An interesting week, to say the least...

What have I been up to this week? Oh, the usual...got pelted by candy thrown by children, received a scarf from the Tres Reyes, laughed at unsuspecting victims stepping in dog poop, and dealt with rude people with Calee at the oficina de extranjeros.

So, I'll start with being pelted by candy. On Monday night there was a cabalgata (parade) to celebrate los Tres Reyes Magos. 

Actually, first, let me explain (or better yet, let me let Wikipedia explain) what this holiday is. This is an important holiday that they celebrate here. It's known as El Día de los Reyes or El Día de los Tres Reyes Magos. Here's a rundown from Wikipedia:

In Spain and some Latin American countries, Epiphany day is called El Día de los Reyes (The Day of the Kings),^[115] i.e., the day when a group of Kings or Magi, as related in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, arrived to worship and bring three gifts to the baby Jesus after following a star in the heavens. This day is sometimes known as the Día de los Tres Reyes Magos (The day of the Three Royal Magi) or La Pascua de los Negros (Holy Day of the Black men)^[116] in Chile, although the latter is rarely heard. In Spanish tradition on January 6, three of the Kings: Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, representing Arabia, the Orient, and Africa, arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. Before going to bed on the eve of January 6, children polish their shoes and leave them ready for the Kings' presents to be put in them. The next morning presents will appear under their shoes, or if the children are deemed to have misbehaved during the year, coal (usually a lump of hard sugar candy dyed black, called Carbón Dulce).^[117] Most towns in Spain arrange colorful parades representing the arrival of the Reyes Magos to town so children can see them in their camels or carriages before they go to bed. The oldest of this parades is held in Alcoy, Alicante – Alacant, Valencia, which has hosted an annual parade since 1885.^[118] Sweet wine, nibbles, fruit and milk are left for the Kings and their camels. In Spain, children typically receive presents on this day, rather than on Christmas, though this tradition has changed lately, and children now receive presents on both days. In Spain the Epiphany bread/cake is known as Roscón^[119] and in Mexico as Rosca de reyes.^[120]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_%28holiday%29#Spain_and_Latin_America

Okay, anyway, at first, I was all, "Oh yay parades are fun!" But not this one...it was just dangerous. There were bands, small cars, floods of people dressed up w/ blackface make up, and the floats. 

Those floats...let me tell you something, those floats look cool from afar, but then they get up next to you, and suddenly you're being pelted with little hard candies that children are supposed to be "gently tossing." But no, they're just children so they pummel those little caramelos (lil wrapped candies), and when they hit you they feel like rocks. Here are some pictures and videos I took (with my phone so excuse the horrible quality) so you can see for yourself:

Looks pretty from afar...

People w/ their blackface make up

This float didn't have kids throwing the candy, but still...the flinging of the candy is not the safest idea.

The parade was super intense. Candy was EVERYWHERE. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the car tires that were carting around the floats. They were completely caked in candy that they had been running over. Everyone had candy stuck to the bottom of their shoes and were scraping their shoes off on the curbs, and the roads and sidewalks were just an absolute mess.

At the end, there were about seven/eight people with their balloon bundles trying to sell balloons to the masses.

Tons and tons of balloons. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate this random girl's face in the bottom left corner of this photo?

So after the parade, Calee and I walked around el centro to look at the aftermath left behind by the parade. The parade went all through Sevilla, leaving from the University around 4pm and eventually making its way back there around 9pm. Here'a a map of their route:

When I got back home, I was in my room when Toni called me and said, "Kari, toma!" (direct translation: Kari, take! Better translation: Kari, take this!) I honestly just thought she was giving me my laundry, and I didn't really feel like putting it away so I just kinda sat there for a few seconds and silently cried on the inside...but when I stepped out of my room to receive what I thought was laundry, Toni was holding a shiny silver gift bag for me!

I obviously was surprised, and as usual when I'm caught off guard/surprised I can't form words, but I managed to stutter out, "¿Eso qué es?" (What's that?) She told me that the Reyes brought it for me. I think it's funny how everyone here, even adults, don't say, "Oh yeah, so and so gave me this gift!" they all seem to say, the Reyes brought me this gift! At least, in my experience. I can't speak for all of Sevilla or Spain. Anyway, it was a super soft scarf. I like it a lot and it's super warm! 

A few days later, I was out and about exploring a different part of Sevilla that I don't usually go to with Genisis and Isis, when Isis stepped in a really gross pile of dog poop right across from a small shop that sells things made from hemp. Genisis went inside to look around while Isis and I stood outside trying to figure out the best way to clean off her shoe. After she finished scraping her shoe on the corner of a building, we looked up to see a man step in the same pile of dog poop as Isis. We didn't even try to hold back our laughter, and we just stood there snickering for a good minute and a half. He didn't notice though since he was across the street. We're horrible people...and before we left, Isis saw one more person step in it! Poor people...why can't people just pick up after their dogs, though?

Lastly, on Friday, Calee and I had a fun time going to pick up her foreigner identity card (aka the card that acts as our visa extension). And by fun, I mean irritating. We thought we were just going to go over there, pick up her card, and waltz away with no problems. But in Spain, nothing's that easy.

****Note to readers: This is where a rant starts. If you don't feel like reading the rant, you can just skip it. No pasa nada.**** 

We got there, realized after a minute or two that we were in the wrong line, changed lines, waited for not too long, and finally got to the lady, who actually was the Spanish woman version of Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation. Calee handed her the papers and told her she was there to get her card, and the lady got her card, but after looking it over, looks up at us and says, "La tarjeta ha expirado," but with the Andalusian accent it sounded more like this: "Latarjetahaehpirao." 

Neither Calee or I knew what she was saying, so when I told her I didn't understand her, she just repeated herself. Now normally, that's okay and I figure it out on the second time...but this time I still had no clue what she was saying. So when I asked her what that meant, she just looked at me, repeated herself, and got all huffy and just made frustrated noises.

What I wish I could have said to that lady...

I was thinking, "Okay excuse me, lady, for not being freaking perfect at Spanish. Let's see you go across the freaking world and communicate in a foreign language. Let's see how easy you think it is after that!" Finally, after Calee and I just stared at her, she showed us the card, pointed at the expiration date, and said, "Mira." (Look.) When I saw what she was pointing at, I said to Calee, "Ohhh, expired! The card's expired!" The rude lady then proceeded to look at us and with the most mockingly annoying tone of voice said -- in English --, "Yessss, EXPIRED!" 

oh no she didn't.

What I was thinking: Oh really?? You're going to sit here and mock us about something you couldn't even figure out how to explain to us? Seriously???

What I said: Ohh, okay, but she needs a visa extension...what do we do?

What she said: No sé. (I don't know.)

Hold up, say what?

What I was thinking: Okay, how does she *not* know?? She works there, this is her JOB, how is she going to sit there and tell us that shE DOESN'T KNOW? 

What I said: ........................................

Nothing. I said nothing.

After a few seconds of Calee and I freaking out and trying to figure out what to do since this dumb lady was of no help, she finally told us we should go talk to the police across the hall. We said thank you and left, and we actually decided to head over to the JYS office first because they were closing soon and we thought they'd be a little bit more helpful at least in terms of who we should talk to or what we should do. 

Our walk back to the office was full of questions. How is it expired? Why is it expired? We filled out the same paperwork and went on the same day to turn it all in, how did this happen? Who screwed this up? Why was that lady so rude? 

When we got there, Calee tried to explain in Spanish what had happened, but after a few minutes they switched to English so nothing important would get lost in translation. This isn't really something you want to mess up, especially since it's already messed up. Basically, they told her that she just had to go back there and try to talk to someone else since the first lady was clearly unhelpful. Then they told her that it totally wasn't her fault, and that she didn't even need to worry because luckily, her actual visa doesn't expire until March. 

So, we reluctantly walked back over to the Oficina de Extranjeros, and I explained our situation to the security guards who direct you where to go. Unfortunately, he directed us to the first lady we talked to...ugh. Our reluctance was noticeable, as he had to keep ushering us towards the line and telling us, "¡pasa, pasa!" because we kinda just stood there like, "but whyyyyy???"

When we walked up to her, she just stared at us with her unblinking cold emotionless death stare. If she could have done this, she would have:

There was a tense awkward silence until Calee broke it by explaining the situation. She just stared at Calee, so I tried elaborating a little, and then she cut me off mid-sentence to tell us that we weren't in the right place and that we needed to go to the lady who was on the other side of the room. 

So since there wasn't a line for that lady, we just walked over to her and explained the same thing. This lady was just straight up confused, and didn't seem to understand why we were even talking to her. She was like, "Yeah, the card's expired, so what?" We weren't being unclear, so I don't understand why this was so hard for her to understand. This lady asked us stupid questions like, "When did you get the card? Who gave you the card?" Then she started pretending like she knew what was going on, printed out a ticket, and told us to go in the waiting room to wait to talk to yet ANOTHER lady, who ended up being almost just as clueless. 

We waited for about 15 minutes (not too bad, not too bad), where we discovered they also got Calee's birthday wrong on the card as well. Way to go, Oficina de Extranjeros. Finally we went in and saw the 3rd Lady. This lady asked more stupid questions like, "When you got your fingerprints done for the card, did they give you a paper?" Our answer was "yes." Then she asked us where the paper was, and we told her we gave it to some lady. She asked us, "Which lady?" When I told her it was the first lady we talked to and pointed in her general direction, she just told us to hold on. Then she did some searching on her computer and was like, hm, I don't know about this stuff/I'm not in charge of this stuff...looks like you gotta talk with the police on the other side of the building. 

So, we got up so 3rd Lady could take us over there when we passed the new lady, 4th Lady, we needed to talk with. 4th Lady was the smartest and nicest of them all. We explained to her Calee's problem, and she listened, only asked like one dumb question, and then told us to wait in the hall while she went to talk with 3rd Lady. After she was done, she took us over to her desk and sat down with Calee's passport, and within 10 seconds 4th Lady was like, "Ohh, I see why it's expired. They weren't even supposed to give you this card. Your visa is a 6th month visa, so you don't need this card! I don't know who made it, but they shouldn't have. You're all good, nothing to worry about here!"

Whoa whoa whoa, not so fast 4th Lady, it is not "all good." We told 4th Lady that she still needs an extension, and she was like, "Well then she has to ask for a visa extension." So I was like, "...but you just said she didn't need a card...?" (this card serves as the visa extension -- for me and everyone else at least), and she was like, "No, she doesn't need a card, but she still has to ask for a visa extension." Then she explained to us that because Calee's visa lasts for 6th months, she doesn't need a card (still doesn't make that much sense, but whatever). Then she got up to double check what she was telling us, and when she came back I asked her what Calee would receive instead of the card...like what would the visa extension even be? 4th Lady didn't know. Then I asked her who she needs to talk to to get the extension, and she was just like, "The guy who deals with education/students." Then she told us that Calee needs to come back on the next day that she's available to go talk to the education guy for more information, because...like everyone else, this wasn't her "area" and they guy who deals with student stuff was on vacation. Then, she just reassured us that everything was okay, the card was just a mistake, Calee's not going to be in trouble with the law, etc etc. 

****If you skipped the rant, you've finally reached the take-away.****

As we walked away, we complained about how annoying this all was, but we also tried to focus on the positives. Everything happens for a reason...the first time Calee and I tried to pick up our tarjetas together, the line was out the door and we had to leave before we could get the cards because we had class. I ended up going back the next week for mine, but Calee never bothered to go back to pick hers up. However, if she would have picked up her card before it expired, the person who was giving out the cards probably wouldn't have said anything about the expiration date, Calee probably wouldn't have noticed the expiration date, and then things would be bad if she would have either noticed too late or never have noticed at all. So even though it was a really annoying day filled with lots of shuffling around to different clueless unhelpful people, this was probably a good way for it to go. Rather go through all of this than to possibly get in huge trouble for staying in Spain w/ an expired visa and expired visa extension. 

And that is my week, folks. The upcoming week is looking pretty chill. Isis and Genisis are traveling in Paris and London, and Calee is off traveling to Tenerife, and most of my Spanish friends are swamped with school and work and other responsibilities. That's okay, though. I'm an only child -- I'm used to this. Chill week it is! But...on Thursday, the new spring JYS group arrives. I haven't decided if I'll go to the office on Friday to meet them all for their first day of orientation. We'll see how I feel...on Thursday night.