Dead Phone, Live Music

I hate Vodafone.
Ok, that’s not fair, what happened was actually my fault. While in Cordoba, my cell phone was accidentally dropped in water, making it permanently unusable. The set- up we all have here concerning our phones is a prepaid card system, in which our phone number and personal information, such as contact lists, is all kept on a SIM card which is put into the phone. We give money to Vodafone, which they put on our cards, giving us the ability to call people and send messages. Before leaving for Cordoba I put 20 euro on my card, bringing my total to 35 euro. When we got back I immediately ran to the Vodafone store, because without my phone I have no way to communicate with anyone in Spain. They were closed. Finally, on Monday, I was able to go in. The woman working in the store confirmed that my phone was impossible to repair, and that I would have to buy a new one. She pulled out my SIM card, which was still usable. While she was extracting it from my old phone she scratched it. Not so usable anymore. She told me I had two options: 1) I could pay 30 euro (the price of a new phone) to make a duplicate of my old SIM card, which would not carry over the 35 euro I already had on my card (that 35 euro was lost forever at that point) and would also no carry over my contact lists, just my old phone number. The card would have no money on it and would not be usable for a week. 2) I could use the SIM card that came with the new phone, which had 7 euro on it, and get a new number. I went with option 2. However, this meant that I had no contact information, nor did any of my friends have my new number. Fortunately, Nick’s host family got wireless this weekend, so he emailed me a list of numbers. I then spent 2.5 of my 7 euro letting people know about my new number. The store had run out of the style of phone I had before, which I liked a lot. The only other cheap phone they had is the same as Nick’s. I don’t like it, but I can’t complain. I have a phone again.
This weekend should be awesome. There are two major festivals happening in Cáceres this weekend, and people from all over the world are here to attend. First of all, this weekend is the Medieval Market. It’s very similar to Renaissance Festival, only it actually occurs in a genuine Medieval city. There are vendors everywhere selling swords and jewelry and other Medieval things, and people walking all over the old part of the city in costume. Also, this weekend is the Fleadh. The Fleadh is an Irish music festival- the biggest one in Spain. All of the world’s most renowned Irish musicians are here, and all of the hard- core Irish music fanatics also come. I have never heard so much English spoken in Spain. There are lessons in playing, singing, and dancing, talks on Irish music, and concerts. Some of my musician friends from the Tavern are playing (they’re the only all- Spanish group who made the cut) and two of my friends are teaching lessons. The majority of the lessons are taught by Irish musicians, so I’m interested to see how well these Irish musicians can teach in Spanish. I’m planning to take a lot of pictures, so hopefully my next post will be more colorful.

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