Yesterday (and two bonus movie reviews!)

So my first transatlantic flight was a success. Despite flying's obvious drawbacks (i.e. the terrible airline food, the unfortunate proximity to gassy and/or loud strangers, and the near impossibility of sleep), the whole thing is still novel enough that I don't mind it. I even kind of enjoyed my six hour flight, especially takeoff and landing. Oh, and turbulence. Turbulence is fun; for me, it reinforces the idea that I'm moving at high speeds way up in the sky, and not just sitting still in a cramped room full of people I don't know.

On the plane, I watched Easy A, because it came recommended to me by a couple friends. I was kind of hoping for another Mean Girls, but Mean Girls it is not. The movie goes on and on, forever and ever, and characters appear and disappear like crazy. Seriously, there are like a billion characters you're supposed to keep track of and, presumably, care about. Also approximately 90% of the movie is "witty" banter that doesn't further the plot, so you'll have to be able to stomach that. And I think there was supposed to be some sort of social commentary about religion and sex, but it got buried under heaps and heaps of inane dialogue and I really couldn't be bothered to dig it up.

Anyway, I arrived in Madrid at around seven in the morning (that would be about one in the morning for you New Yorkers). From there, I took a bus (only 2 euros!) to the train station, where I had to sit and wait for my 12:30 train to Cádiz. I was what my dad refers to as "overtired" and I couldn't stop laughing/crying; I think the nun sitting next to me thought I was nuts.

I allowed myself to sleep on the four hour train ride to Cádiz, but I awoke every now and then to catch glimpses of some Twilight movie that was playing in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. I'm not sure which one it was; maybe if I describe it, those who've seen it can tell me. From what I could gather, the writers decided to forgo plot in favor of characters (someone should have told them that these two things are not mutually exclusive!) who basically just stood around in the snow, talking to each other and occasionally making out. There was a scene that tentatively approached being almost exciting, in which a guy named Jake (who was incredibly anti-shirt for some reason) turned into a poorly animated wolf and bit off some vampire dude's hand. In order keep awesomeness to a minimum, the writers made the executive decision that vampires don't bleed. 

Once in Cádiz, I met my host mother, Carmen, and her 19-year-old son, Isidro. We took a cab from the train station to their home, which is on the fourth floor of a building near the sea (most buildings are near the sea in Cádiz). Carmen warned me that her husband, Rafa, had been in a car accident and had needed a tracheotomy, but she reassured me that he was "perfecto" now. Isidro helped me lug my suitcase up the many stairs leading to their abode and introduced me to Rafa, who immediately took me on a tour of the house, including the electric water heater in the kitchen and the internet cable that he had installed along the base of the walls. I had a hard time understanding him, but more due to my rusty Spanish, I think, than the tracheotomy. He is a stupendously friendly man with a passion for Audrey Hepburn--his room, which was also included in the tour, is adorned with Audrey posters and pillows.

After dinner at around ten (which I'm told is the normal time for dinner in Spain), I hit the hay because I was still exhausted. I thanked my host family for everything and in what must have been the first English I had heard all day, Rafa wished me "happy dreams."

UPDATE: Here's a good example of what I mean by "rusty Spanish." Carmen is the one who likes Audrey Hepburn. But Rafa is still stupendously friendly... man, did I really use the word "stupendously"?