Huh....who'd a thunk?

Musikverein, Vienna, Austria

I have been badly neglecting this poor blog. The past two months have been quite packed with the holidays, travelling, adjusting back into work, and some major time Spanish practice! Thanks to some key friends at church, I am slowly becoming more accustomed to listening to others speak spanish and responding accordingly!

I was able to go to Austria over the break, which was such a blessed break! I wish that I could type here all the amazing adventures I had here, but I am afraid that I would lose my audience (if you really wanna know, you're gonna have to ask, aren't you?) So here is what I am going to cryptically place here: Cadbury eggs in December, pizza, bus terminal, Hogwarts train, eerie castle, and an Alp (there's one for the bucket list!).

Now for a random story about my life here. Every Tuesday I have 2 tutoring sessions, with an hour break in between each class. It is not worth it for me to go home in between classes so I spent a couple months finding a good place to go to read a book and relax for a bit. I eventually found a bar (yes, I did say a bar) that was small yet the owner seemed friendly enough. The owner reminds me of old-time store owners that you may see in a black and white movie. He alsways wears the same slacks, collared shirt and maroon vest and keeps his bar in immacualte order. I asked for a tea and a small tapa to eat. Sometimes you get tapas for free, but often you have to ask. When he told me the price (1,30€) I was a bit short of change so I left him a little more than usual. It is not customary to tip here in Spain, and if you do a small amount is acceptable (this is what I have been told and I pray that it is still true). The next time I came in he smiled at me, gave me a tapa without asking and served me my food at my usual table (I have not seen him do this for anyone else...) Now I come in and he even remembers my tea, even after a 3 week break for vacations and smiles when I come in (and of course I still give him a small tip each time).

I also had the chance to watch the inauguration of our new president at said bar last week. You know how sometimes on the news a foreign person will be speaking in their native tongue and they get dubbed over so we can understand them? When I was younger and watched the news of foreign events, I always thought that it would be cool to understand what foreigners were saying. Well, I got to know what it felt like as I tried to understand all the English under the dubed over Spanish. Diane Feinstein's voice was nearly impossible, I barely caught what Rick Warren was saying, and Obama came through decently clear (though by this point I was exhausted with the effort). Knowing what the foreigners were saying wasn't as cool as I thought it would be!

Another weird language realization happened while watching "Seven Pounds" here in Spain (which, incidentally only came out a week and a half ago...so behind you guys!) There is a scene where Will Smith is speaking with a Mexican (?) lady in Spanish and they hop back and forth between English and Spanish (and Will Smith has a pretty good accent, too!) I was pleased to find that I could understand everything they were saying. And hearing them jump back and forth was like hearing my brain aloud! So cool!

OK, I am trying to keep these a bit shorter for y'all. Hopefully I can get on a bit more often and share more random stories! Did I mention the Schlag in Austria? No? Another time maybe! :)