Flamenco and more orientation
Yesterday we went back to the hotel at 7 pm for another presentation. Then we went out to tapear and since a couple places had not opened yet, all the groups ate together, about 50 kids at one restaurant. I had trouble contacting my family to tell them I would miss dinner because I didn’t know the number or their last name and didn’t have a phone, the public phone nearby was broken, the other one was completely missing and the guia’s móvil wasn’t working either. Someone came who happened to have a list of phone numbers luckily.
Then we went to see flamenco en el barrio de Santa Cruz, in an old Sefardic house that is now an art museum. The flamenco was incredible, the dancing was super fast and the guitar playing, singing, hand clapping and feet stomping was beautiful. There was a guitar player, a singer who also clapped and stomped his feet to create the beat. The show started with just those two performing a couple songs, then the female dancer came out, then she left and was replaced by the male dancer, then they danced together, then all four of them danced, clapped and stomped. The room was really hot too. I felt sweaty and gross all day long.
I was super tired so I took a taxi back around midnight with another student and watched TV for an hour with Lola and Pepe. After lunch every day, we siesta in the the TV room, the only room with air conditioning and a couch. Watching TV with them is the best way to learn spanish, from listening to the TV and sitting and chatting about the show and other things, you get a lot of practice. And its not too hard to sit and watch TV in a cool room. I didn’t sleep well – because of the heat and the excitement of being here, and I also couldn’t stop running spanish words through my head and going over all these new words and phrases.
I was in the early group for the presentation today on visas and travel and safety so I had to get up early. We were in the Tabacalera, the huge old main building of the university. Then I went to photocopy my passport and id’s and credit card and went back home for lunch. We live on paralela - a street parallel to la Avenida República de Argentina, which is one of the main streets in the city. It’s a great location because its in the newer and nicer part of the city, and that street has tons of ATMs, internet cafes and stores – ATMs are hard to find in the older part of the city. But that street is walled off and closed for the construction of the new subway, the sidewalks are open but you can’t see the other side of the street over the temporary walls.
Some pictures are up at http://homepage.mac.com/sambrummitt/PhotoAlbum13.html
Then we went to see flamenco en el barrio de Santa Cruz, in an old Sefardic house that is now an art museum. The flamenco was incredible, the dancing was super fast and the guitar playing, singing, hand clapping and feet stomping was beautiful. There was a guitar player, a singer who also clapped and stomped his feet to create the beat. The show started with just those two performing a couple songs, then the female dancer came out, then she left and was replaced by the male dancer, then they danced together, then all four of them danced, clapped and stomped. The room was really hot too. I felt sweaty and gross all day long.
I was super tired so I took a taxi back around midnight with another student and watched TV for an hour with Lola and Pepe. After lunch every day, we siesta in the the TV room, the only room with air conditioning and a couch. Watching TV with them is the best way to learn spanish, from listening to the TV and sitting and chatting about the show and other things, you get a lot of practice. And its not too hard to sit and watch TV in a cool room. I didn’t sleep well – because of the heat and the excitement of being here, and I also couldn’t stop running spanish words through my head and going over all these new words and phrases.
I was in the early group for the presentation today on visas and travel and safety so I had to get up early. We were in the Tabacalera, the huge old main building of the university. Then I went to photocopy my passport and id’s and credit card and went back home for lunch. We live on paralela - a street parallel to la Avenida República de Argentina, which is one of the main streets in the city. It’s a great location because its in the newer and nicer part of the city, and that street has tons of ATMs, internet cafes and stores – ATMs are hard to find in the older part of the city. But that street is walled off and closed for the construction of the new subway, the sidewalks are open but you can’t see the other side of the street over the temporary walls.
Some pictures are up at http://homepage.mac.com/sambrummitt/PhotoAlbum13.html
posted by Sam at
9:37 AM
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