spain pics

music to make you smile!

Last night at a lovely pub called the Fiddler's Elbow in Brighton I thoroughly enjoyed the melodic tones of "The Roots Union", a band hailing from Devon/London and composed of friends-of-friends. Really really worth seeing (hearing) if they are in your area (they are touring lots over next few months). Thoughtul lyrics and the kind of music that makes you grin from ear to ear, stamp your feet, clap your hands and cheer/shout/whistle (we were quite a rowdy little audience :-) !)

positive news

I walked into one of the buildings on campus today and saw on the magazine stand, along side the university newspaper, a publication called "Positive News"... not read it yet as am here to STUDY, but thought it was a really good idea and will look forwards to perusing its positive pages later :-)

from dusk till dawn and more

Well i'm back in room in Brighton, back to not-so-great-english coffee and not-so-warm sunshine. coffee and sunshine nevertheless though! Spain was really great, a lot better than i expected. :-) And while in the end I'm glad for the change in flights by Ryan Air (from Monday morning to Tuesday evening) because it meant i got to hang out with a couple more people that i really wanted to see, it did mean that it took THIRTEEN HOURS door to door. Man i might as well have gone overland! slight exageration but still!!

And no, nothing was delayed, nothing went "wrong" so to speak, so why did it take so long? let me explain...

• 16:45 left Darby's house to catch bus from Bormujos into Sevilla, which got me there sooner than expected, so had a last meander along the River Guadiana, finished my book ("The Hungry Always get Fed" by Heidi Baker, sure I'll be mentioning it soon), and watched groups of Americans sunbathe on the river banks, and Spanish boys in bicycles being stopped by the police. I then went a dropped by Loyda at a coffee shop as she'd told me she had something to give me: a beautiful bag from her beloved Colombia - which turned out to be rather useful on the journey!
• 18:45 bus to the airport, where i worried slightly about the overweightness of my hang-luggage but was relieved to see no sign of weighing scales! Then, last spanish coffee and last consumption of sweetness (pastry) - i've given sweet things up for lent but had 'time off' as it were while in Spain.
• 20:45 boarded the plane as the sun set. another slight panic about slight excess of hand luggage and Ryan Air's "one bag only" thing, but got through fine
• somewhere an hour changed but i get confused which was
• 00:00 after a chilled flight, and feeling grateful that i don't have to get a visa everytime i travel (after seeing the passports of the Russian girl and Pakistani boy sitting next to me!), i rushed through stansted to get the bus to london. thankful i booked online as i don't think everyone got on. randomly bumped into a girl i've met before in Brighton! small world...
• 01:30 arrived at Victoria, only to find the station closed. they only open the gates a few minutes before a train goes. having eaten a cornish pasty to calm me, i decided to catch the only train going anytime soon - to Gatwick Airport - as i didn't fancy hanging outside Victoria for 2.5 hours.
• 02:00 well thank God for Gatwick airport i guess! lots of people were sleeping on floors and chairs. I got a cup of tea and valiently attempted going over notes from the reading i'd done while being away, the fact that i have just over 6 weeks to write my dissertation an ever present fact in my mind! that worked for about an hour then i felt even more like death warmed up so spend the next hour sleeping on a cafe Nero bench.
• 05:00 finally on a train to Brighton, not before being chatted up by 'Don the Dealer', he must have been really bored or desperate because i wasn't exactly in my most attractive state ever!
• 05:30 Brighton station, where i managed to get locked on a train that wasn't going anywhere (skills!). thankfully was rescued ... that would have been a pretty sad end to my story otherwise! thinking... why didn't i just get a taxi?!
• 05:45 the 2 minute trip to London Road, which makes a significant difference to distance i have to walk
• 06:00 at last i arrive home having lugged the amazing case lent to me by a friend up and down one last hill. by now it's getting light and birds are singing.
• BED!!!

so all in all that's two buses, two walks, two trains, one plane, one coach, two pastries, one coffee and one tea. sigh.

now i'm off to the library. joy.

returning

coconut yoghurt: check
panini's from opposite mercantil: check
breakdancing attempts in the church: check
spanish breakfast - pan catalana with jamon: check
a walk to the old city walls of Badajoz: check
flan: check

hmm see how important food is to me?! haha!

Last weekend in Badajoz was really great, i felt immediately at home and it was great to catch up with friends and like i said before, feel like i've never been away. I've been to a lot of places over the years but there is something very... satisfying/relaxed about returning to a place. Exploring new places is fun, but not having to stress about how to get somewhere/where to stay/walk without a map etc is nice for a change!

The last few days staying with Holly and Darby in small towns outside Sevilla and then a couple of nights on Helen's sofa (a sofa i know very well!), and drinks in the Alameda and by the river (in the sun!!!) with both old and new friends has been a continuation of chilled, comfortable catching up and enjoying each other's company. I am so blessed to have these friends here!

I think there's something of a relief about feeling that i've already done the hard work of settling into a place, i've gone through the akward, getting lost, lonely times and now i can be here and enjoy some of the fruits of that as it were. Also there's less pressure to like certain things or fit in because it's not my home anymore. Maybe it's for this reason that i feel more comfortable speaking spanish than i did when i lived here, even though i haven't really spoken it for about 10 months... because i'm putting less pressure and expectation on myself. hooray!

And then there was the wedding, last night, which was the primary reason for this trip. But that's for another post when i've uploaded photos. Suffice to say it'll be hard to beat!!

Volver

Two trains a bus and a plane and I'm back in Spain
Two buses and I'm on a familiar street in Sevilla
Another bus and a coach and I'm in Badajoz.
All in 24 hours.

The air off the plane smelt warm, and tinged with spring.
I've had my first Spanish coffee in many months, sitting in the sun. Happy!
Bought a "bonobus"
Eaten my favourite crisps and some briosh

and very soon i'll be back with the 'jovenes' in the church celebrating some birthdays like old times. I can't believe it's been over 9 months since i was here.

Everything so far has been so familiar that it just felt completely normal to be here. I feel a little more foreign, as i'm no longer residing here, and my hair is blonde again ;-) and my spanish is a little rusty. But i have taken these routes and seen these sights countless times that it feels like i've never been away. Except that some people have left since i was here last, and it is no longer 'home' so i know it will be a different experience. But a good one i am sure. Sevilla still feels to me like a bit of a lonely place and i was much more excited to see the browns and oranges of the blocks of flats in Badajoz than i was the river and the palm trees of Sevilla. But i am looking forwards to catching up with friends and a WEDDING when i go back there next week. woo hoo! :-D