In my class, we have a substitute teacher for this week and part of next week. We also had some new students - so we are back up to 7.
After class, I needed to do some walking because I had basically stayed in and studied all day - so, I took the chance to walk with a French student from the more advanced class as she made her way to her dance class directly after our class. She is taking Salsa lessons. I really enjoyed our walk - her Spanish is much better than mine but still just slow enough and low level enough for me to be able to keep up in conversation. She teaches French for a language school in Australia - perhaps it is her professional instincts kicking in that give her the patience to listen to my clumsy Spanish.
Then, I walked home as she went in to dance the night away (or at least the next hour or so). I passed a street lined with bars and cafes near the University of Sevilla - it is clear that students are starting to come back.
There was also a large crowd near city center that were enjoying a pop-up Flamenco show.
I have also started to see these signs popping up....
The Christmas Lottery is a BIG deal in Spain - with some estimates as high as 90% participation among Spanish citizens. The draw happens on December 22nd where the winning numbers are sung out by boys and girls from a school (which used to be a school for orphans) live in Madrid and on public radio and television throughout the country - it takes hours and since so many people participate - it is a popular day for people to spend at home sitting around their TV. It is really more like a raffle than a lottery with all of the ticket numbers engraved on balls and thrown into a big drum. There are only 100,000 different numbers, but there are many "series" of the same number each of which get full pay outs. Each ticket costs 200 Euros, but it is possible to buy a tenth of a ticket worth, of course, only a 10% payout. Since 70% of the ticket revenues get returned as prizes, the payouts are pretty good in terms of lotteries. While all of this may be very interesting, the real question is WHO could possibly be thinking about Christmas now? Who is buying Christmas lottery tickets four months before the Christmas lottery? Yes - it is cooler today - but we still have nearly 3 weeks left of summer - let's enjoy it while we can!
