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......."