Poco a Poco

The other day I was walking around my new favorite part of Madrid after a lovely vegetarian lunch with my equally lovely vegetarian roommate and saw a sign for kebabs. There was a split second where I looked at the pictures displaying every variety of marinated meat and thought, "Oh, the meat substitutes these people come up with these days! That looks JUST LIKE... oOOh (here is where I remembered that not everyone is a vegetarian)" I recognize that I am probably one of the VERY few people to ever completely forget about the carnivorous population and I recognize that I have just proved to all of you that I may not have completely moved out of my seven year old egocentric stage (where I see things only from my point of view - not to be confused with Only Child Syndrome where you are both egocentric and need attention <-- this is my made up disease for myself. Wow! I am just winning followers here left and right! I am going to have to start giving out numbers).

My Point Is: (Before I get to My Point, another quick digression. I did not fall far from my fathers tree and he and I have very similar "Story ADD" -as my friends kindly put it. For example, on the way home from San Diego, I started telling him a story and did not finish the story until we hit the 210. One hour and 45 minutes later. The story itself was probably only a 12 minute story told by someone not afflicted with this new syndrome. [now I am beginning to think I need to re-title my post "My Invented Syndromes" or "Why You Should Reconsider A Friendship"] My father even has a friend who asks him to tell her the point of his story first (so she can know where the tangents are eventually leading) and then backtrack. So here I am trying to make my point as clear as possible!!

Here Is My Point: Just like it was easy for me to forget something so obvious and obtuse as the meat eaters, it is easy for me to forget that I don't necessarily speak/understand the language of the country that is currently my home.

{Music of the Moment: Suite for Solo Cello no.1 in G Major, Bach (played by Yo-Yo Ma) and Norah Jones, The Nearness of You}

It is a daily task trying to fit in and look like I speak the language when I so clearly don't. For example, tonight at dinner, my señora asked me what I was doing on Thursday and I replied "No, we still have eggs!"

I spend most of my days loving the city and exploring... quietly content in my made up Spain where we all understand one another... and then someone tries to speak to me and I am yanked from my utopia and I feel like this:

"I limited myself to words and phrases that people actually use. From the dog owners I learned "Lie down," "Shut up," and "Who shit on this carpet?" The couple across the road taught me to ask questions correctly, and the grocer taught me to count. Things began to come together and I went from speaking like an evil baby to speaking like a hillbilly. "Is thems the thoughts of cows?" I'd ask the butcher, pointing to the calves brains displayed in the front window." -Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris

 But, "poco a poco" things are coming along. Tonight (post Thursday/egg experience) I told my señora my very first funny story... IN SPANISH!! I'm sure the details got lost along the way but the punch line was there and she actually LAUGHED!! I am going to call it a successful day.