Thursday in class I got my reminder that I will be done with classes on Friday and that I need to vacate my "piso" on Saturday and return the keys before noon. This was not a surprise because I have seen the reminders delivered to others every week.
As I was organizing my stuff for packing, I finally got around to reading some of the information that I got in an Enforex packet the first day and found out that the school has a library. I thought about that for a while because I have been all around the school where the classrooms are and there sure isn't any library on that floor. Then I remembered seeing some bookcases along the wall across from the big classroom on the main floor. Sure enough that is the library. The main part looked like the library of someone who bought fancy-bound books that look good and the rest of it consisted of DVDs of popular movies in Spanish and popular reading in Spanish. It was all locked up and I wonder if anyone ever uses it. The other thing I noticed in the information is that it is forbidden to have alcohol in any school housing. Do you think that includes wine?
Thursday, when we had the first part of the morning class; the part where we each have to say something about what we did or contribute something to the conversation, Diego asked how we liked our new afternoon teacher. I asked him if it was Alberto's first time teaching. He said yes, and I said I could tell because he did not have the "skill and experience" that Diego has. He laughed and then, of course, he went around and asked all the other students how Alberto compared with their "estupendo" morning teacher. They all said Alberto talks too fast and is hard to understand.
After school I washed clothes because I am not sure I will have a washer available in the next place I stay. And, of course, since we have no dryer, I needed a day to get everything dry. I don't know if I mentioned that before, but every apartment has a clothes line and throughout Barcelona you can see laundry hanging out to dry. I don't think anyone has a dryer. The clothes line for our apartment is outside the two single bedroom windows-meaning I could hang clothes out in my room and the other fellow in the other single room could. I found it a bit scary to kneel on my bed and hang out the window hanging up clothes. The distance between my window and the windows across from me looked to be about 20 feet. Really no sun comes into that area and things do not dry very well. If I dropped anything there would be no way of retrieving it without going downstairs and knocking on someone's door. Hmm. I am missing a sock.
Rickard came back while I was doing the laundry. He is the roommate that I have seen the least of and he stopped to talk for a bit. He is a Spanish teacher in Sweden and every year he spends a week (it must be their spring break)studying in Spain to improve his Spanish. This was the first time he had been to Barcelona to study Spanish. He said he went to Alicante last year and liked that better, even though it is the same language school. From what I have heard, Enforex is better than the Don Quixote school--as least the Don Quixote students seem to complain more. So Rickard will be leaving when I do. The other two, John and Alvaro, will stay on. They are both students and I suppose need a second language for whatever reason.
My last class on Friday was a bit anti-climatic. I think I am ready to move on. Diego shook my hand and wished me well. Taina from Brazil is leaving also and she, Caroline (from New York) and I exchanged contact information. Others that left last week I now see on Facebook. At the end of the second class Alberto handed Taina and me our certificates. I think everyone gets good reports if they come to class at least that is what Veronica said last week. They don't fail anyone, but if anyone needs to pass a certain test for any reason, that is where the competency shows.
I have been in contact with my husband who will arrive Friday April 12 and my brother and his wife who will travel first to Germany for a week and then arrive in Barcelona on April 15. On the 17th, our cruise leaves Barcelona. My library visits are in place and I am excited to see what is inside since I have already seen the outsides of most of them!
So, it is about 11 pm and I have all my clothes squashed into my suitcase, and my backpack and a shopping bag (that I didn't have when I arrived). I have liked having a kitchen, laundry and balcony here in the piso, so in that way, I am sorry to leave. On the other hand, it will be nice to have one all enclosed hotel room to stay in by myself again. So, on to Sabbatical 2013, Phase Two!
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