My first day of school

There are schools here that teach foreigners how to speak Spanish, and yesterday I got up and hit the streets to visit some of them. Enrollments begin every Monday, so I went ahead and enrolled in the one closest to me for one week so I could start classes, but after school I set out in the afternoon to see other ones. As soon as I left the school it began raining, and as I was looking for an overhang to dash under, I noticed that I was standing right in front of an umbrella shop. Nothing but umbrellas and walking canes; what are the odds? After getting an el cheapo umbrella, I decided to hop on the metro rather than make the several block hike in the rain to the snazzy neighborhood of Salamanca (not to be confused with the city by the same name). I ran past a very attractive American girl standing on a crate preaching Christianity in the Plaza del Sol, while a local man translated for her, sentence-by-sentence. As I sped down the steps to my train, I wondered if she knew that she was standing in Sponge Bob Square Pants’ spot from the day before. On the metro, I wondered if they ever show up on the same day. I mean, who needs Almodovar?

I was only able to make it to one school yesterday, because a second one wasn’t at the address listed. Not seeing any signage for the second school, I randomly buzzed one of the apartments or offices (I don’t know which) and told the woman that I was looking for such-and –such school at this address, but didn’t see it, and did she know where it was. She just hung up on me! I’ve learned a few Spanish words that one wouldn’t find in the Bible since I’ve been here, but I refrained from using them and went on my way.

Today the weather was clear and beautiful. I went to class in the morning and visited two more schools in the afternoon. Tonight I’ll make a final decision as to which school I’m going to attend. Nothing too exciting today, except for a small case of mistaken identity … I was walking down a street when a couple of attractive young women acknowledged me and smiled. Feeling kinda good that the ol’ boy still had some mojo (must be the hot new leather jacket and dashing black scarf), I finally realized after a third woman did the same, that I was in the red-light district …