Ok, finally, here are my pictures from Feria:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/FeriaDeAbril
Not entirely my fault, my computer screen recently decided to die, so I have been using maggie's computer.. don't know if I will have time to fix mine before it is time to come home... oh yeah! I am coming home slightly earlier than expected for the summer, JUNE 21st! basically because I am going to travel to london and germany early in the month and after that I will be out of money with nothing to do adn no one to do it with. soooo I figured rather than chilling in my apartment in Sevilla (which will be unbearably hot by then) why not just hang out at home?!!
ANYway, feria, as you can see from the pictures, was pretty sweet. Sevilla has the biggest and most famous feria in the south of Spain so it was pretty cool that we got to go. The only problem for most extranjeros, or anyone who hasn't been in Sevilla very long, is that most of the casetas (party tents that make up most of the feria) are private, so you need to know someone to get in. There are a few public ones but they are, of course, crowded. Luckily, we are super cool and popular so we always had somewhere to go. AND, we are SO cool and important that in one of our freind's casetas we met the President of Andalucia!!! NEEEEAT!!! iIt would be like if you randomly met Aaaarnold downtown.... uhhh sweet!! He happens to be a mutual freind's uncle.... yeah.... we are kind of a big deal. I don't have the picture yet because it is on someone else's camera but when I do I will post it here!
Since then I have mostly just been working, it rained through feria and has been kind of yucky sincethen but this week it has started to clear up. Just in time, because my old 'pareja en crimen' Alycia will be arriving at the train station in just a few hours!!! This weekend we are going to go see a smaller feria in El Puerto de Santa Maria and stay at Hayley's. So, I will have to lend Alycia some of my feria gear: big earrings, flower to match the outfit, etc. Then I am planning on bringing her into school one day so someone from my life will get to see what my little gypsies are really like! After that is another puente (they do love thier long weekends here, God bless Spain) and we are going to Lagos, Portugal! It is only a short 4 hour bus ride away, I am excited!
After that there will only be one short month left of school, I can not beleive it!
Home all is well with everyone,
MC
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
We went to Barcelona... and now its Feria!
hey hey,
I have been slacking with the blogs!
OK to sum up Barcelona:
I had been there before but neither of my roommates had so we did the must see touristy places, most having something to do with Gaudi. We went to the Scrada Familia which wascool because when I went 2 years ago I only saw the outside.The we went to see some of Gaudi's buildings and went inside La Casa Mila which was also very cool. Gaudi has a kind of Dr. Seuss style which I dig. WE stayed in a rather crappy hostel but it had a really cool location, right in El Barrio Gotico. Lots of cool shops and tapas places. Like Granada, Barcelona has a cool, hippy vibe but it is also very modern. It also feels like you have gone to a totally different country since the regional language is Catalan, not Spanish. We also stopped by the Picasso museum and of course we went to the Parque Guell.
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Barcelona
Now were are in the week of Feria here in Sevilla. Feria, which literally means "fair", is NOT a couple of cow stables, a hot dog eating contest and a Ferris wheel Although there is a wheel there somewhere, Feria is mosly made up of tents where people have parties all week along. A lot of them are private parties but others are basically bars that people can go in, dance, drink manzanilla (a strong wine tpical of the region), eat tapas and repeat.
Last night I went over to out friend Mati's house to celebrate the "alumbrado" or turning on of the lights which signifies the official start of Feria. We ate the traditional fried fish and drank manzanilla of course and then marched over to the Feria to watch them switch on all the lights at midnight. Once the lights were turned on everyone cheered and kissed each other, just like new years. We went in for a little and managed to get away by 2am, pretty good for a school night. Getting up at seven was rough this morning though, I must admit. I have to work one more day this week, even though my lucky roommates who teach in Sevilla proper do not! I was supposed to go to the Feria today but since it was POURING RAIN plans got canceled for today. It is supposed to keep raining all week long. The sevillanos say it never fails, it always rains during Feria. You couldn't really tell last night, the rain did not stop anyone from coming out, it was FULL of people, all dresses to the nines of course. I am definitely going either tomorrow or Thursday though, rain or shine!
Hasta Luego,
MC
I have been slacking with the blogs!
OK to sum up Barcelona:
I had been there before but neither of my roommates had so we did the must see touristy places, most having something to do with Gaudi. We went to the Scrada Familia which wascool because when I went 2 years ago I only saw the outside.The we went to see some of Gaudi's buildings and went inside La Casa Mila which was also very cool. Gaudi has a kind of Dr. Seuss style which I dig. WE stayed in a rather crappy hostel but it had a really cool location, right in El Barrio Gotico. Lots of cool shops and tapas places. Like Granada, Barcelona has a cool, hippy vibe but it is also very modern. It also feels like you have gone to a totally different country since the regional language is Catalan, not Spanish. We also stopped by the Picasso museum and of course we went to the Parque Guell.
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/Barcelona
Now were are in the week of Feria here in Sevilla. Feria, which literally means "fair", is NOT a couple of cow stables, a hot dog eating contest and a Ferris wheel Although there is a wheel there somewhere, Feria is mosly made up of tents where people have parties all week along. A lot of them are private parties but others are basically bars that people can go in, dance, drink manzanilla (a strong wine tpical of the region), eat tapas and repeat.
Last night I went over to out friend Mati's house to celebrate the "alumbrado" or turning on of the lights which signifies the official start of Feria. We ate the traditional fried fish and drank manzanilla of course and then marched over to the Feria to watch them switch on all the lights at midnight. Once the lights were turned on everyone cheered and kissed each other, just like new years. We went in for a little and managed to get away by 2am, pretty good for a school night. Getting up at seven was rough this morning though, I must admit. I have to work one more day this week, even though my lucky roommates who teach in Sevilla proper do not! I was supposed to go to the Feria today but since it was POURING RAIN plans got canceled for today. It is supposed to keep raining all week long. The sevillanos say it never fails, it always rains during Feria. You couldn't really tell last night, the rain did not stop anyone from coming out, it was FULL of people, all dresses to the nines of course. I am definitely going either tomorrow or Thursday though, rain or shine!
Hasta Luego,
MC
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Semana Santa was 2 weeks ago... and it was awesome
Some of you still may have spring break, some have may have already (or long since) delved into the work world which does not cordially provide a week-long hiatus, but as for me, working as a teacher does have its perks! Yes, even though I have graduated from 17 years of organized schooling I still got to enjoy a spring break, although not like any I have had before. In spain it is not called ´spring break´of course, but, it being a dominantly catholic country, ´Semana Santa´, or Holy Week. In Sevilla especially, it is a very big to do.
The week before easter is actaully a bigger event than easter itself. All week long different churches around the city process with relgious ´floats´if you will, depicting different scenes of the passion of christ. And, if the church organization is really fancy, the have the jesus float AND a virgin mary one too. I went out to see many of these porcessions on Palm Sunday which was the most important day and it was quite impressive and unlike anything else I have ever seen. Luckily, my roommate Jennifer went with our native sevilla freind Mati, who has attended around 30 Semana Santa´s in sevilla, and she was more than happy to tell us all of the relative information and history of every procession that we saw. She also knew where to stand and how to get all of the best camera angels. Pays to know people. Monday we all went out with Mati again and hit some of the most popular processions, which meant TONS of people, stacked like sardins, waiting for an hour to watch a Jesús y la Virgín pass by. It was an experience.
By Tuesday I felt that I had absorbed a great deal of culture and history and felt it was time to do as many of the Sevillanos do and get the heck out of town to escape the literally thundering hoards of people that come in to see Semana Santa in Sevilla. So, I caught a bus down to Barbate in Cadiz to see my dear amiga Julia. We had big plans for going to the beach and surfing since she has an AMAZINGLY situated apartment, right on the beach with an amazing veiw. (She can SEE africa from her balcony. no joke.) I arrived late Tuesday afternoon, we can a cerveza byt he beach, some delicious tapas and observed the beach. Unfortunatly, by Wednesday mroning the weather had changed and it RAINED for the remainder of our beach weekend. sigh. we managed to entertain ourselves but we were getting a little stir crazy by the end.
Saturday Julia and Hayley came back up with me to Sevilla to attend Lydia´s going-away party as she had to back to Germany last week, sad!!! We will miss Lydia :(
As usual, photos are better at explaining than words, so here you go:
http://picasaweb.google.es/mclauerman/MiSemanaSanta
Take care!
Beso,
mary claire
The week before easter is actaully a bigger event than easter itself. All week long different churches around the city process with relgious ´floats´if you will, depicting different scenes of the passion of christ. And, if the church organization is really fancy, the have the jesus float AND a virgin mary one too. I went out to see many of these porcessions on Palm Sunday which was the most important day and it was quite impressive and unlike anything else I have ever seen. Luckily, my roommate Jennifer went with our native sevilla freind Mati, who has attended around 30 Semana Santa´s in sevilla, and she was more than happy to tell us all of the relative information and history of every procession that we saw. She also knew where to stand and how to get all of the best camera angels. Pays to know people. Monday we all went out with Mati again and hit some of the most popular processions, which meant TONS of people, stacked like sardins, waiting for an hour to watch a Jesús y la Virgín pass by. It was an experience.
By Tuesday I felt that I had absorbed a great deal of culture and history and felt it was time to do as many of the Sevillanos do and get the heck out of town to escape the literally thundering hoards of people that come in to see Semana Santa in Sevilla. So, I caught a bus down to Barbate in Cadiz to see my dear amiga Julia. We had big plans for going to the beach and surfing since she has an AMAZINGLY situated apartment, right on the beach with an amazing veiw. (She can SEE africa from her balcony. no joke.) I arrived late Tuesday afternoon, we can a cerveza byt he beach, some delicious tapas and observed the beach. Unfortunatly, by Wednesday mroning the weather had changed and it RAINED for the remainder of our beach weekend. sigh. we managed to entertain ourselves but we were getting a little stir crazy by the end.
Saturday Julia and Hayley came back up with me to Sevilla to attend Lydia´s going-away party as she had to back to Germany last week, sad!!! We will miss Lydia :(
As usual, photos are better at explaining than words, so here you go:
http://picasaweb.google.es/mclauerman/MiSemanaSanta
Take care!
Beso,
mary claire
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