¿Quien es tu?

I have been in Spain for two days now. Things have already been eventful. On my first day in Mentrida, I ran into “La Loca,” or, from what I have persumed, the designated “town crazy.” As you can probably guess, our meeting was anything but dull.

When the prinicpal of my school came to pick me up from the aiport, he took me to a local restaurant to have lunch (or comida). In case you didn´t know, there are four meals in Spain: “desayuno, almuerzo, comida y cenar.” Desayuno is breakfast. This usually takes place around 8 or 9 in the morning. I woke up too late today to actually experience desayuno but when I do, I will be sure to report what the customary desayuno consists of.

Almuerzo is a snack that you have before lunch. This happens around 11 or 12 in the afternoon. Comida is lunch. This meal tends to be one of the biggest meals of the day and usually happens around 1 or 2 p.m. Finally, cena is dinner which is pretty simple and it happens around 8 or 9 p.m. Last night, for cenar, me and my host family had french bread and a few pieces of meat (one of them was bacon, the other was a tasty piece of pork that looked like a mix of ham and salami).

Contrary to popular belief, comida is not the time that everyone has a siesta. Actually, I´ve heard from some of the locals that siesta isn´t really observed in this town. Yes, things close earlier but there isn´t necessarily a time when people take a long break and then return to work. People usually eat lunch for an hour and either 1) leave for the day or 2) go to lunch for an hour and return to work. My work day ends at 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday. At 1 p.m. everyone eats lunch at the school and then we all go home.

Now that I´ve covered that, I can tell you about my ¨comida¨experience con “La Loca.” Once again, my director took me out to a local restaurant during comida my first day in Mentrida. As soon as I hit the door all eyes were on me, but thankfully no one approached me with any questions. In a way, I had expected there to be some confusion because of the previous research I had done on the town. Even still, my pricincipal warned me on the way to Mentrida from the airport. He light heartedly mentioned that people would be staring and wondering “ what he was doing with una negrita (or young black girl)”. Of course, I laughed it off because I had expected that there would be some curiosity but it seems that I underestimated some of the locals or ,I should say, one in particular.

Once we were seated, my director ordered the customary wine and gaseon (which is carbonated water mixed with wine to make it taste more like champagne). Then, he excused himself to go to the restroom and wash his hands. As soon as he left the table, an older woman came up to me. As you can imagine she was a little fiesty thing. I should have know something was about to happen when I first saw her tiny frame and huge, nose scrunching glasses.

As soon as the coast was clear, she walked over to me, peeped over her glasess and uttered, “¿quien es tu (who are you)?” From there, the questions started coming. It was like a speed marathon.

She wanted to know who I was, if I had married the director, where I was living, who I was living with, what was I doing in the town, etc, etc., etc. I could tell from her line of questioning that she had made it her personal goal to find out who exactly I was. Being that I was nervous and my spainsh is weak compared to theirs, she quickly became frustrated with my simple answers and immediately started in on my director when he came back to the table. Once they started going back and forth, I awkwardly sat in my seat, watching as they talked about me. Thankfully, they talked very fast and I didn´t know exactly what they were saying. Judging from both of their expressions, It was better that I didn´t comprehend all of it.

After she finally left, I told my director the things she had said and he assured me not to worry about her because she was “La Loca,” or the crazy lady. Outside of “La Loca” everyone has been pretty nice, but I have a feeling that this isn´t the last I have seen of “La Loca”.

Lluego Amores,
Mitzi