Walk home

Four blocks before I made eye contact with a blind man, someone lit a trashcan on fire. I could smell it before I saw it. Oddly sweet, it easily could have been a vendor roasting yams. A woman hurriedly dumped the contents of her water bottle into the flames, causing smoke to pour out furiously. The warped garbage bag had turned to a stringy black mess, parts of it badly melted onto the metal can. It looked permanent.

Halfway

There are some nights you hang out with a group of sweet Catalans for an hour and a half in a bar, go dancing with your friends, and come home the same time you wake up for school on weekdays. And then other nights you stay in wearing your stepdad's old pj pants, drinking coffee with your host family while watching a dubbed movie about Aidan Quinn running around in a ridiculous get-up in the middle ages. I mean, I'm no historian, but I'm pretty sure they didn't have sequins or bedazzlers back then. Just sayin'.

Today marks the halfway point of the semester. It's come to my attention that the goals I took with me from the US may have been a little ridiculous. But new priorities come up, and the things that once seemed like the main point of coming here have become less important. I guess that's how pretty much everything in the history of mankind goes though. I've realized that there's no way I can do all I set out to. And you know, that's fine. I treasure the time I spend with people more than any site I've ever seen. The crazy times, and yes, the quiet Aidan Quinn times too, those are the things that have real staying power.

So it's odd to think about leaving. I am going to be sad to go. But going back to the US will probably give me 897 excitement-induced heart attacks. I miss everyone there, and I think of them often.

Pause

For Karen (hehehe)

Crossing the road is really tricky here. Well, I mean, duh, you either wait for the little green man to light up on the light, or you look both ways real carefully and then make a mad dash for it. On smaller roads it's better to make a run for it, and unless you're feeling really brave, you should just wait your turn on the larger ones.

Today I was waiting with a crowd of people on the sidewalk to cross the street. Everyone kind of zones out as cars speed by, and when the light finally does turn in the pedestrian's favor, it takes a second for the green to register in people's brains, and then have their brains tell their feet they can start moving. It takes about the same time for everyone to pick up on the fact that they can go now, so there's this shared moment right before everyone starts crossing. A kind of hesitation before you're on the move again.

It's also a great time to get ahead of all those slow European walkers who were taking up the entire sidewalk in front of you. I mean, I get taking your time and smelling the roses and stuff, but... sometimes I don't want to take four and a half hours walking to my apartment. I just want to be there and take off my heavy backpack and my pinching shoes and smell Isabel's cooking and know there is nowhere else I am required to be for the rest of the night.

But that pause is nice. It's kind of a great unifier. Even if, and perhaps just because, it's only for a second.

for REAL??????

Sarah and I travelled to Cadiz to see Andrew Bird.
It was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Remember that show Timmy the Tooth?

Yeah, me too. It sucked. It has very little to do with this post, but I couldn't figure out how to spell any of the tooth puns I'd come up with, so... shout out to horrendous 90's TV won.

So, anyway, in this episode of Adrienne Tries To Perform Basic, Everyday Tasks In Broken Spanish, she goes to the dentist! Hilarity ensues. She now has no teeth. Jay kay, y'all.

It all started on Thursday. I had just brushed my teeth, and was doing that ritual smile that everyone does when they're done brushing. That weird, huge goofy grin that is to... admire their handiwork? Anyway, with my mouth wide open in a really cute manner (...) I noticed something. A chip. A chip in my toof. What. Now, I don't know if y'all have ever had a chipped tooth, but I hadn't. When did I get this? Was my tooth going to break off? What have I been eating, gravel? This was my front left tooth we're talking about here. This was one of my goodies! I looked closer. It was pretty small. But definitely there. So after a little google-ing, I figured I should probably see a dentist of some kind. Pretty much every website said that chips can lead to more chips, and damage, and a bunch of gross google images pretty much sealed the deal.

So I go to a woman who works at my program, and asked about seeing a dentist. I sat on the other side of the desk as she called a number, and then made an appointment for me. She wrote down the address, and then said, "He should speak English... but who really knows?" Then she laughed, and I laughed, but inside I wondered if maybe I should just take my chances with this lil chip of mine.

At 3:20, I headed out, and found the office with little trouble. The receptionist and I pulled together all of my information pretty painlessly, except for me forgetting my phone number. Point 1 for Adrienne using Spanish. She lead me down to a little room. After about ten minutes, a nurse came in, and said something about the doctor coming now. Before I could even utter a single vale, the doorway lit up and in walked... my dentist? I wasn't aware that my dentist was a freaking golden god. Dayyyuuuummmm (but he's still got nothing on you, Mac! <3 ) After explaining what was going on with my tooth, he took a look at it.
"Is so little."
"Er... yeah." Screw you, Google! "It is, but I wanted to make sure..."
"Is okay, I will, ah, rub it down for you."
"Uh... okay."Whatever you say, guapo.

Then he got out this thing that looked kind of like what you would use to sand down a table with. Kay, hottie, let's have a plan here.
"I just rub down a little, so you cannot feel. Vale?" Goodbye, sweet teeth. I've really enjoyed your company.

I closed my eyes and fifteen seconds later opened them when he removed the sander.
"Feel, is better? And here, is not my teeth so I do not know, but looks okay?" I looked in the mirror.
"Yeah, looks fine. Thanks!"

Ten minutes later I was out the door. In the elevator on my way down to the ground floor I checked out my teeth in the mirror. Like nothing happened. Bomba.