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Published: September 22nd 2010
First blog entry !
Coming from my new flat in Estepa, Seville. A small town of around 12,000 people, famous for spanish christmas cakes & pastries! (Our landlord is owner of a factory that makes them!)
I met my housemate Danica, & Kate, a girl staying & teaching in Puente Genil on Friday 17th Sept, then I arrived in Estepa on Saturday night / Sunday 19th, after spending a few days in Antequera, Puente Genil & Malaga. We moved into our flat by Sunday morning & by the afternoon we had unpacked and decided to walk around the town.
The first random event was a precesion / parade, a brass band and hundreds filling the street just behind our flat, watching & celebrating while a big statue was carried through. We found out from our landlord, Rafael, that is was 'La fiesta Santiaguista' a week long medieval festival. It was pretty strange, but good to see so many people around.
Later that night (as the supermarket is shut on Sundays and we had no food!) we tried to find somewhere to eat, but again most places were
shut, or it was considered too early (even 9pm is still early !!) so we walked around, and around ..and around some more, until we bumped into Rafael, we asked where was good to eat & he took us right to the top of the hill in Estepa.
There were hundreds of people up there, markets, stalls, music, people dressed up, horses! sword fighters, tapas, bars .. everything. Unfortunately that was the last night of the festival, but i'm glad we got to see a bit of it. We bought some mantecados y polvorones (spanish pastries, which are amazing!!) then headed back down the hill to the main Avenida for some Tapas in a bar / restaurant 'Cala d'Or'.
The hardest thing to get used to is Spanish eating times! I still can't figure out if Spaniards get up early, then siesta, or get up around 9-10am then siesta at 1 - 5, then eat dinner at 10-11pm. All I know is we keep getting hungry and have nowhere to go!
All shops here hav two opening times too, usually 10-1pm then re-open 5 - 9pm. So its hard to get used to getting everything you want done either
in the morning or late afternoon!
Another different thing is that you put your rubbish out every night here, and you literally just put it in the street, and the bin men come and move it. It is quite clean here though, which i guess you wouldn't expect if you put bin-bags outside every night.
Anyway, our street is nice and quiet, although the church opposite 'San Cristobal' (i think!) chimes at very random times, ie. 4am, 10.30am .. But its nothing too bad! We also seem to be right in the very center of Estepa. There is a supermarket just down the street, a few little bread & pastry shops, bank, post office, all within about a 15 minute walk from our flat ! which is always helpful.
I'm loving being able to eat tapas most days (always a great thing for someone who can never make up their mind) and drinking sangria ! It always seems to work out really cheap to get 3-4 different things and share them .. my favourite so far being 'gambas al ajillo' .. basically prawns & lots and lots of garlic !
One thing that is taking a
while to get used to is the Andalucian accent ! They miss out a lot, if not all, of their 's's .. Estepa - becoming - Etepa etc. Which is challenging basically everything I've ever learnt in Spanish clases ! But I really feel like it has made me concentrate a lot more and I have spoken more Spanish in the past 3 days than I have in a few years at Uni.
So, so far so good. There has been only a few minor down moments, but nothing bad. The weather has been on & off, but still always warm (yet windy and cold on a night !) so i'm getting a slight tan (and annoying strap marks !)
Day 4 is all about meeting our new housemate Rachel, more supermarket shopping & more tapas eating !
Hasta luego !
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Cathy
non-member comment
Congratulations
Hi, It takes guts to up sticks and follow a dream - well done. It looks quaint but I can imagine the Church bell could get annoying to start with. We have chiming clocks which we don't hear now unless we actively listen in the night to find the time. Visitors hate them as they all chime at slightly different time on the quarter hour. I believe it is Rachel who you will be travelling in with. I shall check on your exploits from time to time. Have the time of your life - you deserve it. Cheers Cathy