Sevilla culture according to me

So I got to spend about approximately 5 days in the capital of Andalucia (anda-lu-see-a). The city is massive and full of beautiful, well-put-together people, a crazy night life, and the bright sun. All the women, young and old, always look stunning and wear some form of heels or wedges. I feel slightly self conscious but i know that all the girls from my program feel the same way. One of the first things I noticed upon arriving in the city was a green two lane bike path painted into the side walk. I made the mistake of trying to walk on it and I nearly got clipped from the bicycles whizzing by. Now you are warned, stay off the bike path. Another aspect of Sevilla I noticed is their accent. They have a slight lisp to their spanish so the sound of some letters like P sound like B's and J's sound like Ll's. Over time you get use to the difference just like in Argentina, but the first few conversations i had with the hotel staff was somewhat difficult.

At night Sevillanos hang out at the outdoor cafe's all night long. They spend hours drinking, people watching, and talking. They don't worry about time or where they need to be. Don't bother making arrangements with someone for after dinner, the odds of meeting that person at the correct time is slim to none. Its best to just see where the night takes you and go with it. This is a new concept for me. It will take me awhile to get use to that. One night we were taken to this outdoor bar. People just drink outdoors and mingle. It reminded me of New Orleans where you can drink in the streets. I asked our guide if that is the norm everywhere and she said no. Actually its against the law but nobody enforces it and unless they get a complaint no one really gives a hoot. It makes America seem so uptight, but I guess America really is uptight.

One night our program offered us the chance to go to a free Flamenco Show. Everyone was really excited for it. We were told to get tapas on our own and meet our guide at 9:45pm for the show at the Catedral. Well half of our group was a good half hour to an hour late because their dinner took to long. They all said they didn't think tapas would take two hours. I did, that's why i ate groceries for dinner. The show was pretty cool. There was one guy playing the guitar, one lady singing, one extra person to help clap, and then either a man or a woman dancing on a small platform. The speed of their legs is incredible. When i watched the man start throwing in a few kicks here and there i had a flashback of that Friends episode where Chandler's biggest fear is revealed: Michael Flatly's Lord of the Dance. "The way is legs move it looks like they are detached from his body!!"---I thought the same thing!!! haha

A word of advice to all the vegetarians. Don't bother in Spain. Everything has seafood in it of jamon (ham). Our farewell dinner consisted all high class tapas that contained shrimp in every dish. The only thing the vegetarians of our group could eat was the dessert. The only standard dish that I have come across as completely vegetarian is "Espinache y Garbanzos"--Spinach and garbanzo beans. I tried it, its not bad but i would get very tired of it very quickly. Also you will find huevos (eggs) in most dishes as well so what I like to do is ask if there are any eggs and say none for me. Can't be too careful. For those of you who like to party you will be happy to know that vino y cerveza is muy barrato! Wine and beer is extremely cheap, maybe 2 Euros for a glass of wine or a cup of beer. I found good wine at the supermercado for 71 cents (in Euros)! Increible!

I was completely unaware of the store called Corte Ingles until I arrived in Sevilla. This is the equivalent of Harrods in England except not quite as big and its a department type store that you can find all over the place. They actually have everything you could ever need. Seriously. I don't know how i didn't know about this store but everyone in my program seemed to be quite familiar with it. Its relatively cheap so its a great place to go if you have a shopping list of several things that you would think require several different stores. Nope, Corte Ingles has it all. Most stores have four or five floors of stuff. So if you plan on visiting me and you end up forgetting something, don't worry about it, Corte Ingles has got you covered.

One thing one of our teachers pointed out to us is about American's usage of "I'm sorry". We say I'm sorry to EVERYTHING. I knock your pencil off your desk, I'M SORRY. I step on your foot in the elevator, I'M SORRY. NO NO NO!!! In Spain it's "perdon". No big deal. They might not even say anything because its really not a big deal and definitively not worth an "I'm sorry". They reserve the "Lo siento" for the death of a loved one, spilling coffee on your shirt, losing your luggage after promising you would get it after one day and you need to leave to go to another town for nine months (happened to a friend). When our teacher explained it like that to us it really did seem kind of silly how we use I'm sorry ALL of the time. I'm happy to report that I have reduced my "I'm sorries" to one a day. :)

On a more serious note, one thing I learned about the Spanish school system is that they don't really address the needs of gifted students or students with special needs. Instead of creating a separate environment for these students or taking the time to teach the material to them one on one or addressing them individually, they are just ignored. Teachers don't treat these students differently and if they have ADD or autism and need special attention they don't get it. Teachers put them in the corner or just tune them out. That was probably the most disheartening thing i learned thus far in Spain. I believe that ADD and to an extent Autism is over diagnosed in America, but some kids really have disabilities and can learn if given the time and energy and I commend our school systems for developing programs where these kids can thrive. Now for the best thing about the Spanish school system, every school has its own individual schedule. Every town or city has a fair and its own annual date for the fair, so when its your towns fair you get a three or four day weekend. We were told that there is a fair every weekend of the calendar year in Spain, so if you are so inclined you could see one every weekend. It would be a difficult challenge but not impossible. Along with the fairs, every school has a certain number of "Puentes" (bridge). A "puente" is a holiday but if you decide to put a puente on a Wednesday, you would get Thursday and Friday off because a puente is a "bridge to the weekend". Again, every school decides when they want their puentes so my schedule of days off will differ from someone in Cordoba or someone in Valverde (my town). Its kind of awesome, especially if you get Monday's off. That's a good one day work week :) Also we were told that Spain has WAY more national holidays than the states. They have at least ONE holiday a month and get everything from flag day to Semana Santa (equivalent to our Easter break) off. I think I'm REALLLLLY going to like my job :D

The last thing about Sevilla culture that i learned was about their national sport. And no its not futbol (Shocked??!?!), its arguing. My favorite..... Yeah, so Spaniards in general love to argue. Anything you say they have an opinion about, a long opinion about. The thing that gets me is that lets so you say tea is healthier than coffee, they respond: "NO,NO,no, no....NO!" "blah blah BLAH BLAH!!!" they get very loud and passionate and they sound very authoritative as if, NO, TEA CANNOT POSSIBLY BE HEALTHIER AND YOU ARE AN IDIOT FOR SAYING THAT." But we were told that as if maybe come across like that, they are just expressing their opinion and it is not the law. If you engage them for a little they start to settle down and then their argument becomes, "Okay, maybe tea is better but to me I prefer coffee." For me this is hard because if someone starts out with NO NO NO, I'm like okay, im sorry I'm wrong, i won't drink tea anymore. So i guess my challenge is to not take their words so seriously, instead just listen, nod, and say "okay, but i don't agree". Its a work in progress. I think that's it for culture at the moment.