La Giralda and Paella

Friday April 25, 2008

I finally went up the Giralda today, finally. I’ve been meaning to make it to the Cathedral…but I hadn’t yet, so I decided that it was now or never; I opted for the now. The view from the top is gorgeous of the city and its cool being able to look out and actually know what I’m looking at. Afterwards Allison (who was feeling a little better) and I caught a bus to the School of the Silicianos, that has a professional kitchen, and we met up with our classmates and Yaye to learn how to cook paella. Paella is a very typical Spanish dish with rice, veggies and either chicken or fish, sort of like a stir-fry. There was a professional chef there as well as Yaye and we all pitched in chopping, stirring and decorating to make paella. I cooked a little pan without fish (no more Pepe’s and his friends) and it actually turned out really well. I can proudly say that I can cook a real Spanish meal! After we got done eating we had to say good-bye to Rocio and Yaye, two of our teachers, and it was really sad. I adore them both and this experience has been great because of them. Afterwards I went home and changed and I went to La Plaza de España and El Parque Maria Luisa with two classmates. We just hung out and talked and reflected. It was fun to get out and enjoy the 95-degree weather. Sevilla is starting to get really hot, and Encarna say’s that it just gets worst as the summer goes on. She said the high is around 120-ish and I can’t even believe how anyone could stand that. I stopped at an Internet café on the way home and said a couple of final good-byes. If that wasn’t bad enough, Allison and I ended up packing a bit when I got home, how lame. Encarna came home from Málaga tonight and we chatted with her for a bit while packing. It’s an odd feeling….I know that I’m leaving but I don’t think that it has quite hit me yet. I’m sure when I’m lugging my life around for two weeks during May I’ll start to realize that we are actually returning home rather soon.