100th Post

I noticed that today is my 100th blog post since being in Spain. I am really glad I have kept up with the blog and hopefully some people are still checking it out to see what I have been up to. This weekend was a lazy one in Seville. I planned on going hiking on Saturday but I was too tired and slept past the alarm. I guess it was a good week to miss because the weather was cloudy and I heard it wasn't that interesting of a hike.

Saturday night was rainy but a few friends. and I went to a Senegalese Bar to see a band play. The guitarist was just arriving from Senegal when we showed up. He got into Sevilla an hour earlier. The bass play was how we found out about the place. My friend met him and he told us to come check it out. It was a tiny tiny "bar" but I heard a few people refer to it more as a cultural center than a bar. 

The guitar play was really good and the music was too. We hung out there for a while and then I headed out early because I wasn't feeling that good. 

The weather has been great the past couple of days. Besides Saturday it has been sunny and upper 60's lately. We have been going to the  river often to enjoy the warm weather and relax. 

Along the Guadalquivir River

Today a few friends and I went again to the park near the river and hung out for a few hours. The grassy area along the river is always filled with people but we found a nice spot to post up and relax.

This weekend is a "puente" in Andalucia. Monday is "dia de Andalucia." A group of friends and I all decided to take a trip to Salamanca, a university town on the western edge of Spain. We rented a car and we head out Friday afternoon and get back Monday night. I am really excited to check out the city. My roomate Nacho is from Salamanca and gave me a pretty extensive list of things to see and eat. Should be a fun weekend.

New Bedroom!

So for those who do not know or remember, I moved into to a 3 bedroom apartment with two Spanish guys my first week here in Seville. The owner of the apartment, Nacho, is a middle aged guy who works at a hospital in the city. The other roommate was Dal; he is 26 years, from Malaga, Spain, and is studying in Seville. I was so desperate to find a place that I didn't care who I lived with or what the place was like. I lucked out with who I lived with; both are really friendly and fun to be around. The only thing I didn't like about my living situation was the size and location of my room in the house.

When I tell people my room is the size of a shoebox I wasn't joking. The room had a twin sized bed, small desk, bookshelf and a dresser. The remaining floor space was not even big enough to lay down on. My room turned into a shit hole in a matter of seconds.

Old room

Old room

Last week Nacho told me that Dal was moving out to another apartment that he had lived in before he moved into this place. I am not sure exactly what went down, but I could tell Nacho had been a little annoyed with Dal. They are family friends and have known each other for almost a decade. Long story short Dal moved out yesterday and I quickly asked if I could change rooms. His room is almost double the size, has a WINDOW to the outside (my window went into the kitchen) and is not next to the kitchen. Before I asked Nacho about switching rooms he told me that when he was going to put the announcement up on the web for an open room, but he was going to charge a little more because the room was so much bigger than the other. I told him I would pay the extra amount (20 euro) and he said I could change rooms.

I moved all my stuff in today. So excited to finally be able to have a little space and not feel so crammed. here are a few pictures of my new room. 

Another Saturday Hike

Last Saturday I went on another hiking trip with the group. My friends David and Brett came along too. We headed south of Sevilla to the same area we have been hiking the past few times. This week we hiked part of the "GR7"trail. The GR 7 is a long hiking trail which cuts through Europe. There are a variety of trails, this one being #7. One of the hikers told me that this particular trail goes all the way to Greece. The GR is short for Grand Randonnee which means a big walking tour. 

lacing up before the hike

Start of the hike

About 6 car loads of people all met at the head of the hiking trail. A few people were just waking up from camping overnight. They had a fire going and I imagine they were in the middle of hiking a large portion of the trail. We took a shortcut through a small rocky forest to get to the valley which would lead us to the mountains we planned on hiking.

View from starting point where we parked our cars

We made our way across a large valley cutting over a few small streams and passing herds of cattle and sheep. When we finally made it to the base of the mountains we broke off into two groups; Everyone went together in one group except for me and my two friends who followed Jose Luis towards a cave he wanted to show us. I think the group was really impressed that we climbed that steep mountain only a few weeks before and thought we would be up for a more challenging hike. We split from the rest of the group and made our way to a cave at the base of the mountains.

Making our way to the mountains

about a second after I took this photo it stood up very quickly - I was a bit scared, ha

Base of the mountains

We made our way down to the point of the cave. It was pretty small but we couldn't really see how big it was because you needed climbing gear to get down into the base of it. We hung out for a few minutes and decided we better start hiking because we had a long way to go before we met up with the other group.

Heading down to the cave

The day was perfect; There was no clouds in the sky, a light cool breeze and a nice mildly warm temperature. I had no idea where we were hiking too, but with such good conditions I didn't really care. We made our way out of the cave and started heading up the first mountain trail.

you follow the stream back to the road and into the trees to get to the cars

We made our way up the first small incline and came across a few old farm houses. There was no one living in them, but I am pretty sure they were still being used to maintain the herds of animals. We walked through some flat areas for a while and then we started to descend down the other side of the mountain. I was a bit confused on where we were going, but we kept moving along to meet up with the other group.

We started to make our way down the mountain and our guide was finally able to show us roughly where we were going. I wasn't too excited. We had to make our way down a pretty steep hill across another valley and then up another mountain where we were meeting the rest of the group for lunch. Instead of making our way down to the flats between the two ridges and then walking around a small rocky hill our guide decided we should go directly over it. It was hot and we had been hiking for a few hours but we continued on.

Down the mountain - then back up the next one

The thing I find funny about some of these Spaniards we go hiking with is they have no regard for the trails. They make their own trails. The picture above is proof. We were making our way down a steep ridge with large boulders and vegetation grown in between. We made it to the bottom and cut across the valley to find the point at which we would start to climb the next mountain trail.

pretty colors 

We made it to the base of the next ridge and started making our way up the hill. It was gradual at first but then it became a lot steeper. I felt like we were stopping every 10 minutes to catch our breaths. As usual we didn't take a trail and took the quickest way up - going straight up. The side of the mountain was littered with loose rocks and boulders. It felt like hiking in sand. We finally made it to the top of the ridge when our guide points at the next hill behind it and says "That's where the group is." I thought I was going to die. Luckily it was only a short rise in elevation and took only a few minutes to reach. 

We started from the other side of that mountain ridge

Going up - straight up

The view from the top was beautiful. Once again we could see the tops of the peaks in Africa and also the town of Ronda which seemed to be about 10 away. We made our way up to where the rest of the group was. Most of them were all sprawled out and taking a siesta. They were probably there a hour or so before us because they took a shorter more direct route. The weather was so nice. My 2 friends and I decided to take advantage of the sun while we ate and took off our shirts. I forgot what kind of group we were with. Middle aged women were shouting and hollering like they had never seen men without their shirts on. A few ran over and wanted to take photos with us. It was pretty funny to see their reaction.

From the top

Me - Brett - David

Siesta Time

Fiesta Time

After hanging out on top for a while we started to make our way back to the cars. We were all pretty tired but the nice break and food gave us some energy we definitely needed. Heading back down the mountain we came back up was long and tedious. With every step we took the rocks and soil below us moved as if we were hiking through snow. We took our time getting down the first part. On the way back we took the shorter route through the valley instead of hiking up another ridge. 

Heading back

We made it back to the cars at sunset. We hiked over 12 miles over to ridges. I was so tired. We all went to the same restaurant as usual and had some dinner. Even though it was a tough hike I had a lot of fun. I'm excited to go on the next trip!

Warming up by the fire at the restaurant with a few of the hikers

First week of February

January has come and gone and it seems the bad weather left too. It has been clear and sunny mid 60's all week. I can't help but be thankful after seeing the week that most of the United States had with all the cold weather and snow. 

Giralda

As the new month start I also have started a few other activities to fill my time. I found a group to play soccer with. We play every wednesday night on outdoor court fields near the river. It is mostly Americans who are studying abroad but there are a few spaniards who play too. I was pretty sore after playing last week. It has been too long since I have had the chance to play, but I plan on making it a routine.

Sunny day near the cathedral

I also started taking some private classes for myself. I found a lady through a friend who give 90 minute conversation classes for 12 euro. I met with her and she gave me a few tests to see where my level was at. She affirmed what I had thought. My grammar level/knowledge of the language is very good, what I lack is a broad vocabulary and common conversational phrases that people use on a daily basis. We decided that when we meet we will find a topic and discuss it. For example I am reading a novel about the Spanish Civil War. Next week we will discuss the basics of the war and work on my conversation. I am really excited because normally when I speak with spaniards they usually don't correct my mistakes unless it is something big or obvious. The plan is to meet every Monday night.

Plaza near Cathedral

Friday the 4th was another coworker's birthday. I met them at the school at around 2 pm and we went to a bar close by and got a drink. Then we headed to get some lunch at a nice outdoor bar in Dos Hermanas. I saw a few of my students there with their parents eating. You can tell that the town is very close and it seems like most people know each other. Dos Hermanas is a lot smaller than Seville but it still has a decent population. 

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Carlos, me, Jose

Coworkers

After eating we headed to another bar for a few drinks. I went home around 7 pm and bought some groceries and packed to go on another hiking trip on Saturday (post to come) 

having a drink with the coworkers

Field Trip to The Museum of Andalusian Autonomy

Last week I went on a field trip with some of the school kids to the Museum of Andalusian Autonomy in a small town alongside the Guadalquivir River called Coria del Rio, about 15 minutes from Seville. We all loaded up on a big bus and traveled about 30 minutes from Dos Hermanas to the town of Coria Del Rio.

The museum contained good amount of information about the region of Andalusia, but mainly it was a tribute to Blas Infante, an Andalusian politician, wirier, historian and musicologist. He was called the "Father" of Andalusian fatherland and was responsible for creating the identity of Andalusia that still resonates today.

lining up to head into the museum 

Blas Infante created three symbols of Andalusia that are still used today. He wanted to create an identity that all people in southern Spain could support and relate to. He created the Andalusian flag, coat of arms and the song/hymn of the region. The Flag he created using three stripes of colors; green on top and bottom with white in the middle. The green represented the land surrounding the pueblos and the white for the color of the houses. The coat of arms bears the Pillars of Hercules, which is the ancient name given to the two large mountains near the strait of Gibraltar, one being in Europe the other in Africa. The Figure of the Greek hero Hercules appears between the columns. He is standing while holding two tame lions each represent the power of animal instinct. Below the image of Hercules and the Lions is the phrase, "Andalucía por si, para Espana y La Humanidad" (Andalusia by herself, for Spain, and for Humankind.) The coat of arms also appears in the middle of the flag.

Guide explaining the flag and what the colors represent. 

We also went to the house of Blas Infante in the back of the museum. It was filled with books, musical instruments and many other things used by Blas Infante in his day. During the Spanish Civil war in 1936 Blas Infante was executed by Franco's forces. He was one of many political figures executed at the start of the Civil War when Seville was captured by Franco.

House of Blas Infante

Coat of Arms

After the tour all the kids sat in a large room and the directors of the museum brought out paper to create the Andalusian flag with green tissue paper to glue onto paper with lines pre drawn and a stick to hold up the flag. We all loaded back on the bus and headed back to Dos Hermanas. I was glad I went because I have seen the name of Blas Infante written everywhere in the classrooms and I had no idea who he was. 

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