So, I put the kids in pairs which sparked the usual resistance. Children are so blunt. Mercedes did not want to work with Dani (Daniel) because he is the laziest student in the class and really doesn’t do anything. She flat out told the entire class this. Yes, it’s true, Dani is really lazy, but I still wouldn’t have announced this to the entire class (when I was in 5th grade). They actually did pretty well with the activity, which was a little above their English level. David and I helped them by giving them an example and they knew most of the vocabulary from what they had been working on already.
The activity did not go so well in 5B, where the students refused to stop talking and sit down. This is the class where the students behaved like angels on Wednesday and now, on Friday, they were complete terrors. There was literally nothing David and I could do: only 6 of the students were actually paying attention and cared about what was going on. The rest were moving around the classroom and chatting. So, I suggested taking six of the students into the hallway and working on the weather report activity with them. This worked really well and the students did great weather reports. They also enjoyed the activity and learned from it.
Saturday, my roommates and I went hiking with David, his brother and Lourdes (the secretary/music teacher/art teacher). Our hike took about 5.5-6 hours in total. Lourdes drove us to the base where we met David and Francisco, who is a student in Granada. We started up the path and some goats followed us; one of them came running after me because I had stopped to take a picture. Lourdes freaked out and started screaming my name, but nothing happened: the goat stopped and I was fine. Along the way we saw saffron flowers. We stopped partway up the mountain at a cherry tree (rare here), which was mostly dead, and a “fountain,” which was mostly dry. The cherry tree gave its name to the mountain which is called Puerta del Cerezo (Gate of the Cherry Tree). We ate some snacks and the goats came to join us. They drank from the fountain and we tried to play with them. Erin really wanted to feed them but they had no interest in her sticks and grass.
Once we got to the end of the trail, we found ourselves in a valley between two rocky peaks, where we saw other climbers. They came down one peak (the easier of the two) and went right up the second one. They were much better equipped than we were and seemed to do this type of thing more often. We went up the easier peak, which was rocky and difficult in some spots. We were sitting on some rocks at the top when Erin (who was next to me) threw herself off the rock and screamed. A (according to David) poisonous viper was slithering up next to us. She and I had both heard it hiss, but I thought it was the wind and she had the common sense to look behind us. After that, we didn’t want to sit down again, but were hungry for our lunch. After searching for a while, we finally found a spot where there were no bushes, which could serve as snake hiding spots. We ate our sandwiches and enjoyed the view a little. Then we climbed down, which was much harder than the climb up the hill.
At the bottom, two puppies followed us from the goat farm back to our cars and we had a really hard time making them leave us alone and go back home. Cecilia picked a black olive off of a tree for us to try. I was the only one brave enough to try it and it was absolutely disgusting. It was juicy and somewhat bitter, acidic and sour all at the same time. I will not be eating more olives off trees anymore. When we got home, we were so tired that we took naps.
After dinner we got ready to go out. Our gym was having a party at one of the bars in town. Yes, a place where you work out and exercise was throwing a social event where you drink and smoke. I know that sounds completely oxymoronic, but it’s what people were doing. I had one drink – a tinto de verano, which is kind of like a wine spritzer or cooler. It’s wine-based, but bubbly and somewhat sweet and fruity. My roommates had several beers. We saw some of our workout teachers and the girl who works at the reception desk, who is really nice. We then went next door to another bar where we met up with a teacher from Cecilia’s school. She was with her boyfriend and some other friends. The second bar was not as much fun as the first. There were also a lot of young kids in both places. You only have to be 16 to be able to get into the bars (and 18 to drink), which means that teeny-boppers swarm the place.
After the bars (we left “early” at 2:30), both Erin and Cecilia wanted shawarma (a pita filled with meat shaved off a rotisserie. They each got a completo (meat, veggies, sauce, fried egg and cheese) and ate them in the plaza. Then we walked back down our hill and went to bed.
Sunday morning we woke up and went to the market, which we just found out about. It’s mostly a flea market with cheap (and predominantly ugly) clothing. We now know where half of Priego gets dressed. You can literally get an entire wardrobe there including socks, underwear and bras. Cecilia was looking for a sports bra so I asked a woman if she was selling them. She only had two bra styles and basically told me that my small boobs would not work in her merchandise. Spanish adults are just as blunt as Spanish children. Erin bought a purse at the market and we all bought some clementines, olives, and garlic. On the way back home we got some bread and ate it outside for lunch. It was such a nice day that we didn’t want to go straight back to our apartment. All of Priego seemed to be outside eating in cafes and bars. There were, surprisingly, even some stores open. By two everything was closed again (except for the restaurants which had just opened) because people were eating and then going home to take their siestas and rest for the afternoon. Instead of napping, Cecilia and I tanned on the roof of our building and then the three of us cleaned the apartment.
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