Ceramics Update!

So I am sitting up, watching the Red Sox-Angels game on mlb.tv (maybe the best thing to ever happen to overseas travel). I kind of feel like I am letting my mom down by not posting more frequently, so here is a little something to tide you all over.

Let's see, I went to the Rastro on Sunday, as planned. I found some really beautiful old photographs. I kind of feel like those are some of the best souvenirs I can take home from here (even though not all of the pictures are from Spanish studios; some are French and Belgian). I also bought the navy blue pashmina I was looking for. Almost all scarves are down to 2 euro right now at the Rastro, because it's hard for the vendors to compete if their prices are any higher. Rastro shoppers are a clever and discerning bunch.

Oh shoot, Mom just got on AIM. I don't want her to see that I'm up this late, but. . . better bite the bullet and talk to her.

So let's see. . . I went to the Rastro, found some treasures. . . pictures posted; what else? Oh right, school. Classes are going well- Creative Writing is really getting interesting. It's so weird, but I say things and write things that I would never write in English, just because they are too poetic or sound silly. And anything you say in that class, Enrique will say, "Oh, muy bien," or "Mmmm. . . perfecto." He's very amusing. He makes other sounds when he hands out papers besides tak-tak; sometimes he says, "Boing boing. . . boing. . ."

Yesterday (well, Tuesday) we all convened in the theater during Grammar class time. No one knew why we were there; some speculated that there had been an emergency or a disaster back home and they were going to inform us. It looked serious- the program director was up on stage, along with a man and a woman in business clothes. Our director spoke to us first, in Spanish. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I think she introduced the man. He came to the front of the stage and looked us all over. We prepared ourselves for the arduous mental task of listening in a foreign language. The man, looking a little like Johnny Mo from Kill Bill Vol. 1 with his shaved head, began to speak.

"Good morning, how y'all doing today?"

For some reason it was such a relief to hear English. Some people in the audience clapped and cheered- I know I let out an audible sigh of relief. It was just nice to not have to work at understanding.

Anyway, they were from the Embassy and just wanted to make sure we'd registered ourselves here and had all the voting info we needed. They also mentioned potential job opportunities and internships- and I am sort of intrigued.

That was also Ceramics day. Ceramics day is nice. We started working with the wheel this week, and it went better than expected. I sort of view the wheel as one of my many archenemies- we jsut don't get along. We've known each other for many years, long enough to know that we're not really compatible. I have to conclude that the pieces I made on Tuesday only came out so well because of extensive help from the instructors. Here are a few pictures- because the Embassy presentation ended early, we made it to Ceramics early, and a few of us decided to have a little photo shoot in our aprons. Do you know how hard it is to look good in a horizontally striped, tea-length potter's apron?