Five down, One to go .....

I've now completed 5 weeks here with only one left in Salamanca. I'm a bit sad in a way because I have really enjoyed it here and met some lovely people, plus I really like my teachers. Also, the city is small, quiet, beautiful and generally very safe. The constantly changing weather at this time of year has been a challenge to my wardrobe but have managed quite well overall.  We've been fluctuating between winter and spring on an almost daily basis. It was rainy and very cold in the first 3 weeks, then we had one week of glorious spring weather, to be met with one day of winter (5 degrees or less) then one day of spring (24 degrees) the next day. Tonight it is forecast to be -2 overnight and possibly up to 12 degrees tomorrow. At least the sun is still shining and we haven't had a lot of rain again. This afternoon there was a  brief storm with hail but it didn't last long.  It is also my last weekend in Salamanca as next Saturday, I travel to Madrid to meet up with my friend Gillian from Melbourne. Really looking forward to that!!

This week has been a bit unusual for me in that I only made it to school on 2 days. Tuesday was a local holiday which has been celebrated since historic times. It also coincides with the day Cervantes died. Hence Salamanca holds a book fair in the plaza mayor. If the number of books on sale and the number of people there is anything to go by, reading and books are alive and well in Spain. It was a day after my own heart, but to any who have helped me move house, rest easy, I managed to restrain myself and didn't buy a single book! I was very tempted though so I'd better stay away from bookshops for the rest of my trip or try to convince Gillian to take them home for me.

I spent the day with some friends from school, Rebecca (Switzerland), Don (US) and Mary (Canada). Rebecca and I first visited the book fair, then we found time to visit a café for "morning tea". At 3.00 pm we met up with Don and Mary. Together, we valiantly tried to visit as many tapas places as possible in an afternoon and finished it all off with an ice cream. Don't worry though, I only had two glasses of wine.  The weather was cool to start with but became very warm and sunny for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, I appear to have fallen victim to the changeable weather. I woke up on Wednesday morning with an extremely sore throat and a headache. I also felt very unwell. Turns out I had a fever (not too serious). I spent all day in bed, couldn't eat and could barely manage to swallow water my throat was so sore. Felt a bit better Thursday but very tired. Carmen still insists I had a raised temperature on Thursday. I managed to go to school today, but without a voice. I still can't talk so for all of you who have prayed for me to shut up, sorry, you missed it! It was very interesting being in a conversation class for 2 hours without being able to say anything. I could and did practice my listening skills though but it was frustrating. Anyway, I'm on the mend and should be back to normal by Monday. One of my teachers had the same trouble last week so I hope she didn't share!

After the drama I had explaining I wasn't hungry to my host family, I was a bit concerned about how much fuss being sick might cause. However, Carmen was wonderful. She checked my temperature, intermittently prompted me to drink fluids and tried to temp me to eat, but generally left me alone to rest and be miserable in peace. I was too ill on Wednesday to really care anyway. I think I either slept or dosed most of the day. Glad to say I am feeling much better but still a little tired. I expect I will try to get an early night tonight.