Strictly Come Dancing

Last week a gang of us from L’esperteyu went for a Sunday meal in a little place just outside the city called Tellego (Tay-yego).  There were eleven of us, four Irish and seven Spanish.  Kevin, Grainne, Aoife and I met Monica outside the pub and we piled into her car so that she could take us there.  The restaurant is called Casa Cristina and is well known locally for the quality of the food.  Funnily enough neither Ángel nor Sonsoles had ever heard of it.  The restaurant is up in the hills and views were, as always, impressive. 

 

We met the rest of the gang outside the restaurant and Armando, the owner of L’esperteyu, stood us all a drink before the meal.  Carlos decided to have Sidra and so I took a picture of him pouring it in the traditional and necessary way so that it is aerated before drinking.

 

 

Of the eleven of us gathered, seven of us are smokers, which is a rare occurrence these days.  So I decided to have a picture taken of the magnificent seven.  They are Aoife, Kevin, Colin, Ana, Rosa, Monica and Alejandro.

Across the road from the restaurant is a building called a horreo.  It is built on four stilts and in the old days was used for storing foodstuff and grains etc.  I have noticed a few of them dotted around the area.  The old ones are now under heritage protection.  Some have six stilts or uprights and are called panesas.  I have included a picture of the horreo.

 

 

 

The restaurant is very small and intimate and on that day it was very full.  The food was indeed lovely and I had some fabadas and then also some bote (a potato stew) followed by lamb that was just falling off the bone.  I noticed on the shelf beside me a box with the Virgin Mary in it.  It was explained to me that the villagers in days of old used to take turns at keeping the box in their house.  They would put some money in the slot and then pass the box on to the next door neighbour.  When the box had done the rounds it would be returned to the local church.

After the meal we returned en masse to L’esperteyu.  Grainne and Aoife stopped off at home to pick up a tin whistle and flute.  Kevin saw some Spanish guy playing the flute on the street and invited him back to the pub with us.  So we had an impromptu Trad Session with the two Irish girls and the Spanish bloke playing on the flutes and Kevin beating out a rhythm on the Bodhran taken down from the wall of the pub.  Instantly there were toes tapping all around the bar and I was transported home to the Emerald Isle and visions of Sally O’Brien (and the way she might look at you) sprang into my consciousness, drawing on my heart-strings and eliciting an incomparable yearning for the land of my forefathers, mar dhea.  Joking aside, they were very good and I was well impressed with their dexterity and musicality and everyone else in the pub showed their appreciation with rounds of applause.

 

 

 

Some of you may be surprised to learn that I have started to take lessons in Ballroom Dancing… I have been twice at this stage.  Every Friday night for two hours; the cost is fifty euro per month.  That’s not bad at all; it works out at 6.50 euro an hour.  I meet up with Monica and Daniel outside the dance school at 8.15pm and we go it together.  Daniel is a guy from Southampton and teaches English fulltime in Oviedo.  Obviously all classes are conducted in Spanish and so all directions are shouted at me in Spanish and I have to try my best to follow everyone else.  There is a mirror completely covering one wall, so I have the pleasure of looking at myself looking like a fool.  On my first day I brought two left feet with me and my hips were aching at the end of the night.  The second session was an improvement thankfully.  It is very tiring and I had to remove my jumper and one of my tee-shirts as I started to sweat profusely.  Looking at myself in the mirror I looked like a red-faced hippo, huffing and puffing while trying to look like I knew what I was doing and at the same time trying not to look gay.  There are usually about ten of us, two or three blokes and the rest are chicas with ages ranging from early twenties to mid-sixties.  So far they have all been very patient with me and are happy enough to slow things down and explain the steps to me whenever they have the misfortune of being paired with me.  We have worked on the Salsa, the Merengue, the Cha Cha Cha and the Tango.  While I was trying to get my head around the Merengue the teacher explained to me that the dance originated from the slaves working in sugar beet fields. These slaves were connected to one another by a chain strapped to their ankles and had to walk in such a manner as to drag one leg.  Their steps were therefore limited and this explains why the steps are so small.  Knowing this made it easier to perform the required movement.  My favourite so far is the Tango.  I can at least remember the basic steps for that dance.  After an hour I am exhausted and can’t believe that we still have another hour to go before we finish for the night.

At the moment I’m really not enjoying college.  Sometimes I sit in on a lecture and after the hour I realise I understood practically nothing that had been said.  There are of course good days too but generally I am overloaded with work and I am feeling swamped.  I have too many Spanish classes, much more than is actually required and I hope to change that over the next few days.  As long as the administration department doesn’t throw up any objections I hope to lighten the load somewhat which will allow me to concentrate and focus better on the Spanish subjects I want to do.   NIL DESPERANDUM, hopefully I will get there in the end.