Yo soy Colombiana/Canadiense

Another week, another minor third degree burn to my hand. I remember the week that I left Calgary sitting in my house listening to everyone complain about how fun -30 weather is, and then bragging to everyone how I would be going to sunny Spain. It took me about 15 minutes to EAT MY WORDS as soon as the plane landed. Its slightly more humid in the Iberian peninsula, so although its 8 degrees celcius, it actually feels like 1 or 2 degrees. If its 12-15 degrees in Calgs (with no damn wind) you can definitely get away with just a t-shirt and jeans. Not so much here, you need a scarf, jacket and mitts. Hope that puts things into perspective for everyone. Guess who the jealous one is?
To put all your curious minds at ease, no I have not experienced the night life yet. Not because I have no interest, but simply because it takes some serious determination and travel time to get to/from the desired destination. Walking to the metro, waiting for the metro, sitting on the metro, walking to the club, then reverse that. The whole process (one-way) can take a good 45 minutes, then add heels, and the cold. It's definitely an adventure that will come sooner or later.
Yesterday I had a tourist excursion day with a couple of the girls from Calgary. There's actually a few things I hadn't seen yet, so it was great to just be shameless with our picture-taking.

1. Alcazar of Seville: This is the royal palace of Seville. The monarchs lived here at the time when Seville was the capital of Spain (I hope I didn't just make that up), and it was actually built when the Moors were in the city.
2. La torre de oro: This tower was a military watchtower, a prison, and now a cute little naval museum. You get a great view of downtown from there, and the wind is nice and cold.
3. Plaza de España. In 1929 Seville hosted the World's Fair, so the city built this grand plaza surrounded my a massive park. It has your standard massive fountain and majestic government buildings. It even has a small canal where you can rent paddle boats, cute!

Afterwards the girls brought me back to their apartment, drank some vino and made a FANTASTIC stir fry (I miss rice so much). They had been living in a hostel for 2 weeks while they looked around for a place to live. On Wednesday they finally got everything sorted out and moved into a 4-bedroom apartment downtown. It's a really good find, the kitchen is brand new, and its very spacious.

Honestly, this was a pretty low-key week. It gave me time to run some errands (FINALLY GOT MY BLACKBERRY WORKING), do my readings, get a general idea of where I want to travel and when. I'm looking forward to coordinating a trip down to Morocco soon, it would be a good time to go because the weather is still comfortable but warm. 

This morning I was in the mood for some scrambled eggs with toast and coffee; a nice change from my usual cheerios. Long story short, I burned myself with the hot pan in the exact same spot where I spilled hot candle wax a couple nights ago when the power went out. (Oh yea, that seems to happen when we have too many lights on apparently).
I have come to the conclusion that I should stop faking the Spanish lisp. First of all, it feels unnatural. Second, I think Latin American Spanish is prettier, because we enunciate our words and its not so harsh-sounding. There's no point pretending anyways because they all know if you're Latin American.

It's interesting how being surrounded by so many Americans makes you appreciate being Canadian. Most of them have no idea where Montana is, so its pointless explaining where Calgary is. You also get weird looks from the Spaniards if you apologize when you bump into them, or say please and thank you more than once in a sentence. 

SIXTH LESSON: Eating in public is frowned upon. For example, munching on an apple on your way to class will get you many weird looks. You never see anyone eating out on the streets. Ever.