DIA DEL LIBRO 2009 En El Instituto Cervantes, Manila

- April 25, 2009 (last of 3 days of the Dia Del Libro)

- Went to the Instituto Cervantes at around 10:30am with my mom.

- When we arrived there, we browsed through the book sale, before doing anything else. When the Instituto said book sale, THEY WEREN'T KIDDING. A lot of books were just worth 20php!!!! Of course, there were some worth a hundred, 200, even to a thousand, but of course, depending on the books. A lot of well known bookstores were present such as Fully Booked and Power Books were present. Publishing Houses, such as Anvil, were also there. They all gave discounts to their books (mga 20%, ganon). Most of the books are either written in Spanish, related to Spanish (and Spain, or other Spanish-speaking nations), or a combination of both. There were also a lot of rare and/ro antique books as well (hehe, nakabili ako. Bwahahahahaha), but a lot of them were written in Spanish.

- There was also a stall selling books from the Czech Republic (courtesy of the Czech Foreign Affairs, if I'm not mistaken). The books there were written in Czech, Spanish, or French. I bought the one in French. It's because 1., it's only worth 50 php, 2., I need to flex my French skills as well. Hahahaha. By the way, the people there gave the customers a rose for each book they buy (or each time??....depends on the stall I guess)

- Scenario: Gilbert is talking to the English-speaking Filipina (you know, with the accent and such :) :) :) :) ). She's the one in charge of the stall selling books from the Czech Foreign Affairs (yung pinagbilhan ko ng book written in French)

Gilbert: Can I get this?? (refers to the booklets with European poems inside)
Young lady: Yes.
Gilbert: Are they free??
Young lady: Yes.
Gilbert: Oh great, thanks!!
Young lady: Please get more....wala kasing kumukuha eh. Hindi maubos-ubos.
Gilbert: Ok. *gets another copy for mom* Thank you :) :) :) :)

- After browsing through some books, my mom and I signed up for the 12:15 Spanish demo class and the 1:30 guided tour of the Instituto. I also signed up for the 11:45 Spanish Diagnostic Test....just to know how well I am in Spanish (though I am honest enough to say that I'm not that good, since I only know the basics)

- I went to the second floor to the Admin Office, since the diagnostic will be held there. I waited for quite some time before the staff told us (the people who would be taking the test) to go to a random room inside. We waited again for quite some time. People put out their pens while waiting for the test papers to arrive....Later....the first person was called to another room. Revelation: ORAL DIAGNOSTIC PALA....HAHAHAHA. So there, everyone basically panicked, including me.

- When my turn came, a friendly looking Spanish lady talked to me. Since my mind was still disoriented by the fact that 1., it was an oral test, 2., I don't do very well in oral tests because I get nervous, 3., I mastered the present tense and the present progressive (from Spanish class in Ateneo), though I have a knowledge of the other tenses (from self study). It was quite funny, because the things she asked me were somewhat similar to the oral exam topics back in Ateneo. Haha. I had to converse using some of the other tenses though. Yeah yeah, I know I didn't do that well in the oral diagnostic. Haha. After the test, she told me that if I would wish to enroll in the Instituto, I would be enrolled at level 9 (out of 28 levels). Hey, I guess that's not bad for a beginner like me. She gave me a piece of paper that I was supposed to show to the staff, in case I wanted to enroll. She referred the the piece of paper as "tu papelito" (your little paper). Hahahaha. I find it cute when Spanish-speaking people say things with the suffix "-ito" or "-ita" to make things small and cute. Haha.

- My mom went to the demo class alone, since the time of the oral diagnostic had a bit of conflict with the demo class time. They had a pretty Spanish teacher. Hahahaha. I waited outside the room, walked here and there, and took some snaps. After quite some time, my mom and the rest of her demo-classmates came out of the room. I immediately asked her how the class went. She showed off some of her "re-known" Spanish by asking me a few simple questions like "Como estas" and such. To my surprise, the topics discussed in the demo class were exactly the same as the topics discussed on out first day in Spanish class last second sem in Ateneo (I think ADMU adopted the Instituto way of teaching Spanish....they even adopted the book. Haha.) Well I guess I didn't miss much....because I might get bored if ever I attended the class....or not, since the Spanish teacher was pretty. HAHAHAHA.

- We went to the waiting area for the guided tour. Due to some unknown cause, the tour was delayed a few minutes....We (tour-mates) were already getting worried that the tour would not push through. Just as we were about to "give up hope", Mr. Guia Turistico (Mr. Tour Guide) went to meet us. He also happens to be the librarian of the Instituto Library. :D:D:D:D We went around the building, discovering the history of the Instituto Cervantes (from the original branch in Spain) and the Instituto Cervantes (Manila branch).

- After the tour, my mom and I watched a Spanish movie. It's entitled "Al Sur de Granada" (South from Granada). It was a fairly amusing yet dramatic film. Thanks to the power of technology, we understood the movie more through the English subtitles below. Hahahaha. :D:D:D:D

- After the movie (around 4pm I guess), my mom and I were already hungry. We had our brunch before going to the Instituto. Haha. We bought our own churros (since I took a picture of someone else's churros earlier today). While eating our churros (courtesy of Dulcinea), the European Poetry Recital Contest started. We only watched the first set of readers (foreigners and Filipinos representing European countries). After the first set of readers (the second set being Filipinos representing poems from the Philippines), my mom and I decided to go home, since it was getting late already (around 5pm).

- Overall, I lovvvvved the day so much. I felt that I was in Spain for the day, since I was surrounded by a lot of random Spanish people, and a lot of random Filipinos speaking Spanish. Hahahaha. The "Spanish" mood was also boosted by the Latina music being played throughout the day, as well as the books that were written in Spanish, and a lot of Dora the Explorer books from Power Books and Fully Booked. Haha.




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- I like the smell of the Admin Office. I don't know what scent that is, but I really really like to sniff some more of whatever scent that is.

- I also love the scent of the Instituto library. It's a different one from the Admin Office, but yeah, I love both scents.

- Instituto Candies (candies placed inside red wrappers with the Instituto seal) are WAY COOL. Hahahaha :D:D:D:D

- I saw Mr. Renan Prado at the Instituto. He's teaching Spanish in Ateneo too. He never became my teacher so I didn't call him. Even if I did, care naman niya saken, di naman niya ako kilala. Baka matakot pa, sabihin stalker ako. Hahahaha.

- As of 7pm today, my mom as asked me "Como estas?" (how are you) and "Como te llamas" (what's your name) for the nth time already. Haha. At least natuwa siya sa demo class niya. Haha :D:D:D:D