Week 5 in Sevilla

Entry 6

    The Week

Classes as usual this week but my Tuesday English tutoring with the local family was pushed to Wednesday because one of the kids had a basketball game. I taught the kids the game Concentration, which they really like and is super helpful for expanding/practicing their vocabulary. They also like to play hide and seek or monkey in the middle, but the younger brother always gets mad during the latter because his sister and I are taller, so he always ends up in the middle but still refuses to play a different game. It's a bit funny to me knowing how it will end but seeing him still so set on the game, but at least I can divert them to Concentration now!

    The Weekend

Friday was Dia de Andalucia, so a lot of shops were closed for the holiday and the options were pretty much just restaurants or the theater, so I did both. I went to the oreo croissant cafe again because one of my friends had not been yet (and because I wanted another oreo dessert) while we waited for the screening of A Complete Unknown. The theater had 2 options: dubbed movies or Vose, which means it is the original version with Spanish subtitles, which is what we chose. I really enjoyed having the subtitles on the screen and I think I understood more from being able to hear in English and read in Spanish than had I just been listening to the original version. The theater also had a candy wall where you could fill a bag with various candies and then they weighed it to charge you, so Macy and I did that and then immediately realized that it was mostly for children because no other adults got a bag of candy but oh well. Other than that, theater snacks were the same as any Harkins in the U.S. except that the large popcorn bucket here is actually large. I'm honestly confused by the stereotype of Americans having big portions because my meals here have definitely been larger.

candy wall

            Cadiz

On Saturday I took a bus to Cadiz at 4pm that was supposed to return at 1am but we arrived half an hour late due to traffic so the company I went with extended the departure time until 3am. Carnaval isn't a super organized event, there are a couple planned performances with set aside stages and areas but it's mostly just random musicians and drinking in the streets and everyone is wearing a costume. I did not have a costume beforehand but was able to buy one in a shop when we arrived, as they are all selling some. We also bought some snacks and drinks at a grocery store and stopped at the beach on our way to the main plaza. We wanted to watch the sunset at the beach, and it did not disappoint. 

Me! and Isabel at the beach in our costumes

After that we went to one of the plazas because my group wanted to see one of the planned performances. We spent half an hour trying to get near the stage, inching through a giant crowd like sardines, but still only got close enough to hear but not see. It was really easy to get separated or carried away with another group, so we were all holding onto each other and moving in a huddle. I still almost got swept into another group of older ladies and when Isabel pushed them away and pulled me back to our group, we got cussed out in Spanish (I think? It doesn't really work when I don't understand you). When we finally escaped from the crowd, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner where we sat outside and saw a mini parade go by. It didn't seem like parades were organized, more that a person or group would walk around playing music and others would just start following them and clapping/dancing behind them. 

It was fun for the first few hours, but we were all honestly exhausted by 11pm and bought ice cream in an attempt to rally for the last few hours. That worked for a short while and we followed music down a couple different streets and watched little performances. It was super fun until we apparently went into what was the bathroom alley because all of the men--and a few women--just pee against the walls instead of just using the temporary bathrooms arranged by the city. That was a short nightmare. Despite our best efforts, we were dead on our feet by 1:30am and ended up at KFC where I bought more ice cream just to get access to their sitting area where we stayed, and people-watched until 2:15 when we needed to head back towards the bus.

I wasn't sure if I would sleep on the bus, but I actually passed out like everyone else on the bus did--8 hours at Carnaval is at least 3 hours too many, in my opinion. An interesting and unique experience though and I was able to have little conversations with a lot of different people: some locals, other international students, and one man from Madagascar who was trying and struggling to speak to us in Spanish before we all realized that we speak English.  

Sunday was just a homework, laundry, and calling family/roommates in the states day.

    Food

I tried a different oreo dessert at the cafe: mini pancakes with oreo ice cream and oreos on top and it was 10/10 delicious, definitely going to go back and try all of the oreo desserts little by little. I had mint and chocolate ice cream in Cadiz, which was good, but Isabel bought flan flavored ice cream that Aria and I tried, and we all agreed it was definitely the best flavor.

Me! with my 1st ice cream of the night