Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Today, when the door didn’t open on the bus, a person yelled “Maestro” to get the driver’s attention. I thought that was funny because it sounded like the he was calling the driver a conductor of music. Then he yelled “Jefe” instead, which means boss. I just thought that those were funny choices.

Nothing much happened. We had class, then I went home for lunch, then I studied for our exam on Thursday. By the way, I had a coffee between classes to keep me awake, and oh my gosh I was strong! Which I liked, taste-wise, but the caffeine made me shaky and hungry and blah feeling. All day. I can still feel it. Probably not having anymore. Then we met up in Sol for Erin’s birthday. We were going to go to a tapas bar but it was raining and there was a strike and demonstration going on. So we went to the market where Tara and I split amazing desserts! She thought the label on hers “Torta Negro Selva” meant black slave cake, but really selva is a forrest. Oh language barriers! She was also the one who asked her host brother to “me ducha” which means “shower me” when she was trying to say she was going to take a shower!

Then I can home and studied, ate dinner (fresh pasta and some sort of meat, who knows what but it was good so I’m not asking!), and went to sleep!

Wednesday, June 9,, 2010

Raining today. They say it’s rare and good because it’s cools everything down, but it just makes me sleepy. Good thing I took a 2 hour siesta! Flamenco class tonight, then more studying. Lunch was lentil soup again (yum!) and some sort of homemade fishstick (yuck).

P.S. People cover their books when it rains. As in, they put their white paper-covered books into a special baggy and then into their purses. Nothing else gets this treatment. Maybe they love their books so much because literacy used to be a symbol of status and wealth. Not so much in America since kids would rather kill each other in video games than read.

P.P.S. I forgot to mention that I finished ALL of my lunch today and my grandmother was so proud, especially when the others didn’t! She referered to me as the “mayoria” or the oldest child. Then, when I left later she called me “principesita” or little princess. I love my grandmother! She was also singing while cooking but it sounded more like yodeling in Russian or something. Then she told me she was a singer and dancer when she was 16. And her name is Gracia, which sounds like “gracias”, so everytime I say “gracias” she tells me about how she always hears people saying “gracias” on the street and thinking they’re talking to her. And she finally understood me for the first time today! She said something about me making it home before the others, and I said because it’s raining and she understood! Although I used hand motions too, so maybe that helped. Still, a work in progress!