tres pescados

titled contributed by my amigo de SK, Ray Sammarco

So I've come to the realization that moving and living abroad, a person needs to be both brave and resourceful. But after thinking that through for a minute, I feel as though I can amend that to naive and foolish, con frecuencia. 

The last few days have been really busy and really... interesting. For starters, there was the day that everything in my life decided to break: bathroom light, my computer charger (yep, that's definitely donezo, thank you Apple), my sandal. Also, not broken, but definitely empty would be the gas tank that we use to the heat the water for showering purposes. So, classified as resourceful: taking a cold shower by the light of my laptop. Yes friends, this is the glamor of living in another country. 

Also resourceful, is beginning my new career as an English teacher, or as I like to call it, a mime. I have done everything short of painting my face white and pretending that I am stuck in an invisible box to get my point across. But, you know, usually it works. And I think I have also picked up some Spanish along the way. Favorite Spanish words used in the classroom: "Venga, POR FAAAVOR, callate, sientete..." 

To be brave encompasses the simple act of moving somewhere random and attempting to live there. It kind of hit me that, yeah, this is not the norm, and it is something very different, when we ran into an older group of Oregonians who had just traveled throughout Europe. While we were on the bus, they asked us our names and told us that they had children our age and that they would think of us and send us maternal prayers. 

Of course, living in my barrio is a whole different kind of brave. Literally, I tell people where I live and they suggest that I move. We have a contract, so that's not going to happen, but its not a reassuring feeling to have such a reaction. So yeah, I will say that's brave and also downright stupid. But I feel safe and as you have seen in previous posts, there is some pretty serious musical talent aqui. 

Also, I have been trying to find new friends to talk to in Spanish and in English (for their benefit, I think my English skillz right now are about a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10). Therefore, I have been answering online anuncios (I know, I know.... already received one BU/Craigslist killer joke, keep 'em coming) that offer "mi espanol para tu ingles". It was actually really fun, I met one guy who is unemployed- wow, so different from estados unidos- but he used to plan trips to Cadiz for Carnaval, with literally thousands of people that attend.  So, going to a random plaza/bar/cafe to meet with a new friend might be dangerous, but it was also very useful because I made a couple new Spanish amigos and I think they may have actually helped me with my Spanish. Hopefully I did the same for them. 

I guess everything that I do here is alternately brave or stupid. It's nice to bring a little piece of my American traditions everywhere that I go.