Joé k caló

(Loose Translation: Good lord, it's hot)

So, I just got back from Sevilla last night. It was a whirlwind trip - and boy was it warm.
As they say, "Vaya, caló tela" (see above - the loose translation serves for this expression as well).
I'm a really tired from the trip and from being in class and out running errands all day.
Classes are good - they started last Wednesday and it seems that they are going to be interesting for the most part. I have 5 classes on Mon and Wed, 1 on Tues and Thurs and 3 on Fri. So, I have plenty of time to do classwork, volunteer, explore, and do some work for extra cash on the side, which is good. My nursing director, John Masso, is wonderful - he's very helpful and very warm, and creates a nice class atmosphere for discussion and is always offering to assist us in anything that we might need. My nursing classes are 5 and 7 people (he teaches the class of 5), my psychopharmacology class is about 12, anatomy and stats are at about 20 and theology is about 35 or so. Some have asked about psychopharmacology and theology... Psychopharmacology is the study of the effect of drugs on human behavior - it'll help with my psych rotation (recommended as an elective by my director - he's actually in the class as well for his nursing CEUs) and theology, well, since SLU is a Jesuit school, everyone has to take at least one theology class. Ironically enough, theology is the class with the biggest workload. I think that I'm older than the theology professor, which is, well, different than what I'm used to. Everything I've done - grad school, massage, teaching, oncology work - I have always been the youngest. The tables are definitely turning right now :P My psychopharm prof has spent way too many years buried in academia away from a social setting, I think - my stats prof is pretty good although my math skills are very rusty (how can the daughter/niece of math people forget how to do standard deviations?) - my anatomy prof is knowledgeable as well and my other nursing prof treats our class as if we were all in high school so far (a bit frustrating but what can you do) - hopefully she'll lighten up.
I have been hanging out the most with a girl named Karen - she's the one from CO-WY, 24, and has a husband and little boy of 2 who are going to be joining her in October. She just got an apartment on Friday and I helped her get groceries, sheets and other stuff today (she doesn't speak much Spanish at all). She's in the nursing program with me - we have stats together. Her place is cute and in a good neighborhood - we spent a good part of this afternoon when we got back trying to figure out the instructions to the washing machine - life in a different country is quite the adventure sometimes.

Isabel and I have been getting along really well - she let me make her cornbread last Thursday. Let me tell you, between the measurement conversions (cups-tsps-tbsps to grams and centiliters), using a Latin American cornmeal that is not self-rising and figuring out how much baking powder and salt to add, using Spanish mayonnaise with milk to simulate buttermilk, a gas oven with no fixed temperature control, and a casserole dish instead of a cast iron skillet, we did a pretty good job. It turned out a bit burnt on the bottom and a little mushy in the middle, but she loved it. Isabel took it to her parents' house this weekend in El Escorial and her family ate the whole thing and now wants the recipe. Who knew? I bought a baking pan-skillet thing today that will work better and we'll play around with measurements and stove settings to get things a bit more as they should be, so we'll see. She now wants me to make her iced tea and fried green tomatoes, as well as corn on the cob (she says that it's kind of weird and animal-like how Americans eat it on the cob and she wants to try it). Maybe I should just open up a soul food restaurant in Madrid? Anyone want to be my financial sponsor?
But we have fun and she lets me cook and help clean and we listen to music and dance around the sitting room and watch movies and get silly - I am so lucky to be here. She also likes to show me all her nursing books and materials that she has here. She even has IV and central lines around (she does private nursing and has to have things on hand to take with her) and was showing me how to work with all the needles and such. She just started back to work today (with the rest of Spain - August is vacation month).

Speaking of vacation, Sevilla was crazy fun and crazy busy. I got there on Friday night (took the AVE - high speed train), and Manolo picked me up. We went to his cousin, Joaquín's, house and watched a soccer game (Sevilla vs. Milano). Sevilla just had a tragic event occur last week - one of their defense players died of a heart-related condition during a game - Sevilla was totally wrecked and couldn't play very well at all. There have been homages and specials on tv and in Sevilla and everywhere to pay tribute to him (his name is Puerta). Joaquín is going to go with Manolo to the Dominican Republic on Sept. 17 to have fun while Manolo visits his new wife (Ibánez) and her family. Ibánez has not been able to come to Spain yet because they are waiting on paperwork and such, so hopefully she'll be here by next spring. I stayed with Manolo in his new house - and the house is really big for Spain-standards. It's technically in Sevilla but it's actually almost in the outskirts. He has some... interesting... neighbors... Anyway, it has a front part and a back part, separated by an open-air courtyard. It has a top floor, too. Manolo wants to open a frozen goods store (congelados) in the front of the house.
The big issue with the house right now is that it has no water. He has electricity (he needs to put the wires in the wall, though) but the plumber people that have to connect his house to the system have been lazy as all get-out and haven't finished the job... and he bought the house in January! It's nuts, really. It will be a really nice house (Manolo calls is his "palacete" or "little palace") when it has water and it can be cleaned and painted and the tiles fixed, etc, etc... it's a fixer-upper that cost little up-front but is turning into an expensive project.
Everyone is doing well - Manolo, his group (Miguel and his new girlfriend that I met, Natalia, and Zoilo), the family (Eloisa, his other aunts in Triana (Carmen and Pepa)), Ramón, and Isabel (my friend, not my señora). Sevilla is better now that it's not all dug up from trying to put in the metro like it was last year- they gave up on the metro because they kept finding roman ruins and such that were verboten to touch let alone to remove. So, they put everything back and put in a streetcar instead - the funny thing is that it only goes 2km back and forth between the Prado de San Sebastián and the Plaza Nueva and that they're going to have to take it down again after spending a lot of money to put it up because during Holy Week the processions can't fit with the streetcar, poles, wires, etc. Only in Sevilla...
It was boiling hot there but my abanico (fan), tinto con limón (red wine and lemon fanta) and my salmorejo (like gazpacho but not as spicy-oniony) kept me nice and cool and my stomach happy. It was so good to see everyone, though, and I go back in 2 Saturdays for Manolo's sister's (Angela's) wedding.
Paquita, Mom, Dad, Lisa - everyone sends their hellos and besos :) Oh, and Laura, they are happy to know you'll be nearby :) They keep thinking that you're going to be in Notting Hill, though, not Nottingham.

Lots of love and hugs to all. Pictures are forthcoming.