Sorry!!
Sorry it´s taken so long to update. I have been busy with things such as the test, the quiz and the presentation I gave last week and FINALLY e-mailing my research methods paper. YAY. Things are good here. I´m exactly half way through my trip. Sometimes I can´t believe it´s been so long, and sometimes it seems like I´ve been here for months (mostly the latter when I am missing people).
This weekend we went to Granada and Ronda. I saw La Alhambra which was incredible. THe only disappointment was the Patio de Leones. In this patio is a fountain with 12 lions. SInce Muslims can´t represent animals in their art the thought is that the fountain was a gift from a jewish prince. THe 12 lions represent the 12 tribes. ANyway, the lions surround a fountaina nd once upon a time they were each little fountains as well. The people who run La Alhambra as a tourist attraction ahve since stopped the water from pouring from the lions´mouths because it was running down their stone bodies and causing erosion. I knew all of this, but I didn´t know how sad it would make me. The lions WANT to be fountains still. ANd part of the Muslim attitude about art was that people couldn´t create things that last eternally. It seems like the lions should have been left to erode themselves. It´s false to attempt to conserve them. Everything else was beautiful though.
Have to go run errands now... somehow I keep running out of time on my phone cards. Hmmm wonder how THAT happens. Let me know what´s going on in the States! (or Russia, or Israel). Byeee!
This weekend we went to Granada and Ronda. I saw La Alhambra which was incredible. THe only disappointment was the Patio de Leones. In this patio is a fountain with 12 lions. SInce Muslims can´t represent animals in their art the thought is that the fountain was a gift from a jewish prince. THe 12 lions represent the 12 tribes. ANyway, the lions surround a fountaina nd once upon a time they were each little fountains as well. The people who run La Alhambra as a tourist attraction ahve since stopped the water from pouring from the lions´mouths because it was running down their stone bodies and causing erosion. I knew all of this, but I didn´t know how sad it would make me. The lions WANT to be fountains still. ANd part of the Muslim attitude about art was that people couldn´t create things that last eternally. It seems like the lions should have been left to erode themselves. It´s false to attempt to conserve them. Everything else was beautiful though.
Have to go run errands now... somehow I keep running out of time on my phone cards. Hmmm wonder how THAT happens. Let me know what´s going on in the States! (or Russia, or Israel). Byeee!