a warm fuzzy feeling if i ever knew one

I have so much to share with you guys...what an amazing weekend :)

So Saturday, we took a day trip to the beach! ..or so we thought. The town Huelva is about an hour away and according to some website "nestled in the branches of the ocean." So naturally we thought we would be soaking up the sun in lovely little Huelva. So we get there and the tourist stand with maps is closed. We walk around for a while until it opens back up. The town was small, not very pretty, very average looking and had no "attractions" in sight. So naturally, we anxiously ask the tourism guy "which way is the beach?!" and he goes "well, here's the bus station" (ie where we just came from) "you have to take a bus to the nearest beach, Punta Umbria." Me- "Seriously? There's no beaches in Huelva?" Guy- "Nope, the coast we have here is all industrial." So we laughed about it and I felt extremely bad, cuz I was the one who encouraged Huelva as a destination in the first place :/

No biggie though, we got on the 2 euro bus ride to Punta Umbria and frolicked on the beach for the rest of the day. It was neat to touch the ocean from this side of the world.

Then comes Sunday. The day we've all been waiting for. Drum roll please.........This was the day of Gracia and her granddaughter's big family birthday party. Gracia turned 75, and Ana turned 1! Here's how the day went:

Fali (Gracia's 40-something year old son) picked me up to head to the party at about 11. Tally and I were supposed to be in the same car ride there, but plans got changed around and we ended up going there separately. We picked up Fali's kids from the "real campo". I was under the impression that the party was AT the campo (farm). Little did I know, there are 2 different family places she talks about.

        About an hour away in Rocío, Fran (Gracia's son-in-law) has a vacation home. Not looks-wise, but feeling/usage wise...this is the Door County, WI of Andalusia, Spain. Year round, the town has an extremely small population. However over summer break, holidays and weekends, families flock to Rocío to celebrate. All of the streets are paved with sand. There are just as many horse and buggies as there are cars. In a very stereotypical way--it fulfilled all of my "old fashion Spain" clichés that I had made up in my head. We lucked out with the weather too. I swear the sky was just screaming "Look at me, I'm freaking awesome." >>>
      When we got there we met all of Fran's family and the random other family friends who were there. Gracita was so excited to see us! There were maybe about 40 of us total. And then add 10ish kids to that. The house itself has 8-12 rooms, a roof top patio, a hang-out/tv room, outdoor dining room, kitchen, a stable for horses, and a porch out front.
     They started barbecuing when we got there and literally everywhere I turned, someone offered me a sandwich, cheese, a beer, tinto de verano, random slabs of grilled meat, and egg salad. It felt so warm and fuzzy (if you will) to be so very included. As Tally pointed out, this was a full day of not "seeing cool things" but just BEING. and I loved it.
      Fali took us out to the roof. We wandered to the back of the house to see the mules and the big cart they carry. One of "our aunts" told us we could take a ride in the cart later on. eeeeeeeeeeeekk! While we were hanging out visiting on the front porch, adult Flamenco dancers walked by! Apparently there were shows all throughout the day to celebrate "Día de Andalucía." We had fun playing with all the little kids, from ages 4 months, to 11 and then 15 and then 18 years old. 2 of our girl cousins are 19 and 21...they're very nice, and I hope they want to hang out with us more :)
     After a small sandwich and many different kinds of grilled meat came the paella in a huge pot. Literally this thing could hold 2 small children. Not that you would cook 2 small children but you know what I mean. The next 'course' was just drinks. Along with the drinks came lots of singing and dancing. 3 little girls were cute and brave enough to show us some of their flamenco moves! Then came the coffee, then they served up 3 cakes... 1 chocolate, 1 creme of some sort and one apple. Whew..my stomach's tired just thinking about it!

    The song and dance didn't end until we said goodbye at about 8:30. One of the uncles was drumming away while everyone else sang along to traditional spanish songs. They saw how much fun we were having and asked us to show them an american song or dance. We thought about it for a while and were nearly stumped with what to teach them! We eventually plotted with the 5 and 11 year old girls to do the bunny hop. It was a hit. we had a line of 15 kids and adults bunny-hopping around the table. Now why can't we party like this in the U.S.?!
      There is so much love in this family (and in Spanish culture in general) and they are not afraid to show it. For instance, cousins will ask each other for kisses randomly. The nephew gave his uncle a piggy back ride through the hallway. People were hanging all over each other for no reason but to show love. And for the babies--they cant go 5 minutes without being clobbered with kisses!

    Just when the sun was starting to set...time for the mule ride! We hopped in with the 10 kids. Gracia, 2 aunts and an uncle also joined. Like I said before...the sun was perrrrrfect. The town and the atmosphere of the weekend was just awesome. People were out on their own porches singing and drinking. We ended up by a branch of the ocean, where there is a gorgeous, famous church. Next to the church was another building to pray, filled with candles. One of the aunts explained to me that when you touch the virgen's (<<click this link, this virgen del Rocío is apparently very famous) blanket, you make a wish and its supossed to be a big deal. I touched it :) The candles were gorgeous. Yet another warm and fuzzy feeling of the day. It's hard to find words to describe it...the hotness of the room, the smell of burning wax and people's hopes.
    The only little bitty thing that was frustrating about the day was the language barrier...since I only have a limited rwepitware of words to work with, it was hard to tell them how MUCH I really really appreciated everything they did for us. They stopped our mule ride just to show us the famous parts about the town. They wanted to learn an American song. We sang "Happy Birthday" in english too. I am indebted in thanks to them. I feel so comfortable here, and I'd like to 'officialize' how I now have a second family in Seville.

The birthday girls! Gracia (75) and Ana (1)

That day will be one I remember for a looooooong long time.

♪"She tipped the DJ to play her favorite song, a spanish little number that was rockin' on strong"♫

I've been feeling extra spanish these last 4-5 days. Heres why:

• Friday night I sat in a gypsy cave, drinking sangria and watching flamenco
• I visited the most visited monument in all of Europe (El Alhambra in Granada)
• I had my first tinto de verano
• I hung out at a club where I was ONE of two americans. The spaniards we were with were so welcoming and loved having us out with them.
• We went for a walk the other day and stumbled into an art market by the river. We want to be regulars, and go to the free painting classes every Saturday and Sunday
• Gracita's 1 year old granddaughter loves me enough to let me hold her. She's holds a mean game of peek-a-boo
• I went to a fútbol game (ie-SOCCER) and got chills when I saw the field. We won over Hercules C.F.

Anyyyyyways. That's enough for that list. In the book I just finished reading, I have been thinking a lot about one of the main lessons. It goes like this: Lesson no. 1: Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.

Later on, the novel reads, "Hector found the idea of comparing yourself to yourself interesting. Comparisons can spoil your happiness, but they can also help you to tell yourself that you're happy." My mind is up in the air about this lesson. As a piece of advice, I was once told "don't compare!" That very well may be the best and worst piece of advice I've ever gotten.


Since I've been here I have been making a lot of comparisons...how can you not! "We do this in the states" "Its different here how people..." etc. I do think that in certain situations comparisons are okay. One must realize differences but it is not necessary to rank one experience/person/country over the other. So...to this advice I would probably rebuttal, "define 'making comparisons.'" Ranking things, yes, can spoil one's happiness. But if you compare apples to oranges to pineapples to footballs...I think that does NOT stand in the way of one's happiness. :) so there. 

I want to make a mosh-posh music video of life here. When I'm walking around with my ipod playing, I realize that there are certain songs that just GO with life here. The songs I want to use thus far are How Good it Can Be by The 88, Hips Don't Lie by Shakira (have to haha), Make Her Say by Kid Cudi and Our Finest Year by Better than Ezra. I'll have to try to take good videos while I'm here to try to make this happen. 

Next list. More random notices, if you will:

• There is no butter here. Only oil. 
• It is so cute when people hold heavy bags together like this >>>
• I saw 4 dads pushing babies in strollers in 1 day. I don't think I've ever seen that in the US. 
• People are pretty and classy. Not cute and sparkly. 
• I hardly am fed any veggies : /
• This city is NOT overcrowded and I feel that everyone has room to breathe. 
• People relax more. They'll Have a beer or 2 at lunch, sit outside for hours at a cafe or take the long way home. 
• Even though the economy is bad here, the outdoor restaurants and cafes are always packed :)
• They don't like for your hair to be wet. Both Tally and I get a talking to if we attempt to go outside with (even the slightest) damp hair. 
• Babies are placed in mini sleeping bags when they're sitting in the stroller
• Ricky Martin is just as much of a has-been here as he is in the states

Carolina y Jenny: las famosas

It's official. Gracita is deemed "the cool grandma" of the family. Whenever the kids come over they never want to leave. She tells us how her grandkids tell their parents (her kids) how if the parents ever have to go away, they'll always choose Gracita. And not just only when the parents are gone...last weekend the parents returned from their trip to Barcelona, and Alvaro still wasn't ready to leave! How fun :)

So, who are Carolina and Jenny you may ask? They are Gracia's students from last spring. It is rare a day passes without her saying SOMETHING about Carolina y Jenny. She has a picture of them right near where we eat (along with the rest of the students). We've heard so many stories I feel like I know them. They didn't know each other coming here, but left great friends. They made friends with many many spaniards, and they both left with spanish boyfriends! Carolina even had an american boyfriend at the start of her program. They are both still currently dating the Spaniards. Gracita said they used to love playing with the grandkids and got along with the entire family. Everyone in the family bought Jenny gifts for her birthday when she was here. They also went out nearly every night! Anyways, Gracita adores them, as I do now also.

Soooo, needless to say that description is about to be the backbone for maybe the best compliment I've gotten since I've been here. Gracita says that Tally and I are just like Carolina and Jenny. So, girls, I will probably never meet you in my life, but you are LOVED and you have definitely left your mark in Spain and in this lady's heart. I just hope that Tally and I become more "famous" than you guys =)

Also, Gracita knows I've been sick lately. A couple nights ago, we were laying in bed, lights off but still talking, and we hear stirring in the kitchen wondering what the heck she could be doing (it's about 12:30-1 am). Five minutes later (drum roll please).......Gracia brings us in a creamy cup of hot, pudding-like chocolate. We're talking made on the stove. No powder and milk in the microwave crip crap. She had the biggest smile on her face, because she saw how happy/surprised/thankful we were.

We always have good dinner conversations. We've talked about her husband, boyfriends, friends, trips, family, bodies, sicknesses, drug wars, politics...you name it! Some of my favorite stories of hers are the ones about her farm and the ones about her and Manolo (her husband who passed away). One time on the farm, they somehow missed picking up eggs from underneath one of the hens. A couple days later....out walk 12 little baby hens (ducklings? chicks? I don't know), and they had no idea what to do with them!!

So about her husband. They knew each other for 9 months before they got married (at age 22 for her). And they took wedding pictures at the Plaza de España in Seville. How gorgeous would those pictures be?! One time, they went on a trip to Palma de Mallorca. Gracita loves bingo, so when she saw a casino when she got off the plane, she had to go! Manolo was reluctant to let her go and tagged along. First game in, she WON! I couldn't understand exactly how much, but by her laughs and smiles, you could tell it was a good enough amount to be able to stick it to Manolo. hahaha! (mom and dad, this will be you guys...only roles reversed. Dad will be the one dragging mom to the casino near the airport and will win millions I'm sure).

Gracita, Tally and I are planning to all go get churros y chocolate some saturday afternoon when it warms up a bit. Her birthday is the 28th, and her grand daughter turns 1 tomorrow! We're going to the farm with the whole family to celebrate this weekend =) eeeeeeeek

i wish my nose could take snapshots an my thoughts could be in pictures

Today while going for a walk after it rained, I was wishing that I could share this scent with you guys. Puddles on the ground, a light mist in the air, and water dripping from the orange trees above you. I think I'll trademark this scent as "orange-infused rain." I don't think the orange trees will ever get old to me. 

        

Also, while on the subject of senses...my roommate and I (Tally, ie fellow over-thinker and analyzer) were talking about this topic the other night. I dare you to follow along, because it took me a solid 20 minutes of explanation to understand it. Here's the concept: How do deaf people think? Because the rest of the population thinks in words. For instance, close your eyes and think "I really want mango ice cream right now." Didn't you think it in words? While yes, I'm sure you could picture it and think about the taste, our main stream of thinking is in words. So....if one was deaf and has never heard ANYTHING in their life, how would they think? If they want to think "i want ice cream," how does it run in their head? ...cuz it can't be words, they don't know what words sound like. The closest thing to an answer I can get to is ---they must think really creatively! 

Also, isn't it peculiar how we can think in any voice we want, but we can only produce our own sound. Example: in your head, listen to Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance,' weren't you listening/thinking it in her perfect voice? not your own voice? ahhh. This boggles my mind. 

I know you guys have missed my pointless ramblings and questions about anything and everything under the sun. So hope you enjoyed, and weren't to bored/weirded out. hahaha.

PS- (actual things about my experience..) I woke up with one of the worst soar throats of my life. Good thing i didn't wake up til 1:00, Gracia made soup for lunch AND delicious creme filled cookies for snacks. Also, i made friends with her 4 year old grandson, Alvaro, despite the fact that I broke one of his toys and mad him cry cuz i stopped playing with him. oops. We're in a band together that sings a jingle about butter (from a commercial on TV). 

the ugly american

and when i say ugly i mean "¡ayy que guapa rubia!"

I'm starting to feel very comfortable in Seville.. glad with my city choice thus far :) However me loving this city does NOT mean that the city loves me. I stick out like a soar thumb with my blonde hair and american swagger. That's really the only way I can describe it. Other than they dress really nice, and walk like they run this place (which...i mean, they do). The other day, I was walking by myself down a shopping avenue, and I saw a group of girls...all of them had brown hair and were dressed nice....but I could still tell they were american! My suspicions were confirmed when I got closer and heard them speaking plain english. And even if Americans are speaking spanish to each other, its so butchered with a horrible accent, so its just as obvious a speaking english. Hard to explain i suppose but it's the weirdest thing. It's like americans have a big, flashing, red arrow floating above their head as an indicator. The cat calls are annoying, but I can deal with it.

Food is still really good..so far my favorite has been fried eggplant with honey on it! It tastes like a desert. Also Gracia makes a mean hamburgesa...they put eggs on them here. A lot of stuff is fried, so I may ask her to ease up on that if possible :/

Friends are good and crazy. We're starting to settle into smaller groups rather than parading around in a group of 40.

I got an intercambio (a spaniard who wants to practice spanish, paired up with an american who wants to practice spanish). I found him on facebook and I have a 30 year old guy......I'm not sure how i feel about that. I'll probably drag someone with me to come the first time we meet.

Oh! Also, this week for the first time I went to go volunteer at this after school program to teach little kids english. Four other girls and I are doing it. The first time we didn't know what to expect, but I think we did ok. There's 2 groups: a couple 5-7 year olds first, then the 10-12 year olds.

Now, here are a few thoughts/sentences that are the new normal...

• "the freaking accordion player outside my window woke me up this morning!"
• "I'll meet you at the torre do oro to botellon" >>
• "more free sangria!"
• "Really? 57 cent cooking wine?"
• "Let's explore the parks. And then plaza de españa. And then the city center. And then we'll walk along the río."
• "We're americanas bellas, you're not going to let us in for free?"
• "sooo many carbssssssss!"
• "Yesterday, my host mom made us go have a picnic in the park, because the weather was too nice to eat inside"
• "So are you gong to Italy, Greece or Prague for Semana Santa?"
• "She has a spanish boyfriend ALREADY?!"
• "They don't make puppies that that in America."
• no complaints about 2-3 oranges a day :)
• "I just bought a beer at McDonalds.........to go......."

I'm walking on sunshine ♪♫

The sun is out and the weather is getting better each day. This is going to be very random. Here I go.

1. Gracia (my host mom, 74 years old) is precious. She loves to have us here. Her husband died a few years ago, and her kids wanted her to move in with them. But instead, she hosts students...that way she has the freedom of living on her own while having us here to keep her company :) She has 4 kids ranging from 38 to 50-something. So far I've met 2 of them, and also 2 of her grandkids. I'm bad at playing/being social with little kids, but Tally does a good job. They're realllllly cute. Pictures to come I'm sure. 

2. I've been out a few times so far mainly with "the elite 8" (ie Tally and her 7 new best friends). They're all very unique and funny and nice! Thursday all the americanos* go to this club called Buddah. Ladies got free sangria until 2 :) It was NUTS! Literally 85% of the people there were American and they played all of "our" music. It was fun for 1 night a week or so, but all the dancing and the long walk there took it out of me, i was dead the next day! 

3. *--When I'm speaking english to my american friends it is all of a sudden very common for me to pop in a random spanish word. See * above. haha

4. This place makes me feel like I'm in Sarasota, FL (to a point). There are palm trees everywhere and many cute, local stores and plazas to wander around in. I'm also (as planned) obsessed with the orange trees. So so so pretty. I want to take one home with me.

5. I start classes Monday. I'll be taking corrective phonetics and conversation, semantics, latin american novel and modern history of Spain. All taught in español of course!

6. Food has been good so far! Breakfast hardly exists here. Gracia will usually sleep until about 9 or so. So if we're up before her, we just take something that's out on the counter (ie- this bread-muffin thing, or a piece of fruit). Lunch is typically their biggest meal of the day, served at 2 or 3. "Bocadillos" (sandwiches) are common if you're on the go. Yesterday for lunch we had lentil soup, which was very good! We also always have bread, salad and some kind of fruit with lunch and dinner. Gracia doesn't eat what we eat for dinner, she'll have a piece of fruit or 2. She doesn't like eating too heavily so late. Dinner is served around 9:00-9:30 or so. So far for dinner I've had tortilla española (eggs, potatoes and onions cooked in a pancake type thing. Has the consistency of an omelet), this pizza bread type thing and chicken patties with french fries.

7. I LOVE the book I'm reading, Hector and the Search for Happiness. This will be one that goes in the "Never get rid of" pile.

life in a postcard

Yep. I'm officially living life inside of a postcard. I'm in Sevilla and all (mostly) settled in. The apartment is really tiny (just a fact, not a complaint), and super cute. We each have an armoire to put our clothes in. We eat in a TV room next to Gracia's room. And you light the shower from the kitchen before, so the water is hot.

We got to walk around a lot today and even did a bike tour, which was neat but kind of annoying.. considering we looked like dumb, rude americans barging through people's ways...in a group of 30 of us...on bikes. yikes. Anyways, we also got a tour of the cathedral. There was a gorgeous view from the top.

Still getting used to being HERE...after planning and thinking about it for months prior. I haven't decided if it has hit me yet or not. Hard to believe this is real life.