The Adventures of Harry and His Trash Coat
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2008
1
14
21
Trip End
Jun 04, 2009
Còrdoba and beyond,
Spain
Friday, January 16, 2009
The story behind the title of this blog.
Part 1: I started working at an language center outside of Córdoba in November. Tyler was hired to work there as well but the class sizes are still very small so he has not started yet. Jose Luis is my boss and he has met and talked with Tyler several times. Jose Luis has heard Tyler and I say that Tyler's name is, well, Tyler. Apparently Spaniards cannot pronounce Tyler... Jose Luis calls Tyler, Harry. We don't have the heart after all this time to tell him that Tyler's name is not Harry. When he starts working he will have to be Professor Harry for the rest of our time here because we have let Jose think this whole time that I am married to Harry!!
Part 2: Short and simple. Clothes are very expensive in Europe. We are not poor, but we would rather spend our money on food and travel rather new attire. It has been a very cold winter and Tyler and I did not bring winter coats. Tyler was kind enough to spoil me for my birthday and buy me and nice coat, but he has gone without for the past few months. I just so happened that one day I was walking to the gym and found a coat. A man´s wool coat, lined with a magenta colored silk, large, fancy buttons... it had Tyler's name all over it. I brought it home and told Tyler I found him a coat next to the trash. It was clean, stylish.. and FREE! Not only that but I'm sure it has a fascinating history. Tyler wouldnt wear it for the first few days, but as the temperature dropped, the trash coat started to look more and more appealing. The sleves may be a tad too short and the inside.. well, a tad too pink, but overall, Harry is satisfied with his trash coat and it has kept him warm throughout his adventures here in Spain.
Spanglish also brings a smile to my face on a daily basis. I have heard a lot of good ones lately, but the best sentence I heard was from one of my students that I tutor. We were walking to my piso from the bus station and she all of the sudden stopped and said, ¨Ooooff.. I just bit my language!!" (They say ooff all the time, meaning, oww, or ouch, or oh my gosh.) Anyhoo, lengua means tongue and lenguaje means language in Spanish... two very close words that mean two totally different things. She made the common mistake of trying to directly translate Spanish to English and as always the Spanglish was very amusing.
Part 3: Mullets and bangs
Curly mullets, muttles with dreadlocks, frizzy mullets... kids, men, women, grandparents, professionals, and hippies.. everyone has one! I have tried to convince Tyler but he has not conformed to the norm yet..
And as far as the bangs are concerned, I will have to start taking pictures. The bangs just add to the confusion of the Spanish style, but they are definitely in. Once again, Tyler will have bangs before too long, he just needs some more time.
Rat tails are also very popular. During my first tutoring session with a 6 year old boy I asked him to draw a head so we could label the parts of the face. After he was almost done he asked, "con pelo?" I said, "of course." He drew a boy with a rat tail. I tried to contain my laughter. It was so typical. The drawing was basically a stick figure with a face and one long piece of hair dangling from the neck. I will never forget it - Ramon and the rat tail.
I will have to get back to this blog another day. It is off to work for me. I am teaching about American slang today.. always a fun topic!
Until next time.
