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Published: November 24th 2008
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before going to La Pena It was a wonderful weekend! Last week at school we spent time telling the kids what Thanksgiving was and why we celebrate it. It was pretty funny having to explain the meaning behind Thanksgiving in Spanish. The 5 year olds couldn’t really remember much about what I taught them about the day, but they remembered that we eat turkey. We did a lot of coloring as well. David, Rachel and I worked on the “Thanksgiving Tree” which is starting to look really cool. This week we will give each students a big leaf made out of colored paper and they will write what they are thankful for on the leaf and we will put it on the tree.
Thursday night we went out for a drink with Lourdes, David, and Sole, all teachers from our school. We just talked and explained to them what a White Elephant party was, and they loved the concept and want to have a white elephant party here. We spent time talking about games that we like to play, and of course Cecilia and I mentioned Balderdash and Catch Phrase. It was a nice evening.
Friday we had school and went to the gym for spin
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ceci, Christine Rachel and me class. After we had dinner we met Christine (the girl from Chicago) and we went to La Peña de Flamenco-- it’s a bar in Priego that has Flamenco music. Christine had been there before and knew a few of the people. So we were just sitting around and we met a teacher from her school, Mari Cruz, who was really nice and sat with us and talked to us for a long time. The boyfriend of Mari Cruz, Antonio, is the president of the Flamenco Association in Priego. After a bit they were ready to start the music and the guy playing the guitar, Juan, and a few other guys who were singing, plus Antonio told us to come over to their area. So we had a bunch of tables pushed together and Juan played the guitar while Antonio and a few other men took turns singing. We got a lesson from one of the other guys on how to clap properly. It was very fun! Apparently on Saturday they were having professional Flamenco artists come to perform a special show only for “socios” which means people who belong to the Flamenco association (that Antonio is president of) but since
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Juan playing the guitar and Antonio singing there aren’t many Americans in Priego, Mari Cruz and Antonio invited us to come back on Saturday for the show. We also saw a teacher from Cecilia’s school who invited us to the birthday party of her boyfriend at her house on Saturday night as well.
So after the show at the Peña, we went with our new friends to a few other bars and it was really fun! We ended up at the last bar with all of the people from the Peña and got to talk to everyone better. It was a good night!
Saturday we woke up so we could go try churros con chocolate FINALLY! They were delicious and the weather was beautiful so we went to a plaza and sat in the sun and enjoyed our churros and chocolate which is really thick hot chocolate. We went to the Balcón del Ardave, which is like on the edge of the city overlooking the land and just sat in the sun for a little bit. We then went to the grocery store to get some wine and chocolate to take to the birthday party for Mari Carmen’s boyfriend (Cecilia’s teacher). While we were at the store
we saw Juan, the guitar player from the Peña and he invited us again to the special event and we told him that we would go. So we went home to change clothes and get ready and we went back to the Peña and it was completely packed! We saw an older woman from our gym there who was really excited to see us and I’m sure was telling her friends “those are the American girls I was telling you about” haha. We had to stand because there wasn’t enough room for everyone. But Juan’s family owns the bar so he let us stand in the back by them. The music was really good it was just 2 guys who are apparently professionals and Antonio had gotten them to come perform here. We talked to Antonio and Mari Cruz and met some other very nice people. At the intermission they served paella and it was absolutely delicious! During the second half some people must have left, so Mari Cruz gave us some seats by her that were near the front. The man who was singing kept looking at me and smiling and asked if I wanted to get up on
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paella during the show stage and sing with him. Even Antonio tried to get me to go up there. If I hadn’t been so embarrassed or if I knew how to sing Spanish Flamenco music, I might have accepted. After the show, Mari Cruz introduced us to a group of women at the tables and we stayed and talked to them for a while. They were very nice and friendly. Of course the Flamenco singer and guitar player came to talk to me and ask me how I liked it and if I wanted to join them to sing next time. Antonio said I could sing next Friday. I was rather embarrassed. It was such a fun time and we met a lot of really nice people that I am sure we will meet again in Priego.
After the show we went back to our house to eat something and get ready to go to the birthday party at Mari Carmen’s house. We got to her apartment, it is very near to the school that Rachel and I work at, and it was very nice inside. There were about 20 guests including the 3 of us, as well at Aleks (the Polish girl who
works with Cecilia). There was a lot of food and we all just sat around and talked. Most of the guests were friends of the birthday boy who are all originally from Priego. They all live in different places now but they come back to visit each other periodically. It was a really fun time and we had some good conversations with the guests. We went to a bar around midnight or so for “one last drink” as they say. We just had one drink and then went home because we were exhausted from the night before. It was a really fun time though.
Sunday we got up and met Aleks to go to the market since she hadn’t been yet. We just walked around and bought some vegetables and stuff. There was a big expo on pigeons in the building at the market. It was extremely random but they were being judged for something. It was weird but funny non the less. After that we went to a bar for a drink (only soda) and in some places in spain when you order a drink, you automatically get a tapa. So our tapa were little hotdogs. We just sat
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pigeons at the market outside in the sun and talked because it was such a nice day. After that we walked around and then got a rotisserie chicken for lunch (to take home) because apparently that is the thing to do on Sundays. We just walked home and had lunch and then took naps like usual and then spend the rest of the day cleaning. That has become our Sunday routine-- market, walking, lunch, nap, cleaning. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend and I am looking forward to the next week!
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