Day 10 - The Newspaper Stand Man

Waking up today was an experience.

I think I dreamed that my alarm was going off in my dream, and it took me a long time to realize that it was in real life. But then I grabbed the wrong phone (it’s still set on US time), looked at the time, and freaked out. I couldn’t figure out what day it was or what the crap was going on.

Very trippy and not in a good way.

Finally got my shit together and hopped in the shower, finished up some homework, ate breakfast, and headed off to meet Stephanie to walk to school.

Funny story about the shower? I was gonna take one last night to warm me up after being sopping wet from the fountain, but when I walked in the bathroom, there was a rather large spider on the bathroom floor. I’d say about half-dollar size. Unfortunately, the toilet paper was on the opposite side of the bathroom, and I was barefoot and completely helpless.

So I closed the bathroom door and went to bed.

School today was really good. It was hilarious because there was NO ONE out on the streets this morning. No cars like usual, no people walking around the city.

I’d say more than a few people had a hangover worth forgetting.

They even showed it on the news today, and it cracked me up.

Our professor was so cute today. She thanked us all for coming and told us how proud she was of us for showing up. She said some other teachers said that half of their students never even came to class. She told us it’s because we’re smart and take our education seriously. I can live with that.

Although, sleeping in would have been nice.

Came home for lunch, like always, and it was dee-lish. Chicken noodle soup more or less (the noodles like in the instant chicken noodle soup packets) and pizza! It was funny because the pizza was ham and mushroom, and Alee and Stephanie and I were just talking about our dislike of mushrooms, but it was actually really, really good. Especially because my tummy was growling during school L

CONTINUED

In case you were wondering what the whole “continued” thing is all about, I usually write the beginning part of the blog when I get home from school, then I write the “continued” part right before bed. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

Alright, time for the skeevey stuff. There are so many random, strange things that are different here, and I figured I’d just put it all out there, mostly so I can remember the strange stuff, along with all the good stuff.

1) A few Spanish men smell like hella B.O. It’s disgusting, to be quite honest. But the ones that don’t smell like B.O. smell really good. No, it’s not that I’m going around sniffing Spaniards, but their odor just kinda hits you in the face when you walk by them in the streets.

2) Spanish people in cars are batshit crazy. From what I can gather, there really are no speed limits. It’s scary. People on motorcycles are especially scary…they just go zooming. Hauling ass, if you will.

3) There are pigeons everywhere. This isn’t skeevey, but I just thought I’d put it in this list. They are more or less like squirrels in Columbia – everywhere!

4) Food sanitation doesn’t seem to be a worry. My host mom just puts shit in the fridge open. Doesn’t cover it with cellophane or aluminum foil. For instance, the soup from lunch today…I went to get water out of the fridge tonight, and the whole pot was just sitting in there uncovered. It’s a bit weird to me, but I guess they haven’t died from it yet, so I shouldn’t either.

5) I will never, ever, ever get used to that pig leg with the hoof still attached just sitting out on the counter. It’s a tad unappetizing.

6) There are no street signs. I learned this pretty damn quickly when I got lost the first day. Only after I figured out how to get to school did someone tell me that the street signs are plaques on the sides of buildings aka ABSOLUTELY USELESS!!!

I guess that’s about all I can think of for now.

I actually got the internet to work at the house this afternoon, which was exciting! Unfortunately, after the third trip the The Phone House,  I am still USB-modem-less. Tomorrow I’m going to a different area of town to hunt one down, God help me.

I’m not diggin any of the Spanish poetry we’ve read so far. Jesus, give me some Eliot or cummings or something. I can’t deal with this shit! I had enough trouble getting through poetry in ENGLISH in high school. This shit is nuts.

I bought Sean and Wendy presents today and got 4 newspapers of Mundial (I MAY be a psycho photomaniac, but they don’t help me out any…different photos on the front of all the papers!!!)

I also picked up a really cute gold coin purse-type thing so I’m not digging through my purse like a crazy old lady that always wants exact change. I can’t deal with the challenge of not finding money when I need it. Got a really cute white dress with sparkly gold polka dots, too. It’s cute!

Had the first Whopper in my life here in Spain…how ironic is that? Stephanie and Alee don’t want anyone to know that we’ve eaten at both McDonalds and BK, but it really doesn’t bother me. There has never been a time in my life when a burger and fries don’t hit the spot. That, and it doesn’t help that A) most local restaurants close relatively early and B) we have no idea what half the shit on the menu even is. I’m still an American, and I will eat fast food if I damn well please J Haha.

How do I write three pages about a day in which almost nothing out of the ordinary happened? Beats me.

Oh, the man at the newspaper stand is about the sweetest thing ever. I bought three papers from him and a souvenir for Wendy, and he only charged me 5 euro. I think he may have given me a paper for free or something since I bought from him last time. Either way, I like him. He reminds me of CC, in a way. Sonrisas.

I really like sleeping with my window open. It keeps the room at a bearable temperature and I can hear the night sounds of the city. It’s wonderful.