Lazy Days Ahead

"Springtime" in Sevilla typically involves days on end of 90 degrees weather until the summer when, uh, it gets hotter. Needless to say, being from the Pacific Northwest, this just ain't cool:

Low/High

Precipitation

Tonight May 03

Mostly Clear

59°

0 %

Sun May 04

Sunny

88°/59°

0 %

Mon May 05

Sunny

91°/59°

0 %

Tue May 06

Mostly Sunny

92°/63°

0 %

Wed May 07

Partly Cloudy

90°/65°

0 %

Thu May 08

Sunny

92°/65°

0 %

Fri May 09

Sunny

96°/66°

0 %

Sat May 10

Sunny

98°/67°

0 %

Consequently, during the day, the streets tend to be significantly less crowded until it's bearable to step foot outside (i.e. nighttime). That is, after the Feria de Abril (The April Fair) - which ironically takes place next week, in May, this year due to the "obligatory" two-week gap following Semana Santa - an extravagant, week-long, Flamenco party. Men dress sharply in suits, women doll-up and wear classic flamenco dresses, and everyone drinks rebujitos (apple-flavored wine mixed with 7-UP) while dancing Sevillano from midday till dawn the next morning, all the while sweating like (classy) pigs.

 

 

It's also very exclusively Sevillano, meaning you need to know friends who own casetas (tents) because evidently only in Sevilla are they privadas (private). Also, from what I've seen and heard, there's also a ton of pressure to dress up to fit in, and believe me, those flamenco dresses aren't cheap. Throughout the rest of Andalucía, Sevilla's fair has the reputation of being pijo (posh). Regardless, it's still a culturally significant, uniquely Sevillano spectacle, like Semana Santa, which is why I would like to fully partake in the festivities .... next year.

For now, at the risk of being called lame and boring, I'm taking the quiet, non-eventful approach to life, as anti-Spanish as it may seem. In all honesty, I've been on a personal journey for the last month or two, irrespective of this unique opportunity I've been fortunate enough to have to live in Spain. It's just them roots, Seattle-grown for the past twenty-plus years, deep and tangled ones at, have sort of been a pain, ya hear?

But, bueno, as they say in Spain, tranquila (be calm), poco a poco (little by little). Sevilla as a city I have enjoyed immensely, although taking naps in the sun like this is now a gloriously uncomfortable sweat-fest/sunburn/headache waiting to happen:

....not too long ago

Despite it being a struggle at times, I'm committed to repeating this experience again for another 8 months. In fact, this past week I received official word that my application for renewal had been accepted. Not only am I placed in Sevilla again, but I've been assigned to the same school in Coria del Río, so I can continue to build relationships with the teachers and the kiddos. Additionally, my current flatmate is already inviting me to come back next term, as well as the academy I work at on the side. So, in certain ways, I feel like I'm establishing new roots in Sevilla. I just have to figure out these old ones, because, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Sevilla is happening again this coming fall.

So, in the two months I have left before heading back to Seattle, I'm going to try to survive this heat and enjoy what I have left of (half) year one - calmly. But really, in deadly heat like this, you can't help but wish Sevilla had a beach; lo unico que falta Sevilla es una playa (the only thing Sevilla needs is a beach):

In Cádiz, "the beach of Sevilla"