Mas de Sevilla

Can I just say that I have been mistaken for a Sevillana at least a dozen times now. I’m really starting to feel at home here, in that I can find my way pretty easily without a map. The only sad part is that someone will ask me a question in Spanish, and as soon as I open my mouth to answer, I am discounted as an American who knows nothing because of my accent. *sigh* I hope this isn’t how immigrants are treated in the States…(ok I know they are, but one can’t help being idealistic) I want to get rid of my accent so badly, but it seems to just be getting worse….help!

19 Septiembre 2007, Miercoles

What an ammmaaaazzziinnnnggg day! After classes, I had café con leche with Petra and another girl from our program. We have a “place” now that we go to every day after class, it’s in a hidden archway by the cathedral…the coffee is amazing and only costs one euro! (cheapest in the city I’ve found).

We bought some postcards…to add to the collection no doubt. During lunch, which was me, Marion, Maria Jose, and Juan because Senora had to go somewhere (her cousin Jose Maria, had died in a distant pueblo so she went to his funeral, Marion helped me with the subjunctive. Oh by the way…the way you pronounce Marion is ma-ree-AHN. My parents called after lunch, but somehow the phone was in Senora’s room which she locked before leaving the house. (who locks their bedroom?) Everyone was searching for “the hidden key,” and finally, after about 15 minutes it was found…somewhere…

After lunch, Natalia and I explored Plaza de Armas, another part of the city. We walked by the river Guadalquivir, and sat down at a café to go over grammar. It was glorious…

You might be asking…What do Sevillanos eat?

Sevillanos are on a Meditteranean diet….everything is doused with olive oil. They eat lots of seafood and lots of fruit. They eat a little bread, but not too much. Rice is eaten occasionally, but the main grain is…probably bread even though we don’t eat it much. We eat a lot of garbanzo beans. We eat chicken every so often, but ham and pork are the norm here. It’s everywhere! Sevillanos eat a little piece of bread with olive oil for breakfast, then eat a large lunch around 2:30…then for dinner, usually a sandwich around 9:30. Tapas are obviously HUGE here, one of the main things the city (region) is known for. But tapas here are done differently than tapas in America. Here, people go out for a drink and get a tapa, kind of like a snack, to go with their drink. If tapas are eaten for dinner, people can go to multiple tapa bars that each have something they are famous for. Otherwise, they get “raciones,” bigger sized tapas. Ice cream is also really popular during the summer, but usually, fruit is eaten as dessert after meals. Obviously each house/person is different. Family lunch is common around here, I love the fact that my Senora makes lunch for her 3 grown children every day. It’s so hard to believe each day, sitting in the little white kitchen, and sharing a meal with four people who you don’t know well, but to each other, are family. To be in on their little jokes or just to observe the family dynamics, to me, is very interesting. Sometimes I think about people like, hmmm, I wonder what my parents, brother, or even a random friend might be doing this very moment. And then, my thoughts do this cool map of the world bit where I imagine where I am geographically in relation to them….ok you have to trust me on this one, its pretty cool…

After leaving Plaza de Armas, which was just a pathetic excuse for a shopping mall, playing old American music (for example, that song from Ghost…ooh my love, my darling…and time can mean so much…which Natalia and I definitely sang along to). We walked along the little streets, and I came across more Jewish stuff! I saw these little decorated plates with menorahs and Stars of David in the window of a small hardware store, so of course I went in and bought one. I doubt the Sevillanos even know the significance of the symbol, and I wonder how long my little Jewish plate sat in the store before a nice JAP came and picked it up…

Then, seeking more adventure, Natalia and I began to search for “el mejor helado de Sevilla,” (the best ice cream) supposedly by the Plaza de Incarnation called Raya. I’d never been to that Plaza, but a little farther, they are building these massive moderney tubes. They are huuuuuugeeee, and look completely out of place in the skyline of such a historic place. Finally, after asking many locals, we found Raya…and it had about 4503985 flavors…the girl behind the counter, with a sour look on her face, informed us we could only try ONE flavor each…I got stracciatella (of course) and Natalia got something weird, I don’t remember. We crossed the street and sat down at a bench in the park. Vale, I’m going to try to describe this scene as best as I can, because I want you, gentle reader, to be able to close your eyes and imagine….a small plaza, complete with small trees lining its four corners, a playground with adorable little Spanish children running around like crazy and screaming, little benches lined with tourists and their maps, old Senoras, widows, fanning themselves with their abanicos, (fans) and young Spanish teenagers with their piercings and weird haircuts, all sitting and enjoying a nice breeze and the scenery of little streets winding all around them. And there was us…two Americans chowing down on helado in cucuruchos (remember? Ice cream cones…) “This is life…” I remember cheesily saying that to a Natasha who was more concerned with the ice cream that was melting all over her bag, than observing two widows chilling on a bench with their puppy, sisters I’m sure, with their identical wrinkled faces scowling at the rebellious teenagers across the way from them.

We wandered some more and ended up, unknowlingly, on our favorite Alfalfa street and took a picture of it by day. There are so many little shops for vestidos de novia (wedding dresses) in this part of the city, but we decided to make our way into a shop of real flamenco dresses, and when I say real, I mean they were heavy and expensive, not the tourist cheap rip-off version. We decided to try on one of the dresses, and Natalia chose a gorgeous green and pink dress with huge ruffles at the bottom while I opted for a red and white polka dot dress. Mine didn’t fit me (I still can’t figure out what size I am on this continent) but Natalia’s fit her perfectly and was gorgeous, and I’m sure that if the dress hadn’t cost 600 euros (about $900 dollars) she would have bought it.

Leaving behind an annoyed shopkeeper, we decided to stop at a café called Cien Montaditos (100 little sandwiches) which is popular here. You get a menu of 100 different choices of tapa style sandwiches, all costing 1.80 euro. We chose a gamba (shrimp) con Philadelphia montadito, which turned out to be cream cheese…who knew. It really was a fabulous day of exploration and adventure, and by the time I got home to my customary dinner of an oh so Spanish style (not really) sandwich, I was ready to go to bed.

20 Septiembre, Jueves

Today we had pruebas (quizzes) in each of our classes to mark the end of orientation. Afterwards, Petra and I had our customary café con leche at Rayuela, and I decided to do the unbelievable… I walked home. After an hour of speed walking, I arrived at the casa covered in sweat from the hot Iberian sun. Senora made these amazing atun en rellenos, tuna salad inside roasted red peppers, for lunch. After lunch, some of the girls came to Nervion to check out the shops. We walked around, and of course, had the amazing and cheap helado that I have been bragging about since I found it…

When the majority of the girls left, Natalia and I decided to roam around and settled on a café to have a fanta/coca cola lite. There were the cutest Spanish babies around, and lot of Spanish grandpas/grandmas to comment on the cuteness of their babies. We tried to participate in enjoying the cuteness…fun fact….in Spanish, “mono” means monkey, but “mono” also means cute…so you say, “Que mono!” which can mean “what monkey?” or “how cute!”

That night, we Natalia, Petra, and I witnessed the craziest thing. We were walking down Calle Betis, which is the street right by the river Guadalquivir which is filled with little cafes and bars, and some of the best tapas places in the world, enjoying the beautiful view of the Puente Triana, all lit up at night. As we began to cross, I noticed something strange. From a tower right by the bridge, a waiter at a restaurant was throwing bread rolls into the river. Now mind you, this restaurant was pretty high from the river. At first I discounted it as a troublemaker, but then I looked down at the river. Schools of fish began to appear in swarms from underneath the black murkiness of the river. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of crazy fish fighting for these bread rolls and carrying them on their backs to whatever secret places fish have. It looked like something from a horror movie because of the blackness of the water and the ridiculous quantity of fish emerging. After a few minutes of amazed open mouthed wonder, I noticed ducks beginning to get in on the action. Now, when the ducks arrived, the fish figured they were screwed, so they either gave up, or took the bread away even faster. Weird.

Look, to the right, there is a blog above the yellow building....that's the bread...

Anyway, we went to a sitio (place) called Rubec, where Petra somehow knew the owner, a random art gallery owner from Ohio, and had a glass of champagne. The place was super trendy and hip, but the people were not that friendly, and we wanted to leave but it started to pour like crazy. We ended up going to another place, and then another, on Calle Betis, and met some nice Americans from Chicago…who worked in the financial district downtown…small world…