The day after Gibraltar I got a rude awakening when I had to start class again at 9 in the morning and I was probably asleep for the majority of Cultural Anthropology of Andalucia..even though it’s such riveting stuff NOT…but I perked up later when I had to teach English at La Bachillera…Brittney and I were the only ones who went but it was fine since there were only 3 kids there! One of them was the girl I had last week so Brittney taught her and I taught two brothers. They were adorable and their names were Joseangel, 9 and Rafael, 7…We played word games with animals, numbers, months and other vocab as well as partes del cuerpo. I think I learned just as much as they did since they were telling me some Spanish words that I didn’t know. Joseangel had a pretty good memory though and by the time we were done he remembered most of the parts of the body in English…they were both very funny and mischievous and were trying to draw pictures of me in my notebook that I use for class so every once and a while when I go to take notes I get a lovely surprise.. I hope I get to teach them more English throughout the semester. The next day I went to a night soccer game with a few people from API to watch Sevilla FC play Guion. I bought a red and white Sevilla scarf and we sat behind the North Goal. It was pretty much standing room only and everyone was chanting and singing and screaming and smoking all at once. One guy had a megaphone and was leading the festivities, I swear the crowd must have sang about 100 different songs and chants it was really fun…then at half time on cue literally everyone sat down and whipped out a bocadillo it was hilarious to see all the grown drunken men eating there brown bag sandwiches…Sevilla ended up winning 3-0 and it was a good game one of the goals was on a penalty kick which was exciting and there was a red card and yellow card during the game which got the crowd going and cursing out the opposing teams coach. I definitely want to go to another game by the end of this semester even if it’s just to see Betis play (the other Sevilla team that’s in a lower league)…I didn’t have high hopes for the weekend cause both my roomies were going to be in Morocco but I ended up having a good time and doing a bunch of new things…On Friday I slept until lunch and then went to the Real Alcazar for the first time..even though the weather wasn’t that great, the gardens and rooms inside were so beautiful I can’t wait to go back on a sunny day…Every inch was decorated in azulejos (blue Arabic tiles) and there were a bunch of fountains with ducks and peacocks roaming the grounds…It reminded me of like the Secret Garden or something and there were palm trees, and orange and lemon trees everywhere. That night I went with Fina to go see Eloy’s concert, he plays a mandolin type instrument in this old fashion Spanish group…they were playing in a church so Fina and I walked there together and it was only supposed to take about 20 minutes but according to Fina, Eloy gave her the wrong directions and we ended up getting lost for about an hour…it was soo funny that I wouldn’t have even minded at all if it hadn’t been cold…Fina was freaking out and asking every person we passed for directions. She called up pretty much everyone in her phone book and though I don’t know that many Spanish curse words I could tell that she was using a bunch. I had to try so hard not to laugh…thanks to her daughter Maria we finally made it there about halfway through the concert…All the men were wearing capes and bow ties and it was soo cute..there was one guy who was waving his flag around like a madman and I couldn’t really understand the words but a few of their songs were called Marinera, Mujer, and Ay Nina. I felt like I bonded with them by going and Eloy even pinched my cheek hahahha…Afterwards their two daughters Irene and Maria, were so nice and invited me out for tapas with them and their friend Marta. At first I was sooo nervous cause they were speaking rapid fire Spanish but after a few beers I was doing fine and I even managed to crack a few jokes which is hard to do sometimes when you’re not fluent in a language hahah Since we ended up having change from tapas we decided to go to a bar nearby which lead to chupitos and several more bars. It was such a fun night and my first time hanging out with all Spaniards. We ended up at a bar with a jukebox and put a few songs on and then called it a night. I’m so happy I got to hang out with them and I really hope we go out again.
On Saturday morning Randi and I went to the Triana market, which reminded me of a smaller version of La Boqueria in Barcelona. We walked around there and saw some dead pigeons and rabbits for sale which was a nice treat, then we visited Fina’s store. It mainly had T-shirts but I think she was glad to have us as visitors. I think I’m going to go back and get some for Neve and Norah. Afterwards, we went to a free museum that was an old castle. We had no idea what to expect and were very surprised when we walked in to what seemed like a haunted house. The first room is supposed to make you experience what it was like to be a victim of the Inquisition, after the initial scare was over we walked through the rest of the museum and it turned out to be really interesting. We learned that it was the main seat of the Inquisition not only in Sevilla but all of Spain and that many people we forcefully converted or tortured there for their religious beliefs. It was a pretty solemn museum but interesting nonetheless. We needed a pick me up so we went to the Spanish department store Corte Ingles. When you walk in it looks just like Macy’s but then downstairs there is a fully stocked grocery store. I got some peanut butter which I have been searching high and low for and a botellon for later that night at Carnaval. I need to go back though because rumor has it that they sell Free People there . After lunch, Fina helped me make my cat ears…they were pretty ghetto and made out of construction paper…and then I got ready for that night. We left Sevilla at around 8:30 and got to Cadiz at like ten… from the moment we stepped on the bus the party began and everyone whipped out their botellones while they blasted dance music. The streets were filled and I’ve heard from a few people that there are normally 300,000 people there each year. Costumes were crazy and were everything from babies, to pirates, to the Jigsaw guy, and most popular of all men dressed in drag. We basically went running around all night talking to people and having the time of our lives it was crazy. We met soo many Spaniards since people come to Cadiz from all over like Malaga, Sevilla, and tons of other places. Things got interesting at the end when 300 drunk Americans were trying to board the Coach buses at 4 in the morning and instead of helping matters, the police were shoving people and using their night sticks. I felt like I was in a riot in the sixties but we all managed to get on one of the third or fourth buses and I went to sleep at a nice early hour of six AM. It was up there with one of the weirdest nights of my life and I loved it. Nothing too exciting happened for the rest of the week except I went on a field trip for class to the Archaeological Museum of Seville which was mostly boring except for the statues and sculptures there from Italica that were over 2,000 years old. They made me excited to go on our trip to Italica to see the ruins there. Also, last night I started my Sevillana dance classes with Kerry, Eileen, Erin and Kara. It was soo hard due to the fact that I suck at dancing but it was a lot of fun. I hope that I can learn something that resembles a dance in time for Feria! When I got home I showed everyone my moves which started a dance off in the house where Fina and Eloy were the definite winners when they broke out into perfect Sevillana steps in time with some music. Then Fina played her castanuelas for us and Brittney, Kerry and I wanted to have something to show them so we did the Soulja Boy, Cotton Eyed Joe and the Robot….somehow I don’t think our host parents were too impressed. Tomorrow morning I leave for Morocco and I’m a mixture of nervous and excited. I know its going to be fun but there are some other aspects like the market and the poverty and the unpredictability that I’m slightly anxious about but I’m sure I’ll have nothing to worry about (and lots to blog about). Now for pictures of Carnaval and the rest of my weekend…
sanchez pizjuan estadio
jardines del alcazar
concierto de eloy
host sisters!
me and my new friends
prancing down the street in cadiz
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