Can't a girl get some decent champú or acondicionador around this place?!

Soooooooo people here don't use conditioner. Well, I mean, they DO... sort of. Long story short, I went shopping today for shampoo (champú), conditioner, lotion, all that good stuff, but lo and behold, when I got to the conditioner part (of the aisle), there was none! I saw two different types of conditioner (labeled as acondicionador): Treseme has a nice looking brand, but it was not nicely priced at 5.45 euro a bottle. That would translate to a little over 7$. Also, there was a sasquatch sized bottle for about 4 something euros, but again, I didn't want that giganto thing to take up all my shower room and also it was kind of sketchy looking. No scent! Finally Rachael and I asked a lady about this masquilla thing that we found: it works the same way, just you leave it on for longer. And would you look at that! Only 1,70 euros for a tub!! They even had different kinds for different hair types :) My rizado (curly) hair couldn't be happier...

Ser un arma de doble filo

This is a phrase signifying to be a double edged sword, or that something is tricky business. I have discovered that there are many words that 'son un arma de doble filo'...

1) paja: noun, meaning blow-job. we learned this word from out teacher actually. I know what you are thinking "Why is your teacher letting you in on words like this???" But actually, it is very helpful. The question was raised how you say 'straw' (like the thing you drink from) in class the other day. Our teacher told us that the word for straw is 'pajita', literally meaning 'little blow-job'. However, when you say this in context, for instance in a restaurant or cafe, it is taken to mean straw. We had good fun with this one.

2) polla: noun, meaning dick. This one was learned from a French guy we met in a club, and then went to KFC with at 2 in the AM. Yes, Spaniards go hard, so KFC being open at 2AM is actually less strange than there actually being a KFC here haha But I digress... we were talking about the chicken, the word for which is 'pollo'. Notice the difference in the endings, because its very important. Being stupid Americans, we were drunk and mistakenly said 'nos gustan la polla muchisimo!'. Ugh. Ya, it happened... in the middle of KFC at 2AM. Fortunately, the rest of the customers were fellow club-going, Americanos borrachados (drunk Americans). The guys behind the counter had crossed eyes and were pissed at us for making so much noise, so I think they tried to ignore us as much as possible; hopefully they didn't hear. Otherwise, it might have increased their opinions of American chicas as sluts lol But fortunately, the Frenchman only laughed a little bit, and corrected us. Thank God...

3) Echar un polvo: verb, literally meaning to throw dust, it translates somehow to pour milk, or have a screw. I'm not sure how it works, but it does. And if you hear someone saying it, don't respond positively. Like in the movie Mean Girls when Jason asks Cady if she would like her muffin buttered, or if she wants them to assign someone to 'butter her muffin'. No. Ew. Gross. Dirty. It basically means 'Let's Fuck' in much nicer terms.

4) Un coño: noun, female genitalia. Not to be confused with ¡coño!, which means "stupid!" as in "I'm so stupid! I forgot my keys at home!" or "Stupid! Why did you do that?" No no no (as our teacher would say), un coño is the less beautiful part of the female anatomy. Again, I'm not sure how the two are related, and frankly, I'm not sure I want to know.

That completes my list of dirty/double edged words for now. When I learn more (as I'm sure I will, since we don't learn them in school) I'll make sure to let you know ;)

Monks

Today on the way home I saw out of the bus window three monks... they were dressed in the stereotypical brown sackcloth robes with white ropes around their waists. I had no idea where they were from or if there is a particular monastery or hermitage nearby where I saw them. I did a little bit of research and one of each but they are both slightly too far away for it to make sense. When I get the chance to explore more the other parts of the city I will definitely look for it. I have never seen a legit fully robed monk before, with the shaved head and all. It was just super interesting... we shall see....

Canciones y Programas

So yesterday I was unwinding after a long and very eventful Friday night, watchin' some boob tube in the ole Spanish casa, when I happened upon the movie Legally Blonde. Watch that in Spanish sometime, its hilarious! The movie is shot in English, and the language is changed, so there are just voice overs of all the characters but you can watch their mouths moving in English and out of sync with the Spanish words. It really is a trip... then today the madre and I watched The Devil Wears Prada, which wasn't so much funny as just intriguing, like it was a soap opera or something. This morning when I got up, I watched Sex and the City, which in Spain is referred to as Sexo en Nueva York. I love that show, and watching it in Spanish was great :) Besides the TV and movies, which many of are American made, the music that is played in stores and at clubs is mostly American too. Maybe I am just going to the wrong places haha but for the most part, I hear English songs everywhere! its funny to go to the clubs and see everyone there dancing to songs that we have been dancing to for months.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Okay, so I'm not sure whether or not the people I am referring to are rich, and I'm almost positive that none of them are exactly famous... but I have noticed that many people  here drive what would be considered a 'nice' car  in the US. I am talking about BMW's, Ferrari's, and Audi's. They aren't exactly common, but much more visible here among common people than in the US. Its weird to see so many of them roaming around when normally they are reserved for people with a lot of money. Someone told me its probably because they are all foreign made, which I guess hadn't occurred to me before.

Also, REBAJAS is a word that any girl can appreciate (and any guy too, for that matter lol). It means sale, and this time is year is the time for rebajas. Literally, REBAJAS REBAJAS REBAJAS are plastered all over all the sop windows from the upscale Macy's twin El Corte Ingles, to the small shops and boutiques on the side streets. Everything is on sale from January until around March, generally because it's after Christmas. But seriously, over the knee boots, real leather, for only 19,99 euro. Equivalent to about 25 or 30$, I was almost drooling on the boots. Its nuts, but it just means more exploring for me :)

Ole blue eyes

So one interesting (though not really surprising thing) about Spain is that there are very few people here with light colored eyes. Most of the native born Spaniards have brown eyes of one shade or another. De hecho (in fact), one of the native speakers who was helping our group during orientation commented on my eyes and told me that it is very very rare to see someone who is actually from Spain with blue or green eyes. I hadn't really thought about it, but after she brought it up, I noticed that a lot of people look at my eyes before they notice anything else about me. And I think that is how most people know (or assume) that I'm not from around here haha Also, a lot of people here REALLY LIKE Americans. Of course there are those who don't and many people probably think we're kind of stupid at times lol but a lot of people get a lot more friendly when they find out you are a estadounidense (from the US). But honestly, I kind of feel like a celebrity sometimes :) Everyone stares and takes notice of me because I'm different and rather than wearing my sunglasses to hide my eyes - like celebrities normally do - I try NOT to wear them haha Maybe it's going to my head or maybe I am just imagining all of it, who knows? But one thing I do know is that I've never liked one of my features more than I do my eyes now :)

Margarita.

No, I'm not talking about the drink lol although that is good too :) Margarita is the name of my Spanish mother during my stay in Alicante, aka mi madre. Spanish madres are famous for their natures. Typical of Mediterranean lifestyle, they are very sympathetic, caring, and want to feed you. All. The. Time. haha they want to make sure you have everything you could ever want and more. Marga (her nickname) is a 5' nothing woman who MAYBE weighs about 80 lbs. She is sooo cute! Although she is about 60, you would never know. I have noticed (and been told) that the women here in Spain like to keep up with their appearances. They tend to dye their hair, work out, and dress nice almost everyday, with a little bit - or a lot - of makeup, depending on their tastes. Marga looks about 45 haha She is a single mother whose kids are grown and gone. Her daughter, although a couple of years younger, has a son who is only less than 1 year old! He is frickin' adorable as hell. His birthday is in March and Marga said we would celebrate. I can't wait to be here for it :) Her son, who is a couple of years older than his sister, is handsome. He has a girlfriend and although no grandkids yet, both of Marga's children live close so she can be there to help raise her niñitos (grandkids). He is also really into Guns n Roses, and when I told him that was one of my parent's favorite bands, he got really excited and said that's because its one of the BEST bands lol He also speaks really good English because he studied in Ireland. Because it's just the two of us, she tries to give me basically everything that I want. I have my own bathroom and I am living in her daughter's old room. All the families have WiFi (here it's pronounced wee-fee because of the Spanish accent) and so I can get online whenever I need to. She cleans up my room everyday, does my laundry, and had a new shower installed because my bathroom didn't have one. The first day was kinda rough because I was homesick and things were hard to get used to. But now I really enjoy being here. Although it's definitely not HOME, I am coming to think of it as my home away from home.