I'd say it was a Good Friday

After an insane day followed by an even more insane, and late night, sleeping was necessary. I didn't wake up until 1:30pm to the sounds of kids outside singing some obnoxious, repeating song about caramelos (candies). Must have something to do with Semana Santa. I was excited to just laze around until lunch at 2:30 but I heard activity outside of my room and then the sound of the front door closing. When I walked out into the living area I noticed that the tables at the TV and in the dining room were both set. I asked Maruja if her family was coming over for lunch and she said yes. That makes sense since it was Good Friday. This was good news since I was starving and when her family comes she tends to make some really good, interesting dishes. I then realized that I had to really get dressed and look semi-presentable. At around 2 Maruja's son and all of his 6 little girls came over (the ones who I played dress-up with back in January) which was so interesting to see how much they had grown in merely 3 months. All of the girls had longer hair and the baby Ana was so much bigger and was "talking" a lot. The energry in the living room was pretty intense and stressful (it's hard with so many little kids) so I escaped to the porch where Stacey was writing emails. It was extremely overcast and humid and a bit cool out. So sad. At around 2:30 all of the "adults" sat around the dining room table and ate. While eating we watched the procession in the barrio la Macarena. The whole Semana Santa thing is serious. I mean, it's really cool and interesting, but it's all the same. And, I don't know, the statues, as well as the Nazarenos are kind of creepy. Lunch was quite good: we had a cold potato-tomato-onion-green olive salad (sooooo good!), bacalao in a tomato-grilled onion sauce of sorts, and then for dessert homemade arroz con leche (basically rice pudding...DELICIOUS). I was stuffed. Maruja told me that during Semana Santa it's joked about how people "eat a horse" or something like that. Yeah, that was pretty obvious. After lunch Stacey went back outside to work on her emails while I sat on the couch with the girls and the parents. We watched the news while the girls doodled and looked at old photos of Maruja's family. It's so intersting, Isabel seemed really into the photos...she's the one who seized my camera last time they came over and kept taking awesome pictures of everyone. I tell ya, that girl's destined for photography. The news was taken over by Semana Santa. They showed clips of how different countries were celebrating. You know how the Nazarenos walk in bare feet to feel Christ's pain? Well in the Phillipines they take it a step farther: men walk in the processions bare-backed with their own mini whips with which they consistently whip themselves on the back as they walk. So they're marching around cutting up their backs--I mean, they're literally covered in blood and flesh. It's torture. I can't believe how zealous people can be. Blew me away. Soon the girls went outside and started practicing their English and being silly with Stacey. I suddenly got wrapped up in the tins filled with old pictures. I looked through and noticed how Maruja was a very attractive Spanish woman. I also saw countless pictures of her late husband. He was a naval officer or something...her worked on huge boats and wore some really impressive sailor outfits. It's weird, I looked at pictures of him and then looked at Juan, Maruja's son sitting next to me, and saw how much alike they look. I also saw a picture of him dressed as a Nazareno (holding the mask/cap)!!! I then saw pictures of her sons as boys dressed as Nazarenos as well! I couldn't believe it. Oh man. After getting wrapped up in the pictures for a good hour I decided to head out to the porch to hang out with Stacey and the girls. We hung out for a bit and then the girls went back inside. They were not as social and playful as the last time. I then grabbed my laptop and worked on my Amsterdam blogs some more. After another hour the whole family left, with Maruja. I think that they went to mass, Maruja said that she wasn't going to mass until that afternoon. Stacey and I then began to get ready to head out because we were growing restless hanging around the house despite the crappy weather. So we grabbed our umbrellas in case of rain and were out the door around 5:30pm. It was warm outside, but within five minutes it began to rain. However, it was a warm shower so it was not too bad. Maruja told me that every year during Semana Santa it rains. And it was. Tradition, I tell ya. We walked to the center of town so Stacey could buy some postcards...she had to buy 20! She's been on a postcard rampage. She really wanted ice cream so we went to Flanela where she got a major double scoop ice cream cone while I just got a single scoop of wildberry sorbet. We sat outside in the cloudy, yet warm windy partially rainy weather. The streets were packed with people, mostly families and a good amount of tourists. It was so fun to be among so many people, it made Sevilla feel like a realy community. Soon we walked to a couple souvenir stores where Stacey went postcard wild. There was one shop that had my favorite types of postcards: the old-fashioned posters. I was tempted and fell in love with 3 postcards which are old posters advertising the Spring festivals of 1945, 1950, and 1966. They're pretty damn awesome. Then we wanted to go to the Starbucks by the University (the other one in the center is blocked off for Semana Santa) so that Stacey could write her postcards and I could do more reading for Lope. We got there and it was packed with people not only due to Semana Santa, but also the weather. We decided to try the upstairs of McDonald's becaue it's the only place nearby open on Good Friday with seating and no smoking. We made a quick OpenCor stop where we ran into Gisell and Marlena from Cornell who had just gotten back from Italy. We chatted for awhile, caught up. It was good to see them, they're actually native Spanish speakers (Dominican and Cuban parents) so they take a lot of challenging classes at the University so we don't see them very often. Stacey was wearing a Michigan shirt so this girl named Perri who goes to UofM came up and introduced herself to us, attracted by Stacey's shirt. She's on a different study abroad program here, and I found out that she is best friends with a girl who I graduated HPHS with who now goes to UofM. Small world, I tell ya. After OpenCor we went to McDonalds which was absolutely packed and had no seating. Besides, it was loud. So we just said screw it and walked back to los Remedios to go to Starbucks there or something. Once we got to Starbucks we realized that we didn't want to buy anything there (they're anal about loitering there) and Stacey wanted some fries so we settled on McDonald's in los Remedios. That's right, folks, that's how low I stooped today--I studied in McDonald's. I couldn't be anymore American. We were there for a good hour and a half. I really didn't get much done because I was having a hard time focusing. It's hard to do homework when you're on vacation. At 9pm we walked home for dinner which was served promptly. We had simple, plain revuelto (omelette) and this delicious cooked mixed legumes dish she makes sometimes. For dessert we had bowls of canned pineapple. Nothing special, but still as good as ever. Before dinner I had been back-and-forth texting Melissa about going out with everyone tonight. I was kind of tired, but still determined to get out....you're only on Spring Break in Spain once! After dinner I awaited some more correspondence. I went online and worked on blogs and such when I got a text message from Melissa saying that everyone's just staying in since it had started to rain again. It had also cooled down. I think everyone's still a bit tired from traveling, hence why our night was so blah the night before. I mean, Thursday night we really didn't do anything except sit and eat. Also, on Good Friday people don't really go out like they did on Thursday. In fact, no one really goes out. Usually on Friday nights here when I stay in I can hear crazy ruckus outside. I'm writing this Friday night and it's pretyt much silent outside. Probably a good choice to stay in. I skyped with the dad for a bit, worked on emails, blogged, and then called it a night a little before 2am. It was good to stay in, lay low, and get some stuff done that needed to get done. I'd say it was a Good Friday. Yes, indeed it was.