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Along the Natchez Trace

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Escuela de idiots no, no, no Escuela de idiomas

Not School of Idiots....  LANGUAGE SCHOOL.  Okay, so I'm not as serious as most of the other students need to be.  These (mostly) young people are here because they live in another country (not Spain), have fairly "young" careers, and need to use Spanish in their jobs.  I didn't get the giggles today (came really close once) and got totally lost only once (so what if that lasted 10 minutes? ...  I caught back up eventually.  

At one point this setenta y uno anos senora (me) actually called a time-out from reciting aloud.  Hey folks, if I'm called on for the answer and don't even know the question, this old lady needs to just chill and listen to the others until I get caught up.  I know my limits.... and I know better than to exceed them.

Not to worry...  the class really is good...  I may not ever get out of the basic level, but who cares?  

That's Ingaborg (Netherlands), Bill, and Lennert (Germany)
We have a half hour between the morning and afternoon session so we 4 walk over to the nearest outdoor cafe and (they) smoke, have coffee and talk about what's going on in our own worlds.  This is a really fun part of the day....  

A little "aside".....  Ingaborg was quite upset when she arrived this morning because she had watched the local news on TV last evening...  a young man had murdered his girlfriend.  (we later found out that this happened 4 years ago and he is now on trial).  Anyway, I think her concern was crime (or safety?) here in Spain/Sevilla.  
The sad thing is...  being from the USA, I was WAY too blase about the whole thing.  So...  another murder...  that's terrible, but it happens all the time.  Kinda makes me wonder what all "we" accept as the "norm" these days????

(Our instructor addressed this issue....  the crime rate here is WAY down on the charts...  no need to worry.  Pickpockets... yes!, murder.... no)

Last evening Bill & I met up with Mitchell and Jerry.
They are Americans who have lived here in Sevilla for a year or so.  In fact, Mitchell's blog (Mitchell is Moving) was instrumental in our coming to Sevilla to study.  We met Mitchell on Sunday, and finally, we had the honor of meeting San Geraldo.

What a hoot!  I felt like I met my brother!  
The sense of humor, the idioms (No, dammit...NOT idiots) we shared...  I loved him immediately.  
They treated us to dinner 
And... WoooHoooo!!!!
What a wonderful dinner it was....
Lots of tapas....  soooo  tasty!  and the best olives I've EVER had in my life....  and the companionship of the 4 of us was immediate...  and I think will last forever.
Thanks so much, Mitchell and Jerry for a lovely time.
(sorry I pigged out on dinner ;-)

We walk everywhere 
Bill is a walking GPS...  he can maneuver us through anything anywhere.  No kidding!  He reads a map before we ever arrive anywhere ...  gets off the boat/plane/train....  and makes a beeline for our destination.

We walk many miles each day here.
Good thing, because we eat a lot of GOOD food.
Last night we walked to meet Mitchell...  then walked home.
The view from the bridge as we're on our way home.

Yesterday I posted photos of some street performers.
One was the squeaky heads...
Today, the human head was there....
As we're watching, a man walked by.  You should have seen him jump when that center "head" moved and squeaked at him.
I think this group is losing the interest of the bypassers now...  been there long enough that folks are too used to them.

There are some geocaches fairly near us.  One is down by the San Jacinto church....
It's supposed to be hidden between the fence and the wall.
Nope... we haven't found it yet.
I'll try again when there aren't so many people around.

BUT!
We did find one on our way to the market today...
Can you guess where it is?
This is a metal scuplture...  sort of a 3-D picture on a concrete base.
See the fellow holding the long stick?  
Under his hand is one of those tiny, magnetic log holders. (about the size of my little fingernail).
Bill found it, we signed the log and went on our way.

I was going to show you the market we went to, but realize I've already gone over anybody's attention span...

So..
Here's dinner tonight....
Chorizo & sausage, cheese, bread, olives and wine.

What more could a person ask for?

That's All for Today!








9 comments:

  1. I'm an old ADD kid and you ain't going over MY attention span... about the size of a gnat...

    LOVE this ... absolutely love this. I am strolling along with you and having well, not a cigarette but sitting outside and talking and eating and walking and .... have I ever giggled in class? ha

    You are going to post the market pictures, right?

    and right with being so blase about a four year old murder... sad commentary on us ...

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  2. I love that first photo...smiley faces

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  3. Such a great time you're having! You would love visiting my nephew in France. But then you would probably want to learn some French...but he is from Portland, OR and speaks very good English. Wonderful food there where you are. Thanks for sharing. Love hearing about your day.

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  4. You have more guts than me to go on this adventure. I'm truly enjoying it from here...

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  5. Another great day...I am so loving this!

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  6. I was surprised to see the oranges on that tree behind the fence. I thought they were harvested in January. I found out a while back that Jerry grew up in South Dakota not too far from where I grew up in the corner of Minnesota. Gee, I sure wish I could have been there with the four of you at dinner!

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  7. I would never have believed that you are 71!! I think all the travel and new adventures keeps you young. Enjoying following along with you on your school adventure. What's our word for the day??

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  8. Aw shucks, Ma'am. We had an amazing time, too! Can't wait to see you again.

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  9. What a wonderful trip you are both on!!
    I'm enjoying all your photos!!

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