locura

I’ve been listening to a Spanish radio station and trying to not translate anything in my head. The longer I listen, the easier it is to distinguish one word from the next even when I don’t know what the words mean. I’m discovering that I understand what the radio people are saying better when I don’t try to understand.

I asked a student from Mexico recently to say a sentence in Spanish so that I could see if I knew what he was saying.

“El edificio se calló.”

I knew neither of those words.

Then I remembered edifice from The Fountain Head, and the rest fell into place.

“That’s dark,” I said.

“My brain is going to explode soon,” he said back with his hands grasping his head and his eyes locked on mine. I immediately understood the edifice metaphor.

“You’re going to do great, Rodrigo. The mortar this class used to build your brain is stronger than whatever they used to hold these bricks up.”

It’s AP Physics, and the students are taking their big test soon. And the mad instructor grins with sadistic joy and pride, knowing that they are going to blow the fucking test out of the water.

This is my favorite part of the school year.