Monday morning we began our last month of classes with the added bonus that soon we were going to get to see Kellie and Brit almost every day, even if just for a few minutes when we are on our morning break since both schools share the same buildings and gardens.

 Beautiful weather made for great outdoor activities and we took advantage of it!

In mid-July, our school offered a special activity.  Granada has an International Ballet Company and every summer they put on a very unique program at the outdoor stage in the gardens of the Alhambra.  Just imagine this 1,000 year-old fortress encompassing what seems like miles of palaces and gardens beautifully sculpted into the top of a hill with majestic views of the surrounding city at night.  Even without the ballet it would have been an evening to remember, but this year I was delighted to find, they were doing a show incorporating the story poems of local poet Garcia Lorca combined with the ballet company and a company of authentic Flamenco dancers and musicians. 

Michael was completely uninterested preferring to hang out and drink beer and speak Spanish badly with his friends but Kellie and Brittani got as excited as I was.  We bought our tickets, had dinner at Puerta de las Pesas before we left to go up to the show.  Being summer in Spain and an outdoor venue, the start time for the production was 10:00pm.  Unfortunately we were asked not to take photos during the performance but it was one of the most memorable of my life; all three of us were moved to tears at one point or another.  It so well performed that we were able to follow the story; even though we did not understand much of the language, or in the girl’s case, none at all.

 After the ballet we made our way to the bottom of the hill where Mike waited to have a beer and walk home with us.

When the girls had time, which was not often during their 4 week TEFL course, we managed to take a few hikes around the surrounding area and get some beautiful shots of Granada from the hills.  It was certainly a summer we will always remember fondly.

We were getting to the end of our school experience, many of the students that we had met were already gone and we were following their new adventures on FaceBook. 

We had a great group of friends and acquaintances that was expanding both in Spain and spreading out into the other places in the world that they called home.

Importantly, we had made some very good Spanish friends who did not speak any English.  We really needed these friends because communicating with them forced us to use the language we were learning.  

The family at Puerta de las Pesas, Fernando, Paloma, Jose and now Adrian and Danielle and sometimes even Ana were so patient with us. 

Incredibly, they didn’t seem to mind the abuse and in fact seemed to enjoy these crazy Americans with bad Spanish language skills.  This was important for us since we did not have a television to use for practicing our listening skills (highly recommended) and we needed Spanish speakers with whom we could converse without feeling the need to speak grammatically perfect as we were required to in our classes.

In addition to listening to our bad Spanish, they talked with us about the history and the local traditions of Granada, allowing us to feel more at home and to help us understand the people and culture in southern Spain.  We jealously watched their grand-daughter Noella speak freely and easily, with very few mistakes and we envied this little 3 year old conjugating machine.

 We were able to watch how she was learning the language and listen to the way she was corrected in her own native tongue.  We spent so much time sitting outside this particular restaurant that all our classmates and professors started referring to it as our salon (living room) and we totally agreed.

One drizzly day, Fernando took us on a walk around the Albaycin and we brought Kellie and Britani with us.  We walked out of Plaza Larga through the new gate and then stayed within 1 kilometer of the top of the hill, on just one side in a small section of the Albaicin and saw more historical features than we could have imagined in this small area. 

We took a few photos but mostly just listened to Fernando explain the history of each place and tried to understand the details of what he was telling us.  Knowing that we were only grasping a very small part of all that he was telling us was both frustrating and enlightening.  We wanted to know it all, right then, but somehow knew that we would enjoy the telling of this history over and over as our language skills improved and we spent more time among and gained a better understanding of the wonderful people who live there.

We were living in a little house that is as old as our country, walking to school every day on paths that have existed for centuries, and learning from the people who live with this everyday of their lives, it is an experience that does not readily translate onto paper. 

This new chapter in our lives was shaping up to be incredibly interesting.  Fernando brought books, drawings and photographs to the restaurant and patiently explained the perspectives and history piece by piece.  There is a lifetime of learning to be done in cities like Granada and we have been delighted that we chose it as our first home away from home.