We used the clothes washer today for the first time. It's a small front loading Siemens model in the kitchen:
There's no drier, but you don't really need one. There are clotheslines on the roof of our building--each flat has an assigned set of lines. The climate here is so hot and dry the wet clothes dry in under an hour:
After laundry, we took a walk in the very hot afternoon sun and made our way to the banks of the river to our west (our neighborhood is bounded by the canal to our east and the river to our west):
This river was about the same width as the canal, but the banks were wild, not developed:
We walked in a park adjacent to the river. As hot and dry as it was, we were surprised to see these snails living on the trunks of the trees in the park:
Side note about trees, according to Palma, there are 10,000 orange trees in Sevilla:
Right now, the oranges are mostly green, but there are a few ripe ones (there's one in the above pictures, but it's hard to see). Also according to Palma, the smell of the orange blossoms in the spring is wonderful.
Being a predominantly Roman Catholic country, most stores are closed on Sunday. We took an evening walk and found a McDonald's open. I had a caramel sundae and it tasted exactly like those in the US.
Here are a few random things we saw as we walked about today. This oddly painted cement utility cap in the river park to our west:
Slept fairly well last night. In a concession to the local culture, I now seem to be sleeping from 11pm to 7am instead of 10pm to 6am.
I ran along the river/canal again today. There were boat races going on:
Seems like most of the rowers were kids. There were lots of parents and coaches on bikes riding up and down the course cheering and giving advice. Very busy. Runners really have to be on their toes.
Mario looked into how we finish up our visa paperwork now that we're in country. He found the forms, learned what we needed to provide and even took the liberty of making an appointment for us at the appropriate government office. We have to get passport photos done somewhere, but other than that, we just fill out the forms and show up to our appointment on July 19th. More on that when the time comes.
It's hard to overemphasize how generous Mario and Palma have been with their time and assistance.
Other than that, we had a relatively low-key day. Pork seems to be a thing here based on our conversations with Mario and Palma and the proliferation of cured pork shanks in every store:
We saw these on an afternoon excursion to a different grocery store. With the hot sun and temperatures in the high 90's, most people were indoors. Being from Walla Walla, I guess we're used to it, though, I think I'd have preferred to stay indoors too.
This patio forms the courtyard of our building. It's common space for everyone in the building, but seems mostly to be used by plants:
Just now, as I took some recyclables to the garbage area, there was a parade staging. It seems to be religious (read Roman Catholic) in nature:
There was even a marching band (actually several queued up in a row). The marchers seemed to be school-aged:
I have no idea what the occasion is.
I have the world cup Russia v. Croatia match on TV right now with Spanish commentary. When Croatia scored, there was a significant cheer from one of the other flats. When Russia tied, there was nothing. I guess I have some idea of the what some of the local football tendencies are.
This morning we walked into a slightly different section of Sevilla and added the Catedral de Sevilla to our list of things todo. Here's a passing shot that does not do it justice.
We also saw the Fuente de Hispalis:
and the Fuente Generacion del 27:
We've been into this area several times now and we're still finding vast areas of unexplored territory.
We also finally visited the Mercado de Triana (the market around the block). This looks like the go to place for a lot of our produce and meat shopping:
They even have sweet onions, though not from Walla Walla, haha:
In Spanish, "cebolla" means onion, and "dulce" means sweet.
After returning home, I set about doing some math while Laura made sure she knew the way to her language class on Monday. I have to say I had a great time reading papers and learning about machine learning.
I used Google Voice to put in a call to my sister Jo-Anne to wish her a happy birthday. We had a good talk. I was pleased with how well GV worked. It lets me call US numbers for free over the internet connection in our flat. Unless something changes, I'll continue to use that to call folks in the US.
We went out again this evening to dispose of our trash. Don't worry it was after 8pm, so it was ok. Here are the trash cans where local residents are supposed to drop their trash:
From left to right: in the maroon/gray, used textiles (i.e. old clothing); in the yellow, plastic, cans and cartons; in the green, glass; in blue, cardboard and paper; in the grey, everything else. The attention to recycling is admirable. Interestingly, one may only bring trash to these bins after 8pm. If you are caught putting trash in before 8pm, you will be fined.
We also walked a ways west for the first time. There it becomes much less touristy and more just Sevillians being Sevillians. We found a small shop with inexpensive housewares and checked a couple of items off of our todo list: ice cube tray, trash can for the bathroom, bathroom scale, and pitcher (for iced tea). We actually kind of borderline had a conversation with the clerk there in Spanish.
