måndag 6 juli 2015

CPH

Vi träffades på Köpenhamns flygplats, midsommardagen 20 juni kl 04.44. Km hade kört mig till malmö och jag tog tåget över. C hade åkt ner redan på fredag kväll och sovit på flygplatsen. Jag hade min resklänning på mig, sprillans ny, svart kräppad bomull och jeansjacka. Resväskan rullade! C hade redan loggat in oss och nu skulle vi bara till bagage drop och bli av med Cstora väska. Det tog oss över en timme! Vi fick stå i EN OÄNDLIG KÖ MED MASSA MÄNNISKOR för att lämna väskan i ett bagage drop.Hur tänkte Norweigan där?! J¤kla tur att vi var så tidigt ute för sen var det bara security och därefter till gaten.

Google streetbild


Det blev Alicante. Flyg bokades, kurs beställdes och boende skulle fixas. Via en sida på nätet hittade jag en lägenhet som låg hyfsat nära skolan och som inte kostade skjortan. Pasaje Campoamor 6,  fjärde våningen. Hej och hå, nu skulle den bara betalas och 18 mail senare var dispositionen inbetald. DÅ tittade jag på google maps, på en streetbild och kvarteret såg minst sagt ruffigt ut. KM, sötisen ville nog inte låta för pessismistisk utan uttryckte lite fint att hrrmm ja, hur ska man säga, det ser ju lite... tufft ut. Då kände jag luften gick ur lite. Men så tänkte jag på att det är ju med C jag reser och sällan låter vi så minor details avgöra!
Det tog tid att beställa resan. Vi ville åka till norra Spanien, till San Sebastian. Men flygtiderna som visades till Bilbao var helt orimliga, 19 timmar dit och 23 timmar hem. Nästa förslag var Santiago de Compostela men de visade sig inte ha kursstart 22 juni så det gick bort. Sevilla var en kandidat som höll i sig. Men flygtiderna visade sig inte vara rimliga dit heller. Vi hade kontakt med Avista och förklarade vårt problem med inga direktflyg och de rekommenderade oss att åka till turistorterna, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante... En kompis på jobbet tipsade att man kan ta tåget från Malaga till Sevilla, det tar cirka tre timmar och kostar cirka 20euro. Nu började tiden ticka iväg. Vi hade bestämt att åka söndag 21 juni och inte något var klart.

sommar 2015

JAPP vi gjorde det igen! Åkte på språkresa alltså. Till Spanien.
Första förslaget var att åka till Ecuador,  i en helt annan del av världen för att läsa spanska. Jag var verkligen pepp på det, det kändes helt rätt. C kontrade med Kuba. Då läser man spanska hemma hos sin profesora, De har inte samma system som i Europa med språkskola. Men så insåg vi att skulle vi åka så långt bort, behöver vi nog mer restid än två veckor. Och det verkade som om C var rätt så upptagen i sommar, love takes time så vi enades om att åka till Spanien. Igen.

fredag 4 juli 2014

Viernes 4 th of July

The time to say good bye to Spain has arrived. The two weeks have just rushed by and we`ve had a really good time. I have now an official diploma, that  I´ve accomplished  level A1 in Spanish and can talk about personal and familiar things and everyday life at slow pace. Not bad, eh? In addition to the diploma, I also got  written  remarks from la profesora, that I´ve been an attentative student and have worked hard.  Or, to be honest, that is what I make of the lines in my still-so-poor spanish. I´m considering to continue with spanish, in the form of an evening class. It could be the project of autumn 2014.
Thursday afternoon I took a stroll around the block and saw this flyer, advertising a musical Matilda, 8 euros between 18.30-20.00. I decided to go since I´m well aquinted with  the story. So a short visit to the playa del Bil-bil (long enough, though to get the lower part of my stomach gingerly red) and then off to the theater. Five adorable children and four almost adults amused the audience (14 relatives and me) with the story of Matilda, an extraordinary intelligent child with super natural powers. Mrs Honey is her teacher and Mrs Trenchbull the bad principal and aunt to Mrs Honey. I estimated that I understood every 20th word and that is not too bad, eh?
 I met up with Christine again and we had this plan to eat paella as farewell dinner but it wasn`t that easy to find. Most restaurants  in Arroyo serves paella but only in Sundays. So we went down to the playa, again! a walk for 20 minutes and to  the restaurants lining the beach and found this lovely fish restaurant. Chistine ordered the sword fish (pez de espada?) and I took the paella marisco. Gorgeous!

torsdag 3 juli 2014

¡Hola!
The countdown has started;  we are leaving Spain tomorrow. It`s been two lovely weeks! If we are to do this again, perhaps next year it will not be an easy thing to top this stay. We`ve had an  excellent professora and the  most suiting apartemente, five minutes walk from school, a most ample stay.
During these two weeks I `ve had  lousy sleep at nights. I haven`t been able to turn comfortably in my bed and I am a most frequent turner, like a chicken put  on an electrical skew. I`ve had this feeling that the bed is to narrow which it isn`t and every time I turned I woke up with my heart pounding and expected close contact with the floor. I´ve put pillows from the sofa under the mattress, to make a barrier but it doesn´t help. Hopefully it will adjust when I get home, perhaps it´s my husband´s snoring I'm missing... not.

onsdag 2 juli 2014

Miercoles

We are heading towards the end of this trip. If we were to do this again, we would have expanded our stay with two or three days, free from classes. It would have been nice to spend some more time at the playa or perhaps take a trip to Gibraltar, Marocco or other places nearby. For now, we finish class Friday  at 14.00, then back to the flat for inspection and then off to the airport.
Yesterday we spent some time in the kitchen making gazpacho; tomatoes, crumbles of bread, peppers, cucumbers, onion and garlic, easy-peasy. We talked about kitchen vocabulary in class and in the book there was this recipe for gazpacho so you could say we did our homework. After the delicious soup I had a powernap and then we were headed for the ........ tada! playa. It's a treat in the evening, no risk for burning accidents and less populated. I took a swim and it wasn't my intention to soak the entire body, inclusive the hair but it was a bit windy and the waves were high so it just happened.
Christine found this dress in a beach shop, one of many, white with fringes and straps laced with strass, so elegant and it fit her perfect. This trip has doubled Christine's dress wardrobe, I think the white dress and in addition to the shopping list yesterday, a beige one in linen,  they were number four and five. Lovely!
To finish off the evening we had our pictures taken, dressed in hats, gloves and jewelry and heavy make-up imitating the fashion in the 1920`s. It as really fun an a bit nervous, all was made in full display and we had a bit of an audience but the woman taking the photos was in full control, choosing hats and steering us into the correct poses with a firm hand. I'm very pleased with my photo, considering the model, ha ha.
I have made a discovery today; once upon a time, beeing a spanish student back in the gymnium I must have learnt one or two things. Somewhere, deep down the knowledge has been hiding, waiting for a moment , just like this, a similar learningsituation to pop out. Twice I have used tempus and grammar that we haven't had in class yet. I am amazed! Fragments of Spanish grammar being there! I used past tense once ( hacer comida) and objects direto (Me gusta cocinar las dineros por me hijo, me gusta hacerlas or something like that) spontainiously. It happened  by accident so I was as surprised as anyone. Happy, happy!