What an interesting blog you've kept and I really hope you found the credit cards..

I'm off to Andalucia in 9 hours: first two days in Sevilla and from Friday on 4 weeks in Cádiz. Hope my school will be as good as yours seems to be!

Wednesday 27th July
Hi Pia - thanks for your comments - have a great time, I am sure that your school will be good.

So there I was, standing in the station at Fuengirola, wallet in hand, but no credit cards..
Then it happened - you know that sick feeling you get?.. with the knot in the stomach?... well that happened to me. Then the mind goes into overdrive.. where ? what? when? Thinking about how they might have been lost. I knew that I had not used my wallet much (remember, I am Scottish!) and so the possibilities were limited. Could it have been at the school, when I cleaned our receipts etc? - I saw my cards then. Could it have been at the train station at Benalmádena, when I took out my train ticket from the wallet? - I know I saw them then and I am usually careful when opening the wallet. Could the card be in the house? - I leave my wallet on the steps going up to the bedroom, the cards might have slipped out when I picked the wallet up in the morning. Could the cards be in my tennis bag? - When I played tennis the night before, I put my wallet and keys in the bag.

Well what happened?....

I phoned my lady friend and asked her to look on the stairs and in my tennis bag, but the line on the cell phone was breaking up because of the tunnels the train was going through. She phoned me back - No they were not on the stairs. I then asked her to look in the tennis back and THANK GOD, they were there. A happy ending! :p

Can you imagine the hassle if they had been really lost?

Yesterday after school and lunch I went up to the tennis club and did some homework and then practised a little (at tennis, not Spanish). I had been working with the ex coach of the club (a great guy, the one I went to Málaga with to get tickets to go to Valencia) on my topspin backhand and during the practice session, it was evident that his work has paid off. He has difficulty speaking due to having had a stroke in 1991, but can really demonstrate the shots well. With the topspin backhand well on the way, problems with the imperfect subjunctive fade into the background!!!!!

In grammar class today, we spent most of the time doing example questions from the grammar section of the DELE (Superior level) exam. This section also contained questions on stock phrases that are used in everyday Spanish. The example questions were by and large straightforward and appeared easier than the ones in the textbook that we are using.

In the vocabulary/conversation class, the focus was on listening and writing activities. The teacher read a short story, which we had to write down - a typical dictation exercise. We then taked about the story. We also listened to another song by Los Secretos "Está prohibido llorar" (Crying is forbidden) and filled in the banks on the lyrics sheet. Following this, we discussed aspects of the song and gave our opinions and then.... yes, we sang along to the song!

The afternoon was taken up with a light lunch, a siesta, followed by some tennis and then a meal of excellent spare ribs.
Robbieroy

Thursday 28th July
This is my second last day at the school and I must say, I have really enjoyed my stay.
In grammar class today, we reviewed the use of the subjunctive and did some really complicated exercises. We also look at ser and estar when they change the significance or meaning of adjectives.
Conversation class was good with a discussion centered around films.
Tomorrow there are five of us in the superior class for whom it will be the final day and we will have a small party during the half hour break.
Robbieroy

Make the most of your final day(s) in class and in Benalmadena. We appreciate your sharing your experiences with us.

Saludos, MadridMan

Friday 29th July
Well, my final day at the language school has finally arrived, and on reflection it has been a really good experience - one I am sure that I will repeat in the future.

We have organised a part for 11.30h because 5 of the superior class leave today, myself included. It is also the birthday of one of the members of the class. We have therefore organised ourselves to bring in some "goodies" that include, cheese, tortilla, olives, patatas fritas, bread and ham, and also some cava (Spanish champagne). Here are some photos:








Well. the test went well. I scored 27/33 , not bad for an old guy. The party went well, although nothing was ready for us (again) and we had to prepare the food ourselves! Well, we are in Spain!. The conversation class went well beyond its allocated hours and we spent the aftenoon drinking and eating. A great time was had by all.
I will feedback my final thoughts when I return home.
Thus almost ends my blog, I will uptate with photos on my return to Scotland.
Robbieroy

I enjoyed your report on your Spanish lessons in Benalmadena. Thanks for all of the detailed information.

I have friends who live in Fuengirola, and I visit them each year for New Years. I am thinking of taking a two week course in January or on a later visit in the Spring.

You mentioned that you attended the Bonanova Language School in Fuengirola. I would be interested in your comments on this school for an Intermediate Level I or II student. They may not have classes in early January due to the New Years and 3 Kings holidays. The school would be very convenient since I would be able to walk to class.

Thanks again for your excellent report.

Arturo

Hi Arturo
Thanks for your comments on my blog, I am pleased that you found it interesting and I hope that it will be of interest to others.

Regarding Bonanova - it is a good school and the teachers and management are very professional. The teachers prepare thoroughly for the classes and provide plenty of support materials. The intensive courses (20 hours per week) are good value. If you cannot get a group course there then you have the option of private 1 hour classes are also very good, I have undertaken these in the past. You can find out all the information that you need at there website: http://www.bonanova.com/English/index.htm

If they had group classes at the level I required then I would go there. However, it is also well worth considering Colegio Maravillas in Benamadena. It is only 13 minutes by the coatal train from Fuengirola. Theie website is http://www.maravillas.es/
They are a bigger outfit and a more likely to have classes a different levels. They also organise a good selection of activities and excursions as you will have seen.

By the way, I will also be in Fuengirola over Xmas nad New Year, so if you want to meet up for a beer then that would be great. Please get in touch once you know your dates.
Regards
Robbieroy

Hi,

I´ve been here for more than a week now and I really like Cadiz but actually compared to my school last year (Estudio Sampere in Alicante) I have been pretty disappointed with my school here: it´s excellent in case you already have studied some Spanish and are very sure about your level when enrolling: I hadn´t even informed them on what level I´m on and they had already placed me in Beginners without even looking at my placement exam (don´t really know what we did it for) and I really had to fight to be moved to Elemental which is still a bit too easy as we´re going through stuff I´ve already done. But it´s not as bad for me as some people who came knowing no Spanish and had to start in a group with people who had studied for many months back home. Anyway, I love my other teacher and he´s really good and interesting and the facilities are OK, but I´m definitely going to complain about their lack of flexibility.

Hi Pia
Sorry to hear about you bad experience in Cádiz.
It might help other board members if you were to give the name of the school in which you are studying, so that they might be pre-warned and can alert the school about their ability/level of study.
In my case, at the Colegio Maravillas in Benalmádena, they were quite good at placing you in the class most appropriate to your abilities, based on the placement test.
I hope things improve for you, but in the meantime, enjoy Cádiz, I would love to go there sometime.

Robbieroy

Hi
WOW, found this place with Google then I was scanning for information about Benalmadena and Maravillas. The reason is that I’m thinking about studying Spanish for 8 weeks this fall. At the moment I don’t know any Spanish so it going to be hard!

Before I found this place all the info I could find was sales talk. The information you provided was great and now I’m convinced that Maravillas is the school for me.

Perhaps you could tell me something about the accommodation the school provides. I’m thinking about choosing single room in a shared apartment. I know you didn’t live like this but if you remember your classmates view on the matter I be grateful.

Ps. should be a link to this forum from Maravillas homepage. Would have saved me a lot of time!

Regards
Magnus