Good bye Dear Friend

This week I said goodbye to a dear friend--one that has been with me for more than 25 years--has been with me through thick and thin. This week, I said goodbye to my great toe nail on my right foot.

The picture above shows my toenail in its' former glory. Stable, thick, reliable and beautiful! I mentioned earlier that while I was vacationing in the Canary islands that I stubbed my toe pretty badly on some stairs. Well, the toenail finally came off! I miss my toenail. I am sad I have nothing to paint. My first solution was to cut some surgical tape out in the shape of a toenail and stick it on, but that takes too much time. Instead, I just place a square of white tape over the top of my toe and call it good.

but let me tell you a slightly disgusting secret (don't worry I won't post pictures) It was rather satisfying to remove it once it was dead and no longer caused pain. I maybe shouldn't say that on a public blog, but it was satisfying! Some people find satisfaction in peeling a sunburn or popping a zit. Maybe it is similar to that. TMI? yeah, I thought so.

Moving on..........

This week has been good. I have made some progress with Spanish and have communicated to strangers in stores and have asked directions. I say things wrong all the time but that is part of the learning process. This week I went to a couple family parties for Ulises extended family while he was at work. Every evening when he goes to work I am put in a situation where I have to communicate without my translator and this event was no different. This time, however, I had little kids to talk to. That was fun. I feel less awkward around them. I will have to talk to kids more! But, yeah-- I will continue to study more each day and improve little by little. But honestly, when I come back to Spain again next year, I think I will invest in language classes.

This week has also been good because I went out and discovered the city for myself. I really appreciate Ulises and his family and how they take care of me, but there is no way for me to learn my way around unless I struggle through it myself. So although they were worried while a 25 year old girl with no Spanish abilities went out to the big city on public transportation alone, It was a success! I took pictures, went to the park, ate a picnic by myself, bought a map and traveled around and even figured out how to get home on transit. I took buses metros and trains along with walking. I bought some bread in a store, asked some directions from a man in the train station and had a great time working it out. I'll have to post the pictures soon. I also got proposed to by an Indian man! I went into a gift shop outside a tourist place and when he found out I was from the states suddenly everything in his store was 50% off and then he invited me back from some Indian food. I declined and told him I had a boyfriend. He said if I changed my mind to come back and he would cook for me and marry me.

I don't know what adventures this next week holds. I hope to go to the beach again at least. I also plan on tricking Ulises into going to the Mexican restaurant I found on my run there the other day. There aren't many Mexican immigrants here in comparison to other immigrants so there actually is hardly any Mexican food. I miss it a lot! Ulises says he hates it but he just needs to give it another chance. I will either take him to this restaurant or make some myself!

I'll give you the update next week

hasta Luego