Barack Obama en Español

Last night, Emily and I really wanted to see Obama's speech at the democratic convention. So, we asked around, and I was assured by one of my teachers that we would be able to find the speech on cable (which we have at our residence). We decided that if that didn't work, we would go out to one of the more American-oriented bars and convince them to turn it out.

Well, we lucked out and found the speech. It was being broadcast live on CNN. Unfortunately, it's the Mexican CNN network, and not the American version being broadcast here. The result? Everything was translated into Spanish. Not subtitled, mind you, but dubbed. So, last night, Emily and I got to enjoy Obama's speech, but we did so by trying to make out what Obama was saying beyond the much louder voice of the translator, and when that failed, by listening to the translation and hoping that our Spanish was up to snuff. Actually turned out to be decent practice for our Spanish skills.

Earlier yesterday, Emily and I went out to lunch at one of the more local establishments that we've so far visited. There is a wide range of eateries around here--some are nice restaurants meant for tourists, some are taco stands meant more for tourists but cheaper than the nice restaurants (e.g., Señor Tacombi), some are relatively clean looking local restaurants, and some are questionable-looking holes in the wall. We're being careful to eat in the places that look clean, but the local places are much cheaper, so we ventured into one that looked reasonably safe. We were quite pleasantly surprised with our meals: two orders of the day's special, which were chicken fajitas served with white rice and black beans and some chips in a sweet Yucatecan sauce. The owner also offered us a local iced tea, on the house, made of something pink that we still haven't identified but which tasted great. So, adventuresome eating choice number one: success!

Moving even further backwards in time, Wednesday night the school hosted a social night at a local bar. There were a ton of people there, and it was mostly a good time, but it was as hot as, well, Playa del Carmen in the bar and there was no air conditioning to abate the heat. They had fans, but they didn't do much to help. We mostly enjoyed ourselves while we lasted (Emily was a little frustrated because she ended up next to a student who is nice but who speaks only English, making it difficult to achieve the purpose of practicing our Spanish), but before long we wilted from the heat and went home to our pleasant, air-conditioned room.

In other news, Emily has gotten a temporary gym membership at a place a block from our school so that she can go to spinning classes several days a week. From what she tells me, she likes the class even though she can't always understand the instructor (understanding yelled Spanish is even tougher than understanding Spanish spoken in normal tones), and the gym either lacks air-conditioning or their A/C is weak, because the spinning room is apparently very, very hot.

Also on the subject of exercise, Emily and I have been doing a lot of stretching, mostly for my benefit, because I am the least flexible person in the world, and given my recently-acquired interest in capoeira, I need to gain some flexibility. Well, last night, just before Obama's speech, with my legs straight out in front of me and without bending my knees, I, Michael Areinoff, touched my toes. It's true! I really did! This may not excite you all very much, but it's a very big moment for me, and I'm looking forward to making further progress on the flexibility front.

Last amusing thing: in my class this morning, I learned polite ways to say burp, vomit, and various other things. My favorite is the polite way of saying you have to vomit, which in Spanish is normally the straightforward vomitar. Polite version: volver el estómago. Which literally means, return one's stomach. Polite? I guess so. Colorful? Oh, yes.

Tomorrow we're off to visit the ruins at Cobá. We'll post again sometime later this weekend.