Cherry Blossom Festival in the Jerte Valley

Early spring and an entire valley looks to the sky and prays. However this isn't one of the many religious festivals in Spain, but a delicate dance between the weather and the calendar. Snowcapped mountains descend into green terracing where two million trees await their cue from Mother Nature before exploding into one of nature's spectacles... turning the entire valley white with their blossoms. Problem is that the grand old lady can be slightly unpredictable and the dates of the festival vary each year. Locals hope that it coincides with Semana Santa, the Easter celebrations, and if it does expect traffic jams all the way back to Madrid.

Depending on the variety, some of the performers will bear fruit as early as late April, but the queen of the ball is the highly prized picota cherry. It may fall from its stem last, but the sweet wait is ever so worth it.

Don´t miss your chance to enjoy it this year!

http://www.turismovalledeljerte.com/cerezo00/Programa%20Cerezo%20en%20Flor%202010.pdf

Carmela

Easter

Easter is just around the corner! I cannot believe how fast this year is going. Each one seems to go faster than the last. Easter is not celebrated very much at all in England, children may get "Easter bunnies" or go on "Easter Egg Hunts" but little more. Of course, for the religious there is the church ceremony, but nothing like the parades of Semana Santa here. I had the luck of seeing the parades in Malaga last year. Quite spectacular.

What do you do for Easter usually? What are your plans for this Holy week? Let us know!!

Hi there!

First of all, a special greeting to those who don't belong to our school but read this blog anyway.

Following a wonderful lesson on idioms (thanks, Sandra), I would like to propose a challenge here. Can you understand this text?

"You're not going to believe what happened the other day at the garage. A furious guy came in waving his arms around and, guess who it was? Robert de Niro! His car was still smoking outside. He said he was going at full speed when the engine suddenly kicked the bucket. He tried to restart it, but it was like flogging a dead horse. The man was all hot under the collar. You see, it's a '62 Thunderbird we're talking about. The thing had cost him a pretty penny.

My partner Tom and I are men of our words. We said it would be easy as pie, and so it was.

We usually make light work of fixing these things, but this time we buried the needle. “Good as new!” said Tom when we were done. I could see that he was swelling with pride. He told the owner the car would purr like a cat from then on, as long as he took good care of it."

I also have a question for you: what is your favorite idiom in English? Let the votes begin!

Alex

Spring!!

I think that now I am ready for Spring. The dark and cold of Winter holds no joy for me. Whilst the lighter nights now give some enjoyment and hope, the continuing rain is no joy. Here the sun comes out and you can feel the heat on your shoulders...but I feel that we could do with a bit more! Roll on March and some warmer days! What do you think? Do you prefer Summer, Spring, Autumn or Winter? Let us know!