Liquid Gold: The Olive Oil Story

This past weekend I decided to take a little trip to Jaén, the capital of the province Jaén, Spain where Siles is located.  Considering all the amazing places to visit in Andalucia, Jaén is not the most impressive however there was plenty to see and do.  One Day 1 I hiked up to the Castle of Santa Catalina that began as an 8th Century Moorish fortress.  Most of the outer walls have crumbled back into the earth but the main structure at the top was turned into a luxury hotel.  The views were impressive.  You had a 360° view of the entire city and beyond the city limits were hundreds of thousands of olive trees.  I managed to take a few photos with my cellphone but they don't do justice to the beauty of the landscape.

You are looking down at the World Capital of Olive Oil.  About 117,000 people live in Jaén.

From the top of the castle you could see a village that is on the other side of the mountain.  Sorry for the lack of clarity but if you look towards the right center you can see the olive groves in their perfect linear patterns.  Now imagine this green dotted textured covering every hillside as far as you can see.  It's spectacular!

More from the top as you approach the western most boundary of the fortress.  The structure on the bottom right was really impressive and seemed very old...maybe a monastery?

This cross is at the very end of the fortress wall.  It is about as tall as a 2 story building.  On the base were many messages of love and romance.  "Te quiero" was probably written about 100 times in all kinds of handwriting and ink colors. 

On my way back I met a mule in a almond tree orchard.  My favorite thing about almond trees is that they bloom in February.  It seems like Spring is coming but there is still about 6 more weeks of winter.

Mutual curiosity!

On Day 2 I took a trip to Begijar which is a tiny village about the size of Siles.  There I experienced the world of olive oil making and the importance of what is equivalent to liquid gold.  I was lucky enough to have a private tour of the facility because I booked my tour on a Sunday during the off season.  

The first lesson was to explain that about 80% of the economy of Jaén depends on the olives for oil, olives for eating, cosmetics, lubricants, and other products made with oil.  This year the olive production had a high medium yield which was significantly better than last year according to the owner of the factory.  

The second lesson was all about how olive oil is the fruit juice of an olive.  No one would use a bad orange to make a carton of OJ and the same goes for making olive oil.  These fruits are super sensitive and can spoil very quickly from oxidation (the process that turns bananas, apples, and avocados brown for example).  Though there are 200 varieties of olives growing in Jaén, the most common and important one is called Picual.  It contains the most oil and has the lowest rate of oxidation.  

The third and most impressive lesson was on the process.  The best olive oil comes from olives that were picked off the tree and not allowed to fall onto the ground.  These olives get the honorary labels of Virgin and Extra Virgin Olive Oil because they are of the highest quality.  The idea is to think of this oil as pure olive juice made only from the work of machines (never through chemical extraction).  The olives are freshly ground into a mash.  The mash is spread onto mats and stacked into layers.  The stack is pressed by a heavy weight that forces the olive oil to drain off the sides and down in to a reservoir.  Here is a wiki with some photos Wikipedia on Olive Oil Making.  Then it's filtered and bottled.  The final step is for it to be evaluated by highly trained olive oil tasters called catas.  Many factors can influence the taste including minerals from the earth in which the tree was growing, particles from the processing, oxidation, species of the plant, and time of harvesting.  My personal favorite was the olive oil made from the first olives of the season.  At this time the olives are still very green and the flavor they produce is a little bitter with a sting at the back of the throat.  Sounds terrible but actually it was the most unique flavor and the best to me.  The last harvest occurs in January and at this point the olives are fully ripened into a purplish black color.  This olive oil is very smooth on the tongue and slightly sweet.  Also very good!

The last lesson which was the most interesting was on the use of the olive parts that don't become oil.  The skin of the olives gets processed into fertilizer for the olive trees and also added to animal feed.  Olives are super healthy and loaded with anti-oxidants that fight disease including cancer.  Pretty amazing!  Next, the pits are ground and dried to become a source of fuel for heating homes.  Lastly, the watery mixture with suspended bits of oil is sent off to be processed with chemicals to extract the oil which will be used for non-edible products like lamp oil and lubricants.

The factory toured ended with a tasting of 3 gourmet olive oils.  The most important ingredient is love.  Notice the blue glass container.  This glass is used by catas when they are evaluating the oil to disguise the color of the oil because there is a misconception that darker green colored oil has a higher quality. 

Finally on Day 3 of my mini-vacation I found a really nice indoor pool and swam and swam and swam.  All in all, I really enjoyed spending my time as a tourist for a weekend.  One thing is for sure, I can never look at olive oil in the same way again.  Knowledge is so powerful!  Hopefully I will be forever changed by the Spanish language learning too.  Bueno, saludos a todos y hasta pronto!

Spain & Punctuality

Hello all.  The newest news is that I moved into my own place or 'piso' in Spanish and I'm quite happy with my decision.  Of course I miss some things about living with a family like the shared meals and endless opportunities to speak Spanish however, there's a sense of freedom that I've gained that feels great.  The place is small and cozy with a beautiful view of the olive trees and incredible sunsets.  There is one bedroom with a double bed, a bathroom with a small shower, a  mini-kitchen with a full stove range and oven, a living room with a brand new flat screen TV (too bad there's never anything good to watch here or anywhere for that matter), a cool circular glass table with matching chairs, and a large desk where I'm sitting now.  At the moment, I can't show you more than this one photo because Andreas has the camera.  Anyway, I assure you it's great and perfect for living 'sola' (alone f).

La buena vista de mi ventana.  I'm living in the top right corner of Siles which affords me this amazing view.  It is much more beautiful on a sunny day as you can probably imagine.

UPDATE:  here's the sunset photo thanks to an email from andreas

So tonight I had a nice long (30 minutes or so) conversation in Spanish (of course) about punctuality particularly among students and teachers.  To me, there is no such thing as punctuality in Spain and I don't mean it in a negative way.  Everyone seems to be so much cooler about time as I've mentioned before to the point where a shop says it will open at 5:30pm (after siesta) and in fact the shop keeper is just walking up to the door at 6:00pm.  And she does not seem to be at all in a hurry despite the small collection of customers waiting by the door.  It's just the way it goes here.  However there are people here who consider themselves to be punctual.  For example, I heard a teacher express his frustrations with his adult students who walk in late to their evening class.  A non-Spaniard offered him a solution to his problem and suggested that the door be closed and locked at 4:30pm when the class is said to start but it seemed too cruel.  The teacher realized that there might only be 4 out of the 20 students in class that evening.  Then worse when the teacher realizes his students are always going to be late the teacher begins to arrive late as well.  What a vicious cycle!  I especially enjoyed hearing from another teacher who also believes in being on time for things but she explained how it's difficult to be a hurry when she encounters her neighbors on her way to work.  They stop her, ask about the family, and share their own stories without any sense that she might be in a rush.  But to her it is just plain rude to look at your watch and explain how you are going to be late.  So she's hangs in there hoping that the conversation will end with enough time for her to walk into the building before the bell....and sometimes it doesn't but oh well.  So the bigger question was: "Can punctuality be taught in a place where it's not very important?"  For me, I was raised to be earlier than on time but Spain has taken a small toll on me.  I'm often 5-10 minutes late these days and I write it off as nothing.  ¡No pasa nada! (until I'm back in NYC)

Finally, Andreas was able to visit me in Siles which turned out to be quite fun.  We went to the school's training restaurant, took a few hikes in the olive groves and pine forests, had tapas with the locals (and my colleagues), and participated in a mini-flamenco festival in my former host family's house.  Now we are heading to Barcelona together at the end of February and afterwards I'll spend some time in Jerez and hopefully in Cádiz for the big and famous festival, El Carnaval de Cádiz.  More pictures and stories to come! 

Holidays in Germany

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone is off to a good start.  Spain gives their students and teachers 18 days of vacation which I feel so lucky to have had.  There are some very nice Christmas celebrations and New Years traditions here that I missed unfortunately, however; I happily spent the holidays in Germany with my beloved family (and second home).  Now Andreas and I are both in Spain pursuing our little dream we stirred up sometime early last year.  At the moment we are living about six hours away from each other. He´s in Jerez and I am in Siles (still).  It's far but close enough to spend some weekends together from time to time.  And the Spanish language learning continues which has been very rewarding.  Today I met a landlord who has a cute little apartment for rent here in Siles.  I felt so comfortable communicating with him and even negotiating a lower price!  All I can say is language immersion works.  So the plan is for me to move into my own space from February until the end of May.  Though I will dearly miss being with my host family I think it's time for me to put on my big girl pants and face the real world.  I'm very eager and excited about the possibilities that having my own space will bring.  More to come on that.  For now I would like to share a few photos of where I was lucky to be for New Years.  I received a generous invitation from my mother-in-law, Gundi, to be with her and Andreas in the Swiss Alps.  It's a very special place for their whole family and it was a privilege to experience the nature there and hear all the stories of their wonderful memories.  Enjoy the photos!

here's the view looking up from the street onto the little village of Ferden...our place was somewhere off to the left.

we were very fortunate to have so much sun and its warmth.  despite all the snow it wasn't terribly cold so we decided to hike around near the ski resort on this day.  after the hike, andreas and i rode a wooden sled for about 30 minutes back home.  it was epic!

photo speaks for itself...i guess.  but this was our last day in Lötschental when we made our biggest hike together which was probably about 4 hours round trip.  the snow depth off the trail was hip deep.  pretty incredible!

last views with the shining sun before it set after only showing his face for about 4 1/2 hours.  unfortunately, this picture does not really capture the magic and beauty of the place.

group selfie with bitter sweet feelings about our last day together in the Alps. 

Well, getting back to life in Spain has been a little bit confusing because I felt like I spent my holidays in another world.  One thing is for sure, I'm going to cut back on the meat eating and partying.  What I would like to do with the rest of my time here, aside from speaking as much Spanish as possible, is travel to some other places in Spain including Jerez, Cadiz, and Sevilla (flamenco land), and perhaps some other parts of Spain in the north.  For sure I'll be in Mallorca with Gundi and Andreas for Easter and maybe in Barcelona for my birthday in February.  I realize this is a once and lifetime opportunity and I am completely aware that I must take full advantage of it.  More stories to come!   ¡Saludos a todos!

P.S. There is a student here who has a BIG wish to live in NYC for a month this summer to improve her English.  If you know anyone who is able to host her (ideally a family with children), please get in touch.  She is 16, quite fluent in English, and super eager to live out her dream.  Of course it would be fair to ask for a little rent money and possibly some Spanish lessons for the kids. 

algunos pensamientos

Hola amigos....

Month 2 1/2 now and there is one thing in particular I'm truly starting to miss.  It was after a very happy dream that I realized how much I miss the beautiful quilt of human skin colors of my home country.  To be different looking here is to really stand out.  Being mixed race and having a strong interest in this topic have offered me a few opportunities to talk about racial differences with the people here.  It all starts of course with having to explain that I'm not Chinese but this is not so difficult.  Recently I was a part of a class discussion about immigration in Spain and the students expressed their dislikes about Chinese people being in Spain.  I have also spoken with a professor of education in regards to 'teaching tolerance' to teachers who work in schools that serve students of Gypsy families.  There are students labeled Gypsies in the school and they are outcasted by their peers and in some cases (not at my school it seems) by teachers.  Like anyone including myself, when we don't know about people or types of people we default to stereotypes.  Some of those I have heard here include Korean is Chinese and Chinese people eat cockroaches (that was from today).  I have also heard that there is a Chinese mafia that will kill Spanish thieves with Samurai swords.  In addition, I was told that Gypsies are Spanish people and there is no need to address the issues of discrimination against them in schools.  "These people" are choosing to move backwards in time (with arranged teen marriages and unplanned pregnancies) and nothing can be done about it.  Lastly, Spain was awarded first prize in a marathon event and the winning contestant seemed to have African roots based on his appearance. "Very Spanish!" is what I heard a Spanish guy say sarcastically while the news was reporting the event.  

This all makes me wonder where we learn to be tolerant and the opposite to be racist.  I want to think that Americans today are very privileged to live in a society where one color or manner does not single you out as American or foreigner.  Whether this acceptance is conscious or not we cannot know of another way since our foundation is built on a "melting pot".  Maybe I'm living an illusion but I feel certain that someone from any race could win a prize for America and there wouldn't be much doubt to his/her nationality.  However despite the looks of the multi-racial nation of USA something is lacking that Spain surely is not.  There is a general sense of camaraderie that is definitely not felt in the states.  Through my fresh eyes it seems people trust one another more here and share a common sense of pride in the heritage of Spain.  For this, programs like Stop and Frisk, couldn't go very far since you can't single out a "criminal" based on his racial appearance.  You don't hear slang words for races different from your own.  Also there is no need to make a law against the use of the N-word.  (Remember this) Instead, you hear words like hombre, tia, tio (man, aunt, uncle) when young people are addressing their friends.  I'm sure everything is not as fluffy as it seems.  I know it's so natural for humans to discriminate against each other; it's just doesn´t seem to happen so much here.

And now for some photos....

you will hear them coming before you see them...this sheep herder passed by the back of my house the other day.  it was the sweet clanging of bells that prompted me to hurry and find my camera.  i did just in time!

this is tolerance for all in spain.  tv for the hard of hearing!

visiting a friend, monica, in granada, spain.  we met through andreas two years ago.  this was stop #2 in our walk to find good tapas and soak up some winter sun. 

cute wild kitties at stop #3

okay it's no bansky but this street art is worth a few props.

¡oh obama!

snow capped mountains of the sierra nevada.  this is the view from monica´s house in granada.  wow!

and the stunning sun sets behind the sierra nevada mountains on my last day before returning to siles.  what a nice farewell.

language learning tools

It´s been two months now of living in this little olive town and I´m as content as ever.  But more importantly, I am certain I would do just fine if someone blind folded me and dropped me off in the middle of a Spanish speaking country.  I am sure of this because my fear to speak, knowing that it is likely to be full of mistakes, is almost entirely gone.  It comes back at times when I'm sitting in big groups because I can't really hang out in Spanish yet.  It's kind of funny because there is a big delay in my brain which is by the time I have heard what was said, translated it in my head, and tried to think of something to add and translate that into Spanish, the conversation topic has changed.  It's a bit frustrating and I often feel muted while sitting in a large group and saying close to nothing.  However, that's just how it is.  Like a curious three year old that knows what you're saying, listens, but can only mumble nonsense or change the topic by making a request, "Pásame el pan, por favor", or asking a question "¿Quieres más cerveza?".  Okay, it's not that bad and three year olds don't talk about beer but perhaps you get my point.  I hope by April I can hang especially to the point of understanding the jokes.  I miss laughing about nonsense.

Anyway, because it's the holiday season I'm in the mood to give.  In my quest to learn a new language, I have encountered some great, fun, and effective online language learning tools.  They are all free.  I'm not going to preach why learning a new language is important (in this post) but I will say that I'm sorry I didn't start sooner.

So here you go:

http://www.spanishdict.com/learn
Videos on grammar, exercises with vocabulary and chances to write and speak.  A great place to start especially if you want to understand the structure of the language.

http://www.duolingo.com/
You get a base line assessment and then you go from there.  You can choose from many different languages not just Spanish. 

and my newest favorite.....

http://www.lyricstraining.com/
Watch a youtube video of a song in another language.  Watch it again and try to type in the missing lyrics.  The song will stop if you don't manage to type the lyrics in time.

Enjoy!

I went to Germany to meet Andreas at his grandmother's 90th birthday.  He took this photo and I love it.  It makes me think; seize the moment: to take a photo, go for a paddle in an ice cold river, catch the sunset, be curious about wildlife, or learn a new language perhaps.  This has been the year of  now or never decision making for me.
No regrets! 

más y más español

So another two weeks has gone by and there is of course so much more to share about life in Spain.  One thing is I thought that I would have struggled more with the language but in fact, the hardest part has been adjusting to a different way of spending time.  Sometimes I feel so-not-Spanish in my way of thinking about work and how my work life is my life.  For my teacher friends, you would be as surprised as I am to see lights out and doors locked very soon after dismissal.  In fact, by 3:00, the school building is dark and empty because everyone has gone home to enjoy a delicious meal with their friends and family and possibly a little nap (siesta).  Here I notice that people are more than their work life even during the week and I had a difficult time adjusting to that at first.  But after a few reminders to chill out, I am embracing it more and more.  In fact on Wednesday this week, I cancelled my private tutoring classes at the last minute just to go out with some friends to harvest olives.  I felt terrible at first but the parents of my students assured me that it would not be a problem and that the experience is worth it.  This way of thinking has certainly shined a light on another way to live; one filled with a healthier work/life balance.  I would love to say that I am a changed person but I know that when I'm back in the rat race in NYC, I will save my pleasure seeking activities for the weekend only as usual. 

Don't get me wrong though; work is getting done here.  I support five bilingual English teachers (three teach English, one teaches biology, one teaches social studies) and about 180 students over two weeks time.  Each class goes for an hour and my job is to speak as much English as possible with the students.  The youngest are 12 and the oldest are 18 so depending on their level I play a bigger or smaller role in the lessons.  And of course at first most of the students were too shy to speak much English with me but over time it has gotten much better.  It also helps that I can speak more Spanish now so we meet in the middle and find a way to understand each other.  It's challenging at times but really fun!  I also really like that the students call us by our first name instead of Mr/Mrs.  Or sometimes it's just "maestra" (teacher) especially with the younger ones.  I like that too.

Well I'll finish up with a little photo gallery of what I've been up to in my free time.  ¡Qué una buena vida! 

from a visit to the Alhambra in Grenada just before entering the beautiful palace of mosaics

the Alhambra was built by the last Arabs in Spain in the 9th century....definitely worth a google search!

this tree in the Alhambra gardens was totally staring at me (in a friendly way)

estoy cogiendo aceitunas para comer....FUN!

fresh green olives.  they look delicious but they are inedible like this.  there is a long process to make these taste good including a step that involves a toxic chemical called sosa which is used to remove the natural bitter flavor.

the people here go nuts for these mushrooms (setas in español).  this saturday i went on a mushroom hike with about 60 other people and altogether we collected nearly 200 different types of mushrooms from the hillsides.  in the evening the mushrooms were identified by experts who informed us on which were poisonous and which were edible.  most were poisonous and it was so hard to tell the difference.  my host family has their favorites and we often eat wild mushrooms sauteed in oil with a sprinkle of salt.  yum!

mi anversario de un mes

Yes, it's true and I can hardly believe that I've been living in Spain for one month now.  In the last weeks since I've written I have had the opportunity to visit Valencia, a beautiful city by the Mediterranean Sea, because  I was kindly invited by one of my colleagues and his wife.  It seems that it's always summer in Valencia compared to the freezing winter temperatures of Siles.  That is one reason why it is loved so much by the people living here.  I had mixed feelings about it because I wasn't prepared for the chaotic city energy of loud honking from impatient drivers, the odor of dog urine, and the huge crowds of people....ummm not much different than NYC.  However, the paella was out this world delicious!  Also it was really nice to spend some time by the sea and walk around a giant fresh food market.  I was impressed by the market because it was packed with local people who were buying fresh seafood, vegetables, and meats directly from the merchants.  The prices were fair and the stocks were limited.  You got the sense that the people take their food seriously here and have a strong connection to the fruits of the land and labor.
 

My dad would be in heaven here with all this affordable fresh seafood!

 "We only sell what we have" explains why you must get here early and 

why you only see products that can actually grow in Spain.

The pride of Spain: cured ham in all forms like sausage or simply sliced right off the bone.

And the pride of Valencia...can you imagine what this is for?

If you guessed this, Paella, then you're right!  ¡Muy deliciosa!

Then at night in Valencia we toured around this area known as the City of Arts and Sciences and you can see why from these images.  There are reflection ponds around all the buildings which create spectacular 3-D images.  I don't like taking photos very much but I enjoyed playing with the camera here.  

The IMAX theater and planetarium (front) and the opera house (rear)

The IMAX is designed to look like an eyeball when you catch it's reflection in the surrounding pool.  Very cool!

And this weekend I took a little day trip to a nearby city called Úbeda. This is the place to go shopping for clothes and passing time with friends.  I went with some teachers from my school.  It seems impossible but it is very typical to sit for three or four hours in the afternoon together and eat five courses of food usually to share and finish with coffee.  We did it and I enjoyed every minute even when I couldn't follow the all the conversation topics which were of course in Spanish.

From the left: Elena (English teacher), Carmen (French teacher), me, Marta (cooking professor), and another Marta (guidance counselor) who is not shown because she is taking the photo.

For them, it's their first time in Siles and they are far from home too.  Well, not as far as I am but far enough that they actually rent an apartment here by the school and only go back to their homes on long breaks from school.  Seems strange but the way the system works here in Spain is that you are appointed a teaching position where one is available.  That means you may be sent far from home and you take the job because it's better than not having one.  There are of course chances to change in the beginning but then you are lucky to keep the position for life.  Oh the differences between Spain and the States.  I'll save the rest for another time.  Hope all is well with everyone!

Besos!