Rock and Roll... ¿Spain?

After over a year sweating and bitching in Mali, I have finally left for a vacation of sorts. I arrived in Madrid 3 days ago and have been enjoying every aspect of it. It is seriously like coming out of a coma or prison; everything tastes better, smells better, feels better... Life is just that much better in Spain. Walking near Parque Buen Retiro this morning I caught a wiff of freshly cut grass and couldn´t help but reach down for a handful of it. Fresh cut grass is so incredibly nice when you haven´t smelled it in over a year. As you can imagine, there isn´t much fresh cut grass in Mali. Also, I have seen two baseball games (neither of which were very good), eaten more good food than one can imagine (therefore spent too much money already), and enjoyed the weather to it´s fullest. People are walking around Madrid complaining about the heat, but to me, it´s like a calm spring day. I survived the Malian hot season, right?

Right now I am killing time waiting for a midnight bus to Malaga where I will hopefully see a bullfight or two. As of now, I have no plans for when I arrive. Looking for hostels and hotels online, I could only find places for $40 plus a night. That´s way above my budget. But, not to fear, I´ve got my tent and some blankets and I can lock my bag up in the bus station terminal if necessary. If I can´t find a campsite, I´ll crash on the beach. Either way it´s gonna be an adventure. After Malaga I want to get to a town called Alora where I can go rock climbing at El Chorro, but that means actually finding someone to climb with. Or I can just go bouldering alone but that´s not nearly as fun. From Malaga-Alora I take a ferry to Melilla, Morocco and meander down to Casablanca where I meet up with Erica on the 22nd. It´s a ways off, but I will definitely be filling the time with some fun and adventure.

My language ability is so messed up right now. I can understand nearly everything that is said to me in Spanish, but actually formulating responses is practically impossible. I have this mix of Fulfulde, Bambara, Najamba and French running through my mind pushing English and Spanish all around. I tried to convert some money from Central Africa the other day and I must have gave the dude responses in at least 3 languages, which just confused me so I have no idea what it did to his head. Plus I am so Malian it hurts now. I refuse to do anything with my left hand even though it is completely acceptable here. The problem is that the faux-pas is so ingrained into me that I can´t let it go. To make matters worse, I am continually clicking for agreement, and making all those wierd Malian noises that happen in conversation or just general activities. Say a plate comes to the table, I, without thinking, emit one of two phrases... ´´Waaaallaahhh´´ or ´´uhh huuuuhhh!´´ It´s really quite embarrassing that I can´t stop this.

I am trying to drop these Malian characteristics for the time being, but it´s hard. Attempting to focus on solely Spanish has been difficult as well, but also rewarding. I picked up a English-Spanish dictionary the other day and it has helped tremendously. I spent about 3 hours wandering through the Prado Museum today with my dictionary in hand trying to figure out what was written under each painting. I gotta say, I amaze myself with how quickly I can learn and relearn languages... it´s just fun.

I had this new idea lately. I need to learn Arabic in order to ensure an awesome job in the future. I could work for the State Dept or some other agency and study Middle Eastern affairs and the ways of terrorism. This would first require learning Arabic in an intensive setting, studying Islam in all its forms, learning Middle East policy, etc. This is just an idea that has been mulling through my head, but I like where it´s heading. We´ll see where I can take it after the Peace Corps. If there is some agency that will invest time in me to learn Arabic than I believe I could do it and do it well. Plus, having this Peace Corps background proves that I am willing to stick it out, learn languages and not be afraid to use them and generally work through a whole slew of difficulties. Anyone got any ideas for how I can get this started?

Hasta Luego!