New Songs

One of my biggest passions is music. I love listening to it, playing it, watching others play it, and I especially  love exploring music; finding new songs and artists. Currently my new favorite singer is Ben Rector (he isn't new, but he's new to me) who I now listen to all the time, and I also have fallen in love with these two Spanish songs. Take a listen (I couldn't find any music videos for the Ben Rector songs, sorry). I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

       When a Heart Breaks            

White Dress

                                          Camila - Mientes                                        

 

Carlos Baute - Quien te quiere como yo

Semana Santa

Happy Easter!

Today is the final day of the huge celebration Semana Santa (Holy Week) that's been going on here in Sevilla. Semana Santa is one of the most important and traditional events in the city. It occurs all over Spain, but no city does as grand a celebration as Sevilla.

Semana Santa begins on Palm Sunday and continues all week until Easter Sunday. Certain churches out of the hundreds of different ones in Sevilla participate, which means they have have beautiful floats called pasos that have lifelike wooden sculptures of individual scenes of the events that lead up to Jesus dying on the cross, or images of the Virgin Mary showing her grief for the torture and killing of her Son. Some of these pasos are hundreds of years old and are considered artistic masterpieces.

The paso is richly carved out of wood and decorated with fabric, flowers (real and white delicate and very detailed ones that are made out of candle wax), and candles. Many of the structures carrying the scenes of Christ are gilded with gold, and those carrying the Mary are usually silver-plated. As a result, the pasos all weigh at least one ton or more, and some weigh three tons! This is important because unlike our parades where floats are driven by cars, these floats are carried by men. They are called costaleros and there are anywhere between 20-50 men underneath the pasos carrying them. They practice all year round to be in shape for this one week, because some of these pasos are carried for 10-14 hrs one day throughout the whole city. 

There is also a band that plays and marches behind the pasos, and depending on what song and rhythm they are playing, the costaleros underneath will march differently, sway, make the paso "dance", or move it up and down. Since they are all inside the structure and hidden from the external view by a curtain, the paso seems to move by itself. However, some processions are silent, with no musical accompaniment. When these pasos walk by, the audience must remain silent as well. Everyone is very respectful of these pasos.

The sculptures themselves are carved and painted, and often lifesize or larger. The oldest surviving ones were carved in the 16th century!

There are a number of people who walk before the pasos and are dressed in robes and wear the distinctive pointed hood, hold long wax candles (only lit at night), marching in silence, and are sometimes barefoot as a sign of penitence. These are the Nazarenos. Colors of the robe are distinctive for each brotherhood (church). Usually the Nazarenos march in pairs. And no, even though they might resemble people of the KKK they are in no way affiliated with them. The Nazarenos and Semana Santa originated long before the KKK ever came to be. Also, there are a number of penitentes, carrying wooden crosses, making public penance. They wear the robe and the hood of the brotherhood, but the hood is not pointed like the Nazarenos.

A procession can be made up from a few hundred to near 3,000 Nazarenos and last anywhere from 4 to 14 hours, depending on how far the home church is from the Cathedral (each paso leaves from their church and walks through whatever streets they want, but they all must go down the main route that leads to the Cathedral. Then, after passing the Cathedral, they will walk back to their home church). The largest processions can take over an hour and a half to cross one particular spot.

This week of different processions is very culturally and spiritually important to Catholics and tourists all over the world. The city is PACKED full of people! It's difficult getting anywhere in less than an hour (for the shortest distances). Bus routes have been changed, parking lots are full, some of the streets are closed off to bikers and cars. Whew! It has been a tough week to figure out how to get around. Most stores, markets, and all schools are closed for the week (I'm almost out of food in my house because no stores are open!), and many of my Spanish friends left to other cities and countries for a spring break, and to stay away from the crowds that were here in Sevilla.

I loved watching all the different processions. It was so fascinating to me! In some churches, people are able to go in and kiss the feet or hands of Jesus on his paso before the brotherhood leaves, and there are some Virigin Mary pasos where the people in the audience will yell things to her, like how pretty she looks.

However, this week as a whole has been a huge disappointment due to the rain. It has rained almost every day except for two or three, and as a result hardly any of the processions have been able to go out (since they are all made out of wood and are very old). People are seen crying in the streets out of sadness and disappointment that their favorite paso couldn't go out, or if they were a Nazareno or penitente then they are also hugely disappointed. I'm glad I got to see the 9 or 10 pasos that I saw earlier in the week.

It has been such a unique and amazing experience for me. I hope to come back another year and see more of it (now the pasos are in the churches so you can see them there, since most of them couldn't actually go outside), but for now I am thrilled by what I got to see. And the rest of this week was also so much fun! I spent a lot of time with my different Spanish friends here, dancing, eating, talking (in Spanish of course), and just having a blast. It has been a very relaxing week (no work and lots of sleep!), but now it's back to teaching bright and early tomorrow morning.

If you want to learn more about Semana Santa, check out the Wikipedia webpage (lots of good information). I've also included a video so you can see some of the pasos and processions, as well as part of Sevilla! I wish I could post some of the videos that I took, but my internet is too slow to upload them.

Spring is in the Air!

Spring has finally arrived (ok, it arrived a few weeks ago, but I didn’t write then, so now I am)! The trees and plants are blossoming all around me. The new spring fragrances are so strong they surprise me every time I pass by an orange tree. I went to the Alcazar (a palace) and its gardens with my sister, my parents, and Adam when they were all here visiting me, and everything was so beautiful. I loved seeing the fresh buds and flowers that are starting to grow.

Now this week it's been cool and rainy almost the whole week, but in the weeks that my parents and Adam were here it was hot hot hot! Almost too hot for me, since all of you know I am a cold-and-snowy kind of gal. However, the hot weather made me miss a few things from back home. One of the biggest things is driving my own car. I miss being in the driver's seat and singing at the top of my lungs, being alone, long relaxing drives, driving fast, and having the windows open! I can't wait to have my car again (though I LOVE not paying for gas or insurance, and being able to walk everywhere)!

I also really miss going to Grand Haven with friends and family. Eating ProntoPups, walking to the lighthouse, swimming in the waves. I have of course gone to the beach numerous times here, and it has always been hot and fun and with good friends, but sometimes it's just not the same as home.

And one more things: bonfires and s'mores. Mmm I can't wait to have a fire on the beach and roast hotdogs and s'mores!

I've included some pictures of the beautiful spring in Sevilla. You can all bask in the gloriousness that is Sevilla. Yes, I absolutely love living here.

Blossoming trees like these are all over Sevilla! Some are plain 

white, but they all smell great and are beautiful!

I came across newlyweds taking their wedding pictures on 

my way to the city center one day! I love her wrap haha

Oranges away!! In the spring the orange trees are harvested. Spain is COVERED in orange trees. They are seriously EVERYWHERE. The downside is though that you can't eat any of the oranges. I tried it once when I was a sophomore in college and it was my first time in Europe. Some friends and I thought it would be amazing to be homeless or poor in a country that has millions of oranges growing everywhere that you could take for free. So we picked some and tried to eat them. Yuck! They are even more sour/bitter than a lemon!! They are terrible!

But they don't go to waste. They're harvested and sent off to be used in lotions, 

makeup, and other things. Good to know that nothing in God's creation is wasted. :)

Let's Catch Up

Hello all!

I am finally getting back into the swing-of-things with my blog. There will be many posts to come as I have so much I want to share with all of you.

These last two or three months have been a whirlwind of visitors, trips, and exciting new experiences. I will start with the most recent and work backwards in following posts (to try to keep them shorter haha). 

Adam came to visit me! I was so excited! We had been apart for three and a half months (ever since New Year's), so his visit had been long-anticipated. He arrived three hours late due to having to transfer airports in New York, but thankfully arrived safe and sound. We spent the first couple of days together being lazy and watching movies (though he was still active in running every day. He's training for the Cleveland Marathon!).

He came with me to school one day and my favorite class threw him a huge party! There was so much food, especially Easter treats. It was so fun. After school that day we toured the Cathedral and had lunch down in the city center. Then we packed and hopped on a plane to the Canary Islands!

We went to Tenerife for four days. Our hostel was 5 minutes away from the beach, and right by the boardwalk. Every night we went to a different restaurant and tried new foods. Our first night there we went to a nice Italian restaurant right on the beach, and instead of ordering a full meal we ended up with a delicious cheese platter and the best red wine we've ever had....and most expensive, but that's beside the point. :P

We also went to a big water park and spent the day riding rides and diving into waves in the wave pool. We had perfect weather during our whole trip, and it was fun to explore the island together. We drank some fun island drinks, worked on our tans, and just over all had a really nice, relaxing time.

When we arrived back to Sevilla we only had a few days left to cram everything in that I wanted to show Adam. We went to Isla Magica, an amusement park here in Sevilla, the Real Alcazar (royal palace with beautiful gardens), city center, Triana (we ran out of time for my old neighborhood, Los Remedios though *sigh*), ate at many different tapas restaurants, had gelato every day (of course!), ate chocolate con churros, went through the Torre de Oro (Golden Tower), a flamenco show, my favorite place in all of Sevilla - the Plaza de España, the Parque de Maria Luisa (a park), and everything else you can possibly do in Sevilla. He got to meet some of my friends out here too! It was such a fun trip, and so wonderful to be together again. Thankfully now we only have two more months apart until we're back in the same country!

Here are some pictures of yet another glorious adventure of Adam and Rachel. :) The rest of the pictures are on my facebook if you would like to view more. Enjoy!

Meeting Adam at the airport in my new dress (I had to try and look nice for him!) 

and us on top of the Cathedral

In Tenerife, and with our cheese platter and wine

We got a "pedicure" by fishing eating the dead skin off of our legs and feet. They LOVED Adam's feet haha. We also put another love-lock on a bridge - this time on Triana's Bridge (our first love-lock is on the Alexander Bridge in Paris)

 

On top of the Torre de Oro and at the Plaza de España

New Visitor!

Well I have wanted to write a million blog posts in the past couple of weeks, but I just haven't had enough time to sit down and write them. This whole past week I have been busy grocery shopping, cleaning, and buying the most perfect outift to wear when I pick Adam up at the airport :) He gets here TOMORROW MORNING!!! Already he is on his way! Only 14 more hours until I get to see him!!!!! He is flying from Chicago to New York, where he has to transfer AIRPORTS and only has three hours to do it in, and apparently NY is supposed to get a snow storm....awesome....to Madrid, and then finally to ME!! :)

I promise to write more as soon as I can. I have lots of exciting adventures to tell you all about, as well as my many visitors, and soon two weeks worth of stories once Adam arrives.

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll write soon!

The Never-Ending Birthday Surprises

24. It's weird to think that's how old I am now. But it's true; another year has come and gone.

What's also weird is that this may have been the best birthday I've ever had! Despite the fact that I'm so far away from friends and family, my Spanish friends here made my birthday so special.

It started with a wonderful surprise party thrown by Ana Bello the day before my birthday (Thursday)! Apparently I arrived a little early to my own party, so Kike came to the rescue! We "had to go buy the drinks" because he, Ana and I were going to have dinner together. Ok I thought, nothing strange here. We walked around foreverrrrr, and went to a grocery store way out of our way (in fact we passed two others on on our way there!). We were chatting about this and that, superhero movies, Megan Fox and Zac Effron (and yes, all of this was in Spanish!), and FINALLY, what was probably 30 or 40 minutes later, we walked back to Ana's apartment. The whole house was filled with a great aroma, and by this point I was wondering if she had planned something, but all I could think of was just a special dinner.

Than seven of my friends pop out and yell "SURPRISE!!!"! There was a banner wishing me a happy birthday, and a delicious Spanish meal cooked just for me. There was even cake and a candle for me to make a wish (which I did in Spanish. Booya)! I was further surprised by presents given to me by Ana and Mercedes - a ring, a purse, and a wallet! The whole night was so thoughtful and so amazing. It made me feel so loved, knowing that my friends here wanted to help celebrate my birthday with me.

The night was capped off with an impromptu skype chat with the boyfriend. And I was able to open my present from him because it was officially my birthday in my part of the world (it was already 2am). He gave me super warm pajamas to help stave off the cold while I shiver in my apartment. And the thing that makes the pajamas even more perfect - they are covered in SNOWFLAKES!

Friday I received cards from my parents, grandparents, the Horos', and Adam. It was such a good feeling being remembered by so many people. And of course with the barrage of facebook wallposts. :) Then on Friday night I was supposed to meet with my friend Marta and her colleagues for tapas and drinks, but the plans got canceled and new and better plans were made. Adam wanted us to spend my actual birthday together, so we hung out on skype! We talked for 5 hours! I didn't go to bed until 5:30am. We played games, watched episodes of TV shows, and just talked and spent time with each other. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.

On Saturday I went with two of my American friends, Emma and Sarah, to our church for a "Change Your Look" party where we got hair and makeup tips with the rest of the women in our church. Afterward we met up with Sarah's and Emma's husbands, and Kike and Martin for Domino's pizza and dancing at a club!

Needless to say, the weekend wore me out. But the birthday celebrations weren't complete just yet! I walked into my favorite class on Monday (the fourth years), who also threw me a surprise party! They made Spanish food to share with all of us, and also gave me presents! But the thing that touched me the most was the T-shirt they made that said "We Love Rachel", and a video with all of them talking in English to me! It was so sweet.

On Tuesday, a class that I have basically no relationship with because I only have them once a week, burst into a broken rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" and "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" when I walked in. And they too had presents! I don't even know how they knew it was my birthday.

And last but not least, I went for tapas with Marta on Thursday night. I love going out with her. I am so blessed to have made a friend like her here in Spain. She completed the "birthday week" with a new bracelet and scarf, and especially her time (she's always so busy, it's hard to get together sometimes!).

All-in-all it was an incredible birthday. My friends and family back home still kept me in their thoughts, and my friends here helped me to celebrate and keep on celebrating. I'm so thankful for my friends here, and amazed at how each of them tried to make my birthday special and memorable. It is definitely one I will never forget.

Mercedes and Ana and me with the wonderful tortilla

The DELICIOUS dinner!

 Mmm, chocolate cake

Sarah and I

Me and my presents!

 A purse and a ring!

Sevilla Through the Internet

Want to see where I live? I came across this really cool website that took photos of Sevilla from one of it's tallest points. You can read more about it (don't worry, you can change the language into English!) too. It's really interesting, but most importantly you can see my city! Now you can experience my apartment AND the actual city! It's like you're all here with me. :)

http://www.sevilla111.com/

It's amazing that even though we are thousands of miles apart, we can still be seeing the same things at the same time! Enjoy my beloved city!

My Apartment

I took a video tour of my apartment to show you around, but I'm having trouble uploading it. So instead, here are a few pictures for you to enjoy! It's only taken me six months, but now you can all see where I live. :)

This is my kitchen, with washing machine to do our laundry. 

We don't waste any space in Spain!

 My Christmas decorations thanks to my parents and Emily Jipping :)

My ugly living room, complete with teeny tiny TV.

My "front yard"

 My bathroom. The shower is so small you can

barely turn around, let alone bend over.

 

These three are of my "backyard." There is a soccer and basketball court where kids are always running around and playing. The above picture shows the clothesline where I hang my laundry, 3 floors above the ground. Hopefully I won't drop anything!

 These are my roommates' rooms.

Fatima has the larger one, and Silvia's is the cleaner one :)

My bedroom - the smallest one in the apartment. It is TINY! But I like it :)

 My shelves and wardrobe - 

everything I brought is crammed into this thing.

 My "Family Board" (and Adam of course). 

Don't worry friends, I look at you everyday on facebook :)

 My wall of cards from friends and family! Thank you everyone! 

I just got a bunch more for my birthday too that I need to add. 

This is the only decoration and bright spots of color I have in my room, so I love it!

And there you have it. Finally you can all see where and how I live. It's a great apartment filled with two amazing roommates. They are so patient with my Spanish and include me in everything they do. I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to live with such fun and welcoming girls! I hope you enjoyed my picture-tour :)

Coffee

I have a confession: I now drink coffee. And I love it.

I know, it’s shocking. I successfully was able to avoid getting into the habit during my four years of college, and even when living in Spain for four months the first time. But sadly I could not stand strong forever. I started shortly after arriving in Spain, when I had my orientation for my job in October.

It was early in the morning, and I was herded into a lecture hall with hundreds of other language assistants like myself. It was going to be a long day of just hearing a panel of Spaniards talk about what is expected of us in our jobs, what we need to know, etc. It was exhausting straining my ears to hear them well enough, and my mind to understand everything they were saying.

Needless to say, I fell asleep after the first two hours.

Thankfully, there was a break at midday where they offered us coffee and pastries. Since there was nothing else to drink, I reluctantly took a cup of coffee. No cream was available, but there was a packet of sugar sitting in my saucer. I poured it in, stirred it around, and thirstily gulped the coffee down.

From that point on I was WIRED. I was so wide awake I couldn’t even close my eyes long enough to BLINK. The rest of the day I was sitting on the edge of my seat, taking notes and listening with rapt attention. I was jittery, and as I was told by other people there, talking faster than I normally do!

Who knew that one cup of near-black coffee could keep me awake and energized for an entire day? I was quickly hooked on the feeling, and knew that from that day on, I could no longer evade the deliciousness that is coffee.

I don’t drink it every day; in fact I can probably count how many times I’ve had coffee on two hands. But it is becoming more frequent, both here and when I was at home during Christmas. I feel older now, a little more refined and sophisticated. It’s a new me.

Christmastime

This is going to be long. Brace yourself.

I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I last posted. So much has happened in this last month. I’ll start with what’s freshest in my memory, then work backwards in future posts.

For those of you that don’t know, I went home for Christmas!!! In November I was frantically searching for the cheapest airfare I could find, then finally, with the help of Adam and his parents, I was able to purchase a ticket home for the holidays! It was so difficult, but I was able to keep it a secret for an entire month from my whole family. There were many times when I almost slipped and told one of them, but thankfully I was able to keep my mouth shut.

I left in the middle of December to go home. It was a long journey – I had to take the train from Sevilla to Madrid, then another train in Madrid to the metro, then the metro to the airport. Whew. Next came a flight from Madrid to Philadelphia, then another flight to Chicago! It was such a long day, and I was too excited to sleep on the plane, or the night before.

On the flight to Philadelphia, I had the fun experience of sitting next to a very kind woman, Cati, who didn’t speak any English. She was on her way to visit her daughter in Virginia who she hadn’t seen in three years! We had long talks, and throughout the flight she needed me to interpret for her to the flight attendants for meals, drinks, movie malfunctions, etc. It turned out the two people in front of us also didn’t speak any English, so I helped them fill out their paperwork for entering the States. It was such a wonderful feeling being able to help all of them, and I think I have finally narrowed down my choice of careers to just two options: Spanish teacher or Spanish interpreter.

Adam met me in Chicago and it was incredible to see him again. I am so glad he was able to pick me up so we could spend some time together in Chicago. We roamed around looking at all of the Christmas decorations and lights before heading home. It was a little odd being back and hearing English all around me. I’ve gotten used to hearing English only sporadically (aside from when I’m teaching of course) on the street when I’m walking around, and feeling like I know some secret language. It was good to be back though, with all of the snow and cold (and in my new coat!), friends and family, and Christmassy things!

When I went home I had Adam call to “drop a book off” to my parents to make sure they were there. He walked in first, and 20 seconds later I popped through the door, yelling “Merry Christmas!” I wish I had gotten a picture of my parents’ faces.

We stayed up late talking, my parents, brother, Adam and I, and it was so good to just be in my familiar and comfortable home again. The next day I saw the rest of my family, who were all sick. Kind of messed up my whole entrance, but oh well. :)

I was home for just over two weeks, getting to experience all of the American and family holiday traditions I’m used to. Adam had already decorated his whole house (which looked wonderful!), and we put up a tree together. I ate my weight in Christmas cookies and other goodies, and loved hearing Christmas music, seeing snow, and watching Christmas movies.

I also got to spend some time with friends. I loved seeing everyone again, and can’t wait to see more friends in the summer when I return. For those of you I couldn’t see, I apologize. It was a hectic two weeks that were as full as possible!

Adam and I drove to Pennsylvania to visit his parents before Christmas for a few days, and it was so good to see them again too. We went to dinner, watched movies, did puzzles, played a lot of Wii, and just had a great time. Adam and his dad got to go to a Steelers game too!

New Years was spent downtown watching Good Charlotte and some of the other bands at Rosa Parks, then to the symphony for the Rat Pack (a surprise from Adam!)! Afterwards we met up with some friends at the Windchester and rang in the New Year with good champagne, good food, and good friends.

I also had a sort of job interview at an interpreting company in GR. It went really well and they want me to come back in the summer for another interview. They said I could shadow an interpreter also, just to make sure it’s something I want to go into. They interpret for physical and mental health, and court. It was so interesting learning about everything, and I’m eager to see if this is could be a future career path.

Eventually, my time was up in Michigan and I had to return back to Europe. But not without making a pit-stop in Paris to visit Sarah first! After being separated for a whole 5 months (the longest we have ever gone without seeing each other), our reunion was wonderful. The only hindrance in our time together was her having the flu (as well as her roommate, Anita). Due to them being sick, we spent most of our time in her cute apartment watching movies, doing crossword puzzles, reading, talking, and just enjoying being together again. One day I went to school with her to help teach a class, and got to see her neighborhood, school, students, and other fun things around her area. Finally, on the day before I left (Saturday), we explored more of Paris. This was my fourth time there, so I didn’t really need to do all of the tourist things again. We walked up and down the Champs-Elysées, went to the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, went into some shops along the way, and best of all, went to an amazing art exhibit in the Louis Vuitton art gallery. It was a showcase of seven or eight artists displaying some form of art about Peter Pan and never growing up. It was SO COOL to see all of these very original and imaginative art pieces. We also went to Pere Lachaise, a beautiful cemetery near Sarah’s apartment. Some famous people are buried there, and it’s crowded full of tombs, but it was the prettiest cemetery I’ve ever been to. Sarah and I both could have spent the entire day walking through it.

Alas, my time there quickly flew by and I had to return to Sevilla. As excited as I was to start my life back up here, I was so sad to have to say goodbye to Sarah again. I hadn’t had a chance to be sad about leaving everyone in Michigan either, since I went straight to Sarah, so after returning to my apartment yesterday, I spent the majority of the day being alone and missing everyone. Sad day.

Now I’m back in my normal routine, teaching classes and speaking in Spanish, with only one hitch – I am now sick too! I blame it all on Sarah and Anita. I was sick TWICE in Michigan, and now again here. Who gets sick three times in one month?! All I know is I will never skip another flu shot. Ugh.

It was fun going back to school today. I was greeted with many “Feliz año!” (Happy New Year) and warm hugs and kisses by other teachers and students. It was everyone’s first day back to school (they celebrate Christmas on January 6), so all the students were excited to tell about what they got for Christmas.

Here are some pictures of Chicago, Michigan, and Paris. The rest are all posted on facebook if you would like to view all of them. :)

 The Christmas tree in the Walnut Room in Macy's (Chicago)

Decorating the tree at Adam's house

Our finished tree!

My niece and nephew Jacob and Lauren  on Christmas Eve

Happy New Year!

The cemetery in Paris

 I loved being with Sarah again