Eve of San Juan

Nice private class with my private student again today.  We did two hours yesterday and one hour this afternoon.  These were the first classes in which he wasn't under pressure to be practising presentations or work-related things and so it was good to be able to chat about more diverse topics and I think I can feel his confidence increase, which can only benefit all the other aspects of language learning.  I hope he continues the classes because I enjoy working with him.  I send him notes after the class on vocabulary/structures which I think are useful to note/revise and I update our Padlet every class too and then try to recycle/use vocabulary in future classes.  Today, I also prepared some activities on Quizlet, which he can use to revise some useful vocabulary.  

It was the eve of San Juan today and Friday is a public holiday here.  It's by far the noisiest of all the celebrations/festivals here with firecrackers and fireworks going off all night and through the night!  I always feel sorry for the dogs.  The focus is on the eve of San Juan, but kids start setting off firecrackers in the week before.  It's not my favourite to be honest, but I do appreciate that these holidays have a different significance if you're brought up with them.  For example, my private student today was telling me that for most kids, the eve of San Juan is usually the first time they're allowed to stay up very late and be outside.  The streets and squares were certainly full tonight!  Bb and I went for a walk to get some of the atmosphere and then ended up sitting down at a table on the terrace of a little restaurant near Plaza Concordia.  There were only a couple of other people there and it was near enough the atmosphere of the square, but not busy.   It was very definitely a place where everyone knew each other, called each other by name, sometimes dropping off a child to be looked after while a parent took the shopping upstairs to their flat, sometimes a dog was left.   Then the bunting came out (my blip) and all hands were on deck to help put it up.  By 9.00pm, the other 3 tables were pushed together and set for the 'verbena' - the dinner on the eve of San Juan.  By 9.30, the neighbours started arriving, often bringing a plate of food to add to the food already set out by the restaurant.  It was lovely!  The place is Chinese run with Spanish food and some noodle dishes thrown in for good measure.  Round the table were Spanish, Catalan and a family from Morocco and the ages ranged from Ismael who was just learning to walk to a couple well into their 70s.  Things were still jumping in the streets when we walked home just after midnight.