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Black Squirrel
Yeah... it's a black squirrel. This one is actually in Omaha. I was driving one day, saw it, and pulled over to take this picture. I don't think that I could ever get used to Spaniards' sense of time. 5:00 at night is still early in the afternoon... 10:00 is dinner time. I got hungry last night at 6:00, but nothing is open yet. Would I have gone even if it were? Probably not. I really need to get over my phobia of speaking Spanish. I didn't say anything yesterday, though, so today so far I've done infinitely better. 5 words! Honestly, it was out of sheer necessity. I hadn't eaten since shortly after my plane took off from New York on Tuesday night... yeah, almost 2 days ago. I didn't eat for 2 days because I didn't want to speak Spanish... isn't that ridiculous? Well, today I was surprisingly still hungry. I decided that since I had to do it, I'd go for something easy and less intimidating: McDonalds. Yeah, I don't eat McDonalds, and Spanish McDonalds isn't any better. Their menu consisted of a McPollo sandwich (yeah, seriously) and about 5 different kinds of hamburgers. No grilled chicken, no fish, no nuggets, no nada. So I worked up the courage and went up to the kid working there who was probably about 15,
Statue in Plaza Mayor
It's a statue... I don't know what of. gave him an apologetic look, and returned his "hola". That was word #1. I wasn't ready for full sentences, so I mumbled "can i get a..." and word #2: ensalada. Then he threw out a whole slew of words that I wasn't prepared for and therefore didn't understand. I looked at him blankly and he pointed to the menu. Word #3: césar. He typed it in, said "finished?" and I paid him. Then I realized that I should've ordered a drink too. Word #4: agua? He was so nice... I'm probably looked like I was about to cry, so he jsut smiled and went and got me some water. And word #5: gracias. That's 5 words! It was admittedly a very poor effort. My Spanish isn't all THAT bad, but I froze. As I walked away I thought "Wow, that could've been a lot easier: '¿Puedo tener una ensalada césar y agua, por favor?'" But it was not meant to be. Next time maybe. Tonight I may feel like eating again... but probably not. It'll probably be another 2 days, but then I'm determined to used a whole sentence. I'll think it out before I walk up there because apparently
Plaza Mayor
Here's a panorama (or what my camera does as a panorama). The whole thing is enclosed. I crack under pressure. I'll let you know tonight whether I was successful tonight though.
Also today, I made it beyond McDonalds (though I've walked up and down Calle de Atocha about 800 times). I went to Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol. Honestly, not much to write home about (and, technically I AM writing home). Since I'm sure no one really knows what they are though, I'll tell you. Plaza Mayor is a big enclosed area with a statue in the middle (see the picture). All around the plaza are little shops. It's actually really neat looking. It's kind of just a place to come and shop and just hang out. There were quite a few people there and it was a Thursday afternoon. But then again, there are a lot of people everywhere here! I don't know if I'm just in a really touristy area, but the streets are SO busy with people walking around. Puerta del Sol is pretty much just a big intersection with shops and a statue that looks like George Washington on a horse... I don't think it was though 😉
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Gus_Granada_Spain
Jose Luis Esteban
Ha, ha. You must be starving. Next time try to order something else with the same amount of words. You don't have to translate "May I have..." as "Puedo tener...". In Spanish you order things in a direct way: "Una ensalada César y un BigMac, por favor. That's perfectly right. You'll notice that most of the time you can also spare the 'por favor', nobody will think you're unpolite. Just say "Una ensalada, un BigMac y una coca-cola. Gracias" Good luck.