I got the first shower today since the guys were out late last night. I heard a phone alarm go off later; some kind of horrible squawking bird that went on until I got in the shower (and probably longer). I think whoever finally "snoozed" it because I heard it again later! Alvaro left for class while I was still in my room. I don't believe Rickard and John (who are supposed to start at 9am at Don Quixote) were up yet when I left for my 9:30 am. class. They were probably speaking lots of Spanish in the clubs the night before!
In class today we had a lot of discussion about different things in the first two hours of class, so even though we didn't finish the assignment, we did speak a lot of Spanish. The afternoon class was not as interesting. A question about the why of something in Spanish had our novice teacher stymied for a while. We are studying when to use the "preterito indefinido" and when to use the "imperfecto." Then they threw in the "preterito perfecto." To make things more complicated, the instructors gave answers that were different from the key in our book, saying it could be either way sometimes. I have always struggled with these concepts and still do.
After class, guess what? I took a walk! I found a park I had never noticed right next to the Sants. It had these huge metal sculpture and when I walked up to it, I saw it had steps.When I went up the steps, I found out it was a slide. (no, I did not go down the slide-had to go back down the steps) Beyond the slide was a pool and statues and walkways and benches. I went down and walked through thinking I might sit and read for a while, but an older building that you could walk through caught my eye.
When I went inside, there was a pod-looking thing made by Cisco. At first I thought it was someone's work station, but then I realized that it was a telepresence connection to a government entity to ask questions. I thought maybe it might be used by people who had questions about things like Spanish social security if there is such a thing. But then I realized that all the signs on it were in English. I took my phone out to take a picture and an employee appeared at my side and enthusiastically started explaining to me what it was used for. We chatted (in Spanish!) about what it was used for (asking questions), how long it had been there (1 month-it is a pilot project) and whether it got used very much (not really but since it was so new, I was not surprised) He asked if I wanted to use it and I demurred. He went back to his office but I was still wondering why all the information on the outside of the "pod" was in English, so I went back to ask him. I did not really get a satisfactory answer but he did talk me into trying it. I sat down and without prompting pushed a button on a touch screen, heard dialing and a nice young man in a remote location popped up. My friend from my end had hung around to explain my curiosity and then the remote man and I chatted a bit (still in Spanish), I thanked him and he disconnected. I got up to leave, but the employee wanted to fill out the log for the call so we did. I thought it was a very interesting useful service, but I don't think it was in the right location.
Back at the piso, John and Alvaro were there. Alvaro was doing homework and John was reading a Swedish book (looked like Hunger Games). I poured myself some wine and then offered them the rest since this bottle was not my favorite and I definitely didn't want to move it on Saturday. They graciously accepted and we toasted each other (salud!).
After that I did some homework and now have almost finished updating my blog. I have noticed that since the fellows arrived, my previously speedy faultless internet connection has started dropping and fading at night. This has slowed me down a bit!
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