I joined a band!

Palabra del día: tiquismiquis
Pronunciation: Tee-kee-smee-kee
Translation:  Picky

Frase: Encontré crema de cahuetes en el Corte Ingles, pero soy tiquismiquis sobre la crema de cahuetes y por eso no la compré.

Translation: I found peanut butter in Corte Ingles, but I'm picky about peanut butter so I didn't buy it.

Comida del día: Crema de cahuetes
AKA peanut butter.  This is not a Spanish food and is in fact very hard to find in Spain.  My roommate brought a ton of pouches of peanut butter from home and has been eating them on her toast every morning. I also enjoy eating peanut butter for breakfast, so I was very happy when I found it in the Corte Ingles department store, which tends to carry some American brand products.  However, Corte Ingles is not Trader Joes and the only kind of peanut butter they had was filled with added sugar and trans fats.  I decided not to buy it and to continue to live my life the Spanish way, eating my toast with jam or another common spread of tomatoes mixed with olive oil and salt. It's very different from peanut butter, but it's not half bad.

Foto del día:

I went on a run on a path along the river yesterday.  This was what I got to look at the whole time!

Monday was our first day of classes, and it was also my first day of rehearsal with the Asociación Musical San Idrio de Granada.  What I'm trying to say is, I joined a band!  It's a community band that rehearses in a little town called Armilla, 15 minutes from Granada.  I had to take a bus there, which I hadn't done here yet because you can get pretty much everywhere in Granada by walking.  It was a little bit tricky to find the right bus stop, even more tricky to get off at the right stop, and almost impossible to find the rehearsal space after I got off the bus.  But after asking 4 people on the street as well as the bus driver for directions, I made it to rehearsal in one piece.

The band is made up of people ages 9-60 who live in Armilla, Granada or other towns nearby.  There is no music education within schools in Spain except for in high schools that specialize in music and feed into conservatories.  Because of this, kids who play instruments join community bands at young ages, in addition to adults who decide not to pursue music as a career but want to continue playing.  These community bands exist in the small towns around Granada, but for some reason there aren't any located inside of the city.

Everyone was extremely friendly and excited to meet me.  I was first introduced to a girl from England who had lived in Granada for 9 years, but after that I met some other people and got a chance to show them that I could actually speak some Spanish.  When the conductor asked me a question about my music, however, I realized that I need to study the Spanish words for note names, sharps, flats, and other music terminology... I wish I had thought of that beforehand!

Because of the age range, the quality of music wasn't the greatest.  However, it was still fun to play and meet new people, and I'm hoping this will provide an opportunity for me to make friends with Spanish people.  Someone was even nice enough to drive me back to Granada afterwards, so I didn't have to deal with the bus again.  Rehearsals are twice a week though, so I'm headed back there tomorrow evening.  I'll make sure to study the Spanish word for F-sharp before I go!