Hola a todos!

Well, how are you all? Since my last blog, I have received an invaluable piece of feedback from an anonymous (for these purposes at least) source, explaining that while they do not mind the occasional observations noted in my last post, it would perhaps be wise to concentrate upon writing in a vein more closely assimilated to my penultimate post concerning Palermo et al. How novel; I am but two weeks into my adventure and already I have fans telling me how and what to write and omit. Oh, for the life of a professional writer! However, the point is well-intended and well-made; I shall focus upon sprinkling my observations more sparsely among more exciting text wherever possible. Of course, any other feedback, either supportive of this view or otherwise, would be warmly received (at the very least).

Okay, vamos! This post is not so much a recap of all that I have been indulging in and indulged by these past few days as a fanfare (of lowly sorts) to the best experience of my trip thus-far, which took place yesterday, in the early evening. If this experience provided me with a sumptuous, figurative cake, then the rest of my day was a rosy-red cherry on top. Due to a national holiday in the latter part of March, I shall miss one day of lessons at my language school. In order to combat the lost time, my teacher has proposed that we include three lessons of four, as opposed to three, hours in duration. Actually, this was not so much a proposal as an ultimatum of sorts. My teacher, Luciana, is a true Latina - filled with fiery tempestuosity and, at times, something akin - although not quite the same - as rage. As you may recall from an earlier post, I was originally singled out as a student possibly out of my depth in Nivel Dos - it was the lovely Luciana who proclaimed this ineptitude and she has not quite yet forgotten. Of course, whether my determination to succeed in class and thereby, inadvertently I assure you, disprove her prediction and undermine her skill as a teacher to weed out the failures is a sound practice is debatable. My desire to succeed does indeed rule out most other considerations, however, provoking a Boca-loving portena - no matter how deliberately or otherwise - is not most other considerations. If my reference to Boca is confusing, La Boca is a suburb of BA and - I must say it - of dubious pedigree. Boca Juniors are the local football team and someone once told me that to be a fan required a fanatical degree of loyalty, coupled with a desire to completely destroy all other teams and their fans. Imagine a scene from the stands of any major Serie A Italian football crowd (complete with fireworks and mass brawls) multiply the ferocity a few times and then place that inside a classroom. I exaggerate somewhat but, the fact remains that Luciana is a rather scary lady and that is quite some achievement in a classroom environment (even if the common language is one that remains fairly unintelligible to me). I digress. The point I am arduously making is that our first four-hour class was yesterday and I had a hugely surprisingly wonderful time. Some classmates (for reasons best known to themselves) decided not to attend and so we were a small and compact bunch. The extra hour really paid off and I was having such a good time that the hours flew by. Progress was made and by the end of class I had experienced my first tentative forays into the Future Simple and the Past Indefinite (think completed past action) tenses. I am under no illusion that any of you sane folk will share my obvious enthusiasm for grammar but, share it I shall. Come 4pm I was walking on air and had a disproportionately enormous smile on my face.

Unfortunately, I have just been distracted by Mum and Dad, so the wonderful event that occurred after my lesson yesterday will have to wait I am afraid. Sorry! I have over-indulged my habit of digression in the extreme this evening and I apologise. Still, something to look forward to next time eh? Also, see how much shorter this blog entry is!

Lots of love to all: saludos!

David xxxxx