Living in a movie

So far it’s been wonderful. I’ve already fallen in love with Spain. It’s so hard to believe that people actually live here (as oppose to vacation here, or take extended vacations here as teachers, eh em) and walk through these beautiful streets and buildings without (it seems) a second thought. Heck, even when I lived in Los Angeles, I still got thrilled every time I drove by the Chinese Theater or Capitol Records building.

It’s definitely already been a sufficient challenge working on my language skills, but nothing that felt too daunting yet. I’m able to understand most people about 40% of the time. My host family is very kind and I understand them much better as I’m sure they do try to simplify their speech a little bit for me. They’re wonderful about correcting me and my grammar or helping me with my vocabulary. It only gets difficult – rather impossible - when they all start talking at the same time. Understandable. But all very exhausting too.

The first full day they took us on a tour of Sevilla, finishing off with tapas, drinks, and finally a flamenco show. I had previously been exposed to flamenco in Spanish restaurants in the states (not much, but a little), and actually saw a show when I was in Granada last year. This particular show blew all my previous exposure away. It was held in a patio within a building with vines growing up the walls, lanterns lit at the front of the stage not more than 10 feet from where we were sitting. The woman was gorgeous, sensual, and extremely talented. The man had an Antonio Banderes look to him (perhaps a slightly more petite version). By the end of the show, his shirt was sticking to his chest and back, the ends were untucked, and his hair (wet with sweat) had come out of the elastic. (At one point, before all his hair had come out, he made a quick turn with his head and a single, wavy strand fell in front of his face. I nearly let our a gasp as it seemed like it was straight from a movie.) Increible! The show has probably been one of my favorite things yet (can anyone wonder?!).

The other day as I was walking back to my home stay, I crossed over the river just as the sun was setting. The rain clouds that had been out all day were lit just beautifully behind the tall, decorated buildings and towers along the river. It was so nice to take it all in and know that there are many more months of similarly breathtaking experiences.