Note to self

I made some notes to myself on my first full day  in Spain – you can think of this as a cross-cultural blog today.

It’s a coolish day here in the south of Spain – should only get up to 38 C.  My first night was typically uneventful – if you consider loud dogs and freaked out roosters normal occurrences.  Here is the account of my night.

9 pm – kickoff for the Euro 2012 championship game. Spain vs Italy

9:20 – Spain scores, the entire city roars with cheering, dogs bark in response for 10 minutes, fireworks explode across our valley. This repeats itself three more times as Spain beats Italy 4-0

12 am – Brother-in-Spain sabers a bottle of Cava rosado to celebrate Spain’s win. Note to self – saber a bottle of cava soon – it probably won’t explode in my hand but look up “Emergency room” in my Spanish English dictionary anyway

1 am – in bed, fan set to level 2, it has cooled to a lovely 31 C.

3:30 am – alarmingly, the German Shepherd right next door barks incessantly for 10 minutes. Note to self – look up the Spanish phrase, “Shut up stupid dog”.

5:30 am – 3 roosters attempt to out-crow each other, or they recorded last night’s soccer game and are now watching it together. Note to self – look up a good recipe for Coq au Vin.

7am – Woke up so that I can have espresso when the sun comes up over the mountain.  Google translator tells me that shut up stupid dog is “Cállate estúpido perro”.  Note to self – memorize this phrase. I can look up a Coq au vin recipe tomorrow.

If you haven’t celebrated Spain’s Euro Championship with a bottle of Rosado Cava then do it today – unless you’re Italian