Really just a normal week over here

Yep. The title says it all... nothing too special has gone on. But, here's an update anyways.

I last left y'all off Sunday evening, and right afterwards, I went to tapas with some TCU kids that I'd met. What was cool was that this is while the FC Sevilla vs. Real Betis game was going on, so the place was packed and everyone was uber focused on the TV that they had just set up in the window facing the outside. Real Betis is the other team based in Seville, and they're named for the old Roman name for the Guadalquivir River, Baetis. And just as the stadium Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan is right next to me, on the eastern side of the river, Betis's stadium is on the other side, way north. Clearly, I am, and was that night, deep in FC Sevilla territory, so I guess I have to be a fan of theirs...

We had some good food there, including some cheeses and tostadas, a Caesar Salad, and some sort of pork and fries dish. I enjoyed it a lot, and since it's so close to the residence, I'm sure I'll be back a few more times.

This week at work, I covered three different tasks. Monday was finishing up the tasks from the first week, namely arranging the damage control rooms. Tuesday through Thursday were spent on evacuation plans and line of sight drawings, and Friday was spent on weapons alignment systems. Exciting, right! Can't give any more details than what I have for fear of violating the NDA, but I have not been that bored at work.

Since I spent some time with my coworkers last Friday, I have begun to get more friendly with them. I always enjoy eating lunch and trying to hold conversations in 70%-Eng-30%-Spanglish. We've talked about sports, universities, and working mostly so far. Pretty mundane topics, but it's always funny seeing how things are different.

Pretty much every afternoon has been spent wandering around. I usually leave sometime between 4 and 6 and wander for about three hours. It's fun, I usually end up in places that I hadn't been before, all the while window shopping at my favorite stores. The stores I keep on frequenting are a shoe store with these very cool shoes I'd like to buy eventually, an antique soccer store that has old jerseys (I'd like the Seville one later on as well), this cool antique poster store down by the Alcázar, the Setas, and this one ceramics shop.

On Monday, while walking around with some of the TCU kids—Kim, Parker, and Ava—I decided finally to buy myself some ceramics. The lady in the store was wonderful, and the things were actually much cheaper than I expected. I got two things. First, an original tile from some site that's about 300 years old. It's a traditional Sevillian tile—everything in there was made or painted in Seville—which you see in buildings and on walls all over the place. As I'm describing it now, I am only just realizing that the tile does indeed fit into my color scheme... brown and blue pattern with white to separate. The second things I got was a hot plate which can double as a wall display (hmm... I wonder which one I'll use it for) that says الله, Allah. Yeah, I felt kind of weird buying it, but I really liked it, and thought it was cool. I was deciding whether I wanted something like this from Morocco or here, but I figured why not get it now and if I get something else later, it's just as good to have two!

Kim, Parker, Ava, and I stopped for a quick drink on our way back to the residence, and we had the best time. Honestly, we were just laughing the entire time, and I have no idea why it was so funny, but in the moment, it was really goofy. That night, I watched the start of Mama Mia, which I had never seen before. I enjoyed it, and I'll definitely want to see the rest of it, but Peter called in the middle and we ended up talking for a while. Too late to finish the movie...

My wandering on Tuesday took me to the northern edge of the river, just across from Triana. I saw the mall for the first time, as well as getting close to the Torre Sevilla, that ugly tall cylinder, home to the Andalusian government. Tuesday night, me and some of the TCU kids did karaoke downstairs for a little bit, which was quite fun. Wednesday was spent in the pool, then my walk took me just into the monumental district, where I got my first real paella from a restaurant (I had gotten some paella from our lunch place at work before, but that had meat in it, not seafood). It was very good, a little expensive, but definitely a delicious meal. Thursday I didn't walk, as I worked on my video montage, but I did go to dinner with a larger group from TCU across the street at the street tacos place. I'd totally go back... I got aguachilles, which is kind of like ceviche, and it was super delicious.

Though the week wasn't thrilling, Friday was fun. First of all, at about 8:40, one of my coworkers came up to me and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast. I guess on Fridays they all get an extra couple minutes to leave and grab breakfast. I had a tostada with jamon,

tomatoes, and olive oil. I asked them to order me the most Spanish thing I could get, and that's what it was. I didn't love it, unfortunately, as the bread was a little sour and the olive oil was very overpowering. It's funny, because earlier in the week I had been super focused at work, and during my couple minutes where I decided to take a quick break and look at the crossword, that's when my boss decided to come pay me a visit. I felt like I had to prove to him that I can indeed do focused work, but sure enough, when I returned from breakfast, he showed up about twenty seconds after I logged into my computer. I don't think that was too much of an issue, though, since it seems like many groups were leaving to grab breakfast later in the morning as well. Eventually, he actually startled me when I was totally locked in to my work, so now he knows that I do indeed work... The guy is a little scary, and I'm curious to see how the other three think of him once we all get going.

Friday afternoon I walked downtown and checked out a couple of things that I hadn't seen before. First, the inside of the cathedral. It's your typical European cathedral, with flying buttresses, (apses 😉), dimly lit, and lots of gilded objects. I tried to find my way to Christopher Columbus, but there was some event going on and I couldn't get to go meet him. I'm sure we'll meet later, though. I then headed over to the Setas to go check out the Antiquarium: the archeology museum of the Phoenician, Roman, and Umayyad ruins under Seville. It's one of those museums where they have the ruins in the floor, with glass floors and stuff. It's definitely a cool place, and I found the Muslim artifacts the most interesting. There was a stone vase with Arabic text carved into it, which I appreciated. Anyways, what was also cool is that this was the "Africa Day," and they had an African drum duo performing at the auditorium in the back. They had the whole audience clapping along, and they brought some good energy to the place. I walked home through a neighborhood that I hadn't visited before. It took me far away from the residence, but it was nice to see. Probably won't head back there, since there was nothing too exciting there, but I did enjoy the change of scenery.

Saturday morning, I just went and grabbed brunch in the city. I got a croque madame, but the more exciting thing was the patatas bravas, which I have really come to appreciate in the recent days. When I got back, Matt (if you're reading this, hi!), one of the other interns, had just arrived, so we headed into the city to the FC Sevilla store, and I bought myself a jersey for the game. I had fun showing him the city, and I'm excited for the next couple months. On our way back, we got caught in a thunderstorm...

After dinner, we headed to the soccer game against Real Madrid! Matt has played soccer his whole life, so he was definitely more aware of what was going on that I was, but I enjoyed the atmosphere. We were in the upper level, and when we finally looked out onto the field, we both got real excited. The whole game was cool, and though I wish I knew the chants and things everybody was singing, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The game starts with everybody holding up their scarves and singing a song that was frankly really long about how they're loyal to FC Sevilla, and then it started. We got a goal in the first three minutes, and then no more for the rest of the time. So, most of the excitement was packed towards the beginning, unfortunately. Though it had stormed just an hour before, the weather was actually wonderful at the game, and it felt just perfect. The sun was behind some clouds, too.

Finally, after dinner, Matt and I walked to the Plaza de España to go see it at night. I then went for a quick snack and drink with some of the TCU kids, where I got myself caracoles again. They mostly thought the caracoles were scary and gross, so I ended up eating most of them...

That's about it for this week! Until next time, Hasta Luego...