Meetings, greetings, and octupi

Greetings and salutations!  I apologize for the double "and" in my last post.  Also, apologies for forgetting the best picture of Toledo ever.  This will be my laptop background (and conversation piece) for years to come.

Anyways, onward to more important things: people and food.  Socializing in a foreign language is a bit like swimming in Lake Superior-- you just have to dive in without thinking.  It's uncomfortable and difficult to stay put at first, but pretty soon you're either numb or acclimated (hard to say which) and cease to notice the odd iceberg floating by.  The more time that passes, the easier it gets.  Ángeles threw a party the first night I stayed with her, and it kind of felt liked the first dunk of the year.  When we entered the elevator in her apartment building, it was already occupied by a man with long hair and a longer beard who's sentences sounded like one huge word mumbled at light speed.  I just kind of smiled and nodded when he acknowledged me with something unintelligible, thinking that we would exit the elevator soon with no harm done.  Alas, it was not to be.  Beard-man was a friend of Ángeles and a guest at the party.  At this point, I was pretty well terrified.  Things got better once we arrived, however (note that better is a relative term).  Another friend of Ángeles, María, spoke very slowly and clearly, and I enjoyed chatting with her.  Most of the time, though, I just stood there uselessly and tried to listen to conversations (actually, this isn't much different from what I do in normal party situations :).  Everyone was so nice; I felt horrible when people would try and talk with me and have to repeat themselves several times, and/or I would take what felt like several minutes to come up with a response.  I did successfully exchange a few words, though, and listened a lot -- so it wasn't a total loss.  Also, I found out that I've read over half of the books in Ángeles's bookshelf (the English versions of most, though not all).  Another plus: I've discovered that pulpo gallego is my new favorite food.  What's this, you ask?  Octopus!  The tentacles, to be exact.  You know, those purple things with suckers.  

To make the dish in question, boil the octopus for an hour or so (until firm), then cut the tentacles into bite-size pieces with scissors.  Season with olive oil and some sort of spicy pepper, possibly cayenne.  It will change your life.  Ángeles served it with potatoes, but it can also be served with bread.  I would know, I've had it three or four times already.  By the way, these are the types of things in Spanish shop windows (and you thought Macys window displays were good):

Now, it's been almost exactly a week since I arrived in Spain and around 5 days that I've been speaking Spanish.  I am already so much better than the first day, it's unbelievable.  Now, I can understand most of what's being said at a normal conversational pace.  Five strangers have talked with me or asked the time so far.  Hurray!  I must say, Ángeles is amazing.  Not only is she letting me invade her life and home for three and a half months, she's very patient with my horrible Spanish and goes out of her way be nice.  For example, she cooks (wonderfully), cleans, helps me with my travel plans and makes sure I know what's going on, talks to me and, again, is patient when it takes me forever to say something, and shares her considerable knowledge about Spanish history.  We went running together last week.  I want to help out with household chores and such, but I don't really know how to ask or if I'll just get in her way.  They conserve water here, too, so I'm afraid to waste too much water or something.  On a side note, we met up with one of her friends during the run, and he apparently said I speak Spanish well.  I think I said two words the whole time, and they were "hi" and "bye" (in Spanish).  But hey, I'll take the compliment.  Chances are I won't get another.  ¡Hasta mañana!

P.S.  I want to know how this hummer got through the narrow streets of Toledo.  Ángeles had to fold in her side mirrors so her car would fit.