Library Cards and Sweet Potato Hunting

My Library Card

I had a good and busy week of work. I gave more private classes and had exhausting days at school. My last class of the week is after school to a group of teachers. We played the "Who am I?" game where you have the name of a celebrity on your forehead and you have to ask yes or no questions about the person to figure out who you are. It was really fun and funny - especially when I put Lady Gaga on the forehead of an old man, when the person who had Michael Jackson asked if he was black, and when the person who was Mickey Mouse asked if Walt Disney was his "father." It was a great success and very refreshing to not have to discipline anyone.

When I got back to Sevilla on Thursday, I went to the Sevilla Public Library to check out the books (pun intended). It has a decent little English section, mostly of older books. I took out The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I will read after I finish my book in Spanish (which is incredibly fun to read). It has been getting easier and easier to read in Spanish and I'm understanding more and more. I got a library card which, for some reason, makes me feel like a real resident of this city.

On Monday, I booked a trip to Belgium with Julia for the days before I meet up with Brenna and Rosa. I have been dying to go to Bruges ever since I saw pictures of it and the movie, In Bruges. I am very excited, despite the fact that it will be much colder than here. Speaking of cold, Sevilla has gotten very chilly. I'm not okay with that, Andalucía. I do realize that my friends in the Northeast are suffering a lot more, but I'm trying to avoid that kind of weather by being here. Thankfully, I have a mother who is willing to send me my winter coat. I'm not sure I'll be fashionable here with a jacket fit for Boston, but at least I'll be warm.

We have an issue here in Sevilla. Harry Potter 7 is currently impossible to find in English! There is one theatre that will possibly offer it in the coming weeks, but I might have to wait until I'm in Madrid to see the epic film. I am jealous of all my friends from home whose Facebook statuses brag about how they saw it at midnight and just looooved it. I will find a way to see this movie, one way or another.

I am way too excited for the Thanksgiving dinners that I have coming up. One is on Saturday at Julie and Julia's casa and one is on the actual Thanksgiving Day. It is basically all we Americans have been talking about for a while now. I am proud to say that I will be bringing sweet potatoes - I have an adventure planned later today to go find these rarities in Spain. Hopefully they will have marshmallows too. Nothing can compare to the Thanksgiving dinner I've been accustomed to for the last 22 years of my life, but I'm sure I will not leave these dinners hungry. It will be great to get everyone together too. I really miss my family, but I have a feeling I won't be too sad in the company of my friends here. Now I'm off to start this food hunt and cooking. Of course, there will be more dancing this weekend, but we'll see if I can make it to the clubs after our Thanksgiving meal.

Carrefour and Córdoba

Carrefour's Endless Aisles

On Friday, I went on an adventure to Carrefour. This store is basically the Super Wal-Mart of Spain. Ever since coming here, I've craved a place like Target where I could get everything I wanted in one place. I found it a short bus ride away from the center at Carrefour. This was probably the largest single-room store I've ever seen in my life. I got a workout walking up and down every aisle. And it literally had everything - including the most extensive yogurt aisle I've ever laid eyes on. I ended up buying some necessities, including slippers, European-looking sneakers, folders for my clases particulares, and a potato peeler for Thanksgiving! Then I headed back to the city to meet up with Rebecca for some Jordanian kebabs. Mmm. I shopped around some more in the shopping area and bought another pair of funky sneakers from H&M. I hope I can pull them off in any way like the Spanish girls do. After an episode of 30 Rock at Rebecca's apartment, I headed home early to get ready for the big next day.

Rebecca and Me on the Train

I woke up at 7:30 am on Saturday (ugh) and headed to Santa Justa train station to catch the train to Córdoba. After I bought my ticket and had lounged around for a bit, I started to get worried because no one else was at the train station yet. I headed to the boarding dock, praying that someone would show up before the train pulled away but accepting the fact that it might be a solo trip after all. The line to buy tickets was long when I went to get on the train, and I knew Paige was waiting in it. Rebecca walked onto the train 1 minute before it was supposed to leave. She was ticketless but had used some smooth talking to get past the ticket lady. Two minutes later, Paige and Reegis sprinted onto the train, tickets in hand. I was so relieved and happy to see them all. Luckily, the train pulled out 3 minutes late. We had a lovely ride there - 1 hour 20 minutes. Train travel is so much more fun than bus travel, especially since we had 4 seats facing each other. When we arrived in Córdoba, we got a map and some advice from the tourist office and took a cab to the Mezquita. It was absolutely gorgeous and enormous from the outside. We decided to get some breakfast at a little patio restaurant and then got tickets to see the ex-mosque. It was even more overwhelming on the inside. But it was gorgeous and had so many nooks and crannies. The whole thing was covered in red and white striped arches. It reminded me of Candy Land. There was so much to see inside. At one point, I thought we had seen it all, and Rebecca pointed at this giant section in the middle that I hadn't even noticed. It was the most impressive part of the entire building - it had an elaborately decorated roof and an enormous organ. I sat in the pew for a little while and just people watched and stared at the walls. Eventually, after waiting in different sections of the mosque, we found each other and headed into the courtyard. The courtyard was filled with orange trees, which were much more orange than the ones in Sevilla now.

Inside the Mezquita

Outside the Mezquita

Next, we headed across a bridge over the river to a tower on the other side. There was a museum in the tower that we didn't want to pay to enter, but it was worth the walk for the view of the city from the other side. Then we headed to the Alcázar de Los Reyes Cristianos, which is similar to the equivalent in Sevilla. It is a giant castle-like building with extensive gardens and pools. After climbing a tower and wall that reminded me of Dubrovnik, Croatia, we went to the gardens. It was absolutely stunning with the water, endless orange trees, and very strangely manicured bushes (a la Dr. Seuss). We wandered around there for a while, mostly taking pictures that could potentially be used as "profs" (profile pictures on Facebook). I could have stayed there forever, but hunger set in and we went in search of the famous tortilla, or, as I like to ask, "¿Dónde está la tortilla bueeeena?" The guy in the tourist office knew exactly what we were referring to, and, as it turned out, so did the entire city. We turned the corner to see countless people eating loads of tortilla española on disposable plates in front of the mosque. We waited in a line and ordered our tortilla at a bar. It really was delicious - very soft and eggy. After getting up from the stone wall we were sitting on, my butt was totally asleep. Rebecca and I went to the BK Lounge for a bathroom break and later found Paige and Reegis enjoying coffee and gelato at a cafe. Of course, we joined them.

View of the Mequita

In the Gardens

Strange Bushes

After our endless consumption break, we went in search of the sinagoga in the Jewish part of the city. It turned out to be a very small building with some pretty wall structures, but it is one of the 3 remaining synagogues in Spain. We found a sculpture of a Jewish man that reminded me of John Harvard so I took a picture of myself rubbing his toes. We walked around the Judería a bit more and came upon a group of men playing flamenco music in a bar. We sat in there with drinks for a few hours and enjoyed the ambiance. It was a little strange when the musicians asked us for money, but other than that, they were very friendly and asked us where we were from. We also had a funny interaction with a group of people from Paris. One guy kept looking at us and was clearly trying to strike up a conversation but it took him about ten tries until he finally asked us where we were from.

Flamenco-Playing Men

We eventually left the bar to the sound of many "guapas" from the old men and headed in search of some tapas. A seemingly nice man convinced us to eat in his restaurant, but he turned out to be a rude, inattentive waiter, even though we were the only people in the whole place. The food was also mediocre and tiny-portioned but it did the job and we rushed off to the train station. This time, we boarded without sprinting and had another easy ride back. We were exhausted though. Despite all the talk of a big night out in Sevilla, when I got home and showered, I decided that was not going to happen. I opted for relaxation and sleep after a long and wonderful day in Córdoba. Now I just have to decide the next city to hit up...

Mezquita at Night

Clases Particulares

Rowing on Plaza de España

After a crazy weekend, I had an equally busy and exhausting week. On Sunday evening, Inma and I strolled down to the Plaza de España and rowed in the moat around the plaza. The moat has not been filled with water for several years so I am lucky to be here now. It reminded me of being in Venice (and made me want to go back to Italy). Rowing on the moat had the potential to be incredibly romantic, so I will need to procure some chico who is willing to take me there. The actual rowing was pretty difficult - while my legs are much stronger, my arm muscles have completely deteriorated while being here. It was definitely nice to get out of the apartment after a lazy Sunday and have an adventure.

Inma

Struggling

My school had a book fair this week which served as a form of entertainment during my breaks. I bought my first Spanish book for pleasure - El niño con el pijama de rayas (The Boy In The Striped Pajamas). After finishing in two days and really enjoying Vonnegut's A Man Without A Country, I started reading this book in Spanish. It is much slower going but a lot of fun to do. I feel like every page is an accomplishment, and I understand most of it, which is exciting. I'm finding it interesting and surprising how much I love reading here. I think it is because I really miss being in school and learning. When I am giving these classes, I am jealous of the students. It makes me more excited to go to grad school after this is all over.

This week, I started my first clases particulares! I am giving classes to a 25-year-old girl who lives right near me (very convenient) for 3 hours per week and an 11-year-old boy for 1 hour per week. It certainly takes a fair amount of planning to fill that time, but hopefully that will get easier as I figure out how long activities take. And I have to be totally attentive the entire time, which is more difficult than it sounds. It is incredible how much effort the students put in during the lesson. It's not easy to speak a foreign language for an hour or more straight. But I'm very happy to be doing these classes because they get me out of the apartment on evenings when it is very easy to be lazy after work. So two days of my week will be very difficult and exhausting, but it will all be worth it in the end!

This weekend, I am planning to go to Córdoba from Saturday to Sunday with an unknown amount of friends. Whoever comes, I'm sure it will be great and I'm very excited to see the mosque. I've heard the city is gorgeous, so I'm pumped to see it for myself. Until then, I will relax and see friends. Also, I booked my flights to Madrid and Barcelona for when Brenna and Rosa come visit in December! Woohoo! I am so excited for those trips with them!

From Tourism To Picnics To Dancing

Cutest Thing I've Ever Seen - Little Boy Driving His Dad's Horse

I apologize for not posting for so long. During the week, I feel like I have nothing interesting to write and then on the weekends, I am so busy running around that I have no time. My school week was fine. It is tough waking up so early in the mornings, so I don't do much in the evenings after school. But this week, I have my first clases particulares (private classes) scheduled, so I will be forced to get out of the house in the evenings.

View from La Giralda

On Friday, I headed into town in the afternoon with the intention of wandering around and meeting up with friends later. Of course, because this seems to be the smallest city ever, I ran into other friends by the Cathedral and joined up with them. One girl was visiting from Cádiz so we decided to do a lot of touristy things. I finally went inside the Cathedral! It was really pretty and overwhelming. I feel like I could go see it 100 times and still miss tons of details. We also climbed La Giralda, the giant tower. There are ramps all the way up it, which I think are easier than stairs, but it was certainly a workout. The view from the top was incredible. Sevilla is beautiful both from the streets and from above. Well done, city planners. After the Cathedral, we went and had amazing tapas at a very local tapas bar. There were no tables, so we just stood at the bar and feasted. We asked for recommendations, and they brought us about 5 different delicious tapas. We shared everything, and I only paid 2.50 euros for an amazing assortment of tapas. I would certainly go back there - I hope I could find it again. Then we wandered around the old Jewish quarter - my home. I wish I lived there! It is amazingly quaint and has really cool shops where I need to go buy some room decorations. Then we hung out in a little park for a while before going home to get ready for the night. I was terribly exhausted after all that exploration, but it was a Friday night, so I had to go out.

Santa Cruz

I went to meet up with people at a botellón near Torre de Oro, but I could not find anyone there. I felt pretty out of place surrounded by Spanish teenagers getting drunk, so what did I do? Went to the McDonald's to pee, of course. Then Arely and Paige showed up so I finally had friends. We went on a hunt to find the rest of the group that had changed locations to across the river. We eventually met up and hung out right by the river for a while. What a beautiful view! I'm so glad Sevilla has some water in it - it's certainly no ocean view, but it adds a lot to the city. Later on, we went to a salsa club and danced the night away. I am not skilled in the art of salsa dancing but I made some valiant attempts with my friends and one Spanish man. I saw this one kid from Ecuador dancing and it was the most incredible thing to watch. He moved so well and with so little effort. I basically just stared at him and tried to figure out how he did it. I was thoroughly impressed. I headed home around 4:30 and got a little bit of sleep.

At the Botellón by the River

On Saturday, I went to a picnic to celebrate Jonny's birthday. We feasted on bread and chorizo and I met a ton of people from England and all over Europe. I had a wonderful time enjoying the perfect weather. I even kicked a soccer ball around for a bit, which was great. Unfortunately, I'm no Christiano Ronaldo. After sitting there for a few hours, Rebecca and I went on a long trek to our intercambio. We arrived very late and did not stay very long, but I spoke a lot of Spanish during my time there. I had to get home and rest a little before another big night out. Later, I met up with my picnic friends at their apartment where we hung out for a while. I lost them on our walk to the club but found my American friends there. We went to a club called Bandalai that might be my new favorite place. They played a really good mix of American and Spanish music, all of which was great for dancing! So I danced forever until I was soooo exhausted at 5 am. I bid my friends goodbye and headed home to crash.

Enjoying the Picnic in Parque Los Principes

This afternoon, I woke up and went on a cleaning spree. Other than that, I am just organizing my life and relaxing for once. I cannot believe I went out until 5 am two nights in a row. For most people, that is simple, but for this girl, it's a feat. Spain truly is infecting me...

A Spanish Halloween

On Sunday, aka Halloween, Rebecca came over in the evening to get dressed for the big night. She had bought a bright red devil wig that day at the only store open on Sundays and was very excited for the big night. I was determined to not spend any money on my costume, and I came out victorious. I decided to steal an idea from "The Office" and be "Three-hole punch Lizzie." That consisted of me wearing a striped dress (sort of like lined paper) and putting three circular pieces of paper down my side. Not too elaborate, but at least it was a costume.

We headed to a potluck dinner at my friends' apartment in Triana. I made garlic bread, but it did not seem to keep away the vampires that night. David made a delicious paella so we feasted and drank sangría. A ton of people showed up there, including many people I hadn't met before. Costumes ranged from a zombie band to the girl in A Nightmare Before Christmas to lots of ghoulish face paint. It was quite a party! We eventually mobilized and walked to Torre de Oro for a botellón. This is where people bring their own bottles and drink outside with whoever else is there, which is usually a massive amount of people. I decided that night that I am not a fan of this type of gathering. It was freezing cold and there was no bathroom in sight. I prefer to hang out in the comfort of one's home before going out, but apparently Spain disagrees with me. Xanthe and Anna met up with me there and it was really great to see them. We ended up finding my friend from the intercambio and his group of British, Irish, and French friends, and I barely saw the original group for the rest of the night. At around 1:30 am, several cop cars pulled up to the botellón and everyone scattered off to bars. Don't worry - this is how it always ends and no one gets arrested. So we headed to Calle Betis with our new amigos and spent the night at a bar called Alambique. I had a really great time talking with all these people and somehow the time flew by. I wanted to go dancing, but that never materialized. Nevertheless, it was a great night. After that bar closed, we hung out outside for a while and went to Xanthe's apartment to hang out even more. When I was outside, I literally felt like I was in the movie Zombieland or Dawn of the Dead. There were countless people with fake blood dripping down their faces and ripped shirts. I was certainly not walking home alone that night. I think it's funny that all these Spaniards have adopted our tradition of dressing up, but there was no one out there with the ironic costumes that I prefer - they were out to scare. I eventually took a cab home and walked into my apartment at 6:06 am. That, folks, is a new record. I am officially becoming a Spaniard. But it made me worry because I would have to complete two sleep cycles in 24 hours before I woke up at 6:30 the next morning. Luckily, a night out that late can make you tired enough to do that.

I slept until 2:15 on Monday. Even though I never work on Mondays, it was a national holiday so it made it more acceptable for me to sleep that late. I did some laundry and went to meet up with Rebecca. We had delicious chicken tapas near her new apartment in the center. And I saw her new place and briefly met her new roommates. I'm very excited for her that she gets to live so close to all the action. She is in a ridiculously cool area now. After that, I went to the intercambio again. I did not speak as much Spanish this time - teaching dirty English words seemed to be the dominant topic for the day. But it felt good helping the Spaniards and everyone there is super nice. Plus, one guy told me that my pronunciation is improving. I'll take it.

Today, I had work and had some fun interactions with the students. Some of them taught me a few flamenco steps and told me there would be an exam next week. They are also fixated on having me wear my hair in a very high ponytail. Not sure why since I don't think it looks that great. But, all in all, while it is terribly exhausting, they say some pretty funny things that help me get through the days. I came home, took a short nap, wrote some emails, and it's almost time for bed again. I wish every day could be Halloween...

Intercambioooo

On Friday, I walked around my neighborhood, Nervión, for several hours. First, I went to a foto store to try to get my camera fixed, but they just told me about another place I would have to go for repairs. Instead of doing that, I opted to go shopping and put up flyers for private English classes. I spent quite a while exploring the big department store, El Corte Inglés. It has an amazing grocery store so I walked around there for a while. Then I headed home and stopped in Lefties, a cheap clothing store Julie had told me about. I ended up trying on many pairs of shoes, and buying a pair of fake leather brown boots and flats. I was very excited to finally find boots that looked good!

Later that night, I met up with Julie, Julia, and Cait to go to a discoteca near me that was supposedly serving a free Asian dinner to girls. We felt totally out of place there, as nearly everyone else was Spanish and dressed to the nines. We accepted some free champagne but could not find the food. Eventually, men dressed in suits started bringing trays of it to the girls sitting at the tables. We attempted to flag one of them down and get some comida, but they kept ignoring us and we never got the potstickers that we were craving. Although the place was playing exactly the kind of music that I like to dance to, the party wasn't going to pick up for a few hours, so we headed downstairs for tapas and drinks. It was really nice chatting with the girls and not feeling out of place like in the discoteca. After that, we just called it a night and headed home.

On Saturday, Rebecca came over and we made a not very impressive meal and watched some of our guilty pleasure, Cruel Intentions. I convinced her to go with me to a group intercambio (language exchange) in Plaza de Armas. We had absolutely no idea what to expect from this, but it turned out to be amazing. When we first arrived, we found a group of Spaniards and stood awkwardly with them while waiting for the organizer to arrive. Then we walked to an Irish pub nearby and sat for hours. I spoke a ton of Spanish with the people there. I mostly talked with a very nice couple who did not speak very good English, but I got a ton of practice and taught them some new phrases. There were six Spanish-speakers and 3 English-speakers so we were a hot commodity. We were like specimen that they were trying very hard to understand. The way we conducted the intercambio was mainly that I would speak to them in Spanish and they would speak in English, but I snuck in a bit of Spanish-Spanish conversation. Everyone there was very friendly, but it took us about an hour to figure out our schedules and a good time to meet. I think we settled on Saturdays and Mondays, but I cannot be sure. After three and a half hours, we said our double-kissed goodbyes and Rebecca and I headed off in search of food. We ate way too much gelato and I had a savory crepe at a place we had been eyeing since our time in the hostel. It was terrible weather last night and I was exhausted from speaking so much Spanish, so we headed home instead of having a big night out. When I listened to the crazy wind and rain later, I was very glad I was in my casa.

Today is Halloween! I have no idea what we will do tonight (we have a few options) but I will try to put together a disfraz (costume) without spending any money. Let's see what I can pull off...

Field Trip: Parque de las Ciencias

On Wednesday, I went on my first field trip in several years. I went with the youngest kids at my school (about 12-years-old) to the Parque de las Ciencias in Granada. The kids were incredibly loud on the bus ride there, so Julie and I had trouble taking a nap on the 2.5 hour trip. We stopped at a rest stop for some desayuno and ate with the three other teachers. It was great having our meals paid for by the school. When we finally got to the park, the kids were all very excited and yelling about the cool things we saw. I thought the museum was comparable to the Museum of Science in Boston as far as what it offered. But it did have a cooler outdoor part with activities, a fountain, and more cool sciencey things. After we saw a few sections of the museum and had a presentation on the solar system by a mildly cute Spanish guy, we ate lunch. The kids were free to roam around and eat the seemingly endless sandwiches, candy, and salty snacks that they had in their backpacks. Julie and I enjoyed an enormous meal in the cafeteria that was not incredibly delicious but that we were glad to have.

On the way to who knows where in the park, we spotted a giant chess board and one teacher challenged me to a game. I had no intention of playing an entire match at that time, but things got competitive. I took his queen early in the match so I was at an advantage most of the time. Students gathered on the board to help both of us, and, in the end, after chasing his king around for a while, I came out victorious! I was very excited to win, since I cannot even remember the last time I played a game of chess. Unfortunately, while I was excitedly looking at the pictures after the game, I dropped my camera. It seemed fine at the time except for a little scratch, but that would prove to be a lie later. Because we had dilly-dallied at the chess board for so long, we could not find the other group of teachers and students. So a few of us decided to go up to a watch tower to look for them and see the surrounding area. I saw the Alhambra, a very famous site in Granada, from up there and could see tons of tiny people on top of it. And there were incredible views of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is too bad that while I was taking a picture of the Alhambra and having trouble focusing, I realized that my camera lens would not retract. Now my camera won't work at all because the lens will not go back into the camera. What a shame to have happen while I'm abroad!

I was basically stressed about the camera for the rest of the trip (and you don't get to see the pictures yet because they won't upload to my computer). We saw a bird show with some amazing birds, but I could not understand most of the presentation. Then we headed home for another noisy bus trip (these kids do not tire out). One of the teachers gave us a ride back to the edge of Sevilla, and it took me another hour and a half to get home from there. It was an insanely long day, but it is always fun to go see new places and I got to talk to a lot of the kids one on one. At school today, they were all excited to see me. I think I will relax tonight, as I am very tired from this busy week, but I cannot wait for another fun weekend. And it's Halloween! I still don't have a costume...not sure if I ever will. Nothing can really top the Bop It! costume I made last year. Spain is not quite the same as American colleges when it comes to this holiday.