Spanish culture is romantic in every sense of the word. It’s flair for romance runs not only on its language but also on its traditions and practices. One of the manifestations of this ‘romantic culture’ is their holiday, Dia del Libro (Book Day). In this unique book fair slash celebration, a buyer gets a red rose for every book purchase.
Last Saturday, I had a chance to experience this culture via Instituto Cervantes, which hosted the Dia del Libro affair. There were many cheap Spanish books on sale. Too bad, I can only understand few Spanish vocab so I didn’t enjoy much of the books being sold there. I only bought three books: Escrito en no, PEN: anthology of short stories and a children’s book (which, I forgot the title). Aside from the open house book sale galore, there were poetry and photography contests, Spanish wine and food and of course, PARTYYY.
Of course this event coincided with the nivel 4 qualifying exams. BOO. This, of course, makes it hard for me to enjoy dia del libro and concentrate on the test. I had to come early to study in the Biblioteca. I saw Boni, Donabel, JPaul, Jimmy and Delilah there. (all seriously studying). My teacher in Spanish keeps on telling us that we should enjoy and not study (BI pala si sir). The test is dificil. Muchisimo. There are four parts of the test: Listening skills, reading comprehension, multiple choice and essay writing. I had difficulty in all parts because I didn’t study at all.
After the test, Dona, Cha, Boni and I bonded and talk about the test (aren’t students do that all the time?) and life. I am happy since this is the first time I sit down with my classmates and listen to their histories/herstories (to think they’ve been my classmate for almost a year now). Personally, I feel a lot closer to them now than before.
There are layers and layers of stories on Dia del libro: the charina-ronnie lazaro’s son collision, endless matchmaking jokes, the real-deal, harry potter, and the simple truth-donabel.
I’m looking forward on the next Dia del libro and hopefully when that time comes, I’m a better Spanish speaker. (crosses fingers here)
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