I kept putting off this blog post, because I feel like each one before it has had a major theme or topic, but I really don’t have anything of that sort for this post, so deal with it. It has been a beautiful week in Sevilla: 80 degrees, sunshine, Halloween, Michael Jackson tributes, and transvestites ordering chorizo. Vamos a empezar.
Rachel’s cousin Jess and her friend Amanda were here visiting this week, so Rachel and I got to play tour guide and show them around the city. Man, I forgot how much I love it here. We started off their visit on Thursday by hitting up the Plaza del Salvador botellón before a late dinner at Antonia’s. Friday, I headed to school, where it was Halloween central. After spending the week explaining to the kids what Halloween is, I was proud to see that the majority of them elaborately dressed up. Elaborate Halloween costumes? I think this is my country. What they lacked in creativity (I basically only saw witches, vampires, skeletons, monsters and devils) they made up for in attention to detail, and then some. Kids even took to running up to me in the hallways with their hands open, shouting TRICK OR TREAT! I guess I should have brought some candy with me to school.
A few funny things have been reoccurring this week, which are definitely worth noting. All week the majority of the boys have been singing and dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller (including some surprisingly good moonwalking, spinning, and slightly inappropriate crotch grabbing). I just took this at face value, cause let’s face it, Spain can be weird. However, Friday, after the class burst into a badly-pronounced round of “Thriller! Thriller night!” the teacher turned to me and said “we really shouldn’t have shown them the Thriller video for Halloween last week.” Mystery solved.
Another funny occurrence this week took place in science class (or, as they strangely call it, conocimiento del medio). I was asking the class about living things in ecosystems, and one boy raised his hand to give an example of a living thing. “Tor-toise,” he said, rhyming with turquoise. I responded “good! and a tortoise is…” looking for the answer “animal.” A better fitting word, he decided, was “AWESOME!” with two thumbs up and a look on his face like Christmas had come early this year.
My favorite occurrence from this week took place at Rachel’s school. So basically, the patio/play area to her school is outside, and there is a wall separating it from the outside world. So, a drug dealer was outside the school and for some reason got spooked, maybe the cops were coming or something, so he threw a bag of drugs over the wall into the school yard. Said bag o' drugs landed on a little boy's HEAD, and then tumbled to the ground. The boy then picked it up and threw it back over the wall again. I don’t know why, but I am still laughing about this story. When all the teachers and the principal found out they all started cracking up. I just love thinking about the repercussions that would have happened in the US. First of all, the kid NEVER would have thought to throw it back over the wall where it came from (i LOVE that that was his reaction). Second, school would be closed for the day. Third, pta meetings galore, fourth, parents would be hysterical. The list goes on. But in Spain... there was just laughter. Love it.
After school on Friday, I reunited with touristy Sevilla by visiting the Alcazar with Rachel and co. Friday evening we met up with Julia at Carboneria for some flamenco. To say that the dancer took herself too seriously is an understatement. I do believe that this robust woman thought that we should all bow before her and her weird taekwondo movements. Maybe had she actually been dancing flamenco I would have felt differently. We then headed to a late dinner, and over to calle Betis for some caipirinhas at Tertulia. We capped the evening off at Buddha (always a fun time). After getting to bed around 5:30 am, we were heartbroken to remember to set our alarms for 8:30 that morning (3 hours later). As suicidal as I was waking up after 3 hours, it was well worth it, because we had an appointment at the baños arabes (arab baths).
Sunday night we celebrated Halloween by going to a new friend’s house. Rachel and I, hours before the party, decided to dress up as cocacola light (our new addiction). So wearing all black, with labels wrapped around our waists and tinfoil hats on our heads, we entered the party… where nobody knew what we were supposed to be. I guess we forgot that Spaniards only understand traditional scary costumes like zombies and Dracula. Oops!
Some of my favorite occurrences this week, however, have just been random acts that I have fallen witness to. One such event was a little boy dancing flamenco in an alley in his Sunday best. Or, a transvestite cutting the line at the meat market to crack jokes and order chorizo. Or a mother holding her three year old daughter over a tree so that the daughter could pee… in broad daylight… on a crowded street. Gotta love these random sights!
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