Anyhow, I want to start by showing you a couple pictures of the convent where I worked!
At the end of the semester we were asked to give a short report on our service learning assignment, so on Yus's and my second to last day of work, I snapped a couple pictures of the convent (we're not allowed to post any pictures of the kids, so just imagine a bunch of cute Spanish rascals). On the bottom right you can see kind of how a typical lesson would have to go. We weren't really provided with a curriculum, so we'd have to make up the lessons on the fly. All the kids knew the numbers from 0-10 just from the muscle memory of saying them over and over, so I spent a good deal of time in a couple of the lessons trying to get them to learn 11-20...futile, for the most part, but certainly a patience-builder.
These next couple of images are from the performance that our flamenco class girls put on. Yus and I missed the actual performance because we had to work at the convent that day, but we hung out for a bit afterwards.
Then the ladies danced on the street for money. They earned €0.05. Which was subsequently taken back by the giver, pictured on the upper right.
Afterwards, we grabbed chocolate con churros at the chocolatería across from Parque Príncipes (at least I think that was the same day). Michelle, Cameron, and Jessie were intimidating everyone else.
This is Karen, our friend from the GBU Bible study and from church! GBU had an fundraising auction to which I donated a photo session, and Karen ended up bidding for it and winning. I took a break from the plethora of term papers that magically appeared in the last couple weeks of school to shoot some portraits of Karen. Here are some of my favorites!
And now it's time for...
Feria! This is actually my street, good ol' Calle Arcangel San Miguel; my apartment is just to the left beyond those trees on the left side. I'd see this view everyday...well, except for the horses. Ya see, there are random people walking around on horses because that's just what you do during Feria (if you are so fortunate/unfortunate as to own a horse whilst living in a city).
I mentioned Feria a bit in one of my last blog posts, but for those that didn't read it, I'll give you a brief rundown. Feria is a week-long fair that is huge in Sevilla. Most of the women in town dress in their flamenco dresses and the guys in their suits in the evenings when they go out (as you can see above), and there's a huge area in Los Remedios set aside for all these tents (called "casetas") that businesses or wealthy families pay for to host dancing, eating, and drinking in. That huge door you see is rebuilt every year for Feria (when we got to SIS in January, they were already building it) and its thousands of lightbulbs light up at night. Oh, and the scary lady on the bottom left is the Duquesa de Alba (the women with the most titles in the world, even more than the queen of England).
There are probably hundreds of thousands of those paper lantern lights strung up all around the casetas (you can see the inside of a caseta on the bottom left; this was one of the few public ones, hosted by UGT, a Spanish trade union that Salva detests :). And there in the middle is one of the ubiquitous sweeper trucks that's constantly cleaning up after everyone (despite what the sign on its side says).
There's also a carnival area with a bunch of rides and concession stands.
And a Ferris wheel!
Well, enough with the festivities. This is the inquisition museum. Hooray for extra credit assignments.
Here's the market right by the museum. It's a pretty cool place; you can buy everything from sardines to garbanzos to watermelons here.
My last time walking to school. I was so blessed to get to see this view every morning!
Surprising Ana Bello, our amazing secretary, for her birthday!
And then, just like that, I had to part ways with my profs and the staff :( If you guys end up reading this, thank you so much for everything!
Ana Bello, gracias por siempre ayudarnos con cualquier pregunta que teníamos y por amarnos tanto!
Salva, gracias por tener paciencia con nosotros cada mañana en Literatura Española cuando estábamos cansados por no dormir bastante.
Carmen, gracias por enseñarnos como hablar en español en la manera correcta (ojalá haya escrito todo correctamente :) y con tanta pasión.
José María, gracias por introducirnos al mundo maravilloso de Alonso Quejada-Quisada-Quejana y el maléfico sabio Frestón, y por tu sentido del humor!
Katie, gracias por tu dedicación a tu trabajo y por siempre estar dispuesto a hacer pasteles y comida estadounidense para nosotros!
Leslie, gracias por tu ayuda con todo lo que necesitábamos y por tu "sass" :)
Mercedes, gracias por quedar con nosotros por las tardes y por entretenernos cuando jugabas con las niñas de Leslie!
Y Cecilia y Ana, gracias por ser profesores excelentes para mis amigos!
Well, at this point it was Friday, I was leaving on early Sunday morning, and I still hadn't been up on the Giralda! So Yus, Rachel (a friend of ours from another abroad program), and I walked through the cathedral and then headed up the twisting sloped ramped of the tower to find a blustery but beautiful view.
Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house, but I can see my apartment from the Giralda.
The courtyard below.
I headed home to drop off my backpack after descending from the Giralda. That evening was my last free evening in Sevilla (I would have to pack all Saturday night), so Lane, Tori, and I went out for a last stroll around the river.
This is Andalucia.
We found a little dock on the Triana side of the river and watched the evening hues slowly superseded by those of the night.
Our beloved Puente de Triana.
The next morning I told Alba that I would be leaving soon, and she didn't understand what that meant. By the way, Alba definitely grew a good bit during my time in Sevilla. Take a look at the fourth picture in this blog post.
Anyone in our program will tell you that I loved this breakfast place. I've talked about it in a couple other posts; it's called the Faro de Triana. Jamón tostada y café por €2.50!
Later, I bid farewell to Valentina, the lady at the Russian store that I've mentioned in previous blog posts. She gave me a free bottle of pear soda (classic Russian drink...). Ah yeah!
As a last farewell to all the SISers, we met up in Plaza de España and had a potluck of sorts. Love these people!
What a good-lookin' bunch. In the middle is my good friend Carlos, from Monterrey, México. He taught me my favorite Spanish word: "parangaricutirimícuaro."
I think this speaks for itself. We were working without any reference material, so please forgive any inconsistencies...
Ladies.
Bros. What better way to end the semester than tossing a frisbee around in the halls of a historic monument?
In the tradition of providing anecdotes, I'll also leave you with a couple from my last week in Sevilla: I found out we had vanilla sugar at my house. It was soooo good. Some people started to move a bunch of food and products into the empty corner of the base of our apartment building; they were opening a chino - right when I was leaving. Thanks. I saw a man lean against a glass bus stop and the whole pane of glass exploded; you won't find me leaning on Spanish bus stops anytime soon (for a variety of reasons). When Carlos and I were walking over to Plaza de España to hang out with everyone, I heard someone calling my name behind me...it was my seventh-grade crush. Turns out she was studying in Madrid but happened to be in Sevilla for the weekend, on the last day I was in the country. Crazy. A couple days before I left Spain, a bird flew into my room when the window was open and I had to trap it with my laundry basket and shoo it back out. I also found out that my host mom, Maricarmen, is deathly afraid of birds.
I also want to document a couple of classic José María moments I found that I had jotted down in my class notes. For instance, when he explained the difference between moriscos (the Moors) and mariscos (seafood). He advised us, "No intentes de comer moriscos," that "el morisco no se puede comer." Another favorite moment was when Yus was trying to suggest we go to Dunkin Coffee with the class, and José María told her no. So she went on, "Pero el lunes..." at which point José María interrupted with "...es el primer día de la semana; ¡muy bien!" :)
Well, I guess this is the part where I have to wrap up the semester. How does one do that in a matter of paragraphs? Well, one doesn't. Or at least I don't, because I'm not sure how. But I will say this: I like mayonnaise a lot more than I did before the semester started (when it's the only sauce available for your food, you have to start liking it). Also, I now instinctively say "¡Oy!" instead of "Whoa!" when someone jumps across my path while I'm biking. And I now certainly speak Spanish better than I did before.
In short: God blessed me with an amazing semester (though certainly difficult at times) and I'm so grateful for the friends I made, the things I learned, and the experiences I had. So I guess now I can only say, "Tsa luego Sevilla;" I'll see you later!
Love that photo session with the girl! Also, those lights, man, every time. Great stuff. I would have gone crazy with the flamenco outfits during Feria!
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