sun, and cinnamon dogs on a saturday

This is the first day I've not worn a hat in outside, in the house and in bed. Tons of hardy Spaniards are sitting outside in the plaza - in plazas all over the city, in fact. And most of them at the other smaller plazas are standing, not even sitting. Standing there with their jackets on in the cold, drinking at tiny, tall tables outside their favorite bar.

The weather is better and I am better but my head hurts and I don't feel normal. In fact I've felt disconnected ever since a few days after I arrived here. I keep pressing on an acupressure spot in my neck that hurts like hell. I missed three days of classes this week, and managed to pick up a fair bit of what I missed on Thursday and Friday but I am not really getting the full benefit of what I'm learning. Just too overwhelmed.

The other day our newly met bar friend said that he admires France for protesting when there is a problem. That Spaniards are too content to sit there with their beer and do nothing. Comparing unemployment rates, according to Gaetane and Sergio, France has about 11% while Spain has 20%, and 28% in Andalucia right now.

This morning I waited for about what seemed like 15 minutes in a tiny bakery, for the 4 people in line in front of me to be served, in order to buy some "integral" bread from a German style organic bakery. I figured I owed it to my body to give it some healthier bread, but am not at all impressed. Dry and tasteless. No wonder people here want to keep eating white bread, if that's all they have for healthy stuff. Want to bake my own in the tiny oven, but the kitchen is one thing that is pretty uncomfortable in my place. There really is no room for me to keep any supplies there. My two bottles of olive oil are in the way. I cannot live with only one. I don't feel like I can go buy spices, unless I were to keep them in my room. I can't see myself feeling comfortable enough there to carry on a "normal" life, that is to actually find a job while living in someone else's house, in which I feel like a guest. Need to move.

The people in this neighborhood are notably normal. Really, the whole world is kind of uniform these days. "Desaparacida perra labradora canela" Cinnamon coloured labrador (female) dog lost. That was a sign I saw this morning. It is one of those weird things that happens - a disconnect between the conscious and unconscious. Somehow I am amused and surprised to see humans having the exact same problems and doing the exact same things about them anywhere in the world. The other differences around me cause me to subconsciously feel that these people are different in some basic way, from me and then I see something like that which stops me. Or perhaps it is some kind of surprise to see the exact same kind of message in a different tongue.

As for me:

He I go to try it. I should had to say it is tomorrow. I it up, okay? You like yourself? It is easy for I. Yes, I keep the oil in my bed. I will to look for it on the internet. I am looking a little. No, I am a foreigner, I don't know much. I he go this afternoon. He they said it is that way. Yes, I am to put it there. It is ahead by the orange thing, how do you say it? Those one, yes, please. One of that, please. I can do. You have a good afternoon too. - (I will try) - Yes, I think so.

At least Gaetane and I are on a similar level with our Spanish, and we can sound idiotic together and not be worried.