The successful purchase of nail clippers

Words of the day:

cortauñas: fingernail clippers
memorizar: to memorize
acento: accent

It´s cliché, but you don´t quite appreciate all the little things you use from day to day until you go without them. Today I walked, in the rain, to the local market in search of fingernail clippers. I left the house without knowing what the word for "fingernail clippers" was, but it seemed like one of those objects for which the pantomime is probably close to universal. Fortunately, the market contained a little stall in which fingernail clippers were prominently displayed behind some plexiglass, so all I ultimately had to do was point. Probably the most exciting part of this little excursion is that, apart from the fingernail clippers (which I will now be able to name with confidence), I knew the words for every object I wanted to buy. Toothpaste, toothbrush, bag. Okay, the list isn´t very impressive, but I managed to ask for them all in complete sentences, and to understand the total cost as spoken by the shopkeeper, a girl probably no older than 13. A rousing success, I think, even if it doesn´t make for a very compelling blog post.

Last night I went out for drinks with one of the other students in the language school, who was staying with my host family before and briefly with me. We met some very nice Irish people, on the road for about three months now. At several points during the evening I found myself wishing, not for the first time and probably not for the last time, that I was Irish. Among other reasons, they are almost invariably warm and welcoming people, and they have the best accent in the world. The word "film," for example, has two syllables in Irish-accented English. Fil-um. Say it fast. See? Don't you suddenly feel like having a pint of Guinness?

As a consequence of being out carousing, or at least what passes for carousing with me, last night, I utterly failed to memorize the long, long list of Spanish words my instructor gave me yesterday morning. I therefore failed to shine in the daily quiz she gives me. However, I recovered a little by displaying a solid understanding of many irregular verbs. A solid C on the day, I think.

Tonight I´m going with my family to their daughter´s home for dinner, possibly followed by more carousing. This weekend I´m planning on joining a tour group out to some nearby Incan ruins, so I´m pretty excited about that.

Hope all is well back home!