Plaids vs. Stripes

Got my report card

In Madrid I was graded on various aspects of my language progress so far.

Looks like I excel in certain areas and still need more work in others.

Thank you Senor Sanchez.

Reunited in Madrid

With Teresa, Chusman & BJ !!!

El Corte Pelo

Before/Antes

During/Durante

After/Despues

Alone on the train...but not really

Bj left today. We parted ways in Madrid.

After being with Bj for a week her departure left me feeling sort of lonely. I have a good routine and lifestyle here in Spain but having her here (talking like I used to, sharing stories of home & hearing her laugh) has left me feeling a little empty.

Luckily, while on the train, I was reading a book that helped me to not be sad (thanks Verity). Basically it talks about the feeling 'fear' - and what I was feeling was very similar. I was dreading going back to Sevilla and living in my little bubble that is so far away from the life - including the people - I used to love daily. But my book says 'fear' is just energy that can be used to do our best in uncomfortable situations...so I got up & went for a snack.

At the snack bar there was a lady behind the counter & a woman, probably in her late 80's, dressed in a beautiful green suit with sparkly jewelry on and her hair done - she came up to my shoulder (but with her hair-do she stood at my chin.) She wasn't a fashionista despite being in her best clothes. She was drinking red wine and eating olives out of a cup with a toothpick all by herself, barely aware of me and looking very content despite having trouble stabbing her olives because she didn't have a free hand to hold the olive cup still - her other hand was holding her purse.

I stood next to her, drinking my beer & waiting for my panini pizza, staring out the windows watching the landscape go by. I thought about whether or not my conversation in spanish had just gone smoothly. I wondered if I should talk to the older woman. I wondered when I was going to feel at ease.

Then a really young little girl showed up and literally froze when the woman behind the bar asked her "Que querrias?" She took in a deep breath, we heard a little wheeze come out of her as she stared at the menu, and then she stood still! The bar-woman finally said very sweetly in English, "Take your time." The little girl was probably 13 or 14. She had on big baggy pants, a huge t-shirt & super messy hair. She was so scared to order (even though she was speaking English) but she kept going forward and eventually she got her questions answered (and her coke & pizza panini arrived too.) I was proud of the little girl as she silently enjoyed her pizza alone.

Eventually the little old lady asked us, in Spanish, about our panini pizzas. She'd never heard of them but thought they looked good. She was so impressed she wrote the word down on a napkin and put it in her purse.

The three of us, each in our own little way, were so beautiful & funny. All sort of aware of things and still totally clueless of ourselves.

The older lady had put a lot of effort into her appearance and was totally comfortable being who she wanted to be, AND completely unconscious of me watching her as she fumbled & enjoyed her snacks. Her helplessness didn't make her uneasy & she openly questioned us about things she didn't know.

The little girl was totally aware of me & the old lady listening to her, she was so nervous about not being able to speak spanish. AND she was completely unaware of the food on her face or how messy she looked! Or for that matter how cute she was.

And I was totally in the middle feeling slightly jaded and yet still really anxious for something to happen, as if I didn't exist. I was as uncomfortable as the little girl but more competent at hiding it. And I look forward to being as comfortable as the older woman was at revealing her lack of competency or knowledge. I was really impressed by their vulnerability.

I was proud of all of us - even the bar woman was so loving. The bar lady held the olive glass for the older woman so she wouldn't have to let go of her purse, she smiled the whole time she showed patience to the little girl, and she gave me a wink as the little old lady drilled me about whether or not I liked my panini. She was the world that wasn't against us. All in our own way, she was there to help us. It felt like love.

It was such a nice moment. It reminded me the whole world is here to support me. I have nothing to be afraid of and we're all the same. I'm the old lady - I'm the little girl - and they're me - and they're the bar lady.

---------

And so I'm back in Sevilla. I've cleaned my room, I've gone grocery shopping and now I'm typing my blog as I wait for Josh to come over. Tomorrow, after a week of traveling, I will go practice my flamenco. Tomorrow Bj will be back in California. It is as it's supposed to be.

(I love you all.)

4 amigos

Care packaged

How much am I loved...let me count thy ways (& say thank you):

1. Peeps from my peeps (& Olive) in LA - so cute Aurora - thank you!

2. My card. Thanks Aurora, Verity, Sarah & my 7-11 boys. They all sent the best well wishes! Teresa & I loved it. The boys were super cute in the card.

3. A real barking dog security guarding thing from my mom - thanks mom I'll try it.

4. A great book from mi hermanita - thanks VT, it looks really good.

5. And BATTER BLASTER - my favorite! Whoever thought of this is a genius...they even remembered the maple syrup. It was such a GREAT surprise.

Bj ha llegado!

After only 4 hours of sleep Teresa & Chusman took me to get BJ from the airport this morning so she's here! While she showers I will post our agenda.

1. SHOPPING

That's it.

Since I've been here I have lost my fashion identity (I'm having a fashion identity crisis so to say - I live in stupid crosstrainers - YUCK!) and I need BJ to help me find it again.

And she says I need a haircut so maybe we do have a numero 2 - HAIRCUT.

Ayer

All of my class with Luisa

USA, France, Spain, Canada, France, France, Switzerland, Spain, Spain & Israel

Then after that most of us (& few more) went for food.

It's a great group of people!

Viva mi VISA!

Officially (& finally!) I get to stay in Spain until 2011.

Presento mi visado!

Mrs. & Mr. T visited

Mrs. & Mr. T came to visit last month - my 1st visitors! And I haven't blogged it because I had to prepare things for the blog - but now it's ready!

Here is the exact list of 'Things to do' my dear friend Mrs. T prepared and sent to me before their arrival:

1) Hang out with Justine! YAY!
2) Size-up Justine's boyfriend
3) Mr.T and I wanted to visit the two UNESCO World heritage sites (alcazar and seville Catherdral)
4) Maybe visit this place La Carboneria. Have you been? I hear mixed reviews.
5) El Garlochi? It's a bar they mentioned on trip advisor
6) see flamenco (I'd love to see you dance. I have never seen you dance!) but i know that might not be possible. If there is flamenco someplace that might be fun.
7) enjoy spanish cuisine. Any recommendations?
8) enjoy spanish libations mmm yes!
9) visit a market (are there any good markets on the weekends?

AND WE ACCOMPLISHED - 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 & 9!

And here are the details & photos:

Numero 1 y 2:

Here we all are - Me, Josh (my boyfriend) and Mr & Mrs T - so clearly we hung out and I think they liked Josh...Mr. T called him my little Antonio Banderas

Numero 3:

Sunday we accomplished both the Alcazar and the Sevilla Catedral.

All of us at the Alcazar

Me & Mrs. T outside the Catedral

Me & Mr. T outside the Alcazar

Numero 4 & 6:

I love La Carboneria so I was so glad we made it there. That was the first time I've been there since I moved here and hopefully not the last...that place is so fun.

Lots of drink specials...

and free flamenco dancing!

LOOK HOW PACKED IT GETS!

Numero 7, 8 & 9:

Lastly, lots of food, drinks (of course - this is Spain!) and a market.

CIEN MONTADITOS - 100 Sandwiches - they loved it!

Their 1st beer.

Tapas!

Raimundo - my favorite restaurant - right by my house.

We had tea & candies at the market.

YEAH!

To MRS. & MR. T - I want to tell you one thing - Gracias por su visita!

My Solea

Today I danced my ass off! The Solea that Rafa taught us is so great. I didn't expect to love it so much, but I do. Estoy loca de contenta that I know a full Solea por bulerias - two letras and then the bulerias ending.

Anahi - I'm going to get the words for us to learn so you can sing it while I dance it...if you want to. I could even teach the dance to you and we could trade off singing and dancing - jajja - if you'll put up with my singing!!!

Anyways, it's really great - I still have a lot to work on - but I felt really good today. On Monday I'm going to try and videotape it with music to show everyone; Monday is when my flamenco exams start...YIKES!

Julie de la Frontera

I don't know if I mentioned it but I'd been at the Flamenco Festival in Jerez de la Frontera the last two weeks, thanks to my friend Julie. This is where I've been seeing all the great flamenco shows. I love Jerez and I love the woman who let me stay with her so I'm going to list the top 10 things about Julie & Jerez that made the last two weeks so great:

1. Julie! She's the best! We danced together when I was a teenager but now she lives in Switzerland so the only time we get to see each other is in Jerez; we've been in Jerez together 3 times now! She's knows a lot of stuff about a lot of flamenco things and she's loving, generous & funny. I'm trying to convince her to start a flamenco blog - AURORA, help me think of a name for Julie's flamenco blog!

2010

2009

2008

2. Jerez reunited me with Julie in 2008. We randomly met on the street after not seeing each other for over a decade...thanks Jerez!

3. Flamenco is a huge part of Jerez (they say flamenco singing started here.) Some of my favorite dancers have come from Jerez like Mercedes Ruiz, Joaquin Grilo & Andres Pena, and I've seen them all dance at the festival. For someone who loves flamenco, Jerez is great place with a great festival.

4. My friend XM! I'm using her initials because I can't spell her name. Julie introduced me to her and she's a salsa/flamenco dancing language genius who loves good food. So Julie, XM & I have a lot of fun together running around meeting all the cute waiters in all the delicious restaurants here.

Thankfully she has already started a blog for me about flamenco - it's called: 'Flamenco tidbits' and it's address is: http://justforjustine.blogspot.com/ (how cute is that?!) Thanks XM!

5. Jerez is famous for Sherry. During the muslim occupation of Iberia the city was called Xeres or Xerez, pronounced 'sherish', and this is where the word 'sherry' comes from. Anyways, there's a white sherry here they call 'fino' and I love it! (Julie introduced me to it.) This is me and XM enjoying our sherries.

6. I got a new pair of pink flamenco shoes from Julie for 25 Euros. They're not actually new but they're new for me. And I bought myself a new pair of dark teal ones - I HAD TO MOM! - they were so pretty.

7. Chiguagua is a Mexican restaurant in Jerez. It's actually sort of Mexican & Spanish fusion and it's really good. Julie, XM & I eat here every time we come to Jerez. BJ, Aurora & Hali all loved it too when they came. This is us at Chiguagua with our friend Carmen:

8. Speaking of Bj & Aurora - my beautiful friends from home - Jerez reminds me of them. We had the best week here last year. We ate great food, we saw great flamenco, we made fabulous memories in the streets with our camera and we met cute boys from famous 80's spanish rock bands. When the taxi was driving me to Julie's apartment, from the train station, I saw the street we took our beatles-like photo at, and all my wonderful memories of them came flooding back to me. It felt like I was being welcomed back by a place that loves me. Here's me, BJ & Aurora outside Chiguagua last year:

9. Chocolate balls - remember these BJ & AURORA?

10. Revuelto de la Flamenca: Julie & I discovered it at a restaurant here. I only ordered it because it's named after my favorite thing. But it turned out to be really good. Julie calls it Spanish comfort food. I have a feeling it's special to that particular restaurant so I think the only time I will ever get to eat it is when I'm with Julie, & in Jerez. But that's also ultimately what adds to making it so special...comfort food with comfort people in comfort places...perfect.