Indefinite Leave
They taught us a heap of Spanish vocabulary yesterday night. The class was adequately titled ‘Survival Spanish’.
The daily rhythm is different here. Night is the same as morning, mid-day lasts until four and ‘tarde’ encompasses both the afternoon and most of the evening. I don’t think there is any time left for sleep in this schedule:
Mañana: 24h-12h,
Mediodía: 12h-16h,
Tarde: 16h-20/21h,
Noche: 20/21h-24h.
There are 14 of us on the course—including a painter, a Mexican-Californian who speaks fluent university-level German and a Kenyan who works as an IT instructor in Oxford and knows several famous Reggae musicians. A good half of them left before the optional evening class because they already speak enough Spanish.
“Me llamo Denni. Soy de Londres. Vivo en Barcelona.”
Adrian hesitated when it was his turn. “Soy de Oxford. Vivo en… ”
“En Barcelona ,” our instructor said firmly. “You have lived in Oxford, but where are you now? You are in Barcelona. So? ”
“Vivo en… Barcelona. ”
Some of my course mates already have flats lined up Some are wondering what to do next summer: hit the local beach or take the ferry to Ibiza? It’s becoming apparent–very quickly–that my stay in Barcelona may be indefinite.
Tags: Spain, TEFL, Tag Index
Denni