While We Are Young.

Hello Fellow Friends,

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I have been pretty busy and when time allows it, I sleep.  So, hopefully this post will be enough for you for a couple of days.  Not that you guys are demanding pictures and stories and what not.  I just like to think that people are reading my blogs.  Y'know?  If not, I have an electronic journal.  Woop woop.

Alright, so a lot has happened since my last post.  I will start with a quest speaker in my Spanish Culture and Society class.  We had beautiful Sefora come to our class to teach us about gypsies (aka "gitanos") and all that they have had to endure over time.  Little fact for ya, she is a gypsy herself!  So cool.

Gypsies have been around for centuries, some say that the gypsies were even here in Spain when the Moors were ruling.  Their culture may be completely diverse than society's "norm" but what is the norm really?  Gypsies bring flamenco to the Spanish world.  But to be honest, it wasn't encouraged in the past.  It was seen as something that "heathens" would do.  Gypsies also spoke (and some still speak) their own language, which once again, was discouraged.  They were told they could not speak their own language and must speak Spanish.  They continued to sing and dance flamenco in the neighborhood called Triana.  Sound familiar?  It is where I live!!

One point in time, the river flooded Triana and all the gypsies had to relocate to what is now known as "Tres Mil Viviendas".  If you ever ask to go there or if someone has gone there, they will have a worried look on their face and tell you to never go there.  They say it is the worst part of town.

Gypsies has been discriminated for centuries.  They weren't even considered Spanish citizens until 1978, which is crazy since they have been here since the 1400s, and quite possibly even earlier.  All this to say, my heart goes out to the gypsy people.  They have had to struggle through so much and still do.  Although there are some changes in Spain regarding gypsies, there is still a separation between gitanos and payos (non-gypsies).

Here is a picture of such an inspiring woman who has dedicated her life to better the gypsy people in Spain.  She has defeated all odds and even gone against the norm in both gypsy culture as well as Spanish culture.

Another thing that we did this week was check out the Real Alcazar.  It is one of the many palaces the royals would use when traveling, and coincidentally, it is one of the only ones that are still used today.  The inside is beautiful.  The outside is beautiful.  The walls are beautiful.  The tiles are beautiful.  I will just let the pictures talk for themselves.

As you can see it is just gorgeous.

After we went around the Alcazar, we went into a neighborhood called Barrio Santa Cruz.  It is where the Jews lived back in the day.  It is also absolutely beautiful.  It has great shops and wonderful restaurants.  The distinctive white washed buildings and narrow labyrinth-like streets are key factors of being a Jewish neighborhood.

That night, a couple of us decided that we wanted to go to the Metropol Parasol (aka The Mushrooms) and we wanted to tour the top of them at sunset.  Metropol Parasol was built in 2011 and claims to be one of the largest wooden structures in the world.  It is quite controversial here in Sevilla just because it is so modern compared to the rest of the antique city.  On the top of The Mushrooms is a winding trail that tourists and locals can go and see the city scape.  Here are some photos of that.

That night my roommate and I were walking home and the main road that we walk was so crowded we couldn't walk through.  We heard lots of trumpets and smelled lots of incense (not gonna lie, I got a headache).  All of a sudden we see this huge structure made of gold, flowers, candles, and a statue of the Virgin Mary.  We got close and saw that the structure was carried by men underneath it.  We could see around 20-25 pairs of feet, and the only logical explanation is that they are carrying this thing on their shoulders.

We heard that parades like these happen during Semana Santa (Holy Week), but we didn't expect it to be in October.  It is said that being one of the ones chosen to hold the statue is such an honor.  I have a picture, but honestly, a picture can't even do it justice.  It is one of those things that you have to look up on a video or be there yourself to fully understand.

That was all Friday in case you were wondering.

Saturday the Veritas girls and I went to the church that our missionary mentors attend, and we helped clean their church for a huge youth outreach that was happening that night.  It was awesome because we were able to be used not only for our hands, but to also interact with the teens during the outreach.  It was so fun.  We had the Just Dance game going, basketball/ping pong/foosball going, and people were just hanging out.  One of the missionaries shared her testimony and it was an awesome night of fun, fellowship, and testimonies.

Sunday, we went to church and it has been nice to be able to have a home church while in an unfamiliar place.  After church, I was able to go to coffee with a friend, and it was nice to just be and talk.  I loved it.  That afternoon, all the Americans from the church came together at the University of Sevilla for English worship (I lead and played guitar) as well as a message in English.  It was another great time of fellowship and growth.  I am loving it here.

So, that is all I have for you now.  I hope that is enough for you.

Until next time, hasta luego!

Sincerely,
Angela