February 23 to 26

February 23-26
To recover from Carnaval, Ally, Sasha and I had a good old-fashioned movie night Monday night. Ally lives in a big apartment in Los Remedios, the neighborhood next to Triana (where I live) on the same side of the river. She lives with a Senora and the senora’s sister, who is very sick. Ally is allowed to have people over whenever. We rendezvoused there after choir for me; I stopped to buy microwave popcorn and chocolate, Ally went to the one-euro movie rental place right next door. This was just what we needed. The three of us piled onto Ally’s bed and ate junk food and watched an American movie (we meant to put the Spanish subtitles on or something, but we forgot). It was nice to just take it easy and get wholesome time with my friends. It was pretty late after, and I didn’t want to walk home. Sasha and Ally both have their Sevici passes. Sevici is a bike rental system in Sevilla. There are stations all over the city where you can pick up and drop off bikes. Right then Sasha helped me buy my week-long pass for five Euros. A year-old pass costs only ten euros, and mine is in the mail! This was a great discovery. I had been wary of the bikes before because of my knees and my lack of helmet, but the time had come. Ally’s house to mine was all on the bike path, and I was glad to find a drop-off station right near my house. However, in the days that followed, I experienced every problem possible with the bikes.
The next day I rode to school. I see people riding Sevici bikes all the time, and they stick to the normal roads and paths and no one has any trouble. That was before I came along. I attempted my normal walking route on a bike. The difference between biking in Seville and biking in Leverett is the existence of cars and people. I didn’t hit anyone [hard] but I acquired several bruises, got my tire stuck in the tram track, and generally had some trouble.
The next day I decided to stick to the bike lanes. On the side of many sidewalks, there is a green lane designated for bikers. If a biker hits a pedestrian walking in this lane, the pedestrian has to pay eighty euros. I obviously starting aiming for them once I learned this. I worked out my route, which was not very direct but seemed safer for all of Seville. The problem I had this time was actually wardrobe-related. All of my laundry was drying, so I had to get creative. I was wearing a very short dress with tights which had big holes towards the tops. The combination of this outfit and being a blonde in Spain is not good. I got many looks and comments, mostly from disapproving old ladies, on my way in. Problem #4 occurred on my way home. Once again I stuck to the bike paths. However, I was pretty unfamiliar with them, and somehow got going in the complete wrong direction. I figured I would find something I recognized eventually. Eventually, I confirmed that I had no idea where I was, and asked a woman which direction the river was in. She showed me, and I continued on. I found the river, but I was about five bridges too far downstream. In fact, I was on the side of the highway. This was another lowpoint, being all alone, still lost, on the side of the highway with a short dress and ripped tights, on a bike without a helmet, nonetheless. I was relieved when I found the river again, this time at a better place, and an hour later ended up at home, very late for lunch.
Still not put off, I got another bike for the commute in for my evening class. On the way back I was expecting a smooth ride. I had changed my clothes and I knew where I was going. However, every bike in the city was broken. It was humorous by the time I switched bikes for the third time (it was six total going home). The bikes I used experienced these problems: a flat tire, a thrown chain, a missing handle, bad brakes, a missing pedal, gears that didn’t shift, and an unadjustable seat. There were literally no adequate bikes at this hour (they fix them in the mornings).
Nonetheless, Sevici has still been a positive thing. Now that I have it down, it makes my commute so much easier, and I feel really good biking around. My friend Daniel shared my pass last week, and my long-term won’t come for another week, so I think Daniel is going to buy the week-long which I will share this week. I love passing other Sevici bikers; this helps me feel like a real Sevillian.