¡Heavens Madrid!

Today after classes I visited another exhibition here in Madrid, ¡Oh Cielos!, in El Circulo de Bellas Artes.  It's a rather unconventional space and was founded in 1880 - the building is pretty amazing and I spent time just climbing the grand staircase. There is a current exhibit on the top terrace (7th floor) that is open air, photographs of Madrid through time in commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of the main thoroughfare in Madrid: La Gran Via. The Photographs are interesting, alternate, thought provoking and all of that. The views of Madrid from the terrace are worth the 2 Euro entry fee, regardless of the exhibit. The snapshots I'm including in this post really tell it.

Just one silly thing to mention, and I'm not sure if this is particularly Spanish, or simply human nature, but in the elevator there was a sign posted to the large mirror to the left of the doorway that read "Do Not Touch" in Spanish and English - meaning, do not touch the mirror.  The mirror was covered with finger prints.  I had to join in and add my own.  In Germany, I'm certain the mirror wouldn't even have a sign.  I kept looking for a camera to see if it was some sort of test.

[geek moment]  In Spanish you can speak about the future and NOT use the future tense.  In English we can't or don't do this.  Example:

- Si yo hubiera (past subjunctive) terminado (present perfect) de leer el libro esta tarde, te lo devolvería (conditional).

- The closest I can come to translating this is:  If I may finish the book this afternoon, I would return it to you.  But I don't think I'd ever say this in English.  I would likely say:  If I finish this book, I will (future) return it to you.  It's implied that if I don't finish the book, you're not gonna get it back.

As I said to my language coach today, this may be fluency, but I still don't think, in terms of my own personal style, I'd ever say this, in Spanish, in this way.  I tend to say I'm going to do something, or not.  But, if I eventually work in the field of diplomacy, this could be quite useful.  For now I think she's really trying to lash me with super complicated sentence structures that most people don't even consider using.  Although, I could be wrong.

¡Hasta la próxima entrada!