Autumn

Fall is in the air. It's still warm and sunny, but no longer stifling. 

Last night was chilly. The Mister disappeared for a while while I read a book on the couch, and when he came back he had wine and snacks. He told me to put my shoes on, and then took my hand and led me outside to our front yard - the Mediterranean.  Everything was black and white, the color drained away by the glowing light of the brilliant moon.

We drank the wine, laid down on the chilly sand, and listened to the waves breaking softly on the land. We imagined the lives of the people whose boats were floating, all lit up, off the shore. This one is an old retiree from Greece, we guessed, and that one is a Spanish family from Galicia in town for a wedding (if you don't play that game, you should try it sometime.)

And then we went to bed and dreamed dreams of autumn under our warm blankets.

  

Back in the realm of normalcy

Oh man, it feels good to be back in Spain and back at work again. 

The Mister's students are going on strike tomorrow (as they do a few times a year) (absolutely no one knows what the conditions of their strike are -- the grown ups don't ask and the kids don't say). I've been asked to explain various elements of British culture (no matter how many times you say American, unless you walk around wrapped in the stars and stripes you will be British to them until the day you die). I still don't have a class schedule after three full days of work (mañana, mañana). And jokes that would only be funny to a native English speaker are popping out left and right and making me giggle at inappropriate times.

Exhibit A:

Unit 2: Your amazing body.

Exhibit B: self-explanatory.

Both pictures were taken surreptitiously with my iPhone at school.

All in all, life feels back to normal.

   

A Slang Dictionary

Uy - Spanish "oops!".  If you stumble or trip or drop something and say "oops" they will laugh at you; say "uy!" and they will laugh with you.

Jesús! - the polite response when someone sneezes. Multiple sneezes do not necessary elicit multiple cries to Jesus. Learned that the hard way.

Tin-foil wrapped bocadillos - the national Spanish mid-morning snack: a sandwich wrapped in tin foil and a juice box.

Sandwiches without condiments: Bread, two slices of meat, butter, done. Mustard, lettucetomatoonion? Hell, no. We're Spanish.

Vale: (BAH-lay): Spanish "okay".  As ubiquitous as olives. If you suddenly understand something, it is expected to say "ah, valevalevalevalevale" all together like that.

Guiri: (GEE-dee) Pasty white person.  Dang furriners.  It's iffy whether or not this is a pejorative.

Cape Lovely

I got several messages yesterday along the lines of "yay, you're back, can we have more Cape Cod pictures please?"

And then answer is: yes, yes you can.  Cape Cod was camera magic, and photographing it is like photographing Heidi Klum - there's no bad angle. I say that like I know anything about Heidi Klum, which I don't, but you get my meaning.

 

The checklist

America: check

Maryland, Virginia, DC, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Arizona: check, check...oh you get the point.

Do all that in five week's time: check

Have quality time with awesome and ridiculously good-looking family: check

See lots of friends: check

Acquire a spare tire from eating delicious American food: check

Visit law schools: check

Fly back to Spain: check

Find new apartment: check

Preferably one where the kitchen and bedroom aren't the same thing: check

Go out for tapas: check

Get stared at in the grocery store for being too blonde: check (oh how I missed that!) 

Start work in my new school: check

Get hopelessly lost getting to new school: check-a-roo