Sevilla, Espana

Hola. Ahora estoy en Sevilla con my mejor amiga de muchos anos, Acacia. Fuimos a la escuela el junto en Kentucky para seis anos a Lexington Christian Academy.
Hi. Now I'm in Sevilla with one of my best friends, Acacia. We went to school together en Kentucky for six years at Lexington Christian Academy. Although I have not seen her or kept up with her consistently for about a year and a half, we were able to pick up right where we left off. I arrived on Wednesday by bus and headed up to the ticket office. I could see her in the distance after a few minutes of turning my head in circles to find her and her first reaction when she saw me was to throw her head back and laugh really loud. Don't ask me why, (well, I know why, I'm a rookie at traveling internationally) but I brought my huge A&M travel bag which is stuffed, stuffed, stuffed with stuff. Needless to say, it is probably close to 60 lbs or something, and the airlines have put "Heavy-assisted lifting may be required, bend your knees" stickers on it that have a picture of a stick figure doing a squat with a huge suitcase. So, up the three flights of narrow twisted stairs to her apartment we go. She kept saying, "Sarah are you sure you don't want me to lift the back of it?" I felt convicted to carry it myself since I had the stupidity of taking everything with me for 2 days and 2 nights. Somehow I got it up the to the third floor with a few rest breaks on the way. We wasted no time in going to her work where she helps promote and organize trips to Gibraltar, Morocco, and Lagos, Portugal . Then we walked about another 30 min. to the train station to go babysit two little girls who she tutors in English. I love how much people walk here. I could really get used to it! The girls were so cute in little sweaters and plaid school skirts with tights and little leather shoes! (I'm a huge advocate for school uniforms. I've experienced both sides and strict uniforms work best.) During the walk and train ride we really started talking and catching up. I loved having a day where I just followed her around and got to go through a day in her life. Thursday was another great day where I woke up to the sound of children laughing, screaming, playing = recess. She lives close to a school and it was in the background all morning as she went to work and I rested, read and made a few phone calls. When she got back from work we headed out again for the rest of the night. We first stopped at a little market where several vendors wanted to sell us earrings, pashmias (thin wide scarves), leather wallets and other other authentic very cool stuff. She took me through what seemed to be confusing skinny streets where we had to get on the foot wide sidewalk to let cars go by. After browsing through several stores where I bought hundreds of dollars of stuff in my mind, we landed at a busy and unique cafe. We both ordered a big chocolate covered heart shaped croissant and either coffee or hot chocolate. We planted ourselves there and after our waiter brought our goodies, he never bothered us again until over two hours later when we asked for la cuenta, the check. We had talked, laughed, pondered, reminisced and jibber jabbered for over two hours without even looking at our watches. Our next mission was to see the sites around town, and I loved to see the city at night with all the lights. There is a beautiful river with several bridges and restaurants running along the side. Private kayaks and dining boat expeditions are very popular here. We passed a nice park and continued through downtown where two dancers were suspended from a harness and dancing "on the wall" of a store equivalent to our Best Buy. Apparently they were promoting a new Harry Potter movie which is already out in the U.S. They dancers flew, jumped and did flips all perpendicular to the wall and created a large audience on the street. For dinner we met up with one of her friends and ate an authentic Spanish dish, paella, at a restaurant we trusted, Paellador. With my tinto verano, 1/2 red wine and 1/2 orange Fanta, my paella consisted of chicken, veggie and rice. It was sooo good! We finished dinner at about 10:30 b/c people eat incredibly late here and headed to this local bar. From an outsider's view, one would never know there was a bar through this random door on the street, but it proved to be a huge two rooms with a fireplace, two bars, rows and rows of wooden benches and a little dance floor that was the focal point of the night. At 11:00 and 12:00, a flamenco dancer performs to the rhythmic sounds of the band behind her as they clap, snap, stomp their feet, sing and play the flute and guitars furiously. The female dancer claps off beat and makes a sound that is new and different to my ear and one that I think takes more talent to create than may be heard. This passionate and creative dance is unlike anything I have ever seen and I couldn't take my eyes off the stage. The lady uses her arms and hands expressively as she seems pretty free to twist and maneuver them sort of like a ballet dancer. There are clear foot steps, almost like a tap dance, and it includes a lot of stomping and aggressive quick jumps or long strides. The female dancers wear really tight colorful dresses that poof out at about the knees to create a dramatic twirling affect. After watching both perfomances I was so impressed and wanted to try my luck at it, but that can wait 'til I get home when I explain it to others. :) Oh boy! Acacia said it was by far the best two shows she has seen here even though the same girl performs. At the second show a man that the band knew went up to the stage in regular leather shoes and tested his skills that were a little spastic but brought the house down. We had a wonderful time and there is no other place I would rather visit than a relatively low key flamenco exhibition. The tourist stuff is only a portion of the real thing. After a wonderful and exhausting afternoon I crashed on her couch again and have woken up to inform you of my few days in Spain. I go back to Portimao, Portugal tonight and will depart from Faro on Monday, spend the afternoon and night in London and be on my way back to the U.S. on Tuesday. Yay! Anna has won her first two rounds in the main draw of doubles! :) Hopefully they'll pull through today so I can cheer them on tomorrow. Abrazos y besos!