Warming Up

It has gotten cold here! Well, not Minnesota-cold, but cold nonetheless. Cold enough that I have had to take action. One such action was the purchase of a new coat. It is from Zara, it makes me feel classy, it is warmer than my old coat, and if you are interested I am willing to talk about it at much greater length. Another action in the war against the temperature? The mulling of wine. Yum. And what a great verb "mull" is, let's try to use that one more often.

Another good way to warm up is in the glow of friendship. That's right, I said it. And on that topic I feel like I'm starting to actually have Spanish friends! I mean really we are still hovering around acquaintance-ville (population: many) but this weekend I had this nice feeling of actual friendship, based on conversations that plumb below service level pleasantries. I'm really excited by the idea that I can make friends in Spanish! Like, I can express myself well enough in a my second language to seem like a person who is interesting enough to merit full on friendship. Wow. Like, wow.

Also, warming is the glow of impending holiday cheer. I spent today talking to my students about Christmas and in many ways their celebrations sound very familiar to American ears. There is even a Basque Santa Claus named Olentzero. Olentzero seems merry enough, dressed in a traditional Basque outfit, puffing on a pipe and bestowing gifts on well-behaved children, but he is rumored to be a drunk. A drunk! Yeah, so while I was leaving Santa ginger bread cookies, the little Basque children were setting out wine or champagne for Olentzero. Huh.