Graffiti

There's literally miles of graffiti covering the walls and bridges along the river in Sevilla and I can't help but to be impressed every time I see it. I'd been meaning to take photos for a while now, but either never had my camera on me or was feeling too lazy to make the 20 walk down there. This Tuesday though I made sure to take my iPhone with me, so that when I got off the bus after work I could finally get around to the picture taking. There's some pretty amazing work done by some obviously very talented people and the lady with the blue hair, that one's my favorite.

The river

I realized today that I haven't written a blog in a while. To be honest I haven't been up to much. Just teaching, spending time with friends and exploring the city. The weather's gotten a bit cooler and we've had a few days of pouring rain. Though considering it's literally freezing in Seattle, I have nothing to complain about. We had nice weather today and I took the opportunity to walk by the river and snap some pictures. Can you believe I get to walk by this everyday? Well more like have to walk by it everyday, but at least it's pretty, right?

Gibraltar

I went to Gibraltar to see monkeys. Well I guess they are technically apes, but I prefer the word monkey, so that's what I'm going to call them. They live on top of the rock and their familiarity with people makes you forget they are wild. They have no qualms about crowds engulfing them or having people in their faces snapping pictures. They are not afraid of darting between feet or hopping on top of cars. I even saw one giving a man high fives, in exchange for a few snacks of course. Be warned however, the monkeys of Gibraltar are sneaky and not all as friendly as they seem. I saw one leap onto a man's back, open his backpack and start pulling out the contents. I heard another story about a monkey grabbing unguarded cookies from a stroller, tipping it over with a child inside. Lucky the mother was able to catch the stroller before it hit the ground. Frightening tales (not a pun, the monkeys don't have tails) aside, I will admit their cuteness is hard to resist. I was tempted a few times to reach over and start petting them, but after watching one viciously tear apart an orange juice carton, I kept my hands to myself. Besides being a big rock with monkeys on it, Gibraltar is also a town. It's a British territory and looks like a mini England; complete with pubs and red telephone booths. All the signs are written in English and the prices are listed in pounds. There are countless restaurants promoting fish and chips specials. Passed between different powers throughout time and currently fought over by the British and Spanish, it also has a history worth reading about. At least on Wikipedia anyway.

Valencia

Erin and I skipped town this weekend and headed to Spain's third largest city, Valencia. Our three day weekend was filled with lots of walking, sight seeing, picture taking, shopping, and the first rain I've seen fall since arriving in Spain. I also took the opportunity this weekend to rediscover my love for Spanish candy. (hello again sour strawberries and licorice wheels, I've missed you)

Plaza Ayuntamiento: Centrally located in Valencia's historical district, the plaza boasts impressive government buildings alongside quaint florist stands and was a common throughway for Erin and me this weekend.

Mercat Central: We strolled through the market on Saturday morning and it was crawling with people. It is definitely a foodie and photographer paradise.

La ciudad de las artes y las ciencias: Located outside of the center, nearer the beach, this complex is a beautiful display of modern architecture. It is composed of five structures, each housing a different exhibit pertaining to the arts or sciences. The Oceanografic was hands-down my favorite and I took an embarrassing number of pictures of fish, sharks, seals, birds, more fish...

One month

It's official I've been in Spain for one month now and in honor of this milestone I've made a list: 31 things I've done in 31 days...

1. Spoken a lot of Spanish

2. Been told I speak Spanish well

3. Been told I speak Spanish like a cave-woman

4. Resolved not to speak Spanish anymore

5. Realized that was stupid, if not impossible, so decided to just practice, practice, practice

6. Asked for the bus wall instead of the bus stop. Why do the words parada and pared have to be so similar?

7. Got lost the first time I took the bus and ended up in Salteras

8. Finally figured out how to take the bus to and from my pueblo, Castilleja de Guzman

9. Taught PE, science and English classes

10. Got lost walking around Sevilla more times than I can count

11. Spent 11 euros on taxis one night when I was lost

12. Developed several gnarly blisters from walking so much

13. Haven’t learned that I should just carry a map

14. Eaten no less than three dozen Principe cookies and four dozen baguettes

15. Ate sangre encebollada (look it up)

16. Surprisingly liked sangre encebollada

17. Swapped my daily americano for a daily café con leche

18. Drank lots of sangria

19. Drank countless Cruz Campos

20. Drank a few gigantic mojitos from Rebotica

21. Waited for three hours at the foreign office to get my numero identidad de extranjero

22. Got to watch the sunrise over Plaza de Espana while waiting outside the foreign office

23. Found a cockroach in our bathroom

24. Trapped the cockroach and threw it out the window

25. Found another cockroach in our bathroom

26. Started jogging by the river at least three times a week

27. Amassed several dozen bug bites from jogging by the river

28. Celebrated my 25^th birthday

29. Watched a flamenco show

30. Visited Ronda

31. Purchased a ticket to visit Valencia this weekend...

Ronda

Ronda is located southeast of Sevilla and takes about two and half hours to reach by bus. Set among mountain tops and divided in two by the Tajo Gorge, it is one of the most picturesque towns I have ever visited. We went just for the day and I have already decided it was not enough time. In fact I think I could be very happy living in one of the white houses, sipping coffee on my terraza overlooking the gorge and Puente Nuevo, but for now an over-night trip will suffice.

Laid back Sunday

My roommate, Kelsey, has a few friends visiting this weekend, so we decided to play tourist for the day. We started off with a visit to Plaza de Espana; built for the 1929 World's Fair, it consists of a semi-circle structure surrounding a large court yard, moat and fountain. Tiled murals representing each province in Spain run the length of the structure and of course I had to stop and take a photo in front of Granada.

We then took a walk through Parque de María Luisa, a "Central Park-esque" local full of bikers, joggers, strollers, vendors and horse drawn carriages. The primary goal of our visit was to feed the pigeons that normally flock in one of the plazas, but the park was busy today and the birds were sadly seeking refuge amongst the tree tops. The birds might not have been hungry, but the same couldn't be said for us, so we left the park and headed across town to the Plaza de la Alfalfa for some pizza