Friday:
After my classes, I determined it would be prudent to figure out the post situation as my time will be rather limited on my last day which is the only day I can ship unless I want to carry my dance gear with me for the next two months. Mission successful as the times will work, the location is close and I went home for a siesta armed with a box large enough to hold all my stuff. I had a nice long nap which prepared me for what would be a long night. I went to the Pena Pies Flamenco tablao to meet some of the girls from class to see our friend Lakshmi perform. It was fantastic! She was amazing as was the cantor and the guitarist. After a few numbers, the crowd was invited and there were many that took turns jumping in to sing and dance and all were quite talented and it looked like everyone really enjoyed themselves. After the show was over and the bar was near empty, the music continued as everyone sat around a table drumming and singing with the occassional dancing. During this time I met Teresa and we chatted and hung out and made plans to meet up soon afterwards. Eventually it was time to leave and we split off into different groups based on the direction we were going. My group; consisting of Stephanie, Chris and Joshua, ended up going to another bar and drinking tinto’s de verano and chatting for another couple hours and Lakshmi and Juan joined us after a while. It was eventually time to go home for real this time and it was a bit of a struggle to sleep as all the dogs decided to bark at the coming dawn.

Saturday:
I had a slack day and spent the morning going through all my stuff and started to pack. It was so strenous that I had to take a nap. Or I was being lazy… I then managed to get all my photos organized to my OCD standards at the internet cafe. Because I had initially thought I’d be going to Granada I had made no plans and couldn’t reach anyone or didn’t know how to, I ended up watching TV for lack of anything else to do. A pleasant break from my chaotic schedule :)

Sunday:
Woke up at a leisurely time and went to Triana to meet Teresa for lunch beside the water. Turns out we can talk a lot. Stopped at her place to take her dog Nina for a walk and afterwards, went over to Marianna and Freddie’s. We all went for some fabulous, locally made ice cream. Teresa and I continued on after M&F went home, chatting the whole way, and before we knew it we were near her place (the other side of the city center of Seville from me, Marianna is in the middle). We figured we might as well continue our conversation and found beer. A bizarre feeling being able to walk openly with alcohol! Took the bus home and went to bed, 12 hours of walking and talking can wear a girl out!

Monday:
Since Teresa lives so close to my morning class, I stopped by and we had some breakfast before my next class and she had to go work on her paper. After running a bit longer on my second class, I managed to catch a few winks before my third class. After my fourth class, I went to meet Teresa at the Palacio Andaluz where we were meeting M&F to watch Lakshmi perform. As I was walking down the street and heard someone call my name and it was Lakshmi, Stephanie and Joshua so I joined them at Josh’s until Teresa arrived as it was right across the street. Kind of a neat feeling to run into people you know in a foreign city, makes it feel like you belong there. Shortly after settling in, I got a panicked phone call to hurry from Teresa as the location was not what she expected. It’s kind of a dinner theatre touristy kitchy kind of place but the talent there is quite high, it’s where the up and coming performers work to earn the coin that enables them to pursue their art. I recognized 2 faces on stage besides Lakshmi; Juan, the cantor from Friday and one of the classical dancers was in my morning class with Manuel. Teresa had met a couple from San Francisco while they were wandering Seville checking out courtyards and had invited them to join us. I was talking to Harold about my trip so he asked who I worked for that would let me take so much time off. I mentioned the oname and he choked a little and looked kind of excited, I told them that no, we have nothing to do with large groups of cyclists, we were an agency, he got even more excited; turns out he worked with us, client side, before retiring a few years ago. It’s one of the few accounts I haven’t done any work for though so we hadn’t had previous contact, he did send me with a hello to Colin and we quite enjoyed our 1 degree of seperation discovery. I suspect they had no idea they would end up having tapas with the performers and having a fun small world story when they went wandering Triana!

Tuesday:
Today was the big day to go to the Alhambra. I picked up my last groceries for the remainder of my time in Seville and some snacks for the 3 hour bus to Grenada. Arrived on the grounds around 3:30 and ended up waking up Marie in Victoria and having a good chat before I went in. I went to see the rest of the site before my 7:00 appointment for the restricted palace areas. The fort part was kinda meh but only because I’ve seen so many now, the generalife and the catholic portion were quite nice but nothing tops the amount of detail and quantity of the stonework in the Navarre palaces. I wish they would allow more time! I had to book it out of there though, the last bus I could get a ticket back to Seville for was 8:30 and I couldn’t find a cab at the cab stand so I had to jog down the switchback to town where I found one that got me to the station with only minutes to spare. I was home by midnight, exhausted, but it was worth it!

Wednesday:
After Manuel’s class, I joined Marian, my Estonian friend from class, for tea and wifi. After Angelita’s class, I went for a tinto de verano with Marianna, Lakshmi and Stephanie. Why is it that I met the greatest people at the END of my stay? At the same time I guess it’s kind of good or I would have never survived as long going out so much and it would have been even harder to leave. For old times sake, I stopped by the pub I went to in my early days before I knew anyone and caught up with Fernando and the crew. There was a lady there who was kind of a nutter and wouldn’t let me go on my way without correcting my grammer by talking in riddles. I went straight home after my evening classes as I was tired from the last couple days and I made sure to close my windows because now the Spanish Mosquitos are EATING MY FACE. Seriously, I’m a delicacy the world over.

Thursday:
It was Manuel’s turn to kill us today, footwork over and over until my legs could barely handle more. Went for tea with Marian again, both of us exhausted. I was understandably relieved when my class with Angelita was cancelled. As it was my last full day in Seville, I took the opportunity to wander around and take a few photos as I had been neglecting my tourist duties in favour of my residential experience. I met a charming man who spoke Spanish I could fully understand and was celebrating his 91st birthday during my wanders and even managed to squeeze in a quick nap before my private class with Lakshmi. I have a lot to learn but at least now I have a better understanding of where to begin. My last class with Juan was fun, Regina had on one of her fancier outfits and I wore my new dress. I figured it needed to be danced in at least once before being shipped home in all it’s multicolored polkadotted glory. On my way home, I received a call from my momma finally, she had arrived in Madrid on Monday. Turns out there’s a 24 hour strike on the trains the next day, hooray! I went to the train staton pronto and I was fortunate to have booked on one of the few trains that would be running, went back home, shared the info, then called Teresa as that little adventure made me need beer. The plan was to meet her in Triana where she was with some other friends. What she forgot to mention was that I’d have to squeeze through thousands of people and caravans of revelers returning from a pilgrimage to Rocio. Every 20m of people a different band would be playing Sevillanas and people were throwing flower petals from the windows. I managed to cut through some bulls so that I could get to the other side of the street and managed to find Teresa on a much quieter street which was good because I had forgotten my cell phone and was worried we might not connect. We chatted with her friend and after he left, we continued after a super long wait for empanadas. When it was much later than intended, we started to walk to her place to call a cab for me and some drunko carrying a big beer bottle started yelling questions at us and then came between a couple parked cars and grabbed my arm quite roughly so I broke free and Teresa and I booked it. He followed us for a bit but we didn’t see him after we had found some other people on the street. A bit of an adrenaline rush to say the least, there was really no time to think of what could have happened as it was a total jumble of events in my brain. Not quite how I had expected to end my last night in Seville! Got home safe and sound though and had my last sleep in preparation for my coming day of transitions.