Onto Thursday

I skipped classes on Tuesday; I was certain that my luggage was going to arrive, so when I called Veuling only to be informed that my bag was still in Barcelona, I was livid. The universe must have sensed this, so instead of the usual Spanish female voice I think I´ve conversed with previously, and who seemed to have the attitude of why-should-I-help-you-this-happens-to-everyone-who-flies-Iberia; I got a British accent when I switched over to the English line and he was ever so decorous and helpful that I ended sounding more sadly distressed but trying to be brave, and him apologetically contrite and determined to get me my luggage!

He promised that he was going to make sure it was on a priority delivery and when I queried that I felt as if I needed to do something, even if it was just going to the airport to find out where my bag was, be said to please call back to make sure he could tell me for certain that it was in Seville as he had left messages at both the Barcelona and Seville airports (but they weren´t answering). However, he was going to do all he could to make sure I got my luggage.

In the meantime, after lunch (al camino - which in Spain is usually served at 2.00pm - dinner, la cena is at 10.00pm, aye carumba! As that is when the sun usually sets...) Rafella said that she was planning to visit the Giralda Cathedral. As that´s on my list of sights to see, we headed over together and it´s a sumptuous marvel of Gothic architecture, with high naves and a treasure trove of catholic heraldry. The remains of Christopher Columbus are also posited here.

Climbing up into the cathedral tower, the vista that greeted us of sunny Seville was breathtaking; and as the bell gonged on the quarter, everyone at the top jumped and then laughed, enjoying the cool breeze and beautiful scenery.

Rafella and I went on to have ice-cream (helado) for dinner (I think she OD´d on her chocolate sundae) and then I called Vueling again.
My luggage was not in Seville. Sigh...

But it was on a priority and should be delivered tomorrow (Wednesday).
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I went to my regular language class on Wednesday morning, my clothes has been washed on Tuesday, and though I was pretty much still wearing the same items I flew in, they were clean. I had bought a simple dress, a top and a pair of thongs just to have something cooler to wear but I was buoyed with the anticipation of getting my luggage back today.

I had called Vueling and they assured me that the bag was actually in Seville (yay!) and should be on it´s way to be delivered (thank you British accent guy!:)

I figured that even if I didn´t get my bag in time for my flamenco class, I would still use the afternoon to actually find my class, as it was in a separate location to the language school, and on Monday, the route to get there was seriously convoluted. In fact all the students after the class got lost trying to find their way back!

Lunch was great, as usual, and after hanging out at the house for a bit, I gave myself an hour to find the Museo Flamenco. The map the school provided hadn´t been detailed enough to show the street the school was on, but thankfully my DK Spain book had a few maps of Seville and the receptionist could point out on one of them where the school was. Have I mentioned before how much I love this range of travel books? :)

I said hi to my teacher when I got to the museum ahead of the class and mentioned that I would be doing tomorrow´s class as I currently didn´t really have a change of clothing and I got far too hot and sweaty working on the movements and gestures. He seemed to understand, though I noticed that Monday´s original complement of 6 students had been whittled down to 3 remaining (not including me.) I spent most of the late afternoon touring the very well set out Flamenco Museum, it had fantastic exhibits of costumes and paintings, a cool interactive setup and large screens displaying exciting examples of the various different styles of flamenco - inspiring enough to make me want to go out and buy one of those gorgeous outfits!

I had ice-cream again for dinner (it´s very hot here in the afternoon/evening); Ben & Jerry´s this time and headed back home to wait for my luggage - the fourth day´s the charm! :)

Finally, just when I was about to fall asleep, a van turns up at about 10.15pm - my luggage is dropped off and signed for; Scooby the dog goes nuts, escapes into the street and poor Senora Gordilla has to run out and catch him. I´m seriously apologetic for the trouble (lo siento, Senora!) but she waves it goodnaturedly away, and I say a quick good night as I boost my bag up two narrow flights of stairs to my room and like a dear friend, greet and gasp at all of my travelling possessions. Hello, underwear! Hello, sunscreen! I´ve missed you, clothes and shoes!

I slept pretty well last night.

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I finally got a chance to check my hotmail this morning, and there´s a note from GoLearnTo apologising about the 3% charge on top of my accommodation that had been added since I paid the difference via credit card (not mentioned in the original cost). It worked out as about an extra 8 euros, but they have updated their info directly on this and have also given me a 25% discount for any future courses. Useful, as I was going to seriously not consider them for any of my future travel plans...

See letter below:

I appreciate you getting back to me on this as it was something that I was going to bring up in the outgoing satisfaction survey that GoLearnTo had mentioned I would be asked to comment upon completion of this course.

The discount will make me consider another course, because I have to say, based on what I´m currently experiencing at the moment, I was definitely NOT going to try another one of these language and/or creative courses in the future.

I don´t perceive myself as someone who complains out of turn, but when I am in a situation that does not seem to advertise what I have paid for, I do think it is important that I speak out to the organisation involved, if for nothing else than maybe the next person considering this course might have a better idea of what they should be expecting.

Cons:
I enrolled in a complete beginners class in Spanish here at CLIC. I have never studied the language before, and as I am from Australia, I do not get exposed to European languages like French or Italian in my day to day (more likely Mandarin or Bahasa Indonesian); so I was very surprised and somewhat disappointed that my teacher Maria Solis, insisted on speaking Spanish throughout all the classes I have attended so far. She doesn´t offer any translations, and rarely writes anything down on the board, so I am afforded little recourse to even looking up the words or having a base to try dialogue.
I have learned other languages before and I believe this scattershot approach to be quite frustrating, not just to me, but other students in the class as we have to guess at what she is even asking us to do. I would understand having the entire class in Spanish if I was a second year student, but I´m not; I´m a beginner and this way means I can´t ask her why the grammar and dialogue/ conversation are the way they are or even compare them to English - one way for me to grasp the language. I like asking questions in class and I don´t get to with this approach.

I don´t think I am an unintelligent person, and I can pick up some of what is being asked well enough, but it is not the introduction to the Spanish culture that I had hoped for.
I see learning a country´s language as an insight into the way they think, the cultural mores that shaped them, and the beginning to understand how though we are different in certain ideas, there is a lot of common ground once we start understanding each other´s language.

I hope that future patrons of this course are aware that the Beginners Spanish at this school probably requires that you already understand Spanish conversation! Oxymoronic, don´t you think?

Pros:
The flamenco portion is very good, I´m thoroughly enjoying it, but our teacher (though able to converse in English) has been instructed to speak in Spanish throughout the class, and as such I feel as if I am missing out on the cultural reasons for certain movements and gestures.

My homestay person, Senora Josefa Gordillo is a lovely woman, she doesn´t speak much English, but I wasn´t expecting her to. I think however that that wasn´t mentioned in the notes I received prior to coming to Spain, so maybe that might be good to state for any future enrolee´s benefit. Her home is charming and colourful, filled with interesting artwork and knick-knacks and she has been very welcoming and helpful. The notes I received from GoLearnTo prior to my flight mentioned that she has a little dog...he´s actually pretty big! :) But I like dogs, and me and Scooby get along well.

Seville is historically interesting and beautiful. The rabbit warren of streets makes you get lost only to discover hidden treasures and overall I am enjoying my time here - but not really the language classes.

Hopefully, that feedback is more useful than harsh...

I´ve taken some fabulous pictures, but can´t seem to work on them at the moment - will update on that as soon as I can!

Hasta manana!