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Hola from Seville, Spain!
Seville (Sevilla) touched our senses on so many different levels. It's so spectacularly old - a Renaissance-era city which keeps its ancient traditions in a modern kingdom. It's gorgeous -- orange trees line narrow, winding cobblestone streets and Moorish tiles mingle with Roman arches in the old part of the city. It's educational - we seized the days at a language school called "Carpe Diem," where we took an immersion course in Spanish. And it's fun - we greeted the dawn more often than not because we were out so late drinking, clapping and singing along with the captivating music, dance and culture of Sevilla!

JOE: Our arrival in Sevilla coincided with a religious festival. But Sevilla is so chock-full of fiestas, that none of the natives could remember which one we were celebrating now! "Cual quiere," said the taxi driver. That loosely translates to "whatever you want [the fiesta] to be." We lucked out in finding an apartment along the cobblestone streets of the old city; just blocks from the cathedral, the Bullfighting Ring, the famous "Torre del Oro" [tower of gold] and other major sights.We were also walking distance from Triana, the famous music district where "Sevillano" music -- one of the most pure forms of Flamenco -- is still enthusiastically sung and danced by the locals. Our arrival in Sevilla immediately lifted my travel-weary spirits. The rich culture and warmth of the people were immediately apparent. I could understand enough Spanish to get by. But now we were going to learn my father's language in a formal classroom setting! And we got a room that was cheap, if not entirely comfortable.

JENNI: Sevilla was certainly a sight for sore eyes and tired bodies. We left Venice on December 1 on an overnight train. Three trains and one train strike in France later, we arrived in southern Spain the night of December 3. I found a Spanish language school over the Internet and, through their Web site, we booked an apartment. It was easy enough to find, but unfortunately no one was home when we got there. We were a bit worried; wandering up and down the stairs ringing a variety of doorbells when a man named "Tommy" came upstairs, asked if we were Joe and Jenni, and then unlocked the door. Tommy is a fellow Texan, from Comfort (near San Antonio), who has been traveling since May. He quickly taught us some of the do's and don'ts that the owner, Mati, expects her guests to adhere to, and we moved in for the next three weeks - the longest stay in any one place on our entire trip.

We spent the first week making the place livable. Although Seville is hotter than Hades in the summertime, we are here in December, and it was downright freezing in that uninsulated (and unheated) apartment at night. So one our first forays was to the largest department store around, Corte Ingles, where we went from store to store (the departments are divided up between several different buildings in a several-block radius which is usually charming...but not that night) looking for an "estufa" or portable heater. We found a good little one for $50, which was a lot for our little budget but we justified it by spreading the cost over the 21 days we would be there, effectively making the purchase a more psychologically-pleasing $2.38 per night.

We also broke the really creaky bed. It was a little wooden frame thing with a mattress, and Joe sat down hard on it one day and we heard an awful, "how-are-we-going-to-tell-Mati?" noise. The break was rather obvious and very uncomfortable, so we couldn't just live with it seeing as how we had another 2 weeks to hsleep on it. So I told Mati and she was not happy about it. Said she would have to look for another bed and that it might take a long time. (I think that's what she said...this was when my Spanish was even more fledgling than it is now!) But after one night of creaking discomfort, I found a grand solution. I lay the unused bookshelf on its side and use it to prop up the broken part - and voila! - we now had a solid sleeping apparatus again and even better, it didn't creak as much.

We didn't tour much of anything or learn much about Sevilla during this first week. Truth be told, we were road- and tour-weary, and the very thought of learning something interesting was enough to make us sleep until noon. We blamed our lethargy on the long train ride, which in all likelihood had a lot to do with it. On about day six we got excited about the small things again, which was rejuvenating, just in time for the Spanish lessons.

JOE: After our first week, we began classes in a 2-week Spanish course at a school called Carpe Diem ("Seize the Day" in Latin). The teachers are all from Spain and the students are from all over the world, including Germany, England, Iceland, Japan and, of course, the United States.

Their method of teaching is called "immersion," where the student is forced to learn the language without the benefit of speaking their native language. In other words, we were not allowed to speak English. We spent about 5 hours a day in class, beginning our very first day learning one of the most difficult subjects: verbs in the subjunctive tense. Yes, it was as complicated as it sounded and made us punch drunk for the first few days, but we became very fond of the teachers and their methods over the next two weeks. They put us through a lot of verbal drills, showed videotapes, and even took us out walking in the streets to introduce us to the local markets and the vocabulary thereof. Here are our teachers posing with a Japanese student. They are all posing in the Sevillano style of dance which they tell us they learn ever since they are little girls.

Aside from having homework for the first time in years, we also forced ourselves to get in environments where we were speaking a lot of Spanish to the locals. As much as possible, we visited a restaurant called El Calma'ito de Ca'i' where the owner and her son spoke Spanish to us and didn't let us speak English. And we also enrolled in a program called "intercambio" or "interchange" which allows English-speakers (like us) to meet local (Spanish) students who want to practice English. The Spanish students sign up for the program at their local university.We got the list and called a few students and arranged to meet for coffee and "intercambio" sessions. We both met very nice locals that way and also got a chance to see some local bars and cafés we might not have had a chance to see otherwise. My intercambio was a college student named Estefenia who met me at a café and then later took me to a music bar where I listened to live music (and actually picked up a bit on the language!)

JENNI: My intercambio was Juan, a very kind engineer who rode his bicycle all over town. I tried to meet with a couple of other cute-sounding men, but either I misunderstood the meeting place and time (in Spanish of course) or they stood me up. Probably I accidentally stood them up. But Juan was great, and over the three weeks our conversations progressed from halting English and Spanish about inane topics such as the weather and work, to more advanced discussions about theories and family life. Juan says my Spanish was quite good at the end, and I could tell that he got more comfortable with English.

Along with Spanish, I also got an opportunity to learn how to cook Sevillano dishes. A friend of one of the instructors offers cooking classes in her house, so I signed us up. Plenty of olive oil and taste-tests later, I have scribbled, almost indecipherable notes and a new appreciation for aubergines (eggplants)! The paella was easier than I'd imagined, even though I'm pretty sure I didn't catch everything that was said. We'll see when we get home and I try to replicate a little bit of Sevilla for dinner!

JOE: The music and the dancing put a permanent smile on my face and even sometimes moved me to tears. The artists all played a range of soulful, rhythmic music native to southern Spain, called Flamenco.The music has roots in Arabic, Jewish and Spanish cultures, but its largest influence is from the Gypsies who play it best. The music is boisterous and festive. The furious fingerpicking style of guitar playing is accompanied by a singer who always seems to be sobbing out loud. While the musicians play, people clap along in rhythm and shout "Ole'!" It's a lively music that, even at its happiest, always seems to have a melancholic air. While it has many parallels with American Blues music, it sounds completely different. But the concept is the same. Sing about your troubles and everyone will understand. And they will all sing, shout, and clap along.

The form of Flamenco played here is called "Sevillano," which we experienced during late nights hopping bar to bar in the Triana district. We took in about a dozen formal shows, but my favorites were the informal jam sessions. Musicians and groups of friends would often meet up after midnight at a random bar and just start playing. Inevitably, someone would know the words and start wailing along. And invariably, spectators would get up from their seats and start dancing. The Flamenco dancing is so graceful, with dancers elegantly alternating curling arms above their heads while their feet keep the rhythm. Their fingers spiral overhead like sea anemones. Their backs are arched. Their heads are held high in exaggerated pride. Flamenco is seduction personified as the dancers move in tandem ever so closely together, but rarely touch. It looks like the beginning of a love affair and it also looks exactly like a bullfight. It is an absolutely bewitching sight to see the rhythm of the guitars match up with the bodies twisting in tandem. At the music break, the dancers suddently STOP! The crowd bursts into shouts of approval. "O'le!" and "Da'le" ...Then applause. Then the music starts right back up again.

We spent many very late nights at these bars, many times arriving home at 5 or 6 in the morning. It was exhausting, but heavenly. I don't think I could ever get tired of this music!

JENNI: I called a friend back in Texas at two in the morning Sevilla time, and marveled to her about how there were SO MANY people milling about the streets at that hour! And not slobberingly drunk people either, like we may see at home when the bars shut down at 2AM and toss everyone out to hunt down a greasy breakfast joint. These people were just getting started, and the sheer numbers of them out and about made it feel like it was perhaps 10PM on a Saturday according to my Americanized social expectations. Staying out until 5 or 6 AM is something I might breathlessly write about in a diary at home. Here, watching the sun come up is commonplace, and we got as far as seeing the sky lighten to pink a fair number of times before we simply crashed from exhaustion.

JOE: As Jenni mentioned, we did manage to work in some sightseeing in Sevilla. The Cathedral of Seville is one of the most famous sites. The third largest cathedral in the world (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London), itwas built in the 15th and 16th century in Gothic style.

Another of Seville's prominent features is the Torre del Oro (tower of gold) which used to be a military defense post protecting Seville along the Guadalquivir River and now is just a lovely tourist attraction that happens to house a Naval museum.

One of my favorite sites was María Luisa Park which is at its most fantastic at sunset when we would go for jogs through the sculptured gardens and fountains surrounded by green spaces and orange trees. The golden glow of sunset filters through the trees, making mystic designs along the paths. Families walk their children through the park and lovers cavort privately yet very publicly, sharing picnics without food.

On the edge of the park is Plaza de España, a gorgeous office building constructed for the 1929 World Fair. The square has a moat around the front and features a medley of Sevillian architecture - from Roman to Renaissance to Art noveau. The façade was decorated with bricks, tiles and marble columns. We rowed a little boat around the moat for about an hour. As corny as it might seem, it was fun and romantic and beautiful. According to legend, Hercules founded Seville in ancient times. Later, the Romans conquered "Italica" and ruled it for centuries. After the fall of Rome, it spent centuries as an independent kingdom until the Middle Ages when the "Moors" from Northern Africa conquered it and ruled it from the 800's to the 1200's.

In 1248, King Ferdinand re-captured Seville and turned the mosques and other arabic architecture into Christian landmarks. Eventually the city was unified with the rest of Spain. In the late 15th century, a triumphant Christopher Columbus brought back silver and gold galore, leading to Spain's most prosperous period in her history.

He also brought the people he called, "Indians" -- Native Americans -- the likes of which had never before been seen in Europe.

More than 500 years later, I find the irony hilarious that I was now a Native American "discovering" Spain. Many people I met throughout Europe -- Spaniards especially -- were intrigued by my look. In America, I am considered "Hispanic," but in the original Hispanic nation, if I say I'm "Hispanic" they are confused. For them, I am clearly Native American because I look very little like these European Spanish people!

Our memories of Sevilla will be like a fast-moving scene from a train window -- just a breathless montage of activities: getting lost on cobblestone streets; stopping momentarily to listen to groups of carolers singing and playing instruments. Sitting in cafes, chatting with our "intercambios," while munching on a paella. Playing chess with Tommy until we could barely keep our eyes open. Paddling boats around the moat of a Palace.

Jogging through the streets along the Guadalquivir River, then past the Torre del Oro, the bullring and all the other old buildings, eventually arriving at the stunning fountains and orange trees of the park. Hanging out with our British, German, Icelandic, Welsh, American and Japanese classmates in a collegiate atmosphere.

And our favorite moments: late nights in Triana; the district across the river from Old Seville, where old and young gather to sing emotional flamenco-type music to stirring guitars, then dance until dawn.Look around Sevilla, and you will see the city's emblem everywhere - even on the sewer covers.

It's a play on words, which looks like the word "NODO" with a wool knot in a figure-eight; the Spanish word for which is madeja. On either side of the madeja are the letters NO and DO. Together they are read, NO (madeja) DO, or "No me ha dejado", meaning "she has not left me".

It has to do with a 13th century royal who was saved by the people. But to us, it means something different. It represents the thrilling possibility that the sights and sounds of Sevilla will forever ring in our minds. The sensations of Sevilla have not left us. And we hope they never do.