I'm in love

My students seem to be giving me advice on life and their observations about my life as of late. I find it amusing but not overly intrusive. They are always telling me I will learn Spanish and not to worry.

Today my painter looked at me and said, "I think you are a person that does not have patience." I thought he had misspoken, and I asked him. No, he meant exactly what he said. "I think you need to be in control always," he added. Wow. Ouch. Then he smiled and made that Spanish gesture of raised hands signifying that he didn't mean to offend, and not to take it too personally. So my student thinks I'm a control freak with no patience? How did that happen?

At this point I was slightly indignant, as I work with small children everyday and think I have enough patience. But I took a moment to consider, and I think there may be some truth in his accusation/observation.

As I left my next class, the father of my students was asking if I was working this weekend. I said yes, I had a few classes. He looked at me disapprovingly and in broken English stated that, "in Spain we works for live, but I think you lives for work". You get the picture. I argued that I was working much less here than I had been at home and I take time everyday to enjoy. I go for coffee or sit in the sun or meet my friends for tapas. He just smiled at me like I was a little kid making excuses. Inwardly I sighed, wished him a good weekend, and started walking home.

On the way home I decided to take the advice of two of my students and stopped by Nueva Florida (a bakery) and asked for a "napolitana de chocolate", which Cristina told me I had to try sometime. The lady showed me what it was (a sort of chocolate croissant thing with chocolate inside that tastes like Nutella). I promptly went home, made tea, and sat down and devoured the treat with great indulgence. By the time I was finished (yes, I ate it all in one sitting, don't judge) my hands were sticky with icing and chocolate and there might have been just a tad on my chin. And nose. Talk about enjoying!

This morning I woke up way too early to meet Holly on the Alameda so we could bike across town. I had to drop off rent and she was off to an English teacher conference of sorts. The guys at my apartment office are so sweet, and they have two dogs in the office! Afterwards I took the other way around town, cycling down by the river. It was chilly (high 30s) but beautiful. There were people out rowing in the river, people jogging and walking on the paths, and I will have to do that again soon! Sadly I missed the ramp up to the main road and carried the heavy Servici bike up waaaaaaaaaaaay too many stairs.

I also ran into my Italian neighbor today. She's so nice! She spoke to me in Spanish and I understood most of it. Right now I can hear her boyfriend practicing his guitar (flamenco).