a look at the home life

i've officially been living in sevilla for 43 days--longer than i have ever lived outside the united states. as a result, i think it's about time that i post some pictures of my home life here! so here's a peek into where i'm living, sleeping, eating, and basically having an all-around good time!

our lovely home tour starts with what is arguably the most important room in the house: the bathroom. here's a picture of our shower/bathtub. indeed, the tub is only about 2.5 feet long, making it by far the shortest bathtub i have ever seen. however, in spain, baths don't really exist, as they require too much water. instead, showers are the order of the day!

here is a picture of me, standing in the bath, demonstrating the loveliness of our showerhead. the showerhead is one of those detachable ones, and it must be ancient, because the adjustable joint that keeps it pointed upward has been completely destroyed, and this lovely 45-degree angle is the shower's natural state. as you can see, it is not in the optimal position to actually touch my head... or even any part of my body, really. that means that, every time i shower, one hand has to hold the showerhead in place while the other hand washes my hair. it's a pretty fun game, really. every now and then, the showerhead takes a suicidal leap from its perch and lands against the ground with an incredible thud. occasionally, it actually lands outside the bathtub, which makes for a very wet and interesting morning (though this only ever seems to happen to chelsea...)

this is a picture looking at the wall directly behind our shower. indeed, this is our water heater. this little container holds all of the hot water chelsea and i have in our bathroom. showers must be taken really really fast, or all the water will run out. generally, one of us can have a warm, 10 minute shower, or both of us can take a warm, 5 minute shower in the same morning. it's pretty convenient that our schedules are different, and there is enough time between when chelsea has to shower and when i have to shower to allow the hot water to replenish.

a lovely picture of me, standing in the bathtub, looking across the room into our mirror. i have pictures of the toilet and the bidet, but they didn't quite make it into the blog. every bathroom in spain (including public ones) are equipped with a bidet. the only way i can think of to describe a bidet is that it is a sink for washing/rinsing one's bottom. i haven't yet tried it (though i am really curious). another interesting thing about spanish homes is the plumbing. the plumbing in our house is such that we can't put anything (including toilet paper) down the toilet. it all must be thrown away into a little trashcan that our poor host mom empties on a daily basis. it's a pretty big difference from the u.s.

now, is a picture of my bedroom! this picture is taken from the doorway, looking across the room to my area (hence why i'm sitting on the bed). both chelsea and i have a bed, little nightstand, hooks for hanging up our jackets and things. then, in the corner, we have a shared table with two chairs, where our computers have taken up permanent residence. my bed is directly across from the desks and the windows. it's a lovely little room, and i can't complain about it! i spend a lot of time in bed, reading or doing homework...

this is the street where i live! if you look on the righthand side, you can see our house. is the second white one on the right. our street is home to lots of young families, and there are always moms walking with their children. older people congregate in the streets to gossip. of course, parking in spain is a nightmare, and you can see all of the cars illegally parked on the sidewalk. all of the streets are like this--with cars randomly parked wherever they can fit. pretty interesting. at the end of our street, there's an old franco prison that is now empty and abandoned. when we first arrived, i was pretty freaked out by the prison (not realizing that it is no longer functioning), but now it's pretty interesting to have a piece of history so close.

here's a look at lovely number 27, our home! behind me, of course, is the door with the infamous lock that gives me grief every morning!

this photo is taken looking up the stairs. our bedroom is upstairs and then to the left. when we first arrived, these stairs seemed like a terrible obstacle, as chelsea and i had to carry all of our baggage up there. it was pretty interesting, and i can definitely say that i'm not looking forward to carrying our suitcases back downstairs at the end of the trip, after we've had time to accumulate even MORE stuff!

a look at the rooftop taken from the door at the top of the stairs (see the picture above). our rooftop is lovely, and most of the time, it doubles as an outdoor yoga studio (for chelsea and i) and clothes dryer. no one in sevilla owns a dryer--they all dry their clothes outside. again, another striking different from the u.s.