"So... is THIS Carnaval?"

Buenas tardes (good afternoon)!

What a crazy rest of week... in the most literal sense. Picking up where I left off...

Me sentí un poquito mejor (I felt a little better) for class on Wednesday, so I picked myself up and got there by 9am. I noticed that la clase de poesía (poetry class) had thinned out a bit, so things definitely felt more intimate with la profesora (the teacher). We are now starting to read Huidobro's Altazor-- what's hard is that she really doesn't indicate how much of it we should be reading on our own to prepare for class, or what we will be covering at all for that matter. I also had an issue cuando fui de compras, buscando el libro (when I went to buy the book). It was sold out in the two main librerías (book stores) in el Centro, so I was put on a waiting list. It should be in by next week, so I hope it's not a huge problem. Anyway, la profesora nos dijo (our teacher told us) that she was going to be at a conference on Monday, so we wouldn't be seeing each other until Wednesday. I'm hoping the problem tendrá la resolución (will be solved-- an Ana-ism) by then. So it figures that in class, she wants us to begin reading and she begins panning the small classroom and lands on me, por supuesto (DUH).

Levántate. Lee en voz alta. (Stand up... read aloud!)

And so she shoves her book at me and has me stand up in front of the class and start reading aloud-- thank you Ana for all the drilling, and you would think I would have been good at it but naturally I had difficulties. I should preface that I took an ibuprofin before class, so not only was I temblando (shaking) from nerves, I was also sweating like Daddy in Disney World because my fever broke. Everyone, stop and stare at the spectacle in front of the room. No obstante (nevertheless), I survived.

By the end of the day, I was feeling much better. Laura, por otra parte (on the other hand), wasn't feeling so up for going out-- we like to do this thing where we trade off being sick. So Deborah and I decided to brave the Heliopolis district that is our very own backyard. As we were heading toward La Avenida de Reina Mercedes (I've been mistakenly referring to is as La Calle), I heard the Abby's and Robin call out-- remember, Robin lives around the corner. So the 4 of us tried walking up and down the strip. Desafortunadamente (Unfortunately), not many places were open on a random Wedensday night. We walked in and out of a few smaller places before deciding on a wine bar closer to our house. It wasn't such a late night, but I thought it would be best to take it easy, anyway. It was nice to catch up with my friends.

El jueves: el fin de semana comienza! (Thursday, technically the beginning of our weekend!) It was a beautiful day to walk to class, and Deborah decided to sit in. Our teacher is getting more and more-- umm-- eccentric? We started off LOVING her, and we really still do! But she sometimes gets really repetitive. A veces (sometimes), it's hard to pay attention when she speaks because we are very focused on her outfits/hair piece. We talked a little bit about Romanesque architecture, and she gave us a preview into what we would be seeing on Friday's day trip to La Ciudad Romana Itálica (The Italica Roman Ruins), located just outside the village of Santiponce. More on this later... We walked around the town a little bit before returning for la comida. We found a really cute store with big rebajas (sales). We tried on some abrigos cursis (gaudy jackets). The word "cursi" was introduced to us by Ana's daughter Patricia, so it's fun to use it in context when it really applies. We were thinking these awful jackets may be part of our Carnavales de Cadiz costumes, but NOT for 40 euros. We got a picture out of it, at least.

Durante la comida (during lunch), we explained to Ana that we would be going out for our first real dinner in la ciudad (the city)-- we don't really count Superbowl because it wasn't quite as authentic as it could've been. But Manolo estaba MUY emocionado (was VERY excited) to hear we would be going out for dinner because he was full of suggestions for sitios populares para jóvenes (popular places for young people). "Hay que ir a Las Columnas! A Las Columnas!" (You need to go to Las Columnas!) In el Centro, bordering on el Barrio de Santa Cruz (the Jewish quarters) are little Tapas restaurants, where people spill into the streets eating and drinking. We liked the idea of Tapas-- definitely a MUST while in Spain. You go with a group and order a bunch of little food items or appetizers. You can order them hot or cold, depending on the dish, ranging from bread and nuts to cheese, fish, meat, rice, etc.

It took us a little longer to get ready to go out than usual, mainly because we no longer have una plancha de pelo (hair iron). See, there was clearly a miscommunication on our part a while ago when Cristina offered us one of Paloma's two irons, claiming we could keep it because it was only her spare. Cristina came over one afternoon last week, claiming that Paloma se quejaba (was whining) about wanting it back. So, we returned it at the cost of having to manage wavy, curly, frizzy hair. We actually have mastered the art of el secador de pelo (the hair dryer), something I was never able to manage because I don't get how to hold the dryer, brush, and hair at once. But I'm at the point where I can at least feel confident going out without needing an iron all the time. We ordered a cheap on online, due to come in any day now.

We wandered around el Centro for a little while, until we arrived at Las Columnas. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting... there were jóvenes, and there sure was a large crowd of people both in and outside the Tapas bar, but we really preferred somewhere we could comfortably sit down and enjoy the food. So we walked a little further and finally found a cute little place, more on the quiet side. Since Deborah es vegetariano (is a vegetarian), we tried some different veggie dishes. In the end, we shared a bread/breadstick basket, paella (with los mariscos- the seafood- on the side), y las espinacas con garbanzas/zanahorias (and spinach with chickpeas and carrots mixed in). We also had a nice big pitcher of Sangria! It was muy delicioso (very delicious), but you apparently are NOT supposed to eat the fruit at the bottom. Frankly, you know you are American when you are spotted dipping your fork into the bottom of your wine glass. We were heavily stared at, but we didn't mind.

We left the Tapas bar and decided to head over to La Plaza de Armas, home of the mall, more bars, and por supuesto BUDDHA, that multi-story discoteca we love so dearly. When we got there, we felt like it was still too early to make an appearance at Buddha (12:30ish), and we were easily seduced by a girl who gave us discount drink coupons at International Esencia, a bar that actually employed 3 or 4 people from our program. We stayed there for a little bit, but when we felt ready to rage, we made our way back to Buddha! And it was una noche divertida! (a fun night!) It was the "FINDING NEMO EFFECT" (described in earlier blog entries) at its finest. What was really weird though was that this one boy started talking to us in English in his really bad Spanish accent. And we thought it was kind of funny and responded in Spanish, as usual, until he decided to reveal that he was faking it the whole time-- that he was actually American. NOT funny, I know. After a few hours of dancing, people watching, and running into other Cornellians, we decided to call it a night.

Coming back into the house after una noche larga (a long night) has become our next challenge, now that we have a new boarder: WENDY!!! I'm not really sure about all the details, but Cristina briefly explained that Teo se enamora de Wendy, y eso es malo (Theo is "in love" with Wendy, and this is a bad thing). Yeah, it's pretty bad when Father dog is humping Baby dog-- I still don't get how they know that Teo is for sure the father, but we kind of just go along with it. It's also not the first time this has happened? So yeah, Wendy is living with us now. And when we come home, ladra muchisimo (she barks a LOT). So we are trying to be very careful, as not to wake Ana and Manolo and, of course, Vicki who sleeps with the little monster.

Friday morning, we got up nice and early because we had to meet our program for the Itálica trip at 11:40. As the story of our lives seem to go, the bus got us to the meeting point nearly 45 minutes after we were asked to arrive, so we missed the bus that was taking everyone to Itálica. And it was freezing cold and pouring rain. The rain was coming down and I cannot describe how miserable we were. Luckily, it wasn't hard to figure out how to catch the next bus, and we found our way. I don't remember how long the ride really was-- not too long-- and it wasn't hard to catch up with the tour. But it WAS hard to pretend we weren't freezing our butts off and trying not to get soaking wet, as none of our paraguas (umbrellas) could resist the wind, blowing them inside out. As it turns out, the whole tour-- all outside-- was terminated after 20 minutes because it was just too unbearable to continue in those conditions. So here is what I learned about Itálica thanks to what I heard Judy say and what I read in the little pamphlets they gave us:

Itálica represents the very first Roman settlement in the south of the Iberian peninsula, founded in 206 BC. It was evidently the majesty of a Roman metropolis. It was founded by Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus to settle Roman wounded soldiers from the Battle of Ilipa, where the Carthaginian army was defeated during the Second Punic War. Itálica was the birthplace of Trajan, the first emperor from a Roman province, and his successor, Hadrian, added great temples and rebuilt public buildings. Ultimately, a shift of the Guadalquivir River bed left Italica isolated, and the city started dwindling by the 3rd century. Left over is the well-preserved Roman city of Hispania Baetica, and we found a lot of the remains on display in el Museo Arqueologico (last week's day trip), with its famous marble colossus of Trajan. In Itálica, even in the pouring rain, you could see the cobbled Roman streets and mosaic floors still "IN SITIO" (in place-- one of Judy's FAVORITE expressions). The excavation of Itálica began in 1781, and is still going on.

Vamos a volver (we are going to return) with the program on a sunny day, so we can actually take some pictures and enjoy the sites because it really is a spectacular place.

The highlight of this trip was definitely el restaurante, the restaurant with the most AMAZING comida. They gave us huge hunks of fresh bread and potatoes to dip in an oil and garlic sauce (there was definitely another spice in there that I don't know). Then, they served a salad. Next (yes there was more to come), you had a choice of either pescado o carne (fish or meat-- steak). So I was served a piece of fish that could've easily fed 3 people, and this came with its own sides. Por fin (finally), they came out with dessert, which was a pudding that kind of resembled flan. FOOOODDD COMAAAA.

We waited like an hour and a half for the bus to finally take us from Itálica to our meeting spot. Everything just runs SO late here, on top of the fact that the weather sucked. But you just can't complain. "No pasa nada" they say, meaning "No big deal!" You just need to embrace the motto, or else you'll just get pissed off. So we embraced!

The rest of the day, we were in relaxation mode. Deborah celebrates Shabbat, so we stayed in for the night and hung around. We watched a fun show on the Spanish gameshow channel, I think it translated to Password. It was a guessing game for us, and my Spanish dictionary app on the iPod touch came in handy. We managed to get some more information out of Manolo FINALLY with respect to the family wine business. Apparently, Manolo decided not to pursue the family name and carry on this business, as he was in favor of other negocios (business), specifically that of las aceitunas (olives). So, Terry wine was ultimately sold! No wonder we never really saw those bottles laying around-- and they really are big wine drinkers.

Saturday was a really big day for us. Nos despertamos (we woke up) early enough to get out of the house and into el Centro to do some exploring. We decided to make a morning out of a tour through la Catedral, which is the largest Gothic cathedral and apparently the 3rd largest church in the world! It was initially built in order to boast Seville's wealth-- the oral tradition: "Let a church so beautiful and so great that those who see it built will think we were mad." Inside the Cathedral: the tomb of Christopher Columbus, mosaics and stained glass windows, Cathedral treasure, the Gate to the Patio de los Naranjos, and the finest silver and gold alter pieces. Our favorite part was La Giralda, a minaret converted into the bell tower approximately 320 feet high. We climbed all the way to the top-- luckily, there were stairs, sino (but rather) ramps for us to walk up, considering people used to travel to the top on their horses. It was really a great climb, and we took lots of aerial pictures of the city. I will post those ASAP.

After our visit to la Catedral, we wandered the streets of Plaza Nueva looking for ideas for una disfraz (a costume) for CARNAVAL! Yes, the night had finally arrived for our epic trip to Cadiz! We found ourselves in H&M by the funky maquillaje (make-up), jewelry, and accessories. We bought lots a crazy things and decided we were going to be gitanas (gipsies)/girls from the 80s/girls from the 70s/girls from the 60s. Ha Ha. So for this event, everyone dressed up in the most wide array of costumes I've ever seen (I can't wait to put up our pictures). We all boarded buses from Seville and arrived at Cadiz about an hour and a half later. There were THOUSANDS of people who come from all over Spain, to dance, eat, and drink in the streets.

It took us a little while to digest everything that was going on when we first got there... we spent the first media hora (half hour) making a mass migration, following people screaming and playing drums.

"So... is THIS Carnaval?" ,we asked a few times- rhetorically, por supuesto. I think we were expecting something more organized, like carnival groups and contests. It was really just mass chaos, but in the most fun way possible! We met tons of people, and also ran into a bunch of people we knew, which was kind of ridiculous given the mobb scene. There were churos con chocolate, a popular Spanish treat, that I still need to try, candy stands, and caramel popcorn. I think Grandma Natalie would LOVEEEE to know that I ran into Hilary, a girl from Plainview that worked at the Center the same summer as me, and then a few after. She is studying in Barcelona, and they came all the way here to celebrate.

Getting home was one of the biggest pesadillas (nightmares). Everyone who came with Discover Sevilla was instructed to meet at the bus area by 2:45, but obviously the buses came slowly, 1 by 1. People were pushing and shoving, trying to get on each bus as it came, if you can imagine. The clot was kind of like trying to shove a huge cheeseburger through a small artery. It reminded us of the chaos of leaving Crush parties at school. We eventually got on a bus at around 3:30, which got us home by 5AM. Deborah used her abogada (lawyer) skills and talked the bus driver into dropping us off at el campo de Betis, seeing as it would have passed through the stadium to el Centro just to make us take a cab back. Thank goodness, because we were exhausted!!

We slept nice and late today, had a relaxing comida, and spent a nice afternoon in el Centro. There was a big flea market sale going on in Plaza Nueva, as there is every Sunday, considering mostly everything else is closed for the day. We walked around, stopped at a cafe, and wanted to take a horse carriage ride on this lovely romantic day. But we really didn't have enough time to do everything-- Laura and Deb wanted to make an 8:00 movie and I had a Skype date with the family. So we parted ways, and I came back home... I watched some TV and talked with Ana and Manolo, watched Ana put the finishing touches on her marmalada de naranja (orange jam), and talked to everyone minus Craig on the computer. Ana even made her first Skype debut with impressive English! She kept going on an on about how simpática (nice) y MONA our family is-- she LOVED repeating this throughout la cena, which was just the 3 of us. We curled up under la camilla and watched Los Premios Goya, their version of the Oscars, until it got late...

ANDDDDD aquí estoy (here I am). This was a long entry, so I'll let you digest it.

HASTA LUEGO!!