Sink or Swim

February 13, 2011 11:59 a.m./6:59 p.m.

Before I came here, I told people that living with a host family in Spain would force me to learn Spanish. Shit, was I right. My host family speaks no English although Señora does speak French (which I don’t). She is very patient, however, and when I told her my Spanish was very bad, she told me this was “normalamente.” I’ll be eating breakfast and lunch with them each day. Lunch is the big meal of the day and they eat as a family (Senora, her mother that lives here, and her daughter). We’ll be eating at 2:30 p.m. each day. Supper is on my own although they normally eat a lighter supper or have a snack. (Note to Dad – It would be correct to call lunch “dinner” in Spain. J This is your kind of place.) Lunch today was a salad, paella, and fruit. After lunch, I did a bunch of walking around. Luckily Señora had a map of town, otherwise, I never would have made it back. I walked for about 4 hours. I found my school, Hipercor (Spanish Target), and the auto shop of Antonio Peso’s brother. There were lots of plazas on my walk and I stopped at a few and sat or got on my laptop. There are zillions of places to eat around here. Lots. Seriously lots. I stopped at a bakery and picked up my supper-some sort of chocolate filled pastry and a bottle of water.

Even though it’s only 7:00 p.m., I’m ready for bed. The walking and the massive jet lag has really worn me out. Thus far, things seem to be going well with the surgical wound. I did have a fever last night (burning up to the touch but absolutely freezing) but I think that was from not being able to rest, not drinking or eating enough, and carting around a 66 pound bag. I went to bed last night around 5:00 p.m. and slept about 6 hours. When I woke up, the fever was gone. That was good because I really did not want to visit the ER on my first night and I sure didn’t want to try to figure out how to explain that I had a cyst and an ovary removed last month.

I think I’ll do a little studying and then hit the sack. There are so many words to know! I have noticed that when I think, I’m trying to figure out how to say things in Spanish as I’m thinking them. Hopefully that’s a good sign and not a sign that I’m developing split personalities.