Iñaki gave me a very accurate description of what my Spanish is like the other day and I have to share...
He read my blog and was a little confused about the description of his grandmother so I explained that I just loved her because she was so sweet and has the stereotypical look of what a United Statester like myself might think a Spanish abuela looks like. I felt comfortable around her because she spoke slower and louder and not as much. Iñaki laughed and said, "that´s because you´re like her." I said, "huh?" He explained, "well, she can´t hear and you can´t understand what is going on. So, both of you just sort of sit there and shrug your shoulders and smile a lot when you´re around groups."
I no longer have the Spanish level of a 2-year-old, but that of an 86-year-old abuela. Love it.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Losing effort
Hiya folks. We had a big game last night. We lost. But it was a good fight. I hate that term "losing effort", don´t you? It´s like you made an effort to lose, not that you made an effort to win and then lost anyway. So, I used it as my title to address it.
The last time we played this team we lost by like 30. I wasn´t playing yet, Pau was gone for some reason and someone else wasn´t there I guess. This time we lost by like 10 I think. It was closer than that though.
This team had 3 girls over 6 feet, and not just a little. One was 6'1" and American, one was 6'2" and a big freak, and one was 6'4" plus about 3 feet worth of arms. What I mean by "a big freak" are those posts who yell all the time and try to get fouls called by talking to the refs and always fall over. I wanted to hit her. The American girl was pretty good, but didn´t play much. I said I´d trash talk her before the game, but I didn´t. After the game was over I said, "good game" to her instead of "muy bien" o algo asi. She turned around really quick all surprised. She´s from the Chicago area she said and I told her I was from Oregon and that was it. Now, I wish I´d have talked to her more and asked how she likes it here and if she was getting paid or going to school or something.
The 6'4" wasn´t a PLU big Johnson type, she was strong. Also a bit of a freak and played some super aggressive defense ala the 3rd grade when you just stick your arms out and sort of trap the girl you´re guarding between them and stare right at her, no idea where the ball is. But, thanks to my experience in the 5th grade against King Elementary School, I kept my head together and just grabbed her arms and threw them away when the refs weren´t looking ; )
We struggled in the first half and caught back up to go into the half only down 5. The thrid quarter was a battle, but we may have still been down 10 or so when we finished it. Maria drove me nuts! She was yelling at everyone to do things and would never take responsibility for the fact that she made a mistake, but justblamed it on someone else. Then, during huddles, she´d yell something and then walk away, like she was disgusted to be on the same team with the rest of us. I wanted to drop kick her to Madrid. Then after all that, as soon as the game ended, she whips out her cell phone and is totally fine. So was that just a big show? Who knows, it´s just nice to vent about things like this sometimes.
Pau was in foul trouble so I got to play a bunch, which I liked. Sara, my favorite guard, and I had a nice little 8 point run together to tighten the game up to 3. No one on the team seems to like her much, but I like her and it´s hard to deny the power of a guard/post connection where you can pass and catch without looking at eachother. It´s inherent I think. Don´t get me wrong, it´s no Fitch lob pass or "money" play, but it´s a good one. I guess I have it a bit with Pui too, but Sara always gets it to me when I´m in a good position. No sé, es especial.
The 8 point run was capped off with a putback that I hit and got fouled on (toot toot on my own horn!). It was the first time I´ve felt really jacked up here. I had to give a teeth clenched, fist pumping, gutterul, "yeah baby" as I walked up to the free throw line, slapping hands way too hard. Anyhow, it was fun even though we lost. Plus, I scored more points than their American after being told, many times, by my coach no less, that I was going to get my ass kicked by her. I didn´t really guard her much, so who knows how the one on one would have gone... whatever, shut it Iñaki!
Sorry, long basketball blog... today I went to Iñaki´s mom´s birthday party, which was also sort of a losing effort. Habla Darb, habla! It was a nice lunch at her house though, with her family. Their grandma is so cute. She looks like a flesh-toned prune, total Strega Nona, and wears long sweaters and polyester skirts that hit below the knee. All her extra wrinkly skin sort of gathers in a puddle at her ankles and spills out above her orthopedic shoes. She´s always doing wonderful things like grabbing my forearm and squeezing it just a little bit or looking at me and smiling or making a little cooing giggle like she´s just glad I´m there. Who knows if she is.
Irene and I did some dancing and singing to the Chicago soundtrack beforehand. It was great, she´s a sass-box.
Really the whole family seems quite nice. They love to talk and just be near eachother, which is nice to be around, but also makes me want to go and just be with my family. I could use a Cave family bbq or and Fullerton family brunch hosted by socialite Ky Ky today. Anyone feel like taking a quick flight over? We could have jamón...
Dori, Iñaki´s mom, has a bunch of siblings, one of which has two little boys, Itor, 5 (sp?) and Jon, 2. Itor is the bomb. He´s always trying to do something a little mischievous. Iñaki and I call him cabroncete, which literally means "tiny bastard". We´ve shortened it to "Tiny B" and it serves as a great nickname. Anyhow, I met Itor for the second time when I came for a visit the other night. Dori had the boys for the evening and I was talking to her as she changed Jon. She said, "this is Jon, and over there is Itor." I turned around and this skinny little blonde boy comes running out of the kitchen with his pants down, flashes me his butt, slaps it, and says, "hola!" and runs back into the kitchen cackling with laughter. It was pretty great.
All right, I need to call everyone at home now and catch up so my heart feels more full. Right now it feels a little dilapidated. I just miss you guys!
Group hug!
The last time we played this team we lost by like 30. I wasn´t playing yet, Pau was gone for some reason and someone else wasn´t there I guess. This time we lost by like 10 I think. It was closer than that though.
This team had 3 girls over 6 feet, and not just a little. One was 6'1" and American, one was 6'2" and a big freak, and one was 6'4" plus about 3 feet worth of arms. What I mean by "a big freak" are those posts who yell all the time and try to get fouls called by talking to the refs and always fall over. I wanted to hit her. The American girl was pretty good, but didn´t play much. I said I´d trash talk her before the game, but I didn´t. After the game was over I said, "good game" to her instead of "muy bien" o algo asi. She turned around really quick all surprised. She´s from the Chicago area she said and I told her I was from Oregon and that was it. Now, I wish I´d have talked to her more and asked how she likes it here and if she was getting paid or going to school or something.
The 6'4" wasn´t a PLU big Johnson type, she was strong. Also a bit of a freak and played some super aggressive defense ala the 3rd grade when you just stick your arms out and sort of trap the girl you´re guarding between them and stare right at her, no idea where the ball is. But, thanks to my experience in the 5th grade against King Elementary School, I kept my head together and just grabbed her arms and threw them away when the refs weren´t looking ; )
We struggled in the first half and caught back up to go into the half only down 5. The thrid quarter was a battle, but we may have still been down 10 or so when we finished it. Maria drove me nuts! She was yelling at everyone to do things and would never take responsibility for the fact that she made a mistake, but justblamed it on someone else. Then, during huddles, she´d yell something and then walk away, like she was disgusted to be on the same team with the rest of us. I wanted to drop kick her to Madrid. Then after all that, as soon as the game ended, she whips out her cell phone and is totally fine. So was that just a big show? Who knows, it´s just nice to vent about things like this sometimes.
Pau was in foul trouble so I got to play a bunch, which I liked. Sara, my favorite guard, and I had a nice little 8 point run together to tighten the game up to 3. No one on the team seems to like her much, but I like her and it´s hard to deny the power of a guard/post connection where you can pass and catch without looking at eachother. It´s inherent I think. Don´t get me wrong, it´s no Fitch lob pass or "money" play, but it´s a good one. I guess I have it a bit with Pui too, but Sara always gets it to me when I´m in a good position. No sé, es especial.
The 8 point run was capped off with a putback that I hit and got fouled on (toot toot on my own horn!). It was the first time I´ve felt really jacked up here. I had to give a teeth clenched, fist pumping, gutterul, "yeah baby" as I walked up to the free throw line, slapping hands way too hard. Anyhow, it was fun even though we lost. Plus, I scored more points than their American after being told, many times, by my coach no less, that I was going to get my ass kicked by her. I didn´t really guard her much, so who knows how the one on one would have gone... whatever, shut it Iñaki!
Sorry, long basketball blog... today I went to Iñaki´s mom´s birthday party, which was also sort of a losing effort. Habla Darb, habla! It was a nice lunch at her house though, with her family. Their grandma is so cute. She looks like a flesh-toned prune, total Strega Nona, and wears long sweaters and polyester skirts that hit below the knee. All her extra wrinkly skin sort of gathers in a puddle at her ankles and spills out above her orthopedic shoes. She´s always doing wonderful things like grabbing my forearm and squeezing it just a little bit or looking at me and smiling or making a little cooing giggle like she´s just glad I´m there. Who knows if she is.
Irene and I did some dancing and singing to the Chicago soundtrack beforehand. It was great, she´s a sass-box.
Really the whole family seems quite nice. They love to talk and just be near eachother, which is nice to be around, but also makes me want to go and just be with my family. I could use a Cave family bbq or and Fullerton family brunch hosted by socialite Ky Ky today. Anyone feel like taking a quick flight over? We could have jamón...
Dori, Iñaki´s mom, has a bunch of siblings, one of which has two little boys, Itor, 5 (sp?) and Jon, 2. Itor is the bomb. He´s always trying to do something a little mischievous. Iñaki and I call him cabroncete, which literally means "tiny bastard". We´ve shortened it to "Tiny B" and it serves as a great nickname. Anyhow, I met Itor for the second time when I came for a visit the other night. Dori had the boys for the evening and I was talking to her as she changed Jon. She said, "this is Jon, and over there is Itor." I turned around and this skinny little blonde boy comes running out of the kitchen with his pants down, flashes me his butt, slaps it, and says, "hola!" and runs back into the kitchen cackling with laughter. It was pretty great.
All right, I need to call everyone at home now and catch up so my heart feels more full. Right now it feels a little dilapidated. I just miss you guys!
Group hug!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Dos Cosas: My first uff and a ponder
The other day I was sitting down to a super American dinner of crappy pizza and beer and Iñaki asked me some question, I don´t remember what. But, the question perplexed me a tad, so I thought about it for a second and then started my response with the word, "uff..." which is sort of a nonsense word here that has lots of different uses. In this case it meant, "that´s a hard question to answer." Iñaki sat up all straight and opened his eyes wide and said, "wow, you said 'uff'". I had, and it was one of my first. I´d noticed it coming out of my mouth a few times before, but this was the first time someone else noticed.
The truth is, I´ve been wanting uff to be in my vocabulary for so long. Everyone here uses it and it sounds, for lack of a better term, so Spanish. Since I want to be so Spanish, this is a little step for me. I also have the word "oi" in my daily speech now. It´s used sort of like oops, or when someone misses a shot in basketball, the girls say it all deep and long, like "ooooooiiiiiiiii." Mom noticed my oi´s while she was here. She said she thought that must be Spanish too because one of our cab drivers used it. Most often, it comes out when I run into someone accidentally, as I do a lot since I´m so tall, and I say, "oi, perdon." Basically, "oops, scuse me." Anyhow, I´m excited to be saying uff and oi and I´ll keep you abreast to any other Spanish mannerisms I pick up.
Now, a short ponder for you... I was watching a bit of TV today, which I never do, but I need to listen to more Spanish. A commercial came on for a new type of beer that has tea in it. It showed a mom and a baby, like 8 months, at a pool. The mom looks at the baby then takes a big swig of this beer. The next scene is of the mom and the baby swimming together, both underwater and the baby is sort of freely floating in front of the mom. I´m not sure exactly what the tagline was, but something like, "enjoy your time."
Does anyone else think this is a bit of a WTF? I really don´t think mom should be throwing back cold ones while she´s supposed to be watching the baby. Swimming no less! I mean baby had no one to hang on to and mom was just sort of doing her own thing in the pool. Plus, the fact that mom looked at baby and then took a huge drink makes me think she should really get an au pair or be checked out by child services. I mean if the au pair gets hammered, it´s one thing, but mom, no. Jokes, bromas, chistes. Plus, what´s the deal with that tagline? Swimming with the kid is so stressful that it´s totally understandable that you need a few beers beforehand? Ha ha! I just thought it was so funny and such a strange juxtaposition of items.
It´s another pretty day here and I got in another good run. My knee is really sore for some reason, but I just have to run on days like today, so I did. We have a big game this weekend. There´s another American on the other team, la di flippin´da. She´s supposed to be pretty good. As I am not very good at the moment, we´ll see how this all goes down. I really want to win though, hopefully that counts for algo.
Kisses and hugs and love to all!
The truth is, I´ve been wanting uff to be in my vocabulary for so long. Everyone here uses it and it sounds, for lack of a better term, so Spanish. Since I want to be so Spanish, this is a little step for me. I also have the word "oi" in my daily speech now. It´s used sort of like oops, or when someone misses a shot in basketball, the girls say it all deep and long, like "ooooooiiiiiiiii." Mom noticed my oi´s while she was here. She said she thought that must be Spanish too because one of our cab drivers used it. Most often, it comes out when I run into someone accidentally, as I do a lot since I´m so tall, and I say, "oi, perdon." Basically, "oops, scuse me." Anyhow, I´m excited to be saying uff and oi and I´ll keep you abreast to any other Spanish mannerisms I pick up.
Now, a short ponder for you... I was watching a bit of TV today, which I never do, but I need to listen to more Spanish. A commercial came on for a new type of beer that has tea in it. It showed a mom and a baby, like 8 months, at a pool. The mom looks at the baby then takes a big swig of this beer. The next scene is of the mom and the baby swimming together, both underwater and the baby is sort of freely floating in front of the mom. I´m not sure exactly what the tagline was, but something like, "enjoy your time."
Does anyone else think this is a bit of a WTF? I really don´t think mom should be throwing back cold ones while she´s supposed to be watching the baby. Swimming no less! I mean baby had no one to hang on to and mom was just sort of doing her own thing in the pool. Plus, the fact that mom looked at baby and then took a huge drink makes me think she should really get an au pair or be checked out by child services. I mean if the au pair gets hammered, it´s one thing, but mom, no. Jokes, bromas, chistes. Plus, what´s the deal with that tagline? Swimming with the kid is so stressful that it´s totally understandable that you need a few beers beforehand? Ha ha! I just thought it was so funny and such a strange juxtaposition of items.
It´s another pretty day here and I got in another good run. My knee is really sore for some reason, but I just have to run on days like today, so I did. We have a big game this weekend. There´s another American on the other team, la di flippin´da. She´s supposed to be pretty good. As I am not very good at the moment, we´ll see how this all goes down. I really want to win though, hopefully that counts for algo.
Kisses and hugs and love to all!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Bar-ba-qwa
Yesterday I attended my first Spanish BBQ, pronounced bar-ba-qwa. It sounds sort of French to me with the "qwa" and all. It was pretty much just like at home but the food was different, and like most things in Spain, it was an all day event. I love that about Spain. The party never has a start and an end, you just get there when you can and stay as long as you like.
I was actually having a bit of a shy reflective day, so hanging out with a bunch of people I didn´t really know didn´t sound too appealing. But, Iñaki gave me a petite pep talk and I went. It was a post-season barbaqwa for Irene´s team and half of them were already there when I arrived. I sort of drifted right back to the corner of people I knew and some guy I didn´t know started talking to me and all I could do was give him a confused look. It did not make me feel very social, I can tell you that much.
Everyone just sort of sat around outside, drank beers and chatted. It was nice, like home. Luis was there and totally rocked my world by speaking english to me. At the same time, I was disappointed in myself for not making him speak Spanish. The big groups are when I have the most trouble because there are so many conversations going on at once and a lot of noise. I guess I have dad´s ears.
The food was really good. Irene brought out a bunch of chips and salads and stuff and the meat was a typical sausage from here, I can´t remember the name, and basically bacon steaks. We just ripped off pieces of a baguette, split them in half, stuffed some meat in and chowed down. Really yummy. At one point, we were passing around a 40 and drinking from it. This is a passtime I´d have loved to participate in at home, but haven´t until coming here. I plan on having a couch on my front porch when I get a house, just for special 40 occassions.
It got sort of cold in the shade, so the English group and Spanish group meshed at one big table in the sun and became the Spanish group. In doing so, I found out that one of the girls on Irene´s team is an English teacher! I think she was just being shy, but she didn´t really want to speak English much. But, if I get a visa, she will be a great contact in the future.
So, everyone just chatted the evening away. I understood some of what was going on, but I had to focus and wrinkle my brow to do so. Everyone must have thought I was having a terrible time or that I was mad or something, but it was just concentration. At one point, one of the player´s baby was sort of the center of attention. She was standing in the middle of a circle of chairs and the adults sitting around her were shouting out words for her to say and yelling, "muy bien," each time she succeeded. I´m guessing she couldn´t have been more than 1 and a half. Super cute too. But, like all tiny moments, it made me think. I was sort of envious of her. I wished I had a bunch of people sitting around me in a circle telling me words and shouting muy bien at me every day. Not bad for the old confianza.
Really, I guess that´s sort of what my team does anyway. They tell me some bad word, or slang term and then I say it and they all laugh. Yep, yesterday, I realized I´m 1 and a half. Just kidding. Actually, I don´t feel terrible about my Spanish, there are just bad moments. I know I need to improve though and I can be doing more.
This is shaping up to be a nice week so far. Getting back into the swing of work and hopefully the nice weather we´re having will hold out so I can run. I went today and almost got bogged down in the mud on top of the hill. I´m sure people could hear my shrieks from kilometers around.
That´s all I got, time to go take a stroll and then recoger mis niños. Kisses and llaves.
I was actually having a bit of a shy reflective day, so hanging out with a bunch of people I didn´t really know didn´t sound too appealing. But, Iñaki gave me a petite pep talk and I went. It was a post-season barbaqwa for Irene´s team and half of them were already there when I arrived. I sort of drifted right back to the corner of people I knew and some guy I didn´t know started talking to me and all I could do was give him a confused look. It did not make me feel very social, I can tell you that much.
Everyone just sort of sat around outside, drank beers and chatted. It was nice, like home. Luis was there and totally rocked my world by speaking english to me. At the same time, I was disappointed in myself for not making him speak Spanish. The big groups are when I have the most trouble because there are so many conversations going on at once and a lot of noise. I guess I have dad´s ears.
The food was really good. Irene brought out a bunch of chips and salads and stuff and the meat was a typical sausage from here, I can´t remember the name, and basically bacon steaks. We just ripped off pieces of a baguette, split them in half, stuffed some meat in and chowed down. Really yummy. At one point, we were passing around a 40 and drinking from it. This is a passtime I´d have loved to participate in at home, but haven´t until coming here. I plan on having a couch on my front porch when I get a house, just for special 40 occassions.
It got sort of cold in the shade, so the English group and Spanish group meshed at one big table in the sun and became the Spanish group. In doing so, I found out that one of the girls on Irene´s team is an English teacher! I think she was just being shy, but she didn´t really want to speak English much. But, if I get a visa, she will be a great contact in the future.
So, everyone just chatted the evening away. I understood some of what was going on, but I had to focus and wrinkle my brow to do so. Everyone must have thought I was having a terrible time or that I was mad or something, but it was just concentration. At one point, one of the player´s baby was sort of the center of attention. She was standing in the middle of a circle of chairs and the adults sitting around her were shouting out words for her to say and yelling, "muy bien," each time she succeeded. I´m guessing she couldn´t have been more than 1 and a half. Super cute too. But, like all tiny moments, it made me think. I was sort of envious of her. I wished I had a bunch of people sitting around me in a circle telling me words and shouting muy bien at me every day. Not bad for the old confianza.
Really, I guess that´s sort of what my team does anyway. They tell me some bad word, or slang term and then I say it and they all laugh. Yep, yesterday, I realized I´m 1 and a half. Just kidding. Actually, I don´t feel terrible about my Spanish, there are just bad moments. I know I need to improve though and I can be doing more.
This is shaping up to be a nice week so far. Getting back into the swing of work and hopefully the nice weather we´re having will hold out so I can run. I went today and almost got bogged down in the mud on top of the hill. I´m sure people could hear my shrieks from kilometers around.
That´s all I got, time to go take a stroll and then recoger mis niños. Kisses and llaves.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
cientodoce
My team scored 112 points last night! It was so fun! Everyone had a hand in it and got to score, everyone got to play a lot and, like mom said, who needs to play defense when you score 112 points? So, we didn´t.
This is just a quick note really. I have an application that needs to be postmarked by tomorrow for a job being an assistant in an english classroom over here next year. I have to send a bunch of things in triplicate and ask mom to mail it for me and lots of things.
Valencia and the rest of the south was a good time. I´ll get some pictures up for you guys when Iñaki and Whit send them to me. Speaking of Whit, today´s her birthday, happy birthday little Whitty!
I think she´s either in Florence or Pisa right now. She said her plan was to stay in a nice hotel and treat herself to good things all day long. I told her to blog once to let everyone know how she is, but she hasn´t yet.
I hope all is well back home, see you in 2 and a half months!
This is just a quick note really. I have an application that needs to be postmarked by tomorrow for a job being an assistant in an english classroom over here next year. I have to send a bunch of things in triplicate and ask mom to mail it for me and lots of things.
Valencia and the rest of the south was a good time. I´ll get some pictures up for you guys when Iñaki and Whit send them to me. Speaking of Whit, today´s her birthday, happy birthday little Whitty!
I think she´s either in Florence or Pisa right now. She said her plan was to stay in a nice hotel and treat herself to good things all day long. I told her to blog once to let everyone know how she is, but she hasn´t yet.I hope all is well back home, see you in 2 and a half months!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Another moment with Alexis
Last night after dinner Alexis and I went upstairs kind of early. We sat on his bed and lately he likes to just sort of chat with me and tell me a story about someone from school, that always begins, "there was a guy..." So, we´re sitting there and he says, "will you give me a massage?" Immediately, my mind goes into American mode and how that would be not ok in the States. So I said, "um, what do you mean by massage?" (keep in mind, he´s 8. I didn´t even know what a massage was when I was 8). He says, "I lay down on my stomach and you move your hands like this on my back" and he motioned like he was doing a bunch of quick karate chops up and down.
He laid down and tucked his arms under his body and I starting doing the little karate chops. His whole tiny body was moving everytime I hit, but he acted like it was the best thing in the world. It was hilarious. I only did it for about a minute and then he said, "ok, now you lay down and I´ll do it. " So he karate chopped my back and then added some rubs up and down my spine. It was so sweet and weird at teh same time. He wanted a foot massage next and I made him put socks on. It was too funny. Here´s this 8 year old treating a situation that is highly odd for me, with the utmost maturity.
Finally, we read some. Our evenings together get bette all the time.
He laid down and tucked his arms under his body and I starting doing the little karate chops. His whole tiny body was moving everytime I hit, but he acted like it was the best thing in the world. It was hilarious. I only did it for about a minute and then he said, "ok, now you lay down and I´ll do it. " So he karate chopped my back and then added some rubs up and down my spine. It was so sweet and weird at teh same time. He wanted a foot massage next and I made him put socks on. It was too funny. Here´s this 8 year old treating a situation that is highly odd for me, with the utmost maturity.
Finally, we read some. Our evenings together get bette all the time.
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