Sevillanas, Sangria, y Salsa

This week has been an interesting week. Full of highs and lows; good times, good food, and good friends. Thanksgiving has been a treat here, not necessarily because the food was authentic American Thanksgiving food (though it did come very close, the pumpkin pie was a bit sketchy though, no crust and closer to flan than pumpkin pie), but because it meant a 3 day week and more time to go out and stay out. First of all we went out Wednesday night to a place called the Carbonaria. If one didn't know where they were going they would never have found it because it's just this random door in a wall that looks like it should be someone's house. But you go through the doors and there's seems like there's not enough space, and that the group of 15 of us who came together wouldn't fit. But go back a little further and there's a room that opens up into a higher balcon type sitting area and then an area closer to the stage that's all on the main floor. The seats are wooden benches that look a good 25-30 years old and the tables are like picnic tables. The techo is metal framing and aluminum sheets. I'm pretty sure it opens up during the summer. or it doesn't and it just looks like that. in any case, it was packed with people waiting for Flamenco. I haven't really gotten much Flamenco in my stay here, I'm not in the class to learn how to dance it, but we have occasionally watched "Se Llama Copla" with my señora. (Copla is the kind of song they sing with Flamenco). So I kind of understand the idea, it's a story, and emotional story in song form; influenced by middle eastern style of music with it's tonality and style. The guitar is amazing, if ever you have time look up some Flamenco music and see what I'm talking about. You think Classical guitar is intense, you do not know Flamenco. The hands and feet are instruments along with the guitar, not to keep beat, but to add to the rhythm. So there's a guitarist, a singer telling the story, and a dancer. They're intense, and the woman that night was incredibly talented. It's like tap, but so much more than tap, you have the movimiento de the arms, and the intense look in the face, proud, melencholoy, but hidden joy for the love of the dance. (I hope you can all see this woman in your minds, a dark woman, nearly black hair, tanned skin, dark eyes, not skinny, not fat, dressed in a black shirt and skirt with flowing moviemento at the bottom: white trimmed ruffles that just slightly flair out and move as she spins). You can't look away from her, and you hope she doesn't catch you watching her dance.
They had other people come up as well. Not just the intense dark woman, but people from the audience to dance Sevillanas, which is dancing Flamenco in pairs, circling, moving the arms with the typical flaring of the hands. They were good dancers but they didn't have the same level of foot work as the professional woman.
The night ended too quickly. The Flamenco group played 3 sets and were done by 12:30. Some of our group left early and by 12:30 there were only 6 of 7 of us left to chill and talk or listen to of of the guys in our group play the piano that was in the non-smoking section of the bar. It was a good time, and by around 1:45 we started to make our way home through the Barrio Santa Cruz, kinda getting lost, but not really. by 2:20ish we were at home and in bed, waiting for Thanksgiving Day.

Obviously Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, it was a blast, but it's didn't start out that Amazing. Don't get me wrong, Roman ruins are pretty cool, and they are definitely something you can see or find in the States, but we've seen so many ruins of so many things it's kinda old news now. It was pretty cool to see the 3rd largest Colloseum of the Ancient Roman Empire (it could seat 25k people, don't ask me what the second one is, I have no clue, clearly y'all know the 1st). Anyway, we were supposed to see a video about the ruins before heading to the actual site. But the night before, at around 6 or so, there was an acident near the school. You see, they've been working on the Metro in the space infront of the school, digging out underground for something, I don't entirely know how it works, but they screwed up. There are several Kiosks near the school between the building where the school is and the Puerta de Jerez which is where there's a big fountain and the Ave. de la Constitution. Beside those Kiosks, there's road that I cross nearly daily when I go to get coffee or wander or whatever. Unfortunately, there was a collapse and the road caved in pulling the kiosk into it, like quick-sand pulls down it's prey (I saw the hole as I was headed to the Carbonaria later that night but it was entirely closed off). This caused some problems with the electricity, internet, and phone connections. So there was no movie in the morning because there was no electricity to watch the movie. In any case, we got a run down of the information we missed when we got to the site at around 11. (thanks to the lack of electricity I got to sleep in an extra hour and a half Thursday morming).
We wandered through the ruins, seeing various things that were pretty awesome like the intelegent design of the sewer system and the colloseum. by 1:30 we were home. My señora had her neice and a friend over from Huelva for lunch, that was really interesting and kinda goes back to my last post on my frustration. Because I don't have regular in-depth contact with the people in the city I can't speak as well, or understand them when they speak quickly. and these girls discovered this. They're about my age and were pretty nice and it was a good change from the normal. it was also nice because I didn't have to stuff my face with food because Salud was busy making sure the other girls were eating. the rest of the afternoon was spent doing nothing, resting, watching movies, getting ready for dinner. We dressed up for dinner, Dani in a black summer dress, and me in boots, tights, a skirt and tank top. It's pretty cold out here and the idea of wearing a skirt and no tights was not appealing. at 8, amigo invisible ( secret santa) gifts in hand, we headed to a little Cuban restaurant that's in the same building as the school. the room was really quaint, all the walls were white and there was a big print of salsa dancers on the wall. I sat at a long table with all girls, one guy, and a family that had come to visit their daughter. (there were about 16 of us at this table). First they brought out little plates of fried egg-plant with some sort of bbq/sweet sauce. despues de un rato they brought out plate of vegetables: green beans and corn. Every table of 4 had it's own plate like that, but then we individually had plates of turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and stuffing (though so many people say it's the best stuffing they've ever had I have to disagree, it was different from any stuffing I've ever had and I will not call it authentic stuffing. Though it was delicious with it's cripy bottom crust and taste of buttery bread, I cannot place it in the category of stuffing, it was much too similar to a caserol). For desert they did the plate per 4 people thing again. There was carrot cake, and pumpkin flan/cake. It was all incredibly tasty, though it was dissimilar to any Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had. I can say that by the end of the meal I was contentedly full. After the plates were cleared away we recieved our secret santa gift, mine was earings. I gave Chirstmas ornaments and a Santa hat (which my amigo invisible loved). My roommate had one of our professors who had been asking us if we could get him one of those light up reighndear that we have in our yards in the States. They don't have them here because they really don't have yards to decorate. So my roommate improvised. She got this rabbit looking thing that was coated in red glitter and had antlers on its head (I'm pretty sure it was suppose to be a reighndear). then she rapped a cord of blinky lights around it. Without the lights plugged in she got this response from our Señora, ¡Ay, Nena! ¡Qué Feo! (how horribly ugly). With the lights enchufado it was, ¡Ay, Nena! ¡Qué Gracioso! (how funny or charming). I do have to agree, it was decently ugly until you plugged it in. In any case, our profe. got a kick out it.
After all of this we pushed back the tables and started dancing. First Sevillanas, all of our profes. could dance and a few of the students in the flamenco class too. then we started in on the Salsa. It was Great! I haven't danced salsa in a Very long time. Unfortunately, we were kinda short on men. (5 to 40) so us girls just danced by ourselves, gotta say, I prefer dancing with someone. . .
By about 12:30 or 1 all the profes had left and quiet a few of the students as well so there were about 10 or 11 of us left dancing and having fun. But there's only so much fun you can have dancing salsa when you have no partner. So, we, that is 3 guys and about 8 girls, decided to go to a club that was about a 10 minute walk down the street: Budha. it's been a very long time since i've been out to a club. I'm talking, I was still wearing my summer heals and skirts and a tank top, no need for a jacket at 12:30, long time ago. The place was Packed! and they were playing some good music, some not so great music. We were there until about 4:20ish. It was incredibly hot, as you can imagine, a decent sized room on the top floor of the building, with a disco-ball, and a lot of foreign students, dancing, talking, dancing. Of course there were some drunk creepers, but they're unavoidable. Even in the streets. It doesn't seem to matter where you are at the hour of around 3am, as long as you are outside your house you will run into someone on the street who has been drinking.
Anyway, All in all, I had a BLAST! one of the Best Thankgivings that I've ever spent away from family and I'm glad I got to experience it here. I think it helps that it doesn't feel like yesterday was Thanksgiving too. the atmosphere is different. I do miss my family and friends, but there's always Christmas. there's alwasy the future somewhere there. It's not like I'm never going home, I'm going home in 3 weeks. And I'll be glad to be home. But I've discovered some of the best things about this place:
Puchero - a lentil soup with carrots, whole onions, and whole green peppers that aren't spicy. eaten with warm crispy bread. it's delicious and for sure one of my favorite dishes. The lentils aren't cooked with water but with olive oil. and it reminds me of my mom's lentil soup which I miss.
Walking - I love to walk in the morning, and even though it's cold now, I enjoy the 25 minutes I have to just get to school. the sun has been coming up earlier now as the seasons progress and as we hit the Triana bridge (the one built by the same guy who built the Eifel tower and the one that's in so many pictures of Sevilla) we have used to have a sunrise and a skyline that would glow, a redish sky behind the outline of the Giralda and the Torre de Oro. I do miss the sunrise, by the time we get to the bridge now the sun is already up. (thank you day light savings).
of course there are other things that I really do like about here. The varied scenery - Drive an hour outside sevilla and you have placed like Ronda. (which I didn't really write about but there wasn't much to say, it was a quaint little town with gorgeous vistas and the first bull-fighting ring in España) Look at the pictures, they tell you more about the town than I could. Other things too, that aren't coming to mind right now, but they're there.
now it's 2:30 in the afternoon, Friday. I woke up at 12 after a great and restful 7 hours of sleep. And I should be doing homework, like I told my señora I would be doing but have been writing this instead. My roommate has been off gettin her hair cut, and she just got back. Dinner will be servered soon and then Siesta, which I will not be sleeping through. (who sleeps till 12 than again at 3:30? I could do it, but today that would be wasteful, not useful).