What an interesting week it’s been.

We had a big concert on Saturday night in Buñol, a small town about thirty minutes outside of Valencia. A lot of my friends said they’d be there. So I’ve really been looking forward to sharing my choir experience with them.

We sang the 5th Symphony “Return to Middle Earth” by Johan di Meij, the composer for the Lord of the Rings movies. This score was commissioned by the JRR Tolkein Foundation.

This concert was the 50th Anniversary of the “Mano a Mano” series in Buñol and kicks off the week of activities leading up the famous Tomatina festival held every year there.

On Wednesday night, we drove to Buñol, practiced with the choir then were served dinner.

Afterwards, we had our first rehearsal with the orchestra…a huge orchestra!

The location is a beautiful outdoor amphitheater, built into the rocks, a little like that one just outside of Denver!

And as we got started, we were thrilled to learn that the composer himself was there!

Thursday was a local holiday to celebrate a saint…but no one could tell me who. So, that meant for me, no school and thus…a beach day!

The beach has really been my place of refuge this summer. I can’t tell you how much I love being there.

Friday night, we returned to Buñol for more rehearsals. We left Valencia at 7:40, arrived for the rehearsals, which lasted well past 1:00 a.m. On the way, Pepa (the choir secretary) made a point of telling me how much they enjoy having me in the choir and that she hopes I’ll be a part of it for many years to come. That meant a lot to me.

On Saturday morning, I made pralines and took some to thank Pepa for coordinating all of the cars and rides to Buñol.

For the big concert on Saturday night, we left earlier (5:30), had dinner in Buñol (7:00 – 10:00). It was a very typical Spanish dinner, fourteen of us around a long table, eating, laughing, talking. I loved it. And it made me sad. After 7 1/2 months here, hearing and understanding conversational Spanish is still my biggest challenge.

In fact, on Friday in class, my teacher asked each of us what we want to learn. I replied in Spanish that listening and understanding spoken Spanish is the hardest thing. She made a comment in Spanish, to which I replied, “¿Como?” (Huh?). She laughed and understood.

So the dinner was lovely and I understood less than 10% of the conversation. It makes me feel so incredibly stupid and lonely.

The concert was tremendous! It started at 10:30 with speeches. The music started closer to 11:00.

“Mano a Mano” is a 50 year tradition that started as a competition between two orchestras. At times, the competition grew so heated that they considered canceling it. Today, that has largely been resolved and it’s a friendly performance between the two orchestras.

The first group played works by John Williams (ET and Star Wars) and concluded with a cool piece (Symphony No 4) by David Maslanka. (Look for it on YouTube. It’s with the listen).

Then, we started at just after 1:00 a.m. (Yes! You read that correctly!)

Here are the first two (of six) movements of the piece we were a part of.

https://videopress.com/v/H9YX4fXV?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Maestro di Meij seemed very pleased, as did our director. So I think, we pulled it off! I was proud of the performance.

Afterwards (2:30), I looked for the friends who said they’d be there. I checked my phone for messages. I scanned the crowd in the theater and outside of the theater… nothing.

For all the concerts that I’ve done here and all the “friends” who have said that they would come, I’m truly sad that none has ever come. It really reinforces how lonely I feel here.

We walked back to the car, with Buñol continuing the celebrations.

I just walked slowly by myself. We got home and I climbed into bed after 4:00 a.m.

Today, I didn’t try to reach out to anyone. I went to the beach by my myself. I read, walked, swam and repeated through the afternoon.

Tonight, I called my friend MK in Denver as she is celebrating her 80th birthday. I wish I could have been there for it.

I’m really questioning my future in Spain. I don’t have to make any decisions for a couple of months. So, I’m trying to be still and follow my gut, while continuing my mission to learn Spanish and connect with the local people. Time will tell.

And I know all will be well.

This week, I leave on Friday for Bilbao in the Basque Country of northern Spain to spend a few days with my friends Eric and Dan from Boise. So look for more from Bilbao next week.

Have a great week!