happy days for happy people

in an international survey of happy people, happy moments this week most often occurred within the family.
happiness also included gingerbread, teasing, portuguese praise, rock climbing, chocolate and free tickets.

i had some happy fun times of my own at the birthday party for my "mommola". lots of good treats and old fashioned late night homeworking with the sibs.

and i taught my first cello lesson in a long time. that always makes me happy.

today angel, who came to inquire about english classes, asked if i was from spain.

i like being asked that question.
the obvious reason is that somehow, somewhere there is a native speaker of spanish mistaking me for a native speaker of spanish. but more than that, i like being asked that question because it reminds me that i did, in fact, go to spain.

going to spain is not the kind of thing you should forget. and, really, i don't forget. (keren ann, anyone?) it's just always been such a surreal thing. i can't really explain it, but sometimes, especially right after i got home and nothing was different, i found myself wondering if i hadn't gone and i had just been making it up in my head.
strange, but true.

anyway, when people ask where i learned spanish, i always say, "here." then they ask if i've ever lived anywhere else and i force myself to remember that i lived in spain for six weeks. "but," i say as a disclaimer for my poor spanish, "i didn't really learn anything there. i was always with americans."

well, i guess i did learn something after all: just the tiniest bit of an accent.