Four Funny Things

Two weeks ago, a group of choir members, myself included, went out for tapas after choir, as we often do. Two funny things happened within a minutes of each other.

Two nights ago, I was playing with Esperanza, my eight-year-old host sister, and two more funny things happened within minutes of each other.

None of these on its own merited a post, but I decided that the four together are valuable enough to publish.

1.a. My friend Amy and I were talking to Pablo, a very nice, jolly, smiling tenor with whom neither of us had talked before. The topic of discussion was, unsurprisingly for the circumstances, Spanish cuisine. Specifically, everything is fried in Spain. Amy, a Minnesota native, drew the comparison that everything is fried at the Minnesota State Fair. Pablo asked what the Minnesota State Fair is. Amy began explaining it (in Spanish, of course): “Well, everyone brings their pigs and their cows...” Pablo interjected, “To fry?” Laughter ensued.

1.b. The subject still on Minnesota, Pablo mentioned mid-west accents. This shifted to general American English pronunciation, and the words that Americans destroy (e.g. “written”). This was Pablo’s cue to burst into song (in English, this time): “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on KI’ENS. We all joined in. Pablo took center stage when we arrived at the chorus: “When the shark bites, when the bee stings...” More laughter ensued. I hope shark bites aren’t one of those everyday annoyances in Spain! “Aw, not again!!” I walked home that night laughing, remembering both of Pablo’s fine lines.

2.a. I arrived home after a day of classes to a chaotic scene at home. The puppy was running around and squealing, as was Esperanza. Esperanza decided that we would play doctor. She asked me what hurts. Without thinking, I told her the truth: my left knee. She proceeded to pick up my water bottle and slam it down on my poor knee, I think to “test my reflexes.” This was amusing to me because it was sooooo painful, yet so avoidable.

2.b. After drawing a scar onto my knee, Esperanza transformed into my teacher. She was assigning me homework with help from my current book, “Bridget Jones Sobrevive” (book two). Flipping through, Esperanza selected Spanish words for me to translate into English. I was really hung up on the third word, which sounded like “shah-RON” or something. Giving up, I asked Esperanza to show me the written word. It was “Sharon,” the name of one of Bridget’s friends. Jajaja!