Spanish lessons
Today I start two weeks of Spanish lessons at Enforex. The first week will be here in Salamanca and the second week in Tenerife. I suspect the change of venue will be at the expense of continuity but fingers crossed.
My previous experience with the language at been 6 nights at nights school in Auckland, totalling 12h. That was about 20 years ago and that little knowledge, has seen me through a lot of Latin America. Especially in Argentina and Cuba, where not much English was spoken, I made myself understood.
I put it down to Spanish being reasonably closely related to English in terms of vocabulary. The meaning of many words are quite guessable. However, I know that the similarity ends when it comes to grammar and I’ve already taken a look online to know that I have a tough job ahead.
Turning up at my school 5 mins walk away from my hostal, all new students were given a test to determine their level. I did one third of it, somewhat by guesswork, and gave up on the rest. A lot of it was testing complex grammar when I don’t even have grasp of the basics. But that’s the intention of the test.
I was put in the Beginner’s class along with five (later four) others. Classes consisted of 2h at 0900 with one teacher and a further 2h with another, with a break in between. Being the first day, we lost a bit of time to admin and placement of students in the correct classes.
I was surprised at how quickly they go through the material. The teachers speak purely Spanish in class with few exceptions. It would be impossible for a pure beginner to do well in the classes but fortunately all of us have had some exposure to the language, if not some previous lessons.
I had been worried that I’d be wasting time in the Beginner’s class but I think the class was perfectly pitched for all but one of us. The one left after a day, switching to private tuition.
The classes went quickly. The teachers were animated, interesting and patient. They were good teachers are so was the text/workbook. I had my reservations before as there had been some bad review on the internet amongst the good ones.
Finally, some exercise
My home life includes a regime of swimming, gym and plenty of Iyengar yoga. On the road, I don’t do much exercise, so I decided to try fit in a 1km swim each day after school. School finishes at 1300, so after lunch and a rest, I walk to the Municipal Pool just north of old town, about 20 minutes away. The whole swim including changing and walking takes over 1h30, or 2h if one allows for detours etc trying to find the damn place the first time round.
Swimming pools in foreign lands can be a culture shock. In Paris, I got in trouble for not carrying my footwear past a line in the floor, shortly after entering the complex. And swim caps were compulsory.
With that in mind, I took care to observe local practices. Swim caps were compulsory here. But to my surprise, footwear was allowed in the complex, and flip-flops were mandatory in the shower. I realised a few days later that flip-flops were also mandatory poolside. I guess people must use clean dedicated flip-flops rather than dirty street ones. I didn’t have a pair since I travel light and only have one pair of footwear; my trusty sandals. Ssshhh! Let’s hope no one notices.
Walking tour
The school put on a walking tour of the old city today at 1700. It was conducted in Spanish but I got quite a good picture of what was being said, probably due to the choice of words the teacher/guide used. Some students on the tour weren’t on their first day, so it wasn’t unreasonable for the tour to be in Spanish.
We started in Plaza Mayor and went to various places (externally only) including Palacio de Salina, St Stephen, the Cathedral, the Pontifical University and Casa de la Conchas. The tour was only 1h rather than the 2-3h ones which I’m used to with “free walking tours” (with tip). But it was sufficient to orientate me.
Besides, the free walking tour I had booked for tomorrow turned out to be shifted to a time that clashed with my class. So it was good that I was able to have this orientation instead.