Why do the streets smell like pee?

Spanish joke for you: why do the streets smell like a sack of urine hit you in the face? ...Because everyone pees in them. Oh, wait, that's not a joke. That's a fact.

I may have exaggerated a bit. The streets don't wreak that much and not everyone takes a leak where they please. But there is an occasional ally (or a public park) I'll stumble across that has an undeniable urine stench. And I've seen four children, with parental assistance, relieve themselves out and about where others are walking.

Even though people pee freely (I.P. Freely- isn't that the end to an actual joke?) Oviedo is a very clean city. Every night these truck things come by and spray water all over the place, despite the fact that people may be walking there. Minus the failed attempts at dodging the water, it's a nice feature to the city. I read somewhere that Oviedo is the cleanest city in Spain, and I'd believe it.

The other day I was walking down the street and realized how comfortable I am in Oviedo. I know the city pretty well, I rarely get lost, and I don't tense up in a state of panic when someone speaks Spanish to me anymore. I've even had three people ask me for directions to landmarks, so I can't look like too incompetent of a being.

Along with my comfort in the city, I've realized I'm also becoming more confident in my Spanish skills. I talk much more freely with my host mom, I ask questions in class, I don't mind talking to waiters, and I can even joke around a bit. I'm by no means anywhere even remotely close to fluent, but I am much closer to being conversational. It's been a nice change of pace.

This whole post has been pretty random, so I think I'll keep up with that tone.

The other day I was watching TV with my madre when the Jonas Brothers came on. There was a segment about them and I got far too excited. I asked my madre if she knew of them. Much to my disappointment, she hadn't even heard of them. I brushed that off and proceeded to tell her my friend's uncle works for them (Wendy/Bryant family shout out) and that I really like them. She thought that was nice, but didn't seem too interested. After the Jo Bros there was a segment on the Twilight Saga. I told my madre I was reading one of those books. I then explained the plot of Twilight to her (good thing I just learned the word for vampire in one of my classes) as well as the phenomenon of Edward Cullen in the US.

That's enough random rambling for one day.