DIA 339... 7 de junio 2011

Today we took a little field trip to the "Mercat (market) de Tarragona" in place of our culture class. For a person who can barely touch a boneless, skinless chicken breast to throw it on the George Foreman, this place was basically torture. Big, fat, meaty pig legs longer than my torso and links of chorizo hanging from every stand. Whole skinned rabbits (conejos) stacked in a big pyramid staring at you with their big beady eyes from inside their glass prisons pleading "please give me back my skin and let me frolcik in the meadows". Also, a wide variety slimey fish and other marine animals (like sepia, squid, octopus, and sting rays)laying on ice.Everywhere you looked, pig ears and feet, big juicy cow tongue, and an endless supply of shiny internal organs like liver, stomach, and intestines just waiting to be consumed. Maybe 1 stand out of 10 sold some type of cheese, rice, fruit, veggie, or nut but for the most part, big stacks of animal flesh everywhere. I could hardly concentrate on the questions we had to answer about the market but it did provide incentive to finish as quickly as possible. I took as many pictures as possible before I started to feel nauseas. I couldn't bear take a pictures of los pobres conejos. Que triste.
For translation class we were "priveleged" to have the "honor" of hearing the "world renowned" and "leading expert in translations" Dr. Anthony Pym come speak with us. The words in quotes are just some of the choice words our professor used to introduce our speaker today. Needless to say, our professor may or may not be slightly obsessed with this Anthony Pym character. All jokes aside, he was a pretty smart aussie.
Finally after spanish class and lunch I returned home to find my underwear in all the colors of the rainbow folded and stacked neatly on my bed. First off, let me tell you that apparently people don't wear colorful underpants over here, which if you ask me is just boring. Second, I have made it 3.5 weeks of my 4 week stay here without Elena doing my laundry. Everytime she says "si tienes ropa sucia puedo lavarlas por ti!" I just respond with a "oh ok thanks, I'll throw them in later". I have managed to sneak my laundry in and out with the rest of the family's just so she wouldn't have to see my unmentionables.. until today. I realize she is a mom and she's seen plenty of underpants before but I just wanted to save her the akwardness of folding a 21 year old stranger's underpants. Oh well. I'm cool with it. Thanks ELENA!