Well, I have many great memories of Seville and was sad to say goodbye, I will try to record my memories now for my future ruminations - please bear with me because this is more for my recollection so please allow my indulgences !!...
In no particular order :
- My fellow students, Dermot (absolute hero to me), Debbie (anyone who has been an extra in grey's is good), Sonja (well, what can I say !?!), Melanie (Typical Swiss with your thesis on census, hope all good !), Eliane (My french canadian style guru !), Ben (made me laugh throughout !!), Karin (well, just an absolute bless) and of course Kathy, Clemantine and Annielie .... many laughs had by all in such a short space of time !
- My first "me pone" and "que le debo" moment in a bar on my own !! It probably loses itself in translation but I'm sure (well, I hope) any Spanish language student will understand !
- The inability of any Sevillian (or Spaniard in general actually) to talk at a volume considered reasonable to anyone else who lives in this world - why do they have to shout when they are sitting across the table from each other ??!! Or is that just me being typically reserved and English ?
- My regular little routine in the morning, get up at some ungodly hour (8am - ugh), dive into the shared bathroom when the german girls had finished (although I had an en-suite in my room that I couldn't use - don't ask) .... amble out of the apartment block and into my little local cafe for my cafe con leche that after only 3 days I didn't even have to ask for - I was a confirmed regular - yay !!
- The long tapas lunches after school in the first 2 weeks, unfortunately in the 3rd week me, Karin and Kathy had afternoon lessons so we didn't have time to hang around.
- Speaking of eating out, to quote Kathy, "Mind you, I do look forward to having a meal placed in front of me and actually recognising that it is what I ordered".... I suppose it should be of concern that none of us ever had any confidence in what we were ordering the whole 3 weeks. I think the idea of a course on it's own for "Spanish menus" has merits.
- My particular favourite, not just Seville but the whole of Spain ... preferred choice of protective clothing whilst riding a motorbike - usually the flip flops and shorts combo with t-shirt seems to be favoured - obviously helmet optional. And I am talking about motorbikes not scooters here, I expect no less from scooter riders over there. I was heartily pleased to see the responsible attitude of an R1 rider whilst I was sitting outside by the cathedral one night, he had opted for the trainers with cut off jeans - soooooo much more protection !! I wonder if there's any link between this observation and the large amount of young men walking around wearing very large plasters on their arms and legs .... hmmmm ??
- A couple of things I realised about myself, firstly, I've learned to chill out without tv, or even a newspaper or a book. I can actually sit outside, say by the river, and just watch the world go by and chill. It took a while, my brain always had to be active. I think I've actually got work and work-related stress out of my system now (I can guarantee it will be replaced by something else probably to do with public transport) but it's a nice feeling to have after 17 years of focusing on work work work. Secondly, I don't do organised culture .... It may not be a big surprise to some who know me, but I've realised that if I'm just not interested I shouldn't try and I shouldn't feel bad ! I think the visit to Tio Pepe probably did it but then I went to the cathedral (EVERYONE MUST VISIT THE CATHEDRAL I was told) .... I did. In, walk up the tower and out again in all of 20 minutes. Let's just say, for me it wasn't Durham or York cathedral. Maybe it's like art .... I just know what I like !
- Seville is an interesting city, full of culture and old buildings and all that stuff but for me one of my over-riding memories is of the woman who "lived" outside the equivalent of the DSS buiding who I passed at least 4 times a day. She was about 60 years old and had all of her belongings on the step of that building in 2 huge bags, she slept under 2 black umbrellas sitting up. Yet, she had dignity that is difficult to describe. She always washes from a nearby drinking fountain every day - usually about 4pm when I was walking back after my long lunch. She always, tidied up "her" steps every morning, removing all her belongings out of the way for access into the DSS - the anti-nowhere league version of "streets of london" came to mind ..She never begged, she never drew attention to herself, to me she just had dignity. I don't know why she became important or significant to my stay in Seville but she did.
- To anyone who has ever tried to follow a street map - for me Seville became "the 3rd dimension". Actually for all of us I think. Firstly, we were all issued with a street map on arrival at the school, for the first week I believed I lived just north of the river, with the river running south of the city. No. It was only in the 2nd week when someone pointed out to me that the map didn't use the usual "north upwards" system that I realised that I actually lived on the east of the river and my whole personal geography went a bit strange. But I wasn't alone. It is virtually impossible to go anywhere in Seville, following a street map, or a compass, or human common sense for that matter, to arrive anywhere that you would expect in any normal circumstances. Seville is in the 3rd dimension. Say, for example, using a very simple UK map, you were in Manchester and wanted to get to London ....you may choose a route directly south towards Bristol and then head east to London (very simple I know but bear with me ...) - imagine if there were no diversions, no change of directions and no unexpected corners ... you head south from Manchester, hit Bristol and head east for London and you end up in ....... DUNDEE !!! Welcome to Seville !! One night there were 6 of us (5 women and Ben) and we had met up in Alameda (my idea), we'd had a few drinks and then we decided to head back towards Karin's neck of the woods (plaza de los terreros or something like that). Karin states she knows exactlty where she's going, we all follow. The roads get narrower and the road signs get fewer. Eventually I convince Karin that she's lost (she's Swiss, she doesn't "do" lost), then follows the hysterical sight of 5 women, with 5 individual street maps standing at a cross roads (all trying to ignore the tourist neons flashing above our heads) all standing in a huddle whilst Ben tries to do the blokey thing by pretending he knows exactly where he is because he's a bloke and he has an in-built radar .... anyway 45 minutes later we found the plaza, which it seems was 5 metres to our right.
- Puerta, no. 16. Sevilla FC my official second team.
- People in Spain finish work at 8pm, nothing unusual for me but try to get something to eat before 10pm ??!!
- Quote of the month goes to Sonja ... I mentioned her before, she is the most pleasant mannered, fluently spoken and annoyingly gorgeous 6ft 2" german ... whilst in a conversation with me and Dermot about ice cream she states ... "Yes, but it's so fucking expensive" !!!!! Neither Dermot nor I have ever heard such perfectly pronounced swear words coming from such a person. Our astonishment and reaction was to be savoured !!!
- Meeting Ben completely randomly down by the river when I went out for a walk and the night ended in the most authentic tapas bar and of course me getting lost on way home because I thought it was a straight road home, doh ! But a great spontaneous night !
- Preterito Perfect or whatever, I mean really, how the hell am I supposed to learn the concept of a tense when I don't even understand it in English ??!! I remember it was being explained to me in Spanish, via French (thanks Ben) and then Julian tried in German/English (bless) and eventually Karin jumped in with English but I was still none the wiser.
At times like those I thought of Mrs. Haslam (RIP) my old German teacher screaming at me and my mate "well, it's a subordinate clause !!" ... and that helps how exactly ??!! I'll stick with the present tense and tag on "last week or last year" etc ... !
- This has to be one of my favourites - Karin ... "a que hora te levantes ?" ... Karin and me just clicked, she reminds me so much of Gill, one of my oldest friends. We became like 14 year old giggling school girls in class, and when we both said the line mentioned before (it's one of those you have to be there moments) it was 10 minutes of crying our eyes out in class moments. Of course the OCD and the different pens for different tenses is a very fond memory !! And I will also never forget when Ben sort of stepped in like a knight in shining armour for me when he saw me struggling with the tenses and I whispered him a question but he asked the question out loud for me. Ben and Karin made my last 2 weeks fantastic.
- Matalascanas, just so I can prove I can say / type it !!
- Italica - NOW, that's what I like about history, loved it, loved the fact we went at the most stupid part of the day - cheers Dermot !
- Ylang Ylang ! The last my readers heard of this was the bar that Sonja was "dragging" me to because of the "billions of tall, sevillian, good looking men" - well, we went on the Wed eve. Wow, what a place. It's a bar in a park, a nice park, with, candle lights, couches, sofas, music, I mean it's just a really nice place .... unfortunately no tall, good looking Sevillian men on Wednesday evenings !! Which, can I point out Ben took great joy at reiterating after I had asked him if he "would like to join us in the bar of tall, good looking Sevillian men so he can feel inadequate??" - in fact I think I heard the phrase "it must be the night of the international midget convention" coming from his lips that night ! It didn't matter, ylang ylang is a really nice place, we went back on my last night there, well, mine, Ben's, Sonja's night - mosquito bites apart it is a really nice place (and on the friday night I give Sonja her due, some nice looking tall Seville blokes !!). Sonja had an interview back in Germany on the Monday I left Seville for a position as sales manager for spain and south america for a company for something to do with organic farming (I'm ashamed I'm not being more accurate). She even got me a leaving present of a really sexy vest type top that I HAVE to wear in central / south america on my first proper cuban dancing type experience (I'm gonna kill her !) - she's just a top lass as we say here in the north east !!
- Clementine's slightly nerdy collection of euro coins from each country in the euro union thingy and her getting us all to check our coins and me shouting ... "oooh, I've got an irish 2 euro is that any good for you ??!)
- Annelie's quite shy approach to life but her quiet confidence, she's not stressed when she doesn't know anyone and her apologetic way of telling me that she likes "blonde hair and blue eyes" in men - I failed to get her with Julian from our class !!
Please forgive my indulgence but this blog thingy is for my benefit aswell to ensure I don't forget the important things. All of the above are my memories !
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