Apologies

Dear Reader(s),

I´m so sorry I have neglected the blog in recent weeks. Please forgive me.

Anyway, the time is flying by. It feels like I blinked and we were halfway done. There are two different Sevillas for me - the February Sevilla, where everything and everyone was foreign, I needed a map to get around, I couldn´t understand anything that was said. And then there´s the Sevilla of everything after, where we have a favorite spot to get montaditos (they´re a euro for these little sandwiches at this chain place, they´re so good), I know how to manuever public transportation (even in a foreign language, it´s so easy to get around), and I can carry on conversations with locals.

Erika and I were talking the other day about becoming ex-pats. I would live here in a heartbeat if my language skills improved just a bit more. Janelle and I met this friend of Rachel´s who is German and didn´t know any Spanish before she got here in September. She´s studying law at the Universidad de Sevilla, taking exams in Spanish, working, etc. It´s amazing. She speaks so well, you would never know. Which leads me to believe that if I was here, living on my own without any English speakers, I would learn. If I had only Spanish friends, only spoke in Spanish, etc. etc.

I´m really excited to come home and see everyone, but at the same time I feel an enormous sadness about leaving. I think part of it might have to do with how I´ve tried, for four months, to truly be sevillana, and leaving is kind of the ultimate slap in the face in that respect.

But anyway, enough. I managed to get my haircut in Spanish! I think what helped was that I brought a picture, and plus I could anticpate the questions that the ladies were going to ask me, even if I didn´t understand the question. It was actually the best haircut I´ve gotten. The Spanish like a lot of layers, etc. Except my big fear when I was sitting in the chair was about the tip. The tip has been a topic that has plagued us all semester, because it is mostly included in the IVA, a tax you pay on food and services, etc. But I wasn´t sure, because Conchi had told me when she went to get a facial one of the ladies followed her for the tip. So there I was in the chair, craning my neck trying to determine if the other ladies were tipping or not. I should also add I was the last customer of the day on the eve of a holiday, and I was a walk in nonetheless. So I was caught between seemings like the obnoxious American that doesn´t tip or insulting them by giving them money. Sometimes you can´t win.

Also, I know I´ve talked about it before, but the people here are so well-dressed. I was telling my mom the other day how the small children are always dressed up, and that sometimes when I stand next to them I look like a slob, despite my best efforts.

We have another break coming up in a week, for Feria. I´m really excited for Feria - I´ve been learning the bailes sevillanos the entire semester and now it´s go time. They are a lot of fun, except there are four, and in the fourth there is a lot of spinning. I have my class right after lunch, so I´ll just let you do the math on that one. Anyway, my exam for the class (it´s pass fail for a credit) is next Wednesday. I´m not too worried because to fail you have to really not have a clue what´s going on. However, Conchi wants to come watch me. As in, my Spanish mom wants to come to school, to my class, to watch me dance. I´ll let you know how that goes.