Hello everyone. Hope you had a good Festivus/Christmas/Kwaanza. I’m not feeling very merry these days: I’ve been out of commission since about Christmas. First it was dry throat, then burning eyes, then wham! fever, cold sweats, body aches, and then I could not get out of bed! Pretty much my entire weekend was shot sweating buckets in bed. Sure, I managed to finish that fourth and final book of the year (a good read) but damn, I was supposed to be raring to go come Monday. You know, finish the year out strong! Well today is Monday, and I was still a goddamn mess. Four days, in bed. Enough is enough.

I thought maybe I had strep, because my throat hurt like hell. I was drinking so much tea with honey and lemon, I was peeing on the hour! Then I was hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. Fucking A! So I got an appointment with the doctor this evening. No, not strep throat. I have the fucking swine flu!! Can you believe this shit? Goddamn H1N1 in my house, in MY body! I’m so sick of my body letting me down, and boy has it disappointed this year. Seriously. First, I had random skin allergies, then I got food poisoning right around my friend’s wedding in June, now swine-fucking flu. Meanwhile my doctor was this preggers lady, but she’s still seeing sick people like me! Why can’t I have that level of toughness? I’m sick of this bullshit. I mean, I exercise regularly, I don’t do drugs, I hardly drink, I don’t smoke… what more am I supposed to do to optimize? I’m pissed. So the doctor says going into the office is out of the question the rest of the week. I just hope my body permits me a few hours of normalcy per day so I can get SOME work done from home. We’ll see though. Can’t have high expectations anymore. How’s that for new year’s resolutions?

Hello everyone. Hope you had a good Festivus/Christmas/Kwaanza. I’m not feeling very merry these days: I’ve been out of commission since about Christmas. First it was dry throat, then burning eyes, then wham! fever, cold sweats, body aches, and then I could not get out of bed! Pretty much my entire weekend was shot sweating buckets in bed. Sure, I managed to finish that fourth and final book of the year (a good read) but damn, I was supposed to be raring to go come Monday. You know, finish the year out strong! Well today is Monday, and I was still a goddamn mess. Four days, in bed. Enough is enough.

I thought maybe I had strep, because my throat hurt like hell. I was drinking so much tea with honey and lemon, I was peeing on the hour! Then I was hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. Fucking A! So I got an appointment with the doctor this evening. No, not strep throat. I have the fucking swine flu!! Can you believe this shit? Goddamn H1N1 in my house, in MY body! I’m so sick of my body letting me down, and boy has it disappointed this year. Seriously. First, I had random skin allergies, then I got food poisoning right around my friend’s wedding in June, now swine-fucking flu. Meanwhile my doctor was this preggers lady, but she’s still seeing sick people like me! Why can’t I have that level of toughness? I’m sick of this bullshit. I mean, I exercise regularly, I don’t do drugs, I hardly drink, I don’t smoke… what more am I supposed to do to optimize? I’m pissed. So the doctor says going into the office is out of the question the rest of the week. I just hope my body permits me a few hours of normalcy per day so I can get SOME work done from home. We’ll see though. Can’t have high expectations anymore. How’s that for new year’s resolutions?

The weekend before Xmas (and before my illness), John, the pups and I drove south for a couple days. We went to Hearst Castle, met up with some friends in Pismo Beach, stayed night in Santa Maria, then checked out Solvang, Ballard (Lake Cachuma), and Santa Barbara. I enjoyed the road trip, but it was probably just a tad too long in the car for me…

I’ve been back about two weeks now… my re-assimilation is mostly complete. I was surprised to learn that despite my month-long habit of eating late dinners (past 9 p.m.) in Spain, I had only gained a few pounds or so. Guess all that walking to/from school helped me burn off that bread, cheese, and fried meat. Of course, since then has been a whole other story. Seriously, I just cannot control myself with Bubbey’s cooking. It’s like when my brother was in college, he participated in this week long Outward Bound-type of activity. His body felt so starved during the week that after he returned, his body just couldn’t stop eating. It was like stockpiling for the next bout of hunger. I kind of feel like that– I had gone so long without that coming back to homemade French bread, pretzels, fried rice, HK milk tea… I sort of went crazy. I think I’ve piled on about 5 lbs. I know, normally whatever, it all comes out in the wash, but my pants/jeans are getting tight and well, to be honest, the muffin top is extremely uncomfortable. Think I’ll go board skating a bit today. It really has been ages.

So I have finally started my fourth and final book for the year. I know, I can see my bookworm buddies rolling their eyes right now. You don’t have to tell me: I’m pathetic. But hey, give me some credit for trying to finish the year out strong. I have two weeks to cram this final read: Waiter Rant. I finally cracked the shit open this morning… I swear I am the world’s slowest reader (probably because I do it so often, right?). I think I read like two chapters in an hour. But I just finished my first mug of milk tea. Man, if I ever found a substance on which I could grow addicted (besides internet, of course), I think it would have to be milk tea. John has truly mastered it’s making, and since I normally consume very minimal amounts of caffeine, drinking this crack is like giving me superpowers. I get a whole new wave of energy– Powerpill Amplified! Fucking awesome. But I don’t like the concept of addiction, so I think I’ll have to cut it back. Seriously, I’m that much of a control freak. I have to know I can cut it off just. like. that. So I’ll have one wave of superpowers today but after that, back to Powerpill regular. Boo.

What else. Work has been insanely busy. While I was away, I still did some work and checked my email and shit (surprise, surprise), so actually, when I got back at the beginning of December, I was mostly caught up. But damn, December is full of project milestones and I’m just busy– budget planning, newsletter production next month, videos… I do love this job though. Seriously, everyday, I thank my lucky stars for this miracle. I continue to be amazed. And I look forward to Christmas week when the office will be closed, but I’m going to go in. It will be so quiet. I’m so happy thinking about all the shit I’ll get done. I know, I’m a workaholic. But don’t worry about me: John and I are staying in town, and I’ll still be off on Christmas eve and Christmas day. That’s plenty of time off for the holidays. Bleck!

In other news, we’re heading to San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara next weekend with the pups. I sure hope this recent wet weather takes a break. I could use some sunshine, because the weather’s starting to influence my mood. 🙂

Oh by the way, the verdict on my new boots? Fucking awesome. Love them. Of course, since they are my priciest shoe/clothing purchase EVER, I’m wearing them 24/7 now– gotta lower the price per wear to something I can tolerate, you know? 🙂 Just kidding but boy, what a relief to finally have comfortable AND stylish shoes. Who the fuck knew this was possible? Like to this level of comfort, really. Plus they are waterproof and have awesome grip–I’m Wonder Woman in these suckers!

Speaking of clothes/shoes, remember Esprit from back in the day? Can’t believe they are still around. I randomly came across them through some Google Adsense link… a little young but not bad for ideas! See what I mean? My brain is practically on crack with this milk tea shit!

Another restless night in Spain… since I had to awake before the crack of dawn this morning, I went to bed early to ensure a full night’s rest. No such luck. The street outside my hostal was quiet compared to the cacophony of Saturday night, but I was simply too damn excited to sleep. It’s been 3.5 weeks– seemingly long and yet still kind of short. I should say, I was surprised that my taxi ride was freaking 40 euros for about 20 minutes. That’s the downside of Madrid– no decent mode of transportation to/from the airport, particularly outside the metro/airport bus operating times. I suppose it’s easy money to get the tourists. But just a minor annoyance.

Last night, I skipped dinner and grew so hungry dreaming of all my favorite foods– Thai, Indian, California, Chinese, pizza… I couldn’t decide whether right off the plane in SFO I would grab an In N Out burger or pizza. I gotta give props to all the doner/kebab shops– they provided welcome respite from salty, heavy tapas and bocadillos. I actually had a salad with a dressing other than oil and vinegar!

Hmm, interesting. I’m actually catching a British Airways flight (not Iberia) into London. Yay, that means free pillow, blanket, food, and drink. The Brits are living it up, I tell you. I was so focused on scoring my max legroom seats on the long haul, that I totally skipped over getting good seats on the 3-hr leg to LON. Duh. Oh well. Hopefully, I’ll just crash either way.

I just arrived in Madrid. My dig camera is out of juice (the battery sure doesn’t last long), so I’m catching up on blogging while charging the cam and airing out the room (which smells of wet dog). Unfortunately, I was slow on the draw when reserving my hostal in Madrid, so I ended up having to resort to an alternative travel site, Venere.com for reviews (Usually, I go with my travel guides + Tripadvisor). Needless to say, the location is very good (super close to Puerta del Sol) and who can resist free wifi, but well, its a tad dingy and I won’t even say what was on the bedspread. Cringe.

Last night, I didn’t get a good night’s rest in Salamanca. I dunno, my mind has just been so restless lately thinking about continuing my Spanish, traveling more, earning more, just doing more. I look back at my resolutions for 2009, and I think I’ve done fairly well considering in my mind, I assign the items different weights, but still, in the simplest evaluation, I’ve done maybe only 6/10 or so. I dunno, I’m just manic or something. On one hand, I’m super happy with this immersion program. I think I learned maybe 500 or so Spanish words, and my evaluation came out mostly positive. On the other hand, I met so many people who speak like 3-4 languages, and it makes me wonder what I’ve been doing with all my time? Where did it go? What new skills did I learn? Ugh.

Oh well, in the very least, I think this trip was a good self test. Honestly, I am amazed how much Shanghai taught me in terms of traveling and figuring out new systems. Like the other day, I was in Carrefour in Salamanca, and when I bought fruit, I knew that I had to remember the produce number, put the items on the scale, and print out a price ticket. Seriously, what consumer in the US has to do that much work? You just bag the produce and the cashier weighs/prices it out. And now I know all about skirting ATM withdrawal fees and international credit card fees… And I know about purchasing a prepaid local SIM card. And I can figure out taking public transportation… I’m not bragging, I’m just saying that past experience makes traveling so much easier now. Like I don’t have to be a full-blown tourist taking taxis everywhere and needing to be handheld, you know?

That said, I have committed some interesting faux pas in the last three weeks:
1. Even before I arrived in Spain, I had trouble keeping “want” and “have” straight in Spanish. In Spain, they charge extra at the supermarkets for plastic bags. Since I took my backpack with me everywhere, I never needed a bag. Well, early on in Salamanca, I went to the market and I kept telling the cashier, “No tengo una bolsa.” I had meant to say, “I don’t want/need a bag,” but I was saying the opposite: “I don’t have a bag.” She kept trying to offer me a bag, and I just kept firmly repeating my line. It wasn’t until I left that I just laughed. So retarded.
2. After that horseback riding escapade with my friend Inke, I thought I had a great story to tell my host family. So I said Inke’s horse kept misbehaving. After several attempts to throw her off, Inke got very scared. The word for fear is miedo. But I thought it was mierdo (with the r) and a verb instead of a noun, so I conjugated it for 3rd person singular. The result? “Inke shits.” Mierda is the word for shit. I should have used “Inke has (tiene) fear.” And of course, I only know present tense, so please bear with me… Anyway, I didn’t make any sense, but through my hand gestures, I suppose they got the picture.
3. On paper, I’m pretty good with verb conjugations. In regular conversation though, it takes a few more seconds and I sometimes still think “yo” means “you” instead of “I.” So the other day, the lady told me to ask her hubby if he wanted soup with dinner. Simple enough. So I go into the living room and say, “Quiero soupa?” He says no. I got back to the kitchen and realized I just asked him, “Do I want soup?” Fucking A, right? So then I go back and ask him properly, explaining that my earlier question was incorrect. Same answer, but god I felt dumb. Ah the joys of speaking a new language on the fly.
4. There was this Japanese dude at the school, who lived with the same family as one of my classmates. Ok, so both students are Japanese, and Yusuke only speaks Spanish and Japanese. Nevertheless, every time I ran into him at school or at the internet cafe, I started speaking to him in Chinese and then for some bizarro reason, I kept saying goodbye to him in English. And not just “bye” but like, “catch you later” and shit. Yeah, exactly. Muy confusa, I tell you.

Btw, did you hear? It’s supposed to SNOW on Sunday in Salamanca. Holy shit. I need to get out of this cold weather. And in Madrid, the forecast is calling for rain and temps in the 40s!! Eek. I hate the cold. I’m gonna have to pull out my second set of thermals and double up!

Ok, so what’s on tap my first night in Madrid? It’s only 2pm right now, but I’ll probably head out shortly to walk around and then tonight is the flamenco show. Hope it’s not too crazy.

Ugh, I’m so glad that tomorrow’s my last day… I mean, I wouldn’t mind staying at the school, but my classmates are really starting to irk my nerves. Yesterday, this daddy’s boy in class complained that one of our former teachers used to spend the whole class talking, like talking to ME… uh, excuse me, but I actually study and know my shit so sorry if I actually have real questions that can’t be answered just with the dictionary. It’s not my problem you don’t care about learning grammar… it’s not my problem you still can’t distinguish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person. And it’s not as if the professor and I were just chitchatting, we were actually talking about usage, like when to use muy vs. mucho. Pay attention, and maybe you’ll actually learn something. Ugh, so annoying. Seriously, fuck off.

As for the others, everyday the same group of kids skip out on the cultural class. Today, this one kid who had been absent the last few days returned with a monster black eye and the left side of his face all scraped up. Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah sure, people do stupid things when they’re young. Still, is getting sloshed to the point of getting your face all fucked up really necessary for an authentic adolescent/young adult experience? Juveniles.

Thankfully, my new housemate is a serious language learner. The dude is only 19, but he really is quite precocious. Like he gets that he has to work to pay for his travels around the world. He gets that when he stays at a friend’s house when he travels, he has to pay for groceries and help with cleanup. I share the bathroom with him, and he’s so clean. Plus he helps with food prep, setting the table, cleanup… I’m amazed considering I know several people in their 30s who still don’t get this. And then of course, these other jokers in class are crybaby brats. Haha. Just one more day of class. I’ll try to get pics of my profs. They’re awesome.

I’m in the homestretch now… 2 more days of classes and then I’m off to Madrid. Although I’m a little bummed about leaving my little island of learning, I suppose it’s time. Time to get back to Bubbey, the pups, my homies, California, and all that jazz. Tomorrow is Thankgiving, and I’m missing out on my favorite holiday of the year. Originally, I had packed a box of Trader Joe’s corn bread mix to share a little something something with my host family, but yesterday, when I brought up using her oven, well, let’s just say, it’s not going to happen. So no delicious corn bread on November 26 for me.

Honestly, I cannot wait to get home to eat vegetables and fruit and cereal!! I’ve had so much bread and meat here… And I gotta get me some Mexican horchata too. They make it here with tigernut instead of almonds and ugh, not good!

So my plans for Madrid are mostly done. I’ve booked my bus ticket, my hostal, and my ticket for a flamenco show. And I’ve got it all down in the calendar when I need to check-in for my flight online so that I score a killer seat. Back in my room, I’m tempted to start packing the suitcase already… I know, I’m always just busting at the seams. Ah well, I will control myself.

This week in Salamanca is noticeably colder than last. They say this is what the late fall/early winter in Salamanca usually feels like… I still prefer the warmer temps, even if they are an anomaly and a sign of global warming. I don’t like having to wear a gabillion layers and dragging my gloves and coat with me everywhere.

Well I’m getting cold and tired here in the classroom. Think I will head home early today. Maybe do some studying in bed. Like a true nerd, I whip through my homework during class breaks, so I get those done and out of the way very quickly. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll have a test. Who knows. I’m not stressed. I’ve learned a lot, and I can finally say in full honesty that that really is all that matters. But my friends, I’m giving you heads up… start plotting where we’ll do the next Spanish immersion…