July 31 - Last of the cool days for a while

With the heat just starting to ramp up (supposed to be 109 by Thursday), Albert is careful about getting out for his run before it really starts to get hot.  I, on the other hand, have not changed much.  Luckily, my exercise (walking and biking) don't require cool mornings.

I do try to leave a little earlier for class so that I can walk slow since our classroom is small, our class is long, and I don't want to be gross and sweaty.  I have made the walk enough times now that I can maximize my time on streets with shade covers and cafes with misters that cool off not only the patrons but the sidewalk.  If it gets really bad, I could always ride a bike, but I really do enjoy the walk. 

Speaking of bikes, we got our bike rental cards in the mail today.  It is hard to explain why I am happy - we have been using the bikes for weeks just fine without the cards because we know our codes.  But, the idea that I was able to successfully navigate the bureaucracy and get the cards to show up in our mailbox made me happy nonetheless.  Now, if we actually get our residency cards on August 27th - I will really celebrate.

A new student (from South Korea) joined our class today.  So now we have two students from South Korea, two students from Wales, and me.  Like every Tuesday, I went to intercambio for two hours after class.  Although this part of the day is difficult, it is getting better.   I am still pretty slow and need to look up words as I go, but at least I can keep up my end of a simple conversation.  I saw the student from Algeria there and we chatted for a few minutes (in Spanish, of course) - he is thinking of switching from the morning class to our afternoon class.  He is living with his Spanish girlfriend and they only speak Spanish at home - I think he will outgrow our class pretty quickly.

The temperature for the walk home when I get out of intercambio at 10pm is pretty much perfect.  I stopped for a few minutes on the bridge just to enjoy the view - both of myself and the city lights :)

While I was there, a horse and cart went across... I don't know how many hours a day those horses are pulling those carts of tourists - but it seems kind of cruel to have them working long hours on these hot days.  Hopefully they get lots of water breaks.  

Now it is 11:45 and the party at the bar across the street is in full swing.   I know that the young man from Spain who is my primary partner at intercambio was sober today for the first time since Saturday night when his restaurant closed for the month of August.  I am curious about how many of people in this crowd at the foot of our building are "kicking off" their month of holiday tonight on this last day of July.  

Mario and Palma are at the beach for a few days.  We will get together with them when they get back before they go to Germany for their big holiday.

July 30 - Mellow Monday

This morning, I hung out and finished another book.  It is so nice to have the kindle and access to the library online.  In Hungary, it was a major project to get to the English bookstore and find enough reading material to make it to the next trip.  Now, I can browse the library and check out books from our living room. 

We made a small grocery store run and I worked on a little Spanish before class. 

Being Monday, I was curious to see if any new students would join our class.  But, for the first time since I started - no new students.  In fact, with the two Russian students visiting family in Moscow and the Italian student dropping out now that her English class has started, we are down to four.  And, one student only came for the second half of class today because he had another commitment.  If you do the math, you will notice that we only had three students for the first 90 minutes of class.  We did a full 90 minutes of discussion.  With our limited vocabulary (thank goodness for google translate as we scrambled to find missing words) and the almost constant mini-corrections by our teacher, the discussion was pretty superficial - but we made it.  Back to grammar for the second half of class.   With August being the slow month in Sevilla - it will be interesting to see if we get any new students in the next few weeks.

I walked a little out of my way on my trip home to enjoy the city a little and get in a few steps.  I like this rubber duckie store, but it is always empty when I walk by- I am not sure how it stays in business.

I am happy to report that Albert's ballot arrived today - he filled it right out and mailed it.  Only primaries this round..hopefully everything is in place to get our ballots for November.

After dinner, I went on a longer walk along a road I had not traveled before.  Lots of interesting looking restaurants.  I think there is a park along the road further down, but I wanted to try to get back by 11 (whew - made it by 10:59) so I turned around before I got to the park.  I may try to investigate during the day later this week.

Tomorrow - intercambio.

July 29 - The Next Bridge South

We had a nice breakfast this morning with Mario and Palma.  Then back to the routine with laundry and Spanish. 

This afternoon, I walked down to the drawbridge (one bridge further south than I have walked before). 

On the way to the bridge, I passed three good signs.  One reminded men to use the bathroom and not the building walls:

the second advertised a sychronized swimming competition that Albert was glad we missed but I was sad:

but the third was the best - it advertised a pill I wish I could get:

I also got to see lots of good statues:

Every two years, there is an international Flamenco festival in Sevilla.  It is happening this September.  Yesterday, I went online and bought tickets for one of she shows (two guitars), and while I was out today, I found the theater.

It is right around the corner from the Plaza de Espana.

And right down the street from the Science Museum.  I like the large butterfly sculpture.

Tonight, Albert and I went out for another short walk around Triana.  It is supposed to get really hot this week, perhaps I will need to take short walks during the day and longer walks in the evening when it starts getting in the 100's every day.  But today, I really enjoyed my long afternoon walk.

July 28 - Beautiful Sunshine and Chocolate Gelato

Albert and I took a nice walk this morning along a trail beside the river.  It is a path that he frequents, but most of my walking is along city streets; so this was a change of pace for me.  It has been beautiful and sunny every day that we have been here and today was no exception.

At the end of the path is a park that contains a HUGE bronze statue of an egg with Columbus standing inside.  For some context, I include this story:

During a dinner celebrating Columbus, a noble suggested that even if Columbus hadn't discovered the new world  that there would have been someone else who tried and succeeded.  (I know, just ignore the fact that we are assuming Columbus somehow discovered a continent that was already inhabited...)  Anyway, at that point, Columbus challenged the people at the table to balance an egg upright.  When nobody could, Columbus cut off the tip of the egg and stood it on the table.  The expression "egg of Columbus" was introduced as a Spanish phrase referring to something that seems difficult but becomes easy after seeing someone else's solution.

I like this story because it makes me think of mathematics proofs. I also like this 45 meter high statue and how it makes the fountain surrounding it seem almost silly.

On the bike ride home, I noticed this stop sign.  STOP is not the Spanish word for stop - but in most of Europe, the stop signs look basically the same.  Not sure how most of the western world can agree on the words for taxi and stop and OK, but we can't agree on a word for hello...

After a rest, some Spanish practice, grocery shopping, cooking, eating, and more Spanish - we took a walk to a bookstore downtown.  I bought this book.  It highlights difficulties in Spanish that English speakers have.  I like it - but it is MUCH too small to highlight all of the difficulties that this English speaker has.

Then, to a new (to us) gelato place.  Mmmmm Belgian Chocolate gelato.  What a nice way to end a day.

Tomorrow we meet with Mario and Palma.

July 27 - Back to Normal

This morning, I worked for a while with all of the windows open - a brass quintet was playing down on the street, and they were playing lots of American standards.  The first trumpet was really good.  We stopped by to watch for a while on the way to our morning grocery run.

By the time we went out this morning, all of the lights were down and only the skeletons of the tents remained.  After dinner we went out to really take a look.

Some people seemed not to notice the missing tents - as long as the waiters kept coming with food and drinks, the party continues I guess.

Tonight, hundreds of people lined the bridge and waterfront to watch the "blood red" moon (lunar eclipse).  

Albert took lots of photos with his new tripod.  He gets a lot out of his cell phone camera - I just point and click - so not as interesting.  

In addition to walking around and enjoying the moon this evening, we had pizza at the Domino's Pizza that is right over the bridge - a welcome comfort meal after an intense week of Spanish.  No homework or studying tonight - a little reading and early to bed - maybe even by midnight!  Tomorrow, back to the books.

July 26 - End of the Vela

Pretty mellow morning, the usual cooking, shopping, eating, and studying took up most of the hours before school.

After school, I stopped off at the post office to mail a letter and enjoyed some of he street artists - 

This guy was singing the blues (in English), playing harmonica, playing guitar, playing bells (with his right foot), and making some puppets dance with his left foot.  Show off!

Tonight is the last night of the Triana festival.  Luckily tomorrow is Friday and all the late night partying can continue for a couple of days as people celebrate the weekend.  We did go out to see some of the traditional flamenco on the stage, but unless I can see the midnight fireworks from our balcony - I will miss them.

July 25 - Flamenco Rock

On my way to school today, we stopped by the post office so I could mail my ballot.  The post office closest to our house closes at 2:30 during the summer, but the big one downtown is open all day.  They are both clean and modern.  You have to choose from a touch screen what service you need before the device will assign you a number,  luckily I can read the few words required for that transaction.  Then you wait (for us it was about 2 minutes) until someone who provides the service you want is available.  The woman who helped us was efficient and very nice.  So, I have now voted in our primary.  Still no ballot for Albert....

After school, Albert and I went down to catch some of tonight's entertainment.  In the 80's some bands in Sevilla experimented with combining traditional Flamenco music with rock - the result is very lively and with a clear Spanish influence.  Tonight's band was one of the bands from this period.  We stayed and listened to a few songs before Albert headed back and I went for a walk.   You might notice that the audience was full of folks our age who remembered this 80's music as their music.

People in Sevilla definitely prefer to eat outdoors.  The cafe right across from Santa Ana church was absolutely jammed outside - no empty tables and people standing along walls of nearby buildings drinking and waiting for tables.  The inside was deserted.

At 11 pm, the party was just getting started.  One of the emergency crews even had time to practice taking each other's blood pressure.  My guess is that in years past, when it is really hot during festival week, they are really busy (like the crews in the University of Miami football parking lots) - but the weather is cool and the crowds (while huge) are pretty mellow.

In a few minutes (at midnight) there will be a procession to the church to start St. Anne's feast day, but I just came in - so I will let the crowds still on the street enjoy that without me. 

July 24 - Lots of Spanish and a Little Pop Music

Today was a pretty quiet day.  A quick trip to the market this morning with a pitstop to check out the post office, a little homework midday, and then a lot of Spanish to finish up the day.

On my way between class and intercambio, a police officer pulled up to a rather busy pedestrian intersection, parked his car, got out, and stood watching while having a cigarette.  I am not sure if he was actually watching for something or just needed a place for a smoke break...

There were fewer students tonight at the intercambio, which meant I spent the entire time working one on one with another student.  He is studying English and only spoke English and I only spoke Spanish.  There are not many times in my life that I am involved in a two hour one on one discussion where I barely keep up my end of the conversation - but to be fair, his English is much better than my Spanish.  

By the time I left at 10pm, I had been in class and intercambio for nearly 6 hours, and I was ready for dinner.  The walk home was beautiful as always.

As soon as I got home, Albert and I headed right back out to check out the evening entertainment at the Triana fair.  Tonight.... pop music and a lively crowd.  

Finally, a quick dinner.  

July 23 - Vela de Santiago y Santa Ana

Another Monday - we lost one student and gained two - one from Italy and one from Denmark.  The student from Italy doesn't speak English  and next week she starts English classes - so English in the morning and Spanish in the afternoon.  Better her than me.

After class, Albert and I went back to the photo shop to get more passport size photos for Albert.  This time - in US passport size.  He has decided to apply for his IDP (International Driving Permit) which is essentially an official multilingual translation of  his US driver's licence.  With that and his current driver's licence, he could drive in Spain (and throughout Europe).  Lots of people drive without them, but if you get stopped by the police and don't have one, it is the equivalent to driving without a licence.  We didn't drive for the entire year that we were in Budapest, so it never came up.  But, after looking into buses, trains, and car rentals - we thought it might be useful to rent a care at some point while we are here.  It would have been easier to do before we left - but alas. 

We will have to get some other paperwork and get to the post office in the next couple of days.  In other post news - my ballot arrived today.  Hopefully, Albert's will arrive tomorrow.  

This evening we went back out to check out the festival stage.  There were two comedy groups - the crowd seemed to enjoy them, but my Spanish is not yet ready for comedy performances.  

It is a very old festival that celebrates Santiago and Santa Ana, and on Thursday, there will be a full day of religious activities in the Parish of Santa Ana.  However, the modern festival mostly celebrates the culture and traditions of Triana.  There are lots of athletic contests during the days and then entertainment, food, and drinks at night.  

Note that although all of the church faces are lit up:

The street in front of the church:

is not nearly as busy as the street in front of the tents selling food and drinks.

So although this centuries old festival may have its roots in Catholicism....mostly, it is all about the neighborhood.  It should be noted that the people of Triana are very proud of their neighborhood; they might recognize in theory that they live in Sevilla - but if you talk to them, they act as though you must cross the bridge to get to Sevilla - on this side you are in Triana.

July 22 - Cucaña

We spent the morning hanging out, reading, watching baseball and bike racing on TV, and doing laundry.

This afternoon, we went for a walk.  Albert wanted to find a building that is covered in carvings - it is not a famous building or anything, we had just seen it on one of our evening walks and he wanted to go back to take some photos in the light of day.

I personally like this church view- I like how a modern clockface is mounted on this incredibly old building as if it has always been there.  You may note that the clock says 6:00 - which is Spanish for "the hottest part of the day".   

On our way home, we stopped at the river's edge to watch a little of the Cucaña.  The idea is that a boat with a long pole is anchored in the river.  A flag is attached to the end of the pole and the pole is covered in grease.  Then people (primarily young men) swim to the boat, climb in, and attempt to run out along the pole and grab the flag before falling in to the river.  We watched the set up and a number of failed attempts.  One young man actually was able to grab the flag on his way into the river and the crowd went crazy.  After that, we left and gave our prime viewing spot to some other folks.

At around 10, we went out to check on the evening program.  I was happy to be able to understand a little.  Then we went out for gelato (my first since coming to Spain).  My plan was to have the dark chocolate, but the young woman behind the counter suggested I try a flavor that had caramel and pecans.  She obviously has good taste - it was great - so, I ended up with a half and half.  Mmmmmm.  

With that pop of energy - now maybe I will stay up to see the end of the Mariner's game.

July 21 - A Long Walk

I decided that today I would make my way to the northern part of town that I like to think of as "Little America".  It contains a Costco, McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC.  It is a little over 4 miles from our house.

On my way there, I chose to walk along the road close to the river.  It is pretty direct but does pass through a relatively industrial (read ugly) part of town.  After a rather unfortunate encounter with a very drunk man and a very positive encounter with a young couple who stopped their car to make sure everything was ok - I made it to Costco.

No surprise, it is very similar to the Costco at home.  Lots of the products are sold in quantities that are a little smaller than the ones at home, but still too big for our situation here.  Of course, the stock is not identical, there are some things not available here and some things that are pure southern Spain - like a whole isle of olive oil.  Not to worry though, if you need a HUGE birthday cake with raspberry filling or a 2 pound bag of peanut M&Ms while visiting Sevilla - I can help. 

I took a much longer, but much prettier route home.  More beautiful buildings ....

and interesting stores.  In one bakery window, they had cake toppers for first communion cakes,  baby shower cakes, and of course wedding cakes.

After my long walk, I came home and regrouped for a while before going out with Albert to pick up a few things at the market to make sure we had food for Sunday when everything is closed.  Luckily he had been out while I was on my walk and had already bought most of the heavy stuff! 

Tonight - the Triana festival officially begins with the lighting of the bridge at midnight.  We went down a little early and admired the HUGE crowds.  

Then took a few photos of the lights before heading home.

Now to bed to rest my weary legs!  

June 20 - A New Desk

This morning, Mario and Palma came by with a desk for our second bedroom.  We have done fine working on the dining room table, but when they offered a desk so that we would have a second workspace, we said yes.  The desk is HEAVY and beautiful.  Palma's father made it with the base coming from her grandmothers sewing machine.  Albert worked there for a long time today - and really likes it.

When they came by, they also brought a paper copy of the schedule of events for the festival (which officially starts tomorrow).  There was a night regatta in the river this evening that we went down to check out.  During the races, a safety boat road alongside - since the normal tourist boats kept running, I was glad that the racers had some protection.  

With one more week under my belt in Spanish, I feel like I am making slow but steady progress.  I registered for four more weeks.  My classmate who attended the Bullfights last night confirmed that they are awful and gruesome.  I did not require much convincing - attending a bullfight was never on my "must do while in Sevilla" list, and after hearing her talk about it, it dropped even further.

After class tonight, I took a meandering walk home.  I found a square that I don't think I have been in before.  It houses the Bank of Spain.

Of course, in addition to the beautiful and interesting bulidings, plazas, fountains, and statues - there are about 1 billion (give or take) touristy shops in the down town area selling Flamenco dancer costumes for children, nick-nacks, post cards, and of course T-shirts.

Tomorrow at midnight, the festival lights will go on for the first time.   I am looking forward to seeing everything all lit up.