October 31 - Happy Halloween

This morning before school, I "carved" about a dozen mandarin oranges to share with my classmates and the teachers at my school to celebrate Halloween.  They seemed to really enjoy them - lots of photos.  One photo made it on to the school twitter and facebook pages.

After school, I met Albert and our guests back at home.  They had spent the morning at the Royal Palace.  Sadly, it started raining again this afternoon.  So, we ate soup and bread for lunch and then made a quick trip to the porcelain shop to buy a souvenir before retreating back into the house to get dry and warm.

Yesterday, I made dinner reservations at a place pretty near to our house for tonight's dinner.  It is not your standard Tapas restaurant - a little more gourmet.  They had Halloween music playing, but it was pretty low key - no costumes or skeleton decorations.  I had some amazing tuna that they seared at the table with a blow torch, Shelley had octopus (I stole a bite - mmm delicious), Scott and Albert had curry and Scott also had a prawn taco.  The place was fun and the service and food were awesome.  It was definitely a little fancier than our usual fare, but we all enjoyed it. 

My Tuna

After dinner, we took advantage of the dry weather and walked a bit around the city.  Saw quite a few people in costumes - lots of private parties in the city tonight.  Since tomorrow is a holiday and everything is closed - tonight is a good night for people to go out.

On our way home at around 11:30, things had started to close up, but we did stop off at the churro place and have chocolate and churros at the end of the bridge.  Originally, we planned to stop for gelato, but our favorite gelato place is closed by 11:30 - and it was still a little cold - so the warm dessert was perfect.

Tomorrow, the forecast calls for sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures - FINALLY.  The plan is to get out and walk around during the day and then we have a tapas and flamenco tour in the evening.

October 30 - Our First Houseguests

This morning Rachel sent a message about making caramel corn.  I had some luck with the caramel sauce that I made for my cinnamon roll topping last week, so I figured it was worth a shot to experiment with a small batch of caramel corn here.  It wasn't great, but we managed to eat quite a bit anyway.  I also have some ideas about how to improve it - so I will surely try again in the coming weeks.

After the caramel corn, it was time to walk to school - sadly, it was pouring down rain.  After class, it was barely a trickle of rain, and by the time we came out of the grocery store it had stopped completely.   But, it was still cold.  I made some italian sausage (which I can now reproduce pretty consistently) and used it in a cream of potato/sausage/kale soup.  We were not sure how our house guests were going to feel when their train came in - so the plan was to go out to eat but have some soup just in case everybody was too tired.

Albert and I headed out to the train station to meet them after their long trip.  (Due to a piece of bad track, they had to get off of the train and take two different buses to a new train instead of what should have been a short straight shot.)   The stores in the station had almost all closed by the time their train came in.  As Albert and I waited in the train station, I noted that it was my first Tuesday night in Sevilla that I was not in intercambio.

Regardless of their long day that included an airplane, a tour, and a train/bus/bus/train; after a short time resting up, they were ready to head out and get dinner.  We had tapas at a place right around the corner.  The unseasonably cold weather has made for an empty street.  Tomorrow, they have tickets to see the Real Alcazar in the morning - still not sure what the afternoon plan is... I am just hoping for a little sunshine and some warmer weather for their short visit.

October 29 - Times are Changing

With so many of our devices (computers, cell phones, fit bits) updating automatically and so few other clocks in our lives (no bedside clocks, no clock on the stove, no car clock) and us not having much of a schedule on Sundays, we barely noticed the change in time.  I thought it might seem a little later today when I headed out to school, but  since we are also having a bit of cold weather, I was too busy noticing the cold to notice the change in time.  The poor receptionist was still changing clocks in all of the classrooms this morning when I arrived.

Then, this evening when I went out for my walk, it was DARK.  But the city was still bustling with people.  There are a lot of decorations up for next weekends procession.  These young men were fighting the wind as they attempted to secure one of the flag poles with the decorative flags to the bridge rail.

Just on the other side of the bridge is a new lighted sign.  I realized yesterday that the numbers were different each time I passed...today, I figured out that it was giving a count of available parking spaces at nearby lots/underground garages.  For the most part, road signs blend in to the background for me here since we are enjoying a car-free year.  (Notice how close car-free and care-free appear.  Coincidence, I don't think so.)

You can tell that folks here are not used to the temperature falling down into the fifties in the evenings here.  It was about 58 degrees when I went for my walk and the puffy coats and sidewalk heaters are out in force.  

And, I am happy to report that the O'Clock Bar clock was showing the correct time - even though the bar is closed Sunday- Wednesday.

October 28 - Train Station Trial Run

This week we are getting our first guests and they are arriving Tuesday evening on the train.  Sadly, there is a chance of rain on Tuesday - so I walked to the train station this afternoon to make sure I knew the fastest bus route with the shortest walk for the Tuesday evening trip.

On my way, I snapped a photo of this piece of a very old city wall that just stands as a decoration in a median now.

I also cut through a small neighborhood park where a family was setting up for a kids Halloween party.  Halloween is not a big deal here  - but a growing number of families are celebrating.  Of course, in this primarily Catholic country, November 1st - All Saints Day - is a National Holiday.  Families tend to use the day to clean up cemetery plots of family members and leave fresh flowers in addition to attending mass. 

At the train station, I caught the bus back toward home.

We don't ride the bus often, and I enjoyed the short ride through the city.  I got off at the stop directly across the bridge from our flat.  There is a building right at the bus stop that historically was an old fish market.  Now it houses a number of stalls with foods and drinks - they are a little pricey and the clientele is mostly tourists, but if you are craving Sushi or Nachos or a fancy Smoothie - you can get one there.  The large patio of the building had a huge screen during the world cup and occasionally has events.  This week there is an "Octoberfest" set up with long tables and a bar with stacks of mugs for the Paulaner beer that is on tap.  It is not quite as crowded as the Octoberfest in Munich (or even as the Octoberfest in Leavenworth Washington), but at least you can get a beer other than the local Cruzcampo on tap if you like.  I gave it a pass.

October 2 - Specialty Shopping

This morning after watching the end of the 18 inning world series game (that ended at 9:30 am our time), Albert and I headed out to the store for our normal Saturday shopping.  We definitely have some "regular" meals that are part of our rotation, but every week or so, I try to add something new.  Today, I decided to make a beef vegetable soup.  Luckily everything I needed was available at our regular store - even fresh green beans and celery and Worcestershire sauce - none of which I had purchased before today.

On the way home, we stopped at the small store where we buy cheap diet coke.  I waited outside with the other groceries and enjoyed these two with their puppies.

At home, I put together a large pot of soup.

Later - Albert and I went out for a walk.  I had talked to a couple of students in my classes and learned about two specialty shops that I wanted to check out.  First we went to the Hiperoriente - a specialty grocery store with foods from China, Japan, India, Korea, and the Philippines.  We didn't buy anything, but we found things that I haven't seen anywhere else (like jackfruit, bamboo shoots, and lumpia wrappers) - definitely able to think about some new meals now.

Later in our walk, we made our way down near the Cathedral.  There was a huge line outside the FNAC.  I have no idea why.... they were having a sale today, but was this really a line to get 15% off of video games and TV's?  I am pretty sure I will never know.

Our walk took us down a lovely street that I am pretty sure we have not been on before - seems like a never ending supply of  little side streets.

Finally arrived at our destination.  The small (and I mean small) specialty Russian store tucked down a pedestrian alley off of a side street. 

Mostly it had Russian language books, newspapers, and Movies; but it did have a couple of shelves of Russian sauces and pickled items (which I don't know enough about even to imagine experimenting with) and a small refrigerator with.......SOUR CREAM.  YAAAY - we bought some.  

We never in a million years would have found this store if it hadn't been for the suggestion from my Polish classmate - I am so thankful.

On our way home, we stopped off at the bakery to get some fresh bread to have with the soup.  And then enjoyed the chaos of decorations being hung for next weekends big procession.

Tonight we gain an hour as we revert to standard time- a couple of weeks ahead of the US.  So for a couple of weeks we will be one hour closer to our family and friends back home.

October 26 - Ice Cream

This morning, we had a couple of things to celebrate in class today.  One of my peers was having a birthday and another was having her final day in class after nearly two months.  Since it was Friday and we had lots to celebrate, I went out to the market with the teacher during the break where she picked out a small ice cream cake and I picked out a small packet of candles (she did not realize that I had chosen "magic candles" that continue to self-light even after they have been blown out).

We had a small celebration with the teachers from the other classes joining us for a rendition of  Feliz Cumpleaños and the poor unsuspecting student then blew out,...and blew out,...and blew out,....and blew out candles.

After class, I came home and did a little Spanish and waited to hear from Emily.  Today, she had her big qualifying exam and she has been working like crazy.  When we got the word that she had passed - we were not surprised, but you can never tell what will happen with any given committee and so we were excited and relieved.   We ordered some cup cakes from Cold Stone Creamery for her to celebrate. 

Then tonight, Albert and I went out to a small Tapas bar close to home.  It was a nice low key place.  After dinner, Albert had a small cup of brownie ice cream from our favorite gelato place.  (To be fair we have only tried two or three - but we really like this one.)

After dinner, I went for a short walk.  Near the end of my walk it started to rain, so I headed in.  I did a quick walk up to the roof to check on the progress.  The scaffolding went unused today because of the on and off rain.

I do like the views from the roof.  But I am pretty sure this guys laundry is not going to be dry any time soon.

October 25 - International Food

This morning before school, I made a large dish of baked macaroni and cheese.  I timed it so that it was just coming out of the oven as I was ready to leave for school.  I covered it in foil and packed it in towels for insulation and then carried our laundry basket with the mac and cheese and the apple pie that I made last night to school for our midday international food fair.

The heavy basket made the walk a little more of a workout than usual. 

Class was good, I have some great classmates and I am really enjoying my teacher.

After class, the teachers set up for the 2pm food fair.  Most of my class was staying, so we just spent the half hour between class and the "lunch" chatting in our classroom.  Around 2 o'clock, Albert showed up and we made our way over to the classroom to sample everyone's dishes.  I was happy that the mac and cheese was still warm.  YAY insulation!

For the first hour, folks mostly ate and talked.  There were long tables of foods from all over - Crepes from France, Bulgogi from Korea, Pickles from Poland, Cookies from the Czech Republic, Samorejo from Spain, Red Bean Paste Cookies from China, Sushi from Japan, Spicy rice from Algeria and on and on.  I didn't come close to trying everything, but I did enjoy the things I tried.

The second hour we listened to music both from the internet and from a student who is here studying Flamenco guitar - and did some dancing.  A good chance to work off some of the food, listen to some Spanish music, and enjoy each others company.

When it was all over - we needed to clean up so that the afternoon classes could start at 4.  I brought some pretty large containers since I wasn't sure how many leftovers I would have.  Turns out, I could have brought much smaller containers - there was one small piece of pie and about one serving of macaroni and cheese - and lots of kind words.

After class, we carried everything home - much lighter now and with Albert's help it was an easy walk home.

Last week, I found an announcement for a free Data Science talk near our house.  I couldn't figure out exactly why it was happening (was it a sales pitch for Data Science services for businesses, an academic lecture, something else?) - but I showed it to Albert and he was interested enough to sign up.  The talk was this evening and we walked over together.  I left him there and went to the store before heading home to do some Spanish.

A couple of hours later, he came home.  It seems that there is a private "school" that is training students in data science techniques, and there are already branches in Barcelona and Madrid (and maybe somewhere else?) - they have just opened a new branch in Sevilla and this was an introductory talk - basically, what is data science and what can you do with it - a way to explain to potential students about their program.  Since Albert is not interested in paying to take classes in Spanish about data science, it turned out to be just a chance to practice some Spanish listening where he was already familiar with the content and vocabulary, to talk to a person who sat next to him (who spoke some English) who is looking at retraining after losing a job, and to get a free notebook.

October 24 - Baseball and Apple Pie

I had a bit of trouble sleeping last night - luckily the first game of the world series was on at 2:30am our time - so I at least had something fun to watch.  Luckily, I went back to sleep for a couple of hours before class.

I used the time during my break at school to visit a small tea and spice shop a 10 minute walk from the school.  I didn't find everything I wanted, but I did find nutmeg.  YAY!

Tomorrow's cultural activity is an international food celebration.  The idea is that each participating student will bring a food that they would eat in their own country to share with the group.  I considered stopping off for a party box of chicken nuggets and a few orders of fries from McDonalds, but only for a moment.  

After class, I finished baking the cookie dough that I made yesterday and refrigerated over night, but those are for us - not to share.

 After the cookies, I did some Spanish and made something resembling an apple pie.  Of course, the fact that I have no shortening, no rolling pin, and no pie plate meant a bit of creativity, but it smells delicious so I am willing to inflict it on my peers at tomorrow's international food celebration.

October 23 - Archive of the Indies with Albert

Today, Albert met me at the end of class and we walked over to the Archive of the Indies.  I had been before and was excited to visit again.  Sadly, the engineering exhibit with all of the infrastructure documents (for bridges, roads, buildings, ....) was no longer on display.  But we did manage to see the movie (complete with English subtitles) that provided a history of the building. Also, we spent some time checking out the many works by the artist Murillo which are currently on display.

After our visit to the archives, we enjoyed the warm weather on our walk home.  We took a quick detour through one of the MANY small parks around the city.  In addition to the obligatory statue, there we lots of folks enjoying the lovely day on the benches throughout the park.

This evening, after dinner I headed out to my weekly intercambio.  There were more than 30 students there this evening with a pretty even split between Spaniards learning English and folks from other countries learning Spanish.  We played a number of rounds of TABOO with the English students giving clues in English and the Spanish students (like me) guessing in Spanish and then the other way around.  It was a little crazy with everyone playing at once, but we had a good time.

October 22 - New Jeans for Albert

Class this morning was fun.  We did a listening exercise and I was pleasantly surprised to find that at the end of the recording, I actually had understood the speaker.  Of course his Spanish was pretty slow and his grammar was good, but that has not always helped me in the past.  I love small signs of progress. 

Today we were reviewing imperatives (commands).  One popular place for imperatives to pop up is in recipes (Wash the lettuce, Beat the eggs, Add the sugar...)  Our homework was to take a favorite recipe and write it in Spanish to practice with imperatives.  While trying to decide on a favorite recipe, I came across a recipe for vanilla extract... if you could call it a recipe.  I have not had very good luck with vanilla here so far, but I do know where to get vodka and vanilla beans - so perhaps I will start some this week.  Since it takes about 6 weeks, if I started now, I would have some for my Christmas cooking.

After class, instead of going to our regular grocery store, I met Albert at the Primark so he could buy a new pair of jeans.  I never actually saw him in the jeans - so I only have a picture of the outside of the fitting room.

After Primark, we tried out the grocery store at the end of the mall.  It wasn't good for us, so we only bought a couple of rolls, and headed home.  While Albert was in class, I made some Italian sausage for tonight's pizza and went out to our regular store to pick up the rest of the things on my list.  Then I made pizza for dinner tonight and the red sauce for tomorrow's ravioli.  

Tonight, a little Spanish and some reading and an early bedtime.  

October 21 - Sticky Buns

It is supposed to warm up again tomorrow, but today was still a little cool for my taste.  So, what better way to battle the cool weather than baking.  Today's experiment was sticky buns - cinnamon buns with a homemade caramel topping.  I almost never have the ingredients for a single recipe that I can find on the web, and today was no different.  But, piecing together ideas from a few different sources and then using some of my own kitchen sense, I was able to come up with a tasty result.

I didn't even get a picture before one was missing...mmmm.  Since I don't have a mixer or even a rolling pin, I will probably never do more than a half dozen or so at a time.  Of course, with just the two of us, I probably shouldn't do more than two at a time.  

The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and Spanish and taking a walk down by the river.  Then, for dinner, we headed out to a Mexican restaurant that I went to while Albert was in the US.  As before, it was tasty.  

On the way home we stopped at the Farmacia.  I have been battling some chest congestion, and last night I took the last Mucinex that I brought from home.  You cannot buy anything stronger than shampoo here without going to the pharmacy, so it was time for a visit.  You can get many things from the pharmacy without a prescription, but not without talking to the pharmacist.  That is, you cannot browse an isle full of cold remedies and pick the one you are interested in, instead you need to describe your symptoms to the pharmacist (No HIPPA here folks.) who will then give you something for the symptoms you describe.  I didn't get exactly what I hoped for, but I did get something close.  So, we will see if the pharmacist knows best.  

October 20 - Wet Walk

Of course the regular shopping, cooking, and a little Spanish today.  It started raining just as we were heading out to the store and then with only a few breaks it rained all afternoon and evening.

This afternoon, I was ready for my afternoon walk and only a light rain was falling, so I put on a water resistant jacket and headed out.  I headed in to center city.  On my way, I passed a guy in a bucket truck.  I assume he was fixing a down wire (or maybe stealing cable).  But, he kept yanking at the wire that was stuck in a tree across the street - I didn't stop to watch - I felt like safety was pretty low on his priority list.

I headed down to the square near my school where I had seen the tents yesterday.  It turns out that it was a "fair" with booths representing the many Catholic social justice groups in Sevilla.  One group focuses on hunger.  Another on child labor....  I didn't really engage with anyone in the tents - so I am not sure exactly what the idea was - raising awareness, money, volunteers,...  But, I was impressed that there were so many different groups.   As you might imagine, this was not a big tourist draw and the weather was not great - alas there were not many people except the ones manning the tents.

After the square, I headed down Constitucion Ave.  Even with the dark sky, it is a beautiful walk.

One of the large stores (FNAC) has a photo exhibit on the side of the building.  Like lots of other folks, I stopped to check out the photos (some of them are really beautiful), and of course if even a fraction of us who stopped to look and snap a photo decide to post our photos, it will be a LOT of free advertising for the store since the name of the store is front and center in the exhibit.

Further down the street, the area was filled with smoke from the guy selling chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  

If a more "American" treat is more your style, you could always have a special for Halloween "Monster Donut" from Dunkin'.

By the time I made the turn and started heading for home, the rain had piked up.  By the time I made it half way home the sky had opened up and the thunder started.  Luckily it was warm out, because I was absolutely drenched by the time I got back to our bridge.  As I headed down the street toward home, I noticed that even the cow had an umbrella.

Supposed to be less of a chance of rain tomorrow - hopefully can go down to the river and see some boat races.

October 19 - Sour Cream?

Went in early today to do a quick English review with my teacher before class - then lots of Spanish!  The rain didn't materialize today, so the walk to and from school was much more pleasant today.

On the way home, one of the squares was filled with tents, but the area was roped off and there were no signs that I could find - maybe I will try to walk through tomorrow and see what I can see.

When I got home from school, I spent a short time working with Emily helping her get checked in for her flights back to the US.  She has been in Ethiopia this week and her superslow internet was making online check-in hard.  Thankfully, we have great internet here.   As I type, her flight is just leaving Ethiopia and in something like 30 short hours, she should be home.

Is was a relatively light shopping day, but Albert and I did visit two stores trying to find something like sour cream (or Nata Agria), but no real luck.  I did find a product that translated directly is "fresh cheese smoothie" or "whipped fresh cheese" which may work.  If not, I do know where to find cooking cream and lemon juice - so I will just make my own.

Early in the week, we bought a small (half loaf?) of bread to make BLATs (Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, Tomato sandwiches).  Not wanting the last pieces to go to waste, today I made some grilled cheese sandwiches.  Yesterday when it was cold and rainy probably would have been a better day for warm comforting grilled cheese, but alas.

Since I didn't have lunch until nearly 5pm, we are going to wait until tomorrow to try our another restaurant for dinner.  Tomorrow there is also some boat racing on the river, hopefully the weather is like today and not like yesterday!