Meet the Parents ¿

John and I have been desperately attempting to learn at least basic Spanish. We managed to fumble out enough coherent Spanish words to get us train tickets and food but other than that, when asking for directions we mostly just said the place we were looking for and pointed in either direction, hoping that they understood us enough to point us in the right way.

Jimmy's parents don't speak much English. In fact, his mother speaks none at all. Today, when we got back from visiting the Palacio Real, the Plaza Mayor and the Jardines del Moro, we were greeted with Jimmy's father, Eduardo. Eduardo spoke very good English considering the fact that he hasn't spoken much of it since he was 12. John and I pulled out our phrase book but it offered little help when attempting to carry on a conversation in essentially Spanglish, with John and myself throwing random words and phrases from the book. Conversations for the hour often went something like this:

Eduardo: "So are you enjoying your stay here?"

John: "Yes, err I mean si! Um....I can say colors to you...azul...rojo..."

Me:"I can tell you that my gums hurt in Spanish. Would that help move this conversation along?"

At one point we all had sat in silence for so long at the kitchen table, waiting for Jimmy to come home that I just blurted out not-so-subtly, "...Awkward..."

Jimmy thought it would help if we watched more television in Spanish, so he chose for us the German film,"The Downfall" which is spoken in German with Spanish subtitles. Needless to say my head is spinning!

One thing we did learn about Maria and Eduardo, Jimmy's parents, is that they are definitely people to be envied. For one, they are both doctors; two, they are both very good looking Spaniards; and three, they are currently out dancing and won't be back until well after 3 in the morning. Nice life!

Love to all!