Working on any web page can be full of frustrations. The behind the scenes management of information and photos is an endless job in my case, and today a very frustrating one. I'm working on a new photo album format, something many people won't even notice! Over the last 4 days, I've spent 20 - 30 hours organizing and customizing a new format. Today they should have been published, except in checking every detail I forgot one, which led to me having 60+ albums with no images to upload. I chose the wrong way to do it. I missed a detail. So now I am back repeating maybe 3 or 4 hours of work. I am using jalbum, a great free application, and it's no fault of the software - just my error, which makes this a long and unhappy day.

Posted by Jeff at 7:34 PM MEST

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:34 PM CET

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While I've had a card for almost a year, I found I had little use for Sevici initially. Recently I have become a frequent user as the need to travel longer distances has come up. Sevici is the city bike rental system where you can rent a bike quickly at hundreds of points around the city. With a year long pass one pays 10 Euros and can have free use of the bikes for up to thirty minutes. Anything over that is charged at 50 cents per half hour. Sevici also has passes for one day and seven day rentals, which you can do on the spot at any terminal. If you are in Seville long term it is definitely best to get the year pass.

No matter which of the above rental options you choose, from my brief experiences I have put together a few tips and details:

• What you get:
  • A really heavy bike!
  • Adjustable seat
  • 3 speeds
  • Front and back hand brakes
  • Front and back lights
  • A bell - to warn and keep people out of your way
  • Small basket for your stuff
  • Cable and key for locking the bike
• While you can get across the city quicker on a bike, keep in mind extra time may be needed to find a stand with available bikes as well as find a stand with available spaces to return your bike. If either is an issue you may be able to walk quicker. The kiosk/machine will indicate the next nearest location with free bikes.
• Just because there are bikes on the racks doesn't mean you can take one. In general you'll find a few which are not registered with the machine, and therefore are not free to take. The same goes for returning them: you may see spaces free until you look closely and see an orange plastic wedge in the stand where you connect the bike. While there is no bike there, it means the stand is blocked.
• Before you select the bike which you want to rent, give it a quick check, especially the below items. If there is a problem you can of course return the bike immeditely at no charge.
  • Tires are inflated
  • Hand grips are still on (people like to steal these for some reason)
  • Seat can be adjusted
  • Cable lock and key are not missing
  • Lights are not smashed out
  • Any other defects
• When it comes time to return the bike you can double check to make sure it has been correctly registered by swiping your card at the kiosk and entering your PIN. Always check to make sure it is at least locked in.
• Be ready for all sorts of "joy walkers" who use the bike lanes to walk, jog or push a baby cart. Also keep an eye out for those who simply don't realize there is a bike lane, both pedestrians and other motorists.

Overall, I've been pleased with Sevici. Most of the problems I've encountered come from supply and demand or vandalism! If only the bike weighed about half of what it does..

Posted by Jeff at 3:44 PM MEST

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As an American sports fan abroad, I've suffered through many years of watching sketchy online video of my favorite sports events, most notably ACC basketball. Much of this had to do with my connection speed, although online, streaming video has improved tremendously since 2003 when I first arrived. This year I have subscribed to the ESPN 360 College Pass, which includes hundreds of college football and basketball games. When you purchase early enough you get a good discount, at 100 Euros for the entire season (this compared to 70 Euros last season for subscribing for the basketball season only). Improvements have been made in the interface, although I'd still prefer to surf with a remote. But it's much easier to avoid the scores so you can log in and watch games the following day (something necessary for those of us living with a six hour time difference).

And while I am pleased with the service, it may not work as well for everyone depending on connection speeds, etc. I have been lucky enough that my set-up in the living room and internet connection is well suited: I have a computer connected to a 40" flat screen and a 10Mbit connection with Telefonica (note the speeds max out around 6 or 7 Mbit, as is common with any ADSL connection). I am able to watch full screen video without any buffering and with a decent quality. Rarely to I suffer from pixelation, even with a lot of action. While I think a 6Mbit would work fine, I would guess that with 3Mbits it may suffer in quality (both of these speeds are typical tiers in the ADSL service in Spain).

While I also have a Slingbox attached in a friends house in N.C., the only problem with this set up is the quality is tied to the upload speed where the Slingbox is located. As many upload speeds are limited, the quality of the video suffers. This is not so bad for TV programs but definitely an issue with sports. The Slingbox serves as a back-up, as well as a way to watch locally broadcast games which are not available on ESPN360. And the Slingbox has the advantage of being a one time cost (mine set me back about 100 Euros 4 years ago).

Posted by Jeff at 1:21 PM MEST

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In early May I submitted my paperwork to renew my tarjeta de residencia, which you need much like a driver's license in the U.S. for all sorts of basic identification - giving a credit card at stores, presenting a police report when your office has been robbed (another story), in banks, etc. While a passport will do, it's not a good idea to take it with you every day, especially because it doesn't fit in your wallet! While it takes three months for the renewal process you can only submit the paperwork to renew it 1 month in advance! Of course this makes little sense, and while they gave me a paper certifying I was in the process of renewal, that expired on 1 September. And of course it is now in month 4 and the status is still "pending". As with any of these types of tramites it is good to be prepared. A few points of advice:

• Show up early enough at the Plaza de España to get a number.  This means around 8 or 9 am. They do run out of numbers for the day.
• Be prepared to wait at least 2 hours. At times maybe more.
• Be prepared for the requisites to change. In fact you may want to visit the actual office before you renew to get a full list. Relying on information published on a web site is not a good idea, as we learned of 2 - 3 items which were not indicated on the official web site. We also learned that the application form had changed slightly from the form we printed off from the web site. For this reason (and for laziness) I don't publish a link here.
• Be prepared for it to take longer than 3 months, and that there is no way to reach anyone by phone except for an automated system which will likely tell you there is an error. Expect the same on the web site where you can check the status of your renewal. Finally I was able to get the automated telephone system to accept my information and tell me it was still pending. I think maybe it was my error the first three times I tried, but who knows.
• Make sure you don't have travel plans outside the country which go beyond the validity of your 3 month certified letter. Actually, I think they may still let you back in the country, but I didn't want to find out.

The good news is the person who attended us couldn't have been nicer. Maybe that we just our luck.

Posted by Jeff at 2:03 PM MEST

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While it's been online sometime there has been no publicity, and while still is rough around the edges please take a visit to http://www.exploregranada.com . I will be working on new content for the page as I travel a few more times to the city. For now you can get some good basic travel information, lots of photos and some recommendations on where to eat and where to stay. I welcome any feedback!

For another "plug", I am in my third year doing a five minute report on NFL Football on the radio show "El Pelotazo" on Canal Sur. You can hear me and my "expertise" live around 12:20am (Wednesday night/Thursday morning) for a brief update on some games plus the curiosities of the league. The radio show is also repeated in the mornings and archived on the Canal Sur web site somewhere. As I have fun doing it, but little interest in hearing myself on the radio I don't have the link to the show. But it should be easy to find.

Posted by Jeff at 4:32 PM MEST

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:35 PM CET

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After an hour and a half of driving school, it's clear that with almost 7 straight years of Spanish I have yet to learn the specifics of driving vocabulary. While half of the questions on the practice tests are amazingly easy, another 25% present problems due to 1 or 2 words which I am less familiar with. The remaining 25% of the questions may be difficult because of specifics of certain laws or types of transport (motorcycle with sidecar!) which I will never use. The lesson learned in this case is I have to work on maybe 20-25 words and of course study the book.

The people at the school are welcoming and helpful, but the students perhaps a little too anxious to please. I am studying to get my license, while others want nothing more than to please the teacher. I don't think those ten extra questions will get you a gold star, but I could be wrong. Maybe I'm less curious about the exact measurements of my cargo..I just want to memorize and get this over with.

Today I republish the blog on the site but there will be several errors if you go back through the posts. In copying and pasting the old entries into the new format there are a lot of strange characters. I know my mistake, but it took several hours to do this. So slowly but surely I'll be going back to clean this up. For now, my apologies if an older post is difficult to read.

Posted by Jeff at 10:13 AM MEST

Updated: Thursday, 1 October 2009 6:10 PM MEST

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After years of driving semi-illegally, I thought it may be time to get officially licensed to drive in Spain. I sure hope the guardia civil is not reading this! More mental preparation is in order than actual preparation. Preparing to spend several hours in front of a computer answering multiple choice questions about rules and regulations I will probably never need to know about does not thrill me. Learning to drive for the examiner will also likely be the most difficult point - I've happily built up 24 years of bad driving habits which I'm not ready to give up. Seeing as I'm late, it's time to go.

Posted by Jeff at 11:08 AM MEST

Updated: Monday, 28 September 2009 1:16 PM MEST

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I'm back and writing to nobody...nobody because this isn't yet published on exploreseville.com. When it is, you can find all of my old posts from 2003 to almost 2006. Making the switch to a true "blog" will hopefully make it easier to update, but I took a lot of time off from these daily entries for many reasons which I will explain over the next few weeks as I post. For now, enjoy the old information in a new format and be nice by posting real comments and not spam or other less constructive things ;)

Posted by Jeff at 12:30 PM MEST

Updated: Thursday, 24 September 2009 9:26 PM MEST

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As the warm weather comes to an end and the rain begins the Sierras de Aracena seemed to be calling me. So we happily tagged along with family for a short trip to Aracena and Jabugo on a rainy Sunday afternoon. All of the towns around this area have their charm, but Jabugo's one charm is Bodega Restaurante Jabugo (tel: 959 121 596. Here you will find some of the finest meats, all from the pig. Take your pick of cured meats, or chacina - jamón Serrano, chorizo, morcilla, caña de lomo, salchichón, cabeza de lomo - or grilled meats - presa, pluma, secreto, solomillo - and you will be certain to enjoy. The restaurant is located on the main street of "downtown" Jabugo. Afterwards if you liked what you ate you can purchase something to take home just down the street at their store. More info can be found (in Spanish) here: www.dejabugolacanadasl.com. Don't forget to stop and see the statue in honor of the men behind the production of jamón. And no, I am not getting paid for this advertisement!

After lunch and a shot of orujo to aid digestion we headed back to Aracena for a view from Knight's Templar Church and castle overlooking the town. Orujo is a wonderful liqueur for consuming after a large meal. Not only does it help with digestions but it puts some legs under you so you can walk around. Just make sure you are not too far from coffee in the next two hours - you'll need it. On a rainy day don't expect to see much in the church, which has limited lighting. But the view over the town was nice and the rain not too heavy. We made our way down the hill and walked around, occasionally looking inside a ceramics shop in search of a gazpacho set (large bowl with several smaller serving bowls). While there is plenty to see and pick up (making the store owners nervous) we didn't find anything we wanted to bring home. The style we were looking for was declared to be "not from Aracena", although we know it was. We must return to find more shops. We made our way out of the shops and parked along the main plaza for coffee. While coffee was being ordered we waited in line at Confiteria Rufino, famous for its pastries as well as the long lines on Sunday. After 20 minutes we left with two boxes - one for now and another to take home to family. Along the ride back we took in the scenery: cork trees painted red where the bark (or cork) had been stripped, plenty of sheep and the occasional pack of black pigs eating acorns. We arrived to Seville with more rain around 9pm, happy to have spent the day outside the city.

Posted by Jeff at 2:29 PM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 26 September 2009 10:08 PM MEST

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With a wedding on the way at the end of October there are plenty of formalities to take care of. One of those includes a despedida de soltero, or in this case a despedida de solteros, with both the men and women involved. The location was Conil, and even though it was an October weekend things were quite warm and pleasant. The activities included a stroll through the town, a rather large meal at Bar El Gamba and roof top swimming at the hotel in what seemed to be the world's coldest pool. Enough beers were consumed during the lunch that I almost lost my glasses in the pool: sometimes it's best to take them off before diving in! After 10 minutes of swimming someone noticed something on the bottom of pool. "Glasses?". I touched my face and began to think..I don't remember jumping in with them on, but they must be mine. Thankfully no scratches or dents, and clearly a siesta was needed.

Everyone learned that a despedida de soltero with 30+ year olds isn't as easy as it was 5 years ago. After a nap and a meal overlooking the ocean we headed to a few of the terraza type bars in Conil. Actually, we made it to just one, El Cochero. Before entering the bride and groom to be were presented with orange and green wigs for the occasion, as we dragged them through the center for everyone to see. With plenty of Spanish pop blaring on the sound system we made our way through a couple of copas as we people watched. I like Conil, but there are some strange people when you are out on a Saturday night. My favorite of all was the 50ish looking fellow who was dancing by himself, stopping every minute or so to circle his head with a glass of beer (think, "my head is the earth and this beer is the moon: now let’s see this beer orbit around my head"). Afterwards he looked up to the sky to speak a little with God, I suppose. This is hard to explain, but I think it was his way of giving thanks for beer and its effects. After 10 minutes of dancing and "beer orbiting" his next trick was to balance his beer on his forehead. This I was sure would lead to trouble, but he was able to do this on 3 or 4 occasions for several minutes without losing a drop. This man must have been a member of the circus, or he has been drinking beer and performing this stunt for much too long. His behavior makes me think it is the latter. The best part was when his activity mixed with a woman who had been dancing seductively in the middle of the patio while her much older husband/date/client looked on. She had a very "professional" way of dancing, which made everyone wonder. It of course attracted the circus beer balancer and soon she was sandwiched between her two dancing. The owners then decided the circus beer balancer had caused enough trouble and within 1 minute his beer was in a plastic cup and he was being moved out the door. Sad to say this may have been the highlight of the night. By 1:30am we were all tired and thinking of bed and the breakfast buffet in the morning.

The next day we made quick work of eating and checking-out and made our way around to several smaller beach towns. Visited were Zahara de los Atunes, los Caños de Meca and Barbate. Zahara seems to have the nicest beaches of them all, and if you like to get a glimpse of how the rich live then the playa de los alemanes is the place to drive around. This section was once a small collection of private villas mostly owned by Germans who "discovered" this part of the beach many years ago. Since that time many others have discovered the beach and there are now several houses owned by the rich and/or famous. The ugliest house - a very blue house - was unfortunately named "El Sevillano". But I think I would be ok living in that house for a while. Los Caños de Meca is known as a hippie beach, and there were several camping in vans overlooking the beaches. This is a laid back little town, although aside from the beaches it's quite dirty and run down in my opinion. Barbate is interesting after having just seen the movie Atún y Chocolate (filmed in Zahara and Barbate). The port section of Barbate leaves much to be desired from a tourist point of view, but all of these towns have something about them that makes you want to stay around for a few days and take it slow.

Posted by Jeff at 2:28 PM MEST

Updated: Tuesday, 29 September 2009 2:15 PM MEST

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Living with a new language often means your first time translation of names, places and things is the most fun. You also realize how much you've become accustomed to names back home and forget the actual meanings behind the words. For instance the name of my home town - Chapel Hill - doesn't make me think of a little church on a hill. But for someone first hearing that name, well it must be the first thing to enter their minds. So this phenomenon, if you could call it that, often occurs while I am wandering around the city. Some of the names for streets have their history to which I am often ignorant. Perhaps if I knew of the historic individual I would make the association with them before my mind processes the literal meaning. Others come from common sayings which when literally translated sound a bit funny. Others sound like another word in Spanish. Ok, so time for some fun with translating these names:

• Calle Juan de Mesa = John of Table Street
• Calle Blanco White = White White Street
• Calle Alhondiga = sounds like Calle Albondiga = Meatball Street
• Calle Hombre de Piedra = Man of Stone Street
• Calle Blanca Paloma = White Pigeon Street
• Avda. Dr. Leal Castaño = Dr. Loyal Chestnut Avenue
• Calle Amador de los Rios = Loving of the River Street
• Calle Amor de Dios = Love of God Street
• Calle Pedro Caravaca = Peter Cowface Street
• Calle Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca = Alvar Nuñez Head of Cow Street
• Calle Pedro del Toro = Peter of the Bull Street
• Calle Cabezas de San Juan = Heads of Saint John Street
• Calle Cabeza del Rey Don Pedro = Head of King Pedro Street
• Calle Torrecabra = Goat Tower Street
• Calle Parque de Despeñaperros = Park of Hurling Dogs off a Cliff
• Calle Venta de los Gatos = Sale of Cats Street
• Calle Jesus del Gran Poder = Jesus of Great Power Street

Two more favorites (non-street related) are "Hay cuatro gatos" = "There are four cats", which means there is nobody around. This you may use when you walk into a bar and you're the only one there. I guess the thinking is there are so few people that the only things around are some cats. And of course there is "tocino del cielo" = "fat from heaven". This is like flan but made with twice the egg yolks. The end result is a thicker pastry which has an appearance similar to a slice of fat.

Tomorrow evening we take on Barcelona in a match that should be quite good. After being robbed with a terribly called penalty against Deportivo we move on and hope for better officiating.

Posted by Jeff at 2:28 PM MEST

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:36 PM CET

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A great turnout and lots of emotion were not enough to lead Betis to a win over Liverpool! After a nightmare in the first 13 minutes, with Betis falling behind 0-2, the rest of the match was very competitive. Betis especially dominated in the second half and should have come away with a tie. We battled several 8 foot tall players (well, just one really tall fellow who should be playing professional basketball). First match jitters now over, we should be ready for the away match and much more in Champions. Sevilla F.C., in keeping with their sub par performances after selling off every good player they could, tied with Mainz at home. True, they have a lot of money in the bank now, but if I were a fan I'd rather watch a good match than my team's bank account balance go up. Today it's just a regular league match for Betis that I am looking forward to. You can see a few photos and a report from the match on this page at sevilla5.com.

As we get closer to purchasing a house, or rather apartment, we have been picking everyone's brain on the do's and don't's of the entire process. When I say getting "closer" this doesn't mean we are searching yet. Nor have we talked to any banks or have any idea of where, how, how much or when. I guess mentally we are closer to purchasing and this means we are in the information gathering stage from all of our friends and contacts. We've learned of banks to avoid, accounts not to use for saving for the deposit, agents of questionable trust and the pitfalls of hiring someone unqualified to handle renovations. In all honesty I don't see much difference from the U.S. or perhaps other countries in terms of these risks. There is often a little blind faith involved as well, like paying a deposit without any real contract, where one must simply hope that the money will be returned should something go wrong. Mental preparation seems to be very important to me for things like this. I don't like handing over 10 - 20,000€ to just anyone.

Yesterday we spent twelve hours catching up with friends just outside of the city center. After a few beers and lunch we retired to their newly renovated apartment for a few drinks. As often is the case, we spent ten more hours discussing anything and everything over a few copas. Starting at 2pm and ending at 2:30am, well, I'm getting used to it. And we've been away for too long so there was a lot to talk about. In between there were two meals, with dinner from one of the best places for pescaito frito in all of Sevilla.

While my true passion for sports lies with college basketball and of course, Real Betis, I am also one who enjoys a game of football. Or American football, I should clarify. NFL games can be watched every weekend and during the week (tape delayed), but if you want to see a little college football you are out of luck in Spain. So this year I took advantage of the early price break to order ESPN's college football package online. Anywhere from 10 - 15 games each week and the ability to watch full screen at a decent quality thanks to a recent, free upgrade in speed to my ADSL service. If you've been reading these entries before you know of my past experiments with watching the NCAA basketball tournament online as well. And as with the tournament there seem to be some blackout issues which they haven't solved yet. As in they are blacking out games which are supposed to be in my local viewing area even though: 1) they state they determine the blackouts by my zip code of my billing address (which is in Spain) and 2) As much as a I flip through my channels I just can't find this game (hmmm...). And being much worse than Yahoo! or Collegesports.com, ESPN does not answer my emails about the unjust blackouts.

Posted by Jeff at 2:27 PM MEST

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:37 PM CET

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My long silence over, I thought it was time to update this portion of my site. First of all I was sick of an April date staring at me every time I logged onto the site. Second of all I needed some time off from updating my life on this page. Seeing as I couldn't even keep up with it all myself for a few months...well, it's hard to update what's going on for me when I barely had time to reflect. And I seriously needed a break in between work and other events. Since I have last updated some of the following things have happened, all of which I plan to write about at some point:

• My mother and step-father have come and gone after a 4 month stay. We moved them in around late February and then out in late June. We were welcomed back to the world of signing leases, setting up utilities, and furnishing an apartment. And then we dismantled and disconnected everything! Add to this the sadness you feel after being used to having family live just down the street and it was physically and emotionally tiring. We had a wonderful time and met many visitors - almost every week we found ourselves in El Rinconcillo giving someone a tour!
• Betis won the Copa del Rey and qualified for Champions League. The first match is tonight versus Liverpool, and we can hardly wait. Then matches against Chelsea and Anderlecht should make the season interesting.
• After many months of waiting I received my official tarjeta de residente. Funny how I kept thinking it was all over only to show up at the offices in Plaza de España to learn there was another step involved. Patience was the lesson learned, and I should have known better than to think it would be easy.
• Lanzarote! A brief break took us to the Canary Islands, Lanzarote to be specific. We spent 5 days and nights there and learned we needed a few more. A total disconnect on a small island was perfect. I hope to post these pictures as well as add some information on my side trips section in the coming month.
• North Carolina! We spent another 72 hours from hell flying from Madrid to Munich to Charlotte. Miss one flight (or rather, suffer from delays) on this journey and you can count on a lot of extra travel time. Stupidly we had purchased a separate ticket to get us closer to Maryland and a family reunion. As this was not connected to our international flight we lost our tickets, had to rebook to another airport at an inflated price and then rent a car to drive 5 hours after a Munich to Charlotte to D.C. flight with a 4 hour layover. Add this to our 12 hour stay in the Madrid airport and you can see just how much fun we had! We spent some time visiting friends, doing taxes, visiting with my lawyer, sorting through a year's worth of mail, moving our grandmother to a new apartment and of course seeing family. We did manage to escape to the beach for a week.
• Wedding: the wedding of my sister-in-law and the many activities surrounding it: clothing required, parties, planning and gifts. And it's not even our wedding! Still, we hope to learn a thing or two before we begin to plan ours for next year.
• Real estate. Beginning a very slow search, we sat back and listened to our friends and their hardships of purchasing a house in a small town outside of Seville. I won't name names - either buyers or their contracted lawyer - but I did learn whom I won't hire to help us out when it comes time to buy. Seriously, we learned a lot, and now that it's over we look forward to visits outside of Seville!

There is certainly more, but life moves on and the past is the past, so on and so forth, blah, blah, blah... My break meant not answering all of the emails to this site I should have. I can only say send them again if you can, and I am working backwards to answer most. Again, tonight is Liverpool and I must run to finish work, eat, take a very short nap, then work, then do a little screaming at the match. Another report is coming tomorrow.

Posted by Jeff at 2:27 PM MEST

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:37 PM CET

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A historic season for Betis ended in the early morning hours of Sunday, but the day began for us on Saturday morning at 7am. Rising from a restless sleep we made our way to the Santa Justa train station for a breakfast among beticos at the train station cafeteria. We were scheduled for a 9:15 a.m. charter AVE, one of several double AVEs (literally two trains stuck together) to take 30,000 to 40,000 fans to Madrid to see the final game. Tickets were hard to come by, and by the time we purchased them there was only first class available. So we spent 180€ apiece for our train tickets plus 60€ for seats in the upper deck of the final. Adding in the meals and other expenses we were looking at 300€ per person in what we hoped would be a championship. Or as I stated many times, better be a championship if we were spending this kind of money. Some 24 hours after we woke up we arrived in Santa Justa as champions and with a season in Champions League to look forward to. It was well worth the money, the energy and everything else we lost along the way.

Posted by Jeff at 4:26 PM MEST

Updated: Sunday, 29 November 2009 12:37 PM CET

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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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