La Feria

Just wanted to greet you all "in person" :)


(Excuse my awkwardness)
The Feria (this year, from April 28th to May 3rd) is a basically a week of festivities for the sevillanos. The women dress up like gitanas (gypsies) and people move around in horse-drawn carriages (or mount the horses themselves). It's a spectacular explosion of color. In the fair grounds, many casetas (tents) are set up, where the people eat, drink, and dance the sevillanas. Many of the casetas are private, so you would have to know someone to get in. Luckily, Andrea and I know are friends with some sevillanos, so we managed to get in to some casetas.

Here's a quick tour of the fairgrounds:


(Excuse my fast panning)
The rebujito (a mix of alcohol with Sprite) is a popular drink during the Feria. Apparently, it's very refreshing, so it's easy to consume a lot without even realizing it. But given my extremely low alcohol tolerance, it only took me two cups to start feeling the effects. The heat rose up to my face, and it got to the point where I couldn't see anything except the color red. It was quite scary actually. I collapsed at one point, and the next thing I knew I'm sitting in a chair, and some lady is telling me to open my legs, as she attempts to stick my head in between my legs. Eventually I regained my vision and the lady told me not to worry, that she'll take care of me. I really appreciated her kindness. After drinking some water, I was on the move again.

As my host father has told us, the Feria is something that's very sevillana, something's that hard for foreigners to understand. But Andrea and I didn't just watch the Feria, we participated in it, especially since we were dressed in our trajes de flamenca. We also know how to dance the sevillanas, which made it more fun. Since it's obvious that I'm not from around here (you know, being Asian and all), a lot of people were confused that I could dance the sevilllanas. Then when they asked me where I learned it, they were even more surprised that I learned the sevillanas in the United States. I'm actually am kind of glad that I do know the sevillanas, because I felt more accepted into the culture.