I Tried to Be Proactive...

When was the last time you considered the difference between “bragging” and “showing off,” in an effort to explain the intricacies of the English language to two thirty-year-old men in a Madrid bar?  And when was that time you took shots with a 60-year-old woman on a Thursday night at an all-you-can-eat Asian buffet?

Oh, so you’ve never had a week like mine?  Read on.

 I’m feeling sassy this week, folks.  Maybe it’s the “about to go to Naples” jitters, but today is going to be a great day, dammit.

They say learning a language is good for your brain, and I believe it, because I have think until the tendon in my forehead explodes to explain things that a five-year-old could explain while walking backwards, only half paying attention and chewing gum.  Like yesterday, I realized I don’t know the word for “stairs,” or “parking,” but I do know the word for “the middle of a loaf of bread” and “group of pine trees.”  Also, I’m afraid to say “crab” because the word for “affectionate” is too similar—and I am affectionate about crab, but the words are certainly not interchangeable (crab= congrejo, which I’m going to remember henceforth as “con gray ho,” or “with a wizened prostitute,” because ‘con’ means ‘with’ in Spanish, and eating crab with a wizened prostitute is a memorable idea).

I also think about English in a new way.  Like this morning, I realized how racist the term “master bedroom” really is.  Wow, really, English Language?  I’m pretty sure we have a constitutional amendment about the whole “no slavery” thing, but apparently we can’t come up with a new name.  We don’t still call our living rooms ‘parlors,’ and I’m pretty sure that couldn’t offend anyone.  Besides my racist epiphanies, we talk about the roots of words in class all the time.  Like “hypocrite” means ‘beneath the mask,’ and it originally referred to a role in Greek theater.  But guess what? 

I’ll tell you what.  The Romans translated “hypocrite” into “persona,” which means ‘for sound.’  And guess what we call people in English?  Person(s)! 

Woah.  So are we all hypocrites who live in master bedrooms in houses without stairs, who feel affectionate toward the center of bread and crab and/or wizened prostitutes?  No, but if we were, that would be an interesting world.  Anyway, I love learning the history behind words we use every day.

Changing topics, Cole wins the honor of best person ever this week.

Thanks to him, I am blogging with some semblance of hope this week: "I just read your blog post "Depart from Hollywood Standards," the one with the "Be Mediterranean if Nothing Else" piece, and I want to congratulate you on being amazing. That little "rant," as you called it, is not only very well-written, but more importantly articulates my personal biggest takeaway from studying abroad better than I have done. I couldn't agree more with your sentiment, and there's nobody better to quote for it than John Muir. While reading, I had this sense of "YES, SOMEBODY JUST GETS IT!" I'm glad you're enjoying your Mediterranean experience and taking away so much from it. Believe me, I can relate, and I wish more of my friends would study abroad so they could feel the sentiment that you expressed.

Please keep being awesome,
Cole"

I took a week off because I feel like our blog community hasn't taken off yet (ie no one responds to my posts), and I was feeling frustrated.  However, Cole & Eleanor, who have/currently are studying abroad, found something worthwhile in what I said, and thus I will "keep on keeping on."  So I feel reinvigorated today.

I want to keep talking, but the hotel charges for internet so I don't have time to say anything else right now.  The rest of the blog I wrote earlier in the week, but I was really counting on free WiFi.  I'm also suddenly and incredibly ill, perhaps from the water.  But life goes on.

Love,
Rachael