Taking the bus has been an interesting experience. I'm at the second to last stop- the bus passes my stop, goes to the last one, then circles back to mine and on to central Toledo. It's about a 20 min ride. The first day, I stood on the wrong side of the street and ran after the bus like an idiot when it passed the first time. When it came around 10 minutes later, the driver was obviously laughing and pointed out the correct stop. Another thing: the buses are never on time. NEVER. The ETA is generally before it passes the first time, so it's usually at least 10 min late. There are always interesting characters on the ride though. A man this morning was expounding something or other to the poor bus driver when I got on, and he only shut up when the doors closed in Toledo. The driver looked like he was going to have a headache for the day, and was probably seriously considering selling all his stuff and moving to Belize to raise tropical fish. Another man had the craziest eyebrows I have ever seen. I mean ever. They were around and inch tall and stuck out the same distance from his forehead. They started from a common point above his nose and rose in semicircles over his eyes. The fringe was truly remarkable. The longest part was toward the middle, and combed straight up. Imagine the white fringe on the monkey below much further down the forehead, brown, and swooping down to form a point between the eyes. Also, imagine a round face not unlike an owl's. I really wanted to take a picture, but it would've been rude.
Speaking of monkeys, this has got to be one of the creepiest things to hang in a car window. Look at the face and hands; what are they made out of? Skin? It looks like one of those peruvian mummies. Compare:
On a different note, at the Fund we have the option of doing "intercambios", where we're paired with a Spaniard who wants to learn English. We talk for an hour or two a week- half the time in Spanish and the other half in English. There was a dinner last night to meet potential partners. It was like speed dating only more awkward. I was lucky, though: I was buying a water bottle at the grocery store earlier that day, when the cashier asked if I was from the Fund. Once I affirmed that yes, my horrible accent did indeed mean I was from the Fund, she asked if I would be her intercambio partner because she teaches at a bilingual school and needs to learn English. Hurray! We're meeting on Tues. I went to the dinner with my friends anyways, though, and now I have two more intercambios. One is maybe 40 or so and works at some sort of sheep farm or something (I couldn't really hear well with all the background noise), but in the administrative side of things, and needs to learn English for work. The other is younger and just wants to learn because it's a good idea, I guess.
Speaking of meeting people, my friends and I found the best gelato shop outside of Italy. Probably because one of the owners is Italian. Anyway, I worked up the courage to use my Italian and ask where the guy working was from in Italy. Madrid. Ya. It figures. He then proceeded to tell me his life story, how his girlfriend was from Italy and he and her brother own the shop and someday want to go to the US. Well, the next time I went, I met the actual Italian (who I assume is the aforementioned girlfriend's brother). We've had some lovely chats. His name is... Andrea? something that starts with an A, anyway, and he's from Rome, but lived in the Canary Islands for 4 years before moving to Toledo 2 months ago. Both of them want to practice their English with us, and it's actually kind of nice not to be the one struggling to speak for once. Anyway, I'm going to be very fat by the end of the semester.
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