Ghosts in The Attic

My years of experience traveling taught me to come prepared for unusual situations. This proved very useful as I finally broke down and took the antibiotics I stowed away in case of an emergency. Only after I started to feel immensely better did I find farmacias that contained medicines I was even remotely familiar with.

Oh well, lesson learned. Another lesson I have learned is that despite my enthusiasm for speaking and just throwing words out haphazardly hoping they fall close to the topic I’m trying to convey, I have no comprehension of Spanish. I confidently plan my sentence or question and throw it out into the void only to be met with words in a pace so unbelievably foreign to my ears that my face blanks and my brain factory resets. It’s at that moment people tend to either stare at me looking for signs of a stroke, or they shrug and switch to English.

Either way I successfully exchange words or transactions. Maybe not seamlessly, but communication is communication, no matter how rudimentary it is.

Communication has made me realize some things about myself that maybe I didn’t want to acknowledge. I’ve leaned heavily on being the funny one, with witty one liners and flamboyant storytelling; a product of trying to seem more likable with a personality that is peculiar and often at odds with others. This is a crutch that I have immediately lost. My stories have been reduced to simple anecdotes riddled with imperfect grammar and verbs that may or may not be correct.

This personality trait, or flaw depending on how you see it reminded me what a loner I am. How do you fit in with a group that’s young enough to be your kids without pulling a Steve Buscemi, a reference that also shows my age.

I rely on anecdotes, ridiculous storytelling and constant jokes hoping that I can make some kind of connection with literally anyone; something that has mostly eluded me my whole life.

Everyone wants to go to bars and play sports, I’m off taking pictures and getting hyped about birds unknown to me. When weighing the options of going on an excursion with a whole group our going out and looking at neat rocks, I’m effectively going to choose rocks. I mean it’s kind of part of my degree.

I have regaled random facts and shown as many people as would listen all my points of interest I’ve meticulously curated over the past year. Maybe it will stick with someone here and they will find it interesting too.

As far as life goes living with a host family or on my case person, it’s been fascinating, unfamiliar, and frustrating. First of all, the lack of air conditioners in Spain leaves much to be desired. I do not think I have ever drank this much water nor sweated as much as I have here. It’s obscene. Expect if you come to Spain in July to just be a puddle of your own sweat and humidity indefinitely.

It’s frustrating wanting to talk to someone in a full conversation and being unable to. It’s strange wondering what the rules of the house are and if you are committing an unwritten faux pas without even knowing it. I find it funny that I was told that people are really considerate of their neighbors, LOL ok… maybe somewhere, but I’m in noise central where everything and every sound is deafening. If it weren’t for noise cancelling headphones I’d panic.

Between the heat and the noise I am feeling pretty out of my element here. Maybe that will change with time.