To Dance or not to Dance...

[Written Saturday, May 17th]

¨bale, bale, bale...¨ Just in case you were wondering, that is pronounced ¨BAH-lae¨, and is used probably used four or five times a sentence. No, that is not a joke or an exaggeration. Bale is simply used as ¨OK¨, but, you have no idea how confusing that was in the beginning. As professed by my encounter with ¨mama¨ the first evening:

I kept hearing everyone say it at the airport and I didn´t think anything of it, that is, until my host mother would not stop with the infamous BALE every other word. Then, to make things worse, she would end a sentence with ¿Bale? in the form of a question and just look at me. Finally, I was tired of the utter confusion and busted out the handy spanish to english dictionary [gracisas Rick Steves], my new best friend. I was a bit liberated, but still utterlty confused when I found BALIR, meaning to dance? Wait, that can´t be right... So like any red-blooded American I did a little jig that even Shakira would be proud of and exclaimed proudly, though nervously, BALIR!! ¨NO, NO,¨ said mama, ¨bale, umm [silence fell over the kitchen], OK?? Ah, bale simply means OK!!

My renaissance man status continues to rise...