Spain Part 26 – Claudia

[amorousodious]

The title is important to this entry because the world of Lucía and her daughters revolves around this child, and my day did as well.

 

In the morning I got up and went to the store to buy some champú (shampoo) because I was almost out.  When I got back Claudia was already there, and extremely happy to see me.  We played with pastellina (play dough) making tartas (cakes) which is Claudia’s favorite thing to make.  I made some flores (flowers) and a bunch of grapes.  Claudia asked me to teach her how to make a flor but was too impatient and gave up after about 30 seconds.  Instead, she took about 5 different colors of pastellina and squished them all together with the bottom of the container.  She continued to do this until the mix looked brown and disgusting, and then wanted to add more.  I tried to explain to her that we would not be able to separate the colors later, but I don’t think she believed me.  She wasn’t happy when we had to throw her glob away.

 

We had Arroz Cubano for el almuerzo.  For an explanation of what that is, see Spain Part 24.  It’s one of Claudia’s favorite dishes as well apparently.  We watched the movie Thumbelina while we ate, which is called Pulgarcita in Spanish.  I tried to follow the whole thing but I had a hard time with the high squeaky voice of the little girl.  I took a short siesta before Claudia woke me up.  Lucía had me run an errand to the mall for her to return a pair of pants, and when I got back Claudia was watching the Emperor’s New Groove.  This movie was much easier to follow in Spanish since I know it practically by heart in English.  However, Claudia got bored of it very quickly and we played instead with a pelota de fútbol (soccer ball) rolling it back and forth across the floor.  We had switched to a game with the muñeca (doll) in which we were putting it to bed everywhere around the house by the time pasapalabra came on.  We watched the show and ate bocadillos de atún con tomate (tuna and tomato) for la cena while we watched and then I headed to the Locutorio to call Laura on skype.

 

Laura and I had not talked in about a month other than emails and aim, so needless to say we didn’t have a lack of things to say.  I got to see tiki on the webcam, though that just made me miss my pets more than ever.  We talked a little bit about when she Rachel and Melinda are coming to Spain for Spring Break, and unfortunately our chat was cut short because the Locutorio was closing early.  Boo.  It was nice to hear from someone back home anyway though.  

 

 I went back to the casa where Claudia’s parents were dropping off her things so that she could spend the night with her Abu (it’s a nickname for abuela, which means grandmother) because her bedroom is being remodeled.  (Claudia asked for a new bed, and since the one she wanted won’t match the paint in her room they’re repainting the whole thing and buying her matching furniture.  I wasn’t kidding when I said this child was spoiled.)  With much encouragement, including some bribery of sweets, Claudia sang the song that her English teacher taught her for me, ring around the rosy.  Of course then they asked me what the words meant in English and I had to explain that it was figuratively about the black plague, which really isn’t as easy as it sounds.  We understood each other in the end.

 

Claudia’s parents left, and ten minutes later Claudia was supposed to go to bed, but for apparently no good reason (at least no reason that Lucía or I could comprehend) she threw a fit and screamed and cried for 40 minutes straight.  We spent the first 20 trying to calm her down, then the next 20 in another room waiting for her to cry herself to sleep or decide that the fit wasn’t worth it.  She decided it wasn’t worth it after awhile and let me rock her for a little bit before Lucía read her a story.

 

Since it was only midnight, (the clubs in Spain don’t generally get busy until about 3 am) Chrysten, Catherine and I met up and headed out to a bar en calle Turia where they usually have live music.  There was no one playing that night, but we still had fun people watching and such.  On our way there however, we had a bit of an adventure meeting up with some chicos who were out for their amigo’s cumpleaños.  We hung out in the park talking to them for a while, and they wanted us to head over to the Barrio del Carmen with them, but we decided heading somewhere closer to home would be a better idea because we didn’t want to stay out too late.  We parted ways about 3,30 and everyone made it home safe.