Feria de Belenes

So in America, we set up little villages and houses and churches, etc. in the US. In Spain, they don't do that. They set up Belenes, which are little towns but set in Jerusalem. They go all out for these bad boys though, working fountains, motorized action figures, etc.

I think the Spanish have the right idea when it comes to the Holidays. They don't do much for Christmas, but their big holiday is Three Kings Day on January 6th. When you think about it, this makes sense, because Jesus didn't get his gifts on the day he was born, he got them when the Kings brought them to him.

Las Setas: A Whole New World

Finally made it to the top of Las Setas!
I have literally been meaning to all semester and decided it was now or never. The cool mushroom structure that I always post pictures of is called "Las Setas," and you can climb to the top and get an awesome view of the city, you can see all the way to the country side. We went at sun down so it was great to capture the sunset. I want to go back during the afternoon though to take more pictures, but it cost 3 euro to go up (but it includes a drink).

I know to everyone else they look like the same picture... but to me each one is different..

I don't know if you know this, but you are looking at the largest wooden structure in the world. That's one for the books: Plaza de la Encarnacion, Seville, Spain.

 It is pretty cool too, that underneath Las Setas, when they were building it (which was originally supposed to be a supermarket) they found these Roman Ruins where the parking lot was supposed to be. When they found them, they stopped construction and scrapped the whole idea until they came up with the mushroom statue. This is the Antiquivarium, which all dates back to over 2,000 years ago and are in their original form.
Mind. Blown.

I only have 12 days left to cherish this experience.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It finally feels like the holiday season. Everyone and their mother was out to see the city turn on the Christmas lights, it was ridiculous! But it was so lovely! And, they have so many street venders selling smoked chestnuts on the corners it is beautiful.
This is throughout the centro of Sevilla, I only took pictures of the big lights, but all of the streets have something illuminated.

how can I leave this.....?

I'm running out of time. This doesn't even capture how busy the streets are. It's ridiculous

 

Sevilla Ghettos Part II

They don't put this neighborhood on the postcards, either. 

While Tres Mil Viviendas is stricken with poverty, despair, drugs, and crime, another neighborhood is worse off financially. Called “El Vacie,” this broken down neighborhood lines the cemetery and is home to many many gitanos (gypsies). This area, however, does not have the same drug problems as the public housing areas. As my tutoring girl phrased it, “they are too poor for drugs.” This didn’t really make sense to me, because in the US, where there is poverty, there is crime. 

These are just pictures from Google- I'll have my own soon! 

This area is made up of mainly gypsies who have recently come to Spain, many times from Romania, and are literally living to survive. They don’t have houses; they build houses out of what they find from “the bin,” which is British English for trash cans. At school they are given their food and even new clothes many times. I inquired about this neighborhood, and was told it’s not dangerous, but I still shouldn’t go. 

This is the true gypsy culture. There is an organization that will take people through that is safe though. HOWEVER, I was asking the faculty at the middle school about it, and one of the teachers volunteers there every Saturday at one of the schools. I have the opportunity to accompany him next Saturday (as of now, hopefully it happens!) and see the area, and the school, with the students that he works with. I am very excited about this potential experience, especially since this is beyond inner city schools. 

The gypsies speak a different dialect of Spanish, and it is very hard to understand them. However, regardless of everything they don't have, no one can compete with them when it comes to flamenco. They were where the dance originated.

They don't pay taxes, the government barely has a hold on how many people are living there. In actuality, they have no idea. "If you stay on your side, we'll stay on ours..."

Sevilla Ghettos (Part I)

 These are the parts they don't put on the postcards. 

Last year, for my History of Urban Society class, I wrote a 20 page paper on the Chicago Public Housing projects and how they came to be as bad as they are now. This led to extensive research on the Chicago ghetto neighborhoods, and reading many personal testimonies about growing up there. 

Everyone always told me Sevilla was the safest place you could be. And, realistically, for a city of 700,000 people that doesn’t allow concealed weapons, it is. However, after talking to one my tutoring kids, she mentioned a barrio I had not heard of yet, and I think I know Seville pretty well. The infamous “Tres Mil Viviendas,” is the public housing forum that Seville has in place. 3,000 federal housing units all in the same neighborhood (mistake number 1).  Similar to those in the US, it is not exactly the ideal place to call a home. She told me it is drug-ridden, and I went on to Google the area and was bombarded by articles of crime and violence that occur there. Having this interest in Public Housing neighborhoods, I chatted with a friend and we decided we had an overwhelming curiosity to check it out. My question was though, just how safe it was. Obviously, going at night in provocative clothing was not an option, but I have gotten various opinions from people as to whether it is a good idea of not. It is the home of a lot of “gitanos,” or gypsies, which really didn’t bother me, because in the Centro, they really don’t bother me. What made me think twice was the fact that:

Not even the garbage men, postal services, or firefighters will enter without a police escort. 

That is pretty extreme. I was told it’s a land of anarchy, the people live without laws. They don’t pay taxes, because the government hasn’t collected in so long, and they have no actual count on the amount of inhabitants live there. It is just one of those, “you stay in there, and we won’t bother you.” They are all unemployed and there are fires in the middle of the streets to keep warm and to cook. The trash is rarely picked up, so it is strewn all over the street. When I asked my director if it would be a good idea she panicked and quickly told me no, just to look at Google. When I asked the principal of the middle school, she asked me why. When I said out of curiosity she said I could only go through in a car, and not get out. They know who is from there and who isn’t and it’s safe to say I would no longer have my beautiful iPhone.

When I asked the other teachers, they all said the only way I could is if I went to the Police station and got a police escort. However, I asked my host mom, and she told me if I went during the morning on like a Sunday, I wouldn’t have anything to worry about. I’m still not sure. 

Granted, every city has bad parts. And it is true, these are the only ones in Sevilla, and are really on the outskirts. I wander all the time around the city and would have easily never seen them. I also want to add that, “dangerous,” here, means you will get pick-pocketed, “dangerous” in the US means you will get shot. While the Black Market knows no boundaries, shootings are not common here, and when I asked if there was any potential of getting shot they all replied not I did something to provoke someone, and even then, a very minimal chance.

Oh, the places I've gone.

What a semester. I've seen a lot, and know that I am pretty lucky.  I placed a red dot on all of my excursions

Click to enlarge

Very excited to Skype with people these next few days!