It´s amazing how much mine and Daniela´s Spanish has improved. I´ve probably spoken more in the last 5 days than in my entire life, which makes since since I live in the US, but shit, I studied it for three years of college! I guess that just goes to show how crappy the system of learning language is back in the States.
It is so very cool to hear little kids speaking in Euskara here. In the US, you only hear old people mumble it or say it very fast, or you can sometimes here it spoken by middle-agers or people my age, but to have it be the norm for kids, ah, what a dream! Today we went to Leketio, and there is a spot at the port where waves crash over the stone wall onto the sidewalk, and there was a group of summer camp kids clustered at the edge, screaming "o-la-tu-a! o-la-tu-a!" ("waves! waves!)
I´ve learned several words that have come up in conversation, and now I know enough Spanish so that when someone describes them in spanish, I get the idea. Words I´ve learned:
vostillo (or bostillo, I´m not sure) = pocket
vagón = rail car (on a train)
tíza = chalk
pelma = person who talks too much (this crazy guy we met in the street told us about his entire life story and how he traveled all over the US.... old people here are way cooler)
neba = (in Euskara) the brother of a girl. ...... the sister of a boy is called arreba, the sister of a girl is ahizpa, and the brother of a boy is anaia.
And, for the first time in my life, when people talk about my Spanish, they say "bueno, ella se defiende," that is, I can defend myself in Spanish. To defend... well, words do have power I suppose.
