La Tomatina/Flamenco

Last week was exhausting--I'm so glad it's over, honestly! Biz and I had TEFL class from 9:30-3:00 every day, and afterwards had to go to Spanish class from 3:30-8:00. Except for Wednesday--about 25 of us teachers went to a huge (1 million people) festival called "La Tomatina"--the biggest tomato fight in the world. It's hosted in a small coastal town called Valencia. The group split up and my friend Elise and I tried to stay together amidst the crowd of sweaty people packed in the streets like sardines. Really--you could almost have lifted your feet off the ground and still have been standing. Tomato trucks would slowly cruise through the crowds of people and locals in the trucks would chuck tomatoes at eager tourists. Some of my friends ended up in tomatoes up to their shins, but I guess I was in a low-level tomato area (which is now a little disappointing). Anyway, after tomatoes, we all went to swim in the Mediterranean, which was lovely, though it smelled strongly of fish. It was such a hot day, though, and the water was cool and refreshing.

Yesterday Biz's friend Maria came in from the Netherlands, so we all went out to see a Flamenco show (along with one other girl, Ginny). It was really beautiful. The hand motions reminded me a little of hula dancing--very graceful and story-like. And the music definitely has an Arabic influence--the vocals are all over the place--kind of chant-like. So beautiful. At the end some of the guitarists/vocalists got up to dance, too--I love multi-talented artists!

Tonight we showed Maria what tapas (little plates of food that come with your drinks) and churros (fried doughnuts dipped in melted chocolate) are. Now she's an official Spain lover, like the rest of us. :)

I visited an Anglican church this morning. I liked it--it reminded me of one I visited in South Africa. But, I met a girl there who's been here a year and still hasn't learned Spanish! That SCARES me! I wouldn't consider that a complete waste of a year, but... why only hang out with English-speakers when you travel? That makes me want to go back to my friendly Spanish church. We'll see.

The next three weeks we have TEFL class from 9:30-3:00 four days a week. That's exciting! I can get some sleep! Tomorrow I have to give a practice lesson (20 minutes long) which will be video taped and critiqued. How nerve-wracking. :(