Madrid, Spain
Today brought another day of class, and a fascinating afternoon of being glued to my computer screen – working. Instead of just a couple hours, today I was plugged in from about 1pm to 10pm, with breaks for lunch and supper. Oh, and a small commercial break to play with my cell phone, which came in Spanish (and whose meager instruction manual was also in Spanish.) The screen did have a change-language option, the choices of which include the same ones as the ATM machines: Castellano, Catalan, Euskara, Galego. (All the dialects in the regions of Spain.)
The word “castellano” (cahs-tay-YAH-no) comes from “castilla”, or castle.
Professor Sobejano says that no one knows where the language spoken in the Basque region originated. He says although the other “languages” could be considered dialects or at least derivatives, what the Basques speak is as different From Spanish as Chinese is.
Random Facts:
* Juan Carlos helped establish the democracy in Spain.
* Plaza de Colon is Madrid’s largest Square.
* Puerta del Sol has the clock that counts down New Years. (Remember the “grapes” tradition?) It’s also the center of the city, and kilometer point zero for all highways.
Tonight, we went to Palacio, which is a club in what used to be (and arguably, still is) a palace. There’s sculptures, paintings, mirrored walls, and dance floors featuring different music, such as pop or Spanish. It was in this latter room where I got twirled around by a Spanish guy who knew what to do much better than I did. It was also in this room where Alison and I had the good fortune to hear someone other than Hotel Parasol’s Mario play the infamous yodeling song, which, when set to a house beat, was actually quite catchy. (Note: I have since learned that this is a Romanian club song by O-Zone called “Dragostea Din Tei.”)
