* * *

SNOWING in Madrid !!

-the highways are in crisis (aka 11 kilometers average back-up),
-salt is being distributed via wheelbarrows,
-grandmas are standing robed and slippered in their doorways taking pictures,
-barajas airport is "suspending services",

...and everyone has their umbrellas out to protect theirselves.

como me encanta
--

And it was all yellow.

Why I remember the waist-lengthed haired & bearded guy standing in front of me in the metro more than a month ago I can't say. Probably the doublemint fun waist-length hair and beard.
And probably the yellow shirt.
And the matching yellow pants.

Well most likely, the yellow pants.

But why on my random 8ish-pm walk home from the metro tonight was it willed that I cross paths with the once hairy banana wannabe dressed in regular jeans and a shirt...

...when I was dressed in the bright banana-yellow dress ?


*cue the alanis and gwen stefani remix*
(if there was one)
isn't it ironic, don't you think...
it's like...
madriiiiiid, is bananas.
b-a-n-a-n-a-s.

synthesis

la xente construye mi mundo.

1) It made a difference when suddenly, after passing the same man in the same snack kiosk twice a day, the kiosk disappeared. Every day passing its empty spot is a reminder the street just isn't quite as complete.

2) I start to wonder what happened if the girl in the neighborhood plaza, who's always sitting alone, on the same bench, listening to the mp3s on her cellphone between the hours of 10 and 11 am, isn't there.

3) The afternoon bus driver greets me with the kind of smile that says "I remember you."

4) When a lady approached me asking me to tell her where to find the box of calamari because she couldn't read, I knew in exactly what spot in what freezer to direct her because I pass it twice a week.

5) In a city of 3.238.208, I recognize strangers on my monday-night metro commute to the north of Madrid to teach english.

Excerpts from a 12 year old's English textbook

You know you're learning the real-deal English when...

1) Your textbook includes a lesson on text message abbreviations, including, but not limited to, "BOYF, ILUVU & RUOK?"

2) The middle of your textbook includes a passage entitled "The Vikings Liked Music".

3) Even better yet, your "past simple, negative, questions and short answers" grammar lesson 6 is based on the scene "Did you kiss her?" featuring Steve and Rosie. To elaborate for the sake of juicy english textbook gossip:

Rosie: Did you put your arm around Sara?

Steve: No I didn't! I helped her with the quiz machine, that's all.

Rosie: And did you kiss her?

Steve: No of course I didn't! She had something in her eye and I...

--
(Yeah, ok Steve. We all know you just didn't have the balls.)
--

4) On top of grammar lesson 6, grammar lesson 8 allows you to "talk about possessions and ask about prices" with the enlightening dialog between Sara and Anne, "Has he got a girlfriend?":

Sara: Can you help me? I want to buy a present for Steve.

Anne: For Steve? Why?

Sara: I like him a lot- he's fun.

...(Sara and Anne browse through CDs. Sara settles on Love Songs from Mexico)...

Anne: Let's see, Love Songs from Mexico. Hmm. What's Steve's girlfriend going to say?

Sara: Girlfriend?? Has he got a girlfriend??!

--

En fin, the only colorful lessons my Spanish textbooks ever gave me were those accompanied by photos of pure 80s fashion in it's golden age. Or, of course, the more "modern" 1990s video series adventure of untamed fro-ed and brace-faced Jamie pursuing the legend of her Mexican bisabueeeela, La Catrina. (And if you weren't a high school Spanish student, I apologize for the complete lack of nostalgia this short blurb has failed to instill.)

--

post script to the previous

Dedicated to the niñito who constructed a leaf pile on the plaza concrete last week.

(continue singing to Frère Jacques)

Little boy,

Little boy,

Where is your little rake?

Where is your little rake?

How sad it is to see you,

Placing leaves the way that you do,

Into a pile with your hands,

Leaf piles need grasslands.

--

40° 26' 13.75" N 3° 42' 18.19" W

Ode to Parque Iglesia San Cristobal
(sing to tune of Frère Jacques)

It's a little plaza,
It's a little plaza,
A shortcut to my home,
A shortcut to my home,
Here's where kids play football,
and people kiss at nightfall,
and no matter big or small,
the grandmas see it all.

--

the versatility of parched bread

Toast toppings I never seriously considered until I reached this continent:

Breakfast toast
drizzles & drizzles
...of olive oil.

Dinner toast
smushings & shmearings
...of onions & brown sugar.