Although I apparently still look like one. I don't know what to tell you, I try my darnedest to blend in with the hip-euro fashions. I wear the boots with the short dresses and tights, I tuck my jeans in, I have an ever-widening collection of pashminas... and I understand that once I open my mouth that of course people should think that I am at the very least not Spanish, but when clad in all Euro-bought clothing and all I utter is a quick "Hola" during dos besos... I am still instantly pegged. Sigh. Is it the freckles? The fact that I'm "clarita" (ie super white)? A girl last night said that Americans have really white teeth, and that mine are really white, so I look American. Thanks???
I was talking with Noelia the other day and she said that her impression of me and my friends last year is that we were basically glorified tourists, but that this year, I am really here, living the life of a true Sevilliana, and that by year's end it will as if I have lived here all my life. I seriously doubt that, although I am impatient for some means of measurable progress to this end. I have been making considerable efforts to get out and experience culture in an authentic way. (Yes, OTHER than drinking at authentic bars). Some of my more recent efforts include:
1. I went with my roommate Rocio last Friday to a "e-spectaculo" (yes, a spectacular!)which was a blend of theater and dance, flamenco in particular. It roughly followed the story of the Greek god Dionisus (Dionisio) and had quite a lot of interpretive dance breaks,(claro). After the show we chatted with other viewers about the performance. I nodded earnestly at all commentary and added "Si, bailaban muy bien " ("Yes, they danced very well.") What was the even more... interesting part of the cultural evening occurred on Rocio's and my walk home from downtown.
We were hungry and decided to stop in at a bar that purportedly offered "Italian tapas" this culinary cultural infusion sounded interesting so we decided to give it a try. Upon entering the almost empty bar, the waiter welcomes us excitedly with (translated):" Ahhh, you have come for the 'espectaculo'!!!!" We just laughed awkwardly and asked about the tapas, which turned out to be only 'montaditos' which are basically just tiny little sandwiches which you can find in any SPANISH bar, oh, and Spanish olives. We were disappointed of course, at the lack of Italian-ness of these tapas but were tired and hungry so we accepted. When we were getting ready to leave, a woman, one of the 3 other people in the bar, came to us and told us that we couldn't leave because the "espectaculo" was about to start! What espectaculo? Oh, there is a gay guy in the back putting his dress and makeup on, then he is going to come out and sing some Spanish songs for you!!! You can't leave yet!!! She proceeded to refill our drinks and force us out of sheer awkwardness to stay. We somewhat anxiously and uncomfortably sipped our drinks and tried to think of an escape route but there seemed to be none. I was fine with watching a little Spanish drag, but Rocio had to get up early for here Academy in the morning, and it was already late. Finally, the diva comes out. Gorgeous! ...But she doesn't seem to be planning on singing anytime soon. She comes over with redbull and cigarette and thanks us for staying. ("....For staying to see you drink in dress??" Is what I was thinking) FINALLY, another group of about 15 people came in, I assume to see the espectaculo, and Rocio and I slipped out. We laughed most of the rest of the way home at the surreal irony: We went into for Italian tapas, and we got sandwiches and a drag queen.
2. This past week I have been going to a European film festival here in Sevilla. Out of the 6 films I got to see, one I really liked, one was pretty ok, and the rest were slow, boring and pointless. I can do slow films, but I need there be some sort of purpose of sitting in a dark room with 300 strangers by the end. I'm bummed because most of the movies that I REALLY wanted to see are now sold out, so we went to see some random ones instead. Today (since all the other movies were sold out) we are going to see a series of shorts, should be interesting. I hope the subtitling is good!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
America: Not so stupid after all...
I had been been building up anxiety about the elections so much that by Nov 4, all I could do was join a huge group of Americans at an Irish pub downtown and drink beer and watch CNN even though the results wouldn't be out Spain time until early morning. With somewhat relaxed nerves I left the bar at 1:30am only because I had to get up for work in the morning. Obama had been winning in Indiana, a normally Republican state. Could all the hype be true? Could he really be winning? I dared to hope.
My eyes burst open that morning at 8am and I reached to turn on my computer. "Obama wins!" reads the headline. I stared for a minute in disbelief, then read the whole article even though I had the information that I wanted. Then I had to get ready for school. Upon my arrival, one of the teachers that I work with presented me with flowers and told me "OBAMA! Felicidades! Congratulations!!!" I replied that I hadn't actually won anything, so I didn't deserve the flowers, but that I greatly appreciated the gesture. In the halls that day from other Spaniards I got big smiles and thumbs-up. "The Obama has win eh?? Que bien!"
Later that day in my Uni class I got similar responses, and had to explain a little about the American voting system, how the points work etc. (All in Spanish, of course. "Electoral college" in not yet in my Spanish vocabulary.) But needless to say, everyone was very supportive and very pleased.
On Nov. 5th 2008, I was not ashamed to admit I was an American in Europe. On the contrary, I was proud.
My eyes burst open that morning at 8am and I reached to turn on my computer. "Obama wins!" reads the headline. I stared for a minute in disbelief, then read the whole article even though I had the information that I wanted. Then I had to get ready for school. Upon my arrival, one of the teachers that I work with presented me with flowers and told me "OBAMA! Felicidades! Congratulations!!!" I replied that I hadn't actually won anything, so I didn't deserve the flowers, but that I greatly appreciated the gesture. In the halls that day from other Spaniards I got big smiles and thumbs-up. "The Obama has win eh?? Que bien!"
Later that day in my Uni class I got similar responses, and had to explain a little about the American voting system, how the points work etc. (All in Spanish, of course. "Electoral college" in not yet in my Spanish vocabulary.) But needless to say, everyone was very supportive and very pleased.
On Nov. 5th 2008, I was not ashamed to admit I was an American in Europe. On the contrary, I was proud.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Feliz Halloween!
Si, hoy es Halloween!
I'm in Puerto again, my little hide-away to the south. Hayley and I were debating which would be the best place to dress-up and run around like the weird Americans that we are , and finally Puerto seemed the better choice. It's raining, which will literally put a damper on our plans, but I have confidence that we will have fun anyway. I have put together a 4 euro pirata costume and H is borrowing some angel wings (the plan is the force her novio to be a devil so they are be a duo). There are more than double the amount of American assistants in Puerto this year and two of them are especially cool, and one is going to use my jacket to be Sarah Palin.... haha SCARRRRRRY!!!! She's got the creepy-Stepford-smile downpat. We will see if anyone gets the joke here.
Work continues to be ridiculously chill. I had a free hour last week so I looked online for Halloween word problems for my math classes. I printed out around 5 and showed them to one of my teachers and she about fainted she was so delighted! They are easy to please here.... its amazing, I do little work and am greatly appreciated, whereas last year I gave my literal blood sweat and tears to that place in exchange for 2 government-paid lunches a week and some light abuse. But hey, that was them, and this is now... Hurray!
......
The first half of this post while Hayley was taking a siesta on Friday. I am now back at home in Sevilla and I have photos!
La pirata, "Twiggy" and Sarah Palin:
Hayley, "Madame Butterfly":
Some of the girls had been invited to a purportedly huge house party in Puerto, but Hayley and I were skeptical because no one has house parties in Spain, mostly because people either 1. Don't have houses, they have flats. 2. Live with their parents until they are about 30. We eventually went to check it out because we were still feeling pretty silly being dressed up downtown because we were defiantly the little group of stupid dressed up Americans plus bartenders dressed to theme. We, or at least I, felt a little stupid. Well, we got to the party and it was CRAZY. There is appearently a MANSION disguised as a normal apartment building in Puerto. We walked in the huge castle-like doors into a huge entry hall, FULL of people, all dressed up, there was a DJ, and enormous bar, and chandeliers?! Imagine if you wanted to pick a set for a movie that involves a Halloween party, in Spain. The place was HUGE. It had a back yard (which also don't exist in Spain) and a POOL, complete with greek columns?! There were these huge paintings on the walls... the occasional religious statue... it was SURREAL. The inhabitants turned out to be some American Navy guys (there is a base one town over), who only pay about 1,200 euro a month to live in a Mansion that they could probably charge entry fees for tours.
I'm in Puerto again, my little hide-away to the south. Hayley and I were debating which would be the best place to dress-up and run around like the weird Americans that we are , and finally Puerto seemed the better choice. It's raining, which will literally put a damper on our plans, but I have confidence that we will have fun anyway. I have put together a 4 euro pirata costume and H is borrowing some angel wings (the plan is the force her novio to be a devil so they are be a duo). There are more than double the amount of American assistants in Puerto this year and two of them are especially cool, and one is going to use my jacket to be Sarah Palin.... haha SCARRRRRRY!!!! She's got the creepy-Stepford-smile downpat. We will see if anyone gets the joke here.
Work continues to be ridiculously chill. I had a free hour last week so I looked online for Halloween word problems for my math classes. I printed out around 5 and showed them to one of my teachers and she about fainted she was so delighted! They are easy to please here.... its amazing, I do little work and am greatly appreciated, whereas last year I gave my literal blood sweat and tears to that place in exchange for 2 government-paid lunches a week and some light abuse. But hey, that was them, and this is now... Hurray!
......
The first half of this post while Hayley was taking a siesta on Friday. I am now back at home in Sevilla and I have photos!
La pirata, "Twiggy" and Sarah Palin:
Hayley, "Madame Butterfly":
Some of the girls had been invited to a purportedly huge house party in Puerto, but Hayley and I were skeptical because no one has house parties in Spain, mostly because people either 1. Don't have houses, they have flats. 2. Live with their parents until they are about 30. We eventually went to check it out because we were still feeling pretty silly being dressed up downtown because we were defiantly the little group of stupid dressed up Americans plus bartenders dressed to theme. We, or at least I, felt a little stupid. Well, we got to the party and it was CRAZY. There is appearently a MANSION disguised as a normal apartment building in Puerto. We walked in the huge castle-like doors into a huge entry hall, FULL of people, all dressed up, there was a DJ, and enormous bar, and chandeliers?! Imagine if you wanted to pick a set for a movie that involves a Halloween party, in Spain. The place was HUGE. It had a back yard (which also don't exist in Spain) and a POOL, complete with greek columns?! There were these huge paintings on the walls... the occasional religious statue... it was SURREAL. The inhabitants turned out to be some American Navy guys (there is a base one town over), who only pay about 1,200 euro a month to live in a Mansion that they could probably charge entry fees for tours.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A week of friends!
Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting my amigita Hayley in Puerto, and the visit came just in time, because that morning I had to deal with probably the single worst thing about Spain.... spanish bureaucracy! I spent about three hours total trying to pick up an ID card, and ultimately FAILED. To give you a peek at what this all entails, it went a little something like this:
9:45 - arrive at Register's office, where in May, the man at the register's office had told us to come pick up our residency cards.
10:15 - arrive at "foreigner's" office. Turns out, man in May was either misinformed or a liar. I go to the dreaded window, to get a number, at which time, woman at window says to me that I do not need to take a number and wait forever, I can simply proceed to office 1 and talk to man A and get what I need. EXCELLENT!(I was a FOOL if I believed that even for a second) Man A of course sent me to Man B and both of these men looked at me as though I was asking for a life-sized gold plated elephant rather than the standard residency card that I assume over half of the people waiting in that office are looking for. So then, incredulous man B says I can just go to office 2, I go to office 2, am stopped by door man and repeat that I just need to pick up this card. It should be ready. I just need someone to give it to me, that's all. He is equally confused and tells me that I should go to office 1, NO I say, I was just at office 1! He sends me back to office 1. I go back, Man A and B are irritated to see me again and take me back to office 2, where man A asks who I talked to and I respond, the doorman, because I didn't get past him to talk to anyone of consequence because he didn't let me. WHAT? You just talked to the doorman?! GO take a number and WAIT like everyone else! What are you trying to do, cheat the system?!?!
11:30 - sitting in waiting room with my number. I have B-80. They are currently on 36.
11:55 - The number is now 39. They office closes at 2... Let's do the math...
12:00 - FUCK. THIS.
Luckily afterward I had the opportunity to flee Sevilla to Puerto and Hayley and I had a great weekend and I was able to put Spain on a brief time-out, which it sorely deserved. We spoke English, relaxed, it was great! By Saturday I had let Spain out of it's time-out and we went out for tapas :)
Then by Tuesday, my roommate from last year, Jennifer, was here!!! She brought her brother Johny to show him what was the "big deal" about Spain. I had work and uni, but every evening this past week I was able to go to dinner with them and visit which was splendid.
My weekend so far has been very quiet, a little too quiet. I basically live alone on the weekends... and well, I am just not used to it. The good part about being a little bored and lonely is that I go running when I have nothing better to do. I should be in marathon shape soon! Later today though, I am supposed to give a tour to the Swedish girl that has come to work at our school. I told her I would make her some typical fare, a tortilla Espanola! We'll see how that turns out...
Besos,
MC
9:45 - arrive at Register's office, where in May, the man at the register's office had told us to come pick up our residency cards.
10:15 - arrive at "foreigner's" office. Turns out, man in May was either misinformed or a liar. I go to the dreaded window, to get a number, at which time, woman at window says to me that I do not need to take a number and wait forever, I can simply proceed to office 1 and talk to man A and get what I need. EXCELLENT!(I was a FOOL if I believed that even for a second) Man A of course sent me to Man B and both of these men looked at me as though I was asking for a life-sized gold plated elephant rather than the standard residency card that I assume over half of the people waiting in that office are looking for. So then, incredulous man B says I can just go to office 2, I go to office 2, am stopped by door man and repeat that I just need to pick up this card. It should be ready. I just need someone to give it to me, that's all. He is equally confused and tells me that I should go to office 1, NO I say, I was just at office 1! He sends me back to office 1. I go back, Man A and B are irritated to see me again and take me back to office 2, where man A asks who I talked to and I respond, the doorman, because I didn't get past him to talk to anyone of consequence because he didn't let me. WHAT? You just talked to the doorman?! GO take a number and WAIT like everyone else! What are you trying to do, cheat the system?!?!
11:30 - sitting in waiting room with my number. I have B-80. They are currently on 36.
11:55 - The number is now 39. They office closes at 2... Let's do the math...
12:00 - FUCK. THIS.
Luckily afterward I had the opportunity to flee Sevilla to Puerto and Hayley and I had a great weekend and I was able to put Spain on a brief time-out, which it sorely deserved. We spoke English, relaxed, it was great! By Saturday I had let Spain out of it's time-out and we went out for tapas :)
Then by Tuesday, my roommate from last year, Jennifer, was here!!! She brought her brother Johny to show him what was the "big deal" about Spain. I had work and uni, but every evening this past week I was able to go to dinner with them and visit which was splendid.
My weekend so far has been very quiet, a little too quiet. I basically live alone on the weekends... and well, I am just not used to it. The good part about being a little bored and lonely is that I go running when I have nothing better to do. I should be in marathon shape soon! Later today though, I am supposed to give a tour to the Swedish girl that has come to work at our school. I told her I would make her some typical fare, a tortilla Espanola! We'll see how that turns out...
Besos,
MC
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Estoy malita!
Si... I woke up today with the worst cold. Not just the sniffles, but like head ache body ache, the effing works. I feel really crappy, so much so that when I got home from work today at 7 I literally got into bed. Upside for my faithful blog readers... haha that's maybe 3 people... is that I'm posting pics, yay. My room, or as I call is, "mi propio cajita de sevilla." Also pictured is my window and its inhabitants. Mis peces de plasico, Juan Jose and Maria Carmen, and my cactus, Pablo.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Lazy Spanish Sunday
I have managed to book up my weeks for the semester fairly well but my weekends are wiiiide open. On a Saturday this is fine because one can go shopping or get errands done around town and do useful things. Sundays in Spain however, are somewhat a forced day of rest because NOTHING is open. If you are between the ages of 15-65 this is fine as well because you probably need to sleep off a little bit of the night before. As I explained to my new co-worker, Sharita, Spanish nights out are as follows based on times you get home:
12pm-2am: you just went to dinner
2am-3:30am: you went and had a drink after dinner, nothing crazy
3:30am- 5:30am: pretty decent night. You had drinks at a few bars, maybe even did some dancing if you went to a place with good music.
5:30am-8am: Intensely-awesome night. Multiple bars plus you went the distance and hit the Discotecas! If you are smart you got some churros con chocolate ont he way home.
Saturday night I went out with Maca and her freinds. I got home at about 3:30, so as you can deduce from the time-table, it was a fun, chill night. So, today I slept in and proceeded with my Spanish Sunday when I got up around 1pm.
Sundays in Spain I have decided are best for lovers. You can see them, and evidence of this theory everywhere: they are making out on city streets, laying around in parks, passing the day with nothing to do but love each other. Yeah, I watched tv then eventually went for a jog in the park. Not a bad day all in all. Especially because I got to talk to both my mom and The Steph for equally long periods of time because I now have the internet en casa, YAY! All the better that I got a good deal on it because, although this may not seem like a big deal to you, when your are the only American that you know in a whole country.... talking to loved ones from home is like sanity crack. And today I got my fix :)
12pm-2am: you just went to dinner
2am-3:30am: you went and had a drink after dinner, nothing crazy
3:30am- 5:30am: pretty decent night. You had drinks at a few bars, maybe even did some dancing if you went to a place with good music.
5:30am-8am: Intensely-awesome night. Multiple bars plus you went the distance and hit the Discotecas! If you are smart you got some churros con chocolate ont he way home.
Saturday night I went out with Maca and her freinds. I got home at about 3:30, so as you can deduce from the time-table, it was a fun, chill night. So, today I slept in and proceeded with my Spanish Sunday when I got up around 1pm.
Sundays in Spain I have decided are best for lovers. You can see them, and evidence of this theory everywhere: they are making out on city streets, laying around in parks, passing the day with nothing to do but love each other. Yeah, I watched tv then eventually went for a jog in the park. Not a bad day all in all. Especially because I got to talk to both my mom and The Steph for equally long periods of time because I now have the internet en casa, YAY! All the better that I got a good deal on it because, although this may not seem like a big deal to you, when your are the only American that you know in a whole country.... talking to loved ones from home is like sanity crack. And today I got my fix :)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
"I'll be 23...."
Hey kids, here is the REAL TIME update.... I had been writing those other posts at home, kind of as a mental dump/diary.
Monday was my birthday, as many of you know and it wasn't too bad for being away from everyone that I know and love. I went to Spanish class and organized myself/ got ready for school. Then that evening I went to tapas with all 3 people that I know in Spain: My good friend Macarena and her boyfriend Antonio, her sister and my former boss Noelia, and my new roomie Rocio, who is very nice! Maca and Noelia even brought me some presents :)
Tuesday I got to relax and finish getting my apartment settled and TODAY was my first day at school! I can already tell, it is going to be SO much better than last year. Now I am actaully an ASSISTANT, as I am supposed to be and not a mother/prison guard/english classroom teacher. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my boss Rocio... example: she COLOR CODED our schedules!!!!!! COLOR CODED THEM!!! I have all math and science classes because I requested to work 3 condensed days a week (which was aparently a huge pain for Rocio, but she did it anyway, LOVE HER!) And I am almost all set with all of my afternoon tutoring classes, which means I should actaully see a little bit of MONEY by the end of next week!
En fin, things are going really well.
I must go home and do my homework now :)
BESOS!
MC
Monday was my birthday, as many of you know and it wasn't too bad for being away from everyone that I know and love. I went to Spanish class and organized myself/ got ready for school. Then that evening I went to tapas with all 3 people that I know in Spain: My good friend Macarena and her boyfriend Antonio, her sister and my former boss Noelia, and my new roomie Rocio, who is very nice! Maca and Noelia even brought me some presents :)
Tuesday I got to relax and finish getting my apartment settled and TODAY was my first day at school! I can already tell, it is going to be SO much better than last year. Now I am actaully an ASSISTANT, as I am supposed to be and not a mother/prison guard/english classroom teacher. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my boss Rocio... example: she COLOR CODED our schedules!!!!!! COLOR CODED THEM!!! I have all math and science classes because I requested to work 3 condensed days a week (which was aparently a huge pain for Rocio, but she did it anyway, LOVE HER!) And I am almost all set with all of my afternoon tutoring classes, which means I should actaully see a little bit of MONEY by the end of next week!
En fin, things are going really well.
I must go home and do my homework now :)
BESOS!
MC
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