Spanish Leaving Party! (originally posted 14th February 2005)

Hey guys!

I just wanted to say a big big thank you to everyone who made it for my party aweek ago on saturday! It was really the best way to say goodbye to London for 6months! It was really cool seeing you all there, my only regret was that therejust wasn´t enough time to catch up with everyone like there should have been. I didn´t get to bed till 6am and I still had to drive to the airport that morning! Anyway, for those in the know (now you all are), I´ll be back in London this saturday for two weeks to get my student visa for my remaining 5 months inSpain/France. If you want to know exactly where I´ll be when just let me know!For now I will leave you with a brief(ish) one week update of my time inValencia so far!

So far, I´ve found Valencia a bit less exciting than Barcelona but I think also reality sank in after a few days when I realised that I am actually going to have to make a serious effort to achieve my goals in Spanish. Anyway, I haven´t been out much, simply because I don´t think I have been feeling so excited about it. Also very unfortunately, I picked up Football Manager 2005 on thursday night and couldn´t put it down till sunday morning. Let´s just say that I´m going to have to get rid of that game when I get back if I want to progress in Spanish like I want to (unless I play it in Spanish? hmm that´s an idea). My housemate called Rachel is there for 2 months and then going to Bolivia for 4 months to look after little kids. She wants to do nursing at Manchester Uni. She´s pretty cool and we hung out on saturday, going on the bus turistic among other things.We´re staying with a Spanish host family which is a cool experience. It´s better if you want to learn quicker because if you stay with other int´l students you´ll only be speaking Spanish for the 4 hours you´re in class, english the rest of the time, plus I get fed 2ce a day and my laundry is done for me - you can´t ask for much more really. The family is ok, although I keep getting told off by the mother - if it´s not leaving my heating on all night, it´s leaving my computer on all day, or not tidying my room, or not closing the fridge door 2 seconds after I open it. And she is a bit impatient when I don´t understand what she´s saying. Can you believe the first night 4 AS level kids from Hertfordshire had dinner with us (they´re here for 1week) one of them actually asked me if I get bullied here! But it´s all good, I actually had a 10 minute conversation with her in Spanish last night so at least I´m making some progress. And as Rachel alluded to Maria Carmen Vidal is running a nice little money making scheme for herself (she always has students in and out of there that´s why she must ! be making some nice cash out of it). She has 3 kids too who I can´t really say much too and I only ever see the husband at the dinner table.

Y´day I went to one Naija church like that in Valencia called 4 Squares. I´d say just over 50 Africans/Ecuadorians go there. Can you believe I was there for 4 hours from 11am?! It was like being back in Naija sha, all the mamas blastingyoruba & igbo etc. What I quickly discovered is that they have bible study first and the service doesn´t actually start till like 1pm, and that´s when most people start arriving. And I thought the delivery of the message in the bible study was rather "interesting" - it was about the evil sin of covetousness. By the time the actual service had started I had swtiched off, but I did enjoy the praise and worship sha (except for the igbo & yoruba songs I didn´t understand). Anyway you can guess what time I´ll be going next week (oops, I mean in amonth´s time when I return to Valencia). Meanwhile I need to find out if Redeemed has a branch in Valencia as one of the three Naijas (Nigerians) I met on campus studying at MUST (Mediterranean University! of Science & Technology) - Henry - says that he heard that there is. I also met one Kola Babaniyi who went to KC (99 set I think) and Jideobi who went toFGC Enugu.

The only other thing of interest I´ve been doing is my Spanish Audio diary every night, which I felt could get a bit boring after a while, although I must say friday night´s was a classic! If you want to hear it when I get back just ask and I might send some of the files to you! ;) When I return here in 3 weeks time from London I will have to maybe start a video diary. I do have my camcorder here but somehow managed to leave the mains plug at home after the party. Fola, please secure that thing for me ohh! Muntaqa, I hope you still have my camera cos I dey come find am ohh! (plus that film). Femi and Tolu, I hope you don find my address book wey get 200 phone numbers (naija & uk - spanning the last 12months) for inside am - I´m getting desperate ohh! Anyway, that´s it for now. See you guys when I get back on Saturday (19th ofFebruary). My plane is landing in Stansted at 9pm sharp. Anyone fancy a trip down (or up) to Stanted? (pls I´m only talking to those that have a ride). What´s going on Saturday night? Any parties? How about Zen or Touch? Holla!