When we met the transportation fairy (Part I: Foggy...)

I'm kind of forgetful sometimes. Maybe spacey is the better word. My mind is a perpetual whirlpool of facts, ideas, thoughts and songs. There is no 'off' position on my mental whirlpool, so I sometimes forget things, am foggy on the details and/or confuse the facts. I had it in my head that Anna would arrive on the 7th. When I re-read the itinerary she sent me I discovered it was actually the 6th. Luckily I caught it in time so I didn't leave her stranded on the airport. However, my Spanish class ended at noon and her flight got in at 12:50. Getting from the University to the airport in 50 minutes via two buses would take a miracle or maybe just a lot of luck. It wasn't impossible, just unlikely.

I got to the bus transfer point at 12:30 and on the airport bus at 12:50. Needless to say, I was late but fortunately Anna's flight was too. I was relieved to see it marked 'delayed' on the flight status board. It would have been horrible for Anna to have traveled for a day only to arrive in Sevilla and have me nowhere in sight, even though she knew I might be late. When the plane finally did land I thought she might have lost her luggage because she was nowhere to be found. Eventually she appeared, luggage and all. While she may have thought her journey was over, she actually had an hour and a half of bus-riding and a half-mile walk to get to the piso in Alcalá ahead of her. These last legs of the journey went well, except that I had some difficulty steering her suitcase down the sidewalk (suitcases with wheels and Europe do not mix). Anna was able to stay up long enough for some lunch and until I had to go to work. Then she, like so many before her, succumbed to the weight of her eyelids while I went to work. She woke up again when I got back from school and we had some bonding time with my roommates. Anna got to meet Cone (that's co-nay, as in conejo (rabbit)), José's pet rabbit, and show off photos from her trip to Africa (to my roommates, not to the rabbit).

On Thursday morning we slept in but managed to make it to the bank before it closed (at 2). Anna needed to exchange American Dollars for European Euros. To exchange money at a bank you have to have a bank account there, so I got to pretend that Anna's Andrew Jacksons belonged to me. The teller totally fell for it.

At the bank, Anna not only got Euros, but also got to experience some important aspects of Spanish culture. First was the experience of waiting in line. There were maybe ten people milling in the vicinity of the two tellers. You can never tell who is waiting for what or what they are doing there. You just have to take a number and wait until it's called. When it was our turn we went up to the teller and told her we (I) needed to exchange money. She said I had to have an account to do that. I told her I did and so the transaction commenced. (This is Anna's second lesson: random questions and behaviors- at least from an American's perspective.) She asked if I wanted the money in cash or in my account.
'In cash,' I said.
'All of it or part of it?' she asked.
'All of it,' I said.

I had to sign something saying that she was going to give me all of the euros except for 33 cents. I didn't understand why she didn't want to give me the change but I didn't press her for answers. Maybe 'todo' didn't mean what I thought it meant. She then proceeded to give me the (whole number) Euros and we were on our way. Turns out that she deposited the 33 cents in my account and gave us the rest of the Euros in cash. (I owe you, Anna.) Apparently I failed the bank transaction comprehension test.

After the bank we went to school so I could plan out my lesson for later that day and make any necessary copies for it. Anna met a few of the teachers, saw a little of the school and even got to help me find videos for the lesson! The topic was science experiments, so I was going to use videos from MythBusters for a discussion. She got to search for good ones (we decided on an experiment to see if eating poppy seeds made you test positive for drugs and whether or not a ceiling fan could decapitate someone, as you see in horror films). We exited the building around two when the school closed for the afternoon.

We made our way to the bus stop to Sevilla. It was a quick visit. We took a short tour of the cathedral and Barrio Santa Cruz area. Then we had lunch in the Barrio, ate ice cream at my favorite place in Sevilla and then headed back to Alcalá for class.

Fried goat cheese, black olives, bread and a tomato jam.
Anna banished the olives to my side of the plate.

Tortilla Española with a sauce.

Artichokes and ham

The 'Take Anna to Work Day' activities continued with two classes: a fourth year and a second year. In the fourth year class we did the aforementioned MythBusters activity. In the second year class we did two activities:  one with weird US laws (and they had to restate them using 'you must' or 'you mustn't') and a role play shopping activity. You'll have to ask her what she thought of them.

After class we needed some nourishment so we went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant in Alcalá (along with Megan, José, and Clarisse). It was here that I began my longest stretch of days with at least one glass of wine and simultaneously disproved my theory that I couldn't drink wine and run the next day (breaking point TBD). The waitress came by to get our drink order and Anna ordered a 'Dos Equis' without batting an eyelash. She even tackled her meal order in Spanish, including asking for a 'side of guacamole' (with ayuda from her wordsmith friend, José). She fooled me with her skills because a few minutes later I looked right at her and said something to her in Spanish. She started laughing, along with Megan and Clarisse. The comment I made wasn't funny (save your jokes, people) so I didn't understand why they were laughing. 'Who are you trying to talk to?' she asked. I'm a little foggy on those details.

(To be continued...)