completely different in the first 2 hours we were there than it was midday or really any point after the fact. We checked out the incredible views of the sea from the Balcón de Europa and found a first pretty little beach with some cool rock formations. It has been unusually warm in Andalusia for the past one to two weeks, but being here on the coast it suddenly felt TRULY summer-y, and we were all so pumped we decided to go right for it and take a dip, before 10:00 in the morning to the absolute delight (and I think shock) of a whole gaggle of old ladies watching us from the balcony above and cheering us on. The water was refreshing for sure, but still warmer than lake Superior and ridiculously beautiful – from the color of the water to the rock formations, and all the way down to the sand. We spent the day taking a dip, warming up with catnaps on the beach, and then walking down the shore to explore a new area and repeating. It was so drastically different to the fast-paced traveling we’ve been used to, and although it isn’t usually my preferred idea of travel or vacationing, it felt so refreshing.
Sunday – Fútbol Club de Granada
Sunday was mainly just a chill day of sleeping in, getting a workout in, checking in with family and friends and getting some school work done. During the evening, we finally made it to a game of the local team, Fútbol Club de Granada, whose stadium happens to be like a 15 minute walk from where I live here. I’m not a giant soccer fan, but I do love sports in general, both partaking in and watching, and it was very cool to observe the cultural differences between this and the Wisconsin sports cultures I have grown up with. Something I find extra fascinating is that noisemakers like airhorns are allowed (and enthusiastically used :)) in the stadium, and alcohol is not allowed in, which are both opposite of rules in the U.S..
& that concluded the weekend! Little by little, or “poco a poco”, as they say in Spanish, I am getting to know this amazing city better.