Life is a Game we Play.

warning: don't expect a smile from this one

Last night, while walking home from eating a “brownie completo” (aka: brownie with nuts, ice cream, hot chocolate and whipped cream) from Café de Indias, Sarah and I witnessed the most horrible thing. You’re always warned about watching your purse when walking down the street, but honestly, it rarely crosses my mind. Last night, as we were walking home on one of those really narrow streets without sidewalks (only about 3 people could fit across it), a boy zipped by on a Vespa and tried to swipe the purse from the older woman in front of us. She must have been holding it tightly because she went flying as he passed and smacked her head on the cobblestone street. She was knocked completely unconscious-not breathing, eyes open and not blinking. I am so glad other people were around to call 911-or-112...because I would have had no idea what to do or even how to describe where we were. That could have easily been either Sarah or I, we just happened to have our purses on the other side of our bodies. I couldn’t sleep at all last night, I couldn’t get the image of this woman on the pavement with her blank staring eyes and bleeding hand out of my head.

Actually, it's not just last night that I couldn't sleep. I don't think I've slept in about a month. There are days when I look at the past two months here and have a panic attack that it's already half over. And then there are days when I can't imagine being here for 2 more months. I think I'm feeling so torn because, yeah-I'm having a ton of fun, I'm getting to travel to places I'll probably never see again, and I've made some great friends from all over the United States, but I feel like the real reason I'm here is to improve my Spanish and that's just not happening. We speak in English all day except when we're in class (that we take with other Americans), and the only interaction we have with Spaniards is getting harassed by guys in the bars that say things like "fucking conmigo?" So, that's a little frustrating because I don't really know what else I can do about it. I'm sick of people answering me in English when I speak in Spanish.

Tried to go out Tuesday night with some friends, thinking that would be a good way to take my mind off things, which ended up being a horrible idea. Especially Wednesday morning, when I woke up at 9:45 still kind of drunk. I'd already slept through most of my first class, so I grabbed my bag, a banana and starting on a brisk walk to school. I'm walking as fast as I can, with my Marketing book in my hand trying to read about the differences between Japanese and Spanish diapers: the marketing strategy case that I was supposed to have read the night before...while getting soaked by the pouring rain. I arrived outside of my marketing classroom at 10:08 only to find the door locked. I realized then, that Marketing didn't start until 11:00, and it was pointless to go to the last 25 min of my Econ class. I am pathetic. I went down to the cafeteria, had some toast and coffee, picked some dirt off of my jeans, and waited for my hangover to set in. I'll look for my dignity tomorrow...

posted by Erin @ 4:29 AM