FALL!

Just a quick update: fall seems to have finally decided to grace us with its presence in Sevilla. Yes, that's right--last night I got cold enough to use a blanket. And I even needed a jacket for about 10 minutes of my walk to the bus station. :D It's such a joy to feel a bit of cool air wafting through our flat!

That's all.

;)

October is always the best...

Hola amigos!

(see--I’m already so incredibly bilingual! ;) )

Best news first: Sevilla has officially started cooling down! I even got out a blanket a few nights ago! I lovingly placed it on the edge of my bed in hopes that I would actually need more than just a sheet’s worth of warmth at night. Alas, no such luck yet, but the blanket isn’t in the top of the closet anymore, at least.

It’s actually supposed to rain this week, which might cool it down even more. Hoorah! Rain in Sevilla is pretty entertaining though—the city shuts down like Birmingham with a slight threat of ice. People don’t walk in the rain, even with umbrellas. They just huddle at the nearest store or café and gawk at those of us who persist. Last time it rained, Ellie and I’s sanity (more or less) was questioned by an elderly lady outside of the grocery store we visited. And for clarity’s sake, it wasn’t the hardest rain I’ve ever experienced, to put it mildly. So this week should be fascinating!

Luckily for you, this post really will be about more than the weather, as original of a topic as that is. ;) I wanted to share a bit about my birthday festivities last week. We started with a delightful stroll by the Guadalquivir River at sundown. We got to briefly visit Los Jardines del Guadalquivir, which was a park built for the world expo of 1992. It has a hedge maze, some interesting sculptures, and some fountains that I’m sure were magnificent in their day, though now they are not running. After the park closed, we headed to a delicious pizza and pasta restaurant, as well as a new candy store in town, where Ellie treated me to my very own picks. This candy store, Wonkandy, operates like all of our yogurt places in the U.S. do—they have an overwhelming amount of choices (a wall of chocolate and a wall of gummies) and you get to pick as much or as little as you’d like of any.You pay by the weight, get a cute little bag sealed by a sticker, and you’re on your way.

When we returned to our flat, we all made some hot tea and went up to the roof where we hang our laundry. And it just so happened that the moon was gorgeous! In fact, on of our roomies, Sara, exclaimed, “OH MY GOODNESS, that is my favorite moon! For ever and always.” It was indeed lovely, and we enjoyed watching the clouds make art of the moonlight sky for a time. I also got wonderful cards in the mail, gifts from my roomies, and I got to skype with my parents (who of course sang to me!). In all, it was a simply lovely day, and I will have wonderful memories from it for years to come!

Now the most interesting part: pictures! :D

Pictures of new roomies at last: me, Sandra, and Sara!

Me with the precious Wonkandy cargo: a gummy converse shoe and a chocolate frog. :)

Me and Ellie at a little detour of the evening--in front of Sevilla Woman--a store name that just cracks me up. I've been wanting to document this store since we arrived in Seville, and Ellie was nice enough to play along with me. So there we are--Sevilla Women. Chuckle. ;)

First Week Adventures

Why hello there!

So very much has happened since my last post--I don't even know where to begin! Our trip to London was lovely. It was beyond fantastic to see the daniel house again, see some Samford friends there, visit our favorite haunts, and most of all to catch up with Roger, our neighbor while we were in London. He took us on a few walking tours of the city, the highlight of which was getting to see the library of the Westminster Abbey. Roger knows one of the librarians, and while we were standing in the cloisters of the Abbey (which he got us into for free--crazy!), he rang the bell to the library, talked to his friend, and got his friend to let us up into the library for a short tour. It was fabulous. When you tour London with Roger, you not only get to go places that you normally wouldn't have a hope of getting into, but you also hear ALL about the history and background of everything you're walking past. Amazing.

Here's a picture of Ellie, Roger and I in the gardens of the Abbey. :D

After our simply joyful jaunt around London and Cambridge, we arrived back in Sevilla, land of spanish and new jobs. My first day of work was an adventure of itself--I met what seemed to be the whole faculty in a matter of 15 minutes, sat through a faculty meeting (of course conducted in rapid spanish that I could only partially understand) and received my schedule for the year. My school is only four years old, is very beautiful, and I'm convinced is home to the most wonderful, kind faculty and staff I've ever met. Several teachers have already been very intentional about telling me that "If you need anything at all ('cualquier cosa' en español), you ask me, ok?". What a blessing! And the students? They're lovely. Their English is actually really really impressive, and they seem attentive, interested, and full of energy. In short, I'm very excited about my job. I know that I'll learn more than I teach as I help in all of my classes: technology (about construction tools and computer programs), world prehistory, geography, natural sciences, English, and conversation classes with a few faculty members. How exciting!

Also, our flat is wonderful. In fact, I'm afraid that our flat here is spoiling me for my future life. It's open, bright, and clean, and it's in a wonderful little community. We can walk to a fruit store, a great grocery store, and to a "bazaar" that has all of the random little items you might need. Here are a few pictures of our flat--at long last!

Our living room--all of this furniture and all of the decorations were already provided!

Sorry for the darkness of the picture, but here's our little table, the window that looks out to the courtyard, and our front door on the left.

Here's our cute little kitchen.

And here's my cute little bedroom!

In short, things have started out wonderfully in Sevilla. I'm so thankful for this wonderful opportunity and can't wait to get to know more of the people around me (neighbors, roomies, teachers...). Thank you for your prayers and hopefully I'll get to update again soon!