Ilusionada, generalmente. (Excited, generally.)

First, and most importantly:
BETH IS COMING TOMORROW MORNING!!!
Beth is a very good Cornell friend of mine. She is the one who does Textile and Apparel Design, and the one who I always model for in the fashion show. I'm also living with her next year. I haven't seen her in about 11 months and I am really, really excited to have her here and spend some time with her. We're going to the Sevilla / Valladolid soccer game tomorrow night, too, which will be good fun.

In other news,
1) I don't know if I ever directly said this, but grades here are posted on bulletin boards, in the hallway, by full name. You can see everyone's name and what each person got. There is no code, no student ID numbers. Everyone just knows everyone else's business. So yes. Very different than the US.

2) Mayte and Fernando have been gone the past two weeks and will be gone this coming week from Sunday afternoon till Thursday afternoon. They have to go to Granada, where their daughter Sandra lives, to take care of Candela, their granddaughter. Sandra is doing some kind of intensive 3-week course of English and doesn't get home till late, so they go to take care of Candela. It's fine, except it means I haven't really seen them in 2 weeks. They get back Thursday afternoon, then Austin and I leave early Friday morning, then by the time we get back on Sunday, they're gone already. That is still all okay, but the added icing on the cake is Nando. Nando is totally inept with keeping house and just having his stuff together, generally. Living with him taking care of us is like having a five-year-old in charge of you. He's 36 years old and doesn't know how to work the dishwasher. The kitchen was a MESS, he didn't always tell us what we were supposed to eat, etc. We managed, it's not a problem, it's more just really frustrating, especially 3 weeks in a row. Austin finally got mad at him and told him that we have no problem preparing our own food, but we need to know where the food is that we are supposed to prepare. If we make something other than what Nando wanted us to, he gets irritated. But he isn't always there to tell us which frozen food Mayte left for us. So yes, not a good system. Oh dear, and his bocadillos. Awful. There was so much olive oil on my tuna sandwich that it leaked out of the aluminum foil, pooled in the bottom of the bag, and was then leaking out through the bottom of the bag. Great. Thanks, Nando. This is why I asked to make my own bocadillo in the first place! Anyway. Maybe he's just trying to help? Not the vibe I've been getting, though.

3) Generally, construction here is way speedier. Still not speedy, but definitely faster than in the US. I realized yesterday that it's probably because Spain probably has to use the money the UE gave them before the date of the project expires and the UE takes their money back. What a good system.

4) Antonia, my old person, is getting steadily worse physically, but we've had some great moments lately. Like yesterday, I brought her some little postcards and pictures of St James in Santiago, and she loved them and was openly touched that I had brought those for her. Then later, we were going through some stuff in her bedroom (as usual) and she found some old nail polish. She insisted on doing my nails, then I did hers. Because her Parkinson's is advanced, it looks like a little kid painted my nails, but it was still fantastic. I was watching her... this little old women, bend over, crookedly, looking intently at my nails, painting slowly, with a smile on her face. We had been going through her old painting stuff (she's very crafty, but can't use her hands any more) and I think it made her happy to at least sort of paint something. Every time I look at my poorly-done nails, it makes me really happy.

5) Equasia, the little girl (9) who I volunteer with at Cornell, sent me a package. She sent me 4 stuffed animals, each of them named, with age, and story. She told me they are to keep me company. She also put in a few drawings, a letter, and games she made up for me to play so I won't get lonely. She said that each animal was for a special day (Halloween, Birthday, Christmas) and I had to guess which one was which. There was also a questionnaire that I am supposed to complete and send back to her. It made me really happy. It was really cute and very nice to get. The package cost $20 for them to send, which I know is not cheap.

6) I have realized that when I express myself in Spanish, even if I do so completely adequately, I don't fully feel like I'm expressing myself. At this point, it's not that I can't express myself, like it was before, I just don't feel complete describing myself in Spanish. And, again, it's not because I don't have the vocab at this point (usually, although sometimes that's still a problem). It's more just hard to feel content describing myself in my second language. It doesn't fit in the same way. It feels more technical, less authentic. And I suppose that would change with more time, but for now it's frustrating. It's odd to be in the state where I can function more or less fine in Spanish, but I feel like I'm still not fully expressing myself. It's like a block. The second language block. It's a very strange feeling, because technically I'm expressing myself the same in both languages... I just don't feel my personality coming through in the same way, even if maybe it is.

Tonight I'm going with Liliana to a great tapas place we just discovered -- El Rinconsillo (The Little Corner). Packed with people, standing (no sitting), chaos, cheap. Should be fantastic.