Jazz y Flamenco
I wouldn’t have though that there was much of a jazz scene in Granada, but surprisingly there are quite a few places to hear live jazz! The club I went to last week for the reggae/ska concert, Booga Club, usually has jazz and funk. There’s also a nice little bar, Picaro, that I pass on the way to school every day. During the day they have coffee and wifi (I always see people with their laptops sitting inside) and at night they have live music. I went with a couple friends last night to hear an acoustic trio. All three people sang and one guy played the guitar. They played a little bit of American pop (like Jason Mraz) and some Spanish classics. It was a low-key night, I just wish I hadn’t worn heels because I ended up going a few other places afterwards and the streets in Granada aren’t exactly heel-friendly. I don’t know how the women here do it – between the marble and cobblestone sidewalks, walking in pointed-toe heels is a HUGE challenge. As one of my professors put it the other day during a class discussion about fashion (don’t ask, it was a really random conversation), Spanish women “love pain” and endure it in the name of beauty. By the end of the night I was so happy to get a cab home. I got to bed at around 3:30, which is pretty early for Spain!
In other news, I had my first flamenco class on Wednesday afternoon. It’s an introductory level class that goes for 4 weeks, 2 classes a week (Mondays and Wednesdays). I am by no means a dancer, but I love the music and thought it would be something fun to do. There’s so much time between lunch and dinner that I get hungry and/or bored just hanging out in the apartment. I figured I’d do something productive and fun with my time. I discovered that it’s REALLY hard though, because even though the steps aren’t complicated, there’s a lot going on at once.
Speaking of being productive, a group of us are going to a local middle/high school on Tuesday afternoon. We get to go to an English class to give the students an opportunity to practice speaking with native English speakers. I’m really excited for that because I’m sure I’ll learn a lot of Spanish at the same time. The Spanish I speak now is really formal “classroom” Spanish but I’m sure that will change by the end of the semester.
