Ir de Compras y Sevillanas

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6/ 6

Dare I say I felt somewhat intelligent in class today? Not the whole time…but I didn’t feel totally tonto today. Pieces are coming together so I’m glad I spend a lot of time on my work when I need to. We have a sub this week (for how long we don’t know) and I can understand her a lot better than the regular profesora (who I do like…just don’t understand), but I don’t know the meaning of half the words she uses so I’m kinda back to square one. It’s fine though because she’s totally all about helping us and I talked to her—err..tried to talk to her—after class so I think she knows where I’m coming from. I really do have a lot going on up in my head but sometimes I can’t understand because I am missing some of the vocab! It’s easier to recall what I do know, but it’s even easier if I’m allowed to write it down first! I think that speaking is hardest, conversation then writing being “easiest”. Today I told the story about my shoe at graduation (we had to write a story) and then we had to also write something out for conversation about our view on globalization. I grabbed my Romansh in Switzerland example as for why it can be bad. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, Switzerland has 4 official languages and as English becomes more predominant in the world, the people only learn the language of their canton plus English instead of learning another language…so there really is no time to learn Romansh which is spoken by such a small portion of the people that it is peculiar that it is an official language. Basically, the growing importance of English = the decreasing importance of diversified languages).

It’s a bit cooler here today with lots of thunder mid-day. Katie and I fuimos de compras…totally went shopping…and it was totally fun. I may have new shoes and a new dress. Then we actually found 100 Montaditos when we really didn’t know where it was in the first place exactly (mini sandwiches) and THEN we went to Piratas del Caribe en español. It was different.. I like Johnny Depp’s voice better but it was definitely an ok substitute. It was hard to understand at times though more or less I could understand. I just had to remember not to infer too much from the body language, etc. and actually pay attention to the words they were saying. I’m sure there will be many revelations when I see it in English!


6/7

Having to make these two entries concise because I don’t have enough time to get my work done and get sleep and blog!

After am classes and running over the makeshift and very unsteady staircase over the train tracks…pretty high up…to make the train, Katie and I went to exchange my shoes since one of the straps was sewn on wrong on just the R shoe. Grr. Then the other pair in my size had a black mark on the L shoe… So here I am trying to explain to the clerk that I not only want to cambiar (to change) them, but I also want one shoe from each pair…all in Spanish…and I didn’t have a sufficient vocabulary for that task. Exchanging, yes, explaining that is hard enough in English! He didn’t understand any English so I went to town with my body language and eventually the light bulb went off and I went home with two good shoes. 😊

We had class for just a short period today (boo.. I like class! I know, that’s not normal) because we had Sevillanas class afterward (Flamenco dancing). So much fun! I know I don’t speak for every single person but I had a lot of fun and learned a lot AND could keep up and she taught us a LOT. Many different steps and arm movements and all the coordination were challenging and I’m used to doing that type of stuff! I know it was really difficult for some of the group. Carmen was our teacher and she and I danced together at the end to demonstrate something. Except I didn’t know what we were demonstrating until she started whipping me around, lol. We switched partners at some point. My first partner was Dale and then I partnered with Paco (the professor). That was fun. He, being from Granada, appears to have some knowledge about the dance. I can’t wait for Thursday! I wish I could do this every day! I also think just because it’s up my alley, it made it all the more fun. ¡Olé!

After Sevillanas, a few of us went to Bodegas Ponce (aka the café/bar with churros con chocolate). We ended up staying there and talking with Gabrielle (the cook/bartender/owner??) for a couple of hours. He learns a lot from us and we learn a lot from him. I especially enjoy when he makes fun of my accent because I can hear how I sound and how to fix it. He has some awesome food and we tried some crazy stuff. Today I had liver. Not including liverwurst, that was a first. I’m finding it easier to speak and I’m using the language more correctly than even just a week ago. I don’t always realize this unless I’m with someone who really does not speak very much English because I am forced to figure out ways to express myself using what I know in Spanish.

And now I have to work on my homework… but not before adding that though nothing comes close to using “caliente” the wrong way, in the past couple of weeks, I’ve also mixed up the words for cherries (cerezas) and beer (cervezas)--but don’t worry… I’m over that...And today I said the bones were the best part of the fried chicken. I really meant to say that the only part I didn’t eat were the bones. lol

PS – sorry for the lack of photos. Not one yesterday and only a few today. Forgot to bring my camera to Sevillanas and I would have had someone else taking them anyway so I’ll bring it on Thurs! I’m hoping Paco & Marta got some good ones!!

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