An Overview of Semana Santa in Sevilla

What a week! Only been here a couple of weeks and you can´t get much more immersed than being caught up in a procession, in particular, following a float for about an hour with a bunch of religious Spanish women!

Semana Santa is a big deal generally in Spain and it´s something I´ve wanted to experience properly for ages, so when everyone told me that it would probably rain and nothing would leave the Churches, I was a little down-hearted. However, it didn´t rain too much and they were cancelled about three days in total. I also got to experience getting absolutely soaked whilst waiting for a procession and now have the cold to prove it. ´The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain´ is frankly a load of rubbish, at least when it comes to Semana Santa.

       

Food

Semana Santa isn´t a wholly religious affair, a lot of people see it as a tradition and of course a chance to get some time off work and eat some special Semana Santa food. When work told me we were having a Semana Santa breakfast and to bring an English cake, I had no idea what that the breakfast would be about three tables of cake, churros, sugar and coffee. One of the nicest (and sweetest) things I tried was torrijas which is bread soaked in milk and a little wine, then dipped in egg and fried, then they put cinnamon or honey on them.

         

La Madrugá

The Madrugá is Good Friday morning and is the most religious and busy time here in Sevilla. By morning, I mean morning. The floats (or pasos) leave around midnight and return back to their Churches late morning. I wasn´t feeling quite Spanish enough to do an all-nighter, so I decided to get a few hours sleep and then get up at 2.30am to go into town and experience the Madrugá all the way till 8.30am. As I´m writing this my body clock still seems to be feeling the effects a bit, despite sleeping most of the rest of Friday. It was worth every sleepless minute though! I feel that I can now say that I have fully experienced Spanish Semana Santa. Being the organised cultural person I am, I made a plan to go and view three of the six the pasos from a few different places where there hopefully wouldn´t be to many people, however, I ended up passing the Cathedral, seeing a paso when I arrived and staying as it wasn´t too crowded and there was a pretty good view and backdrop (you can´t really top a paso entering the Cathedral).

       

I can understand why it wouldn´t be everyone´s cup of tea, as one of my colleague´s sons said ´all the floats look the same´ and waiting at 3.30 in the morning in the cold isn´t ideal, but as a foreigner it was pretty enjoyable and a good experience.

Off again!

What a busy week it has been, for those of you who don’t know, I’m now in sunny Sevilla working as a translator for the University of Sevilla. I’m pretty darn pleased with myself at the moment as I’ve had the most productive week ever (hence a very long post)! Not everyone is aware how slow the Spanish really are with bureaucracy, the French have a lot, the Spanish have more and are less organised and slower (those in Italy will probably tell me it’s even worse out there!)

First day here I found an apartment (pretty quickly as I had a list already prepared and times sorted for viewings). I’m living with the landlady and another English girl called Toni. The place is pretty close to work and town and it’s kept pretty clean so I’m lucky, just a shame there aren’t more Spanish people living here! I was invited out salsa on my first night by my landlady’s daughter, but after all the travelling and walking I just couldn’t hack it. 

Second day I started work, what a waste of time and talk about awkward! They had no desk or computer or even space for me, I was hanging around for what seemed like ages and then put in a random room and given a piece of translated work to check = boring! However, the ladies who work in the same room are lovely and were chatty and I think I could grow to like it in there. Tomorrow is a fiesta/desayuno (party/breakfast) and everyone is taking in cake, that’s incentive enough to get in early. I’ve made a lemon drizzle, which considering I had no scales, the wrong flour and sugar, an oven I don’t know, etc. it’s pretty good, I hope they like it.

Third day I went to go and sort out NIE (a sort of work permit for Spain, without it you can’t work and you can’t get a bank account, so it’s pretty important). Thankfully they let me do this in work time and Jack came along to help out. Unfortunately the first day, after waiting 45 minutes to get an appointment, I needed the landlady’s signature for something which I didn’t know I needed so we decided to start again on day four. Day four was very successful, we arrived at the office too early so went for a coffee/orange juice, arrived and was seen in 5 minutes. My boss at work had told me that you have to cry in this office in order to get the permit in less than 15 days, I’m not one for putting on the waterworks. I was in luck, the lady was so helpful, she said I’d have to wait 5 days for it and I politely but bluntly said that it wasn’t possible and I needed it today to start work and get an account and she did it for me within 20 minutes! The rest of the process was just as easy, barely any waiting and polite people. I even got a Spanish bank account in the same day! So it goes to show that not everyone is incompetent with bureaucracy!

I’ve wandered around the old town a bit, having been here twice before it’s nice to know that I’m going to discover different things and not necessarily the tourist traps, I also tried on my first Flamenco dress and fell in love. I've already been on a trip out of Sevilla to the beach with Toni and 7 of her friends (all English). We visited El Rocio which looks like a mini Texas in Spain with people wandering around on horses, and then the beach which was comfortably warm – even enough for me to wear a bikini!

I think the highlight of this week was yesterday. After being given something to actually translate myself the day had already started well. I then decided I wanted some experience in Secondary Schools, so I printed off about 10 CVs and cover letters and planned the route to visit them all. The receptionist in the first one I walked into told me to hang on 5 mins till the classes finished and I was then greeted by an English teacher (non-native) who was amazed that I wanted to volunteer and that I was a native speaker. Then another one came along (also non-native) who told me that I fell out of heaven (easily the best compliment of the week). They didn’t even take my CV or letter, or even my surname, and then they started fighting over who would get me first! The teacher who saw me first didn’t have any lessons that afternoon, so the second one took me up to his class straight away! The class was great, such a good level for 15 year-olds and they loved having an English person. The teacher took advantage that I did IB and got the class to quiz me about it as it was a prep-IB class. Before the end of the lesson I had 3 students who want to come to England with me and another few who want to teach me Sevillanas in the next lesson! This volunteer work is going to beat translation easily, I can’t wait to start after Easter.

Not bad for a week!

Almost time to leave...

In two weeks time I’ll be back in England and the Paris part of my year abroad will be over, which means it’s time for a little reflection.

Work

Work is the main reason I came here, so it makes sense to start with it. Teaching English is a pretty standard thing for a languages student to end up doing on their year abroad, and I wasn’t an exception. Unfortunately, due to a general lack of jobs and the money situation in Europe, sometimes you have to take what you are given.

However, this doesn’t mean that I haven’t enjoyed teaching English to adults, nor does it mean that that is all I have done. I’ve also learnt to design and update a page on the website, I’ve ran pub quizzes with various themes and introducing some ‘marvels’ of English gastronomy such as Marmite and cheese and pineapple sticks and, probably most importantly for me, I’ve met some great people.

Some of the highlights of teaching include trying to explain words, such as ‘screwed’, hearing that the English are ‘European Americans’ and trying to defend us, trying to explain how to make proper English tea and the importance of putting the tea bag in before the hot water and the milk afterwards, etc. and discussing how Parisian men compare to non-Parisian men and advice from India on how to cure a hangover (yes, they were both real lesson plans!)

Tourist

There is no way you can come to Paris and not play tourist. I think I have pretty much exhausted this little town!

Has Parisian life won me over? In short, no. It is pretty much what I expected, a bit impersonal, busy, smells of wee just about everywhere along with the unidentified liquid puddles/streams on the floor, and full of Parisians. That’s not to say I’ve not enjoyed it, can’t beat seeing the giant pylon or the Eiffel Tower sparkle (and knowing Parisians who use this sparkling as a sign that it is time for the children to go to bed – genius). I also like the fact that you can go to the theatre for less than €20, though the theatre may only seat about 20 people and have a cast of two people. And if you are happy to do things alone, you will never get bored in Paris, especially if you are under 26 – they love us young people and almost everything cultural is free!

Living in Paris

In a word: expensive. I remember I saw a one-man show called ‘How to become Parisian in one hour’ which I would recommend to anyone about to stay in Paris for a while, it makes everything make so much more sense. One thing that sticks with me is what he said about the apartments, you can be in bed ‘making love’ (how Parisian) whilst washing up they are so small. My own addition, how to be Parisian on the metro: look like you want to end your life there and then, tut if there is an interruption and listen to music with huge headphones. The rabbit is pretty cool though...

The best parts

Without a doubt the visits from people and with people. Nick moving me out and then coming out for his birthday weekend, the parents coming out and me tiring them out with sightseeing, meeting up with Carly and of course the weekend with Rosie.

And of course, there was the little trip up to Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel with Flora and her parents. Also my little surprise on nan and granddad going back for the weekend and the two occasions of being back in Bath and attempting to catch up with advanced (not to much avail).

In conclusion, have I enjoyed it? Yes, but not as much as I would have if I had had my family and friends out here (that includes UOBLBDC).

So what have I learnt specifically from the year abroad so far?

1)     This is obvious: it ruins dance and the French don’t do technique like we do in England, thanks Paula, James, Asia and Jon, my expectations are now too high to enjoy dance quite so much anywhere else!

2)     It takes 5 months to get to know people, and then you leave.

3)     And finally, of course, a bit of French.

Two 'Petits' Weekends

So I’m sitting here about to watch Danse avec les Stars – French equivalent of Strictly, and though it was about time I did some blog writing! At the moment it’s showing the meteo (weather) and how cold it is going to be – meh!

Weekend Number One - Le Petit Prince

Nearly a month ago I decided to actually go to one of those things you see on posters whilst speed walking through the underground passages of the metro:

Free fireworks at La Grande Arche at La Defence,  the business district of Paris, all set to the story of Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry published in 1943. The story is about a little prince who lives on a little planet and decides to travel the universe. On his travels he meets different adults learning something from each of them, and you’ll have to read it if you want to know anymore :-)

It was pretty busy! I watched it from the ‘back’ of the arch. The idea was to watch it from the large Parade in front with the fireworks going off behind, but behind there was a good view and not so many people. There were also projections onto the arch, illustrating the story. I think the fireworks put the UK to shame, this was a free event, just to tell the story of Le Petit Prince, and the fireworks were so much better than the UK’s New Years ‘show’! 

The downside was getting home, obviously there was quite a lot of security being the business district and obviously having a large number of explosive fireworks nearby, so it took quite a while for them to reopen the metro afterwards, resulting in me wandering around aimlessly for about half an hour. But all in all, a great evening.

Weekend Number Two - Le Petit Nicolas

My second kid-related thing is slightly less kid-related and happened today. My plan was to go to the Salon du Chocolat, a chocolate exhibition held every year at the large exhibition centre at Porte de Versailles, but I went along pretty late and it was paaaacked so decided to go to the exhibition on at Hotel de Ville instead. This one was an exhibition of drawings by Sempé, a cartoonist also known for his illustrations in a children’s series called Le Petit Nicolas.

Sempé said that the Petit Nicolas series 'c'est d'abord une histoire d'amité' - it's primarily a story about friendship. And I found it quite funny that a lot of the pictures are to do with small kids smoking behind a fence! 

And my interesting fact that I found out about Sempé was that he originally signed his work ‘DRO’ because he didn’t think it was good enough, and he chose ‘DRO’ because it sounded like ‘to draw’ in English!

Saint-Malo and Mont Saint-Michel

Ok I’ve been lazy with the blog writing, but I promise I’ll catch up sooner or later. Going to jump to this weekend whilst I still remember everything!

Friday night I went Salsa because I promised a girl that I would go with her, however, Saturday the plan was to go to Saint-Malo and Mont Saint-Michel very early with Flora and her parents, so it probably wasn’t the best idea to go out Friday night… but I didn’t have the girls number so I couldn’t text her and didn’t want to let her down. I arrived at Flora’s quite late and flopped into bed, knackered.

I got up about 5.30am and had a light breakfast with tea (yays) and we left the house about 6.30am and I slept most of the journey to Saint-Malo – it’s hard work being a passenger! We found a little café, Café de l’Ouest for the morning coffee (well, pineapple juice in my case) and then did a tour walking along the top of the walls protecting the city with lovely views of the sea and port. Of course, then the girls had to go into the town to shop! Flora needed some blinkers (œillères), someone has an obsession with shoes!! Finally she couldn’t resist and ended up going into Promod where she found two tops, one of which I got her for her birthday J (easy birthday present shopping but nevermind!)

We then set off to a little beach not far from Saint-Malo, called Parame, for the afternoon, armed with baguette, cheese, jambon serrano, smoked salmon and Orangina. I actually tanned in northern France in October, unbelievable! Me and Flora went for a little walk along the beach and dipped our toes in the (cold) water. I don’t know how people were swimming, but there were quite a few, including her dad! Despite the long nap in the car I still managed to have a siesta on the beach and learnt that in French they ‘sleep like a dormouse’ (dormir comme un loir) not ‘like a log’. Beaches are great places for learning vocabulary so it seems! Seashells, seaweed, bucket and spade, stuff they never really teach at school…

After the siesta we went in search of the hotel (the reservation sheet had been misplaced, but it wasn’t a problem). It was a little two star hotel by a tiny railway station and we had a family room that had a double downstairs and a little mezzanine upstairs (for me and Flora). I think ‘quaint’ is the word, that translates from estate agent language to English as ‘in need of some work’. Had a quick wander around the village to find a restaurant for dinner and then it was back, ready for this dormouse to sleep some more (faire un gros dodo)!

The next morning, after the hotel breakfast, we had another (reasonably) early start off in search of Mont Saint-Michel, not that far away (11km).  It’s impressive! And not surprisingly it’s protected by UNESCO. Apparently the sheep that feed there produce really good lamb, something to do with the sea salt water. Over the years the tides have stopped coming up to the island because of all the grass and a canal that was created, but the government has decided to restore it to being an island so they are doing lots of work around it.

We went around the abbey and you could hear the monks singing or chanting or whatever you call it! I also experienced part of a French mass and recognised the Lord’s Prayer – oh the uses of primary school! Oh and I did that tourist thing of buying a million postcards but not having gotten round to writing them and sending them… yet. I saw some guys in traditional outfits making the famous omelette from the island, they looked pretty silly but hey ho, all in the name of tourism.

The afternoon was of course another beach trip, this time to a little village/town called Carolles, on passing through the town I saw a little Church that reminded me of the one in Ryarsh (back home), this time ‘quaint’ but without the estate agent connotation. This one was really busy, not quite as nice as the day before and the water seemed colder!

We left about 4pm I think and found a little place to have a crepe (or two, nom) and off we went back to Paris! There was some traffic, and again, this dormouse slept a bit! Got home and it’s always good to get back into your ‘own’ bed. Had a chat with mum, a quick hi to nan and slept like a baby.

Thanks to Flora and her parents for inviting me to explore the north of France a little, I had a lovely weekend :-D 

Written last weekend without the Internet...

I’ve done a couple of little trips at the weekends, I went to Bois de Boulogne last weekend and hired a bike for a couple of hours and just rode around in the park, it was very pretty and relaxing – even if I didn’t have a map and went past the same point 3 times, and I had lunch by the lake :-)

The park has a bit of a reputation at night for prostitutes, and I did have a bit of a ‘culture shock’ to see my first prostitute, not sure whether it was male or female, but if you thought dance competitions required a lot of make-up and false eyelashes, this was a whole new level!

Yesterday I had a really busy day (I try to keep Saturdays busy so that I don’t get too bored or homesick). I went to Fontainebleau, slightly unplanned. Unplanned to the point that on the train going to Gare de Lyon I wasn’t sure whether I was heading to Fontainebleau or Val d’Europe (BIG shopping centre), but the angel in me won and I went to do something slightly more cultural and probably cheaper. The train ticket only cost €7 – special young people’s weekend ticket and you can travel as much as you want for a day across all the zones and it includes using the bus and trams – bargain! It took about 40 minutes to get to Fontainebleau and then another 20 mins or so to get to the chateau.

The castle isn’t as well known as Versailles but it was worth the visit and it’s free for under 26 year olds from the EU (got to love France for that), so I paid just €1 for the audio guide (in French of course) and wandered round the bedrooms, bathrooms, throne rooms, chapel... After that I had a wander around the grounds which were well kept and there were loads of couples wandering around hand in hand (hmmm).

After that I came back to Paris and was on the way home when I decided I’d stop at Chatelet for a bit of shopping after all. It was with the intention of finding Nick a birthday present, but it turned into clothes shopping for myself... I don’t know who said that the French have good fashion, they lied. French shops are terrible, and I never thought I’d have to resort to New Look in France! So mum will have/has a list of things to go and get and bring out to me next weekend :-D and so far Nick has no present...

So that means that today I’m being lazy and watching TV. It started very educational, a programme about a plane, called the Comet that crashed in 1954 with 35 people on board, but now it’s deteriorated to one of those films you get on ‘True Movies’ or something like that, called ‘Le Lit du Diable’ (the Devil’s bed) whilst I’m having a bit of a clean.

This weekend has a bank holiday stuck on it, so no idea at the moment what I’ll do tomorrow, everything will probably be shut knowing France! My internet hasn’t been working, so if it decides to work I can hopefully find out what is and isn’t open and go and do something, if not, I’ll sit and read in the park and get a crepe or something. 

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go...

So the routine of work has set in – getting up, taking the metro then the tram, getting something to drink at work and then starting for the day. Still, lessons won’t start properly until September, so a couple of days have felt pretty dragged out preparing lessons hour in hour out. Though me and Kate were given an ‘extra’ task to sort out the library (well, the few shelves of books that are kept locked away) so we got to get out of the open space and I think by now we are both experts on referencing! We finished it really quickly, so I wonder what fun task is next!

Wednesday after work I went to the theatre with Kate and Fred (a guy from work) to see a Moliere play “Le médecin malgré lui”. Which, being Moliere, I would have thought would be really difficult to understand, but seeing some 7-8 year olds reassured me, and the woman behind kept explaining everything to her child, not that I was eavesdropping at all! It was really nice, and the first thing I’ve done with someone French (apart from dancing) since I’ve been here. I hope there’s more to come.

Something I’ve enjoyed doing at work so far are the English/French/Spanish lunches, where we meet up with someone just to have lunch and we spend half of it in English and half of it in French/Spanish, but they can be quite hard work and it doesn’t give you much of a ‘break’ from working me and Kate have decided... So we’re going to try not to have one every lunch!

The girls on reception at work, Laura and Flora, are really nice. Was having one of those “AH I CAN’T SPEAK FRENCH!!!!” days, which I somehow managed to explain and get through in French, and they were both just lovely – meeting people like that makes the year abroad a whole better experience, so thanks girlies!

To finish on a light note – Post-it Wars! It’s a guerre (war) where you make a picture on your window using Post-it notes and the person opposite does the same thing... I took part in this on Friday as it was a quiet day and in Bath’s honour and my own obsession, created a duck! (Before any geeks out there mention it, I know it isn't an 8 bit image or whatever you call it, but I wanted a duck so I did a duck - so there!!) It used quite a few Post-its but they get recycled when you create another image. It’s good fun and a nice break from work.