Perfectly shaped eyebrows…

This morning I found myself staring at a pair of perfectly shaped eyebrows on the bus… I had never seen such carefully plucked arches above a pair of male eyes! It is difficult not to stare, when the man infront of you is better groomed than yourself…

Yes, in Puerto Rico men take very good care of themselves, and take pride in especially their eyebrows! It was O who pointed it out to me first, and since then I have noticed it on many men – in restaurants, in the supermarket, among O’s colleagues and friends – sometimes more, sometimes less…

I don’t know if I find it very attractive – I mean, it is one thing to trim your eyebrows as a man (for example making a unibrow into a pair of brows) but to have, what I see as, very feminine shaped eyebrows is just not very manly*!? Maybe I am just conservative and should get used to the new metrosexual man??

Sitting next to this very “shapely” young man, there were two Americans and I had to check of course – yes, they were definitely not metrosexuals with their bushy eyebrows [like myself, my eyebrows certainly have the natural look, ha ha].

Well, it is interesting to notice these cultural differences in grooming, like many Puerto Rican women have fake nails and obviously there is a huge market for beauty parlours here. I wonder, how often do men go to these beauty parlours, or do they just go to the hairdresser to get an eyebrow trim?

*) I wouldn’t want O to wax his chest for example either, I like a hairy, natural-looking man! 😉

I am European, I take the bus…

I uttered the above words yesterday at our 2nd cross-cultural training day to the surprise (and horror?) of the American trainer! She was absolutely shocked to hear that I take the bus, that I have figured out the bus system (I went to the bus stop and checked the destination, not hard at all!) and that I am patient enough to wait for the bus (I bring a book and my iPod)… She had never heard of anybody taking the bus in San Juan before!

I know that in the US, taking the bus is a class issue – only poor people take the bus… It is the same case in Puerto Rico – except for the American tourists who take the bus to Old San Juan from Isla Verde (one of the resort-dense areas of the capital), I am quite the only foreigner taking the bus here.

For me, it has almost become a matter of principle, yes, I am European and I don’t need a car (and maybe it has to do with my fear of driving here as well 😉 ) and I want to prove that it is possible to live in San Juan without a car! O wants to buy me a car and even though I can admit that it would be practical in some situations, I am considering the cost – of buying the car, the insurance etc. And, I am worried that I won’t use a car that much, c’mon it is easier to take the bus to my Spanish lessons, to Old San Juan (parking is a bitch, and expensive) or to Plaza las Americas (the mall)… and it is only $ 0,75!

In Brussels, I hated taking the bus and the trams, as they would always be late especially when it rained and it was freezing cold… However, in Puerto Rico it’s never cold (it does rain sometimes) and most of the time I am not in a hurry! Nevertheless, this morning I was quite stressed as the bus took ages to arrive and I was afraid of missing my Spanish lesson… it turned out that el profe was later than I! Mental note: in the future get up earlier or at least bring cash in case I need to take a taxi… 🙂

By the way, the Puerto Rican word for bus is la guagua* – I love that word!

*) instead of the “normal” Spanish word which is el autobús. La guaguita is a mini-bus / van.

Blueberry thoughts

Why are the blueberries on this side of the Atlantic not blue inside?? I was just preparing my porridge / oat meal for breakfast and yes, I hate to admit it but I had blueberries and strawberries on top of it… We shouldn’t really buy imported fruit when we have locally grown mangoes, papayas, pineapples and bananas (oh, the bananas I will get back to, they deserve their own post!) and I usually have a sliced banana with my porridge*.

However, the berries looked so good in Costco last weekend and for that matter, we wouldn’t be able to eat veggies if we didn’t buy them imported! Correct me if I’m wrong, but we haven’t been able to find any locally grown vegetables in the supermarkets – maybe a few potatoes but I’m not sure if even they were Puerto Rican (yucca and other strange roots might be local but we don’t know how to cook them!). Can it be too hot for vegetables to grow here? The agricultural sector is tiny anyway, just like the fishing sector (what I know, at least) so like with everything else food-wise (and most other products too, except for rhum 😉 ), we depend on the US for imports…

I will continue my search though for locally grown vegetables, hopefully I can convince O to go to the markets in Santurce and Rio Piedras this weekend, and we will ask around.
La Placita (the market) in Santurce

I had heard that in Puerto Rico Christmas lasts until Easter – just like in Sweden** and apparently it is true: we have another [post-]Christmas party tomorrow with O’s colleagues – that’s the second Christmas party after Christmas (the first one, the big company Christmas bash was the 28th December, which didn’t seem that strange to me)!!

*) I am not too convinced about putting exotic fruit on my porridge but maybe I should try – we have 9 mangoes in the fridge at the moment… or maybe I’ll just make smoothies, yummy…

**) As the song goes Nu är det jul igen och julen varar ända till påska… (Now it is Christmas time again and Christmas lasts until Easter…)

Learning a new latin language – ehh..

As I probably have mentioned I speak French and enough Italian to get by (in Italy). I never had any intention of adding a third latin language to the previous two. As I told my sister who in high school was chosing between German and Spanish to add to her French and Italian, you will only get confused if you learn Spanish as well. She didn’t take my advice (of course, who does what his / her older siblings say??), and even though I still believe that my advice was very good… I, personally, don’t really have a choice nowadays, do I? With a Spanish boyfriend, in-laws who only speak Spanish and plans to move to Spain after our year in the Spanish-speaking island of Puerto Rico…

And for your information, I am soooo confused! For example, even though I concentrate hard on saying buenos dias, buenas tardes and buenas noches to the neighbours – every now and then, when I least expect it, a buona sera will leap out from my mouth! Argghhh…

Do I have enough Spanish books? I have Spanish grammar books in English, French and Swedish, three dictionaries, 7 cds and 2 text books…

I shouldn’t be complaining as it is thanks to my French and Italian that I understand as much as I do of Spanish, and because of those languages I am already learning the Spanish conjunctive after 4 lessons… but there are some draw-backs:

• In French and Italian the word and is et / e – which is perfect for a beginner as you very often stumble and search for words, and while you do this, you can say ehhh… It doesn’t work in Spanish – and is y, which is not a “thinking noise” if you see what I mean.
• In French you never (or hardly never) pronunce all the letters in a word – perfect when you are not sure of the conjugation of a verb! Who knows if it was a -ais or -ait or even a -aient ending you just used. Of course it makes it a little harder to write French, but who cares as long as you can speak it 😉
• In Spanish and Italian you do pronunce all (or almost all) the letters in a word, so a) you have to be pretty sure how to spell a word b) know which conjugation you are using (especially as they don’t usually use a pronoun) before you can speak! So, if you don’t know how to exactly conjugate the verb, who knows who you are talking about (I, you, he / she, we, you or they??)!
• This insistence to pronunce all the letters in a word is also not helping me when I try to guess a word in Spanish… I do it all the time, I will take a French or Italian word and try to pronunce it in Spanish! However, I never know how to end it – is it problemo, problema, probleme… [it is el problema – one of those words that is actually the same gender in all the 3 languages, always masculine even if it sounds feminine!]

Now you know how I “cheat” in languages and as I said, I shouldn’t really be complaining, but sometimes it gets frustrating 😦

I am feeling a little better today, but is still skipping my Spanish class tomorrow as well – don’t want to spread my awful cold / flu to the el / la profe*!

*) I now have two teachers so every lesson will be a surprise – who will be teaching me today?

Shopping in Old San Juan while speaking French…

Friday morning C and I woke up to rainy skies and before we knew it, the rain was pouring down! It hasn’t really rained for the last two weeks, so I told C that it was just to make sure that her transition back to rainy Brussels would be smoother 😉 It cleared up eventually and we decided to take the bus back to the Old San Juan for some last minute enjoyment of the beautiful buildings and to see la fiesta de San Sebastián in day light!

However, the buses in San Juan are not the most reliable (I’m not complaining, the Brussels buses are not one bit better, and on top of that more expensive!) and we waited for quite a while. In the end we were invited by a nice gay couple from New York to share their taxi (and not pay!), they had just struck up a conversation with us at the bus stop. We had a great taxi ride with them, and were swiftly deposited in front of Plaza de Colón (commemorating the first 400 years of Christopher Columbus’ “discovery”). It was one of those fun encounters that makes your day!

Already hungry, we tried a new place (of course mentioned in the LP) – Yurta in Calle San Francisco for lunch. As C and I speak French together, people assumed that we are both French, (which of course flatters me a lot) and made people very curious about us – it turned out that the owner of Yurta is Swiss-German and we ended up ordering in French!

C had a few souvenirs left on her shopping list and we quickly bought some Café Rico (locally grown coffee) in a cool yellow & red metal container and two bottles of Don Q-rhum (according to the locals much better than Bacardi) in the supermarket on Plaza de Armas, a few beautiful postcards (hard to find in PR, most of them look like they were designed in the 80’s) in the Poet’s Passage (check out this web-site as the Poet’s passage web-site is under construction) in Calle Cruz (I also bought a sweetness-in-February-present for O – we don’t celebrate St Valentine’s day but have our own tradition!).

Almost next door, there is another beautiful shop with lots of arts and crafts – run by a very nice Québécoise called Claire! In this shop, we finally found the Putumayo compilation cd Puerto Rico that C had been looking for since she arrived (you can actually hear samples of the songs on their web-site).

C wanted to take me to this art gallery Oh la la Arts & Craft that she had discovered when she visited San Juan on her own earlier in the week, it is run by a very special Québécois (yes, another one!) called Michel Loiselle on Calle Fortaleza. He sells his father’s litographies and other pieces of art in a tiny space, in an alleyway off Fortaleza. I bought a beautiful photo of the interior of the cathedral of San Juan, while C had to promise to come back soon to Puerto Rico and visit Michel 🙂
Isn’t the wall behind the bar just wonderful?

Needing a drink, we decided to stop at El Convento, hotel and restaurant / bar complex in an old convent just up from Calle Fortaleza on Calle San Cristo. We sat out in the courtyard, fortunately under a parasol as it started to rain again… but the piña coladas were great!

Heading up to Calle San Sebastián to check out the festival during day light, it was difficult to imagine that the evening before the streets had been packed with drunken party people – why? Well, the streets were immaculate, not one piece of garbage could be seen! However, the bars and cafés were all gearing up for another party night with beer and ice deliveries (it’s big business in Puerto Rico, you see Se vende hielo (Ice for sale) everywhere at shops and petrol stations, even at the side of the roads), and artists setting up their stands on the side of the street. We couldn’t resist buying another few pictures, I bought a poster with all the street signs of the Old San Juan by the photographer Salvi Colom and C bought a beautiful litography of the 3 kings (epiphany) by the artist Romorac. I will definitely visit the art gallery of Romorac in Plaza del mercado de Santurce – it’s walking distance from our home.

The rain increased in intensity and we decided to take the bus back to Condado – while snapping some photos of the pretty buildings on our way…
Somebody’s trying out different colours on the building in the centre?

C left on Saturday morning and it hasn’t stopped raining since, and I have a really bad cold / flu – feeling miserable… Fortunately our next guests are arriving on the 3rd February and hopefully the weather will improve until then!

La fiesta de San Sebastián, San Juan

Yesterday evening O, C and I took a taxi to the Old San Juan to experience the fiesta de San Sebastián and hoping to catch a glimpse of Ricky Martin. The old parts of the city were steaming from the crowds and the humidity – the rain was hanging in the air…

We started with a mojito from a student bar / mini-supermarket that we drank while walking towards Calle San Sebastián (I was wondering if you are actually allowed to drink in the streets as it’s illegal in the US, isn’t it?)… The others asked me if I knew exactly where the street was, and I replied that no, but let’s just follow the flow – sooner or later we will end up there! (I had kind of a notion of what direction we should go) The police presence was higher than usual and paper carton garbage bins had been placed in strategic places – very well organised.

Of course, we found the street party without any problem, it was impossible to miss – the street was packed with people and the bars had all moved outside! The crowds became too much after a while and we headed to the Plaza San José where we found food stands and artists showing off their pieces in a covered market place. Below on the Plaza del Quinto Centenario (Square of the 500 years – built in 1992 to celebrate the “discovery” of Puerto Rico) a big stage had been set up and different bands were playing traditional music. We settled down on a low stone wall and listened to the music and tried some arepas con queso*. A quick but intense rain shower forced us to seek temporary shelter, but fortunately you dry quickly in the Caribbean!

Around 23 we called it a day and caught a taxi back home to Condado. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the famous son of the island – Ricky Martin, oh well…

*) Corn pancakes with cheese, according to Wikipedia part of the traditional cuisine of Colombia and Venezuela, and spread to Panama and Puerto Rico, as well as other Latin American countries. Also common in the Canary Islands where they were introduced by Venezuelan immigrants (don’t you just love Wikipedia, ha ha!).

Two months in Puerto Rico!

I just realised that today, it is exactly two months ago that I arrived to Puerto Rico! Wow, time flies when you are enjoying yourself…

I had a new Spanish teacher today, a very nice girl, and she asked me if Puerto Rico me gusta (if I like PR) – sí, mucho! Then she asked me what I like about Puerto Rico? Well, I like the climate (but not forever, I do like my four seasons), the landscape that varies so much from one corner of the island to the other and I am really enjoying discovering the island and its culture & people.. And, I am so happy that it is a Spanish-speaking place and that I can learn Spanish in a relaxed environment!

I noticed a few weeks ago that people don’t smoke a lot here, compared to Europe (I’m not thinking of Sweden now, more like France, Belgium, Spain and Italy). Another great aspect 🙂

And people are very friendly and helpful. Once I saw a woman drop all her coins on the floor while queuing in a bank, at least 4-5 people rushed to her to help pick them up! It would never have happened in Sweden and hardly even in Belgium..

Well so far, Puerto Rico me gusta mucho.

A bike excursion to Los Piñones with a little drama

The last week of French C’s holidays in the Caribbean and we decided to go biking to Los Piñones. We had already started exploring the area on our way to Fajardo and Culebra last week but as we didn’t have enough time then, we thought that it was a good idea to make use of one of the few bike paths in San Juan. O prepared the bikes yesterday – we hadn’t even uncovered them since the move and there were a few damages (quite a few things were already reported as damaged in the move and we are getting a reimbursement of $1400 from the movers!). He fixed my brakes, but unfortunately I couldn’t try them properly as there was no air at all in the tyres…

This morning C and I walked with the bikes to Walgreens to look for a bicycle pump –  nope, they didn’t have any (tells you something about how common it is to use a bike in this town!). So, we had to pay $0.75 for air at the petrol station, and fortunately two guys standing by the road could help us – silly us couldn’t get the air to fill the bike tyres… I hate seeming too much like a girl – I have done it tons of times but maybe it was the Puertorican pump? 😉

We started cycling, a bit nervous as the Puertorican drivers are not very used to cyclists on the road and of course there are no bike paths… However, the streets of Condado and Ocean Park – the first part of the way, are not too busy late in the morning. I was just thinking that we really should buy some bike helmets when a guy on a bike comes straight out from a side road, and heads straight at me AGAINST the direction of the street*!!! I pulled the brakes and it seems that O had tightened my front brake too hard so my bike got up on the front wheel and I fell onto the pavement! I was more shocked and angry than hurt, and I yelled at the guy “why are you so stupid to go against the traffic?” and he tells me that I should brake with both my brakes – I did!

Well, I wasn’t too hurt, even if my right leg**, my arm and the palms of my hands are quite sore. And no, I didn’t hit my head!*** But I wasn’t too keen on continuing the bike excursion but I took a deep breath and we biked on – this time trying to keep to the pavements and passing every side road very very slowly… In Sweden I hated when people biked on the pavements, but that’s because we have special paths for cyclists!

After crossing Isla Verde, still on the pavements, we finally arrived to the … BIKE PATH to Los Piñones! First you pass el balneario de Carolina, the public beach with lots of parking space and cheerful red fences towards the road, then you arrive to Los Piñones by the Punta Cangrejos (the Crab bridge) where the bike path continues along the sea passing ramshackle beach huts which serve as bars and restaurants.

Los Piñones has a fascinating history, most of its inhabitants are descendants of freed slaves brought by the Spanish colonialists from Africa to work on the sugarcane plantations. Apparently, when these slaves were freed, they were given the right to settle in this area where they have lived for over 100 years (slavery was officially abolished in Puerto Rico in 1873). However, they don’t have the formal propery rights and a few years ago the authorities tried to reclaim the land to develop it for tourism (to build hideous condos and hotels like in Condado and Isla Verde – see the second photo below). Fortunately the protests worked and the plans were withdrawn.
“The beaches belong to the people” 

It was a hot day, and we started to get hungry so we stopped at one of the first restaurants; The Reef, especially as it was mentioned in the guide book (LP, of course!). We settled on the wooden deck overlooking the bay with San Juan in the background, the airplanes coming in for landing or taking off above (the San Juan airport is very close) and trying to cool down with a few cold drinks. After a simple lunch we continued on the bike path, which at one point turns into a wooden boardwalk alongside the beach – it is beautiful and very peaceful.

During the weekends Los Piñones gets packed with sanjuaneros who are looking for a great beach during the day and to party during the night, but during the week the bars and restaurants have a deserted feeling with a few locals and even fewer tourists. It is a perfect place for cycling and discovering another part of the San Juan metro area. However, it might be a good idea to drive to the end of Isla Verde and unload the bikes at the beginning of the bike path if you don’t want the stress of cycling in the quite busy main street of Isla Verde! And watch out, the bike path is full of broken beer bottles – it was a miracle that we didn’t get a flat tyre…

We returned to Condado without any more incidents, and it felt good to have done some good old bike exercise! I wish that there were more bike paths in San Juan, or at least that it was easier to reach the few that exist. Check out the not-so-professional bikes below 😉 and our cool caps from Brussels (pink) and NATO-SFOR in Bosnia (blue).

 Tomorrow we are heading to the San Sebastián street festival in Old San Juan to check out Ricky Martin who is supposed to appear… will keep you posted!

*) I had just pointed out to the cyclist B on Sunday that I have seen so many cyclists(almost the majority) riding on the wrong side of the road here in Puerto Rico – on Sunday we saw 4 cyclists doing just that!

**) Why oh why, is it always my right leg? First time was when I was 10 jumping from one wet and slippery wooden bench to another, at 18 I slipped on the tiled steps in the bathroom, and last year I slipped in O’s stone staircase and tumbled down head first – always the same leg, which now actually has a few dents in the bone!

***) My mother was hit by a car last Christmas when cycling and broke her leg in two places, she wore a helmet but it didn’t really help her as she didn’t hit her head… I have had quite a few bike accidents myself and you should never say never, but no, no head injuries

Going West – Cabo Rojo & Boquerón

Early on Sunday morning we headed south from San Juan, two Swedes (B and I), a Spaniard (O) and French (C), to discover what the west coast has to offer. Taking the same route as when going to Ponce, across the central mountains but this time passing the pearl of the south (Ponce), and continuing along the coast westwards.

B served as our guide as she used to live in this area before she moved to San Juan. We arrived to Cabo Rojo, a name which quite confusingly refers to both el pueblo (the village) and the area around el faro (the lighthouse) – approximately 16 km (10 miles) apart. In el pueblo we stocked up with some bread, cheese (the “fake” cheese that is individually packed – perfect for a spontaneous pic-nic without knives / cheese cutters) and ham, water and some calorie-laden pastries in a Sunday-open bakery.

Heading out to el faro we drove through landscapes that reminded us of Europe – it could have been Sweden, Spain or why not France! Well, a few cacti (cactus in plural) reminded us that we were actually not in the old home continent… The coastal plain is much drier than humid San Juan in the north, and the road soon turned into a narrow, dirt road passing the Corozo Salt flats. Salt has been extracted here since AD 700 (hm, didn’t Columbus “discover” this part of the world 😉 ) and you can still see hills of salts waiting to be shipped across the island.
NB. Playa Santa is located in the centre of the photo.

Once arrived in Punta Jagüey, the south-west tip of Puerto Rico, we got out to walk up to the lighthouse. For a Swede like myself the limestone cliffs and dry, arid landscape reminded me of Gotland (island in the Baltic, that I visited in 1987 on a school trip!), and French C thought of les falaises de Normandie (the cliffs of Normandie, which we visited together in May 2007). It was quite hot as the sun was reaching mid-day and there was no shade to be found, only small bushes and dry grass.

El faro is quite recent, built in 1881 and is newly renovated. Inside there was a simple but fascinating art installation – chairs hanging on the walls, the book Odisea / Odyssey by Homer in Spanish and English, placed in strategic places across the rooms. When walking a bit closer, you could actually see that the walls were covered with pages from the book, with different paragraphs underlined. We were told that the artist(s) had discovered plenty of similarities between the story of Odyssey and the lighthouse, and this was the inspiration for the art work. Very interesting, I haven’t read the book so I can’t tell if it was a correct interpretation of the classic story.

After a walk along the limestone cliffs, and watching a guy dive into the clear blue water from a boat to snorkel, we decided that it was time to hit the water as well! Just below the lighthouse there is a beautiful, secluded beach called Playa Santa. The so-called cheese and ham were still fresh and we had a pic-nic lunch infront of the bay.

After a few hours on this tranquil beach, the journey continued north and we made another stop at Boquerón for another beach, Balneario Boquerón – not as secluded as the one we had just left, but to O’s joy full of coconuts (he picked some to bring home). The early morning took its toll and we all had a nap on the beach before heading back home via Cabo Rojo el pueblo. The Lonely Planet states that the village “holds little attraction for the traveller”, however we found that the main square with its imposing church (very recent, think from 1947!) and pastel-coloured buildings reminded us of Ponce! It is well worth a little detour to have an ice cream in the square while admiring the beautiful houses (one house looks like a pink cake!).

On our way back across the mountains we passed hundreds (?) of cars with horse trailers – there must have been a horse fair somewhere!

All in all, a very nice excursion and despite the dark skies on the photo above, it didn’t rain on us.

Yo me despierto a las 7 y media de la mañana* – finally learning Spanish

So I am finally an official student of the Spanish language! After more than 2,5 years with O and half-hearted attempts to self-studies, I have my own, private teacher at the Berlitz centre and 65 hours of lessons paid by O’s company!

Last Tuesday was my first lesson, and I did feel a little guilty that I hadn’t prepared better with all the Spanish language books I have at home… Oh well. I had already taken an on-line test for Berlitz, and I was quite proud of the result – level 2 (not beginner, not level 1 but 2!) but I was a little nervous that the teacher would see through my bluff (?? I did the test without any help from O or any books) and tell me that I really was a beginner (as I have never studied Spanish).

The teacher L started immediately speaking to me in Spanish (I like that, no silly speaking of English here!) and questioning me on the numbers (I had to count to 50 before the teacher let me off!), colours – first mistake: calling blue for blu and not azul (I can’t even blame that on Italian – azzuro, however I had been speaking French non-stop for two days with my French friend C and it is bleu in French), second mistake: giallo is definitely Italian and not the Spanish amarillo (yellow).

Then we had a confused discussion about how long I had been / was going to spend in Puerto Rico… llevo un mes y medio en Puerto Rico – llevo desde noviembre – voy a estar un año en Puerto Rico (I spend 1,5 months in PR – I spend since November (bad translation) – I will stay one year in PR). The problem with my Spanish is that I very often understand more or less the meaning of a phrase, but usually I am unsure of the exact meaning. I missed the crucial part here, were we talking about the present or the past? I didn’t want el profe (the teacher) to think that I had already spent a year here and that I was leaving in one month when it is the contrary!

After 1,5 hours of intense concentration and conversations about the months, the days of the week, as well as ayer – hoy – mañana (yesterday – today – tomorrow) and telling the date and time, food and meals, we finished off with the body – my body vocabulary turned out to not be very extensive except for la cabeza, los ojos y la boca (the head, eyes and mouth). I was exhausted! It is my first time with private lessons and my, you have to concentrate – no slacking off, none of that usual loss of concentration when your mind starts to wander off while the other students are talking… Phew!

El profe told me that the first lesson was actually a test to determine my level and that I would get all the study material during the next lesson. Oh no, I was sure that the fact that I didn’t know how to say blue or eyebrow (la ceja) would put me down on the beginner’s level…

On Thursday I was given my books – an exercise book, a dictionary (Berlitz, of course), a grammar book and 3 cds. And I was told that I was on level 3!!! Wow, I really need to get serious about this now – but I am happy, the high level will keep me on my toes, and keep my motivation as I wouldn’t want to continue talking about basic stuff such as colours, the days of the week etc.

El profe is also serious; we started the second lesson with conjugating reflexive verbs!

Yo me despierto a las 7 y media de la mañana, yo me levante de la cama, después me lavo, me peino y me visto. Yo me cepillo con un cepillo… (I wake up at 7.30 in the morning, I get up from the bed, then I wash, comb [my hair] and get dressed. I brush [my hair] with a brush…)

At one point I got so tired and lost my concentration, poor el profe – I think that he started to despair when I kept insisting on saying después de me despiertarme – instead of después de despertarme (after waking up)… He tried to explain that there is only one –me (at the end of the verb) and no i, but I just couldn’t get it! I guess that having a private teacher will help me get over the fear of making a fool of myself when speaking Spanish (I still have that fear when speaking French but not when I speak Italian, I don’t care if it is correct or not as long as people understand me)…

Then the funny part of the lesson: el profe starts talking about O! He says O trabaja mucho – I say sí (as it is so true that O works a lot), no-no, I was supposed to repeat… O está cansado (O is tired) – I say sí (it’s true, he is always tired)… Poor, poor el profe, he didn’t know that it felt like we spoke about my O (how would he know, he was of course just reading from the book).

I am very happy with the lessons so far and am looking forward to my third lesson tomorrow, but first I need to study a little! I have already driven O to despair as well with the conjugation of the verb to wake up… I keep putting an -i where there isn’t one!

My friend C and I escaped to the island of Culebra after the Spanish lesson on Thursday, and I am proud to say that I have now managed to drive to Fajardo (both free- and highway) and back to San Juan again! We spent 2,5 great days on Culebra, but that is another story!

I even dared to drive (with C as the co-pilot and moral support) to the airport on Saturday evening to pick up O who came back from Spain. No more driving for me now for a while as we only have one car and O needs it for work – can’t say that I complain 🙂

*) Of course I don’t get up at 7.30 in the morning, more like 9.30… except when I have Spanish lessons – they start at 9.00 which is good, it forces me to actually get up early twice a week!