Temperature Control
We are rarely experiencing the same sensations when under the same physical conditions. One is always hot, the other is always cold. In the car, in the house, in a store or walking down the street.
Karen and I have never agreed on what is cold or hot. We are currently in Sevilla, Spain where it is now over 100°F during the day and above 90 really late at night. We are both uncomfortable for the opposite reasons and struggling over control of the temperature.
I am going to state Bill's Interpretation of the Law of Thermodynamics, a universal truth believed by only about half the population (men): Women have never and shall never understand the concept of "thermostat" on an air conditioner or heater.
A man will experiment with a thermostat until he finds a comfort zone, usually (according to a woman) a few degrees above absolute zero in the summer. A woman will turn on an air conditioner until she is cold, then turn it off (or not) and open the windows and doors, suffocating any nearby man.
We are seeking compromise so that we are both comfortable but what is that? Depends. What is a comfortable temperature for a woman? Depends. What is fresh air? Depends. Is it possible to settle on a temperature even if one goes naked and the other wears a parka, hood, gloves and mukluks? Depends.
Even when I offer "OK, turn off the AC but leave the doors closed until it gets warmer then turn on the AC" (because it's 100 outside and in five minutes will be 99 inside) that doesn't work because then there's no "fresh" air. We are living in a tall building very near the center of a very large European city, across a narrow walkway from another tall building. It has not rained here in the month we have been here. Did I mention it is over 100°F outside, with little breeze? "Fresh" air is somewhere way above the roof...it doesn't come wafting in from the great outdoors and the several restaurants below. To be fresh it would have to be piped in from above and filtered, which is exactly what the AC happens to do, when it is on.
How about if I try to use the thermostat concept and say "Let's leave the doors closed and the AC on, you put on a sweater and we will crank up the temperature one degree at a time until you take off the sweater and are comfortable". Nope, go back to the fresh air thing above.
It's only June 14th and this is going to get very interesting. July is coming and it's going to be even hotter.
Flag Day and Army Birthday
June 14th? It's Flag Day in the US and the 234th birthday of the US Army. Happy Flag Day and Happy Birthday my Band of Brothers and Sisters! On 14 June 1775 the Continental Congress passed a resolution establishing the Army. It is today our country's oldest service.Click here to read the resolution.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Mucho Calor
Much Heat
This is the symbol on the Accuweather web site today for Sevilla.
The headline item on the TV news this morning is "el calor", the heat. They are showing a digital therometer with 43°C!
That's 109°F according to my calculations. Here is a link to a National Weather Service web page with a handy Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa converter: Temperature converter
According to the Accuweather web site it will only be 41° today with a "real feel" of 43. I feel better knowing it will only be 106°F today and only "feel" like 109! Fortunately, my job dosen't require me to work outside.
Thinking of my sister Chris in Tucson, AZ I checked the Accuweather forecast for there and it's predicted to be 94°F today with a real feel of only 93. I suppose it is because of the low humidity there that they are spared that real feel increase today though I believe it actually gets much hotter in Tucson than it does here. July is coming everywhere.
Karen and I went to the bull fights yesterday evening at 7:30. That's another story. We were very happy that we had paid a considerable premium for the privilege of sitting in the "sombra" seats since even in the shade we were perspiring, OK I was sweating, Karen was perspiring, a little. It was still very hot even when we left a little before 10:00 PM and still light though the sun had set.
We also went to the hotel near the Plaza de Toros where the toreros stay and dress before being driven to the plaza. About 45 minutes before the event they come into the lobby in their elaborate uniforms and strut about, exuding confidence, almost arrogance. They are the rock stars of Spain. Ole!
Tight pants and pink socks wouldn't make it in a lot of places in the US but they are the rage here.
This is the symbol on the Accuweather web site today for Sevilla.
The headline item on the TV news this morning is "el calor", the heat. They are showing a digital therometer with 43°C!
That's 109°F according to my calculations. Here is a link to a National Weather Service web page with a handy Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa converter: Temperature converter
According to the Accuweather web site it will only be 41° today with a "real feel" of 43. I feel better knowing it will only be 106°F today and only "feel" like 109! Fortunately, my job dosen't require me to work outside.
Thinking of my sister Chris in Tucson, AZ I checked the Accuweather forecast for there and it's predicted to be 94°F today with a real feel of only 93. I suppose it is because of the low humidity there that they are spared that real feel increase today though I believe it actually gets much hotter in Tucson than it does here. July is coming everywhere.
Karen and I went to the bull fights yesterday evening at 7:30. That's another story. We were very happy that we had paid a considerable premium for the privilege of sitting in the "sombra" seats since even in the shade we were perspiring, OK I was sweating, Karen was perspiring, a little. It was still very hot even when we left a little before 10:00 PM and still light though the sun had set.
We also went to the hotel near the Plaza de Toros where the toreros stay and dress before being driven to the plaza. About 45 minutes before the event they come into the lobby in their elaborate uniforms and strut about, exuding confidence, almost arrogance. They are the rock stars of Spain. Ole!
Tight pants and pink socks wouldn't make it in a lot of places in the US but they are the rage here.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A National Pastime in Spain
"Onces"
It's bigger than baseball, football and Mom's apple pie put together. It's called "Onces". Once (own-say) is the number eleven in Spanish so every work day at 11:00 everyone stops what they are doing and enjoys "Onces" which for the most part means going to the closest small restaurant, sitting outdoors and enjoying a cafe con leche, cafe solo, hot chocolate or some other beverage and a small snack, often a sweet. 
It is also a time for socializing with friends, planning the evening or weekend and catching up on the latest gossip. It is a pleasant break from the humdrum of work, refreshes the mind and body and improves productivity. OK, I made up that last part but two out of three ain't bad. I often join Karen and the others at the Azabache, next door to the Archivo General de Indias where they are doing research on old documents.
A few minutes later, maybe 20 or so, it's all over and everyone goes back to whatever they were doing.
One might think there is an afternoon equivalent called "Treses" or something but no, instead all the stores close about 2:00 and reopen for a couple hours around 5:00 or 6:00.
The archives here close for the day at 3:00 and don't reopen until 8:00 the next morning so for the archivists siesta begins at 3:00. Time to rest up for the big evening that begins about 10:00 PM.
Did I mention how hot it gets here in the afternoon?
One might think there is an afternoon equivalent called "Treses" or something but no, instead all the stores close about 2:00 and reopen for a couple hours around 5:00 or 6:00.The archives here close for the day at 3:00 and don't reopen until 8:00 the next morning so for the archivists siesta begins at 3:00. Time to rest up for the big evening that begins about 10:00 PM.
Did I mention how hot it gets here in the afternoon?
Old Lessons Re-learned
Rough-dried Laundry
My mother called clothes hung outside to dry on the line "rough-dried". Now I remember why. They are stiff and a bit rough when compared to laundry dried in a dryer. That is where the advantage of a dryer ends...OK, I'll agree that a dryer has an advantage on a rainy day but laundry dried in the sun, naturally, smells so fresh and clean and is almost wrinkle free. The truly fresh, clean smell will never be duplicated in a laboratory and saturated onto a man-made "sheet" of loose, see through fabric. Neither will it be duplicated in a laboratory and added to a liquid that one adds to the washer as fabric "softener".
I knew not long after I learned to walk that going out in the yard with my mother, watching my pet duck sit on her feet each time she stopped to hang a sheet, towel, shirt or sock, that it was an enjoyable experience never to be matched by watching the dryer go round and round while it sucks electricity out of the wall.
Did I mention sleeping on freshly dried sheets and pillow cases?
"Sweet dreams are made of this"...to quote the 1983 song by the Eurythmics.
The washer is probably classed as apartment size and barely holds two double bed sheets and pillow cases. If we wait a week to do laundry we have six or seven loads, the equivalent of about two loads at home, one dark, one light.
"Sweet dreams are made of this"...to quote the 1983 song by the Eurythmics.
The washer is probably classed as apartment size and barely holds two double bed sheets and pillow cases. If we wait a week to do laundry we have six or seven loads, the equivalent of about two loads at home, one dark, one light.
It has taken being here in Sevilla where we have a small washer but no dryer for me to re-learn the advantages of sun-dried laundry. I am really tempted to put up a clothesline when I get home though I am fairly certain that the Homeowners' Association has a rule against that.
Conquistadors and Matadors
Conquistadors
For some reason unkown to me the Extremadura region of Spain is home to a great number of Conquistadors. Whether for fame, fortune, religious fervor or just adventure these men were not only willing, but eager to sail across the ocean, explore Nueva España, meet, greet, convert, enslave or slaughter indigenous peoples and exploit their gold, silver, emeralds and other precious properties. By today's standards they would be men willing to fly away in untested rockets, across uncharted skies, explore other unmapped planets like Mars for instance, and deal with the Martians but with a communication system with home base that takes a few months at best to get a reply.
One such man was Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of what is now known as Peru and the founder of the capital city of Lima. His likeness, mounted on a horse and in full battle gear dominates the Plaza Mayor in Trujillo.
His home, where he sat in the garden, shown at left, and dreamed of his conquests, is now a museum situated between the Iglesia Santa Maria and Alcazar.
Above is a list of 13 of the most famous Conquistadors who are native sons of the Extramadura region, not including the two mentioned here.
Below is a statue of Conquistador Francisco de Orellana wearing an eye patch over his left eye. There is probably an interesting story about how he lost that one. He was under the command of Gonzalo Pizarro, brother of Francisco and fought in Peru then explored the Amazon.
Matadors
Since we are in Spain we have to go to a bullfight, or so Karen thinks. I went once before in Barcelona in 1978 and it was enough for me. Karen has not been to a bull fight. I have been inviting her to watch videos on You Tube showing how it's not really a fight, something a Spaniard would readily argue, but a methodical process to publicly and rather torturously kill a bull.
Not easily swayed, we went together to buy tickets last week for this Sunday the 14th of June. We were able to convey to the vendor that we wanted to be in the shade (have I mentioned how hot it is getting here?) since the event begins at noon. Karen was talking to some of the other students who have been before who convinced her that the torreodors on the 14th are amateurs and she needs to go on the 11th, a holiday, because the competitors, both bulls and men will be primo and put on a better show. I submit that the bulls probably do their best at every event and do occasionally take their revenge, although futilely, on even the best of men. I suppose that keeps it interesting and supports the argument that the bulls do indeed have a fighting chance.
So yesterday I had to go back to the booth located on Calle Tetuan and convey in Spanish that "Quisiera cambiar esto (our ticket) para once de Junio. El dia esta diferente, pero todos otros es mismo". Almost unbelievably he simply replied "Mas caro" (more expensive). Wow, I can actually make myself understood so I replied "Intiendo, vale, vale! More than double is the real meaning of more expensive. American Express loves us.
I will wear my new straw hat and smoke a Cuban cigar, Sevillano style. Ole! Ole! Oh boy!
So this Thursday at noon we will sit in the shade on the third row and watch the pros. Watch for a report with photos on Friday morning.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Fin de Semana en Extremadura
Weekend in Extremadura
Yesterday I posted some comments about the beginning of our trip to Extremadura, the home of many Conquistadors and lots of well preserved medieval structures. Little wonder why it would be of interest to a group of history majors and an amateur history buff. We based in Trujillo and took a side day trip to Guadalupe, the site of a church and monastery dating from the early 14th Century.
Trujillo is small and one doesn't need a car to get around. We parked the "Beast" at the hotel and only used it to go out of town. Driving a Mercedes van in those tiny, medieval streets would have been asking for a collect call from the insurance company. We got in late afternoon on Thursday and agreed to meet the others at around 7:30 PM in the plaza. The town was dead by Sevillano standards where people go out for pre-dinner strolls and drinks at 10:00 PM. It was a week night and there weren't a lot of tourists so we found a restaurant and our group of seven was the entire clientele. The food ranged from OK to not very good.
We wrapped it up around 11:00 PM and agreed to meet the group for breakfast in the plaza the next morning. It was raining, the first Karen and I had seen since Germany over a month ago. We had breakfast and began walking up the hill to the walled part of the city and the Iglesia Santa Maria de Mayor, built in the 13th Century.
While we were walking around inside the lights kept going out making it difficult to take pictures. I found a not so intuitivly obvious box on the wall that when one inserts one Euro the lights turn on for five minutes. (Thought to self: I need that in my house so we can pay the light bill a little at a time. Maybe even visitors can help.) We walked up a tiny stone staircase not knowing what was at the top and found another staircase and another and another. At the top of the last one was the bell tower with a great view of the town and surrounding countryside.
After we had been up there for a few minutes I realized it was four minutes before noon. I wasn't sure when the bells were rung but pretty sure one of the times would be noon. I mentioned this to the group and as Karen and I decided to go back down, the others decided to stay and hear the bells up close and personal. I lost more than my share of hearing during 27 years in the Army.
After the rest of the group came out of the church with ears ringing we walked a bit further up the hill to the Alcazar, a castle built in the 10th Century as a Muslim fortress. The entrance is through a Moorish arch into a courtyard and one can walk around the perimeter from atop the walls. It was easy to spot the church tower we had been in a short while before.
.
More about Trujillo (Conquistadors Pizarro and Orellano) and our side trip to Guadalupe tomorrow as it's after midnight again.
Yesterday I posted some comments about the beginning of our trip to Extremadura, the home of many Conquistadors and lots of well preserved medieval structures. Little wonder why it would be of interest to a group of history majors and an amateur history buff. We based in Trujillo and took a side day trip to Guadalupe, the site of a church and monastery dating from the early 14th Century.
Trujillo is small and one doesn't need a car to get around. We parked the "Beast" at the hotel and only used it to go out of town. Driving a Mercedes van in those tiny, medieval streets would have been asking for a collect call from the insurance company. We got in late afternoon on Thursday and agreed to meet the others at around 7:30 PM in the plaza. The town was dead by Sevillano standards where people go out for pre-dinner strolls and drinks at 10:00 PM. It was a week night and there weren't a lot of tourists so we found a restaurant and our group of seven was the entire clientele. The food ranged from OK to not very good.
We wrapped it up around 11:00 PM and agreed to meet the group for breakfast in the plaza the next morning. It was raining, the first Karen and I had seen since Germany over a month ago. We had breakfast and began walking up the hill to the walled part of the city and the Iglesia Santa Maria de Mayor, built in the 13th Century.
While we were walking around inside the lights kept going out making it difficult to take pictures. I found a not so intuitivly obvious box on the wall that when one inserts one Euro the lights turn on for five minutes. (Thought to self: I need that in my house so we can pay the light bill a little at a time. Maybe even visitors can help.) We walked up a tiny stone staircase not knowing what was at the top and found another staircase and another and another. At the top of the last one was the bell tower with a great view of the town and surrounding countryside.
After we had been up there for a few minutes I realized it was four minutes before noon. I wasn't sure when the bells were rung but pretty sure one of the times would be noon. I mentioned this to the group and as Karen and I decided to go back down, the others decided to stay and hear the bells up close and personal. I lost more than my share of hearing during 27 years in the Army.
After the rest of the group came out of the church with ears ringing we walked a bit further up the hill to the Alcazar, a castle built in the 10th Century as a Muslim fortress. The entrance is through a Moorish arch into a courtyard and one can walk around the perimeter from atop the walls. It was easy to spot the church tower we had been in a short while before.
. More about Trujillo (Conquistadors Pizarro and Orellano) and our side trip to Guadalupe tomorrow as it's after midnight again.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Going Back Home
That Feeling
You know that feeling you get when you have been away from home for a while and even though you have been on vacation and having fun, you miss home and look forward to going back there? We have been away from our home for 39 days and while that is not a long time when compared to what our soldiers spend away from home, and no one is shooting at us, it seems like a long time to us. We have become accustomed to being away from home and from loved ones, we still miss it and them but in our situation, we have grown a new home away from home here in Sevilla. We got that feeling this weekend, that "I can't wait to get back home" feeling...but it wasn't for our home in the US...it was for home here in Sevilla.
Getting Started on the Trip
Karen and I left on Thursday about midday with five other UNF students, first walking about eight blocks to the bus station, then finding out the bus doesn't leave from the bus station but from a block away. We walked to the bus stop and found the bus going to the aeropuerto already loading so we all hopped aboard. Saber was first in line among our group so paid the driver for seven tickets for 2.30€ each to expedite our boarding. It is so nice to be among a group where everyone thinks of the others and helps each other.
I had rented a seven passenger van online from Pepecar.com for our ride to the Extermadura region of Spain, about three hours north of Sevilla and our destination for the long weekend. The bus ride took about 30 minutes and dropped us at the arrivals terminal where we thought we would have to call for a ride to the rental car lot. All of the major companies like Hertz, National, Avis, Alamo, etc. had booths in the terminal but Pepe is located off site in the Outback. While Justin and Kryzol went to the info booth to ask how to call Pepe, I saw a guy holding a sign that said "Niza Car". Remembering only vaguely that our car was rented from Pepecar, a broker, and Niza was the actual company I walked up and asked the guy in my best Spanish "Pepe car?". He responded in his native tongue "Si!" and asked for my name. He couldn't find it on his clipboard until I showed it to him on the contract.
We seven boarded the shuttle van and in about five minutes were at the Niza Car office. When the guy behind the desk was completing the contract he saw the address on my driver's license and said in his best English, something that finally, after being repeated several times, sounded like "Jacksonville". He is from Rota, Spain where there is a US Navy base and his brother is married to an American he met at Rota who is now stationed at NAS Jax. The Niza clerk is going to Jax in September to visit. Small world.
This may be the reason why, without asking, we were upgraded from a seven-passenger (really five adults and two children) Opel van to a nine-passenger (really seven adults) Mercedes van. Same price though the Mercedes was listed on the web site for twice the price. Found out something about cars in Spain, they are all diesel. The fuel stations sell only diesesl. Not sure yet but I think they have found out diesel is more economically and ecologically friendly. Even though it was a Mercedes it was a rental so it was a beast. Cloth seats, six-speed stick shift, no hubcaps and a side door that required slamming multiple times to close (Karen became the one who could best coax it) and still had considerable wind noise on the highway. Here it is.
The trip up was uneventful and we arrived at our reserved hotel, a 16th Century convent converted to a hotel, the Paradores Trujillo. The youngsters went off in search of a hostal.
Every time I catch myself wishing I were young again...I remember the poor part and it goes away.
Our room was superb and very comfortable with Internet and a view out of the small window that looked like a 15th Century painting.
More about the trip later tomorrow. It's after midnight here.
Since we were so happy to be back "home" in Sevilla, we know it will really be great to get back HOME!
You know that feeling you get when you have been away from home for a while and even though you have been on vacation and having fun, you miss home and look forward to going back there? We have been away from our home for 39 days and while that is not a long time when compared to what our soldiers spend away from home, and no one is shooting at us, it seems like a long time to us. We have become accustomed to being away from home and from loved ones, we still miss it and them but in our situation, we have grown a new home away from home here in Sevilla. We got that feeling this weekend, that "I can't wait to get back home" feeling...but it wasn't for our home in the US...it was for home here in Sevilla.
Getting Started on the Trip
Karen and I left on Thursday about midday with five other UNF students, first walking about eight blocks to the bus station, then finding out the bus doesn't leave from the bus station but from a block away. We walked to the bus stop and found the bus going to the aeropuerto already loading so we all hopped aboard. Saber was first in line among our group so paid the driver for seven tickets for 2.30€ each to expedite our boarding. It is so nice to be among a group where everyone thinks of the others and helps each other.
I had rented a seven passenger van online from Pepecar.com for our ride to the Extermadura region of Spain, about three hours north of Sevilla and our destination for the long weekend. The bus ride took about 30 minutes and dropped us at the arrivals terminal where we thought we would have to call for a ride to the rental car lot. All of the major companies like Hertz, National, Avis, Alamo, etc. had booths in the terminal but Pepe is located off site in the Outback. While Justin and Kryzol went to the info booth to ask how to call Pepe, I saw a guy holding a sign that said "Niza Car". Remembering only vaguely that our car was rented from Pepecar, a broker, and Niza was the actual company I walked up and asked the guy in my best Spanish "Pepe car?". He responded in his native tongue "Si!" and asked for my name. He couldn't find it on his clipboard until I showed it to him on the contract.
We seven boarded the shuttle van and in about five minutes were at the Niza Car office. When the guy behind the desk was completing the contract he saw the address on my driver's license and said in his best English, something that finally, after being repeated several times, sounded like "Jacksonville". He is from Rota, Spain where there is a US Navy base and his brother is married to an American he met at Rota who is now stationed at NAS Jax. The Niza clerk is going to Jax in September to visit. Small world.
This may be the reason why, without asking, we were upgraded from a seven-passenger (really five adults and two children) Opel van to a nine-passenger (really seven adults) Mercedes van. Same price though the Mercedes was listed on the web site for twice the price. Found out something about cars in Spain, they are all diesel. The fuel stations sell only diesesl. Not sure yet but I think they have found out diesel is more economically and ecologically friendly. Even though it was a Mercedes it was a rental so it was a beast. Cloth seats, six-speed stick shift, no hubcaps and a side door that required slamming multiple times to close (Karen became the one who could best coax it) and still had considerable wind noise on the highway. Here it is.
The trip up was uneventful and we arrived at our reserved hotel, a 16th Century convent converted to a hotel, the Paradores Trujillo. The youngsters went off in search of a hostal.
Every time I catch myself wishing I were young again...I remember the poor part and it goes away.
Our room was superb and very comfortable with Internet and a view out of the small window that looked like a 15th Century painting. 
More about the trip later tomorrow. It's after midnight here.
Since we were so happy to be back "home" in Sevilla, we know it will really be great to get back HOME!
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