But first, some pictures. This is where I live!
This is the Puente de Triana. I think its actual name is Puente de Isabel III or VII or XII or MMMXMVIII, but it leads to Triana so most call it the Puente de Triana. If someone's new to the city, you can usually just say "the circle bridge" and they'll know what you mean (hopefully). Interesting fact about Triana: it used to be its own city and the river wasn't joined by any bridges, so some people still say "I'm going to Sevilla" when they're crossing over the Guadalquivir over towards the Centro.
Ahh. The elephant sculpture. From the bridge, this looks like a modern art elephant. Not as much from this angle, but still. Tyler, I don't know if you're gonna read this at any point, but I'm sticking with my elephant hypothesis.
Crew (if that's what you call this; I just always think Social Network when I see people doing this). Anyhow, because boats don't really come through here, small watercraft traffic is common (that sounds like something out of a boring travel book).
Here's another view of the trendy elephant and circle bridge.
On the left is the Torre del Oro, and on the right is the Torre del Mad Controversy. This skyscraper (currently at about half of its proposed height) is a kind of big subject of late because UNESCO has said it would remove Sevilla's World Heritage status if the building was completed (because it would overshadow the Giralda of the cathedral). It seems like people are pretty divided about it: my host dad approves of it (he says all historical cities, even Paris, have a modern sector with modern buildings) as does one of my professors, but another one of my professors says it's not only a bad choice in terms of culture but also in light of the economic plight of Spain right now.
Okay, now on to my week.
Monday. The convent. Oh boy. So last week, we met the kids that we'd be working with for our Acción Solidaria service learning class. They were great, clearly a bit rowdy, but it was a lot of fun hanging out with them and they were generally cooperative. However, Monday rolls around (my and Jules's day for working at the convent) and they put us both in a classroom and have us teach the kids English, either one kid or two kids to each of us. I started with Rocio, who wanted to learn for about the first fifteen minutes of the hour, and then proceeded to not want to learn. Tania, however, upped the ante a little bit and decided she only wanted to learn for about three minutes (did I use that expression correctly?). It seems that the moment you try to have any authority over them, they cease to be responsive to the things you say; what can I say though, they warned us that this would be the hardest Acción Solidaria site! Regardless, they're really fun kids and also kids that need a lot of love (most of them have parents that couldn't support them or were incarcerated, so their kids were given up to the convent), so I'm hoping that in the weeks to come I'll be able to find ways of teaching them that keep them engaged and keep them having fun. Anyways, I'd love your prayer for that!
I had three tests this week. Needless to say, I'm glad the week's over! I was actually gonna have four, but Salva, our Spanish lit prof, got sick, so it was bumped to next week. I was gonna put a smiley somewhere in there, but don't want to appear heartless. Entonces, next week I'll have that test, and then on Friday I have to give a presentation for fifty minutes in grammar class. I don't think I've ever given a fifty minute presentation in English, let alone Spanish.
For a while now, I have wanted (the past perfect is probably more correct here, but it still doesn't express really well what I intend to say) to visit the "other river" in town (which I have dubbed the Quadlguivir), and this week Kane and I did! Whenever you look at Sevilla in Google Maps (http://g.co/maps/qecza), you see that there are two rivers running through town. Turns out, según Katie Wiggins (one of the great staff members at school!), the "river" we walk over to school every day is really a canal, and the other river is the actual Guadlquivir. I read somewhere that they diverted the original river because it would flood the city in the rainy seasons all too often.
Anyhow, I like this river better than the canal. It's actually blue, and has plants along its river banks (rather than concrete). My kind of river.
I've got a couple other exciting developments from this week to share! A few days back, I went to the Russian store for the third time to get some more chocolate-covered halva with a couple friends, and I spoke with the Russian ladies currently there for a good ten minutes. I got to know the owner (I'm assuming she's the owner, she's the only one I ever see working there), Valentina, a bit, and then also met some nice older Russian ladies that like hanging out/shopping there (Nina and Alla; typical slavic names, in case you're not savvy with your Russian culture facts). Since then, I've gone in two more times, and Valentina refuses to let me pay for the halva! We're friends!! So excited about this.
On to the next subject:
I found practice rooms! They're not free (€59/month), but I really need a place to practice trumpet and piano, and this place is pretty great. I'm also secretly hoping Dr. Shasberger somehow sees this blog post and knows that I'm preparing for orchestra tour (wink wink, Rebecca ;).
This is my favorite piano in the building. Coincidentally, it's also the best-tuned piano in the building. Also, I have a plethora of stands to choose from, should I get picky.
On top of it all, this is my view from the window.
This past Monday (I believe it was Monday, at least...) it was 0°C when I biked to school. That's a bit chillier than I'm used to. Also, today was the first substantially cloudy day we've had. I was even attacked by a few drops of rain while biking to McDonalds this evening. By the way, McDonalds here is classy. They have free WiFi (pronounced "weefee" in Spain) and the inside is rather swanky. Not like McDonalds in the states.
I wanted to share something from Don Quijote with you. Like I've mentioned before, I'm really loving this class! Here's a line from Chapter 6 (in English, just for you) where those closest to Don Quijote are deciding which of his books to burn (because it's due to his books that he's gone crazy and thinks he's a knight).
"'Ah, senor!' said the niece, 'your worship had better order these to be burned as well as the others; for it would be no wonder if, after being cured of his chivalry disorder, my uncle, by reading these, took a fancy to turn shepherd and range the woods and fields singing and piping; or, what would be still worse, to turn poet, which they say is an incurable and infectious malady.'"
See what I mean?! Pretty hilarious. Well, I think so. And now you know that I'm not actually suffering from a contagious deadly sickness, but rather have taken up quoting literature (perhaps still a contagious deadly sickness?).
Last topic for the night:
We found good Mexican food!! Ok, by good, I mean good by our Spain standards for Mexican food, but we actually liked the place a lot. The staff were super nice, gave us extra chips on the house ("invita la casa" I believe is the phrase here), let us wear authentic sombreros (they were heavy!) while we ate, gave us all flowers (they gave them to the girls, so I teased them about getting me one -- they left and came back with the female waitress, who gave me a flower :), and had a guy walking around playing guitar and singing Mexican songs. We even tipped. No one tips here, but we were that pleased with the service :)
Ah, here he is! Our favorite guitar player. When we left, the staff told us to come back soon, and I know we will!
They also just called me and said I should get some sleep, so I'm gonna listen.
Adio! Tsa luego!
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