Affluent

I love the word affluent right now, because it can be linguistically twisted to mean different things, and dissected to explain what's going on with me right now. The dictionary definition of the word means, as a noun: to have large sums of money, and oddly, it's use in a sentence in the dictionary is "Only the affluent can afford to travel abroad".

Hmmm, Let's see. I travel abroad a lot and I don't necessarily have large sums of money - debt, but not money. Haha.

Next, you have the word 'fluent' somewhere in there. By the time I complete my studies here in Spain, I'd better be close to fluent in Spanish. And I'm sorry... I will not start lisping my Ss, Zs, and Ds. Seriously, it doesn't sound right and I've watched the mouths of Spaniards when they speak... it's almost as if they make an effort to force their tongue between their teeth in order to make that lispy sound. I don't like it. The Spanish here, however, is in fact "proper Spanish", but when I get back to the States, I don't want to sound "snooty". That is, in fact, how other Spanish speakers view Castilian Spanish, snooty. If I end up staying in Spain, I'll have to deal with it. Nothing is really endearing about hearing Spaniards talk as if their mouths are full of food or with their tongues hanging out of their mouths. With girls, it sounds very ugly, and it makes guys sound like they're gay.

Also, in the word 'affluent', you have the word 'flu'. Yup, I think I caught it the other day. I woke up yesterday with a very sore throat, but it was snowing yesterday! Very nice and calmly, too. My Italian roommate, Silvia, loves snow. She was very excited. She talked me into going to Retiro Park, and I'm glad I did... it was fun, lots of people, snow ball fights, snowmen, but Oh did I pay for it later when all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep for 3 days. I rarely get sick, and I've learned from past experiences that when I do start to get sick, I'd better take care of myself quickly and attentively. I don't need to end up in a hospital, again.

Thankfully, Silvia had some medicine. Let me tell you... the medicine here is awesome. And apparently Socialism is evil. You can get prescription strength meds at the Farmacia for very reasonable prices, and you don't have to see the doctor! I took some stuff last night equivalent to Sudafed, I think, and some 750 mg Ibprofen. I went to bed last night at 8pm in la-la land, and slept 12 hours. I woke up feeling much better, sore throat gone, my strength returned, but still a bit dizzy with a slight cough, and stuffed sinuses. I think it's all because of my body adjusting to the time change, weather, different food, etc. Thankfully even more so, I'll be better once classes start on Monday. Unfortunately, I canceled my trip to Toledo, Spain today. Oh well, I'm here for quite some time, and better weather is around the corner.

Back to bed after I get some tea. A luego!