Returned yesterday from a short 4 day trip to Seville with my parents.
Absolutely great.
A beautiful city, full of life. Every street was beautiful for me. Everything worked well, at least, for what I saw. Lots and lots of beautiful monuments and places. Too bad Plaza de España was almost closed (it seemed due to some works in progress). Anyway I loved it.
My rough spanish worked better than expected, except for two things:
First time I wanted to order a cerveza (beer in spanish) the waiter looked at me and said "what?" And I, full of shyness, was like "Ahem... birra, beer, beer." I think that my strong italian accent ruined everything. But then he understood. Thank God.
Last time when I wanted to buy an ice cream, the girl asked me what I wanted and I said manzana y fresa (apple and strawberry). She brought me mint and strawberry and I pointed out that was not what I wanted and she said "Menta y fresa" and I: "No, manzana y fresa" "Oh". I ate apple-mint-strawberry ice cream, not so bad.
I still don't know if my italian accent ruined everything again or she got confused with the colours. Nevermind.
And I have a new name now.
While trying to see the waiting list and ordering a table at Taberna Coloniales, the owner asked me my name to write it in the waiting list. I said it, he did not understand. So I tried to say my surname which is similar to a city there in Spain. It did not work too. Name and surname...errrr no.
After a moment of esitation (with lots of ?? in the air) he solved the situation deciding to call me Maria. "Maria! Vale?"
"Sì, sì Maria."
Now my parents and my friends occasionally call me Maria. I think it'll be my second name from now on.
I also had some strange close encounters.
This sweet mare stared at me more than one time, and she was like "Whatcha lookin at, for horse's sake?" View attachment 6071
My father wanted to took a pic of me and suddenly the horse showed me his teeth. I hope he was only smiling. View attachment 6072
By the way I recommend visiting this city, really. Well worth it.