The people you meet

Well, another week has come and gone, with today being the start of my 3rd week in Granada. I'm still enjoying Granada, despite 40+ heat. At least it's not too humid so it is manageable. During the past week, I've been keeping active with "cultural tourism" which I'm deeming to be homework for my Spanish classes and speaking practice. With a change to individual classes, my brain has finally relaxed and I'm taking every opportunity possible to speak Spanish as my teachers have advised this is the best way to improve and consolidate what I know. Despite mistakes, the people I have spoken too seem to understand what I'm trying to communicate and we've had lengthy (for me) conversations lasting up to 30-40 minutes in Spanish. Tiring but fun.

So, what have I been doing? There are so many choices here that it can be a difficult decision every day as to where to go and what to explore. However, allow me to mention a few activities.

• Visit the Alhambra, Cathedral and other fascinating monuments
• Explore Granada's parks and gardens
• Climb as many steps as possible (Granada is full of steps and steep slopes)
• Have random conversations with as many Spanish speakers as possible
• Spend a day in the villages and peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range
• Go on a tapas tour
• Meet interesting people

Yep, that about covers it. You can see I'm taking the responsibility of cultural tourism very seriously.

So, let me tell you about some of the interesting people I have met (sorry, no photos).

• Christina, an American lady who has lived in Granada for 20+ years and is married to a Spaniard. She speaks fluent Spanish.  
• Kevin and Liz, an English couple who live in Ireland. Kevin is a journalist and Liz a teacher at an integration school in Ireland. The school's goal is to try to break down the barriers between Catholics and Protestants and people of other nationalities and faiths through integrated education. I met them on the tapas tour. Together we turned philosophers for the night (not at all aided by the number of drinks we had). If you buy a drink in Granada, you get tapas for free.
• Serena, a lovely young woman from Singapore who is in Spain to learn Flamenco dance.
• Juan Carlos and Loli, a couple from Valencia, on holidays in Granada. Both are nurses. However, Juan Carlos is also a writer, publishing his first fiction book this year. After enjoying his knowledge and company during our day in the mountains, and hearing about his book, I've purchased it for extra practice at reading and understanding Spanish. It's a book of historical fiction, based on a monastery of Carmelites. Sounds quite fascinating. Our topics of conversation was generally about our professions, government in general and the different practices of finding work in our respective countries, among a host of other topics throughout the day.
• Two French ladies who are Spanish teachers in France and speak Spanish fluently.
• A shop assistant who was more than happy to spend time chatting in Spanish. We discussed the difficulties of learning Spanish for about 15 - 20 minutes as he was originally from Iraq. I have a standing offer to come back anytime to practice my Spanish (I wonder if that means I have to buy something each time?)
• My host family, Trini and Pepe. We've discussed everything from the price of basic food and cost of living, to a high profile murder case here in Spain, the nature and difficulties of grief and other assorted topics.

As you can see, my vocabulary is now beyond the usual travel Spanish topics. Whilst I sometimes struggle to find the correct words, expressions or tenses in Spanish, all the people I've spoken to have been very patient and willing to teach me new words or Spanish language nuances. We've laughed, joked and enjoyed each other's company and whilst I'm not likely to meet any of them again, it was been a fantastic experience as none of them are in any way connected to my language school, except Trini and Pepe. The majority were random, chance meetings and conversations whilst out and about exploring Granada and surrounds. I can't wait to see who I get to talk to next!