La Vida Sevilla: Marta ha desaparecido

Every afternoon and evening, I watch the same news station wtih my host mom, and every day since I´ve been in Seville, there has been the story of a missing 17 year old girl, Marta. She disappeared a couple nights before I got to Seville, apparently from right outside her house, near the Seville train station. For the past three weeks it´s been a complete mystery and missing signs have been posted all over store fronts. There were even marches and public events in honor of her disapperance. Well, this past weekend, her ex-boyfriend (hardly because they supposedly only dated for a month) confessed to murdering her. He got in a fight with her and hit her over the head with an ash tray until she died. Then he called his friend to help throw her body into the Guadalquivir river. But now, 4 days later, they still can´t find her body, so it´s all really creepy. He and a few other guys thought to be involved are held in jail right now and people are up in arms about the whole thing. Just thought I´d share that bit of news because it´s been the biggest topic here in Seville for the entire time I´ve been her, but especially now. I just really hope they find her body and that the ex-boyfriend and his accomplices are sentenced to life in prison, because it seems pretty clear it was premeditated.

On a lighter note...the weather has continued to be beautiful: 60 degrees and sunny. Last week I took a walk to Plaza de España and Parque de Maria Luisa, both of which were created for the big fair in Spain in 1929. I have now figured out how to post photos on this blog, so I will include them to show you. This weekend, my friends and I also found a new neighborhood which is full of young Spanish people! Finally! Unfortunately, one of the girls got her purse robbed the next day in the same area. Of course the local fun places also tend to be the most frequent pickpocket places. Otherwise, I had a pretty laid back weekend. I spent every weekend afternoon with friends by the river, including some of the other students from the center who are from different U.S. schools. I also had a nice dinner with my friends on Valentine´s Day. Needing a break from the unidentifiable meat and fried potatoes we eat most days, we went out for pizza and salads at an Italian restaurant nearby. Delicious!

One thing that has definitely been difficult for me is the food here- although I am lucky enough to have a host mom who cooks well, the food is still very heavy and the amount of bread and fried food is overwhelming! Thankfully, Manoli always serves some type of vegetable (even if it is potato) and an orange at the end of lunch and dinner. My favorite meals so far have been: paella, lentil stew with chorizo, fried hard boiled eggs (sounds weird but it was delicious), chicken/vegetable stew in a tomato broth, bocadillos (type of sandwich), and tortillas (egg and potato omelet/fritatta). I thought that I would like the fish here, but so far the fish has either been in the form of squid soup (yes I ate that...felt nauseous for hours after), fried fish sticks, or cold tuna. Thus, sadly, I am not the seafood lover I once was back in the NW.

Last wednesday, there was also the big fútbol game between Spain and England at the Seville stadium. Thousands of English (mostly men) came to watch the game, but also apparently to cause ruckus and get completely belligerent before and after the game. The entire day before the game, the English were flooding the bars and the streets, pounding down the beers and yelling at whoever passed. It was awful- they even threw oranges at cars. A few of my friends actually bought tickets to the game, but me and a few other girls decided to save the money and find a bar to watch the game and cheer for Spain. We met up with a group of Spanish guys that we'd met the night before, and they took us to a bar with big screen TVs and, of course, packed with people, fans of both teams. Fortunately, Spain won the game 2-0 and the drunk English were sent home with empty wallets and bad reputations.

Well it's time for me to get to class! School is definitely starting to kick in- I have 3 tests tomorrow! Today is not going to be the best of days...but then its another 3 day weekend and on Saturday I am going to Cadiz to celebrate Carnaval! Should be the most insane night of my life, I am very excited but I need to find a costume first. Then on Tuesday my group leaves for Morocco for 6 days, which I am also really looking forward to. After those two trips, I will definitely have some new stories for everyone!

Besos, Theresa

PS. I think I am finally getting the hang of the Sevillana dancing! On Monday we were put into pairs and I managed to do the whole first part of the dance without spinning the wrong direction or stepping on my partner's toes! Woo!