Tuesday Travels

Today I had my second day of class which went very well. My professor Maria is awesome and she thinks we are so funny. We laugh at the miscommunications between us because she can't speak English very well and we can't speak Spanish very well. She is really animated and tries to act out things she can't find the words to explain. Speaking of her crazy animated gestures I have have a funny and somewhat embarrassing story from class today with Maria. At the beginning of class she was explaining the attendance sheet and said "Firmar!" and made a crazy gesture with her hand that resembled scribbling. She handed me the sheet first and I wrote down my name in the "nombre" box and then next to the date I scribbled in the box just like her gesture a few minutes before... I passed the sheet to my friend Ryan and he said "Wait... Are you supposed to sign it or fill in the box?" Right at that moment I rembembered that "Firmar" means "to sign" and I felt so stupid. The teacher came over and looked at my scribbles and started laughing. Soon the whole class was laughing including myself... It was an embarassing moment but also an incredibly funny moment. I told the class that I have a horse and she has been using me as an example ever since because "caballo" (horse) is one of our vocab words. She also told us how she hates "mariposas" (butterflies) and she thinks we are all weird for thinking they are pretty. Maybe she is thinking of moths... I'm loving the Spainish daily routines and my mama and I are starting to get more and more on the same page. Today at lunch we talked about all sorts of things such as our favorite movies and actors. American cinema is popular all around the world so she knows all about American actors. Her favorite actresses are Meryil Streep and Glen Close. She also loves Robert DeNiro and George Clooney (she has a picture of George Clooney cut out of a magazine and taped inside the cabinet door in the kitchen). She talked to me about Antonio Banderas as well because he was originally from Spain. We also use Antonio Banderas a lot in class as an example we can all relate to. In Spain they also listen to a lot of American music and it's been really weird to walk into the mall and hear American music inside the Spanish shops. One random thing I have observed about Spain that have been hard to get used to... they use military time here which has been impossible to keep track of. I'm always counting on my fingers trying to figure out the time after noon. After I finished eating I asked her if she needed help cleaning the kitchen and she said no no and then asked me if I was going to go talk to my family. During our siesta I usually FaceTime my family because it's really early in the morning there and I try to catch my dad and sister before they leave for work and school. I took the cutest picture on my iPad of my family this morning. It was so awesome to see everyone and it felt like I was home with them. Once I finished talking to my family in Utah I told my mom that I was going to meet up with some friends at school and do homework and then go shopping afterwards. She is totally chill with me doing pretty much whatever and doesn't expect me to be at home that much which is nice. I really like talking to her at lunch and getting to know her better as well as Spanish customs but it's also nice to be able to have the freedom to go out and explore the city as well. She usually just leaves me food if either of us aren't going to be there around 9 or 10 pm when it's time for a light dinner.