Is There Cumin in My Sandwich? And Other Stories from Abroad

So many things to blog about, so little time! I have been in Sevilla for nearly two weeks now, but it feels like far longer.  I am going to try to catch you (whoever you are) up on my adventures.  It might be lengthy, we shall see.

The host fam: Marta and Juan Luis continue to be incredible.  They are both an endless source of information and entertainment.  Juan Luis is a lawyer and started work again this week, after taking the whole month of August off, as is the custom in Sevilla. (Its too darn hot.. in fact it still is. This will be a continual topic.)  Marta stays home and cooks and cleans and does countless other important things that I will probably never know.  The house is always spotless, and as a result Marie and I have taken to keeping our room exceptionally tidy (for us) as well, which JL and Marta commented on (yay!).

one time we went out for tapas. we didn't tell Marta in case
it counted as a snack. 

Marta's food is delicious and we are always excited to come home for lunch / dinner.  This is also due to the fact that we are always EXTREMELY hungry for meals since snacks aren't a thing here.  There's a story to go along with this. Once upon a time there were two little girls named Marie and Tess who were very hungry come approximately 8 pm one evening. They had noticed that their lovely host mother always put the leftovers in tupperware in the fridge but usually they weren't eaten because Marta cooked new food every day.  No one was home to ask permission from, so they decided they would have a tiny bit of potato salad to hold them over until dinner.  They felt slightly guilty, though they weren't sure why.  They innocently told their host parents about their snack when dinner came around at approximately 9:45 (you would have been hungry too.) The next day they received quite a lecture on why snacking is NOT allowed (if the boys saw us they would eat too and then not eat their vegetable, etc.) They are welcome (and encouraged) to eat un montón at meals, but otherwise to restrain. They felt horrible, apologized profusely and have vowed never to snack again. At least in the house.  But they are slightly scared to snack in general.  This story is completely true.  Perhaps this is why most Spaniards aren't obese.

The one time that is designated for snacking is 6 pm, which Marie and I have dubbed "toast time" in our house, because everyone has a piece of white bread toasted, sometimes with coffee. Unfortunately we are usually out romping around at this time.

The first few days when I couldn't tell the twins apart are over, and now there very obvious differences. Fernando is quieter, loves to read and loves history.  Borja is almost always en la calle with his friends (out in the street, which usually means hanging at McDonald's according to his dad. Cool cat.) He, like Gerald McBoing Boing before him, is always making noise. Marie and I went on a mad hunt for birthday presents for them last week when they turned 14, because we are obviously trying to win our way into their hearts.  We bought Fernando a Hobbit mug and Borja a torero mug, because he wants to be a bullfighter.  Every time they use them we get really excited.

Borja and Fernando on their birthday

Marie is the best abroad roommate I could have asked for.  It's super weird that we only met 10 days ago!  We have been wandering through a different part of the city each day, sometimes in circles, sometimes in search of random air-conditioned buildings because HOLY COW IT'S SO HOT. (Parents: SEND ICE.) I spend most of my free time sweating.  Actually just all time in general.  And dreaming of showers and lemonade and wishing it was socially acceptable to jump in fountains.  Maybe I'll get used to this temperature, but that's debatable. Sometimes we drag our neighbors, Reed and Donald (the boys that are living with Marta's parents), out of their beds and make them come adventure with us.  Usually they don't mind.

neighbors at La Plaza de España

one time we found a big tree

In addition to wandering aimlessly and being really sweaty all the time, I also go to class. We are in the midst of our 3-week orientation, which includes classes on language, history and culture, and field trips about every other day.  Our classes are all held at the JYS office with other kids in our program, with the three Marias as our teachers. One is Maria Celeste, but still.  They are all extremely fashionable.

in a dolmen. AH. 

The field trips: 

1. We went to Valencina to visit a dolmen.  If you haven't ever heard of a dolmen, that makes you and everyone else in the world, except for the Marias and our tour guides.  It is a pre-historic tomb, which sounds cool, and in reality was anti-climactic.  And also that day it was SWELTERING and I was giddy with heat and hunger.  And Marie turned out to be claustrophobic.  So it was a weird day. 

2. Next we visited Itálica, a Roman city that has been very well-preserved really close to Sevilla.  There were still a bunch of beautifully intact Roman mosaics and you could easily see the floor plans of the grand houses.  If Russel Crowe had come galavanting through on a steed and whisked us off to get ice cream, that would have really topped off the day. 

da group at Itálica.  yes, there are a lot of girls. 

that one word I wish I remembered

3. This Monday we went to the Real Alcázar, the Muslim fortress in the center of Sevilla that was converted into a palace for the later Christian kings.  Lofty halls, gorgeous mosaics, and middle eastern looking horseshoe windows.  We learned the name for horseshoe windows in class and I promptly forgot it, wondering when on earth I would need to say "horseshoe window" in Spanish to anyone.  Turns out that time is right now.

4. This morning we went to the Catedral de Sevilla, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.  It was incredible.   We also climbed the Giralda which was a minaret when there was a mosque on this spot, but is now a clocktower. Anna, I made it up without holding anyones hand! Woo me. 

view from the top of the Giralda

Last weekend, I went with five other girls on the bus to Faro, Portugal.  Its a beach town that's only about 3 hours away. Marta packed us some lovely tuna and tomato sandwiches, which we thought had cumin on them since instead of salad dressing she usually uses oil, salt and cumin.  The culinary mysteries continue. We spent a sadly cloudy day (the only one yet..) on the beach pretending to tan, and then headed back into town for the evening.  Adventures included but were not limited to: finding a restaurant with a 17€ special (olives, bread, wine, salad, soup, bacalao (famous Portuguese fish) potatoes, dessert, coffee and a winking waiter), watching a fire twirler, finding a bar / concert venue in a castle, finding a hostel with pictures of Asian babies all over our room, discovering that Portuguese is basically Spanish with a "sh" at the end, and last but not least getting to know 5 girls that I had never met before two weeks ago.  Arriving back home on Sunday evening just as everyone was sitting down for toast time was also an added bonus.

greetings from Portugal!
L to R: Aileen, Emily, Serene, Marie, me, Magdalena

In other news, I continue to trip on the cobblestones at least a few times a day, search for the perfect vintage postcard and not melt in the heat.  Marie would like to let the world know that whoever told all of us to bring lots of skirts because no one in Europe wears shorts is entirely mistaken: everyone here wears shorts.  One time I bought some gum that I thought was mint but turned out to be eucalyptus and taste like a cough drop.  I tried to pawn it off to other people until it started to grow on me.  Tonight we are having dinner with all of our extended host family members at Marta's parents house, and we are stoked.  Grandpa Rafael's sangria is apparently legendary. 

Shoutout to Anna Stevens who left for her pre-orientation trip at NU today! 

Also, my thoughts are with the US on this September 11. 

As they say in Portugal, adioshh.