Uno, Dos, Tres...

Human Highlighter Suit Tally:  6

The kids’ school has a relationship with a Spanish school for the parents, and one thing I’d really like to do this year is improve my español.  So I did a diagnostic test a week or so ago, which consisted of having a conversation with one of the teachers, and answering a few written questions.  I could tell that it was all about verb tenses, those rascals—“What were you like when you were young?” and “Where would you like to live after you leave Barcelona?”  Verb tenses not being my strong suit, I did my best to sneak around the hard stuff.  So I was irrationally happy to learn that I got placed in the advanced group.  The test was hardly objective, as Alec reminded me: “They’re just comparing you to all of the other gringos who just got off the boat.”  Thanks, Alec. 

Anyway, at least I’m not at the bottom of the heap.  I had my first class today—I’ll go two days each week, two hours each day—and I really liked it.  Given that I have been in the midst of so much change and upheaval, and thinking about what I’ll do next research-wise, it is actually soothing to deal with something as concrete and rule-bound as language.  Conjugation, prepositions, worksheets—there is something familiar and mechanical in a way that I welcome right now.  I do think it’s coming more easily to me on a daily basis. I find myself walking around thinking about how I will say this thing or that thing, translating words and sentences in my head.  I even had a meeting today with a big wig at the university and a real estate developer, and it was all in Spanish.  I threw in an English word here or there, and I did not get 100% of what was said, but basically it went fine.

C.C. skyped her entire class back at PS 10 this afternoon, and they treated her like a rock star, shouting her name and jumping up and down.   There were some technical difficulties with the sound, so she could not be projected on a big screen. Instead the kids came up to the computer one at a time and asked her questions:  “Is Barcelona your favorite soccer team?”  “Do you have swimming at school since it’s so hot there?”  She was pretty blissed out by the whole thing, and I think we’ll try and do it again.

I made my first tortilla on my own this evening, and called it dinner.  I wanted to lock in my lesson from last week.  I think it was pretty good for a first attempt, if I do say so myself.   It’s kind of incredible how much oil you use, but it’s the good kind.  You know, the Mediterranean diet and all.  Actually, Spain seems to be paying a price for not sticking to the Med diet.  A recent article showed evidence that Spain ranks third in obese and overweight kids.  The US, of course, is first.