We're now in our apartment in Sevilla for a week. Going to sleep. Jet lag but happy. Still rainy and cloudy. Freddie is doing better and walking without his cane. One of his arms has a big bruise but it is the other one that hurts. We both had a great naturopathic massage treatments yesterday and it helped with Freddie’s pain and my body and ankle. 

April 17, 2010
We’re here in Sevilla, in our apartment now and it is cold. This is the beginning of our first week here. 
Yesterday Carlos Heredia came to visit with his daughter Saray (now eighteen years old) and her husband. We have known Saray now for eleven years. Carlos brought three guitars he had made for Freddie to look at. They were beautiful, especially two of them. And then everything sounds good when Carlos plays.
Last night we went to bed at 1:00 AM and Freddie woke me bright and early around 9 AM. Stephanie showed up a little while later to do some grocery shopping for us and to help us out. She has made our lives so much easier with her help and her great, shining personality. 
The three of us went out for breakfast at Bar Algabeño. It was nice, but my stomach hurt afterwards. 
Juan stopped by to welcome us, and a few minutes later Lucy called and then stopped by. They left and then Carlos stopped by. He brought his newly acquired 100-year old guitar to show Freddie. He wanted Freddie to buy it but Freddie doesn’t re-finish or repair guitars anymore and something of that value should go to someone who can restore it properly. 
Carlos played beautiful music again. Daniel, the American Flamenco guitarist who still lives upstairs, came down and joined us. It was his 37th birthday. Angel likes him and says that Daniel may stay forever!
Lakshmi visited briefly today, on her way to go bike riding. She brought by our Brita water filer and Freddie’s other guitar, which he leaves here in Spain. Josh called us from Vejer and Chris Skyped us. Freddie is napping now and I should too.
Carlos worked on Freddie’s bruises and the bruises seemed to fade a little, although the photos don’t really show it. Freddie’s arm does feel better than it did. We will both have another massage treatment on Tuesday. 
Each year our entrance into Spain is different, and this year is no exception. It is always an adventure, although so much here is familiar. 
It really is our other “home”. We keep a land-phone here, as well as our old red shopping cart, Freddie’s tricycle, small furniture, an electric toothbrush charger, an electric fan, a DVD player, our printer and of course a lot of household supplies (electrical cords and adapters, dishes, a good knife, scissors, tape, stickies, etc.) and other miscellaneous things. 
I don’t mean to collect so much, but why buy things again and again? And I love my small, cordless land phone. It remembers my phone numbers from year to year, has a great speakerphone and has lots of interesting settings, such as alarms with birds singing. 
They have finished repaving the cobblestone streets here, which were always torn up with the construction of new drains, etc. last year. The cobblestones now are like huge bricks with lots of cement between them. They are not nearly as pretty as the old ones were. But they are probably much cheaper to put in. 
I should sleep too. I did for about 15 minutes earlier but then people started to arrive. We are also expecting Paco Fernandez and family sometime this evening. But I did want to at least get started on the writing of this section. It is just that when I start it is not easy to stop. If I sit here it feels as if I could write forever. I have to make myself stop and rest.
Freddie is loving having his new laptop here. It picks up the internet much better than mine and he can use it almost anywhere in the house. He has become quite addicted, but it is good stimulation for his mind and his re-learning.
Speaking of re-learning, he has decided to take a guitar lesson with Carlos tomorrow. Today Carlos was correcting the position of Daniel’s hand and arms, (Carlos just couldn’t help himself; it wasn’t a lesson). That led to Freddie, Carlos and I reminiscing about our experiences when Carlos first started to teach Freddie in 1999 and Freddie had to unlearn 50 years of bad habits. Carlos is still a good and patient teacher, who would rather correct technique than teach falsetas before the student has the technique to play them. 
Carlos should be a successful and well-off guitarist and teacher instead of struggling to make ends meet. He is so talented at both his guitar and teaching. And now he is adding building good Flamenco guitars to his list of accomplishments. We videoed him fooling around here playing one of those guitars and we will post it (we have his permission) on Facebook later on. Now I will make myself lie down!
I took a nap and when Freddie and I were both awake Luisito Peña came over with three Flamenco aficionados. One was a Japanese guitarist who used to live in Granada. We first met also in 1999 because he is a friend of Concha Vargas’ and brings her to Japan. He had also brought Luis to Japan. 
We all had a mini fiesta tonight. What a great welcome to Spain. I danced for the first time here this time. Olé la Bulería. Now I am here.