Spanish classes and Toasts

Written by Maureen, with input from Dennis

I’m taking a brief respite from relating our UK adventure to talk about 2 topics.

First, is an update on our Spanish classes.  We are both enjoying them so we have signed up for another week (we can add a week at a time). My class has 8 students. Other than me they all seems to be in their 20s except one who just had his 19^th birthday this week. From what I have learned there is one from Germany, one from France, one from Norway, and two from the Ukraine.  Since we only speak in Spanish it doesn’t matter what one’s first language is.

Denny is in the beginner’s class with eight other students ranging in age from 19 to 64. Again, a diversity of ethnicities; three Germans, two Swedes, one each of a Turk, an Iraqi and an Indian. The instructor mostly speaks Spanish, but the common language that everyone seems to know is English.

The picture below shows the entrance to the main building. There is a little café with drinks and croissants or sandwiches, vending machines, a sitting area, and several classrooms.  Denny’s class is in this building.

The next picture shows one of their other buildings. It is diagonally across the street from the main building. I’m not sure what The House of Jendrix Rock is all about but the door I enter through is between the 2 colorful murals. The classrooms are one flight up (considered the first floor in Europe).

My second topic is toasts (aka tostadas in Spanish). Pretty much any café you go to that serves breakfast will have tostadas on the menu (and sometimes only tostadas). The tostada is half of a submarine-shaped piece of bread, toasted, and topped with your choice of topping. The picture shows Denny’s salmon and avocado, and Maureen’s tomato and Manchego cheese. The options listed on the menu in the next photo are: oil, tomato, butter and jam, ham, ham, turkey, fresh cheese, Manchego cheese, tuna, salmon, avocado, anchovies, sobrasada (a type of sausage), or tortilla.

In Spain, a tortilla (which literally means a small cake, from the root torta – when you insert “ill” it makes it diminutive) is made with eggs and potatoes. It is sometimes referred to as an omelet but it is nothing like what we think of as an omelet in the US. Apparently, whether or not to include onions is a divisive issue, pitting concebollistas against sincebollistas. Cebolla is onion; con and sin are with and without). Myself, I prefer with.

Next, we'll pick up with the UK (I think).

M & D