Beaches and other things

Our intense language classes started on Thursday.  It's exceedingly simple--it's just a review of basic grammatical structures so we have a handle on the pragmatic application of Spanish speech. Sometimes grammar can be really difficult for me because I was never taught it. I learned Spanish the way I learned English--it was just spoken to me and I mimicked what was correct. I don't know what pluperfect tense is in Spanish or English. So sometimes my worksheets get really messy because I get confused on what exactly I'm supposed to say. I think my answers are mostly correct, but some answers are more correct than others. But it's like doing anything you've left alone for a long time in that a basic review and you're good to go. Now I finish my homework while I listen to The Black Keys and wait for my blog pages to load.

Friday was beach day! It was my first time seeing the Mediterranean coast. The water is so clear and the waves are gentle and the sand is soft. My friend Olivia and I spent hours just soaking up the evening sun and chatting. Today I visited again in the searing afternoon heat and I AM ACTUALLY GETTING TAN. Even with heaps of sunscreen. My arms are a little more caramely and I've got some big freckles on my nose. My tummy is not even offensively white.

One thing about the beaches: many women go topless. It's all kinds of women, young and old, big and small. It was a little distracting when I first got there ("that's an awfully light bikini top omigodthat'snotaswimsuit") but now it's just kind of normal. It's not like I've never seen any before, owning a pair myself, so more power to them for sunbathing and swimming and not caring.

Also on bodies: Americans tend to think that Europeans are slender and healthy and whatnot, and I've found that that's only partially true. People in Spain are overweight, but it's not the startlingly obese proportions that seem normal in the US. Also, I have yet to see a really heavy Spanish person under the age of 25. I thought it was the diet, but a lot of Spanish food is swimming in oil and butter and, contrary to popular opinion, they eat a lot of it. Restaurant portions are the same, and people still eat fast food. Maybe it's the culture and the attitudes towards food, and set mealtimes throughout the day (the concept of a huge dinner doesn't really exist), and the fact that Spanish kids in urban settings walk most everywhere, but whatever it is, there are no horrifyingly obese people that I have seen (yet).

I'm pretty over my homesickness today but I will miss Minnesota autumn. Autumn is my favorite time of the year and I love wearing my military coat, and suede boots, and scarves and mittens, and drinking soy lattes and feeling chilly air in my lungs. It'll be sad to not experience it, but I should also shut up because I get to enjoy four more months of summer.

Tonight Olivia and I are meeting up to go to the bar district downtown to hopefully see some Spanish students and enjoy the night air before it gets "cold" (while I'm here it might drop to the low, low temperature of 65F). I have to get ready in order to catch the last bus out of the barrio to meet her on the plaza. More soon.

Maren