Day 21-Helado, Confusión, y Flamenco

Today was my second day of volunteering, so I grabbed my breakfast and then headed out, and I surprisingly remembered my way to get there, although it did make it difficult that I tried to read Catching Fire, every spare moment I had.  Today we served the kids cereal with warm milk and I got to talk for a few moments with some students, and of course the other volunteer.  Then I went off to class, where we finished the movie we were watching.  Although it was hard to just sit still and watch for that long, the movie was excellent, very engaging and well done!  We then made some comparisons between the different periods.  Then I sat downstairs as I waited for the mail to hopefully come for me, and as I was waiting, Jorge, one of the directors came over to me.  He asked if I was enjoying the Flamenco class, if it was hard, and how Curro (my professor was).  I told him that I enjoyed the class a lot, and even though I would like to learn to dance, I find it interesting to learn about the people and history of it.  I then explained that it was difficult for me though because my skills are not that good and it is really hard for me to understand.  It was such a blessing though because he told me that Curro is very happy with me, and that I am dedicated and work hard day by day.  That meant a lot to me because even though I know I am not at the same skill level as a lot of the other students I am trying!!!  I finally did get my letter then as well, so I headed home for lunch: rice, meatballs, mushrooms, and peas!   Then I took some time to read more of my book (I cannot put it down!) and finished writing my letter.  Today I decided to try to find another post office because I was going to a different location after, but wow it was confusing.  I was meeting my Spanish friend, Fran, Alice (from my program) and her host brother's friend to go get helado!  Well I ended up not finding the post office before, but I eventually found Fran!  Somehow, Alice thought I was talking about meeting at a different place, so we could not find her.  So Fran and I talked for a while and he gave me some more Spanish pointers and then we finally just luckily ran into Alice and Manuel!  We got Mascarpone helado: nata de oreo and cheesecake, turtle I think!  It was SOOO good-probably one of my favorites!  We had a lot of fun too and learned and practiced a lot of Spanish!  I finally learned the difference between chiste y broma also!  Chiste-more like a planned joke, like a knock knock, but broma-is more of like a prank of spur of the moment!

 After our helado, we went to meet with some others from our big group for a cultural activity.  This week the activity was a tour of el Barrio de Santa Cruz.  I liked seeing it, but our lady was somewhat difficult to understand, and I had already seen some of it before.  Even still, I am glad I went!  Then Fran helped me to find the post office just before it closed, so I got lucky!

 Then my friend, Lauren, and I went to go watch a Flamenco show because we had to see one so we could write a paper about it for our class.  We knew the address so we tried to figure out how to get their on our own, and we did it!  However, we were expecting like a big theater or something, but it ended up being a little bar.  My teacher had said this was the best show to go too and it was only 5 euros, so we decided it would be good, just were not quite sure what we were getting into.  Well, we talked to the bartender because the place was empty when we showed up, and he said to come back in 15 minutes.  The show was supposed to start at 9:30, and we were early so we just walked around for a few and went back at 9:30.  Then he came out and told us that the
dancer had not shown up and they did not know where she was, so we just went in and sat down.  It was a cool place, but we were worried, she was not going to show up at all.  Then two other students from our class randomly showed up.  The bartender played a Flamenco video while we sat and waited, and slowly but surely more people started coming.  Then finally the dancer and singer showed up, and the show started about an hour after it was supposed to.  All in all though, the show was fantastic.  It is crazy how they can convey such intense, yet different emotions.  As the man sang, I could feel his pain.  He had a beautiful voice, and the dancer was so talented.  She could move her feet so fast, but my favorite was the end because another girl danced with her and they were in sync for the whole time.  It was so impressive!!!  The thing that I did not like though, was that I had to walk home alone because I do not live near Lauren.  I figured the show would end early enough that it would not be a problem, but at this point it was about midnight.  Luckily, the streets were pretty lit, but it is not something I would like to make a habit of just because I do not think it's the smartest idea.  Well then I got home and was able to skype my parents for a few minutes, tried to do some work, but I ended up being so tired I just decided to get some rest!