Thursday, March 23, 2023

we continue living and learning

So we have still been going to classes and seeing my speaking parnter Julia and doing outside of class activities. We are also pursuing a bank account here and the various visas for extended stay post the 90 day Schengen limit. Meanwhile we have had several good measls ocassionally with classmates.

Our group has 15 students (half women half men) We are divided into three levels of classes. Beginners have nine students (that would be my class) and intermediate  has five students (Phil's class) and the advanced has one student, David (the guy on the left who looks like Jeff Daniels' brother). The guy in the middle who looks like John Huston and has actually been in some television and movies is Dennis, he is my classmate and a wonderful man that everyone likes. He actually speaks more Spanish than most of the beginners but is very hard of hearing so sometimes it's hard for him to follow the teacher's instruction. The guy on the right is Steve another really good person who actually has probably the best pronunciation of anyone in my class despite him saying he's always lost on the comprehension part.  For those of us (like my class mate Paul and like me) who have a bit of French the "en"  and "es" pronunciations are particularly difficult, and I stumble over them still. So we all make slow but steady progress. I report because several friends have asked how things are going. Neither of us will come home speaking fluent Spanish after our very first six weeks of instruction but we are learning little by little.


a lunch after classes- 




another walk home after classes-


 A night out with all the classes to celebrate our teacher's birthday an old (since 1880) well known bar-restaurant near the Triana market.







the walk home that night after dinner...





The walk back to school the next morning- 





We had lunch here earlier this week...





time in the park on the way home from school



one afternoon, we went with the all the classes to Bellas Artes Museum- located in an old convent
























Our park after dark- 


on the way to the restaurant- last night




where we had our best meal yet!