Big Feet, Short Attention Span

Raining gatos y perros today

BUENOS AIRES, OCTOBER 21

It’s two giant feet for Sam, and two flights of short stairs for Samkind.

For the second time in a month, I have fallen down the stairs.  Last month it was while I was looking at a text message and today when I was looking at my notebook. I was looking at my note so that I could remember the dutifully translated phrase for “did you find my black sweater yesterday?” I recovered my lost sweater (thankfully) from the coffee shop in which I wrote yesterday’s post.  I almost broke my finger last month when I fell down the stairs at Starbucks in Roanoke (there seems to be a coffee pattern here) and today I twisted my ankle, but not so badly that I won’t be able to take my first Tango lesson later.

It’s six hours of Spanish a day now, four hours in a group class in the morning and two hours with a one-on-one instructor in the afternoon.  I am exhausted by all the vocabulary and the grammar thrown at me. I’m sure that it will get better as the weeks go on.

When I went to the shoe store today for some zapatos negros, the saleswoman frowned when I told her my size. She wasn’t sure if she had the Argentine equivalent of an American size 11. When I was a teenager, everyone was sure I would grow into my feet like a puppy, but it didn’t exactly happen.

I am too busy paying attention to the next step to watch the current one. This can be dangerous, but I am THAT MAN, the man of action who laughs–mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha–at danger.

I just hope that I don’t leave my right foot in the coffee shop. I’ll need it for my lesson.