Getting In the Groove

The past week of living in Spain has just flown by for me. I am definitely getting more and more comfortable with living in a different county and the huge differences that were so obvious when I first came are not as noticeable anymore. I no longer think it is strange to eat dinner at 9:30 at night and thankfully my stomach is getting used to it by now too. I can listen to a whole conversation without noticeably translating every word to English in my head. However, I still have some work to do when it comes to responding quickly. 

On Wednesday, Spain celebrated Columbus day, which meant that all the schools and most businesses were closed. It was a lot like our Independence Day. 

In the morning, we celebrated not having school by eating a huge breakfast. First, Isabel served us some American breakfast food: bacon and eggs. It was the first time I had something other than bread for breakfast at our house and it was great. I would have been content with just that, but then she made us fried bread and churros, a special Spanish treat. Of course, the churros and bread would not be complete without some sugar to add to it, and Isabel was not afraid to give us some. She melted a huge pot of chocolate and also gave us cinnamon and sugar to top it off. 

The night parade (from my balcony)

At night, there was a parade along the streets of Sevilla. I had one of the best views in the city because it passed right down our street. I was able to watch the parade from the comfort of my balcony while people below struggled to see what was happening. First, the band came with trumpets, drums, and tubas. After that, there was a huge golden altar and a lot of incense that ended up causing our whole bedroom to smell. 

On Saturday, Luke, Mark and I visited the Museum of Art and Customs. The museum was a little heavy on the "customs," end and had less of the "art," but there may have been more art in the area that was closed for remodeling. Most of the exhibits contained tools, furniture and clothes from the past. We spent the longest time looking at an exhibit that had replicas of rooms in a well-known Sevillan family's house. 

I spent most of Sunday with my intercambio, Nehemias. We went to his church to help set up for the service followed by getting coffee with one of his friends. His friend was from Mexico, so when we walked back to the church someone commented that the three of us made a very diverse group.