an email to dad
yeah, i saw the desk. the pictures were good. that was an ambitious project and it’s awesome that you’re all finished with it now, and the desk of course looks really great. i bet mom’s pretty happy with it.
a tortilla shortage…i have no idea. all i can say is if it’s raising taco prices a few cents…i haven’t noticed. my personal mexican reality goes…ah crap there’s a mexican saying…something like…”they’ll tell you the whole fair went as well as they did at the games”…like, if you win your girl a big teddy bear, the fair was great, if you weren’t so lucky, the fair was shit…anyway i’m trying to say i’ve had good days and bad days here, mostly independent of tortilla prices. mostly independent.
my first week of spanish is over. my second week is going well. i have a set of index cards in my lap because this week i’m focusing on vocabulary. the four years of spanish meant almost nothing my first couple weeks here but now i’ve kind of harnessed all the vocabulary and grammar that was sleeping in my head, and i can use it in conversation, in a store, telling a story at my conversation table, dancing in a club, wherever. it’s awesome. where before there was a sound like excited birds chirping in the street, now there are conversations happening all around me. and about me. and with me. it’s great.
the trip is turning into everything i dreamed it would be, but there was a woman in it who’s here now in flesh and blood, and maybe it’s not such a good idea to dream about a person for two years as it is to dream about an adventure. i told her i appreciated everything but we were more than friends before. she said it’s been a long time since spain. i’m heartbroken…that’s all. i’ve never felt that way before. i’ll keep my heart on my sleeve because i think i like it there, but it’s going to sting for a while. i thought about getting drunk after she told me that, but i know better from listening to country songs. and that’s where i’m at with that.
going back home to work on my vocab and get some dinner. oh! tell mom to put a pushpin in cancun. i’m going there march 2. between cuernavaca and cancun, i really don’t know for sure, but my friend has already bought a flight to cancun and we’re traveling together for two weeks. anyway, lots of love from your son…and…i haven’t spoken to you in such an honest voice since october…or before, i don’t know. i don’t know why i did it now. probably the heartbreak thing. anyway i enjoyed writing you this way and i hope you enjoy reading it. maybe i’ll have to do it again sometime.
love
phil
Tags: Travel
phillipao
February 1st, 2007 at 11:49 am
I love reading about all of your adventures, Phil! It is supposed to be below zero this weekend in Chicago, and I asked Ed for a plane ticket to meet you in Cancun. I got a dirty look, but I told him I could be your winggirl!
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:11 am
amanda, i think you’d make a good wingperson, and we do have positions available. but the beef bus to beachtown is pulling out of the station and you’re still dreaming about tickets! a huevo! andale!