A Day in the Life of "Spanish" Sarah

I know that it's probably pointless to tell you about a normal day for me here in Spain, but you guys need to know this before I leave. I need to know this too in a way so that I can remember my daily life here too.

A normal Monday or Wednesday for me usually goes something like this:

I get up around 6:30 or 7 a.m. (that's 12:30 or 1 a.m for Americans on Eastern time) to read my Bible, pray, check messages from the day before, do homework and chat with the occasional friend I might find still online. Breakfast is usually at 9 a.m. for me on Mondays and 7:45 a.m. on Weds.--since I work at an elementary school around 9-9:30 a.m.). My señora wakes us up each morning for breakfast by knocking on our doors and saying, "Desayuno." [breakfast]!!
You will not find many (or any) señoras who do this. Although mine's pretty strict, we are so spoiled here.
In the beginning I did sleep til 8:30 or 9 a.m. and she did in fact wake me from my slumber, but now, with weeks of having lots and lots of homework, I get up earlier....and if you know me, you know that I like to get ahead and I enjoy mornings and being productive first thing, so that's why I get up early. Spanish people think I'm absolutely crazy. haha
Breakfast consists of hot tea, water, hard toast [tostada] or cookies [galletas] with Nutella or marmelade and fruit--oranges, bananas, kiwis. In the beginning, I had cookies with Nutella and then tostada with Nutella but after a few breakouts and realizing how terrible it is for you, I stopped.
If you eat the sweets the Spanish eat normally, you could easily become diabetic. That became super clear to me after I read the ingredients of the Nutella. It's basically a heart-attack in a jar!
Although I try to get dressed and ready before breakfast, I usually am getting ready for the day, putting on my make-up [yes, you read this right] and gathering all the stuff I need fore the day in my bag after I get up from the table and thank my señora for preparing breakfast [which all she does is heat up the water for tea for us, but still that's work in itself].
As I leave the house I tell her, "Hasta luego," and head out the door with my packed lunch in hand and go down the three sets of stairs t the main door of the apartment building and then cross the patio and go down three more sets of stairs til I finally get to the street. From there I turn the corner and am out in all the action for the day. There's a supermarket just around the corner from me and people are always coming out of there or taking their kids to school or walking to work. It's a busy little street at times.
If I'm not running errands or meeting someone in the mornings, I usually head straight to the metro to go to school or to the public library after leaving the house on Mondays. Wednesday mornings I walk over to the school and work on the blog I'm making for the International Relations Dept. It's not a long walk at all and after I finish there I walk just a little ways down the street and down some side streets and take the metro to school for my 1:30 p.m. Sociology class.
Usually, before class starts I'm able to eat my packed lunch (which consists of a sandwich--bocadillo--, fruit and an orange juice juicebox. The sandwiches are usually good, but the bread is kinda salty and the cheese melts and looks like mayonnaise some times. And it gets. everywhere. Ugh. haha
During Sociology I try to be active and participate in the discussion but most of the time I'm fighting off sleep cause the topics are kinda boring and we take little to no notes every day.
On both Mondays and Wednesdays I have an hour in between my Sociology class and Global Economy class (at 4 p.m). so I either surf the web on my netbook and write messages, read for my next class [which is what I am most likely doing] or just sit and soak up the sun and listen to music....or meet new Spanish people around me. :)
Between 4 and 5:20 p.m my ears rejoice at the sound of my British Econ professor's voice, but my brain gets a little mushy as I make the transition back to English and learning about the complex problems other countries are facing and economic models. I try my hardest to participate in his class, but for the life of me I just can't get my thoughts out fast enough...and they are usually too basic. But now I feel that I have learned enough about Global Economics that I am just as competent as the next person in my class to discuss topics and issues.
After class, I talk to friends and we all trek back to the metro stop [which is like 10-15 mins away from this building I'm in...Building 24--grrr]. Usually the metro is about to arrive by the time we get there or it has just left by the time we make it there and have to wait for another one. The metro ride itself takes about 20 mins and then the walk back to my house is like 15 mins from my stop at Plaza de Cuba. Sometimes I go straight home after class to check things on the internet or talk to someone, but lately I have been going to the river to sit and tan or go run other errands or do some browsing/shopping. It just depends on what I need to do that day.
I like to shower on Monday, Wed, Friday and with 4 girls sharing one bathroom it's hard to get in sometimes. On Mondays especially I shower before dinner so that the other [diva] girls can have the bathroom and use it as much as they need to.
Dinner is always at 9 p.m on the dot my time and my señora likes us to be prompt. Sometimes she will serve it earlier if we are all in the house at the same time and it's ready. I've had a few run-ins with dinnertime since no other señora keeps such a strict time schedule as mine does. It usually lasts anywhere between 30-45 mins depending upon what we talk about or what's on the news. I still don't like the fact that it's sooo late in the day, but my body has adjusted to it.
After dinner I go back to working on homework, reading my ridiculously long literature books, surfing the web, cleaning my room, preparing for the next day or Skyping with my family and the occasional friend.
My goal is to go to bed at 11:30 p.m. or earlier but I usually end up getting there around midnight or 12:30 a.m....which means I get little sleep each night. I can function alright for the most part, but I really wish I got more sleep here.
And then I basically repeat this for Tuesday and Thursday, but an abbreviated version of those days will be coming soon!

If you made it all the way to the end of this post, you must have a ton of time on your hands...or are just very curious to see how I spend my days here in Spain! Either way, thanks for reading!

Mucha cariña,

Sarah

Taking back the joy

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Some things have happened in the past few days that have really made me question the experience I have had this semester abroad. While I can't go into detail what those things are, I will say this: I have discovered my purpose for being here in Spain.

It's not to go to as many countries or cities as I can, spend as much money as I can or see how many stupid things I can do while drunk. My purpose here has been to get to know the PEOPLE of Sevilla...and let me tell you, it has been invaluable. Money cannot buy some of the experiences I have had here with people...and not just regular Americans, but Spaniards! They are the most generous and fun-loving people I have ever met. And without certain friends in my life here, my experience would just be one big selfish and extravagant semester abroad. I don't mean to sound like I'm condemning anyone for traveling as much as possible with the money they've earned to spend here in Europe cause that is awesome to do....it's just that is not how my semester is being spent.
And honestly, while I can't help but feel a little disappointed, I am content. I have felt, especially in the last few days, that the devil is trying to steal the joy that I have to be here and the joy I've found in friendships. It's not fair cause I have worked hard to get here so I am praying fiercely every day that God will provide me with his armor to fight off the devil and his wicked schemes...and it all starts with reading His Word.

My semester abroad will not be measured in how many countries I've been to, souvenirs I've bought, or how many drinks I've tried, but rather by how many Spanish friends I have made, how many times I laughed til I cried and how much love I have shown. :)
What an experience this has been. I can only hope that through all the mistakes I've made and hiccups in this trip that God's love and grace can still be seen through me and can bring people to Him.

Africa for the weekend

Here's a special entry that I wrote during my Morocco trip: (from 4-10-10)

Bienvenidos a Africa!
Well, I'm officially in Africa...a whole nother continent for me! After an unpleasant and long fairy ride, spending the night in a 4-star hotel and lots of delicious Moroccan food, I am now on my way to Tangier, Morocco where we will be riding camels and doing some more shopping!
This trip has been great so far. Everyone except a couple from Argentina and an American boy is a girl so that has made it so much easier to make friends. I think everyone one of these girls who is studying here goes to the Univ. of Sevilla [or so I thought] so I may not see them again, but that's okay. It was definitely a good choice for me to go on this trip with We Love Spain. Everything is included, planned and fun. The Moroccan people are so nice too--the tour guide, Mohammad and all the shop-keepers. I was very surprised by just how friendly they are for some reason. I definitely thought that some of them would be unbearably pushy, but they aren't. Ideally they want you to buy things from them, but they are not offended if you just want to look. That was just what I experienced in the first marketplace that we visited...the more open ones may have pushier people.

However, as we made our way to the restaurant where we had lunch, these two guys followed us all of the way there. They were rather annoying, but a couple girls got some good deals off them. The food we had at the restaurant was top-notch. A spice-filled soup with bread was the first course; rice with tuna, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions, carrots and potato salad were 2nd and the main course was couscous with beef and steamed vegetables on top. For dessert, we had these hard cookie/muffin things with sesame seeds on top and tea that reminded me of the apple tea that Nathan had at the Pasha Grill. It was so good! It all had no salt, too!

I can't believe that bland things now make me happy. haha [to an extent, of course] Well, that's all I can write for now. We just made it to Tangier and are going to ride the camels! After that, we'll be going to the place where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean and then the Caves of Hercules--whatever those might be. And at the end of the day, we will be at our 2nd hotel (which I've heard is not that great---but the people who told me that were wrong!). I really need to charge my camera, but I'm just going to have to make do...and hopefully learn from now on to charge it each day (before and after) when I go on trips like this. As far as I know, I may not be back here again. I'm definitely going to remember Morocco, but people at home want to see some sweet pics (and so do I) so I have to get some. We'll see what Tangier holds though.

Ciao for now!

Sarah

Tienes suerte si....

You're extremely lucky if you are reading this and can do any (or all) of the following things:

*Get out of your bed, get dressed and WALK to your classes
*Have a bowl of cereal with milk in it!
*Can print things from your own room/house instead of having to go a store or the school copy center!!!
*Pay for things in dollars and not have to take money out of ATMs
*Not have to watch the exchange rate for the Euro constantly
*See your family on the weekends or call them up from your own cell phone
*Have the OPTION of putting salt on or in your food
*Breathe air that's free and clear of smoke!!
*Have access to a kitchen and can bake or cook things for yourself whenever you want
*Making money every week instead of just spending but not earning any

I'm not home sick or anything but I have been comparing life in Spain vs. America lately cause I've had a few bad days off and on. Today was actually one of those frustrating days cause there is just so much to do and not enough time!

But I'm lucky, too cause in Spain I am able to:

*Hear Spanish and lots of other different languages in the streets all the time
*Try new and exciting foods almost every week and not have to spend money
*Meet people from all over the world
*Go to different countries on the weekends and on vacations
*Go to a Spanish church and praise God in another language
*See sunsets and sunrises that blow my mind almost every day
*Slowly become more fluent in a language that I love
*Learn things I never thought I'd be learning
*Fly to other countries for super cheap
*Have memories that money cannot buy but time will make even sweeter (you know, the little things :)
*Attempt to be as sophisticated and stylish as a European
*Learn how to party like the Spaniards
*Bring all of this knowledge, style and information back to the United States of America!


I'll be doing some updates soon, but I just wanted to write what has been on my mind for a little bit. So in the next posts....you will be reading about what my daily routine is like, Cadiz and MOROCCO!

Spring is here and love is in the air!

For the past couple weeks it has been warm and very pleasant here in Sevilla. Today will be our first day in the 80s in fact and I know that it´s gonna be WARM. The constant rain from February is just an awful, but distant memory for us Americans and the Sevillanos....all that´s predicted now and until the end of the semester are warmer tempertures and lots of sun! ¡Por fin!
Spring is in full swing here in Sevilla as the mornings are getting warmer, the sun is rising earlier and the aromas of orange blossoms are filling the air of almost every street. OH, what a heavenly smell that is...

Flowers are blooming and more restaurants are setting up outdoor seating...but what´s even more is that the city is coming alive in new ways both socially and romantically. More couples are taking strolls along the riverbank or spending hours in the afternoons and weekends sitting by it with the one they love. It´s quite cute and sometimes adorable to see the couples by the river or in the streets interact but it, albeit not meant to be on purpose mind you, just reminds me of how much I want that.

And it´s especially hard to be in Spain seeing all these super hot guys (which is almost every guy I see-haha) in April when I know I´m not going to be here much longer. I´ve seen some pretty good-looking guys here, but for some reason these past couple weeks, the drop-dead gorgeous guys have been coming out of the woodwork lately! Granted it was Semana Santa last week and all of these hip and savvy Spaniards visited Sevilla (and thousands of other tourists too) so that changed the make-up of the city for about a week, but it kinds seems like some are sticking around...and I´m perfectly okay with that, but I´m having a little trouble focusing on not getting a Spanish boyfriend. Let me explain how love crazy or Spaniard crazy I´ve been lately. haha

Semana Santa: Last Tuesday I went out at night to see a couple more passos not far from my house near Puerta Jerez. As I walked across the Puente del San Telmo to get there, I passed by some nazarenos (people who wore the KKK attire) dressd in white and black. I saw some pretty good-looking men dressed as those but for some reason I decided to see which ones were wearing shoes and which ones weren´t. I caught some peeks at Spanish men´s feet....and let´s just say I liked what I saw. I started laughing to myself after I realized another thing that I like about Spanish men. I said to myself, ¨Oh, my gosh, even their feet are hot!!! Ahhhh...I´ve got it bad!¨
I blushed after I said that but I agree. I have full-fledged Spanish fever now and it´s raging apparently. haha

What´s even more is I´m just like attracted to every guy I see. Even the ugly ones too cause they still dress nice and wear the MOST amazing colognes (like Armani Mani, Nathan!!). Plus, I´ve seen older, middle-aged men who I think look hot too....and I just berate myself for staring at them when I do. But I can´t help it cause Spain just has too many fine-looking men to offer! And for someone who loves tall, dark and handsome men (but is still an absolute sucker for blue eyes!), this country is lethal for me to be in. Just like the incredible desserts I see in the windows of las confiterias but can´t have cause they´re horrible for my skin!

My friend Krystol made a perfect statement about Spanish men a couple weeks ago and I´ll leave you with that for now. She said, while trying to figure out why all the guys everywhere look so good, ¨You´re hot, but you´re picking up trash!¨

And that concludes my digresion of Spanish men and how I am in love with every single one I see. haha :)

Too much of a good thing...

So raise your hand if saw the sunrise in Spain yesterday morning but didn't go to sleep the night before?! Haha...um, [raises hand]. That would be me!
Early Friday morning my American and Sevillian friends and I all met up (around 1 a.m) and watched the processions of the infamous Madruga (early morning/dawn) until the sun rose, well, and then some.
What is so special about jueves santo [holy Thursday] and viernes santo [holy Friday], you are probably wondering? Well, most people know that Jesus was said to be crucified on a Friday so naturally for Catholics this calls for a time of great reflection and remembrance. One of my friends explained to me that the reason why she thinks there are so many pasos during the week and only one paso for el domingo de resureccion is because Jesus suffered many, many times but only rose again once, so why make such a big deal about Easter and not the rest? When I think about it makes sense, but the fact that MY Savior died and rose again makes me want to celebrate and praise Him for all he's done all day!
Anyways, back to the Madrugada on Friday. I left my house at 12:30 a.m to walk over to the Plaza Nueva (one of the usual places where I go to meet up with friends). The streets were swarming with people and there was a different feeling in the air. It was something mixed with excitement and reverence....kind of like New Year's, minus the reverent attitude. I nearly got swallowed up in the hoards of people on my favorite bridge, the Triana bridge, as there were tons of people lined up on the sides sitting in chairs, laying down or standing up...or standing in the middle of the bridge carrying on conversations like typical Spaniards. haha What was even crazier was that when I paused to take a couple pictures of the crowds, I noticed that the bridge was bouncing! It felt like it was literally bouncing up and down as I stood on it! It kind of makes me wonder how much weight this bridge can handle before anything happens to it [which I don't want to know until after I leave though-haha]
I met up with my two friends from Ohio (we met for the first time in Spain of all places :) right at 1 a.m...but the rest of the group was nowhere to be found. After we walked around and checked parts of the Plaza Nueva, we figured the rest of the Americans were just late because they were with the Spaniards. BUT... a Spanish friend of my friend Abby called her and asked where she was and it turns out that she got the places mixed up and we were meeting at Puerta Jerez instead--which is all the way on the other side of the city center! But as the saying goes in Spain, no pasa nada, and after cutting through several side streets together to avoid the massive crowds in the center we made it to Puerta Jerez and weren't late at all [by Spanish standards]. I saw the same people I had met at a picnic the other day and greeted some new friends with dos besos (on the cheeks).
One of the sevillanos, Abraham, still had to meet and bring another friend to our meeting place, so we had at least 30 minutes before we even started off for the first paso. It was about 2 a.m. at that point and my friends and I began to wonder how we would make it through this night awake.
Surprisingly, the night passed quicker than I thought it would. I wasn't planning on staying out and awake until 9 freaking A.M, but I did and I had a good time. Around 3 a.m we saw the "El silencio" float, about 5 a.m was "El Gran Poder" and the one that took us the longest to see was "La Macarena." We got to the street that it was supposed to be on and waited an hr before we got to see the Cruz (float with a scene from Jesus' final days on Earth--this one had the trial before Pilate) and then we waited another hour before we could see the big thing (La virgen de la Macarena)...so that was the only thing that made the night drag on. We were all exhausted and cold that for about 15 mins we all sat down in the street and huddled up and tried "to sleep." We really just tried to stay warm because it's chilly on the narrow streets of Spain after dusk. My friend Melody didn't dress as warmly as she should have for the night so Abby and I took turns warming her up [mostly in the form of a Melody sandwich :] A few people took pictures [both friends and strangers] of our group sleeping in the middle of the street...it was pretty hilarious actually.
After we saw the much anticipated Macarena, we all walked back towards the center around 8 a.m and went in search of churros and chocolate. I honestly didn't feel like eating anything, especially after the sinfully sweet pieces of chocolate I had had earlier that night...but I tagged along anyway cause I had no clue where we were at. Melody and I chose not to have churros while the rest of the group did and they all shared them and the chocolate. One of the Spaniards, Abraham, saw that Melody and I were not eating anything so he had someone had us a churro to share and said, "Chicas. Come! Este es una experiencia." [Girls, eat....this [churros are] is an experience]. I've had churros y chocolate before and they're good, but I just wasn't hungry for anything. I ate the one he passed over to us just to appease him though. Another guy tried to get us to eat some of his (an American) but I just had to tell him that I wasn't hungry.
I'm glad I turned the churros down, but that did not save my body from getting thrown off track. I walked back with another girl who lives in Triana and by the time I got home it was just a few minutes before 9 a.m! I felt like a rebel as I walked into my house but my senora already expected us to stay out late, so it didn't really matter. I got ready for bed, drew my curtains closed and went to sleep a little after 9 a.m. I slept kind of restlessly and woke up before my alarm (set for 2 p.m) which meant I barely got 5 hours of sleep. Mistake number 1.
Secondly, after I woke up and reoriented myself for the day, I basically woke up for lunch--which I never do!--and that consisted of leftovers from the day before (an Arabic dish that consisted of pork, peppers and onions eaten on top of bread). Mistake number 2.
Just think for a second what spicy foods do to your stomach when it's still at the delicate stage of the day. Yeah...lunch did not catch up with me until dinner time, when we had another puree (yuck) and fried calamari.
Not the greatest thing for a stomach that had missed breakfast once again. I didn't eat too much of the puree (which I'm pretty sure is a zucchini puree) nor did I eat too many pieces of fried calamari but like an hour after dinner something just did not sit right with my stomach. I was going to go out to a flamenco bar, but decided against it once my stomach started churning. I tried to relax and rub my stomach and that worked up until I went to bed....but it didn't help me get through the night. Around 2 a.m I woke up and was not only burning up but my stomach was aching. I thought it was going to be something else, but to make this part of the story short, I threw up around 2:30ish a couple times. I've thrown up several different things in my life but let me tell you, throwing up anything with peppers in it is absolutely disgusting. I still had an after taste of it no matter how much I rinsed my mouth out. Sickkkk. Afterward, I went back to my room, was still feeling hot but cold at the same time so I grabbed a sweater and got into my bed. I got the chills after that which was horrible but was able to fall back to sleep even though I slept poorly. :-/
I woke up again around 7 a.m, stomach still hurting, but thought I just needed to use the bathroom again but guess what? I threw up again....thankfully only once that time, but it was still pretty bad cause I threw up more peppers and crap. I also kept dreaming about being nauseous and all the things that make me nauseous so that wasn't fun either. I did decide to stay up after that last time I threw up and it only proved to be a little productive for me. I checked a few things online but really should have been doing my quiet time or listening to some encouraging music on my Zune.
But I didn't and I think that's one of the lessons I'm learning from this 24 hr. sickness thing. I had a wonderful night with friends the night before, friends who are all believers and want to get to know me and share in my struggles...and the devil doesn't want that. God wants me to continue to have genuine fellowship with other believers over here and in order for me to avoid the attacks of Satan I must be armed with the Word of God each and everyday. I've been falling behind on my readings each morning because I've been a little too busy, but I'm taking a stand now and making it a point to read the Bible every morning and strive to read a passage at night too.
I feel like there's a lot of opposition against me here and I know that there is. If you are reading this, you have probably prayed for me at some point during this semester as many, many others have too. And the more I am strengthened by your prayers, my prayers, and what God is doing through my life, the more the devil wants to tear me down and discourage me.
I refuse to let him take a foothold because we serve a great and powerful God! He is more than able to do things beyond what we think or see on this earth. And we serve a risen God too! I hope that tomorrow morning you will reflect on that and praise Him for all that He has done for you in your life. Since it's official in Spain, Happy Easter everyone!
**And if you have made it to the end of this post, I commend you! I was just rambling really, but if you've read down to the end of this post...I hope you didn't get bored at any part. :) **

Hasta la proxima,

Sarah

Semana Santa...que es esto?

Bienvenidos a todos a Semana Santa!

I know it's mid-way into "Holy Week," but an update about it now is better than never right? I've been out enjoying the festivities and hanging with my friends (both American and Sevillian) so that's why I didn't start writing about it in the beginning of the week. And besides, who wants to sit inside all day doing homework or blogging when there is fantastic weather to enjoy and orange blossoms to be breathed in...and did I mention the festivities of Semana Santa, oh, yeah, I did. haha But what are they and what exactly is Semana Santa? Keep reading and I will explain it.

This week though is my first of two spring breaks but it's most commonly known as Holy Week for Spain. The week before Easter is really important to Catholics but in Spain they celebrate it religiously. Every church has a float that they carry on their backs through the streets and back to the respective church were it belongs. Each float tells the story of Jesus' last week on Earth as it leads up to His Resurrection. The floats weigh like a ton too! For me as a foreigner and a born-again believer it's neat to see these processions--even though I don't agree with a lot of things in Catholicism or see the need to be so focused on rituals like these.

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be the most important part of Semana Santa because it's the day before Good Friday and these processions will tell the trial and betrayal of Christ. All of these floats are like worshiped here (esp. the ones of the Virgin) and I don't like that, but it's still neat to be a part of it.

My adopted city, Sevilla, has the best floats in the country so people from around the world come here to see them. I'm so thankful that I live here and I'm not a traveler!

I will post pictures and videos on Facebook if you keep up with me on there, but the picture below is a picture of "los nazarinos" or members of the KKK as we Americans may think they are. But trust me, they are not--they're just Sevillanos! They are actually just members from each individual church (both men and women) who march in front of their float (la cofradia) with candles. It's like a pilgrimage for them because they lead their float all throughout the city and some do not wear shoes (as a part of penance) because participating in the processions is a very personal journey for them.


The second one is a picture of one of the most elaborate floats I have seen so far. The church in which it comes from is also just a few mins from my apartment! It was incredible!!




Hope you enjoy the pics and that the nazarinos don't startle you! :)