Switches and Tricks

We live on the fourth floor of our apartment building.  When you walk into the building you are on floor zero.  So to get to our piso, you need to walk up four flights of stairs (not like in the US where you would only walk up three).  It is fine during daylight hours, but when the sun is down, it's quite dark.  There is a light switch on every floor that is on a timer, and generally it gives you enough time to get up to the next level to turn on the next light.  However, the light seems to be designed to illuminate the doorway/elevator area rather than the stairs.  Each flight of stairs consists of two sets of stairs that makes a 'v' shape to the elevator door.  So you go up maybe 10 steps and then make a sharp left and go up 10 more to get to the next floor.  And if you turn on the light by the elevator on one floor, you'll get up the first set of stairs and make a left turn to go up the second set, but the light will blocked by the stairs. And since the light is on a timer you have a limited number of seconds to feel your way up the second flight of stairs to the light switch on the next floor.  I live in fear of 'timing out' before I can get to the next light switch.  Here's why:  on both sides of the elevator there is a piso (two per floor).  Each piso has a light switch and a doorbell.  The light switch is the one closest to the elevator, but the switches look exactly the same:

I have a hunch that one day I will be feeling around for the light switch and accidentally ring someone's doorbell (and since I'm pretty sure Anita Ward doesn't live in the building, my neighbors will not be very happy if that happens).  I guess it's a good excuse to take the elevator. 

Speaking of transportation (an elevator is a form of transportation, right?), it has been brought to our attention that as of December 15th the buses from Sevilla to Alcalá (and vice versa) will be cut in half.  That is to say that they will only travel half the distance they usually did and with half the frequency. They will run every half hour (instead of every 15 minutes) and instead of the buses going from the center of Alcalá to the center of Sevilla, they will go from the center of Alcalá to the edge of Sevilla.  If you want to get to the center of the city (where we most often go), you will have to get off the bus and get on the metro (for an added fee) to get to the center. This means that our 3-step weekend travels to the bus stop will now be 4 steps.  The reasoning behind this switch is as follows:  there is so much construction in the city center that traffic cannot move smoothly, so by removing the Alcalá buses from the center area there will be more space for cars and thus traffic will be lighter.  We are lucky that we only go to Sevilla a few times a week.  For those teachers and students that live/work in Sevilla and take the bus to Alcalá everyday it is a huge hassle (and slightly added expense).  For us it is just more exercise. 

Speaking of exercise, since this weekend (well, Monday actually, but still...) I will be running a race, I am tapering my workouts right now, so I went 'running' with my camera today.  Here are some shots of my route:

By a field

Along the river

The track/soccer fields

More along the river

And I am not ungrateful or oblivious to the fact that it is December.  I absolutely appreciate the clear (snow-less and ice-less) paths that I run on.  More than that I appreciate the temperatures and appropriate running attire for them:  shorts and a t-shirt (for me, I have seen people running in long pants and a long shirt.  I guess I will have a problem with what to wear when it gets a little hotter, but for now, it's perfect).  I have to admit that even today as I was running up a hill I caught myself comparing it to the hill on the River Road in St. Paul (the one that takes you up to Summit).  You can take the girl out of St. Paul, but you can't erase her memory of and fondness for her morning River Road runs.  In fact, just to prove to myself that I could do it, I got up at 6:30 AM and went running (I left the house around 7) before class twice this week.  I can still do it. I feel better knowing that.  Getting up early to go running is my trademark move.

Another one of my trademarks is wearing shorts as pajama bottoms year-round.  I can't do that here.  It might sound unbelievable, but since there is no central heating and no carpet or insulation to hold in the heat, it is rather chilly here at night.  I sleep in a t-shirt, sweatshirt, pants and socks and I am still cold most nights.  I never would have believed it if you told me this would be the case.  We were totally spoiled with a heater in our room and down comforters for our beds the last time we lived in Spain.  (Now I know what you went through Kelly and Meaghan- I am living a heater-less, down comforter-less,  squeaky-bed and pet-rabbit-in- the-house-life.  I don't have any Swedish roommates though.)

Here's a little story about my private English lesson: today I attempted to explain the phrase 'they didn't bother to do it' to him. It was in reference to the his students that didn't bother to come to his office hours for extra help, even though they didn't understand the (math) problems he gave them and thus failed the exam.  He wanted to know a synonym for the word 'bother' in this case.  I tried to think of one and started my explanation out with 'Es como...'.  Is it a good sign that even though our entire conversation was in English (he is in the Advanced class, so he speaks very well) that my brain automatically started to explain in Spanish?  I'd like to think so, but all other signs point to the fact that both my Spanish and English may actually be getting worse.  Take, for example, when I try to say a Spanish 101 phrase like 'That shirt is more expensive than this shirt.' and I say 'Esa camisa es more cara que esta camisa'.  ('More' is an English word- it should be 'más' instead.)  My brain just switches languages at whim.

And since this may be the last time I get to say it without lying:  I'm in my twenties.