My residence

I stitched this picture of my rooml to give you an idea. The picture is taken from my bed, those are my legs on the right side...use your imagination.

It’s hard for me to compose my blog when I'm not at school; somehow I forget about the weird things that happen in the day. Here are a couple things worth noting.

Yesterday at lunch, there was an argument at the table. Gemma’s boyfriend Juan came up a few times and so did ‘pisos’ in different places around Segovia. I think Gemma wants to move out and live with him but the places they are looking at are too small. Although this may be true, Gemma thinks they are elegant. There was pause. Marisa caught me like a deer in headlights and smiled. I asked foolishly, “Donde esta ubicada?” thinking that they were talking about where Gemma wanted to live. They informed me that they were talking about barrios or parts of Segovia. I’m sure I said si or nodded my head while I was still confused why my response wasn’t sufficient. I should have asked why they were talking about them, but like usual I stuck my tail between my legs and retreated in bewilderment. Then they started pointing to the wall or the tv and all chimed in about something I should be aware of. I can’t help but laugh about this. Luckly I smiled and stayed silent and the subject was changed. Then Marisa said (but of course I didn’t pick up the words fast enough), “Me entregues un mangurina.” Based on the last word, I pretended to understand and said, “Ya dos” referred to the two oranges I had. She asked me to pass her one and Gemma did it for me. A smiling idiot, I felt the urge to start talking to them in English, maybe throw a couple of swear words in there just because they wouldn’t know what I was saying, but I held my tongue.

What else, oh I have plenty more. The laundry situation. Really no major complaints. The first time she washed my red long sleeve shirt, it felt softer than my laundry at home and I thought I may want to learn her secrets. These first few washes must have been a fluke because I have begun to notice she doesn’t use fabric softener. My clothes have been coming out really dry and stiff. This is because, well they don’t use a dryer at all; they hang everything. Good for the environment, a little more rough. But really who cares about the stiffness…better to get all your clothes back. So Marisa has had a tendency to lose some of my clothes. I will get back the random 1 sock, because this is very useful. I thought I lost my black polo shirt, but it just had a long turn-time (from laundry basket back into my room, oh in about 2 weeks). Last week, I regretfully gave her my jeans because they had gotten to an unforeseen point. I thought if I didn’t give them up to the laundry gods, they would be irreparable. The next day I saw them hanging up on the drying rack and foresaw promise in getting my pants I’ve worn almost every day. I still haven’t gotten them back and I don’t think Jeans has a literal translation. I don’t know if the cliché ‘better luck next time’ applies but at least I look a little dressier wearing my corduroys and kaki pants.

I’ve been enjoying the company of Bruno, their dog, although he probably understands more Spanish than me. It’s a bit weird because they keep him in the closet for most of the day except for the occasional walks that last about 5 minutes. If animal rights activists are reading this, I can’t send you my address because the dog is too cute and I’m the only one that pets him…kind reminds me of Santa’s Little Helper…but better fed.

I may not have mentioned to the occasional reader that I live above a garage. I wasn’t told this and the first time I heard the loud garage door open below my bed, I thought we were getting taken off to the moon or platetechtonics were shifting below me. It is an uncanny grinding noise that happens at any time in the day. Speaking of sounds familiar to my bed room, about every 15 minutes a car will pull up alongside or drive by with blaring techno (usually it’s at night and since Spaniards don’t party until later, it’s between 11p.m.-4 a.m.) There is also a water heater located on the adjacent wall in the kitchen so any time water is running, (in comparison to the rest) a soothing flow of ambient water rushes forth and is probably the culprit to my frequent visits to the bathroom. I have been drinking a lot of water though which is keeping me healthy. It’s a great neutralizer to the oil, salt, sugar, oil, greasy meat, and other diabolical concoctions one can do with food.

Maybe I’ve been too harsh. I think I would make a good food critic. Maybe it’s the language used in the book Sophie’s Choice. I have been reading it for my Senior Seminar class (the theme being civil war, it’s a story about a girl’s guilt from Auschwitz) and the author uses great descriptions. If I had an English dictionary or wasn’t so lazy as to write the scholarly words down, I would be even more invincible at Scrabble.

Well, I am going to Salamanca this weekend. It's Tito's 21st on Valentine's Day so we'll make sure he has a good time. Happy Valentine's Day in 2 days!

David