Huelga general

So, Spain is angry. As a whole. For that reason, they had a country-wide general strike today. It's been planned for a long time and is the first strike in almost a decade. We were told to be careful and that nothing would be open today. Ever since we arrived there have been signs and graffiti all over the city talking about the Huelga. Well, today was the day.

I have two classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. One is in the morning at the CIEE study center, the other in the afternoon at the University. We were told that CIEE classes would be in session as it is a private school and wouldn't be participating in the strike. We were also told that more likely than not, University classes would not be held during the strike. Well, in class on Monday, our professor at the university (Joaquín, on whom I may have a crush....) told us that he would be there today, so if we wanted to come we would have class also. Well, of course Sofie and I went as we are in love with him. We were a little scared walking to class as we had heard there could be riots, people at the entrance to the University trying to stop us from entering, etc. Not to mentioning hearing gun shots or smoke bombs or some sort of noise erupting intermittently. (p.s., I spelled that word right. On the first try. Yes!)



But, we continued on our way as we didn't think we would actually be in any real danger. We got the University and were surprised that there wasn't a riot of picketers outside. We walked up to the main entrance (well, that word took two tries. so much for the earlier celebrating.) where two police officers were standing. They said, uh, where are you going, this entrance is closed. I said, we have class! He said, oh, it must be in the Filología department (which it is), so we had to walk around to another entrance. When we got there, we found our way to our classroom. The hall was completely dark and void of any other human being. So, we sat in the dark. With a few other brave CIEE students who showed up as well.



After waiting about 20 minutes (we got there early as we were allowing extra time for any trouble we may have encountered), in the dark, we decided we'd leave. On our way out, we ran into our professor. He apologized and said that he wanted to have class, but they wouldn't let him! So, we went home. Anyway, that's all the excitement that there was. So yay for no class today! Too bad it wasn't my Contemporary Spanish Novel class that was today....that one isn't nearly as interesting. Nor does it have nearly as cute a professor....



Tomorrow, we're heading to Portugal! We'll be there Friday-Sunday. Lisbon or bust!

artsy schmartsy

Intensive language session: complete! Don't ask me about the grade.....but its done! Actually I don't have the grade yet, but I'm certain it won't be an A. Whatever. Anyway, after finishing the "exam" (which consisted of a skit we had written ahead of time and an essay we had also had a week to write), the rest of the day Saturday (yep, you read correctly-the exam was on a Saturday.) was all mine! Too bad I didn't really do anything. I was going to go to the gym....but that didn't happen. Instead, I watched some shows and a movie or two online. Took a nice siesta. Then prepared for a night on the town. My little group keeps wanting to go out to a discoteca and party the night away like the Spaniards do (who usually get home around 4 or 5 in the morning). So we headed to the river for a little botellón (pre-gaming). This is where every single CIEE student hangs out. And a few Spaniards. Must mostly Americans. Anyway, at about 1:30 they decided it was time to find a discoteca. At about 2:00 we arrived at the chosen club: Casino. Except they wouldn't let us in. Our friend Javiér thought he could get us all in, but the bouncer decided that the group was way too young. This is apparently a place for more mature party-ers. Might have to go back there... ;)

Anyway, after wandering around for a while longer, I decided to head home. Sofie and I took a taxi because it was a long walk. So we got home at about 3. I think the rest of the gang actually found a discoteca and stayed out til about 6 or so like they had been wanting to since they arrived. Sounds like fun... :)

Today, I decided to visit the Museo de Bellas Artes. I continue to enjoy and be fascinated by art museums even though I know nothing about art. I am actually considering switching my Contemporary Spanish Novel class to an art class of some sort so I can know a little more....but we'll see. Anyway, this museum was much like many others. Many beautiful paintings and sculptures by some names I recognize but by more that I don't.

I like paintings and am always so amazed at people's talent. I like getting up close and actually being able to see the brush strokes and the little details. This museum is nice because there are no ropes in front of the paintings, so you can get as close as you like. Maybe not nice for the paintings, but nice for us observers.

But more than paintings, I love statues. It just amazes me how someone can take a block of rock-hard (heheheh get it?!) stone and turn it into the image of a person. It is incredible. One of my favorite sculptures I've ever seen was at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. There are four statues by Michelangelo that are considered "unfinished." I also heard them referred to as "prisoners." You can see the shape of the statue, but it appears to be imprisoned in a slab of marble, trying to escape. They are just incredible. Here's one of them:



Anyway, the Museo de Bellas Artes here in Sevilla has another one of my new-found favorites. It is a Statue of Saint Jerome by Pietro Torrigiano (no idea who that is...). And it is amazing. The amount of detail that he was able to form out of solid rock is astonishing. You can see the muscles and veins and everything on this statue. I'll have to go back and take some pictures (which apparently you can do there) that will show how amazing it is. But here's a photo I found online.



I apparently picked the right day to go to this museum. Every Sunday morning, right outside of it, is an art market. All kinds of artists from Sevilla bring their pieces to the plaza to sell. There is some amazing stuff there. Again, I will have to go back and take some pictures. And buy some stuff... (this may be where every single one of my souvenirs come from for my family and friends...just so you know). But here's a little photo from online again.



Fun Sunday so far! Now for a siesta...then I get to chat with my bestie Kayla!

second-hand smoke

I did it! I joined the gym. I really don't actually like gyms. I hate working out where other people can see me. Not that people are actually watching me, but the fact that they could if they wanted to just freaks me out. And makes me super self-conscious. (Apparently I'm forgetting how to speak English. It took me 4 tries to spell "conscious" correctly. And about 3 minutes to correctly type that last sentence.) But, I DID IT!!! I not only joined, but I even actually worked out. I had to wander around looking lost and ridiculous for a while to figure out where everything was, but then I actually worked out. Apparently only guys in Spain go to the gym. I was the only girl in there until one of my female classmates joined me. Anyway, I made it. Hopefully I keep going in. Well, I have to, because I paid a lot for a three-month membership. Can't let that go to waste.

Aaaaanyway, on to some much more interesting things. Well a little bit more interesting. My group went to Itálica yesterday. My group of 5 plus some others from CIEE. By "some others" I mean "the most obnoxious, stereotypical American students that exist" from CIEE. Good thing I didn't have to talk to any of them. Yikes, hopefully none of them somehow see this. Okay, the people that I actually talked to were cool. The others were too cool to talk to us "TDP" ers. Okay, back to the main point. Well, I already said it. We went to Itálica. It was pretty cool. Roman ruins in Spain. An amphitheater, house, mosaics, statues....pretty lovely! (I'll add some photos to this later)

Besides working out, Roman ruins and obnoxious students, I have been doing other things as well. First of all, we went into a candy store the other day. I might buy every single goody in that entire store to bring home. If I don't spend all my money on a flamenco dress for Sierra. One of the things we saw in the store was "chocolate olives." Chocolate. And olives? Hmmm. Well, we had to try it. We went back another day when we got up enough courage. We scooped like 5 of these so-called chocolate olives into a bag and paid for them. Then we walked outside and took one of the little goodies in our hands. Then we did the Spanish toast: "arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro" ("up, down, to the center, inside." wow that doesn't quite have the same sentiment in English). Then we bit into the savory morsel. Words can't describe the flavor. A picture will have to do:




Wait a second.....that's just chocolate. Liars! It is an olive-shaped and olive-colored chocolate. That's as olive-y as it gets. So disappointing. Although delicious, chocolate-y disappointment.

Besides these things, I've been watching some television. And movies. Dumb ch131.com. It's going to be the death of me. I can still watch all the shows I would be watching at home. Plus some. And movies. Yikes. New hilarious show that I found? Running Wilde. Congratulations again, Fox. Will Arnette, Kerry Russell and Tobias from Arrested Development? Hilarious. Love it.

Well, this has been my life in Spain for the last few days. So exciting, huh? hahahah Although one exciting thing is that I bought plane tickets to SWITZERLAND!!!! I'll be there for 4 days or so, sooooo excited! My lovely friend Isabelle will be my host, and I found some cheap plane tickets, so it will probably be one of the cheapest yet farthest trips I'll be taking while here. Yipeee! Can't wait to see what Switzerland is like in December. Wait, what am I talking about? It's going to be freezing. Better go shopping... :D

Oh yeah, regarding the title. My señora's sister has taken to coming into her house to smoke multiple times during the day. I might explode. I don't like smelling smoke, I don't like smelling like smoke, and I don't like...smoke. If I'm not smelling the garbage that's right outside my window, I'm smelling cigarette smoke encroaching on my poor lung lining. Or whatever it encroaches on. If that's even the right word.

Yikes, I should have quit typing a really long time ago. Nothing like rambling on and on about nothing...

tengo sueño

I've been lazy. I barely left the house yesterday. And today, I forgot about a meeting thing I was supposed to and slept through another one. And now its 7pm and the only thing I've done all day was go to class. And watch some TV and a movie online. The person who introduced me to ch131.com should be punished. It's like Hulu, but maybe even better. Yikes.

Anyway, I have no interesting stories. I'm just bored so I decided to post something. I feel kind of weird sitting in my room by myself all day on the computer, while my señora sits in the living room by herself all day watching TV. Oh well. I'm pretty sure she already thinks I'm weird. And anti-social since I don't go out drinking every night.

Soooo, I need to get a gym membership so I can at least do something. If I will actually go. I will. I promise. Hold me to that. Tomorrow, I'll go join the gym and work out. Now that I've said I'm going to, if I don't do it, you all will know and I will be embarrassed that I didn't actually do what I said I would.

And, next week my regular classes start. So I'm going to be way busier. That's what I'm telling myself to make up for not doing anything this week. I'm taking advantage of the "down time."

Now off to finish watching a movie online...

Cádiz, churros, and more

It's Sunday. At 1pm. And I haven't done anything yet today. Except for eat breakfast and watch part of a Mass being held on TV. Apparently television-broadcasted Mass (es?) also come with commentary. It sounds like a golf game (match? tournament?) with church bells. Interesting (2 + hours later, she's finally done watching it. And now on to the telenovelas!).

Anyway, yesterday our group went to Cádiz. It is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in Europe. Pretty awesome. We wandered around the city for a couple hours with a local guide, then we hung out at the beach. Again. No sunburn this time, thank you very much. This beach wasn't as nice as the one we went to last week, but there weren't as many people and the city was much cooler (well, I think anyway. We didn't actually go into the city at all in Matalascañas), so everything evened out. Although I could have done without garbage floating around while I was swimming in the ocean...







After we got home from Cádiz, my señora was gone and dinner was waiting on the table for me. So nice! So I ate dinner, laid around for a little bit, and then met up with the gang at 10 for a botellón (pre-gaming: drinking before going out). We then went to the river and hung out for a little bit before heading to a bar on the other side of the river. After being in the bar for a little bit, the rest of the group decided they wanted to go to a discoteca. It was 2am. Which is early for Spaniards. But late for Amy. So I went home. They didn't stay out much longer, as they got home only about a half-hour after me, according to Facebook evidence.



Today is obviously going to be a lazy day. After lunch, we're going to meet up and go to the garden/park in town that is supposed to be beautiful. Hopefully it won't be too hot. Maybe get some pastries. Or gummy candies (there are vendors all over the city selling candy. 1 euro for a little bag of gummies. yum). Or churros with chocolate. YUM.

hotter than hades

Just so you don't all think I'm a big whiner (well, I am, so it's okay if you think that), here's some proof that legitimizes my whining. The high temperatures each day that I've been in Sevilla so far. As recorded by weather.com.

6sep-91
7sep-86
8sep-86
9sep-91
10sep-95
11sep-95
12sep-97
13sep-99
14sep-100
15sep-95

That's hot. That's hot when you have an air-conditioned home and you drive from place to place in your air-conditioned car. But when you have to walk everywhere and don't even have a fan in your bedroom, much less air conditioning anywhere in your house, you can't escape the heat. Which is why I slept on the floor last night. I thought I was going to burst into flames while I was lying on my bed. So I thought, "hey, the tile floor is cool. Why not lay down there?" So that's what I did. Eventually I cooled down enough to move back up to the bed. Until I woke up sweating. Yuck. Fortunately, today was much cooler. Well, mid-80's-and-cloudy cooler. And tonight I actually have a cool breeze coming in through my window. I might actually sleep! At least until like Sunday when the "cool" spell is probably going to end. Oh dear. Why did I want to come here this time of year, again? It could be worse, I know. I actually thought it was worse....I was surprised to see that the temperature didn't reach above 100. I think weather.com may be lying a little bit.

Anyway, my Spanish class (which I am loving, by the way), took advantage of the cool weather today. We took a little field trip to a convent/cathedral that is close to our school. We first walked around in the cathedral, which was built in 1496 (!!!!!!!) and is quite beautiful. After seeing all the magnificence (and walking across a few headstones that are just embedded in the ground-there's quite a few people buried in the cathedral), we went to buy "dulces."

This convent doesn't really have any money. They don't receive money from the government or anything, but just survive off of the money that they make from the goods they sell. And are those goods, good. The monjas, or nuns, spend most of their time cooking goodies. They sell donuts, candies, muffins....all kinds of good stuff. One of the nuns is 93 years old and hasn't left the convent in 70 years. Amazing. So she must be a really good baker. Oh the deliciousness. Its going to be bad though, because this place is like 1 minute from the school. I might be there every day....between that and the ice cream and all the huge amounts of food my señora feeds me, I better find a gym quickly. Even my supersonic metabolism may be no match for all this goodness.



After the goodies and the rest of class, I decided to walk around a little. I have been too scared to walk around much until today, as I thought I'd drop dead of heat stroke or get so hot I'd start crying or screaming at people. So I've mostly been hanging out at my house. Although its not much cooler in here than it is outside....Anyway, I went for a little walk. I'm incapable of walking around this city without getting lost. So get lost I did. Fortunately it was nice weather and I had a map. So I was just fine. After buying 1 euro bag of gummy candy and asking the vendor for directions, I made it back home. Just in time for lunch. Fish and gazpacho. And fruit for dessert as always. And my señora's niece was yelling at her for something and kind of stormed out. But I didn't quite catch it, just that her mom said "it's her age" (she's 21).

Anyway, thank goodness for rain and thunderstorms, which we're supposed to have for the next couple of days. Might just get some more exploring done! Do a little rain dance for me please? Also, do a "remember-the-differences-between-Ser-and-Estar-for-your-test-tomorrow" dance for me while you're at it. Thanks!

snooping...and flamenco

Well, my señora left me alone in her apartment. She's going out on the town (or something), so left me some dinner on the table and said to eat it whenever I felt like it. So I did. And then I took my plate to the kitchen. And snooped around a little. We were all told when we first got here that señoras don't like people in their kitchens. They are very possessive. So I have pretty much stayed out of it. I kept trying to help with dishes and stuff at first, but gave up because she barely even lets me bring my dishes to the kitchen door. One of the girls here said that any time she opens the refrigerator to get water, her señora comes running and asks what she's doing. Soooo, I took advantage of the time alone to peek around! Found some interesting things.

First of all, this was my dinner tonight. Spanish tortilla, bread, fruit and yogurt. Yummmmm!

Up close and personal of the Spanish tortilla. Its egg with potatoes and onions. Delish!

Oh, look what else she's got in her kitchen! Just a few cervezas.

Plus a box of wine. What?!

Oh look what else I found! Leftovers! Yummmmm.

See, I wasn't lying. I almost threw up when I saw it sitting there.

Last night, Tim's señora, Luisa, took us out to a flamenco show. She is sooooo cute and I fell in love with her. Anyway, her cousin and cousin's husband met us at the bus stop, then we all went to the bar where the show was to be held. We had fun talking and chatting and watching the flamenco. (I do NOT understand how the dancers can move their feet so quickly or how the guitarist can play so quickly-although I think the long fingernails have something to do with the latter). Then, the singer announced there were some guest dancers tonight, and who stood up but Luisa and her cousin?! Oh my gosh they were adorable. Luisa is probably in her 60s with her cousin being maybe a little younger. They had so much fun, and the crowd absolutely loved it! I had to take a video of it, so please to enjoy :)

Dancing queeeeeens!

Spanish food

Two posts in one day! I'm a little bored I guess. And too hot to leave the house. I've come to the conclusion that its dangerous to leave the house between the hours of 2-7pm. Really more like 12-9pm, but 2-7 is the worst. If you do leave, you run the risk of melting right on the spot. Or spontaneously combusting. Minus the spontaneous part. Its hot. Freaking hot.

Anyway, when planning my trip here, I was a little nervous when I heard about the kind of food the Spaniards eat. I didn't really know what to expect but was afraid I wasn't going to like anything. Well, I've liked pretty much all of it. A lot. I've tried some things that I never would have before, and found out they aren't too bad! I feel a little weird taking pictures of the food Angelita serves me, so I just found some pictures online of similar things. These are some of the things I've tried so far, the good and bad!

The first thing everyone told me was that all they eat in Spain is ham. I was not too disappointed and was kind of looking forward to it. I was picturing, like, a good old Easter ham. Not the case. This is more prosciutto-like. Waxy and fatty and gross. Glad that my señora hasn't made me eat this so far...But, this was one of the first things I tried here. Out at a restaurant for tapas with our group's local guide. Made me nervous for what was to come, to say the least.

After a couple of really good, not-to-scary meals, there was one that scared me. I walked by the kitchen one morning and noticed something that looked a lot like calamari in a bowl. I was praying she wouldn't be cooking that for lunch. Then lunch came. Fortunately, it was served it a soup much like the one pictured here. With lots of potatoes. Soooo I ate the potatoes. And tried a bite of the calamari. And ate more potatoes. Not my favorite.

I've had clam chowder. I always pick out the clams. So when Angelita brought out a big plate of clams after lunch one day, I was scared. I tried to say that I was too full to eat any more (I was actually pretty full). But she doesn't go for that. She always says "¡Pruébate!" ("try it!" in the command form. not in question form). Sooo I tried it. And it wasn't bad! I actually would have probably eaten more if I hadn't truly been so full. Probably.

Another day after lunch, she brought out a big plate of camarones. Yikes. I've never eaten anything with the eyes still attached. This brought on another "¡Pruébate!" So, I pruebate'd. She had to show me how to eat it. First, you pull of its head. Then you suck all the goo out. (A very classy, lady-like meal). Then you peel the rest of it and eat the body. The gooey brains are not so great. The rest of it tastes like crab. I actually loved it and ate quite a few of them.

So all these other things were things that I could eat and be just fine. But then today happened. She served this really good soup that mostly consisted of garbanzo beans. Tasted like pork and beans or something, so I figured the base had some pork in it. Well, then she brought out the meat that the soup had been cooked with. Yikes. Oh I was scared. So scared. I had no idea what any of it was. And it looked disgusting. This time she wasn't so demanding with the "try it!" but I still did. She told me what everything was, but all I understood was "chorizo." I don't like chorizo. She asked me if I did and I said not so much. But she served me up a little plate anyway. The thing not pictured here is just like some basic roast meat of some sort. That I recognized and figured it would be good. So I started with that. Not bad. Next to that was the chorizo. Then what I'm pretty sure was blood pudding. Then a blob of what I assumed to be pork fat. Then pork snout. Or ear. Or some inedible, gelatanous body part. She said what they normally do is just mix it all together and chop it up. So that's what I did. It actually wasn't too bad when done that way. Although I only took about 3 tiny little timid bites. And that was enough. I found a picture of what I'm pretty sure it was, and its called "Puchero." This is the translation of the ingredients I found online: Chick peas, potatoes, green beans or cabbage, a piece of stale bacon (it will be the only old man in the pot) of freshly killed pig: bacon, breast bone (sternum), spine, tongue, heart, gill, tail, ear or mask and black pudding. Yummmmmm! Oh please don't let it get worse from here.....!

Oh this picture just doesn't even do it justice. You just can't even imagine the horror of it.

The actual soup. Quite delicious!

one week down, ...

First week in Spain, complete! Seems like it's been much longer than a week. But I'm getting settled now and feeling pretty good about things! I've traveled around Madrid a little, experienced both the Spanish bus and train systems, eaten some interesting food (another post to come later about that!), explored Sevilla, moved in with a stranger, met some pretty great people, practiced my Spanish, been to the beach, gotten sunburnt.....and much more!

We went to the beach this Sunday which was pretty fun. Although my skin doesn't exactly agree with that...We had to take the bus there, which was an adventure in and of itself. We got there to buy our tickets, and there was a little line but we didn't worry too much. Then we got to the bus area and there was a much bigger line. Then we started to worry a little. Then the bus pulled away without us and we got more worried. Then another bus came, and we pushed our way on. We made it! We got to the beach about an hour and a half later, with our swimsuits, sunscreen and lunches from our señoras. We spent about 5 or 6 hours there (waaaay too long, as I am quite red) and then headed back. Pretty tiring day, but fun and relaxing at the same time!

Today was the first day of my intensive language class. Our professor started out the day by teaching us curse words. Then she took us to coffee and to see a cathedral. hahaha quite a day! Should be a fun class, its only two weeks long but I think we'll learn a lot. A lot more curse words anyway....

Here's some more pictures! I tried to upload a video of Flamenco dancing/music, but it wouldn't work. I'll have to try again later!

Saw Jesus. No big deal. Oh wait, that was a
statue in one of the cathedrals. Very ornate!

Cute statue! Dedicated to Clara Campoamor, who
fought for women's rights in Spain.

Triana Market. So much fun, will definitely have to
go back and actually buy some stuff :)

More of the Triana Market. Yummmm!

New favorite spot....and close to my house. uh oh!

yum!

So many options! (I tried to get a better picture, but
they yelled at me and told me no pictures allowed.
Um, it's ice cream. seriously?!)

La playa! Montalascañas, so nice!

My señora made me a bocadillo to bring with me :)
Tuna and tomatoes, yum!

So relaxing!

Algunas fotos...

The streets of Spain. It's a little bit terrifying when you're
walking down a street like this and a car comes...

Guadalquivir river

Flamenco! Pretty amazing group.

the Teaching Development group and our guide out for tapas :) Fun people!

Granizada and Tinto de Verano. Yummmm

La Universidad de Sevilla. Where some of my classes are!
It used to be a tobacco factory.

sometimes we get lost.......

the Alcázar. Not gonna lie, don't know much about this place yet...
but we're going on a tour of it this weekend so I'll be an expert after that ;)

Mi casa. This is the apartment building where I live, so cute!

My señora has a fully-stocked liquor cabinet...

my bedroom. pretty pink.




Aaaaaaand:

this is what overlooks my bed.