closed on sunday

This is the fourth time I have been to Spain. You would think by now I know more about Spanish culture and schedules. I have adjusted to everything being closed from 2-5:30 so los españoles can have their siesta. But apparently I still have a lot to learn.

Yesterday, Sunday, I was woken up by a phone call from the Internet company. Mind you it was 2pm, so it was time to get up. But a phone call from a Spanish speaking, rather Spanish mumbling hombre, talking at a million miles an hour was not the way I envisioned my wake up call. I stumbled out of bed to open the door since I did manage to hear him say “voy arriba” (I’m coming up). Since I had no clue what he actually said, for all I know he introduced himself as a robber and I said sure come on in, I cautiously opened the door and saw that he was wearing a shirt from our internet company, Ono, so I let him in.

The problem with the internet was that we could not connect to the wifi. When I said “no funciona el wee-fee (Spanish pronunciation)”, the man looked at me like I had just stepped out of a UFO. You think explaining technology problems is difficult, I challenge you to try it in Spanish. Regardless, the hombre seemed to know what to do because he proceeded to play with cords for the next hour, while I sat on the couch and entered the password 100 times to see if his jiggling had fixed anything. Finalmente, the hombre moved the router closer to a window and ya, there was wireless. He said do not move this router or you will lose your connection. Seems kinda fishy to me, but what the internet man says, I do. So finally I have wireless!

As a celebration, roommate Chelsea and I went out to find some paella, a dish that is apparently only served at mediodía on the weekends in Sevilla. Julio the landlord told us a good place to find some paella near our piso, and boy was Julio right. It was well worth my two week wait, although I still miss Conchi’s paella.

After stuffing our faces with paella, we needed another activity. So what better to do on a warm Sunday afternoon then venture to a nearby Carrefour (Target impersonator) and buy some things we need around the piso. Without knowing much, except that the Carrefour is located just outside the city in a town called Camas, we walked over to the bus station. Time-4: 45, next bus to Camas- 4:50, seemed too good to be true. A little skeptical of our luck, we asked the bus driver if his bus would stop at the Carrefour, si he said, third stop.

Well in Spain they count differently than in the US. The first floor of a building in Spain is floor zero. Then what we would consider the second floor is called the first floor. Takes some getting used to but I’ve finally learned to accept it. So when this bus driver says to get off at the third stop, I thought maybe he meant to get off at the American version of the fourth stop. After passing one bus stop where we picked up some passengers, I noticed we were approaching the Carrefour. Could it be the 2^nd stop? I knew for sure the driver said 3^rd. We decided it made more sense to get off at the stop right in front of the store, rather than listen to the bus driver and wait for a third stop. Turns out in Spain, the bus station is the first stop, not the zero stop as I would call it based on the Spanish way of counting floors.

We made the right choice getting off where we did because the Carrefour was only a few steps away. We saw some cars in the parking lot, not too many though. Since it was a Sunday, I wasn’t concerned that there weren’t too many people out shopping, I know the Spanish take their rest very seriously.

As we approached the doors to the Carrefour Planet, we noticed the unmistakable metal planks that signify a store is closed. Next to the door the sign “Abierto lunes a sabado.” Of course it isn’t open on a Sunday, no one would ever think of leaving their homes for a mop or a carton of milk on a Sunday. Well lesson learned, even super stores close on Sunday. Good thing McDonalds was open so we could get some McFlurries to pass the hour and a half we had until the bus back to Sevilla would be at the stop.

After we tried to flag down three buses that drove by, each driver waving his finger to say no I do not stop here, we finally found a bus to take us back to Sevilla. We were not stuck in Camas for the rest of the day, although our two hours there made it seem like we would be there forever.