Nikola and Adela

In Central Europe, the Devil, an Angel and Mikulaš, or St. Nicholas to us, come a-knocking on the night of December 6th. Children must sing a song to the trio, while the Devil watches, slinging a chain around menacingly. The angel hovers, and I guess is supposed to be reassuring. My father, who spent one year of his childhood in Austria, tells a story of being left in the car with his brothers on this night. The devil came by and howled at them, trying to open the car doors. All three characters started rocking the car back and forth. Luckily the doors were locked. Terrifying. Really.

In English lesson and or hour of pantomime and minorly English games, we make masks. "Sarah is scissors?" Adela asks. She doesn't seem to know any other verb in English besides the third person form of To Be. "Sarah, Nicole is scissors!" (Frown). Nicole meanwhile is pasting a child's foot into the sack that her Devil is carrying. "In his sack, small childrens," she cackles (Big smile). Let's just say Disney hasn't gotten a hold of the story of Mikulaš yet.

Madrid in November

Madrid in November. Cold. The Spanish of Spain is like snakes, all this "thhh". My Slovakian friend Zita lives in a cupboard and learns Spanish at an anarchist squat, and the rest of her classmates are Russian. "Thita," the instructor would say to her. The Russians squawked and laughed. We went to a sandwich shop near the museum. Hair of the dog, you can order a cana (that is can-ya by the way), which is a small beer, and they give you a tiny plate of something. Mussels, chorizo, bread. "Order the escalope," said Zita, "It means scallops." A sandwich arrived, stuffed thick with deep fried pork. "Woops," said Zita. The barman wrapped it and we gave it to a thin old man, begging on the corner of Retiro Park. 'Grathias!" He said, a look of joy on his face. This surprised me, cuz once I tried to give a French Canadian begging some maple sugar candy he looked disgusted. Maybe he didn't like sweets. When I had a look at the Presidential Palace, there was a street violinist playing the theme song from Titanic. Mucho Dramatico.