Family Night in Sevilla

Well, I'm back from Italy (which I will blog about soon), and I only have four days left in beautiful Sevilla. I think I've been in some kind of denial phase because tonight is the first night I realized how sad I am to leave this place. Part of it has to do with the fact that Isa, Ale, Kristen, and I have finally become like a little family. My Spanish is finally good enough to crack jokes, and I just now feel comfortable having meaningful conversations with Isa. But enough with the reminiscing, I'm sure you'll get an eye-full of that, later.

First, I want to tell you about tonight’s activities to give you an idea of how our "family" functions here in Sevilla.

It all began when Isa rushed into my room tonight, pointed at my "GINORMOUS suitcase and said (in Spanish), "Why does your suitcase weigh so much? You're not going to be able to get back to America with that."

"Yes I will," I said. "I'm strong, and there's no way it weighs more than 25 kilos."

"No you won't," she argued, "I called Ale in here to try and lift it earlier, and even he couldn't pick it up."

Our playful banter continued like this for a few seconds before she called Ale and his 6'3" friend, Luis, into my room to try and put my suitcase on Kristen's scale. After a long struggle to fit my suitcase onto the scale, Ale and Luis peaked at the number and began laughing hysterically. My suitcase weighed 34 kilos!!!

"Kate, are you sure you didn't kill a man and put his body in this bag?" Ale asked.

After the suitcase incident, round two of our comical night began. Ale began modeling clothes his cousin had given him. One-by-one he came into our room for Isa's approval. The first shirt he modeled was cream with pearl snap buttons.

"I look like I'm in a mariachi band," he said while pretending to play a little guitar. Isa agreed and waved him away to try on the next shirt.

He then came back in wearing a blue and white striped shirt.

"Que chulo," (How cool!), he said. Isa immediately intervened and pointed to his rainbow-striped pajama pants, "It looks really nice with those pants. You should wear this outfit when we go to Rome."

Ale laughed, ran out of the room, and then came back wearing the same clothes, except this time he was wearing the striped button-up shirt, rainbow-striped pajama pants, and a blue and black striped scarf. Kristen, Isa, and I all laughed while he began to strike model poses.

"I look like a "payaso" (clown)," he said.

Here is a picture of Ale in his "fashionable" striped outfit.



Ale then left the room for a third time and came back in a faded denim button-up shirt.

"This looks like a rancher," he said, "a cowboy."

Isa laughed, stood from my bed, and began to "shoot" her "cowboy" son with the two fake pistols she had withdrawn from make-believe holsters. While Isa played cowboy, Ale began making clip clop noises while pretending to ride a horse.

Ale continued to try on more shirts before finally wrapping up his make-believe fashion show. As soon as he and Isa left the room, Kristen and I looked at each other and said, "We are so lucky."

I've had so much fun seeing the world and living in a new city, but it's moments like these I will miss the most when I leave this place.

Until next time...Ciao!