Thursday, October 17, 2013

Life is a Roller Coaster


     I know that if you are following my travels via Facebook, you know that I just went to London for a long weekend and are probably dying to hear more about my adventures. I am sorry to tell you that daily life here in Sevilla has taken over and I feel the need to write about how my life just in the last 4 days has been a literal roller coaster. *If you really want more details on the London trip, message me or Skype me because I would also love to share that experience!* Here's a photo of the weekend for a taste:

     So, when we got back from London on Saturday night, Mara and I were on top of the world, so content and thrilled with the trip we just took. We came home to an empty apartment which is actually so nice! Chari and Walter were in Granada with family, so when we came home we were able to relax, take really long showers, eat the tortilla that Chari always serves us when we get home from trips, and not have to explain everything in Spanish. (I know it is good for me to try to explain everything, but it was pretty hard to get back into Spanish mode after a weekend in England.) We slept in super late the next morning and enjoyed having the house to ourselves. We were feeling great! Then around 6 PM we finally decided to try to go to a new church we had heard about here in Sevilla. So, we went out and found bus #3 and tried to take it all the way to the stop near the new church... Little did we know, it was basically the last stop on that bus line! So we of course got off the bus too early, thinking that we were in the right neighborhood so at least we should be close... We were wrong. We ended up walking another hour (along the bus route because we refused to catch another bus and have to pay bus fare again) until we finally found the church at 8:15 PM. It was definitely over and had actually started at 6:30 PM. So that was very disappointing for us, especially because we consider Sevilla our home and we don't like getting lost in our own city, no matter how big it is! We caught the bus home feeling discouraged and thirsting for some fellowship and worship time, so we listened to Phil Wickham on my iPod for the 45 minute bus ride home.

Chari dropped a prawn in Ashley's water!
     The next day was so much better! We had a really fun lunch with Chari and Walter and their son Pedro and his wife. Usually we eat just the three of us girls together while Chari continues cooking. This was a very special meal because we got to eat langostinos (prawns) and gazpacho, and a delicious potato and beef stew! We also got to drink coke zero! It was super funny to hear Pedro try to say zero in English even though it is practically the same word! We spent the whole lunch talking and laughing about the differences between Spanish and English. We also got to share a lot about London with Pedro because he lived there when he was younger. It was just fun to feel like a family and laugh around the table with our temporary family. I really hope we have meals like that more often!  We also had flamenco class, which I love! It is so fun and really challenging! At this point, I feel like I will never be able to do it in front of people, but our teacher, Sylvia, keeps telling us we are good at it so she's probably right =)


Hannah and I playing with Ricardo and Lorenzo
 
    Tuesday was my day full of roller coaster feelings. I felt like I did not understand anything in my classes all day long, and I kept getting answers wrong in my grammar class, when all I want is to understand what we are learning! I was so discouraged! But I sat down between classes and tried to study the new material and that helped a bit. At lunch, things got better because Chari taught us a few fun phrases to use on each other sarcastically (yay for Spanish sarcasm!) Right after lunch though, I had to go to Hospital de la Caridad (Charity Hospital) to play dominoes with the old men that live there for two hours. To be honest, I was not excited. It meant I did not get to rest during siesta time and that I would have to put up with their slobbery kisses that get real close to the mouth! Surprisingly, I really enjoyed my time there this week! I played dominoes with Hannah and two of the men, Lorenzo and Ricardo, like always. But this week they actually asked us a few questions about ourselves and I actually won a lot of games! The kisses were the same as always, but I think I am getting better at moving my lips away quickly! Also, I entertained myself by thinking of Ricardo as the old man chess player in all the Pixar digital shorts (he looks a lot like him and Ricardo is a pro at dominos! Ricardo is on the left, wearing glasses in the picture).

     The rest of the day was better also, except the very frustrating moments when I could not communicate well with Chari. Later that night though, we ended up talking (her talking at me while I nod and reply with "Sí" and "Vale") for a good half hour just the two of us about her work at the hospital. It was encouraging because I understood everything she told me! So, as you can see, every day has its ups and downs. Sometimes they are just magnified in a foreign country!

   

















     To end on a fun note, last night Chari and Walter's granddaughter, Alicia, stayed the night at the house. We studied with her and laughed and laughed and laughed because she is quite entertaining! As always, the funniest parts of every conversation are the miscommunications. She is learning English and French in school so we taught each other a few fun phrases and laughed about how they don't make sense in other languages. One of the highlights was when Ashley asked Walter to take a picture of the four of us studying together at the table... it turned into a huge ordeal! He ended up walking into our bedroom to take a picture of us through the window! It was hilarious! He sat on my bed while taking the picture of us in the kitchen! Also, he struggled quite a bit to get the camera to work, like always =) I got the picture on the left right before he took our picture!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Weekend Update: Life Moves Fast

The view of Granada from inside
the Alhambra
     So, things have been moving pretty quickly here in Spain. All the weekly activities have mostly started by now, and they keep me pretty busy for sure! It definitely is fun to stay busy, but it makes it hard to keep family and friends updated on my life here! If you have been keeping track of my Facebook pictures you may have noticed that I have been gone from Sevilla almost every weekend so far. I took a trip to Cádiz, then to Córdoba and Granada, the next weekend was a group trip to Sagres, Portugal, and last weekend we went to Sanlúcar de Barrameda - a beach town with very few tourists! =) So, to summarize my last few weekends, here are some pictorial highlights:

My roommates and me in Córdoba

Mara and I atop the Sierra Nevada peak 

Hanging out in the Alhambra in Granada

Mara and I learning to surf in Portugal
My banged up knee and Chacos overlooking
the cliff we attempted to climb and the rock
we jumped off of into the ocean











 



The whole group watching the sunset from a cliff in Sagres.

A relaxing boat ride on the Guadalquivir River
The girls enjoying the guided tour of the Doñana National Park


   
   

     With all of these weekend trips, combined with my first round of tests these last two weeks, I have been swamped with catching up and keeping up with everything here! It is definitely fun, but this weekend I realized I needed to slow down and take some time for me. So I decided to stay in Sevilla this weekend (after our school excursion to Toledo on Thursday and Friday of course!)

Toledo - the most beautiful Spanish city I've seen so far!

Mara and Brenna and me checking
out the windmills in Consuegra
     Our school excursion to Toledo was led by my art professor Carmen and the goal was to see the two things we recently studied in art history: a painting by El Greco - El Entierro del Señor de Orgaz and the Cathedral of Toledo. So we took a 6 hour bus ride up to Toledo, stopping in Consuegra along the way so that we could see the windmills of Don Quijote. We were able to see the painting by El Greco, which was so cool to see after studying it! I always feel like I have a good understanding in class, but when you see it in person and can pick out the details as Carmen is mentioning them (into our awesome touristy headsets!) you earn so much more from the class and the experience in general! We were also able to see a beautiful monastery before heading out for tapas in Toledo. We got to stay in a really nice hotel on Thursday night and Friday we went to the cathedral. The day started out pretty rainy, but when we got free time to explore on our own, the skies cleared up and God gave us an exceptional day to see the beauty of Toledo! Mara and I separated from the group to wander on our own - we ate lunch atop the old city walls, got lost in small neighborhoods, went shopping for cheap and fancy souvenirs, and found some delicious gelato! We had a great time in Toledo and were super excited to head back to Sevilla to rest and get to know our own city a little more!

Epic jumping picture with Brenna!
The main altar of the Cathedral

 
With Mara on the edge of the city

An old monastery 
Dill pickles on the city walls!

   
      And today we decided to explore Sevilla... We got some great advice from our señora Chari about where we should go first. She told us that a beautiful morning like today would be perfect for a trip to the historic neighborhood of Macarena. She told us what bus to take, where to get off the bus, which monuments were worth visiting, and she also made sure to tell us to take our time and enjoy it because it is such a beautiful day. She is the best at giving advice like that because she is so convincing and repetitive with her arguments! It is so entertaining and helps us a lot with our Spanish! So we ventured out to Macarena on the bus and were able to visit the historical church of the virgin of Macarena, which was breath-taking! So beautiful and full of decoration! During the feria in April, they make a float with the virgin in the background. They carry her throughout the city for the parades and Chari told us lots of stories after we got home about funny things that have happened during feria regarding her float. She told us that usually when the float of Macarena passes by, all the men shout at the statue saying ¡Ay que guapa! (How pretty/beautiful!) which I thought was an interesting thing to yell at a virgin saint, but we all have our quirks!



    We also visited the Plaza de la Alameda which has statues of Hercules in it. We did not quite understand the history of this plaza as told by Chari, but I plan to look it up later, or ask one of my professors this coming week. We did not understand the history of it because Chari mixed the history of it with a story of her own past, which was actually really fun to hear a story from when she was younger! Spaniards do not tend to open up much about their history (Chari may be an exception to that generalization) but it was still exciting for Mara and I to learn more about her when she was younger.


     After seeing the plaza, we went on towards the center of Sevilla, a familiar place, but were still able to encounter something new and exciting! First we found a new and yummy ice cream place! Always a goal and fun thing to accomplish! Just down the street from our new ice cream place we saw the Setas! The Setas are a metal structure that definitely does not fit in where it was built, but still a fun thing to see! They are fashioned after giant mushrooms, and I do not really know their purpose other than to have a cool place to overlook the entire city! So Mara and I went up to the top and it was definitely worth it! Such an amazing view up there!

Me and my new city!