Pilate not Pilates

So last week they were filming a movie here with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise (Knight and Day) so different parts of the city were blocked off. It didn’t really affect me except for when I tried to go for a browsing shopping expedition between classes and had to take a detour. All I could see was really small cars like ones in the Italian Job or something. People were trying to catch a glimpse but they had it pretty well blockaded so there wasn’t much of a chance. On Thursday Maureen went to London so it was just me in the house again. On Friday, Mati was making spinach with chickpeas which might be my favorite of her dishes so I tried to watch some of it. I didn’t get all of the ingredients because I wasn’t sure of the spices and she just called them assorted spices but I got the general idea. As I walked through the living room I stretched because I had just gotten up and Mati told me that I shouldn’t do that outside of the house. Apparently stretching is considered very rude here, which is good to know because even though it’s not exactly perfect decorum in the US, you might still stretch in public depending on the situation. Here, I guess that’s not a good idea. Friday afternoon I went to Casa de Pilatos with my friend Margo. It’s a small palace/big house from the 16th century. I know Pilatos sounds kind of like Pilates but the name actually comes from Pontius Pilate. Nope, he didn’t live there or anything even closely connected like that. It was named after Pilate because the owner had just come back from Jerusalem and wanted to build his house in the style of Pilate’s house. The building is an overload of tiles – the walls are covered almost floor to ceiling with them. Even though I have seen plenty of tiled buildings in my time here, the tiles at this particular place were really unique. The designs were gorgeous and I think the combination of so many in the same place made you focus on the tiles instead of other design features. The gardens were also beautiful as well as the painted brick walls of the courtyard. We finished up at Casa de Pilatos just as the stores were opening after siesta – perfect timing to embark on the shopping expedition we had planned for the rest of the afternoon. And what an expedition it was. I had had my heart set on finding a pair of nice leather boots ever since my mother had put the idea in my head during my family’s visit. After browsing a few stores, I finally found a pair that caught my eye. I was going to wait a little bit (because I really hate impulse buys and always like to maximize my options) but the saleswoman told me it was the only pair in my size they had. Ok, I was convinced! I’m so happy I got them (if you can’t tell by the fact that I’m actually writing about a pair of boots in my blog!) After a few more stores we stopped at Ben and Jerry’s for ice cream. I was really curious how the flavors would translate since most of them are a play on words. It turns out, they don’t attempt to translate them, just put a description in Spanish underneath. The ice cream is great here, but I do miss Ben and Jerry’s and their incredible additions to ice cream, especially since they don’t really do toppings here. Brownie pieces in ice cream... I mean after Coffee Heath Bar Crunch it doesn't get much better than that. After a few more purchases, it was time to head home for dinner. Mati and Luiqui were totally adorable when I got home. When they saw the big bag, they asked me what I had gotten and told me to show them. They passed a boot between each other and commented how pretty they were and how they were good quality. Of course Mati made a joke about how she was going to take them and put cotton in the toes (since her feet are about half the size of mine). And when I went out later to go on a walk with a friend, Mati and Luiqui both said how pretty and stylish the boots looked! It was basically what my real mom would have done if I were at home so it made me really happy. On Saturday Dunia, their daughter, arrived because one of her really good friends just had a baby. At lunch we talked about her new apartment and the differences between Zaragoza and Seville. Later, when I was out for the night with some friends we ran into a friend from Penn who is studying in Barcelona. I know Seville is a smaller city, but it was still crazy to run into him randomly. There were definitely some screams of surprise and I’m pretty sure the rest of the people on the street thought we were crazy! Sunday, as with many of my days now, was dedicated to studying. Unfortunately my time here is quickly fading, which means that my work is quickly piling up. I wish I could just spend the rest of my time here enjoying the city and my friends, but the paradox of schoolwork says that the end must be the worst part. I’m still going to try to see more parts of the city, but I know a lot of my weekends will be dedicated to writing papers. It had to happen sometime I guess.