A Nod to the Italian Neighbors

20 de enero, 9:43 p.m.

¡MAS LLUVIA! (y un poco nieve!!) I seriously think today was the coldest it has been in 20 años or so. Except for a short period in the middle of the day when it was pretty nice and sunny. During this part Paul, Caz and I went out for drinks y tapas- A place that Paul had been to before that was decorated in a medieval fashion. The wine was good (and muy barrato!) and the tapas were giant and tasty! (Round one consisted of jamón bocadillos, French fries, etc. Round two was some sort of tuna burger, pasta, and something crablike and fried.) I am getting very used to being fed little surprises when I order a vino tinto or a cerveza- I think the States need to step up! And speaking of the states, I was a very bad American today and didn’t watch the inauguration of Obama- instead I participated in Spanish film night (todos los martés), only tonight it was actually an Italian film with Spanish subtitelos (not confusing at all). It’s called “Il Postino” in Italian and “El Cartero (y Pablo Neruda)” in Español. As the title implies, it is about when Neruda lived in exile in Italy and his friendship with his postal worker (these European Postmen sure are friendly!) It was a beautiful film with beautiful music, and I think I followed the plot alright (no way to be sure). Meanwhile one of the Australians, Gillian, watched the American happenings. I will have to watch the highlights online tomorrow.
In continuation of Italian day, I made myself a nice little dinner of Spinach Ravioli and opened one of my cutest little juiceboxes of red wine. As I took my first sip Leo casually mentioned that it was actually cooking wine, which was confirmed nanoseconds later when I caught a taste of it. Too good to be true, I suppose, but I guess that means the market for manufacturing lunch-time vino is still available!
In other food news, my curiosity finally got the best of me and I purchased a bag of “Tex Mex” flavored Doritos. I’m sorry to tell ya’ll this, but we are MISSING OUT. They are delightful and taste just like Texas. I ate the entire giant bag before I even made it home from the store. (All of my self-control is otherwise occupied by all of the Zapateriallas I’m not going into). I also tried a tasty little chocolate éclair thing today, and Caz got this entire cakelet thing that was cute as the dickens and pretty tasty (however, not a fingerfood, it turned out). 
My first class today was just a conversation between Antonio and I about all sorts of stuff, trying to incorporate as many reflexive pronouns as possible. We somehow ended up with me attempting to explain the concept of “tubing” (Or toobing, if you’re Andy of Canyon Lake) which was a fairly entertaining conversation. I think this is a sport that the Spanish would immensely enjoy—Anyone want to come on over and help me introduce it to them this summer? (LT09…?)


SABES QUE….
Instead of having a “brainstorm”, the Spaniards have a “lluvia de ideas”.