Saturday, April 2, 2011

Hambre vs. Hombre

Hola from Alicante, Espana!  I arrived Thursday, the 30th around 7pm and have been going like a whirlwind ever since.  It's been so busy with the sunbathing, and the eating, and the siestas.  I'm just kidding...a little.  Here is a map of Spain and the location of Alicante:

Alicante is located on the Costa Blanca along the Mediterranean Sea.


And here is a little glimpse of this neighborhood of Alicante out my bedroom window at 8 am:

Notice the palm trees.

More photos to come in the future.  Anyway, everything is going very well here so far.  Flights were good, Borja's family is amazing; so hospitable and welcoming.  And I've gotten myself all signed up for a Spanish language course at the University here.  This is very exciting since the language gap here is quite large.  Borja is fluent in English, thank goodness, and I can communicate pretty well with the rest of his family between their little bits of English, and my teeny tiny tidbits of Espanol.  When Borja's not here to translate, it usually turns into a game of charades with some English and Spanish thrown in.
I'd been doing some research for my trip by watching Mario Battali and Gwenyth Paltrow's PBS series Spain: On the Road Again.  Basically, Mario and Gwenyth, and two other companions, drive around Spain and eat.  Sounds like a good time to me!  Anyway, I had often heard the phrase on the show "Tengo mucho hambre," meaning, "I have much hunger," or, "I am very hungry."  Having had 2 hours of sleep out of 26 hours, when Borja asked me if I was hungry, which I was only a little, I replied, "Estoy pequeno hombre."  Translation: I am a little man.  He got a good laugh out of that one for about...two days.  Hope you did too.

Thanks for reading,
Alicia


3 comments:

  1. Well my little man, I am glad to hear you are having a wonderful time so far! We watched "Eat Pray Love" last weekend, so I'm imagining you in that scene where she's savoring some spaghetti in Italy- except its you, and paella! Enjoy and keep the updates coming!

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  2. Good thing you had lots of practice in Cranium in your youth!

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  3. I love this! I'm insanely jealous of you right now! I'm teaching Spanish at JD and whenever I talk with students about how to say, "I am hungry" they always get a kick out of your little slip-up- "I am/I have man" haha :) enjoy your time, and i'm going to continue to truly enjoy reading your blog and living vicariously through you :)

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