Staying busy

Last night after class, I went to a flamenco bar with Caroline and Mac & Co. For lack of a better word, it was so cool. It was about two minutes from the CIEE center, but hidden back in an alley. Caroline and I had a little trouble finding it, but some strangers saw us looking confused and just said, "it's that way," without us even saying where we were going. Que Americana. So we finally found this place and walked into an almost empty room, but then we walked a bit further and found this huge room at the back that was packed of people standing and sitting and talking and drinking, all turned toward the flamenco stage at the very front of the room. It was amazing how social and loud the place was, but as soon as the male flamenco-er (I am sure there is a better word for this) stood up, closed his eyes, and started clapping softly or singing (or hissing "shh!"), the room immediately fell into a silence that I can honestly only describe as reverent. There is so much about flamenco that I do not understand, but when my host mother refers to it as "un flamenco espectáculo," I absolutely know why. While the American:Spaniard ratio was a bit more than I would have liked, this place felt very authentic and I definitely want to frequent it more.
I have been trying to just explore as much as I can. On Sunday I tried to go to mass at the Cathedral, but I think i read the schedule wrong or something because I never ended up finding it. The afternoon just turned into a long walk through the city and along the river, which of course I can't complain about. It was an absolutely beautiful day and all the people were out, just relaxing. There was one moment when I was walking down the street and a bunch of people were gathered around a street harpist just listening, and I got a small glimpse of realization that, holy crap, I actually love it here.
I am also not as nervous as I used to be for meals with my senora. I have a perpetual aversion to silences and always try to fill them, and in past days this has frustrated me because I simply do not know enough words to carry on a conversation as I would in English. However, I noticed today that I am becoming just a little bit more comfortable with speaking during lunch. Also, when there are silences, they do not bother me as much anymore. They're not as awkward as I had originally thought. They're comfortable and relaxed, much like a lot of the culture here. I know that a big flaw of mine is that sometimes I just need to chill out and loosen up, and I can see how this country can teach me to do that.
First night of intensive Spanish class was last night; it was really fun and a good group of people. I am not so afraid to speak in class. I'm accepting that for a while, I am just going to completely butcher this language in my attempt to learn it. My professor is very nice and started us with the basics, like really basic, we're talkin' ser v. estar. But I actually did learn last night, and what I already knew kind of reinforced that I know more than I think I do.
All in all, getting adjusted, slowly but surely. I am trying to do and experience as much as I can to help the process along, staying busy. Thanks for bearing with me. Thank you so much to anyone who has emailed or messaged me. Even if I haven't yet gotten a chance to respond, it brightens my days even more hearing what you all are up to.
Un abrazo!