Yesterday Molly and I went to Sol (the big Union Square-esque place) to buy boots because it is FREEZING here. There´s one street where it´s just shoe store after shoe store, and after awhile I had looked at so many damn boots I was getting seasick. However, I did eventually select a lovely pair of black wingtip boots, made in Spain. Very snazzy. My no longer freezing calves are thanking me profusley, and I now have a pair of authentic Spanish leather shoes.
It snowed like crazy yesterday. It´s quite an experience becae a) I didn´t even know that it sowed in Spain, and b) I can count all the times I´ve been in the snow on one hand, and I´m not sure if one time even counts because I was in a car:
Thumb: Visiting my mom´s family in Jersey when I was about 4. But I DO remember making a snowman in the hotel parking lot, and then my sister fell through an ice puddle. Haha.
Index finger: Family ski trip to the Tahoe area when I was about 12. I´m not even sure if this counts because I think they had to bring in man made snow.
Middle finger: Driving through the Sierras on my way to visit my Aunt Susie´s. This was the first time I think I ever actually saw snow fall. I think I was 14 or 15.
Ring finger: When I was living in Chicago I went to visit my Grandparents for Thanksgiving and there was lots of snow on the ground. My Uncle Scott tried to get me to go out in the snow, and I looked at him like he was nuts. I don´t think I moved from the couch the entire weekend. I was 18.
Pinkey: This trip to Madrid. So far it´s snowed on two occasions, but contained in one trip, so I´m going to count it as one finger.
So the point being that I am a snow n00b (newbie). I asked Carmen if it was safe to go outside and she chuckled politely and told me to bring an umbrella. Apparently people bring umbrellas in the snow. It helped.
So anyway, after battling the snow and buying boots, Molly and I went to take the Metro home. we heard a bunch of people yelling in the station and everyone was stopped to watch waht was going on. There was some belingerent guy (I couldn´t tell if he was drunk or not) getting into it with the security. I couldn´t tell what they were yelling about, but it resulted in the antagonist taking off his shirt like he was ready to fight. ¨Let´s get out of here!¨ we shrieked and started toward the stairs. Bad idea. The police started to chase Shirtless Antagonist out of the Metro (toward us) beating the crap out him with their billy clubs as they ran. Seriously, one of the police ran into me as he was chasing the guy. So much for getting out of the way. Molly and I were so freaked out after getting caught right in the crossfire. It was like a high speed chase movie that takes place in a foreign country where the pursuer is on a motorcycle and hits a guy on a bike that then crashes into a fruitstand, except the policeman was the motorcycle, I was the bike, and Molly was the fuitstand. Eek.
I don´t know what the attitude is toward police in Madrid, but if that happened in San Frnacisco, there would be uproar about police brutality. It was very strange.
Anyway! At least we´re okay. So don´t worry, Mom!
On a less of a downer note, and as I have previously mentioned, Spain Spanish is very different from Mexican Spanish. In fact, Spanish is so regional that in Madrid, they don´t even say that they speak Spanish, they call it Castellian, or ¨Castellano¨.
I knew that Spanish varied pretty greatly from country to country, just like English does. Just think about how different American English is from British English, or even just Bay Area English (which is hella awesome!) from, say, Alabama English. There´s always different accents and words for things. However, I didn´t think I would be having such a rough time. Below, please enjoy a list of a few English words with the Mexican translation (what I´m familiar with), and the Castellian version. Also, Spaniards are kind of pretentious about their Spanish because theirs is the ¨correct¨ version, so I´ve had some people get weird when I say a Mexican word. Also, a lot of the food words are very different, because food is very regional. Don´t come to Spain because you love burritos. You will be very disappointed.
Computer
Mexico: computadora
Spain: ordenador
Cell Phone
Mexico: cellular
Spain: movil
Peach:
Mexico: durazno
Spain: melecoton
Brains:
Mexico: cerebro
Spain: sesos
The ¨F¨Word
Mexico: chingar or pinche
Spain: follar or joder
Living Room
Mexico: la sala
Spain: el salon
Okay
Mexico: orale, pues
Spain: vale
There´s just a few. There are lots more though, I just can´t think of them right now.
Fun fact about Spain- not only do they have lots of museums, they are open late, are cheap to begin with (about 3 Euro, which is about 4 bucks), they are usually free one day a week. Did you know the new Academy of Sciences museum in Golden Gate Park is $25 to get in? And San Francisco´s free day is only one day a month?
Spain: 1
America: 0
Anyway, long story medium, I´m going to the museum Reina Sofia today, where they have lots of Picasso and Dali, yay! Then the girls (Molly and Summer) and I are going to cheat and go out for Indian food. It´s time for a variance.
More later,
Emily Mc Spain Pants
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Since when do you know the "F" word - in any language?
Am I'm being a naive parent?
Do they still have the Gurdia Seville there? They're sort of like the National Guard, except when I was there they were the personal police force of Gneralissimo Franco and they wandered around with loaded machine guns.
I was in the base van one afternoon approacing the town of Vivero where we went to market, when Doc the corpsman, who was driving, was captivated by a passing beauty. In Doc's rapture, he neglected to notice the Guadia Seville motorcycle cop in front of him and ran him off the road into a ditch.
The cop came up with the machince gun off his shoulder, cocked and aimed at US! he was NOT a happy camper as he had managed to land in a pretty deep puddle and was covered in muddy water. He placed the barrel of the gun on the windowsill of the van and preoceeded to speak at us in lively, and I'm sure, correct Castillian Spanish.
Fortunately, being American helped as I'm pretty sure if we'd been local we'd have spent some time in the local hoosgow. As it was he waved us on with some verbal encouragement I'm sure contained every variation of the "F" word he could think of on the spur of the moment.
I don't think I'll ever forget how big the barrel of that gum looked as it rested on the windowsill pointed at me!
Did you ever find out what happened to Shirtless Guy?
Post a Comment