First off, the foot is in excellent shape. Never better. Or maybe better at some point, but it's really feeling perfectly well in all respects, with the exception that the scar where they hacked me open is pretty stiff and weird feeling. I should be rubbing it regularly to loosen up the tissues underneath, but it's not worth the effort, or else I just don't remember to do it often enough. I have in fact been running about 15 miles a week on this foot, wich isn't great, but isn't bad either. Since I haven't found anyone willing to invite me into their soccer team, this is my best exercise for now.
And speaking of soccer, Portugal lost (well, tied, but lost, if you get my meaning) to Albania yesterday in their fourth qualifying match for the World Cup. I'm resigning myself to the very strong possibility that they will be missing out on the 2010 event, so if you have any suggestions for teams that are generally enjoyable to watch and at the same time not despicable people, let me know.
We just got back to Mérida from Salamanca on Sunday evening, and I must say that, despite the high volume of U.S. and other foreign nationals in the city (myself included for those few days:), Salamanca is actually a very interesting and comfortable city. Therefore, it comes highly recommended by me to all those seeking a potential out-of-country experience at some point in their Spanish-language-learning careers. So I guess that should be all of us. Based on my very short time there, I found Salamanca to be lively, somewhat expensive-ish in some ways, loud, and terribly confused. See, on the one hand, you have all these thousands upon thousands of university students from all over the world, all partying it up all the time and trying to forget the fact that they're probably supposed to be learning things right now instead of making all kinds of noise in the middle of the night. On the other, you have all the (probably more like hundreds and hundreds of) normal people also living in the city, trying to run shops, go to church (several times a day, it would seem), and just stroll around minding their own business. So from my perspective, you have a nice mix of everything, meaning you could go there and find the out-of-the-way nooks and crannies and just lose yourself in the Spanish culture, which is very much alive in the city. But you could also go there for 9 months and interact with a grand total of maybe 5 actual natives, the rest of your Spanish language experience being limited to the other "Spanish-as-a-second-language" students in your class. I find myself leaning more toward the first option, but maybe that's just because that's exactly where we find ourselves right now, in Mérida where everyone's a native but us. I guess I like Mérida.
I leave you with this thought: how awesome are these new fashion shoes that all the 19th century aristocrats in Spain are buying? I mean, how awesome, right? Jane Austen has to be green with envy at how far society (and fashion) has advanced since her times, and I can't say I blame her--she clearly missed out on some good times. Seriously. It's not clear to me what we should call these things (booties? ankle boots? shoots?), but they're all over the place now so it'd be a good idea for you to do some re-search to avoid being left behind by fashion. It's too late for me, but there's still hope for the rest of you!
