I would tell you that after Fallas, I really slowed things down and took things easy. I would tell you that if it were true. But, since it’s not…. Well, you get the idea.

As I was told, Wednesday, the day after the last Crema and fireworks, things miraculously returned to normal. The giant fallas statues had been burned, swept up and were only memories. The streets were open and traffic flowed as before.

Thursday was a crazy day. I dressed in my black suit and white shirt, put my black dress shoes and bow tie in my backpack and went to class with my bright blue sneakers. After Spanish class, I joined Dima and Lisa for lunch and then our English work. From there, I had a tight window. So I jumped on a bus and got to the meeting point. The choir had a concert in Gandia, about an hour south of Valencia. About 35 of us all boarded a motor coach and arrived at a large, beautiful, modern auditorium. We were ushered in through the stage door. We finished getting dressed, did some warm up exercises and then went on stage. As I stood in the risers, I counted. There were exactly 19 people in the audience. No one ever said why. I don’t know if the concert wasn’t promoted or what happened. But I’m proud to say we sang great. The director was very pleased. And we got on the bus and returned to Valencia. I never got to see any of the town of Gandia. I guess I’ll have to go back.

Friday, was a bit more normal. Spanish class in the morning, Dima in the afternoon. Dima and I have taken a change in direction. Instead of a long series of videos teaching PHP programming, we’ll start with an hour long introduction to HTML programming. That will be quicker to produce and will start building a following for him. That way, when we add other more complicated topics, we can point them to courses that are more basic if they need it.

Saturday, my Spanish school hosted a day trip to Xativa, a small town about 50 minutes by train from Valencia. We met at the station and because the person with the tickets wasn’t in a hurry, we just barely made it in time. Running with my sprained ankle wasn’t fun. But I don’t feel like any new or added damage was done.

Xativa is a beautiful little town nestled in and next to the mountains.

At the top of the adjacent mountain is the Xativa Castle… a fortress with origins all the way back to Iberians, then the Romans, the Moors, and finally the Christians.

On the south side of the mountain, is a locked gate that goes into the side of the mountain. Through that tunnel is a large room known as the Nivera (refrigerator). This is where ice from the regional mountains was brought and stored to provide cooling through the year for the Moors. Xativa is often the warmest city in all of Spain. 🇪🇸

Back down in the town, we met for a group photo.

Some of the group chose to stay and explore more of the town and it’s night life. Others of us returned by train to Valencia. The trip by train to and from Xativa was 4€ per person!

On any given day in my classes are students from Italy, Germany, France, Ukraine, Russia, Japan and Hungary…that I can remember!

To be honest, the rest of the weekend was quite restful. I did laundry, cleaned the apartment and took a nap on Sunday afternoon. I made a pot of spaghetti for dinner Sunday night.

This coming week is Holy Week…which means normal schedule until The Easter weekend. I’ll have both Friday and Monday without school.