Rawhide!

For each section of the day we are given certain idioms and "phrasal verbs" to explain to the Spaniards.  It seems like a simple task, but think about explaining to someone foreign what it means "to be bored to tears" when they might not even know what you mean by "bored".  Some of the phrases we have had so far are:

To add fuel to the fire           To run out of         To write down          To be in one's birthday suit
To stand for                          To clear the air       To turn on
To come to terms with         To put back            Raining cats and dogs

I can't imagine how that last one would come up in a business situation, but who knows?  :-)
The phrases are good for conversation starters, at least, and it also makes you think, as an English speaking person, about how these phrases came to be, and how often we use them without really recognizing how they might be difficult for a foreigner to understand.  

One of the other Anglos is from northern Scotland.  It was a great relief to some of the Spaniards to find out that even the other English speakers have trouble understanding everything she says.  They don't all recognize the difference between a British and an American accent, either.

                 This mural is painted on the outside wall of one of the dining rooms.  No explanation, it's just there.  I'm pretty sure Fidel Castro, Marilyn Monroe, John Kennedy, Evita Peron, Queen Elizabeth and Martin Luther King have not visited here.  And no one has figured out who the guy in the top middle is.

And then there is this one, right around the corner:

                         OK, so.....Prince Charles, right.  But why is he hinged in the middle?  Follow him where, exactly?  No idea.  No else seems to know, either.


Those of us in the "cowboy song" skit had a rehearsal right before lunch.  Turns out we are singing the "Rawhide" song (and Pete promised there would be no singing involved!).  One as-yet-unselected Spaniard will be the sheriff, and when he asks for deputies, we all get up and sing the song.  I'm not sure what the first part of the skit will involve, but we will see.

A group of us went to the store this morning and I stocked up on Coke Light to have in my little room fridge - I'm a happy girl now!  OK, off to one more one-to-one, then the debut of our cowboy song skit.  Haaa!  Rawhide!