everyone speaks english!

I managed to get out of the flat today to do a walkabout of the town I'm in. I went off in search of the market, not knowing whether or not today was, in fact, the second market day of the week. After wandering too far down, making some course corrections, and a few leaps of faith, I found the market! Woohoo! Despite my indirect course, I think I could find my way back without too much difficulty. I've also learned a fairly obvious lesson: just because someone says, "oh, they all speak english... you'd be surprised." does not make it so. No problem. I managed to get the veggies I was after without much difficulty. The cheese, however, was something else altogether. I ended up buying 13 euro (pronounced oy-row)worth of goat cheese. Now, it is a delicious cheese. But that's a lot of money for a hunk of cheese.

On my way back I encountered an old man walking down the street. I had been looking in the storefront windows, etc. and didn't see him coming. By the time I looked up, we were heading directly for each other and thus started the whole stutter-step-I'll-go-this-way-you-go-that-way-wait-I'll-go-that-way-no-I-was-going-to-go-that-way dance. It was a good time. We laughed. I smiled. He said, "English?" I said, "yes." And he nodded his head in understanding. It was a good-natured understanding.

Now the vegetables are roasting in the oven and I've got some spargel in some water in the fridge. Most excellent.