Día 2 - La Salsa

Que un dia!  We had our first set of classes today (it doesn’t feel right taking classes 2 blocks from a Spanish beach).  Turns out we’re with the program MundoLengua, designed for students from all over the world who want to learn Spanish.  Our first class is taught by a professor in MundoLengua (her name is Marta… she’s actually Swiss.  Weird) and then the next one (from 10:30 – 1:30) is taught by Labarca, our professor from Tech.  She rambles a lot – we talked about different nationalities and characteristics of different regions in Spain.  

After class, we return to our homes where we eat Comida (it’s like lunch. but at 2:30.  It’s their biggest meal of the day).  The Spanish eating schedule is very different – breakfast is coffee and a small pastry, almuerzo (translated “lunch) is at 10:30 and consists of a small bocadillo (sub).  Of course, our families don’t pack us almuerzos so I’ll probably end up taking some fruit.  Comida is at 2:30, and then they usually eat meriendas (snacks) around 5 and 8.  La cena (dinnerI isn’t served until 9:30 or 10 and consists of something small (in our case, a hashbrown pancake), because it doesn’t get dark until 10:30 here.  No wonder Spain is the country that never sleeps. 

 I had to eat very quickly because the group that lost their bags had to travel back to the airport to get them, so that was another adventure that ended up much more successful than the beginning of our trip (all of us got our bags except one girl).  Once we got back, I ran on the beach (I passes girls running in pants on the beach.  I understand it’s not custom to wear shorts… but still.  It’s hot and you’re on the beach) and then returned to my house for la cena. 

After la cena we met up with a couple other Americans and we went to a restaurant on the beach.  It turns out Tuesday nights are their free salsa dancing nights, so we spent the next hour taking hilarious salsa lessons from one of the waiters  It made the day incredible and we promised to become frequent customers on Tuesday and Sunday nights (salsa nights).

Buenas noches, Cadiz :]

WT Tip #3  - When you choose to follow a group of “native” teens to see where they are going one night, don’t forget to watch out for them in case they make a turn and you realize you don’t know where they went, or where you are.