I’ve been practicing my Spanish with locals in casual language exchanges, called intercambios. I met one person in particular (who speaks English so well, I’m not sure why he needs my help) that has been helping me unlock some keys to pronouncing Spanish correctly. I have to exaggerate my vowel sounds and open my mouth more. If feels a little silly, but in English we practically mumble compared to the Spanish: barely moving our jaws, closed mouthed and dropping the ends of words. In Spanish, a lost syllable changes the meaning completely– it could be a different word, tense or subject based on how the word ends.
Spaniards on the street don’t smile. Normally I would attribute this to a natural sense of reserve, but don’t be fooled. They’re all grumpy because of a lack of carbs and high ketone levels. In fact, there are no diabetics in Spain. They don’t eat enough glucose to trigger an episode.
Whatever it is, it’s a full week long of celebration, located in Madrid’s “pink” neighborhood, the area of town I’ve heard referred to as “where the homos live” (as explained to me by a lesbian woman who lives there).
Traveling is like eating a big piece of humble pie. It doesn’t matter if you speak the language, have studied the culture, read all the guidebooks, or have been to your destination multiple times before, you will still encounter situations that make you feel like it’s your first day of high school and you’re the only one who can’t find the classroom. You will eat humble pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You’ll snack on it when you get hungry. You’ll consume so much of it that at times you’ll feel like you couldn’t possibly take another bite…oh, well…it was so good, maybe just one more…
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The driver picked me up at 7:30 AM and 3 hours later dropped me off at the Mexican side of the border. One of the passengers spent 5 minutes screaming in Spanish at the driver. You’re an idiot! This is so stupid! No YOU Shut up!
Updated on Apr 02, 09
Created on Jan 28, 09
Category: Travel
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