Tuesday, March 31

Happy birthday Grandma Carol!

Tuesday morning of spring break we started our day by walking to the American's apartment.  They're more or less on the way from our apartment to Plaza del Pelícano, the plaza where we were scheduled to meet our flamenco dance teacher.  It's also the same plaza where my gym is located.  From there, the 7 of us walked to the flamenco class.  Jennie (the American friend mom) wrote this about the experience.  I think she did a beautiful job capturing the truly magical adventure we had.  Thank you Jennie for sharing your take on class.

Hustling 5 kids through new alleyways, while white knuckling a laminated map in Spanish….doesn’t always leave room for the thrill of anticipation or the palpitations that accompany the unknown.  This is especially true in Seville where we hustle, waiting for the familiar bump-bump of cars coming down the cobblestone alleys so we can press our bellies against the walls of centuries old buildings and laugh about how cool the building feels through our shirts while we avoid being run over.  I mean…really…who ever thought?

The seven of us met Emi in the small Plaza de Pelicana.  She entered from a corner alley, the entrance hidden by a steel door that could roll open.  Her surprise at the age of the kids was not masked well but I immediately felt drawn to her and her beautiful olive complexion, waves of espresso colored hair and the way her open weave cardigan flapped around her body.  She moved with intention, confidence and ease all at the same time.  I kept thinking I’d swap my fair skin and hair with her in a heartbeat as we herded the kids behind her, down the alley, to a warehouse-y feeling area filled with dirt, the sound of chickens and wooden doors on either side.  At no time did I feel afraid or concerned about our surroundings.  I looked back at Alise and whispered “this is so cool!”  She agreed.  Game on!

We entered a room about the size of a hotel swimming pool.  It had lofty ceilings with rugged, exposed beams and on a mantle, or something that actually appeared to be more of an altar, were framed sketches of flamenco dancers.  There was a large mirror on one wall and a long wooden bench along the other.  We all took a seat and began to listen to Emi.  She instructed the 3 girls to come sit in a circle on colorful metal stools.  She reached for the clock on the wall to use as a prop.  Her every move was poetic…graceful…two things I am not. 

She set the clock in the middle of the circle and engaged the girls.  She explained the secret to flamenco was in a clock.  She talked to the girls about the hands on the clock; the rhythm, the circle and the movement.  I think a good deal of it went over the heads of our exhausted and sweaty darlings but I know Alise was hanging on her every word as was I.  Her voice was soothing and she sounded like a lifestyle guru talking about living flamenco through all your life.  I hesitated not when she asked us to join the circle.  We all moved our feet one at a time to the rhythm she set and when she started playing music on a small silver cd player I was sure we were being whisked away to the real Spain, as though the Spanish keep it hidden away from tourists.  It was an experience that is hard to put into words and yet here I am, yammering on.  I felt closer to the heartbeat of the city than I had in the 4 weeks since arriving in Seville.  It was something I will always remember.

We spent the rest of class moving together and feeling the music.  We laughed and loosened up just in time for class to be over.  Alise left a few minutes before the end of class to take the twins to a playground because it’s asking a lot of 5 yr old boys to sit through an hour dance class in a hot warehouse.  As I left with the girls and headed back towards the main plaza I felt a new appreciation for the exotic side of Seville and maybe a little more in touch with the exotic side of Jennie.  I encourage all of the women of the world to push outside their comfort zones and give something new a try as they follow the ever-illusive road to finding themselves.  Flamenco might just get us all there a little faster.  

This was meant to be a photo, not a video.  But you can see just a little bit of the beautiful movements the teacher has.

Here's Emi, Brynnlee, and Rosa sitting in the circle.  Shortly after this picture was taken, Teagan, Jennie, the boys, and I joined in the circle.

After dance class, we wandered back to the playground where we had played the previous night after dinner.  We sat at the cafe to have lunch and the kids played.  Here's silly Cody turning away from the camera.

Brynnlee making a funny face for the camera

On the way home, I treated 3 hot kids to ice cream

That night, Scott and I treated ourselves to another babysitter.  One of our goals while in Spain is to get babysitters frequently (every 2 weeks or so).  At home, we have a sitter every 3 months or so.  Anyway, we want to make sure that we're enjoying date time just the 2 of us, in addition to all of the family experiences.  We used Ludonanny again, and this time Sara babysat for us.  She was very nice.  She arrived at 6 as we had arranged to join an English-speaking rooftop walking tour through "Not Just a Tourist".  This was the same group through which Jennie had arranged the flamenco lessons earlier in the day.

Here are some crowds ready to watch a procession come by Plaza del Duque.  During Semana Santa, getting anywhere took longer and more street creativity as many streets were stock full of people.  

Our kids like various emergency vehicles.  Here's a picture of some Spanish ones for them.  In the foreground you can also see some bicycles with baskets.  These are similar to the B-Cycles in Denver.  The gist is you can buy an hour pass, day pass, week pass, month pass, etc.  Then you can go to any of these stations, hop on a bike, and drop it off at another station.  There are stations all over the city.  And there are loads of bike paths around the city.

We were a few minutes early for our tour, and while we were waiting in Plaza Nueva (in front of City Hall), this Semana Santa procession was going by.

This is a view of some of the crowds during Semana Santa week.  This is the view of the cathedral from where we had ice cream our first day walking to the cathedral.

It was so hot during the Semana Santa week.  Friends and relatives of the people in the processions carried water and kept an eye on the nazarenos.  There were a number of Red Cross trucks nearby, as well.

Here's a paso.  There are 20-40 men underneath carrying it.

Here are nazarenos in the parade carrying crosses.

Here's a view down Avenida de la Constitucion.

This is a picture of one of the doorways to the cathedral.  Notice the bottom doorway in the Moorish (or Mudejar) architectural style.

Here's a Mary paso.  All of the Mary pasos that we saw had covers on them.

As the tour implied, we went to the top of 3 buildings.  The first was a very contemporary hotel.  It was beautiful inside and even more stunning on the rooftop.  There were 360 views, though the views towards the cathedral were facing into the sun.

From there, we went to a more or less hidden plaza - one that's tucked away just next to the hustle and bustle of the cathedral and Real Alcazar.  The orange trees pictures here grow taller so than usual so that they can reach sunlight.  This plaza used to be where flea markets for old stamps would take place.  The location has since moved since the market became too big for the space.

On our walking tour we wound our way through the maze of streets in the Santa Cruz neighborhood.  Here we are on the back of the Real Alcazar.  Just a few days earlier we had been there and there had been scaffold boards up.  They'd been up for about 10 years.  It was neat to be here when a construction project had finished.  Apparently many construction projects in Sevilla can take ~10 years as there's so much history that often something ancient is found and proper excavation needs to take place.  

Here's the entryway into the former Jewish neighborhood of Sevilla.

This is a view of the archway from the outside.

Our 2nd rooftop was on the top of a hotel that is known for its musical instruments.  Malka and Nathan, we were thinking about you.  There were a number of public rooms that had instruments that guests were welcome to play.  On the roof there's a hot tub (Scott was eyeing it) and a bar and an amazing view.

From there we walked through another Semana Santa processional to our 3rd rooftop, where this picture was taken.

Here are more pictures from the 3rd rooftop.  This is at the Metropol Parasol, the large wooden structure next to the kids' school.  We'd never been to the top, and it was a treat to be up there at sunset.

This is a view of the tallest building in Sevilla, the Cajasol Tower.  It is an office building just across the river.  There seems to be some controversy over it as up until now the tallest building was the cathedral with the bell tower (La Giralda). 

Date night!!

There are sooooo many families in Sevilla.  And there are so many strollers.  Here's a stroller check (like a coat check) for the Semana Santa week.  This one is in Plaza del Duque.  Sevilla is extremely family friendly.  

Here's a paso going through Plaza del Duque.  Check out the crowds.  This is at about 9:30/10pm.

This is what we had for dinner.  The man sitting next to us noticed me looking at the pizza menu.  He asked if we understand the other menu and we said we were having trouble with it.  He helped us out and highly recommended against the pizza as the pizza was frozen and thawed for customers.  We were happy to have his help.  He also shared what he ordered.  The Spaniards have been so wonderful trying to make our experience as enjoyable as possible.

Scott's nice big beer with dinner.

When we got home I'd received a reponse email from the HGTV show House Hunters International (HHI).  For those of you who don't know, I'm a HUGE HGTV fan and Scott teased me that I should apply for us to be on the show.  And so I applied in mid-December.  Here's the response email.

I’m from the casting team at HHI. Hope all is well! I just wanted to get an update on your moving situation.  Do you still have interest in being on the show? I ask because we are currently looking to cast people who are very close to moving abroad.

If you are still interested, and get picked to be on the show, we would need you for a total of 5 film days. These shoots can be done into the weekend if you are not available to get off of work for all of it. Additionally, you would receive monetary compensation for appearing on the show ($1,500). If you think you might still be interested, please let me know as soon as you can. It is a lot of fun and something I think you’d enjoy!

Either way, let us know what your current moving situation is. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!

Buenas noches!