Sunny Sevilla Days

Yet another cool weekend, starting around about Tuesday...I got told to go home and have a siesta on Wednesday afternoon as I was dropping off to sleep at the desk so I did as I was told. 

A night in would have been the sensible thing to do but I have pretty much said yes to every opportunity that has come my way while I have been in Sevilla so when asked if I wanted to go to for a beer in a bar that had a massive selection of beers I couldn't say no.

Luckily Thursday was a day off work so I could have a lie in and at least attempt to catch up on some sleep.  It was also Verena's birthday so I spent a very pleasant afternoon with her and her friends eating, drinking and enjoying the sunshine, then enjoying more drinking and jazz music where all of the sleep I had caught up with was lost, me staying out just that little bit too long.

Massive headache Friday morning, got to work about twenty minutes late only to find the dutch girl, who's name I still don't know after 10 weeks, waiting outside with no sign of the boss, I suggested going for coffee and came back half an hour later ready and raring to go then had a breakfast break half an hour later, these hours must really suit as I got quite a lot of stuff finished and left about two.  Unfortunately the headache was still around and I couldn't seem to shift it even after a long siesta.  Nobody asked me to do anything which was good as I would have said yes and an early night I needed.

Saturday I saw poo related art from an Iranian lady called Tala Madani then went and sat slowly drinking beer in a open air bar by the river with Chris and enjoyed all of the beautiful ladies walking to and fro.  Charlotte joined us and we had a few more slow beers.  It was a very agreeable afternoon.  Chris left us to get some food and Charlotte and I went back to her flat for anti-mosquito candles, beer, hummous and a crappy Kurt Russell film in Spanish.

Today I went to mass.  Well looked at the cathedral.  For free.

This afternoon I met up with Charlotte again and we went up the Torre de los Perdigones with it's camera obscura where a very enthusiastic guide showed us ladies bathing by swimming pools, traffic lights, cars, my street, Naboo and lots of other landmarks in Sevilla.  It was most enjoyable and only €4.  We met again later and visited the Museum of Archeology for all of twenty minutes, there are only so many Roman oil lanterns that you can look at, then strolled throught the Parque de Maria Lluisa while my head got more and more sunburnt due to me leaving my hat elsewhere.

I am now cooking myself a typically late spanish dinner and am considering whether or not I should open up my bottle of weissbier dunkel to drink with it...

Four Weeks

I have less than four weeks left now then I have no idea what I will do, I have applied for a couple of jobs but they are more shots in the dark really.  I don't want to come back to the UK with no plans whatsoever or no options whatsoever so I need to get cracking in the next couple of weeks to see what is available.  Truth be told i don't want to go back to Birmingham but need to for now at least.

Richard is still broken hearted, I'm afraid to say, don't seem to be able to shake it, I suspect until I come back home I'm going to have these shitty feelings at least some of the time, it seems more intense when i am very tired but worst of all she is invading my dreams.  I was fine at the weekend, even when I bumped into her with her whatever he is, who looks like me, but today after work felt dreadfully low and couldn't sit around the flat on my own while my flatmates hid themselves away. Instead I went to a bar that was showing Looking for Eric, which is quite funny in parts and has a happy ending so thought it might cheer me up. for most of the film it was only me and the barman in the pub watching it but a couple of ladies turned up later to join us. 

I had four halves over two and a bit hours, continental me.  Maybe I should stop drinking and I'll feel less down.

What's on my mind?

I am trying to figure out how I ended up getting so lost last night...I started off the evening by drinking a bottle of 7.2% Voll-Damm and it all went downhill from there...danced to reggae music til the early hours of the morning...then tried to walk to Portugal down the motorway before discovering I was heading in the wrong direction.

He estado bebiendo desmasiado alcohol este semana. Tinto de verano, beer and silly drinking games with Severine, Raymond and Oceane, beers and idiomas with Dannielo, beers and tapas with Rafa and Sam, beer and fado with Verena and Anna. Beer, reggae and more beer with Ram, Bho, Kate and Lydia. If I drink much more beer this week I will turn into a big bottle or die of liver failure.

Time for breakfast...i am going for a full English.

Bank Holidays

Thursday, got up late, ate tostada con jamon york, washed up, lazed about, thought I should probably go out, lazed around some more, went for a wander, had one beer and people watched from the inside of a bar with lovely air conditioning, went back home and lazed around some more. Later on I had the urge to go out and watch La Madrugada procesiones but the urge to do more lazing was stronger.

Slept for longer than I have then whole time I have been here woke up feeling more tired than I have since I have been here. Walked over to Charlotte's and watched a procession from her balcony. Headed back home and was preparing for another lazy night in but somehow ended up going to a Nicaraguan restaurant run by Bolivians with a girl from Luxembourg and a lad from Newtown and then for some beers with a French girl and two Spanish people and didn't get home til nearly 4am.

Yesterday there were plans for a picnic in the park but they seemed to develop into nothing, I walked around the park three times before deciding to give up looking for people, lie on the grass and read my book. This was until I was attacked by bees and little kids kicking footballs at my head. Got up, walked around some more and bumped into Verena, we hung around in the park for a bit and then went for coffee.

I returned home about the same time as Oceane and Raymond returned with wine, food and Severine. We ate and drank wine and they danced around my living room and eventually roped my into doing so too. After midnight and after much cajoling I agreed to go to a Sevilliano bar in Triana without a penny to my name...

A Busy Week

This week has been quite busy what with art festivals and work and staying up too late and the odd bit of drinking so here is nother badly written un-proofread update, Tuesday night I met Kate, Charlotte, Lydia and Bo and we watched an interesting AV concert/live cinema performance with the theme of opening all borders to everyone across the world, I thought it was pretty good and defnitely a well researched piece. Charlotte reckoned it was the best thing she had ever seen, but she quite often says that. Aftwards we bumped into Alicija and Martyna and we went for a quick drink, I covered my ears while the five ladies described bodily fluids at great length while I was trying drinking my 40 centimos half pint.

Wednesday, after finishing work quite late I considered staying in but wanted to go and practice my spanish at least once this week and walked over to the intercambio de idiomas. I find it pretty difficult to understand what people are saying to me at the best of times but when there are hundreds of noisy spaniards shouting with glee at a TV screen everytime Barca lose the ball it's nigh on impossible.

Thursday no boss in the office so it was an even easier day than normal, I have been building some interactive maps using SVG and javascript and after a few days of struggling to get them working it all finally all clicked into place which was nice. Later in the evening I was supposed to go with Oceane to meet her friends at a barbeque but i thought she had already left as i was so late getting back, so arranged to meet Charlotte at the ICAS art gallery to watch a Scots lady make funny noises using electronical instruments and old cassette tapes, at first I thought it was only going to be interesting for a couple of minutes like some of these things are but it was actually very good. It turned out later that Oceane hadn't gone out but had just popped out to get some food. Urk..

I finished work about half two on Friday, grabbed a whole pint on the way home and had the intention of getting a well deserved siesta but instead found myself looking for jobs on the Interwebs for when I come back, it was far too nice outside to be doing that and went out for a stroll, bumped into Alba and had a another cheap beer. Friday night was fun, I went to see B-Fletcha who sounds to me like Joy Orbison mixed with Kylie - she was mostly good but had a couple of really ropey tracks, following her was DJ Nigga Fox who was cracking, mixing african rhythms with Aphex style noises and the occasional Michael Jackson sample. I was joined by Ram and Jake also from the West Midlands and by Raymond my flat mate but it wasn't his kind of thing and he ran off not too long after it started. After the gig finishedJake went home and Ram and I had another couple of beers on the Alemeda to finish the night off.

Yesterday I woke up with a massive hangover and recovered by sitting in the park next to the Monastario de la Cartuja whilst I drank beer, got stoned and listened to house and disco music at the closing party of the Zemos98 festival, in the sunshine with Chris (before he ran off), Kate, Charlotte and a Wilfred from Paris it was a perfectly lovely afternoon. After it finished Wilfred invited me back to a party at the hostel he was staying in, so I sat on the roof top with more beer and chatted to travelling people, Alicjia turned up with Pedro and then later Martyna. After midnight we all headed out to go to a bar, I bumped into Kyle and stopped to chat to but then lost everyone, ah well, I figured it's probably for the best I need to go to sleep anyway and I went home.

I have been very lazy today but have been enjoying doing nothing in the flat, I suppose I should go out and enjoy the sunshine and catch one of these religious parades that will be on now from noon til 3 or 4 in the morning until next Sunday.

Pasos

Parades parades and more parades, I got completely cut off by them last night. I left my flat at 8.10 last night to meet my friend Daniello for a beer at 9.00 but at every street corner got sucked further and further into the crowds until eventually I got surrounded by penitentes and masses and masses of crowds with absolutely no way of moving until they had passed. Eventually I made it on to the main road but even that was blocked off by people dressed in robes and holding candles, I was an hour late.

It wasn't much better on the way home..

</3 :(

Friday

I felt like shit all day at work which was not even related to beer drinking or staying out (that) late but I had massive cold and so it seemed did my boss. I did consider asking if I could go home but luckily I finished dead on two and had 45 minutes for breakfast in the pub and was ejected from the office so the others could do their weekly clean. I got home decided to go for a bit of a photo walk but was feeling a rough and returned home quicky and dropped off to sleep not waking up til about seven. After an hour or so of feeling crappy sitting in my room with nobody to talk to I got bored and decided to see if anyone was out, I messaged Chris and Verena, Chris had already gone out but Verena said yes, and when I asked where she said anywhere, eventually we arranged to meet at her flat, I had to bring the beer.

I quickly cooked some food and Raymond returned from his Spanish lesson with the news that Verena had told him that she wanted to get drunk. So much for a quiet drink that would nurse me though my cold.

I walked down to the flat, we drank a couple of litre bottles of Cruzcampo between us and then decided to head out to a bar. We walked through the Alfafa which is quite lively, Verena said she is too old for this place, she is only 28, we carried on through the Plaza de Encarnacion and to a nice bar where a blues band was playing “Got My Mojo Working”, they finished not too long after we arrived and we sat at the bar chatting with a beer.

Oddly the cold which had been making me feel shit all day had pretty much gone. We decided to carry on to another bar, I texted Bo to see if he was about and he invited us round his flat for cake, I told him to give us a bell when he left his place. As we were walking down the street I spotted a massive Jesus in the window of a house, Verena was not so impressed. The door to Bicicletaria was open so we ran over and got ourselves a beer and headed upstairs. After a bit of musical cushions we found ourselves a seat, it was ridiculously hot inside and there was a lot of weed being smoked and after an hour or so Verena started dropping off to sleep, so we decided to leave. I walked her half way home and she asked if I was going to carry on, I said no, but she didn't believe me, I didn't. I drank the equivalent of three pints and was out for over four hours and felt a bit tipsy, this would never happen in England.

Saturday

I got up about nine and went out in search of some breakfast, everywhere was dead quiet and yet there was still a massive queue in the supermarket. I ate my staple serrano ham on toast with a drizzle of olive oil, some plain yoghurt and orange juice, went for a coffee in a nearby cafe and then window shopped around all the amazing book and art shops near me. Life felt good

There was an alternative festival happing in Sevilla and I met up with Verena, Chris, Charlotte, Rafaela and her bloke Rafael and along came my flatmate Oceane. We had a bit of a potter around the Medieval Market that was happening on the Alemeda and then caught the bus to the festival. It was very hot and I was in desperate need a cold beer but Chris had bought me a 6.5% Grimbergen which went down very nicely as an alternative. We sat and ate a picnic and drank sangria and cold beer and some warm beer and listened to some nice music.

Then the music finished and we moved on to find more music and drank more sangria and beer. I got roped into doing a far too energetic dance workshop with Charlotte but it was far too warm for that sort of thing and I only lasted ten minutes. Verena's flatmate Adriano arrived and we sat in a meditation area pretending to meditate while drinking more booze.

Then we were dragged by Verena and Adriano to the Bioenergy area where we all lay down on the floor and listen to some bloke make funny noises. Oceane kept giggling and Verena went to sleep. I thought it was very silly and would have preferred to be watching some bands or something. It was getting dark and Oceanne said she wasn't feeling very well so I thought it would be best to go home with her to make sure she got back alright. I told Verena what was happening but she was still half asleep, she said she was going to stay longer.

I got home about 10.30, Oceane went to bed, I showered and got ready to chill out in bed too. I found some scales and weighed myself, before I came here I was 18 stone exactly, which is 114.3 kg and if the scales are correct I am now 100kg exactly, I supect they be out a little but I have definitely lost weight, I have stopped drinking coca cola and walk at least 6km every day but most days I am doing somewhere between up 8-10km. So with that positive news I took myself off to bed.

My phone goes off, it is Bo asking if I want to join him, Martyna, Celina and a French girl who's name I can't remember for a beer, I almost say no but then think, it's Saturday night, it's not quite midnight, fuck it I'm off out. We meet in the Alfalfa I have a half then we take a circuitous route to a hostel where we are suppose to be meeting Pedro but neither he nor the hostel are were we are standing. We head down towards Alemeda and bump into Manuela and her friend and then Kate and Lydia and stand around deciding what to do for a good half an hour before the Italian girls decide on a place called the Fun Club.

Inside they have posters of Patti Smith and Elvis Costello on the wall and are playing The Smiths but there is nobody in there so we stay ten minutes and go to a very busy bar playing really shit dance music for ten minutes, Kate tells me that if she sings the words to her favourite songs over the tune it makes it a thousand times better. Heading towards Munich we stand outside there for ten minutes and I drink a big beer and then we all go round the corner to a cheesy house club which is playing a Frankie Knuckles track every fourth song.

Bo wants to know where Verena is and I tell him I had to bring my flatmate back and left her with a Spanish lad at the festival and instantly he says “Right come on, do you want me to round you up some women.” I thank him but tell him I'm fine. I dance to cheesy house music until about half three then get bored everyone has fragmented so I wander home.

Sunday

Slight hangover but nothing that I can really complain about, Verena messages me to ask what I'm doing today, I tell her I want to go back to the festival but have a meeting at 2pm with the agency I came over with and will ring her later. The meeting is a bit pointless and would have been better in the week. It is very hot today and we meet in what is probably Sevilla's warmest spot. Kyle is complaining about somebody accusing him of smoking marijuana and drinking beer outside the school he works at, Rafaela is still complaining about the deposit she hasn't paid and I have stopped listening.

Meeting over, I try to call Verena but discover that I have no credit, Kyle says she has already gone out with Adriano so I figure that I'll meet her there. Kate and Charlotte and I get some beer and then the bus up to the festival. The festival I think initially is a bit more chilled out today, more families and being Sunday more people who have to go to work tomorrow. We sit around and I struggle to open my bottle of beer for a good half and hour but eventually am successful and quite enjoy the fruits of my labour.

Verena calls and tells me she is going towards the Bioenergy tent for a yoga session, I go and meet her and blow snot out of my nose for then minutes doing breathing exercises before starting to think this is very silly and over there I can here reggae which is far more exciting so I get up and leave. I meditate by drinking beer, breathing in second hand weed smoke and dancing to reggae. I shortly discover that I had lost most my money that I had on me whilst lying on the floor breathing green stuff out of my nose in the yoga area. The reggae band are very good, even though the do have Spanish accents when they sing, they are also a bit naughty and when they are told they only have one last song to go they do a twenty minute medley of all the songs they haven't already done.

I meet back up with the others and we go and dance to people banging drums, Joe would have loved it, the Italian girls are here now and are also dancing. It's about this point that I probably should have stopped drinking, I didn't have enough to buy food but had enough to buy a couple of cans which tipped me over the edge of pissedness. Verena and Adriano disappear off somewhere and so do the girls and I am left with some Australians who don't talk to me whilst watching a ska band who are quite good and play a couple of Manu Chao tracks.

I start to get quite maudlin and am about to go home when I bump back into Verena and Adriano, I tell her that I love her but I don't want to see her anymore, I instantly regret this and she looks at me as if to say stop being so stupid you drunken oaf, but it has come out and I feel daft and I can't unsay it, so I run away.

I walk home down the river feeling stupid.

Bollocks.

Good Weekend, Bad Weekend

Hmmm interesting weekend so far, I changed flats on Thursday night to one that isn't as nice as the old one but in a much nicer location nearer to where the best bars are. I am sharing with a pretty French girl called Oceane and today I will be joined I believe by a fellow brummie. Later that evening I met with Verena in Anima and watched a rather nice folky band, she had been playing volleyball and was a bit tired so it wasn't a late one. I was back home by 1am.

The next morning I had to walk half way across town to drop off the keys to my previous flat with the agents, it was absolutely pissing down and I was soaked to the skin by time I got to work. There is no heating in my fridge of an office and there was absolutely no chance of getting dry so by the time I left I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and freezing and so I took myself off to bed.

Woke up about 7 had some food and sipped on a beer whilst waiting to find out what the other's were doing, by about 10.45, I'd not heard and was getting a bit fed up with waiting so I figured I would wait in the bar around the corner called Perro Andaluz which was having some live music. The minute I got a beer I recieved a text from Charlotte to say there were lots of Italians in her house and that she wasn't going out but I should come round anyway and meet them. So I walked over thinking "hmmm should I have stayed where I was this is a bloody long walk this?".

Not that I need to worry as when I got there it was all cool the Italians plied me with rum, vodka and more vodka and I tried out my Spanish with the Italian girls. There didn't seem to be any enthusiasm to leave the flat when suddenly at 1am everyone was out on the street and walking down the road to a flamenco music bar. This was pretty enjoyable, outside Bo with his excellent Spanish talked to some doctors from Barcelona who seemed very amused by us. There was a band inside that were just about to start but the girls decided they wanted to go home as we left.

It was only about 3am and Bo and I were up for carrying on so we walked over to a cheesy disco bar nearer to our flats' talked to some Germans (in Spanish) from Berlin and Koln and then some very drunk Irishmen who Bho reckons were looking for a fight but I didn't pick up on that if they were. We needed some directions so I went to ask some lovely but slightly drunk spanish ladies who didn't believe I could understand what they were saying to me and we shouting random English words at me even though I knew exactly what they were saying. Bho and I tried to get into bicicletaria but they weren't letting in and it was pretty late so I toddled off. I think I got home about 5am.

Woke up pretty yesterday morning but was too lethargic to leave my bed, until much later. I decided to go in search of breakfast and then head over to the CAAC modern art gallery on the other side of the river. They've got some interesting stuff in there a lot of it was from the 1980s. I was watching the surrealist film Perro Andaluz by Luis Bunuel when I got a call from Verena and we arranged to meet up at the Plaza de Encarnacion with the idea of going to another museum but instead we met up with her work colleague and boyfriend in La Macarena. When we got there we saw a flamenco jam session with a very famous flamenco artist called Manuel Molina and drank free bottles of lemon beer. It was a lovely afternoon.

We walked back home and arranged to meet later. I cooked myself some food and drank a small beer, Oceane hid in her room while I did this. About 11 I headed out to meet up with Verena again, we went to a couple of bars and had some Tapa and she told me some things that I kind of knew already but they still left me feeling a little crestfallen. After the food we meet up with Bho and the two Polish girl's who's names I can't spell in the Alfalfa, they are sat outside drinking mojitos by the litre. We sit round for a bit and then it is decided that we are all going back to Verena's flat where people talk about how rubbish teachers are and school in general is. 

I leave about three with Bho and am intent on going to bed but about twenty yards from my house decide that I need another beer and we head off in search of somewhere open, the only place that was definitely open was Munich . We had a few beers, Bho went off in search of ladies, I wasn't really up for that so had more beer and then walked home.

It is now 13.31 and I should really get out of bed and do something, I have listened to enough of Morrissey (as advised by Joe) and am in need of breakfast...