i rented a car!!!

i rented a car!!!! it´s periwinkle blue. a nissan (model type not sold in the usa, with a name like "minor" or "rollerskate" or something). driving here is challenging because, among other things, you can´t find a fucking street sign anywhere. i mean when you´re walking they have small street signs (periodically) up on the sides of the buildings but when you´re driving and dodging the pedestrians and motorcycles and double-parked cars, it´s nuts. and just try to find a parking space. it´s a great metaphor for navigating the language as well. you´re dodging direct objects and verb disagreement and mixed up gender articles. trying to turn on calle de subjunctive without ending up on a one way irregular street. and just try and find a vocabulary word when you need one.

still, i´m thrilled to have a car!! and it´s airconditioned, praise the lard!!

i managed to find my way over to meet my friend bill near his apartment. only had to turn around two or three times (which almost qualifies me for a magellan award). we decided that i´d pick him up tomorrow morning and we´ll head off to the medieval city of alberca. it´s about an hour away in the sierra de francia mountains.

i also got bill to call a place that i´m interested in renting during july (bill is one of the spanish professors with our group and he can understand the spoken spanish word via telephone--something that will take me ages to accomplish). hopefully the landlord will call me back soon, and hopefully, i´ll understand half of what he says so i can go look at it. it´s in the center of town, near the university. i just hope that it´s not way too noisy or too skanky. but i won´t know, until he calls. i´m crossing my fingers...

no matter where i find a place, i am definitely going to get a fan. it´s hard as hell to sleep in this heat.

i had a dream about mongo (our last remaining, geriatric pet cocker spaniel) last night! strange but sweet. i was carrying him around and he was all sweet and content. must be homesick to start dreaming about the livestock, eh?

now i´m off to do some homework. it´s conditional (the form of grammar, not the decision to do the homework).