.::vebemos en los barres::.

friday night:
because it was my “lahhhst” night in sevilla, tessel and i’d planned to go out for a last drink. we just assumed that maurits would follow. at some point, as i told you, it’d become understood between me & tessel that maurits was odd (well, i knew it all along, as would anyone at first glance..! it was more of an acknowledgment that we both recognized the fact). yes, after class every day he came with us wherever we traipsed off to, so of course he came with us tonight. during “internet time,” after i posted last,  they were both still on the computer so i went to that souvenir shop on c/mateos gago to get a few things for others & myself… then i returned for them and we decided to go to the alameda. that’s a place to the northwest of el centro, just a bit past where i lived, that is a big open area with a lot of bars along it. really nice! lots of young people out & about and lots of… TAPAS.

today in culture class we learned all about tapas! the origin of the word is from the verb taper, which means ‘to cover;’ long story short, many ages ago, people would cover their drinks (vino or cerveza, whatever) with a piece of bread or something to keep the flies out. so small pieces of food came to be known as tapas. make sense? saying it back like that makes it seem slightly ridiculous… but i swear that’s what she said!! we learned about a few different types of tapas we might find in a typical place, and also she told us a few places that have good tapas here in sevilla on the cheap. hmmmm… woulda been better a few days ago i think! she also told us about typical tapas customs… you go for tapas usually after work or school with a group. however many in a group, that’s how many places you go.

.::ok then! off we go::.

¡hola chicos! this may be my last little bit of internet here for a while… there’s supposedly wifi at the hostels i’ll be staying at in madrid & barcelona, and of course there will be internet cafes & all, but you never really know, do you so tonight i say goodbye to sevilla, in hopes of visiting again… hopefully in the bigger cities they’ll have a better concept of changing clothes. you’ll be happy to know that tessel wore something completely different today than she has all week, as did my professors! alas, maurits did not. same outfit from wednesday. “powwww.” tessel and i agreed that he’s a strange bird and that he’ll have a rough time capturing any of his “preferred” women… much much younger than he and “fine as hell.” our words, not his. i think we got his drift, yes? just so you don’t forget who i’m talking about, one more time, my dutch ones:

 

"powwwww!"

 

.::last day in sevilla::.

haha!! look what *iiiiii* found!!

i want to kick wachovia’s ass. i really effing do. who knows how much money i’ve spent calling them *INTERNATIONALLY* trying to access my own damn money in my own damn checking account. i am really effing pissed off right now…. yesterday, i was, once again, unable to get money out of an ATM. i really don’t understand why i should have to call wachovia every other day to confirm that yes, i am jamila meah, YES, i am in spain like i told you a month ago, two weeks ago, four days ago… and to please let me get to my own money. it’s ridiculous. i should send them my phone bill. or something. i had to spend almost and hour talking to people yesterday but finally my money is mine again. this kills me.

on a better note… spain is still beautiful and i can use my debit card to pay for stuff if for any reason i can’t get cash again. it’s just frustrating. yesterday was another lovely day… after i walked to plaza de espana (which was kind of a let-down after going all the way there) and went to the museo de belles artes i went to class. i feel better about learning spanish every day… i feel like i’m learning a lot… but at the same time it’s very frustrating not to have a lot of vocabulary. knowing how to make basic sentences is great but if you don’t know the word you want to use, you’re using a dictionary constantly. *sigh* practice, practice, practice. i’m still by far catching on the quickest which makes it, again, frustrating to have to move so slowly. oh well. i guess i just need to hire someone to speak to me only in español, then maybe i’ll be able to pick it up.

.::he said it well… i’m having a better time than most can dream::.

so i’m pretty sure the guy who’s house i’m living in used to be a matador, a) because i’m living in his study and there are certificates about “toros” everywhere, pictures of people (probably him) in a bullfighting ring, all kinds of books and even an encyclopedia set on bulls and bullfighting, and b) because there are all kinds of bull (and other animal heads) on the walls:

hello, friend!!

one strange thing i’ve noticed at my school…. and among the people there (students and teachers) in general: there’s a lot of re-wearing of clothes. sure i’ve only been there two days, but i think that makes it more noticeable! i saw one of my teachers with exactly the same top she had on yesterday. i wouldn’t even have noticed, but it was bright yellow. bright yellow. trust me on this one, homegirl… you’re gonna notice a bright yellow top two days in a row. then in my next class? rocio, another teacher, who’s really cool and always says “mmhmm?” as an interjection, when we would normally say “okay?” when talking… she was wearing the very same skirt she had on yesterday. different shirt, same skirt. a very noticeable thing, again, because a) it is a skirt, b) it still had chalk on it from the chalkboard from yesterday, c) it’s an odd type of skirt, black sweatpants material with some sort of strange fold-over tying mechanism that i don’t quite understand. like a yoga skirt. but i like it. so much that i noticed it again today. annnnd to top it off, my favorite little teacher so far, davide, who is also very cool but looks kinda funny, had on the same pants as yesteray. pants are very forgiving; i myself wear the same pants a lot day after day (is that gross?? i don’t think so; as long as they are clean… ish…) i guess i just noticed them because they had some really recognizable pockets and i was noticing everyone else wear the same clothes today. perhaps tomorrow i should wear the same sundress i wore today and see if anyone notices. hehehe.

.::wake me up, tell me everything::.

'cool isn't one way street.' i don't know what that means, but apparently people wear it on shirts here.

sup, homies. well, i survived my first “real” day in sevilla. class has been good so far! it’s really frustrating that monday was a holiday, so really i’m only getting four days of class instead of five. also, we were led to believe that 15 lessons a week would be full days, speaking español the whole time… but no. i guess it translates to 25 hours, because we were split into morning and afternoon groups and (thank god!) i’m in the afternoon one. i have my “cultural” lesson from 1330-1430, and then our actual language lessons are from 1430-1615 and 1645-1830. either way, we got gipped out of monday’s lessons, so i doubt i’ll carry much away from this, but i’m really glad i did it. lemme tell ya something, my beginner beginner class has only four people in it– me and three peeps from the netherlands. that part’s pretty awesome because they all speak english… but, like with any beginner class, it’s going pretty slowly overall. apparently, my poquito italiano and the spanish i’ve picked up at work and other random places is a huge help, because i’m catching on a lot quicker than they are. ok ok maybe it’s also because of those few weeks i tried that spanish class at perimeter last summer… which i subsequently dropped out of, because the pace was too slow… hmmm. maybe i should have b.s’d my way in the the second-level beginner class with that british kid, sandy… it’s kind of bad, but i like knowing a little bit more and catching on quick. that way i don’t feel as dumb. but i bet i’d learn a lot more if i had to work at it. huh.

.::first day of school!::.

well today is my first day of class… we just had our little placement test and orientation. level 1, baby!! i am wanting to learn some español, yes, but… i hate this kind of stuff. i can’t understand anything and i feel dumb dumb dumb. *sigh* at least i’m in super beginner class so they know i don’t know anything. ugh. i finally got the password for the wifi here… that explains the super-long post recounting the last day or so.

it was hard to get up today. it was still pretty dark outside at 8 when i left! kind of a weird feeling. i went and got a cafe con leche at the same place i did yesterday– no churros this time por favor-- and, um, hello james!! it’s only 1,10€. i’ve been tipping 50 cents for coffee. wowie. gotta change that up. also had a piece of cheese and some OJ before leaving the house. hopefully that’ll hold me over til i can get lunch… i still don’t know how class is gonna work or what the schedule is…

.::oh thank god… internet! let’s play ketchup…::.

it’s been a long couple days without being able to use my computer when i want to… but it’s been kinda liberating, too. not to say i haven’t been writing… lord knows i write everything down… but that just means that this is gonna be longer than most. where did i leave off? i was in barcelona, waiting to fly to sevilla. here’s what happened next:

10.11.9

wowwwwww. so, what a first night in sevilla. i got out of the airport and got a taxi ok, cost 24€ to come to this place i’m staying. i walked up to the place and saw people out on the balcony so i said i was from Enforex (my language school) and they came down to let me in. yeah- the guy who lives here? jean louis? only español. grrrrrreat. it was kinda funny: “hola, que tal?” we just went ahead and skipped the whole “como estas” fiasco — no wondering whether or not to use “usted” — i like that! tu comprende? no? ok then!! seriously though, i was surprised how much we could actually communicate… i could kick myself for not remembering to get a spanish phrase book. guess that’s on the agenda… if i see one… so he proceeds to tell me i need to give him a deposit for keys, and i don’t have that much cash on me. then he introduces me to some other kids staying there, some boys from austria, they look real young. probably high school. anyway there’s a girl here too. but i have my own room but we all have to share one bathroom. oy ve. anyway i drop my stuff and proceed to go look for an ATM so i can get him that money. good thing i did, because i proceeded to get semi-lost and, long story short, my card isn’t working, so i can’t get cash as of right now. mother eff! i called nadia and got the number for wachovia and called them up, talked for like 30 min with people (that’s gonna hurt) and didn’t end up getting any money. what to do… they say they’ve fixed it so let’s hope tomorrow morning something works or i don’t know what i’m gonna do… jeeeeeez. maybe there’s a western union around here. anyway. i was on the verge of tears after the ATM stuff anyway and then i REALLY got lost trying to find my way back. turns out my street changes names and i totally kept going in circles till i summoned the courage to go ask someone. thank god. so i’m finally back here almost three hours later and getting ready for bed. AND there’s no internet so i’ll have to find out about that tomorrow. boyoboyoboy. i hope it only gets better from here because right now i am NOT having fun. i need a shower.