18 de abril, domingo

Good morning! This weekend has flown by-like all of them have-and I didn’t even go anywhere! Thursday may have been one of the busiest days here-but very fun. I had the second half of a Civilizations test in the morning, which went pretty well. A side note about the tests here- they are really neat because they do not ask for grammar points or specific vocabulary words like all of the Spanish tests that I have taken in the past. These tests ask about content-and you just write away, explaining the theme in Spanish. I just think that is really cool-to finally be able to use Spanish on a test to explain something.
After that, I went on a tour with the school to the Flamenco museum. We first met with a man who gave us a brief history of flamenco. I learned that the dance incorporates styles from all over the world! The feet technique comes from France (the style of dance of the elite), the body movement from Africa, and the hands from India. It was neat to learn that Flamenco is ever evolving and has had so much influence from all over the world. We then walked around the museum to watch old shows, see the antique dresses and view some photographs. Our Sevillana instrctor, Lola, accompanied us to the museum, and was very excited to point out the famous dancers. While at the museum, we saw a picture of a man who we saw dance at the center! We were excited that we ‘knew’ someone famous in the flamenco world ☺
From the museum, I headed to the center to meet my English teacher for lunch. I was to teach the class later in the day, so she wanted to go over some plans with me. We went to a café for lunch and sat outside. I ordered a cold soup called Salmorejo, which is like gazpacho (but consists of tomato and bread) I also at e a flamenquín, which is kind of like a croquetta. I am so bad at remembering food names..need to work on that!. It was very nice to talk with her about here experience here (for the past 5 years) and how she became interested in teaching English to Spanish speaking people.
With a full stomach, I headed home for a little while, then back to school for my English class. I was a little nervous to teach the class-especially since it is a class of adults- but it actually went very well! I spoke slowly, which is a challenge for me, and learned to explain things in different ways for total comprehension. The students are all very nice and participate, so that definitely helped a lot. We learned about giving advice and warnings. They had fun giving me advice about Feria, which begins this week.
From class, I met up with my roommate and we went to the pre-Feria festival at the center. Daniel and his friend Antonio (both from my English class) accompanied us and we practiced our Spanish while they practiced their English. I knew there was going to be Sevillana dancers there, but what I didn’t know was that we would be dancing too! With Lola’s prompting, we joined in and danced the Sevillana. It was so fun and I was surprised I could actually do it outside of class ☺ Lola looked so proud of us, and we had a great time.

Friday

I was looking forward to a free day on Friday and so let myself sleep in ☺ When I woke up, Carmen wanted to clean the room, so I took off on a run and ran to Nervion! It is a neighborhood a little ways out there-about a 45 minute walk from my house. The weather was very nice and it was a pleasant run.
Later in the day, I met up with a few of the remaining people in Sevilla to walk around the city. We went to a place called yogurtlandia, which is kind of like a Cold Stone, except with ice cream. It was very yummy. We then walked by the Cathedral and went into some of the tourist shops. We also took a look at a poster shop, which was incredible! They had original poster of Corridas, Feria and Semana Santa! Those being way to expensive for me, I hope to buy a Feria copy after this week. We then took the Rick Steve’s tour of Barrio Santa Cruz, which was beautiful! There were quaint squares and lavish gardens. Rick also did an excellent job-as always- of providing interesting information and good directions.

Saturday
Saturday morning, Carmen informed me that some of her friends would be coming over to lunch. They are from her congregation (like her church). She described them to me as missionaries. I was a little apprehensive because I wasn’t sure what they would be like or if they would talk to me. These people were so nice though, and made sure to include me in the conversation. It is hard meeting new people because some have thicker accents than others, which makes it hard to understand them. These people were very welcoming me and asked me all about the US. They were also interesting in what I thought of Sevilla and if it lived up to my expectations. Of course it has! Carmen prepared a nice lunch with lots of good food. I tried gambas for the first time-prawns I believe they are called. They weren’t bad…..but I don’t think I will be ordering them any time soon ☺
After the lunch, I had to jet off to Nervion, where I was meeting some friends for a Sevilla futbol game! I was really excited to go even though I know pretty much nothing about futbol. I think the only time I actually watched a game was in summer gym. We met up by the stadium and bought the Sevilla scarves that everyone wears and holds up during the song. The game was very entertaining to watch and Sevilla won 3-0! They were playing a team from northern Spain. The crown was very enthusiastic, especially in the sections directly behind the goals. The cheered the entire game and even threw confetti when Sevilla scored. Instead of boo-ing when something bad happened though they whistled. The players were very dramatic and tried to do anything to get the ref’s attention. I guess athletes are the same all over. I really enjoyed the game and was glad I got to experience such a big part of Sevillano life.