December 4 - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

This morning, the workers came to our apartment to do a little painting on our small balconies.  First they collected the shutters and took them out of the apartment.  I guess this was better for them because they would not need to all be in our apartment at the same time trying to paint the shutters and the railings.  However, seeing the struggle that they had to remove and "label" them, I am not convinced.  The one painter who stayed in the apartment to paint the railings was just getting set up when I left for school. 

I let him know that Albert was in the kitchen working (in his new little office nook) and that I was leaving.  Luckily there were no major communications required for the morning because the painter speaks only Spanish (reasonable of course since he lives and works in Spain :)

I enjoyed a lovely walk to school....

After school, Albert was still hanging out letting the painter in and out of the apartment, so I went to the store alone.  I am not sure if it is because of the holidays this week or what, but the place was a madhouse.  Every cashier was open and the lines stretched well into the aisles.  Luckily I only needed a few things and wasn't in a hurry.

By the time I got home, the railings were painted - the doors are still drying somewhere I presume.  The painter was not there and Albert was ready to get out for his walk- my turn to man the door.  When the painter came back to sweep up and get his stuff, we had a short conversation and he was off - they are supposed to be back on Thursday.  I was surprised since Thursday is a holiday, but he said that they would be working.  I will believe it when they actually show up.

My partner at Intercambio had a birthday today - so I baked cookies and brought them.  I made enough so that now we have a couple dozen in our own freezer for the coming week.  

Southern Spain had elections on Sunday, we had a nice conversation at Intercambio about the government in Spain.  The holiday this Thursday is Constitution Day where they will celebrate their 40 years as a democracy- there are lots of people around who remember life where there were no free elections.  Sadly, still less than 50 percent of the eligible voters in southern Spain voted - sound familiar?  Fun Fact:  in some countries (like Australia) it is compulsory that eligible voters cast a ballot with fines for non-compliance without a valid reason.  

Of course, the walk home was lit by thousands of watts of Christmas lights which are on every night until 11 pm until January 6th when the Three Kings bring gifts for all the children.  It sounds like the parades on the night of January 5th with the arrival of the kings are quite the spectacle, I look forward to it.  

However, it is very unusual for people in Sevilla to have Christmas Trees (they are much more likely to have a huge nativity setup) - but there are definitely businesses and hotels that have adopted the tree tradition - and there are even a few Santa Clauses hanging around.  I guess the world really does keep getting smaller and smaller.