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5 Days to Learn Spanish: Day 4

I turn the corner in downtown Valencia and run into two classmates.

The city's clean, empty streets feel like a Hollywood movie lot...or maybe Disney World..when you run into the same people at dinner with whom you waited in line at Space Mountain.

Yet people live and work here. With their families. And they have for generations.

What an incredible day!

Class whizzes by, as usual. I never check the time. 5 hours of fun, lively, practical instruction.

Today the words seem to be soaking in. Everything sounds familiar. I realize I'm catching on to vocabulary and verbs with much less effort. I still struggle to form sentences, but I am not needing to write down every tiny detail.

Here's a sentence to razzle dazzle you:
Cerca de mi calle, hay parques, una fuente, y un salon de manicura.
(Near my street there are parks, a foundation, and a nail salon.)

Hold onto your hats. Here's another:
A mis hijos les gusta ire a la Iglesia.
(My kids like to go to church.)

Progress, baby!

Our 2nd teacher Laura is sick today, so the school director fills in. She is smart and outgoing and effervescent, like everyone who works at Don Quixote language school.

I am incredibly impressed with this school. Highly, highly recommend it!


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My favorite part of the day: bike tour of Valencia.

This time I do not get lost!

My friend Tricia and I book a tour through Rent Bike Virgen (rentbikevirgen@gmail.com), the most adorable, family-owned bike shop near Plaza de la Virgen.


Christoph (alternativetoursvalencia@gmail.com) is our guide. He spends more than 4 hours showing us around this magnificent city, dishing history and humorous anecdotes along the way.

At the end of the tour, Christoph treats us to drinks at a super cool local bar close to the beach.  We learn this 30-something year old who speaks 4 languages is a former addiction specialist who treated heroin addicts for 10 years in his home country of Belgium. He is now a graffiti artist (a major attraction in this town) and independent tour guide.

I now love him even more!
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I can't imagine what it would be like to study for an entire summer. Jules and Luis are soooo lucky!
No doubt they will be fluent in 3 months.

The camaraderie learning and interacting with fellow classmates is so special.

I could get addicted to this.

I will be truly sad to leave.

Free after-class language tour. I couldn't understand a thing.



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