Monday, March 15 – Short week of purgatory between wine festival and extended Semana Santa

I am back in Cáceres for another strenuous 12-hour workweek after a successful low-cost weekend trip to neighboring Almendralejo.  It was exhausting and I managed to sunburn my face a little bit, but please take comfort in the fact that both are the result of spending all day sampling regional wines from a bottomless glass while basking in the beautiful pre-spring weather.  It just happened that this weekend coincided with a huge wine and olive festival in Almendralejo, featuring amazing food, wine, and live music.  To me, that is the recipe for a perfect day.  I have never been to any sort of wine or beer fest, having stupidly not made it to the Durham or Toronto beer festivals yet, so this was a totally excellent discovery for me.  Hilarity and mortification ensued at one point when the girl who was hosting Will and I knocked a full glass of red wine all over the brilliant white jacket of a guy standing in front of me.  Luckily he was extremely gracious and did not attempt to beat the crap out of me (probably in large part because our friend took one for the team and ended up making out with him as the fest went on).

Luckily another stretch of vacation will be here starting Thursday afternoon.  I will be leaving Sunday to chaperon the field trip to London for four nights next week.  Although I understand that it could be stressful for some of these parents to let their kids leave the nest for the first time, it still is amazing to see how anxious some of them are.  We are only going to be a three hour flight out of Madrid for four short nights and these kids are all 16 and 17, but you would think by the parents’ reactions that their kids are abandoning them to move to Tibet or something.  One of their biggest concerns is if there will be enough decent food to eat.  As if London, pop. 8,000,000 and a cultural and economic capital of the world, would be less equipped to feed their kids than Montánchez, pop. 2,000.  In any case, I am looking forward to seeing London for the first time myself and seeing the reactions of some of my students who actually have never left Montánchez, pop. 2,000.

When we get back I will have another week free for Semana Santa, the details of which I have yet to work out.  Anyway, talk to you soon, readers!

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