Romeo et Juliette

I signed up for an advanced Spanish conversation class, in an effort to get back on track with my Spanish. I am worried about forgetting all that I learned last year and wish to keep up. I could not bear grammar classes, so I thought this would be better for me. It turned out that most of the students were far ahead of me, and had studied many more years. I was worried that it was too challenging for me, but I stayed and I made an effort to participate, and when I asked the teacher whether I should stay she was very reassuring. The class runs every Saturday from 10 to noon, so I had more than enough time to get Maya up and over to Peabody for her 'Performance Academy' day, linger over a coffee, and look for my book at the Johns Hopkins bookstore. It turned out that I needed to order the book, and in class the professor anticipated this problem and had photocopied the chapter of the day. The reading was tough to understand, and I will have to work hard in the class, but it was exciting to be speaking Spanish again, and I look forward to next week.

One of the students in the class was an opera singer and invited me to see 'Romeo and Juliette' in a church in Bolton Hill, a neighbourhood near the art school downtown. Since the local opera company went bankrupt three years ago (I had seasons tickets and lost hundreds of dollars when the season was canceled) several small opera companies have started up. There are so many talented opera singers graduating from Peabody, and many want to stay in Baltimore and sing. The opera is gorgeous, and the singing was awesome. The church setting was appropriate, but the props and the sets were rather lame, and I preferred to close my eyes. Romeo was huge, in contrast to a sleek young Juliette. I loved the music. Poor Eric does not appreciate opera and sat painfullly through the three hour marathon. He was looking forward to dinner at "Teatro Tapas'. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were told the wait was 40 minutes, and we were trying unsuccessfully to find an alternate choice, a table became available and we enjoyed our favourite dishes with a jug of sangria. It is so rare that we have a night off from Maya (she slept over at Emily's house for the night), so it was crucial to take advantage of the evening.