Saturday, July 29, 2006

Dance, dance wherever you may be....

Last night was the Coin Flamenco festival. It started at 11pm at night and we were fortunate enough to get a seat near the front. They had converted the Plaza beautifully. The fountain had been switched off and floating candles and roses, jasmine etc had been put it, it made it all seem so magical and romantic. We sat next to the fountain so the waft of perfume from the flowers was sumptious.









The singers, dancers and guitarists were all so talented and full of passion for what they do. The concert ran till 3am in the morning and the grandads and grannies sitting near us seemed to have more energy than us.



Another fantastic evening, I am loving this new life!

Friday, July 28, 2006

Last day of school




I cannot believe that my first term at school is over. The four weeks went so fast. Three hours per day of intensive one on one spanish lessons is enough to frazzle anyone's brain, not to mention the 2 hours plus of homework each evening. I get a rest for the month of August then back to school in September for another 4 weeks. I bought a fantastic book called 501 Spanish verbs and it is the best investment ever. If I am ever going to get the hang of all the tenses, regular and irregular verbs then this is the book to help me!

In addition I have been fortunate to arrange meetings with a couple of Spanish women, Paqui and Rosa. I met Paqui yesterday in the park and today I went with Rosa to a cafe. They speak english and I try to make coherant sentences in Spanish. It will help greatly with my development though and hopefully I can help them with their english.

I also want to thank Paula for being brave enough to put up with my written spanish on MSN. You have the patience of a saint Paula!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Dance festival


Last weekend at temperatures of 33 degrees in the evening we sat and watched a free festival in one of the Plaza's. The festival was for popular folk dances and it was fantastic.
The dancers came from Mexico, Argentina, and Andalucia.






It is amazing to see the mix of people there, grown ups, children, teenagers all watching with absolutely no hassle. If this was back in Edinburgh there would be a group of teens probably sinking some alcopops and shouting abuse.



I think most of the town was there watching.The atmosphere was lovely although I think I consumed one too many drinks trying to stay cool. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it. I love the fact that this town makes the effort to have so many events for the residents. Coming up next weekend is a flamenco festival, we have tickets for that so I am looking forward to it. We also have monster truck festival as well as the main week of festival in the second week of August.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

problem solved


What do you do when you have to wear a fur coat in southern spain?



Sleep in a bidet of course!!

Monday, July 10, 2006

We are still alive!!

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments and wondering where I have been hiding the past week or so.
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Patience is a virtue

I have discovered that in Spain when someone tells you they are coming on Monday to fix/fit or quote for work this usually means that you wait all day for them and then they turn up on the thursday. Of course if you go out on the Monday sods law they will turn up. No-one can give a definate time either....in the afternoon is a favourite expression but with Spanish working hours this can mean anytime upto 8pm at night! We had to go to the Notaria in Coín to take away the power of atterney for our Lawyers. 2 hours we waited and then we saw the Notaria for a total of 2 mins!! We have to go back next week, I am so looking forward to that...not.

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Neighbours
Phoned an internet company to get internet in the house last week and when speaking to the woman she asked me where we lived. Turns out we are neighbours! She lives diagonally opposite me so we met up in the evening for a chat. She has been in Spain for 17 years and speaks fluent Spanish...maybe one day I will too!

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The Good Student

I have started my intensive Spanish class and boy is it intensive. I am the only one on the course this month so my tutor is aiming it at my level and really pushing me which is fantastic but hard work and too much homework lol. I have spoken with the owner of the school to ask if there is any of her other students who want to meet for coffee and spanish conversation practice so hopefully that will happen soon.

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Internet update

I cannot get internet in my house yet and it is driving me nuts. The last company came today to check and I am not in range grrrrr will need to go with Telefoníca who have a reputation of taking forever....not happy as I am missing all my online buddies so much. I have taken so many photos as well and cannot upload them yet.

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sick sick sick

I had a horrid virus last week which really laid me up. Having a fever when the temp outside is 40 degrees is no fun.

Poor Kate got an insect bite and then took an allergic reaction. She was covered in hives and still is although we managed to get her some anti histimines this morning so hopefully they will help.

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and finally.......

on a happy note we got our mosquito frames installed in all the windows which means we can open the windows and the house can have fresh air. skip skip skip, I am so looking forward to sleeping in a cool bedroom this evening.

thanks for reading this lengthy novel!