spanish-isms

A few funny stories of learning Spanish. Lila invited me with the family to a big BBQ lunch with the neighbors in the next apartment. With about 12 people around the table, someone asked if I was "casado" - married. I heard the nearest word I remembered, "cansado" - tired. I answered no, because I took a long siesta that afternoon, to the great entertainment of everyone at the table. Another time, Lila was ready to make fresh juice of "zanaoria" (not sure about that spelling) - carrot juice. Zanaoria is one of the words that I've had a disproportionately difficult time learning, so Maria helped by explaining I believe that it's a food that rabbits like, after which I asked "you're making rabbit juice?" Again to everyone's amusement, including my own. This one was recounted by my teacher at the Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco de Espanol, in Xela (ps. sorry I don't have a spanish keyboard at this cafe). When she asked one of her students how his trip to San Pedro de la Laguna was, he replied "muy bueno! Yo monté un un gran caballero..." (I rode a big genteleman.) nb. caballo = horse. Some other student confusions I've heard of: Tengo hombre - I have man (tengo hambre = I'm hungry) Puedo prestar tu pene? - Can I borrow your penis? (peine = comb) Cómo estás? Estoy bueno. (I'm hot stuff, although this translates literally into English as I'm good. The intended response was Estoy bien, meaning I'm well. I'll have to write about my experiences at the mountain school in the next few days, as I'm getting ready to head for Utila, Honduras early tomorrow morning for a week of diving. It will be a couple weeks of vacation within a vacation, before starting as a volunteer at the Maya Pedal project.