Nun Cookies!

Today was an adventure day! A lot of people are traveling this weekend, but I stayed in Sevilla for one more weekend before all of my travel plans/madness start. Heather, Natalie and I decided to go on an expedition in search of the famous Convento de San Leandro, where the nuns there sell different kinds of sweets. The interesting part is that they're not allowed to see people outside of the convent, or people aren't allowed to see them, so they sit by a turn table and you kind of yell through it to them and exchange euros for dulces via the turntable. It was quite a search to get there, Sevilla being the labyrinth it is. Also, we were standing directly in front of the convent, which is not clearly marked, and asked a policeman where are "las monjas que venden dulces" (where are the nuns sell sweets) and he pointed us in a completely different direction! After about 45 more minutes of wandering, we returned to our original spot and realized our mistake. No pasa nada, we got to see a lot of an area that we hadn't seen before. On the way there we walked through a bar area we often go to at not, I hadn't realized that during the day it's lined with interesting shops and art galleries. Sevilla needs to be explored at all times of day.

The turntable

This is Yema, the nun cookie someone suggested we should try. The outside white part was basically pure sugar and I'm not too sure what was on the inside. It was too sweet for me and I ended up throwing the rest out, but it's the adventure that counts!

An art gallery we stumbled upon

Later we walked up to Plaza Alameda de Hercules for lunch, which is surrounded by tons of cafes. It seems ridiculous, but even after being here a month I don't know half of the things on the menu! Most of them are some for of ham or pork. We ended up walking into an exposition set up promoting personal health and they gave us free scarves and some weird yogurt drinks. Then we met up with a few more CC-CS people and hung out by the river for the rest of the day. 

Walking Tours

Last night we had our first walking tour in my Antonio Machado class. It's not such a great time because our class meets Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 to 9:30, so it's dark out by the time we leave. We walked up Calle Sierpes, which now is a major shopping area in Sevilla, but it is surrounded by streets named for friends of Antonio Machado. We made our way through Plaza de Encarnacion, up to Calle Duenas, where El Palacio de Duenas is located. This is one of the many homes of La Duquesa de Alba, and the place she got married (my senora tells me it was her 3rd marriage and she is in her 80's) in October of 2011. The building is also part of the inspiration for Machado's poem "Retrato" which evokes a very strong sense of place in its imagery of (roughly translated) "a patio in Sevilla in a orchard of lemon trees". As my professor tells us, patios are a very important part of Andalucian culture. It's a space that most buildings here have, usually decorated in ceramic tiles and in the center of the building. He instructed us to return during the day and promises that it's worth it to see the Palacio. Then he treated us to tinto de verano (red wine with fanta in it, a very popular drink here) and told us to be responsible tonight!

International Women's Day

Never knew about this one before I came to Spain, but apparently it's a big deal in Europe. It is, after all, an international holiday, but I don't think the states pay much attention to it. There's always something going on on San Jacinto/ Puente de Triana, so there was a big set up and a huge crowd of people blocking the street. This was a group of women singing "Stand By Me", which was kind of funny to hear sung with a Spanish accent.

Tutorias

There's a program through CC-CS which sets us up as tutors for kids learning English in Sevilla. The kids we get can be any age, I got lucky and I'm tutoring a 16 year old girl named Paula who's very sweet. She can understand me if I talk a bit more slowly than my usual pace and she can speak a bit, but sometimes gets a bit flustered. She can definitely speak way more English than I could Spanish when I was 16! I go to her flat for an hour every Monday and Thursday and we just chat for a bit (I get 10 euro an hour! Wee!). In the schools here they teach British English, which gets a little confusing for me when I try to help her with her homework. Mostly I just try to keep up a conversation and ask her to tell me stories or plans so she can practice speaking. Today we started talking about money and how it's different in the U.S., she asked me to bring American money next time because she's never seen it before. I told her that I go to college over 2 hours away from home and she thought that was crazy. In Spain, most students go to college in their hometown and live with their parents throughout. It's interesting for me too to talk about Sevilla and how she's growing up there, yay!

Grazalema

Un pueblo chiquitito y precioso, Grazalema is one of the Pueblos Blancos of Andalusia. The Center organized a free trip for us, so I went to explore. There was a bit of hiking to do, which was gorgeous, it was nice to be outside of the city for a little bit. Even the bus ride there was incredible, with amazing vistas of farmlands and greenery. Then we walked down to the tiny town, which takes about 15 minutes to walk around the entire thing, and got tapas. We tried the famous payoyo cheese, which I didn't think was very impressive, but it was alright, and I had chorizo frito (literally fried sausage), which was delicious, but i'm kind of regretting eating it. Then we walked a bit more around the town, it was so quiet except for in the center. Almost no one to be seen on the side streets, which is quite the comparison to Sevilla, where people like to joke that "la mitad de la vida esta en la calle" (have of life is spent in the street).

View from our hike: 

Hiking! (Reppin' AGD)

Pueblo Blanco...get it?

Grazalema is built into a mountain and has amazing views of the farmlands below: 

Lavender: 

Que Mono! (How cute!)

Antonio Machado

Last night I had my first Thinking in Andalusian: Essays, Folklore, Politics and Poetry, the Case of the Family of Antonio Machado of Sevilla. That's a mouthful. I'm taking this class because I have to for my major, and it was the class on my schedule that I was least excited for. I know nothing of Antonio Machado, and I don't have very much interest in Spanish poetry. However, it's looking like this class is going to be awesome. The professor is charismatic, emphatic and interesting. He kept us constantly involved and on our toes and promises to give a panoramic view of the Machado family and their influence/ how they were influenced by Sevilla. A major point that he emphasized throughout our entire first class is that for a good part of the class we will "leer con los pies" (read with our feet), meaning we'll be going on a bunch of walking tours throughout Sevilla and getting to know the city even better. The class is obviously very focused on the works of the Machado's, which I'm hoping will interest me, but we get to learn about them via getting to know Sevilla. I think it's going to be pretty cool.

Communication

It's a pretty cool thought that I can communicate in another language. I'm constantly making mistakes, but I can explain my way around them in a way that gets my point across. The fact that I can communicate is a form of fluency, which is pretty cool.

My classes for the continuation period, so...my real classes, started this week. I think I'll be interested in my Jews and Muslims class, but the professor isn't riveting, and 2 hours in a hot classroom makes me very sleepy. The quantity of information he throws at us is a little overwhelming, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up on the work. I just had my first Women Writers of Spain class today, which wouldn't be my first choice to take, but I think I'm going to like it. The professor is very good and encourages our participation and I think she'll make the class interesting. Tonight I have Thinking in Andalusian: Studies of Antonio Machado from 7:30 to 9:30. It's a pretty crappy time slot, but I have to take the class for my major. Hopefully it'll be more interesting than it sounds.

I'm told that the biggest botellon of the year is going on today around the University of Sevilla! I don't think I'll be able to make it because I have to tutor today and I have classes. O well, hopefully that translates into a fun night out tonight!