Alone and Unobserved

My mom has (had?) a couple of Mafalda comic strip collections (bought in Uruguay when she was on her Mormon mission, I assume), and when I was young I would leaf through them, mostly looking at the pictures, but occasionally carrying one to my mom for her to translate for me. While going about my regular business at work, I stumbled across two of the very same Mafalda collections that I remembered from my childhood, and started reading them—and was astonished at how well I understood them. I have the vague idea that I still speak Spanish at the same level I did when I was ten, but I guess that’s not true.

Here’s an example of a Mafalda comic, with my translation below.

Teacher: “Let’s go over the points of the compass. The sun rises in the . . .”
Libertad: “Morning.”
Teacher: “No! Morning isn’t a direction!”
Libertad: “Oh, that doesn’t matter to the sun. It rises anyway.”

Teacher: “All right, but where?”
Libertad: “Through the living room window.”
Teacher: “Only if you’re at your house!”
Libertad: “Well, yes. At my age I don’t often get to watch the sun rise from anywhere else.”

Teacher: “Please return to your seat.”
Libertad: “Too bad. Chatting with you fascinates me.”