Boyish

Have you ever paid attention to the number of ´small talk´ conversations that are about the weather? It seems like such an enormous cliché to talk about the weather, so you might deduce it is massively un-cool to do so, and yet, we chit-chat about the weather all the time. Some days, it´s the main ingredient of the conversations I have with my flatmates. I took a look at how many blogposts of mine start with some comment about the weather. (Too many. They make me feel like a granny.) And yet... it is such a useful topic to start a conversation with if you have nothing else to say! So you hear weather conversations all around you when you are in a public place. I suppose weathertalking has become a part of human nature... or perhaps, even better, an illustration of something Jewel Kilcher said: "Human nature is in fact human habit." Anyway, enough philosophical thoughts. Let´s talk about the weather.

There has been quite some weather issues to talk about here in Valencia this past weekend. Last weekend, it was so unusually warm for the time of year that you could even go to the beach and swim! This weekend, and by extension this Monday, it´s so unusually cold that people are wearing heavy furry wintercoats, bonnets and gloves included. And though I´m from the north, I have to say: it ís damn cold. You just really get used to good weather. Anyhow, 7 degrees Celsius is cóld for this time of year in Valencia, I´ve been told, and all around me are fierce debates on whether this is an effect of global warming or not. Anyhow, enough about the weather. Let´s talk about this weekend.

It wasn´t much of an exciting weekend, except for it being 5 days long. That´s of course a positive feature. But as I was getting really really réally behind on my work, I decided not to travel anywhere (bummer) to catch up on some studying. My flatmates Alberto and Saúl went back home to their pueblos for the weekend. José on the other hand stayed here and received a (girl?)friend of his to visit. Very nice girl, whose name I have forgotten (damn my horrible mental name storage server). One thing though: she FILLED the bathroom with pots, tubes, flasks and a GIGANTIC hairdryer. Oh-my-god. I couldn´t resist to examine all those beautifiers from close by because I had no idea that there were SO MANY products one can use for the embellishment of the body all at once. Hair straightener cream? Cuticle softener? What...? And the gigantic hairdryer was particularly intimidating. The funny thought occured to me that to some extent, the size of the hairdryer might represent to girls what the size of something else does for boys. I have a very small hairdryer... :-( Anyway, I think I finally uncovered the secret of how spanish girls look so beautiful, coiffed, fragranced, nails done, and so forth: massive investment in beauty products. And apparently USING them too. These last 5 days, the bathroom has made me feel quite boyish and ugly-ducklingy... It was so bad, that this Monday i decided to don a dress to combat the boyishness. It kind of worked. Kind of. Now just the hair, the nails, the make-up, and the shoes. A long way to go...