Blah Blah So Much To Say!

This post is going to be a smorgasbord of miscellaneous things that I need to "put right out there on front street."

Like, for example,

1. Besides the phrase "Bueno, pues nada" which basically doesn't mean anything but is used as a conversation filler, my new favorite Spain-ism is "Vale." Which basically means EVERYTHING. It's actually the response to virtually any statement, because it functions like "Ok," or "Understood," or "Word."

2. As many of you are aware, I was really gung-ho about taking a flamenco class while in Spain. No one was more gung-ho than me. Butttttt as fate would have it, no flamenco for me. (In fact, not to sound BITTER, I ended up being the only student on the waitlist for flamenco who didn't make it into the class.) Hahahahahaha no but it's actually totally ok, because instead I'm taking a super cool art history class. Guess who's having wine at her professor's house next week? This kid. Needless to say, the professors are wonderful and we do cool things like watch tapestries being handmade (that was today, and in all seriousness, it was fascinating).

3. I'm doing an "aprendizaje," or, internship! I'm working at a preschool, and the kids are ADORABLE. Now I can officially say I have Madridian friends, even if they are 3 years old. 

4. DON QUIJOTE. Not only is this class taught by an odd elderly gentleman with an extraordinarily large mustache, but it also involves reading a book totaling 1,312 pages of semi-archaic Spanish. It is an adventure all day erry day, literally. 

5. Learned the term for "sassy"--a favorite English word of mine. To be sassy can be translated into Spanish as "Ser caradura." (Other options include "picante," which is literally "spicy.") I probably use these terms more frequently than is appropriate.

6. While this city is no Clinton, NY, it's COLD here this weekend. I guess we're getting the cold front from the Sierra Nevadas or something?? Plus side: Pilar made me a hot water bottle type thing to heat up my bed (for those of you who know my passion for my sack of "hot corn" which serves the same purpose, you will understand how thrilled I was).