Friday, September 16

Smell-o-vision

Spain is a land of smells... many different smells (also the light at night is amazing). Now for my walk from Teacher Class to Home in Smells

Freedom is what I smell as I exit the school, Freedom and hot asphalt from the street... even though its 8pm it is still 40 degrees Celcius (104 in F)

Our journey up C/ San Eloy has blasts of AC and new clothes, makes me want to shop. Finally we reach BK and their fried hamburger patties and french fries... my stomach reminds me how hungry I am.

As I passthrough the plaza with the Mushrooms the odor changes from offputting gasoline to new shoes all with a lovely amonia undertone from former botellónes and dogs who have passed by. (My hungry dissapears) 

Calle Regina is always an adventure with sights, sounds and smells. Fresh paint from a construction site (wonder what store will be there), incenses from the Middle Eastern store, strong cologne from Spanish men passing by and then stale beer from the tapas bar around the corner from my house.

I'm at my door and as I open the door, I get a blast of cold air and dust. I am home. Now three flights of stairs to climb up.

Sunday, September 4

Spanish Race to Find a Place

Right now I am watching the Eurobasket (basketball game between Spain and Lithuania) and listening to the church bells sing their song, procrastinating on my homework.

This is my life in Spain right now. I spent a good part of the past week on a piso (apartment)-hunt. Scouring the internet for potential rooms in my area, for my price and that dont have cockroaches but would hopefully have an oven. Since my CELTA course had started on Monday, I had class from 9am until 6pm, so I could only go see the pisos after 6pm.

Seeing pisos involved alot of speaking on the phone (which I am suprisingly good at... where did these Spanish skills come from?), figuring out where it was in Sevilla and then walking there. I miss my old Sevilla map which I have no idea where it went, especially because the map I got from the hostel doesnt really tell you anything (cant wait to burn that thing!). Over the past week, I believe I saw about 15 pisos, walked 8km per day and got really good at getting unlost. Also, the lots of walking allows me to learn more about the city and hopefully get into some shape! My birkenstocks are kind of destroyed though :(

While looking for pisos, I lived at a hostel near the Plaza del Toros and I was able to meet some people there. A couple of them will be staying in Sevilla, once they find a piso, as well! The hostel was nice, because they gave me breakfast, free internet and was very close to where my classes are.

It was nice to finally get out of there and into my new piso in the center of the city. It is close to the Alameda de Hercules (where there are lots of cool bars, places to eat and always are people), about halfway between my two works (we'll see how that works out in October) and it has an oven! Smallish kitchen, but it has an oven. A bathtub too! The only thing I could wish for was a bigger bed... but that will be next year.

Now I should get to do my homework (since I did sleep all day). This year is looking up: lots of couchsurfers around, cool auxiliares and some other fun randoms.

(Sorry for the lack of pictures! My camera is getting fixed up right now- next time)