Thoy Tho-ee (Soy Zoe)

Soy Zoe - My name is Zoe

This is how most of my introductions go in Spain with people:

Me: "Hola, soy Zoe."
Other Person: "¿¿Qué??"
Me: "Tho-ee."
Other Person: "Ohhhh, ¡Zoe!"
Me: Yup.


It's actually becoming a pretty funny inside joke with myself. Plus, who am I kidding? I love the lisp! I want it so bad. Of all things, it came out yesterday a couple times when I said "facil" and "gracias." I was so proud of myself.

La lluvia 

Well, it rained in the city that apparently never has rainfall. At first it was a sprinkle on Thursday and I didn't see what the big deal was. It was still 75 degrees out, I was in a sundress, and I watched people walk around with umbrellas thinking to myself...if only you people knew what the Pacific Northwest was like. But then come Friday, it down-poured for a good portion of the day.  My mom called this the "gota fría" which means "cold drop" but refers to a storm that happens when different air pressures and temperatures meet, causing an intense storm. We didn't get the worst of it here in Alicante (I watched the news and saw worse flooding in other parts of Spain) but the streets do flood with water since there isn't really a drain system [that I've noticed]. The storm was pretty cool, complete with lots of thunder. I went out and walked around in it, getting completely soaked. I kind of a felt like a little kid again. It's interesting how people respond to rain here; in Portland it would just be, "well yeah, put your raincoat on and deal with it." But obviously since it's such a random and rare occurrence, of course people wouldn't know how to respond. Nobody knows how to drive, what to wear, etc. Guess it's just like when it snows in Portland... ;)

Las protestas

I witnessed a student protest on Thursday in the middle of my grammar class. Tons of students filled the building I was in. They were yelling, chanting, and waving signs. My professor explained that there have been a lot of cuts in the education system, especially with universities, and naturally students are upset. She said they had the right to march through our classroom if they wanted to. Luckily they didn't, since we were reviewing for our exam the following day. It was interesting to see the protest, and see them actually come inside the building instead of staying outside. That was new to me.

 La clase de gastronomía

My cooking class began yesterday. Our class went to the central market of Alicante to see all the fresh produce and meats. Our professor explained that everything we saw yesterday morning had been on a tree, walking around, or swimming the day before. Everything is incredibly fresh. He explained that Spaniards go to the market several times a week, sometimes every day for freshness, as well as for economic reasons (being on daily budgets). He talked about how food is really connected to culture, which should be really obvious but I hadn't given it too much thought in the past. He explained, for instance,  that Mexican food is colorful and spicy much like how Mexican people are; Italian food is simple, easy, and homey much like Italian people are; and Spanish food is simple, fresh, and inviting like Spanish people are. I laughed at this but it's true, food is really linked to culture in many other countries. As I've said before, Spaniards love ham and I learned yesterday that many Spaniards eat all of the pig: ears, face, hands, feet, brain, eyes, sexual organs, you name it. They also eat a lot of seafood, which thrills me. The fruit is amazing here, always smells and tastes so fresh. I haven't really noticed the quality of vegetables here. They don't eat as many (at least as we do in my immediate family in the U.S.). Their bread is really good and fresh, as well as their pastries. Alicante's famous dessert or sweet is called Turrón which is made from almonds and honey. The texture is most comparable to peanut brittle. It's really light and really good!

Pig heads

My cooking class is only in October but we will be doing several different activities this month like learning to make paella and go wine-tasting. Monday (tomorrow) we have one lecture class that will cover vocabulary and go deeper in to the gastronomy of Spanish cuisine.

La comida

I'm convinced that my family read last week's blog about being tired of white toast in the morning because coincidentally I only had white toast once this week. The rest of the week I had wheat toast or chocolate croissants. My mom made paella yesterday, her paella is so good. I think I could eat it everyday, along with tortilla española. I told my host parents about my trip to the market. They said they'd make me rabbit (a delicacy) and pig face sometime (because apparently it's to die for). Not sure how I feel about this, but I've always been one to try new things...

My host mom's paella

On Friday I went to a tea place and a Chinese restaurant with Kiersten and her host siblings. The tea place was so cute and tea was delicious. It happened to be their one year anniversary so everything was free (tea, cupcakes, cake, cheesecake). The cakes weren't very Spanish (actually, they were very American) but it was nice to have a little taste of home...for free! The Chinese restaurant was an interesting experience. It was owned by Chinese people but food was a little different from what you'd find in the States (the quantity was the same though--huge!). You order a main dish (I chose sweet and sour chicken) that comes with a salad or spring roll (chose the spring roll which was the size of a burrito!), a huge plate of fried rice, dessert of flan or ice cream, and a shot of some purple liquid (passed on that and just stuck with the flan...). The food was good, even the flan (which was super weird to order in Spain, let alone in a Chinese restaurant). It was all only 6 euros too, not too bad!

Mis clases/la semana que viene

On Friday I took my grammar exam and am now done with grammar for this semester. I think the exam went well. It helped that my professor told us we all had done extremely well this month and she already knew our grades without us taking the exam and should consider it a "practice review of what we'd covered this month." So I don't think I could've done too horribly, I got a 100% on everything else in the class. So that's exciting.
My schedule completely changes now that we are entering October (I can't believe it's October already!). Now that my grammar class is over and I don't have class from 12-3 p.m. anymore, it opens up time for my internship which is about to begin. Tomorrow, one of my program leaders is taking me to the "colegio" I will be working at so I can meet the English teachers that I will be working with. I've heard so many great things about the teachers, the school, and the experience. I'm excited to see what I will be working on. I will be working approximately 16 hours a week in October and November (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday). I need to have about 112 hours by the end of it and I'm supposed to keep a blog with entries every week. At the end I write an 8-10 page paper in Spanish about the experience. I'm excited to get started!
I also begin my Social and Cultural Realities class this week (Monday and Wednesday 3-5 p.m.) as well as keep up with my two university classes. I also should be hearing about which kids I will be tutoring for pay pretty soon and will be working with them for an additional 4 hours a week. It's going to be a busy next two months but I'm looking forward to it. Plus, I don't have class, my internship, tutoring or anything on Fridays. So I can use them to relax and travel!

Mi familia

My host family is stoked that I will be working at a high school, especially now since coincidentally both their kids graduated from the school. When we figured this out the other night, they brought out pictures of the school and teachers, and even gave me their daughter's English workbook to help me start preparing lessons. My mom walked with me to the school yesterday to show me how to get there. It's about a 20 minute walk from my house. Not bad at all.
I've reached the point where my host family feels okay to joke around with me. So meal times are quite entertaining. And my mom loves to gossip with me which is fun. Even though I miss having my host siblings around, it's kind of fun being an only child for once in my life ;)

Frases de Ingles

Instead of Spanish phrases this week, I thought it would be funny to share some of the "common" English phrases from the workbook I was given. They're quite amusing.

• "Who is throwing water?"
• "It is very sad to be drunk."
• "Your cat scratched me."
• "This lady fainted."
• "The baby is naked."
• "You have a hole in your sock."
• "What a long beard!"
• "Ha, ha! It is a joke!"
• "I make soap bubbles."
• "Zebras look like horses wearing pajamas."

Well, you get the idea...

Apparently we say these things really often.

And that's all for now, ¡ciao!

Más vale tarde que nunca

Week 3

Many of you have asked, "where's your blog this week?" Well, as the spaniards say, "más vale tarde que nunca" (better late than never). Despite being busy and tired, I couldn't do my usual update on Wednesday because google frequently decides to shut down my blog for no obvious reason. The most likely reason is that I'm cursed when it comes to technology; we do not get along. But finally after a very sincere but annoyed second email to google, the problem has been resolved and should stay resolved...or so google has told me.

Anyways, on to more exciting news that actually has to do with Spain. I'm really starting to feel like I actually live here. My days are becoming more routine and normal, and I feel very content with my life here in Spain. I'm infinitely less stressed and most days I feel really happy.  I came home last Sunday from the beach, after lying in the sun and swimming, to a delicious lunch of paella with seafood and took a very lovely siesta (nap) afterwards. It was blissful. Those three simple things made me feel so good. I love Spanish culture. I was so worried that I would become homesick within my first month, but I actually feel really at home here (*knock on wood*). Of course sometimes I want to walk around barefoot (spaniards always wear shoes inside), sometimes I want to go eat a bagel or a piece of pizza, and sometimes I want to turn on the TV and watch something where I don't have to concentrate on what's being said. But of course those are comforts from my own culture, and for the most part I don't mind adjusting to my new culture. In some ways I like it better.

Gatito <3

But guess what? There are cats everywhere here! I was actually homesick for my cats when I first got here but now I don't have to be. They're all over and a lot of them are super nice. They're in the park near my house and even on campus!

Mi familia

My parents crack me up. They are so funny, always picking on each other. I think my mom gets bored sometimes. She LOVES to chat with me. Half the time I don't even say anything and she'll go on and on laughing, and recalling memories. She's cute. I told her and my host dad that a spanish boy asked me out on a date to have dinner. They couldn't handle it, "that's too fast, you guys have to have coffee first, then maybe dinner."My response, "it's okay guys, I didn't actually say yes." Of course they said I could do whatever I want but they warned me about overly assertive Spanish guys. I mostly brought it up to see their reaction. Now if I find a guy I actually like, I might have to think twice about telling them ;)
I'm starting to get along better with my host dad, he's usually around more because he's recovering from shoulder surgery. But I have the hardest time understanding him, and I think he struggles with understanding me as well. He mumbles his words. I thought I was just really bad at Spanish but I think it's just his accent because I can understand my host mom, their kids, my professors, spanish students...pretty much everyone else perfectly. Oh well, I'll keep trying. My goal is to be able to have a conversation with him by the end of the year that doesn't involve me looking like a deer in headlights. I really like my host siblings, but unfortunately for me, they both have left for various universities. My awesome brazilian roommate left last week as well, which saddens me. Now it's just me in the house. As my host mom says, "eres la reina de la casa" (you are the queen of the house).
:)

Intercambios

Last week (during my second week) our program introduced all of us to our intercambios (speaking partners). They are all Spanish students that attend the University of Alicante as well, and want to practice their English. So every week, we're supposed to meet up with our partner and speak in Spanish half of the time (so we can practice) and English the other half of the time (so they can practice). I really like my intercambio. His name is Javier and he's actually working on his Master's right now. He majored in English and Literature, I believe, as an undergrad and lived in Arizona for a year so his English is really good! He's super nice and has been really helpful so far with my Spanish. He corrects me, and teaches me colloquial phrases which is nice because I've only really learned formal Spanish. We're meeting on Monday at an ice cream place that he says is really good--super excited! He also said he's going to take me to a restaurant in Alicante that supposedly has delicious Spanish food. It's so nice having someone who knows the city :)

Shannon, Borja's friend, Borja, Me, Kiersten

La vida de la noche

Mojitos with my grammar classmates

I can finally say that I've experienced Spanish night life. Last Saturday Kiersten, a couple other people from our program, and I went out with Kiersten's intercambio, Borja. We all met up at midnight (that's early) and Borja took us to a couple cheap bars that he knew of while we waited for the clubs to open at 3 a.m. (I don't think I'm ever going to get over how late people stay up here). We all went to a club at 3 and I got carded even though the clubs are 18+ (apparently I still have a baby face). At first the bouncer wouldn't let me in because I didn't have a valid form of ID on me (hadn't planned on going to a club, so I didn't have my student ID card on me), so I had to step out of the line. Luckily Kiersten was behind me and told the bouncer she wasn't going to go in the club if I couldn't, so she started to step out of the line when he decided, all of a sudden, that it was fine for me to go in. So we both went in (for free, girls get in free-yipee!). We danced and had a good time, I even salsa danced a bit which was fun. But Kiersten and I pooped out at 5:30 (again, early...most spaniards party until 7 or 8 a.m.). I think I spent the rest of the week catching up on sleep...

La comida

I don't think I'm ever going to understand how food works in my house here either. Sometimes we all eat together...sometimes it's just me and they sit and watch me eat. And usually if it's the latter they put out the amount of food for all three of us, but insist it's all for me. Sometimes I get tiny lunches, sometimes I get lunches the size of two meals. Oh well, I'd rather have more food than not enough. And I love all the food for the most part. My host mom says she's going to teach me how to make paella de marisco next time she makes it!!! And show me how to make tortilla española too! So, Spanish cuisine dinner party at my house when I get back :) I'd say the only thing I'm tired of is white bread toast every morning. But that's probably because I'm a breakfast person and usually eat something more substantial. The other day my mom gave me whole wheat toast because she was out of white--I don't think I've ever been happier to have whole wheat toast in my life. However, when my mom makes me white bread with nutella on it as a snack, I definitely don't complain :)
I told my classmates this the other day (they thought it was hilarious): I hoard juice-boxes in my closet between my clothes because my mom gives me so many of them for lunch, that I don't know what to do with them. So I save them there and take them to the beach with me on the weekends when she doesn't pack me a lunch. Hey, it works, right?

Mi inglés 

Oh man, I am struggling when it comes to speaking and writing in English. My sentence structures have gotten really bad and sometimes I can't think of common words when I'm skyping with friends and family. Sometimes even random Spanish words pop into the conversation out of no where. It definitely interests me how our brains function when they're trying to learn a language 90% of the time. Definitely produces some strange English, that's for sure.

Spanish words and phrases

• ¡Chupi! - Great!
• ¡Guay! - Cool!
• ¡Qué chulo! - Cool/Nice!
• ¡Chungo! - Uh oh/Yikes!
• ardilla - squirrel
• zorro - fox
• zorra - prostitute 
• hadas - fairies 
• ¡A mí plin! - whatever/I don't care!
• patutús - shock
• bicho - insect
• "Me cachis en los mengues"- a lighter version of saying "shit" 
• Definitely learned some more vulgar ones, message me if you want to know them :P

P.S. Finally a couple pictures of the Universtiy:

Infamous landmark: La mano

Aulario 2 (Where I have my grammar class)

No pasa nada

La segunda semana

Since I last posted, I've explored a few more things in Spain. On Saturday I went to Valencia with my program. I went swimming for the first time in the Mediterranean on Sunday! And I began looking for classes alongside other Spanish students at the university because classes at the university began Monday.

Valencia

Ciudad de los Artes y las Ciencias

Catedral de Santa María

Valencia was beautiful! Did you know that Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid being the biggest)? I didn't until Saturday. And it's only 2 hours up the coast! Our first stop was at the Ciudad de los Artes y las Ciencas (a museum called the City of Art and Sciences). We didn't go inside but we got to walk around the outskirts and try some horchata, a traditional spanish beverage made from chufas (tigernuts in English?). Our next stop was the Mercado Central (Central Market) of Valencia which is huge! People come there to buy produce, meat, seafood, bread, etc. It was super crowded and super hot. And it was the first place I've ever had to pay to use the restroom (weird side note)! After that, we toured a little bit of the city and ended up at the famous Catedral de Santa María. After our tour of the church, we were given two hours of free time, so my friends Andrew, Kiersten and I went and had paella for lunch! After lunch we went to our final stop: a Ceramics Museum (that even had pieces by Picasso!) that used to be a palace. The first two floors are the restored palace, and the top floor contains the ceramics. It was such a beautiful museum, I absolutely loved it.

Paella de marisco (spanish rice dish with seafood)

La playa de Prostiguet, Alicante

La playa

On Sunday I went swimming in the Mediterranean for the first time in my life...and it certainly won't be the last! The water feels so good on these hot, humid days. And the water isn't too hot or too cold; I think it's perfect. I can't wait to spend my next few weekends lounging on the beach under the sun. Speaking of the sun, I am so dark! It's only been a week and a half and I'm the tannest I've ever been in my life (most people know that this is a huge accomplishment for me)! But alas, people still come up to me in public and ask if I speak English so obviously I'm not as dark as a typical Spaniard...yet. *crossing my fingers*
                                                                                                         

Las noches

Vanessa, Kiersten, Me, and Andrew with our sangria :)

Practically everyone has heard of Spain's crazy night life (if you haven't, watch the 'La gente está muy loka" on youtube, it's a little graphic--be warned ). I can't say I've experienced the real night life (partying until 6 a.m.) but I did go out with Kiersten, Andrew, and my brazilian roommate Vanessa on Friday. We couldn't stay out too late because we had our field trip to Valencia, but we went out to a bar and all of us ordered sangria for the first time (my first time ever ordering a drink!). Man that stuff is strong! I hadn't even finished my glass and I was giggling up a storm. Anyways...we stayed out till about 1:30 a.m. which is really when things actually start to get going. I hope to go out and see more of the night life this weekend. Tomorrow we're going out to celebrate/say goodbye to Vanessa who is leaving Alicante and traveling to other parts of Spain. I'm really going to miss her, it's been so interesting and fun getting to know her.

Las clases

Like I said, university classes began this week. So on top of my 3 hour grammar class, I'm now enrolled in two more classes. Due to necessary credits and schedule conflicts, I ended up in a History of Modern Spain class and a Women's Psychology class (so excited for this one!). I really like both of the professors and they seem like pretty good classes to me. For my history class, we have to create a blog about a topic that interests us from the 16th century on (when they say modern history, I guess they mean it). Naturally, I chose to blog about when the Spanish explorers came over to the U.S.  My psych class is going to cover all sorts of thing, the role of women vs. men, why we are who we are, and address aspects of sociology as well. Pretty stoked! Plus my professor seems like the sweetest lady ever; that never hurts. It's definitely interesting to step out of a typical Spanish class or grammar class and actually take two different subjects in Spanish.
Next month, my grammar class ends and I begin my Social and Cultural Realities class through the program, my internship, and I believe the cooking class. Can't wait!

Mi familia

Now that almost two weeks have gone by, my family and I have have warmed up to each other even more. My host parents are always play flighting which cracks me up, always disagreeing with each other and playfully asking Vanessa and I to take sides. One night I addressed my mom with 'usted' (formally) versus 'tú' (informally). She immediately told me that 'usted' is for old ladies and professors. But Alfredo, her husband, mumbled under his breath, "but you are an old lady." Of course this started a playful argument between them which was hilarious. They give each other such a hard time but at the same time you can tell they love each other a lot. It's fun to watch them interact. We have a lot of interesting talks (well mostly my mom or dad talks, and I nod and throw something into the conversation occasionally). We've talked about politics, movies, various crimes in Spain, how common abortions are in Spain, how kids live with their parents until they're at least 28 if not older, the change in education systems, Franco, differences between countries' customs, the prince of Spain, all sorts of stuff!

Other random stuff: the amounts of food I'm given always seems to differ, some meals there's a normal amount of food on the table, other nights they make a normal amount of food for 4 people but give it all to me. Today I walked into the kitchen and my mom said to me, "¡qué guapas eres hoy!"(you look so pretty!) and then proceeded to make me the biggest lunch ever (usually it's just a sandwich and a juice box). Didn't quite understand the connection with being pretty and thus getting lots of food. But hey, I'll take it, I like food. Also, I've incurred 23 mosquito bites in the last two nights...not sure I look too pretty with all these welts all over me. Luckily my mom gave me some spray, so hopefully no more bites tonight!

A few more Spanish words and phrases!

• "No pasa nada" - the most common phrase in Spain: "no worries" And it's not just a phrase, it's the culture. I love it. I'm still getting used to it (because you all know I'm a worrier), but I love it  and choose to embrace it :)
• Taco - in Spain, a taco is a swear word
• Repipi - girly girl, fussy
• Tiquismiquis - finicky, a little OCD (this is my new favorite word!)
• And of course there are bad words (tacos) that I've started to pick up on, but they're a little vulgar for this blog. :)

La primera semana

El Castillo de Santa Bárbara

I arrived in Alicante, Spain on Saturday September 1st after making my way from San Francisco, to Dallas,  to Madrid all the way to Alicante. It was an exhausting trip but I was so happy to have finally made it to Spain. And of course, if you know me pretty well, what's an adventure for Zoe without stomach problems? Come Sunday I was nauseous, throwing up, the whole nine yards. But my host mom, Alicia, was wonderful and took good care of me. She even gave me a hug and told me not to cry or worry, she said I was in good hands. And sure enough I was. By Tuesday I was feeling much better, was able to keep food down, go out to the University of Alicante for my 3 hour daily grammar class, and even take a tour of the city which included a trip up to one of Alicante's famous landmarks, El Castillo de Santa Bárbara.

El programa

Lewis & Clark uses the program Spanish Studies Abroad to send their students to Spain. So far I really like this program. My program leaders here in Alicante, Pepa and Marisa, are phenomenal and so easy to talk to about anything. They're very organized and thoroughly explain everything that's going on and what's happening next so there's barely any confusion. They plan various trips for us, for instance on Saturday we have a guided trip up to Valencia for the day. Should be a fun day :)

La universidad/mis clases

The University of Alicante is humongous! I mean, I guess anything is huge compared to Lewis & Clark. It is home to 30,000 students and many are international students like myself. The campus is gorgeous (photos to come--I haven't taken any yet!). This week I only have one class a day...but it's a three hour class. It's a high advanced Spanish grammar class that I tested into prior to arriving in Alicante. Five other students from my program are in the class with me as well and I really like all of them. The rest of the students in class are international students from Russia, Ukraine, Korea, Japan, and Algeria. It's really cool interacting with the other international students in class because of course our common language is Spanish, I can't dip into English. My professor is great too. Her name is Raquel and she makes class so much fun (considering it's 3 hours long); she's very animated, entertaining, non-intimidating, and really explains the grammar in a way that's so much more understandable than I've ever learned. This is possibly the best grammar class I've ever taken--I love it. This class lasts a month and counts for 4 credits. Next week I begin exploring which two classes I want to take with other Spanish students at the University. The program leaders encourage us to sit in all different classes throughout the week and make our final decision by Friday. I'll be sure to post which ones I choose! Each of those classes counts for 4 credits (together 8 credits) and continue through the end of December. In October and November I will also be taking a 'Social and Cultural Realities of Spain' class twice a week through my program which I believe counts as 3 credits. On top of that I will begin my internship at some point where I will be working in a Spanish school; this counts as 3 credits. Finally I plan to take a cooking class where I will learn to make paella, go olive oil and wine tasting, etc. This counts as 1 credit.

La ciudad de Alicante

The city of Alicante is spectacular; it's main social and central part isn't very big but the city itself does stretch out a ways. I spend most of my time in the main part of the city (that also includes the beach) and at the university (a 15-30 minute bus ride out of the city). Right now it's pretty hot here and more humid than I'm used to...but it's perfect beach weather!

La Plaza de los Luceros

I live near the main part of town, La Plaza de Los Luceros where our program meets up a lot. I live a few blocks north of the plaza and no more than 5 minutes from most of my friends on the program. This is also where I catch the bus for school.

Mi familia y cuarto

My host family is very nice. My mom Alicia, as you know, took very good care of me while I was sick.  I understand about 75% of what she's saying most of the time and she usually understands me. She said my Spanish is pretty good! She's always feeding me and offering more food constantly. I don't think I will starve here. She makes all sorts of things, so far: paella, tortilla española (kind of like an omelete), fish and shrimp dishes, ham (the Spaniards LOVE their ham), salads, soups, and pasta. A typical meal usually includes one main dish with meat, a vegetable or salad, fresh fruit, sometimes yogurt, always bread (if you love bread come to Spain!), water, juice, coffee, and my mom always offers me an ice cream cone after dinner :)

Her husband, Alfredo, is also super nice and really funny. He's harder to understand--his accent is a little different--but he's very entertaining and he explains a lot of the culture to me. They have two hijos (kids). Xavier is 21 and doesn't live at home (I haven't met him); he's off studying abroad in Italy. Sandra is 18 and lives at home but is about to head off to the University of Valencia soon; she's very nice as well. And I also live with another foreign exchange student from Brazil named Vanessa and she's really fun to talk to as well.

Vos presento mi cuarto

The apartment I live in on the 7th floor, has four bedrooms, two bathrooms (one specifically for Vanessa and I), a small kitchen, washroom, living room with a dining area, and a balcony. I have my own little blue room and I love it!

El Español

It definitely takes a lot of brain power to constantly be communicating, listening, and thinking in Spanish all the time. My head usually hurts by the end of the day. Like I presumed, I understand a lot more than I can actually say. But I'm far less nervous to talk. I talk all the time in Spanish now. Of course, most of what I say is probably wrong but my professor or host mom will correct me. Even the first day I told my host mom, "estoy enferma" which I had learned to mean "I am sick." My host mom immediately corrected me and told me that enferma = you're dying. She said, "estás un poco pachucha" or "you're a little under the weather/sick." It wasn't too embarrassing...plus, "pachucha" is way more fun to say!
Part of me feels a little sinful writing this blog in English since I've sworn to only speak Spanish, but another part of me enjoys the simplicity of writing in English after a long day ;)


New Spanish words, idioms, and phrases

For those of you who have ever taken a Spanish class or know some spanish you might find these entertaining:

• My professor told us that if someone on the streets in Spain asks you if you want any chocolate, they're really asking you if you want marijuana
• tabletas de chocolate - 6 pack/nice abs
• piropos - compliments (Spanish men from a young age are taught to give women compliments, it's part of their culture)
• mono - cute (it also means monkey, of course)
• estar cañón - to be super attractive/have a nice body
• estás como el jamón - you're a piece of meat
• estar trompa - to be drunk/blind