Finding my way between subjunctive and conditional tenses

This week has been a very mixed bag both on the learning front and emotionally.
It started very well with the return to conversations classes and a renewed sense of confidence. However, on Tuesday, we had a rough day in class, which resulted in one of our teachers getting quite frustrated with us all. The problem was, we couldn't get our subjunctive verbs right. She actually said if we couldn't do subjunctives by now, we were in the wrong level. I believe she was just frustrated and trying to motivate us, but as a motivational strategy, it wasn't great. Most of the 8 students in my class (we were all equally as bad), found it difficult to come to class on Wednesday, but dedicated group that we are, we came, we struggled and just kept trying. Compounding our confusion was the fact that this week we commenced learning conditional tenses as well. Lots of new grammar, lots of new rules and verb terminations to memorise and chaos rained supreme! For those of you who aren't familiar with the terms, English doesn't use subjunctive tense very much but it is used a lot in everyday Spanish, as is the conditional. Basically (I think I have this right), subjunctive is used for giving advice, orders or commands, or expressing desires / wishes for others or yourself. The conditional tense is used to also give advice, but is used more in hypothetical situations or for expressing probability in future, past or present. Easy to understand the rules, hard to get it all together.

Luckily, by Thursday our teacher was happy with us again (or maybe just resigned to our slowness) and we started to enjoy our lessons. On Friday, we listened to a very well known and loved Spanish pop song from the 1970s era (kind of like Spain's answer to ABBA). This song has a catchy but quite rhythmic tune and the entire song is written using subjunctive verbs. We then had to write our own lyrics to the same tune, using subjunctive verbs.
This activity was actually lots of fun although a bit brain straining. We got put into groups, and as there were 8 of us, I ended up in a group of two. My partner in crime and I had an amusing time coming up with a theme and lyrics and actually won the class vote for the best song. The teacher was actually smiling and laughing at our song so we must have done something right! I've now added this song to my repertoire of favourite Spanish songs so I might just have to bore you all with it when I get home. If you are lucky, I may even sing you our version of the song!

So, good start, bad middle of the week. At the end .........

Goodbyes are awkward, aren't they?. There never seems to be the right time or words to express what you want to say, in English or in Spanish. After saying goodbye to Sergei last week, Olli and I were feeling the loss of his company. However, Olli's wife had arrived for a holiday so he had other options for his week. Now, Olli, Saichi and Marianna (from Brazil) have all gone as well. Three of my direct classmates have also left, as well as two from my conversation class. So, new students and new dynamics next week. Will be interesting to see what transpires. However, my song writing partner is still here for two more weeks so we may just see what mischief we can get up to in class. Leonardo has a black sense of humour that matches my own and we get on well in group activities.

On a very positive front, I received several emails this week from absent friends which was just wonderful. I feel very connected to my global family today. Thank you all for your friendship and faithfulness. It is very much appreciated.

Until next time............