Blog- Feb. 24th 2008
Its been a long month. I think im nearing stage two of culture shock, being that im beginning to get homesick, sick of things here that are different from home and overall just crabby about my situation. Im sure it has quite a bit to do with whats been going on in my personal life so as soon as I can forget about those things the better. The intensive period for Febuary has commenced, we had our final last Friday and recieved our new schedules for march-may. I cant believe that ive already been here 2 months. It seems ridiculous that I only have 3 months left! My family is coming to visit in 24 days, yes I counted. And im so so excited to show them around sevilla, where I hang out and where I go out to eat, dance etc. itll be interesting to gauge their reaction to the city.
Some funny stories:
As ive written about before, sevilla is filled with orange trees. I learned in my franco history class from Jose that the orange trees were imported here by the Chinese immigrants way back when and have flourished. Im serious, they are everyyyywhere. So the oranges on the trees are beatufiul and very fun looking but the sad thing is you cant eat them. They are toxic tasting, believe me ive tried them, just to say I had. It was foul. Anyway, along with oranges on trees, comes the obvious notion that there will be oranges on the street from when they fall out of the trees. I see them littering the cobblestones and always wondered if they hit people on their journey from branch to ground. Well, they do and one did… to my roommate. A couple weeks ago when paula had first arrived to sevilla we went to the internet café so she could talk to her bf andrew. Obviously after their skype date she was feeling a little low and sad missing him so i decided to buy her ice cream, or sorbet for that matter so we could share. We found a little heladaderia with mango sorbet and got a cone to share. Right after we sat down and were using the tiny spoons to eat our treat, something came shooting out of the sky, with such force I thought someone was throwing stuff at us from the balcony above. I looked up to see no one and looked around to see nothing but paula rubbing her head holding a broken cake cone. She told me that a orange hit her in the head, bounced off her and hit the cone knocking our brand new sorbet onto the ground. I felt like a little kid when they loose their ice cream from licking it too hard. So I went and asked the woman for a new one, telling her the tale of the dangerous oranges she laughed and obliged us with a new cone. While this story is quite entertaining for me, Paula didnt find it so funny, since the orange left an egg on her head for a couple of days.
Whilst sitting on the roof “taking the sun” as they call it here in sevilla, paula and I were accosted by another falling object from the sky. A big black crow flew over us and dropped a chunk of bread onto us. Ungrateful bird! Someone gives you dinner; you’re not supposed to throw it at someone else!
Some “interesting” fashions ive observed:
White furry boots. I have no idea why but the girls my age and a bit younger have taken to wearing white furry boots that look like they skinned their collies to make. Not only do they wear these horrific boots, they wear them after they get dirty from the streets and have turned an even awfuller color of gray.
Leapord and other animal print stretch pants with matching animal print pointy toe boots. This fashion must have a rule that it can only be worn by someone who should not ever being wearing stretch pants… either because of age but mainly weight. The fact they have that sort of confidence is great, but Vpl is not my style.
The fashions at the gym are quite a site. Ranging from one peice blue spandex short suits on women with saggy boobs and a visable thong line, complete with a camel toe and sweat band on her head, to a obviously elderly gentalmen that has been dipped into a vat of spray tanner, had his hair died and highlighted and taken so many steroids that even though he is wearing uber short shorts and spandex we are unable to see anything “special” thank god. Another great fashion ive observed from my daily perch on the elliptical machine is men with very short gym shorts, and one women that decided it would be a great idea to work out in ther swimsuit top. Between reps she of course had to make out with her boyfriend who was wearing the Standard cutoff tee short and baby oil. Which brings me to my next topic… pda.
Pda also known as public displays of affection, is something that occurs in the united states, more so in trailer parks, state fairs and rodeos then on the main street, but nevertheless ive seen it. However, Spaniards bring a whole new meaning to the term pda. Since many young people live with their parents until the age they get married (upwards 27-29 years old now days) it is seemingly difficult for them to find a place to be intimate with each other without their parents in the next room. So what have the chosen to do? Move the action to the streets. Now by no means am I prude who thinks that people shouldn’t touch in public, but the full on making out sitting on top of one another, legs tangled for hours on end can get nauseating especially when its all you see in every park of the city. Oh and trust me, do not go down by the river bed. Ull get an eye full of something that you don’t want to see.
so now you have some great visuals of the lesser then great cultural activities and norms here in spain ill leave you to ruminate over those thoughts.
Till next time, hasta luego
Leah Sevilla
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