Okay, the highlights of the last week or so….
-I’m taking a class on the famous director Almodóvar and he has a new movie out (premiers in American October 14). It’s called La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In) and I saw it in theaters recently. You should see it and let it mess with your mind Inception-style (although with subtitles you may be a little less daunted than I was). Read about it here (in English). Watch a trailer here. Note: America tends to have a bit (okay, a lot) more censorship than in Spain so it may be edited in theaters for you, but if you're squeamish you may not want to see this..)
-My friend and I made some Rice Krispie Treats last week. However, it was a challenge locating two out of the three ingredients. Therefore, we used Choco Crack, a store brand of Choco Krispies since we couldn’t find regular Rice Krispies, and pink candy marshmallows, since regular marshmallows are hard to find too. Even though we used different ingredients, they turned out really well! I have to say, the chocolate twist is definitely worth repeating! We made them at our friends’ apartment and then took them home to share with our host families. My Spomma adored them, despite her preference for fruit desserts. And get this – she wants the recipe! Turns out these aren’t Trix and they’re not just for kids. (A week and a half later I was able to find marshmallows for 4 euros and bag and regular Rice Krispies. Good to know for next time.)
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| They're pink ovals with white centers. |
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| That's cereal, not raw meat. |
-A met my intercambio (Spanish conversation partner)! She’s from Toldeo (city near Madrid) and studied PR in college, and now works at an advertising agency. She’s just a little older than I am, and we hit it off right away. She’s been studying English since she was three, so she has a bit of a leg up on me, but that’s okay. The whole point is to help each other learn. We met at a terrace bar last Wednesday and talked for over two hours! It was awesome!
-Last night my friend and I decided to tailgate a football game. But not just any football game - the Penn State vs Iowa game! More excitingly, I am the sole Nittany Lion rep in Madrid this semester, and she’s the only Hawkeye. It was awesome! We got tons of snack food and huddled around my laptop in our friends’ apartment. Even our non-Big 10 friends got in on the snack and football action, and we made a night of it. Even though it took the first 35 minutes of the game to get the videos working (and we eventually settled for just audio), it was well worth it. A successful night – and yes, PENN STATE WON!
-My favorite part of every week is weekend meal times with my Spomma. This is when we have the most time to just sit and talk to each other. It’s always so funny and interesting. We can talk about nothing and everything at the same time. Today’s conversation (over some fabulous potato and rib stew type thing) led to discussing hand gestures, figs, hiccups, and tongue twisters. Fantastic.
Examples of a few fun trabalenguas (tongue twisters):
Tres tristes tigres triscaban trigo en un trigal.
Un tigre, dos tigres, tres tigres trigaban en un trigal.
¿Qué tigre trigaba más?
Todos trigaban igual.
Como poco coco como, poco coco compro.
Poquito a poquito Paquito empaca poquitas copitas en pocos paquetes.
