The Mystery is Solved!

On the way to dinner last night, we entered the restaurant from a different door - and Lisa spotted this picture! 

The guy in the middle of the mural outside is the owner of El Rancho.  There were a number of pictures of him with various people, though I didn't see any I recognized.  Mystery solved!

Our cowboy skit went very well.  Pete picked Jaime out of the audience to be the sheriff, and he played right along with everything as though he knew what was coming next.  We were completely in stitches (ooh, look - an idiom!) the whole time.  There was also another skit called the Phobia Workshop which was also hilarious.  One of the guys took video of the cowboy skit, so I hope I can ask him to send me a copy.

We had a really fun table at dinner last night.  We had two Spaniards, Kate (from London) and me.   Though we had all signed up to play bingo after dinner, it seemed like every table was engrossed in conversation when 10:00 came around, and no one left to go to the game.  Eventually someone noticed that it was 10:30, so we all hustled down to the bar to find the program director waiting alone.  How can they complain, though, really?  We were doing what we are here for, after all!

Predictably, I lost at bingo, which they play differently here.  That's right, I am now a bi-cultural loser at bingo.  (I'm so proud.)  The game was to help the Spaniards with their number listening skills.  The same Alberto won both prizes, which we took as a lucky sign that he will find a job once the course is over (unemployment here is 24%).

Some of today's phrases are:

To make a killing    Still waters run deep.
To be a fan of          To nod off
To mix up               

At meals we have real conversations that just develop on their own.  At lunch today, we discussed gypsies, arranged marriages, polygamy, and curry among other things.  The Spaniards are making unbelieveable progress in being comfortable speaking up and expressing opinions (as well as telling jokes - badly, maybe, but they are trying).

                                           Dining room where we have lunch and dinner.

On Thursday, the Spaniards will each be giving a 10-minute presentation on a topic of their choosing.  They are now using their one-to-one time to practice or ask us what we think of their ideas, and how they could improve.  Today we had a 2-hour workshop with little exercises designed to make them more comfortable in speaking before a group (by starting with little groups of five).  We have assured them that this is the friendliest audience they are ever likely to have, because we all want them to do well, but I'm sure it must be terrifying.

Tonight there is some kind of comedy thing going on (what else?), and a sort of witches' incantation that is common in the Galicia part of northern Spain.  I'm looking forward to seeing both.