Spring has been much more active for us this year - with mom and stepfather in town for 5 months we have had a great time enjoying Seville without running around, trying to get everything done in just a few weeks. An extended visit like this is something to really enjoy, when you don't have to count off all of the places you want to take someone before they leave. The ripple effect of course has occurred, with other guests visiting our parents, making them the tour guides for the months they are here. This change has created two new tour guides whose Spanish skills are steadily improving. This in turn means they are ordering at the bar before we can order for them - a little more independence for them! But we have enjoyed visits from both family and friends over the last few months and are getting the opportunity to see some places we've been wanting to see, and even a few side trips to places like Cadiz. And the owners of El Rinconcillo are now getting used to our little tours - every 2 weeks we arrive with a new group to try the jamón and drink a cold beer. We stare up at the collection of liquor and fino bottles which should now be in a Museum, and every time we do I notice something different.

So I keep putting off updating my daily entries section, a sacrifice if I want to visit with everyone as well as keep my job and update this page. A back injury and then a foot injury kept me out of commission for a few weeks. The price you pay when you are on your feet a lot, and when you're not you're at a desk typing away. Soon I will automate this section, making my updates less of a labor and more of an exercise in writing. While I make these changes please sit back and enjoy new content, and take a look over at sevilla5.com, where some of my adventures make it to the "Current" section before they make it here! For now, a photo of us all at the Feria, during my brother's visit to Seville...

Posted by Jeff at 2:25 PM MEST

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The first day and night have come and gone and I realize I don't yet have my Semana Santa legs yet. We spent the early afternoon catching La Paz in Parque Maria Luisa, watching it pass by the Plaza de España. We then made the mistake of trying to find a restaurant with a table for 9 people around 3pm. We should have known better, and even our attempts to escape the center and find someplace in the neighborhood of El Porvenir proved to be a mistake. Finally, after an hour or so of searching and asking we found Restaurante San Marco just next to Hotel Melia had space. We finished lunch at 5:30 and made our way back to the center for a view of La Borriquita in Plaza Salvador. While crowded and hot we managed an hour and saw just the one paso which is part of the procession. Heading back to the Alfalfa from Plaza Salvador we ran into a wall of people which almost proved impassible. After 15 minutes we had made our way, by force, to the Plaza del Pan and onto less crowded streets. The difficulty was a result of two large lines of people trying to cross the same street in opposite directions, and it seems nobody wanted to budge. Not a good situation.

We made our way home for an hour of rest and a little of the NCAA tournament, a quick sandwich (no more dealing with the bar and restaurant crowds), and then headed back out to catch La Cena, a procession with 3 pasos. A good place to catch this is the Plaza San Leandro (Pila del Pato as it's known to locals, for the duck in the fountain). Here you get a good view as the procession makes it's way around the plaza. Two of the pasos stop at the convent where the nuns sing for each one. Just a few blocks away we saw La Hiniesta on Doña Maria Coronel, a long street lined with orange trees. La Hiniesta has too many nazarenos, I've decided, as we waited over an hour to see both pasos.

A quick trip back home to catch the Duke-Mississippi St. game via internet and the night was done. The morning starts again and first comes work. Then another late night.

Posted by Jeff at 1:25 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:38 PM CET

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Every year I notice something different as Semana Santa nears. This year I had less time, with an early arrival date of March and a much heavier workload. Still, it is easy to see how Semana Santa takes over the city, especially the center. Activity – physical, mental and economic – begins to stir many months before the start. As you near a month before Palm Sunday things begin to kick into high gear. You hear a band or two practicing by the river, and churches open their doors so you can see the floats, or pasos, as they are being prepared for the processions. Smaller processions, the Via Crucis, begin over the weeks leading up to Semana Santa, and people line up in a sort of preview of what is to come. During a slow weekend night you may see a group of costaleros carrying a bare wooden frame, weighted with sand bags, practicing for the twists and turns of their routes. In anticipation of the week people hit the streets the weekend before for tapas and beers. Many do this to get a little practice in for the long hours to come in the following week, while others try to enjoy a last meal out before the crowds take over.

Then a little economy which lies dormant for 11 months out of the year turns to a very big one. Dry cleaners offer specials for the robes, or tunicas worn by the nazarenos. Shops which specialize in candles, or cirios bring in large shipments for the cofradias. Others sew capirotes, the pointed cardboard hats worn under the cloth hoods. Incense vendors on the street become more and more popular. The activity spills into everyday businesses – pastry shops prepare torrijas, a typical sweet consumed on Palm Sunday and throughout the week. Tons of bread is baked to supply them, and to make all of the bocadillos and sandwiches for hungry masses too tired to prepare a meal. Florists provide flowers for the pasos and for people wishing to shower them with rose petals along their routes. Clothing and shoe stores get a lift from everyone updating their wardrobe for Palm Sunday. Comfortable shoes, knee braces and other aids are purchased by costaleros and nazarenos as they ready themselves for the long walks. Barbers cut hair, so everyone looks their best. Supermarkets are crowded as everyone makes a run for their supplies. Hotels and hostals book their last rooms and deal with an amazing amount of phone calls and emails for those seeking last minute accommodation. Meanwhile bars and restaurants may close for a day to clean and get ready for non-stop service, some almost 20 hours per day. Other bars which were closed during the year clean out the cobwebs and dust to open for just this week. Some stores simply take advantage of their location to sell drinks and snacks. Delivery men can be seen on every street corner in the center, with every kind of beverage imaginable stacked high, as bar owners try and make space to store it all. Temporary help is hired, just about everywhere, to deal with the expected masses. Semana Santa music can be heard from most any store or bar.

Then t here is the organization and planning that any city must go through. Many months before there is careful consideration of construction work, and some routes are altered where the streets may be temporarily impassible for the processions. Firemen walk the routes to note any possible danger that a street or building may present (lots of candles in these processions!). The bleachers are erected and in what appears to be the very last minute, and still seem to need a lot of work as late as the 18th of March. Metal gates are set-up to guide the masses moving in proper direction around calle Sierpes. Also erected are small, sheet metal walls designed to block the view of passers-by in areas where crowd movement is especially important to keep order. The official schedule is decided, making sure each procession has a thirty minute window to enter the Cathedral. Publishers and print companies work to get the booklets with schedules out to everyone.

Seeing how much it takes over the city you can see why so many flock to the center to take part in the events. You can also see why so many flee the center for the comforts of the beach or the country-side, looking for a little peace as the crowds take over their neighborhoods. And as the event consumes Seville’s center, it also consumes my page and life for a month.

Posted by Jeff at 1:24 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:38 PM CET

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So my last December 8th entry I realized was two months old. I also realized I failed to post my new entries for a while. Well, work picked up, holidays took over and I was sick a little. Traveled a night or two and spent a lot of time working on things for this site. Some day the flood gates will open and the 10 or so new sections I have been working on will all launch. For now I prefer the procrastination method - work on what I feel like from day to day and get nothing done.

In between I did manage to meet Prince Felipe and Leticia! Well, meet would not be the word, I managed to shake hands with him as he came out of the Plaza de Toros the other night! See how close I was?? While I'm not one to follow royalty around it appears plenty of those type of folks were on hand. We had just finished a visit to El Patio Sevillano, a typical tablao where you can enjoy a few hours of song and dance and a drink. When we came out after the 7:30 show we were greeted by Felipe and Leticia. Now I just need to meet the King.

As for all of those emails I receive at exploreseville.com: some have fallen through the cracks in recent weeks, but I should be getting to a lot tomorrow and Monday. As I answer and send about 100 to 150 per day at work sometimes it's hard to come home and answer more. It's even harder when you have a bad mail server and host, and sometimes get you email messages days later. For now click on the link below to see what's been happening in the last month or so...

Posted by Jeff at 1:24 PM CET

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Duke 71, Carolina 70! I was one of two Duke fans in the bar, and apparently the only vocal one. Still, all fans were gracious, I think. Most left with an exam or a class to attend just a few hours later. I had work and perhaps my first hangover in a long, long time. And that was after 4 beers, so I am getting old.

Work proved to be very productive, answering some 120 emails and updating various little items which needed attention on the sevilla5.com site. This was a long week.

Posted by Jeff at 1:23 PM CET

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So I am a basketball fan. I am a big basketball fan, and if you’ve read previous entries around last March, well you know I lose a lot of sleep and time trying to follow the real sport from Seville. The real sport is NCAA basketball, not this crap league that the world has been sold on called the NBA. Everywhere you go you can catch an NBA game with little passion, a lot of money and a lot of players who may be taking the night off from their “job”. Not NCAA basketball of course. The real sport has the best rivalry of all sports – Duke – Carolina (Betis – Sevilla trailing close behind).

So this is why I am typing this away as I wait for the late night phone call to drag me away from my desk and into a bar, a secret location if you will, where there is NASN and the Duke-Carolina game being broadcast live on a big screen television! And I will be surrounded by fans opposing my team, but I care not. I will walk maybe a mile through deserted streets perhaps tempting a thief or two with my money, but nothing will keep me from the game. Many ask what is the hardest thing about living outside the U.S. First and foremost is family and friends. Second is NCAA basketball. Someday someone will catch on, I hope, and more games will be available instead of three tape delayed NBA games like they will be showing this morning and tomorrow. And maybe Canal Plus will find that rather flashing a logo on the screen in Canal Deporte 3 for 12 hours a day because they have nothing to show, just maybe they could show something worth seeing besides their logo.

Posted by Jeff at 1:23 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:38 PM CET

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Ok, I don’t need to be selling you something. Feel free to make your hotel reservation for Semana Santa and Feria wherever you want if you don’t so at sevilla5.com. But I do want to help in telling you that the choices are getting slimmer and slimmer by the day. Especially for Semana Santa, where plenty of hotels are either booked or have just a few days at the beginning of the week. I just wanted to say this so I could say I told you so! But really, the situation and availability is getting worse by the day, so if you plan to come for either of these weeks it’s time to get moving and get your room reserved somewhere with someone, and quick.

Posted by Jeff at 1:22 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:39 PM CET

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A wedding in a pueblo is always an interesting experience. A wedding is always an interesting experience. A wedding at times is an interesting experience. A wedding is a way to lose 12 hours and 70 Euros...

Ok, so it wasn't all that bad. Granada and I left around 6pm with family to go to a cousin's wedding in Palma del Condado, a small town just across the "border" in the province of Huelva. I met a lot of family for the first time, cousins and cousins of cousins and their neighbors. After 30 minutes of standing and sitting we made our way to celebration hall. These places exist in every small town and larger city in Spain. Many choose to leave the city for their celebration and book these in small suburbs or pueblos just outside of the city. Think of a banquet hall of sorts, a place where you can mingle with a drink and pick appetizers off a moving tray, then a large hall for a meal and maybe a dance floor and bar close by. These establishments would likely fold in a year or two if weddings were the only events to be catered for. But this is a big business which thrives on weddings plus the communion celebrations for a catholic country. If anyone should be leaving money in the church collection basket it should be the owners of these businesses.

So, Palma del Condado is a nice little town, with a large church which is cold as can be for a January wedding. Once we arrived at the "celebration station" we began to warm up with a few drinks and of course typical appetizers. I think there is also a racket amongst these businesses to serve the same menu, from the entradas to the main courses. We took our pick of small crackers/toast with soft blue cheese and other assorted sugarless pastries. Then cazon en adobo and gambas con bacon. Of course Cruzcampo was on tap, or a selection of wine. Upon sitting down we made it to the main meal: plates of cheeses and cured meats. Then we received more than we expected - a whole plate of cured jamon serrano for each person, then a plate of shrimp, prawns and a third type of shrimp for each person. Then three additional plates of shrimp to share amongst everyone at the table. Of course a non-alcoholic lemon smoothy to clear our palettes was a must. Finally arrived the main course of pork loin wrapped in bacon and served with potatoes. Afterwards there was dessert (cake), champagne, the wedding cake and then of course chocolates! The groom passed from table to table and handed out Cuban cigars, while the bride passed around a small gift for all the women. We spent the next hour in conversation around the table. Finally, some 4 hours after beginning our meal we moved into the bar next to the dining hall for mixed drinks (Gin and tonic for me, thanks), dancing and then trays of pastries or sandwiches to choose from. I honestly don't think anyone ate a single piece of this last course.

A wedding in a pueblo is also a larger affair. With such a small town you take a risk not inviting everyone you know, as you'll likely see them every day. And as everyone's lives seem to intermingle a bit more than the city folks you soon probably know, or at least know of, everyone in the whole town. There were probably some 225 people attending this wedding, and I was told of others where 400 to 500 people had attended. How this is afforded I don't know, though I must say it is customary or perhaps not frowned upon to hand over an envelope of cash to the bride or groom during the reception. Perhaps it's a nice way of paying the bill? It certainly was well worth it. I met cousins and other relatives of Granada's I never knew she had. And heard stories of their summers visiting when they were children, and how much the town had changed. We were invited to come back to go swimming at someone's pool when it got warmer, or perhaps just for a Sunday meal out somewhere when spring arrives. We also extended invitations for people to visit us in the city. This is common, I thought, but wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see them again until the next big wedding.

Some time around 3:30am we started on our way back to Sevilla. First was a short walk through the town, and there was a certain charm which appealed to me. It could have been the silence of 3:30 in the morning. Maybe the fog settling in over a nice little plaza with large apartments that had several terraces and windows to the outside. Or maybe the few mixed drinks consumed after a meal of ungodly proportions. But I could almost see myself living some place like this. Sure, I might get bored, but I think that can happen just about anywhere. By the time we got back to Seville it was close to 4:30am, and my dreams of pueblo life were long over. Maybe I need two homes - my small apartment in the center of it all and my spacious house in a pueblo somewhere. Now if I can just figure out how to make money, and save it, in Spain I'll be all set to start on my two houses. Although I have a feeling my second home will be likely be a shack somewhere in Extremadura.

Posted by Jeff at 1:22 PM CET

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Ok, so you see a theme going for these past two days. It'll be out of my system soon enough. Don't take offense if you like something on my hated lists...

• Read receipts for every email, no matter what the importance is…
• Email responses which appear at the end of the sent message. Thanks, I feel like scrolling today
• Email responses where the original message has been erased, especially the important ones. What the hell did I say? I don’t always remember.
• Flash web sites: do I have to go into this again? Yes! I love watching a progress bar load on the front page. I love seeing lots of animation and photos with little information. And give me a frame with a set of cute little arrows to move up and down with, but don’t make it a real scroll bar: limit the scroll speed to something agonizingly painful, or speed it up so fast that I can’t ever read the middle portion of the text. Your logo spinning in five different directions? Cool! Your hopeful commerce web site tanking in the search engines because you don’t understand the importance of 1 word of written text – EVEN BETTER.
• Web sites who steal my content, word for word and photo for photo, and don’t give one bit of credit to me, like this one:
  http://www.tuhotel.org/seville/art.htm
  http://www.tuhotel.org/seville/nightlife.htm
  http://www.tuhotel.org/seville/weather.htm
  These truly stupid people don’t even realize some of the information they have posted is almost 6 months out of date. Oh, and isn’t that the former director of my study abroad page there at the bar, or perhaps my wife? Well, don’t worry, I’ll never catch on that this is mine...love you honey!
• Meaningless icons which help me visualize instead of read. Problem is your icons suck and help me visualize visual clutter. Even better, give me a list of 40 icons, like the services and amenities in a hotel. Then add alt text so I can mouse over all the ones which make no sense instead of reading text the normal way.
• Fake search engine results which lead me to another page with another set of non-relevant results for a term.
• Websites which open each link in a new window…when it leads to a section in their own page. Try navigating through telefonica.net for a few minutes. Try it here, and here and here and here and here and here. Isn't that fun? Did I just cluttered up your desktop? Now see if you can make it back to what you were reading first...Look, I can understand in some cases: I do this for my photo albums, but not when you click on a link in the main navigation!
• Pop up windows alerting me of a problem with my computer.
• All pop up windows.
• Cialis soft tabs, mosrtgage re finan ce emails writte n with spa ces and speling error s to avoid spam filte rs. My unclaimed lottery winnings or secret opportunity to help Mr. Kawange P Nagabonga in the Republic of Nigeria, former Minister of Spoilery, move the funds in the sum of $20 Million from his bank to my country so I can claim 20%. Thank you Mr. Nagabonga, I do feel God has blessed me with this opportunity and I won’t tell anyone until you have my bank account information.
• Pre-selected check boxes so I can receive your spam when signing up for something. Or have me check a box to say I wish not to receive mailings. It doesn’t matter, make it tricky.

Posted by Jeff at 2:21 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:41 PM CET

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So there isn't much about Sevilla or Spain below. But it's a good day for me to write about what bothers me today...

• Roaring 20’s music and costumes.
• Just about every musical ever made, including some of the latest movie/musicals like Chicago. I’m sorry but who can sit through this crap, or should I say two hours of this crap!
• Corset dramas as my friend Stike use to say , which include about any drama/ love story surrounding events in the 16th- 19th centuries.
• Dumb people in travel forums who spout opinion as fact or simply make up facts about certain places when they don’t have the first &*#%@ idea... This includes the “asses” who live in the forums only to jump all over a question by a poor fellow who has never traveled outside his own country. Travel forums should be for helping people, but some must lead such terrible lives that abuse is the only thing they can use them for.
• Antoñito’s hair – it’s bad enough he plays for Sevilla.
• Walking down calle Aguila which involves hugging the side of a building as you try not to get hit by a car mirror.
• George W. Bush…I can say I hate him, right? Here in the safe confines of Spain I think I can…right?

Posted by Jeff at 1:21 PM CET

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We now have new neighbors who many have seen if they have visited Sevilla. They are very good classical musicians from Romania or perhaps Russia which can be found on calle Tetuan on many days. People stand around and clog the streets to watch them for more than a few minutes. People toss them 1 and 2 euros coins fairly often, and it’s only fair as there are four of them and they are quite good. Just a few days ago some or all of them moved into an apartment downstairs. Now we get to hear them practice about every day, and it is a pleasant practice. Especially nice as it drowns out the soundof the various children in our building: the one who calls everyone ugly when she sees them, and the two brothers who fight until the youngest cries (every night). So we are happy to have our new neighbors and a little peace.

We’ve recently crossed paths with a large woman who carries a hat while her partner (equally large) plays the saxophone accompanied by a disk of background music. They seem to be hitting the bars we frequent and are now getting to know us. We’re always asked for a few coins, or better yet a 50 Euro bill. I have to admit she has a sense of humor and fairly soon we’ll have to start paying her just because she recognizes us. Then again, when they finished their last song the other day outside of Bar Manolo they hopped into a 4 door Citroen which is nicer than any car I plan to have in my life. So maybe if they give me a lift next time I’ll part with a little change.

Posted by Jeff at 1:20 PM CET

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It’s been a long haul to get my wireless network up and working the way I always wanted to. It didn’t help that Telefonica provided me with a router-modem which would not allow me direct access, rather access through a hellish program which has me going through page after page of useless steps. One at a time the barriers, literally and virtually, came down and I now have the connectivity I wanted. I have over 20,000 photos which I couldn’t possibly store on my laptop, but I wished to play with. The laptop is much quicker than the desktop for Photoshop. I have 40 gigs of music, plus 30 gigs of video. I have a Pocket PC which is wireless. I only have one printer. I have a real problem with gadgets.

After months of fighting with Windows new built in mierda of a firewall, plus Zone Alarm, plus my router configuration plus the ghosts in the machine which would have things working one minute and then not the next I finally triumphed three weeks ago. I lived with no firewall, no encryption and at many points no connectivity. I survived a hacking attempt – seems someone could get around my network easier than I could. Thankfully they are now locked out. Now if I want to stream video to any device in the house I can. I can print from my Pocket PC, I can remotely connect from one device to another and see what’s happening on a desktop at any time. I can stream music to my home stereo. I still have a few bugs to work out and a couple of things I am longing to do on my network, but for now I have to sit back and enjoy it. It’s great to surf the net on my hand held before I drift off to sleep in my bed. And I know at any moment it can all come crashing down.

Posted by Jeff at 1:20 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 1:25 PM CET

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If you read through much of the site then you likely have stumbled upon my profession aside from running this non-revenue generating web site here. I love exploreseville and wish I could spend all of my time taking photos, adding content and writing about whatever new things come up in Sevilla. But that doesn’t really pay the bills. The way I try to pay the bills is by working at Sevilla5.com, where I run the online hotel reservation portion of the business. Markus, my partner, takes care of the apartment reservations. All of this is geared to the tourist or short term visitor, which makes my site a helpful resource as well. Much of my time is spent answering emails, talking to hotels and making bi-weekly visits to see that everything is working. I take a lot of pictures and do a lot of online research for the hotels we select. I also work with a few language schools and other businesses plus get to meet with a lot of interesting people from just about every corner of the globe. And I have a little more freedom than my last job – a bar or café is often my office. I get invited to a beer or tapa every now and then, or can enjoy an hour hanging out in a 4 star hotel patio with a free cup of coffee. When I am not glued to my laptop, I spend a lot of time in the street running from one place to another.

Posted by Jeff at 1:19 PM CET

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The ones who break in line. The ones who refuse to move and thus push me into oncoming traffic on a narrow street. The ones who scowl at everyone who even comes close to them. The one who had the right to grab the last piece of fruit out of my hand at the fruit stand. The one who paid for 18 Euros of groceries in coins of 10, 5, 2 and 1 cent denominations at the only open register. The one who pushed me out of the way and into the path of a tractor to get a better view of the cabalgata. The one who slapped my friend with a package of cooked ham in her polite way of saying she needed to get by in the supermarket aisle. I love my grandma and lots of little old ladies in this world. But you can’t live in Sevilla, or Spain for that matter, without living through little old lady rage. They quickly become your enemies and soon you can’t distinguish the good ones from the bad ones. You find yourself making sure that little old woman doesn’t get in front of you in line no matter what. You feel guilty – what if she really is tired and needs to get home and rest?

Posted by Jeff at 1:19 PM CET

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Now three years and running that I am getting the flu over the holidays. This past one has been with me for about 10 days and while I am doing better it still seems to hang on. I spent New Years day waiting in line at a farmacia which I thought was filled with people suffering from the after effects of a long evening. But it seems a nasty flu has its grips on Sevilla and it’s one that likes to hang around. Between getting back to a normal work schedule and being constantly at 75% has kept me from getting much done on this site. But I have also been secretly working, little by little, on 10 new sections. I plod away each day, adding a little to one and a little to another. It’s a painful cumulative process which has me advancing a lot while having nothing to show. Still, there should be plenty more for everyone to enjoy in the coming month or two, so I continue and continue…

Posted by Jeff at 1:18 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 1:25 PM CET

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I have written a little about BitTorrents in a previous entry. I know I live in a wonderful city and should spend my time doing something more than watching TV, but I missed the Simpson’s and the Amazing Race too much. And some days you just don’t want to go outside. So I have my weekly rhythm of downloading a few shows along with a few movies and here and there have managed to fill up my hard drive. But when it comes to sports I can find NFL games and NBA games – I like the NFL but I can watch it on satellite television in Spain. And the NBA, well, it just really sucks in my opinion. College basketball is what it’s all about but you can’t find a single NCAA ball game on these sites. It’s a pity, really. It reduces you to a few options:

ESPN’s college basketball pay per view which sells their online product for the same price as their cable or satellite product. And then there are blackouts depending on where you live. Their product packaging and distribution method is truly the result of the moron’s mentality in several ways: 1) the 2”screen windows media feed which stops to be buffered every 10 minutes should not cost anyone the same price as 32” crystal clear video feed on a television. I know they want to make money, but man, this is just plain stupid to offer a crappy product for the same price as a good one. 2) Blackouts because I can watch it in my local area??? What world are you living in? Would I opt for that 2” pixilated video stream over my television just so I miss the commercials? I’d rather watch commercials than a black screen telling me the game will return in a few minutes, not to mention sitting on my couch and watching a better quality feed on my television. 3) Only available in the U.S. Well, I can get around this with my credit card and U.S. billing address. But who has the rights to these games in Spain? They certainly are not broadcast anywhere in this country except for 6 games during the tournament. And I can purchase and watch the CBS NCAA tournament package online from anywhere in the world. Wouldn’t live online basketball’s market also include expats and countries where you can’t watch the games? Who are these people?!!!???

Yahoo’s Sports College Broadcast, which is cleverly bundled with other sports aside from basketball. Why? So they can say you can watch live ACC sports online! Problem is there isn’t a single ACC basketball game with live video on the site. There is football, maybe soccer, baseball and perhaps something like track.

Then there’s NASN, which won’t answer my emails. When will it come to Spain (if you don’t illegally subscribe to Sky and want to install a 2 meter dish on your apartment roof)? We’ll never know…

Posted by Jeff at 2:18 PM CET

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Seems a package sent to us took a long while to make it to Spain and didn’t stay very long after arrival. Although there have been improvements in the Spanish mail system the biggest problems still remain on the receiving end while in Spain. While letters and packages sent abroad most often make it (length of time varying) there is a higher percentage of problems with arrivals. Our Christmas presents showed up for a few days and then were shipped back home – after $70 in shipping costs. Kind of heart-breaking for the family, not to mention the money they lost. So we will wait until this summer to celebrate Christmas.

Posted by Jeff at 1:17 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 1:25 PM CET

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Christmas is in full swing and plenty of preparations are being made as we face a busy holiday schedule. We have the tree to buy, the now annual trip to Jabugo to purchase holiday meats, three cenas de Navidad to attend, plus shopping, mailing and of course the family events. Parents will be in town starting this Saturday to find an apartment for an extended stay in 2005. We plan to have an early Christmas dinner and celebration while they are in Seville. Then we have the dinner on the 24th which should be an extremely large meal. The next day we pay the consequences of being between two cultures and attend the traditional Christmas day turkey dinner at my sister's house. We should have a few days of rest before my birthday, then the celebration for New Year's Eve (including another meal of ungodly quantities), a day or two off to rest and then another meal likely in Umbrete held by more family. Then comes the 6th and Reyes, which we plan to spend inside our house relaxing. So there is enough eating and gathering to make us fat and tired.

Unfortunately these aren't the only plans. We have to shop in the center of Sevilla for gifts, which is a chore during what looks like to be the busiest holiday season in a long time. And it's quite tiring being on foot and negotiating large crowds. Then our cenas de Navidad, which are work dinners to celebrate the holidays, will take up three nights plus a large portion of our stomachs. The trip to Jabugo should hopefully be a nice change through all of this. And of course we have to work, too. And then there is the Sevilla-Betis game, which will be similar to a regional holiday for us.

Posted by Jeff at 1:08 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 1:26 PM CET

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My first true concert was this past Friday at the Palenque, a semi outdoor facility just across the Barqueta bridge in the cartuja. This is the site of the 1992 Expo, which is a mixture of offices, wasteland, and a few entertainment spots. I would guess the Palenque holds about 5,000 people, but I may be off. Still, it’s a good venue to take in show, with a central seating area in front of the stage surrounded by a fairly small moat. Around the central moat is a horseshoe shaped set of seats where the less fortunate get to sit. Still, it’s a small venue meaning you avoid the stadium type distances you’d get in larger places. If you are hungry or want a beer or three before the show you can take your pick of mobile burger, sandwich and drink stands out front.

We paid about 40 € per ticket for seats in the 13th row and watched a pretty good show. Manolo has with him an eight member band filled with good musicians, although a few of the songs off the last album are a bit too slow for my tastes. Near the end we were treated with a few versions of past Último de la fila songs, bringing back a few memories of my days studying in Sevilla in 1993. The band was pretty tight and certainly entertaining. It made me miss some shows back home, though, and how I wish the Tragically Hip would some day make it to Spain. I miss those guys…

Afterward we headed to the Alameda, and it’s been quite some time since I’ve been here late at night. I think I forgot about the incredible size of the botellón in the plaza, where there were easily thousands of people enjoying their store bought booze and hash. Not being a person for the botellón we wandered into a bar and enjoyed a few drinks in a very smoky atmosphere. For those of you looking for a more alternative or down to earth scene the Alameda has a lot to offer. For those of you looking for some really bad drunks the Alameda has plenty to offer as well. I spent 2 minutes trying to explain what time it was to an extremely drunk Portuguese fellow who was hanging onto the bar. It only took me 15 seconds to begin pointing to my watch and trying to show him the hour, hoping to avoid further conversation, but then he just tried to explain to me something about how they say the time in Portugal. I could have cared less and I could also see that a few wrong words out of my mouth might lead to trouble. Taking my drink with me I settled down in the back of the bar with the rest of my group. Every 5 to 10 minutes voices were raised over at the corner of the bar where el portugues was talking. A few people would enter, have a loud discussion, and then leave. One fellow had to be picked up off the floor as his legs simply stopped supporting him, or perhaps he forgot he had legs. Either way we could all sense that this corner of the bar had a bad atmosphere to it, so it was no surprise about 30 minutes later when we heard shouting and then glass breaking as somebody was thrown out the front door. A little more shouting and it was all over. By 3am we were done and headed back home.

Posted by Jeff at 2:05 PM CET

Updated: Thursday, 24 September 2009 12:44 PM MEST

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Oh how glorious it will be to see Sevilla in 2007. Or maybe make that 2008. Are the Olympics coming to Sevilla? No, that came to an end after one attempt at the 2004 games and then Madrid took Sevilla’s place as the next possible city for the summer games. Another world’s fair? No, in my ignorance I don’t even know if those continue to be held. But if you take a look at the calendar of city projects and renovations then you’ll see a lot is planned to be finished in and around 2007, which I think will really add a lot to the city. In the next few years we may suffer a bit unless things are carried out in an organized fashion (hahaha).

Ok, jokes aside below is a list of some of the things to be finished before or by 2007 which make me excited about being in the city:

• Avda de la Constitución will become a pedestrian street. Good news for the Cathedral and Indian Archives which have suffered from damage due to the pollution. Good news also for tourists, with more room to roam without all the traffic.
• Archivo de Indias opens. The Indian Archives is the world’s largest depository of “New World” documents and has been closed for some time. It should open well before 2007, but I don’t have the date yet.
• Plaza Alfalfa, Plaza del Pan, Plaza del Pescaderia and Plaza Salvador renovated. All have plans to be “reurbanized” as laid out in a recent exhibition.
• Alfalfa area pedestrian. Along with the reurbanization is the plan to make several streets and plazas in the Alfalfa area will become pedestrian only. I believe this still may be up for a bit of debate, but I see it as good news for us without cars and perhaps bad news for residents with cars.
• Encarnacion Market – 30 years has come and gone and it’s still a big dirt pit. That changes starting in February when construction begins. This promises to be a nice end to a long and often debated history. Construction was halted on the underground parking after very significant ruins dating from Roman, Visigoth and Arab occupation. With the final plans approved they will preserve the ruins in the same manor as the Triana Market, while including an area for the vendors, plus an open plaza and a raised mirador or lookout where one can see the entrie plaza.
• The Metro! I have less faith in a timely finish but work continues for the first leg of the Metro. This will connect the center of the city with Los Remedios and then other outlying areas and pueblos.
• Baños Arabes – the hammam phenomena will arrive in Sevilla with the renovation already underway for what will be Spain’s largest functioning Arab baths, plus a spa, massages, and much more. This will follow successful models in Granada, Cordoba and Malaga.

Posted by Jeff at 1:07 PM CET

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