¡Qué divertido!

Well it's been busy fun here in Seville the past week. Every day, I want to record all my goings on but I keep getting caught up in Seville life. Little by little "poco a poco" I am going to keep this blog alive, because I know there's at least a handful of people out there that enjoy reading about my time here. With that preface being said, hop aboard the rollercoaster. Here we go.

Friday, October 3 (el 3 de octubre)(el cumpleaños de mi padre!): I went to the beach with Erika and Phil. Cádiz, España to be exact. It was a perfect day to get away from the busy streets of Seville and take in some fresh air. I'm not the best with words at times, so I'll let my photo album tell the story. http://picasaweb.google.com/rdbishop06/CDiz?authkey=57EOt3aufY8

Everything was breathtaking. Within a 3 month span, I have seen for the first times the Atlantic from the west side (South Carolina with Em!) AND now the east side (Spain)!!! We all definitely needed the break. We stayed at the beach most of the day. I am proud to say that, yes, I DID in fact go topless haha. Touring the city, we saw some amazing flora, a few stray fauna, and some amazing architecture (Cathedral photos).

We arrived back in Seville that night around 10 p.m. I got home just in time for some dinner, and then I went out on the town with my 'sister' and her friends. I had so much fun meeting/talking to all of her Sevillano friends. They are all very kind and outgoing and love meeting new people. We went to a posh dance club called "Antique," although that's the definition of a irony, because the place looked like it was from the future. The music was bumping, I had my dancing shoes on, and everybody had an amazing time. I can't wait to go out with all of them again soon.

Saturday night, I met up with Phil and Erika to share some drinks, tapas, and conversation. After that, I walked for a while around Seville playing some chill music on the iPod and taking it all in.

Sunday (el 5 de octubre): Wow was this day awesome. I was expecting it to be the usual day of rest, but wow was I in for a treat. My mom informed me that we would be traveling to her brother's house for lunch. It was located about 10 minutes outside the city in a residential district that reminded me of life in Arizona: same style of houses, cactuses everywhere, peaceful.
Her family was amazing. Nothing short of Sevillanos. They took me in like I was one of the family. Pepe, Pepi's brother, thought that Ryan was too hard of a name to pronounce, so he said I would be Manolo from then on. Haha I loved him. We had a barbecue on the back patio that consisted of just about every good food imaginable: shrimp, sardines, salad, chips, chicken salad, steak... everything was delicious. Pepe kept handing me food and telling me "¡Come!" (pronounced 'CO-may' = eat!) and kept asking if I needed another cerveza. What a guy haha! After eating until I could barely move, he took me inside to watch some TV while all the ladies (pepi, ana, pepi's sister, and pepi's sister-in-law) sat outside chatting the day away. Pepe and I watched some fútbol and then "The Terminal" en español. He fell asleep sitting there. I followed suit. When we woke up, there was some movie on about venemous snakes attacking a village. In total, we spent about 7 hours at the house that day. When we were saying our goodbyes, Pepe told me to hold on, went back into the house, and came back out with a gift for me. A Spanish-made leather wallet. I love it! Yet again, what a guy!

What a weekend! They dont' get much better than that here in Seville... Memories I'll have forever.