Au revoir Marie

Today I'll say goodbye to my friend Marie. She started out as my neighbor and quickly became one of my closest friends. She's the kind of artist I admire and the kind of dancer I want to be. For sure we will see each other again (I'm so lucky she has a connection to California.)

Goodbye Marie. Sevilla will miss you...but I'll miss you more.

Morning pouring rain (18 days)

La lluvia torrencial por la mañana.

I woke up to the sounds of pouring rain - AND I FELT SO GOOD!

The streets are quiet when the rain pours.

I made myself coffee & ate hazelnut/walnut stuffed figs with honey for breakfast.

Then a dance class - then a rehearsal.

Now I go wish friends a 'feliz cumpleaños' - maybe some bulerías will bust out.

I'll try to take videos.

Lights - LAS LUCES! (19 to go)

The lights went on at El Corte Inglés. I think they're beautiful.

Feria flea market (20 days)

Every thursday, on my way to school, I walk through a gigantic flea market that takes place in the street off of my street - Calle Feria. I'm always wishing I could wander it and buy stuff, so today I ditched school and that's what I did. I bought a fútbol for 2 Euros, a visor that has the EXPO '92 logo on it for .50, and a fan for both Dylan & Charlie. There are tons of gypsies, drunks and artists - it was super fun (and a little scary.) AND - can you see in the photo that the Christmas decorations have gone up in the streets?! They don't go on at night yet but I'll bet you December will turn them on. Also, I still danced two hours today, just not at the fundación.

AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Más flamenco

I need to post more flamenco stuff. I'm working my butt off and I never get anything worth showing. It's actually really hard to take video in the classes...but it can be done! So I'm going to try harder to get examples of my efforts up here.

Necesito poner más cosas de flamenco. Estoy trabajando mucho mucho pero nunca tengo algo vale la pena. En realidad es muy difícil para grabar en clase...pero sí se puede hacer! Así que voy a intentar más para sacar ejemplos de mis esfuerzos aquí.

La última tortilla? (21 más)

I love when I get homemade tortilla all to myself!

The spanish are proud of their tortilla-making skills

and Josua is no exception.

His really do kick-ass though; he puts in chiles or jalepeños.

Anyways...this could be my last one.

Old neighborhoods (22 days to go)

Today I drove by the building where the spanish classes I had were, when I first got here. My spanish teacher has turned into one of my best friends, Roser. I adore her! And in those days we were still just a student and a teacher. Driving through the neighborhood today, seeing the places I used to see so often, reminded me of the feelings I experienced in those early days. I loved walking in the rain to her house all bundled up in the jacket Verity bought for me right before I left (I used to live in that jacket!), drinking tea with Roser and her roommate while Roser & I gossiped about school (she's a student at the fundación too), and then meeting up with Josua afterwards at the burger king, when he was still courting me. We'd eat burgers together and then he'd walk me home. Sevilla was so new then. It felt good reliving some of it today.

The titles of the movies in Spain (23 left)

'Los Mercenarios' - The Mercenaries - it's not really the same as 'The Expendables' but whatever.

'500 days of Summer' refers to her name not the season, so changing it to '500 days together' isn't nearly as clever. It sucks but what other choice did they have? Verano is not a name here so '500 days of Verano' wouldn't have worked...although I have met two people here named 'Nieves' - SNOW is a name!

This was called 'The Bounty Hunter' but not any more.

I think it's called 'Ex-spouses' now...I'm not sure.

This was 'The Hurt Locker' but in Spain it's 'En Tierra Hostal' which means 'In Hostile Territory' (or land/earth). I think the Spanish translator was like, "Nah, I don't get the title - let's just change it to something easier."

This one was changed to 'All Included' but the real name was 'Couples Retreat'

This one is perfect. It's so fun seeing 'The Wolfman' in spanish.

This one is perfect too!

And this one - stupid 'Eclipse' is so boring - they changed nothing...barf.

Mr. Matamoros y Mr. Smith (24 days)

There is an indoor fútbol player with the last name 'Matamoros'. It means 'kill moors'. This is an old name from when the spanish were fighting with the moors; his family probably consisted of soldiers fighting for the cause. Surnames were based on occupations at one time here too. It's like our name 'Smith' coming from when the people in the family were the blacksmiths. Today the name 'Matamoros' is embarrassing but it is super historical.

Bisonte Azul F.C. (25 más)

No flamenco today, only fútbol...fútbol sala...Josua got a yellow card - fue emocionante!

new shoes & a photo (26 more days)

This is the last pair of shoes I will be buying (can you see how cute the brown heal is?)

And I did take 1 photo in Valencia but not of my parents, which

bums the hell out of me, (thank god my dad took some)

but here's the one of me & Josua while we were there.

Valencia (27 días más)

Un día completito; Dos viajes en avión. Un almuerzo con mis padres y mi novio, llaman a Josua para despedirle, para contratarle de nuevo cinco horas mas tarde (mejorando sus condiciones). Seis taxis (!) y arroz con conejo. PERO no saqué ninguna foto de nosotros!!!! Increíble!!! Pues mi padre sacó muchas fotos así que se las voy a robar al primer descuido.

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¡Que divertido! (y 28 days más)

Today was so fun! In class today my teacher, Javier Baron, had to work out what he was going to teach us next and for like half an hour he danced his culo off - lots of jumping, kicking and hair flying. He's a little guy, sort of soft spoken, but he's a madman when he dances, and it felt incredible to watch him. All I could think was, "I'm going to learn that?!" Ja!

And I still have my super fun class with Ramon, and then my bata de cola class to do today. And then dinner with my intercambio. AND TOMORROW (!) I'm going to see my mom & dad (hooray!) and Valencia for the 1st time.

Oh also it rained which means I got to wear my favorite rain boots all day long (thanks again VT.)

Fuensanta 'La Moneta' y Rafa Estévez

Anahi, good guess!

Israel is also in the movie but the guy I'm talking about is more rotund and not so modern as Israel. My guy is modern BUT not as modern as Israel! But I figured it out. The guy I'm talking about is Rafa Estévez - he's totally worth checking out. And 'La Moneta' too - she reminds me of Briseyda. She looks like her & she has Briseyda's deep passionate expression. Anyways, these two are exceptional - the show I saw of them kicked-ass.

Flamenco Flamenco (29 days left)

I went to the Sevilla Film Festival...

and saw the new Carlos Saura movie 'Flamenco Flamenco'.

It was just like the first one but with more jazz infused stuff, more modern performances. A lot of the performers I've seen live: Sara Baras, Eva Yerbabuena, Farruquito y El Carpeto, Paco de Lucia, Rocio Molino, and a guy that I saw dance with La Moneta but I can't remember his name. He's in the movie 'Flamenco Hoy' too - he's the chubby dancer with really modern arms - anyone remember his name? Also, Arcangel was in the movie, Miguel Poveda, Estrella Morente, Jose Merce, AND CARLOS GRILO! Bj, Aurora and I met Carlos in Jerez two years ago! He's the brother of a great dancer named Joaquin Grilo and Carlos is famous in his own right for being a great palmero. AND he owns a bar that we discovered in Jerez where all the performers went every night after their shows; he directed us where to get late night food one night. Anyways, he's in the movie too. It was a very beautiful film.

My last month

As of today I only have 30 days left here and I'm ready to come home.

I was sad last week when I bought my ticket, and I'm sure I'll miss lots of things once I'm gone, but I want so badly to be around my family and friends again. I've had enough dance classes for a while, I'm tired of feeling crappy about not being a better spanish speaker, and I'm tired of spending whole days alone.

I want to drink coffee with my mom, laugh with my dad, shop with my sisters, take walks with Dylan, Charlie, Mark & Watney, paint with Bj, party with the Allahbakhshis, eat carne asada at Freeway, and to play music at the gypsy den. I still love my flamenco but I gave up so much to pursue it. Now I want the balance in my life restored.

So I'm going to start wrapping things up here - I'm going to start thinking about my year as a whole. I have lots of reflecting to do.

Andrés Marín en la calle

I'm walking home tonight and I look up, because I hear someone singing walking towards me, and it's Andrés f'ing Marín - walking all by himself. So I smile and say, "HOLA!" as I pass, and he says, " Bueno," and he stopped walking to talk to me. But I got nervous and kept walking as if I didn't notice - stupid-stupid-stupid! Well, if I had my camera (I left it at Josua's! Of all nights!) I would have asked for a photo, but since I didn't have it, I didn't do anything. Unlike me, he's so cool. It's actually the second time I've seen him walking on the street and he always looks cool. And now I can add 'friendly' to his list of personality traits. That was a cool moment - thanks Sevilla.

THE CUP!

I saw the World Cup yesterday - the actual cup!

With my intercambio, I wore my world cup t-shirt.

Photos from California in October

Dylan's class at Chuck E. Cheese for her birfday

Grandma Day at Charlie's school

Halloween practice

The birthday girls

She's berry berry cute!

Jem & Pizzazz with an Australian cholo and Shaggy

The most wonderful woman

Croc hunter

KOOL-AID!!!

Nona tried to break the piñata

Grampa sexy is so fun

Dylan's learning her alphabet and B is for Bunny - YOGI !

Charlie loves hooters

Thanksgiving with BJ, John & Yogi!

The new Nacho

I have my ticket

So it looks like I'm coming home. : )

I'm leaving Sevilla/arriving in Los Angeles on Dec. 15th, just in time for Christmas.

I only have 38 days more now. : (

¡Mira lo que hice!

Más lunares