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Anecdote from Spain
Oct. 14th, 2007 11:28 amI woke up remembering an amusing incident from Spain, and thought I'd jot it down while I was thinking about it.
We had gone to the Convent of Someone-Who's-Name-I-Forgot just a bit before it opened in the afternoon, but there was already a long line. We got in the line and waited. Just ahead of us were three . . . mature Spanish women.
WIth the sun beating down, it got hot. So as the line slowly moved forward, the women got out their fans and started fanning themselves. Mitsuko, my wife, had been looking at fans, so was interested in what they were using. So we tried talking, me with the bits and pieces of Spanish I had picked up, them with pure friendliness.
And somewhere in the exchange, one of the women told a joke. See, first she explained that a Senora (a lady) would use her fan like this - and she covered her well-developed cleavage. We nodded. Then she explained that a Senorita (a young woman) would use her fan like this - and she fluttered it in front of her face, peeking at us over it. We nodded again. And, she said, la leche (I think that was the word) would use her fan like this - at which point she held it in front of herself and flipped her wrist furiously, fanning hard. Her friends blushed and said something, the girl behind us in line choked, and we laughed along with her.
The girl behind us in line, who turned out to be a German who spoke excellent Spanish and English, explained later that she had said fool. I'm still suspicious that it was more like sexy lady, or perhaps woman with hot flashes - but it was still funny to watch her and listen to her tell the story in Spanish, and laugh happily.
Oh, and we did get some pointers on good fans. Painting on both sides, and check the hinge, that's usually the cheap part.
And we got a good laugh. Even if we weren't completely sure of the words, the tone was familiar!
We had gone to the Convent of Someone-Who's-Name-I-Forgot just a bit before it opened in the afternoon, but there was already a long line. We got in the line and waited. Just ahead of us were three . . . mature Spanish women.
WIth the sun beating down, it got hot. So as the line slowly moved forward, the women got out their fans and started fanning themselves. Mitsuko, my wife, had been looking at fans, so was interested in what they were using. So we tried talking, me with the bits and pieces of Spanish I had picked up, them with pure friendliness.
And somewhere in the exchange, one of the women told a joke. See, first she explained that a Senora (a lady) would use her fan like this - and she covered her well-developed cleavage. We nodded. Then she explained that a Senorita (a young woman) would use her fan like this - and she fluttered it in front of her face, peeking at us over it. We nodded again. And, she said, la leche (I think that was the word) would use her fan like this - at which point she held it in front of herself and flipped her wrist furiously, fanning hard. Her friends blushed and said something, the girl behind us in line choked, and we laughed along with her.
The girl behind us in line, who turned out to be a German who spoke excellent Spanish and English, explained later that she had said fool. I'm still suspicious that it was more like sexy lady, or perhaps woman with hot flashes - but it was still funny to watch her and listen to her tell the story in Spanish, and laugh happily.
Oh, and we did get some pointers on good fans. Painting on both sides, and check the hinge, that's usually the cheap part.
And we got a good laugh. Even if we weren't completely sure of the words, the tone was familiar!
