Reasons to smile

Woke up around 10:30, got ready, and was out the door by 11:30. However, before leaving I went on Oscar.com to check out the outcome of the awards. It was all what I had expected except best picture...Crash?? I find it ironic since it´s the only movie in Spain that I´ve seen. I liked the movie a lot, but perhaps the language barrier didn´t allow me to fully appreciate it and see it as best picture-worthy. I also find it coincidental since when the nominees were announced Stacey and I decided that we needed to see all the movies that were nominated. Turns out we only got to one: Crash. Funny how things work out. Anyway, before heading to class I stopped by the center to see if my package had arrived yet, which it didn´t, grrrrr. I walked into the computer area and found Jessica at a computer. It was so exciting! I had missed her! She took a whole week off to meet up with her bf in Barcelona and travel with him. She was beaming, she had a good week. She showed me pictures, it was great to catch up. Then I had to run to class, historia del cine. I hadn´t been to film class in ages, haha. We were going to watch our first movie! They were having major technical difficulties (the picture wasn´t showing) so the movie didn´t start until about 12:30ish. The movie was great, it´s an old American silent film (captions translated into Spanish) called Intolerancia (intolerance). It was a really cool concept, very advanced for a film made in the early 1900´s. It was about how since infancy our life is based off of the happiness/sadness dichotomy, that we´re always either one or the other, like a baby. And as we age, what provokes sadness stems from nothing more than intolerance. Very interesting. It shows many vignettes all through time, biblical, Egypt, 1800´s, recent times, etc. So good! The only downfall was that, I swear, Spanish college students are like middle schoolers. They could not sit still through a 1.5 hour silent film for the life of them! Constantly talking, laughing/giggling at things that are obviously outdated and not really meant to be funny, and most of them leaving halfway through! Can you believe that? I wanted to just stand up and yell, "Grow up!" I was so appauled. Class ended at 2, and due to the late start we didn´t finish. I walked home for lunch. On the way my dad called me and told me that UPS told him that the package recipient refused the package. What? That makes no sense since Pepe and Luisa had been very conscious of the status of my package. Ugh. I would have to investigate after lunch. Lunch was good: we had lentil soup (which I had been craving!) and lightly fried fish that we had to cut off the bone ourselves. We also had a simple green salad with corn in it which was so sweet. Then oranges. During lunch we, of course, watched "El corazón del invierno" (my fave show) and they showed clips from the Oscars. Good. So I got to see the best parts: speeches and whatnot. After lunch I hung out in the room while Stacey finished some hw. Then we left around 4:30, Stacey had class at 5, I had class at 6 but decided to hang out at the center. At the center I ran into Melissa and Courtney who told me that they had booked a hostel in Paris. Eeeexcellent. It´s a little more than 20 a night, which is standard, and that´s for 2 nights. Alright, so there´s 45€ right there. Yeah, I´m being really anal about money now. Then I did some online stuff, bought a manzana from McDonald´s, then walked to Historia del arte which was from 6-7:30. I had trouble paying attention in class. He discussed Ancient Greek architecture and stuff, the Acropolis and Parthenon. His accent is still hard for me, and all of the intricate Greek vocab doesn´t help. After class I walked home, showered, and watched TV waiting for Maruja to arrive and make dinner. She didn´t get home until 9:35, she was late, and quite flustered. She said that she had gotten held up at la iglesia (church). Oh, Maruja. Flustered, she had us help with preparing the cart and some food. She had us put potato chips in a bowl, which was weird since we had never had chips. Then she asked us to put a jar of fois gras on the table, which also was very uncharacteristic (that´s used on our bocadillos, typically). Then she wanted a plate to put sliced cheese on. Then she said that she needed no more help since she would then prepare the tortilla (omelette). What the hell were we eating that night? It seemed like the most random combination of food. However, knowing Maruja, it would all somehow come together and make sense. Well, we were wrong; it was a random dinner. It started with a vegetable soup which was actually really good...it was the first time since the states that I had eaten soup with a veggie broth. I want to pause and say how lucky Stacey and I are to have Maruja cooking for us. The other day María del Mar told us that Maruja´s from an area from Valencia where vegetables are a crucial part of their diet/cooking. That explains the abundance of veggies at every meal. At first it seemed very normal to have a vegetable at every meal since I´m very used to that. However, after talking to several people in the program, their señora´s rarely cook vegetables, and if they do it´s potato. In Andalucía they eat a lot of meat and a good amount of starch and dairy. A lot of my friends here have been forced to make grocery trips themselves and buy peppers and carrots for themselves to munch on. We really lucked out to have a señora who always prepares vegetables and serves a piece of fruit at every meal. Also, unless she makes pasta or paella (which isn´t often) we have very little bread at every meal. Perhaps some potatoes and legumes, but that´s about as starchy as it gets. If only our bocadillos we´re packed on Wed., Thu., and Fri. weren´t prepared with white bread. Ah well, I do what I can. Anyways, after the soup we had a plate with a plain omelette, potato chips (which I held back on, not a big chips person), 2 slices of cheese each, and then foie gras for bread if we chose, which she´s never offered before (we get one small baguette slice at every meal for dipping). So weird! I tell ya, random. Then an orange for dessert. After dinner I hung out online for a short while, downloaded Skype and talked to my dad through the comp! That shit is awesome. If y´all can, get a microphone and download skype and we can talk for free. Holler. Then Stacey went to sleep. I wasn´t tired so I hung out in the living room with María del Mar and watched ¨¡Mira quién baila!" (the Spanish "Dancing with the Stars") which I love. I never watched the American version, but I´m obsessed with the Spanish version. It´s so good! And it´s so funny to hear some American songs translated (e.g. "Great Balls of Fire" and "Spoonful of Sugar"). María del Mar and I talked for almost the whole time, actually (about an hour and a half). We talked about novios (boyfriends), adoption and adoption policy, religion (as a culture), etc. We learned a lot about each other, we bonded! It´s so cool to see how much two people can relate from other parts of the globe, and with a completely different language and culture. It was great! I had a great night, and I got to use my Spanish a lot, which I need to do. I should mention that I am actually starting to notice an improvement in my Spanish. I didn´t think that I was improving, but I am! Huuuurray! I then fell asleep around 1am. I woke up at 2:45 with one of the worst coughs of my life, I mean, it was bad. I frantically filled up my water bottle, the water helped. Then I grabbed a smint and sucked on that in bed and it completely cured my cough and I fell asleep and slept through the night. This sickness must go away, I´m going to Paris Friday morning!