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.