Lost in translation

Mr H & I are both trying to learn Spanish.  We are doing it quite differently.  I am using Duolingo and I am having weekly Spanish lessons.  Mr H is using another website (I clearly don't pay enough attention when he speaks to me, because I can't remember which one) and Google Translate.  He uses Google Translate to learn phrases whenever he needs to do something e.g. explain how he wants his hair cut, or change physiotherapy appointments.

A few weeks ago he needed to change a physiotherapy appointment.  He asked the receptionist if he could change his appointment because:

"Tengo que cumplir a mi esposa"

He thought that he was saying "I need to meet my wife."

It turned out, when he was relaying this tale to a friend of his, that he had been saying: "I need to satisfy my wife"!!!

The receptionist apparently had a great poker face.  I wonder what she said to her colleagues afterwards?

Sun, sand, sea and... snow!

If you look carefully, you can see snow on the mountains!

The last few months have passed in a bit of a blur, one of the reasons that there haven't been any blog updates from me.  I think about blogging often, but lots of other things end up taking priority.

Before we moved to the Costa del Sol, I wasn't completely sure what to expect in terms of weather.  Friends who had lived here previously, and who live here now, had told us that the weather was wonderful all year round; that it never really gets very cold.  I suppose I expected never to need a jacket or a scarf: that kind of 'it never really gets very cold'.  I have needed a jacket and a scarf.  Although, granted, not that often.  I wonder if my perceptions would have been different if we were moving here from the temperate UK climate vs. moving here from the tropical Filipino climate?

Whilst we have had some cold days, and some wet days, generally we have lots of sunny days.  The sunny days can feel cold when the wind is up.  But I don't mind, if it's sunny.

On these bright sunny days, we often have fabulous views of the Mediterranean sea on one side and the edge of the Sierra Nevada mountains on the other.  Over the last few weeks, as winter has arrived we have been able to see snow on the mountains, and the sun glinting off the sea.  How wonderfully surreal.