Despegue, siniestro, luto

Despegue, siniestro, luto. Take-off, disaster, mourning. All new words for me.

Reading the news every day in Spanish has helped me develop my language skills, but this week I have been taught a lesson I would have rather done without.

With every big event I learn new vocabulary and verbs, the Euro Cup taught me saca de banda (throw-in) and a por ellos (let’s go after them), the Olympics added cien metros lisos (one hundred metres sprint on track) and salto con pertiga (pole vault). It is these constant references – the ones you can’t escape and then later can’t imagine how you went through life without them as you hear the words over and over again – that are developing my Spanish more than anything.

Reading the news or watching it on tele this week hasn’t been too much fun though. Horrible, awful stories. It was Siomara’s first flight ever. Javier and Zanaida went to baptise their 3 month year old baby. Maria and Ruben were getting married. The father of Donovan wanted – minutes before the fatal take-off – to get out of the plane as he was afraid after the captain had told them that there had been a delay due to technical problems. They didn’t let him. His body was identified yesterday instead.

Amazing stories too. Hector and his wife left home rushing and missed the flight by three minutes. The check-in had closed and anger soon turned into total and utter relief for Hector whose face was expressing a mix of morbid astonishment and blissful sorrow. Then there was Goreti who was going to take this flight last minute, but then decided to take another flight with another company at the same time ‘as it was 10 Euro’s cheaper’.

Personal story. My old friend Luwe wrote me a message at 12.08, “Hey, poom (how he calls me), I am now at Madrid Airport on my way through to Ibiza. Exams went well, let’s see if I can visit you in September or October! Send my regards to Carmen.” Around 14.45 my work mate asked me if I had already read the news ‘about the crash at Madrid airport’. “Where to?”, I asked as I rushed to the computer not knowing how long Luwe’s wait was for his flight. One minute later I read that the flight was on its way to Gran Canaria. Ooef.