"Horrible Nesquik"

They say it never rains in Seville. It also never snows in Seville. And yet, for the past two weeks, we have barely seen our friend, the sun. The people here don't know what to do. They say they have never had a winter like this, that was this cold and rainy. My host father blames it on me, and whenever anyone makes a comment about the weather he says "the american girl brought it here with her!"

I haven't written in a while, but that's because the past two weeks have been very busy and also not a lot of interesting things have happened. It has been absolutely great, and I am DEFINITELY not ready to go home in 3 weeks, but not a whole lot has changed.

Rachel and I both caught the gastrointeritis plague, but were each out of school for just one day. Everyone has gotten it. Every member of my family here, except the dog. I won't go into details, because they aren't pretty, but after a few natural yogurts and soups, we were all fine.

Last Friday we went to Cordoba. We visited the mezquita mosque, which is unbelievably gorgeous. It has Christian and Muslim and Jewish roots, all from different time periods, rolled into a very pretty mosque. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot to do in Cordoba. It was raining (as usual) and so we hung out in a tapas bar, where a few tried salmorejo (a puree of tomato and vinegar, served in a glass). It looks like a creamsicle smoothie, especially since you drink it like a smoothie, without any utensils. I passed on this specialty, not being too fond of tomatoes, but I heard it was good.

For Valentines day, I was lucky enough to have 12 roses delivered to my room, courtesy of my boyfriend Sam. I was a very happy girl. They are beautiful and are a great addition to our cozy little room. They don't celebrate El Dia de San Valentin here very much. The family was so taken back as to why I was getting such an elaborate and beautiful gift!

Also for Valentines day, the girls in my class picked names and got eachother a little something. It was really cute. I received some Lindt truffles and a spanish dessert recipe book from my friend Shelby, which was so thoughtful. It will be a great thing to try out back home. Hopefully my Spanish translations and metric conversions won't get in the way!

This weekend I had plans to go to Portugal. Two of my friends and I decided to rent a car (just 40 Euros!) and drive 3 hours to Lagos. It was supposed to pour buckets all weekend (surprise surprise but we didn't have much to lose). Yesterday morning we were all ready to go. We got to the airport (where the car rental place it), but couldn't find the rental place. After asking one of the other offices, we found out that the company wasn't located at the airport, and that we were supposed to wait under the green advertisement for life insurance if we were waiting for GoldCar. An hour later, the representative arrived, and we double checked the price, and the information and they took us in a van to the rental place. At the rental place, they sneakily added fees for gasoline, leaving the country, being under 21, eating a sandwich while in line at the office (not actually, but we wouldn't have been surprised), etc. So it would cost almost 4 times as much as we anticipated, we didn't have an actual plan of things to do in Lagos, and it was supposed to pour rain. In the end, we bagged the trip and pretended to be tourists in Seville for the day. There was still so much we wanted to do in Seville, that we had never taken the time to.

I was so flustered coming home from the airport, that my host dad got me strawberries and put them in a plastic bag so that I could "go for a walk, sit by the river, and relax while eating the finest, reddest and sweetest strawberries I will ever eat.") Magically, the sun was out, and it was one of the most beautiful days we have had. We ate lunch outside (carne con tomate, tuna and vegetable croquettes, french fries and a fried egg), we shopped and we got drinks by the river which we enjoyed with strawberries. For dinner, we ate the first pizza we'd had since 2009, and it was unbelievable. A great day.

When I got home, I had a chat with my host Dad, who casually described how great of a mother his wife was, and how she had helped her daughter with her exam this morning. He went on to describe how his 18 year old daughter had placed a tick-sized auditory device in her inner ear, and how her mother sat at the living room table, with 10 open books and notebooks in front of her, dictating the answers to the exam. He said "wasn't that so nice of my wife? What great teamwork. She will get a great grade and she can never get caught! Look how small it is!" The concept of cheating being morally unsound was never even touched upon. He was so proud that his family was living a "vida de lujo" (life of luxury) by achieving success using such advanced technology. I couldn't believe it. He was also so nice as to offer to lend me the device, for when I take my med school exams. I thanked him for this offer, but declined, explaining it was probably for the best that as a doctor, I know the answers to such exams. He gave me a confused look and shrugged his shoulders. I guess it's just a culture thing.

For dinner, I got to choose what we had (a first!). I chose tortilla espanola, so I could take notes on how to prepare this wonderful potato omlette. It is quite easy, with the only ingredients being egg and potatoes. It was scrumptious. It was served alongside slimy little silver fried fish with the heads still on, which I was unfortunately "way too full" to take any of.

Night life has been pretty standard, and generally entails conversations amongst my Union girlfriends and I. Usually we will make small talk with sevillanos for some of the time, which almost always includes a joke about how my name is "equal to that of the girl on the Simpsons." I then emphasize the "z" to distinguish "Liz" from "Lisa."

On one occassion, the conversation was about how this group of Spaniards did not like "chinos" (Chinese). The Spainiards are very open about raicism here. People are not at all ashamed to sound politically incorrect, and don't hesitate to say that they do not like a particular racial group. In this particular conversation, the fact that these boys were so open about disliking Chinese was surprising, but I did not become personally involved until they started noticing that my eyes are so small that they resemble those of the "chinos" especially when I smile. I thought I had grown out of this, when my Aunt Marion mentioned circa 2006 that she had thrown away our Christmas card, thinking she didn't know the family, since my eyes usually look "more Oriental" than they had in that photo.

Also, upon arriving at a discoteca last night, my roommate and I were instructed by the bouncer to stay about 15 feet back from the men in front of us in line, so we wouldn't be able to hear the conversation in front of us. The men in front of us were 2 Arabic men and one man with lighter skin. Although everyone else in line was able to enter, the Arabic men were turned away. Inside, there were no people of African descent. I couldn't believe that these attitudes were not only so prominent, but that they still compromise the rights of those with minority backgrounds. Even my host father, a great man, says that he respects anyone of any culture, except the Moros (Arabs) because they can't be trusted. The host families of my friends have made similar comments.

On a lighter note, I am making chocolate chip cookies for the family. They are not big on desserts, but they went nuts for the apple crisp and the brownies I made last week, and are now requesting that I make something at least once a week. I'm happy to do it! They really liked the brownies, especially since they had nothing else to do with the "horrible Nesquik" (aka unsweetened baking cocoa) their daughter had brought back from the Dominican Republic. "It tastes so bad mixed with milk" my mother told me. Last week was the first time that we had dessert with a meal. My host mother made an orange "bizcocho" (cake) which was delicious. I told her she would have to show me how to make it before I leave. I know how to make orange cake already, I just really want to have dessert again.

Hasta luego!