$6000 for a speech impediment

so, one of the things that people warned me about before coming to spain was the LISP that people in spain here have. i was told by multiple spanish speaking friends that if i came home saying "grathias" and "platha" that nobody would ever talk to me again, and i told them that there was of course no way that i would willingly adopt a lisp. i mean, who wants to get a speech impediment? of course, i come to spain, and people speak with a lisp like everyone said, and turns out it's not annoying at all. it's actually kind of enjoyable, and entertaining. i kind of like it. and you feel stupid saying "gracias" back to the store clerk who says "grathias" so you adopt it there, and it starts to spread throughout most of your conversation. it's slightly difficult to differentiate between the c's and z's and the s's (because the lisp is only used on c's and z's, not on s's... so that's why you say "grathias" and "platha de espana"), but that's all just part of the game. so parents, if i come home with a lisp... will you still accept me as your child? will everyone else still talk to me? i don't think that the theta will spread to my english, but who knows. what if it's permanent?

okay, but on another note, we made the BEST discovery today: the alcala de henares equivalent of the O.C. swap meet. it was pretty much incredible... i bought a sweet umbrella (which clearly i needed) for 5 euros, a ring for 1 euro, some burned CDs, and the best purchase of the day: a huge box of strawberries for only 2 euros. i should have taken a picture of it. i didn't get any pictures today, but we're planning on going back every monday becuase it's only on monday's. it was INCREDIBLE though... we ate all of them before we finished shopping. it was the day of strawberries. other good things that are fresh here: the tomatoes (tomatos? what on earth is the correct spelling of that word? i really don't think i've ever known...). absolutely amazing.

word of the day: velas = candles