vocabulario clave - key vocabulary

Hi.  Happy New Year!  As promised, I'll give you a bit of background on the organization I'll be working with in Quito, La Fundación Abuelitos y Abuelitas de la Calle (FABC).  The Foundation's name essentially translates to "the foundation of little grandparents of the street."  It supports marginalized elderly people, often living without the support of families, income of any sort, and government aid. FABC provides these people with the resources to better their own quality of life, addressing health and social needs through programming. I'm planning to volunteer with the center's medical staff, working in the free clinic and doing public health outreach.

This project has a lot to do with the fact that I worked as a nursing assistant in an assisted living facility in my hometown two summers ago.  Through the course of that summer, I really grew close with the residents, largely because of my (let's go ahead and say it) DOWNRIGHT UNCANNY ability to make small talk with the elderly.  For whatever reason, my day-to-day interests and concerns line up quite tidily with those of my senior brethren.  

Small talk is the stuff of life, a stepping stone to any and every worthwhile interpersonal relationship.  And it just occurred to me that I'm heading to FABC with a substantial handicap:  all of the weapons in my sizable talking-to-old-people arsenal are useless if I cannot say them in Spanish.  So.  Join me as I review words and phrases that I expect to be absolute LIFESAVERS in the coming weeks.  


WEATHER

• ¡Dios mío!  ¿Puedes creer este tiempo? -Jeez!  Can you BELIEVE this weather?
• Se puede sentir este frío bien hasta los huesos.   -You can feel this cold right down to your bones.
• ¿Sería un poco de sol demasiado para pedir? -Would a little sunshine be too much to ask for?
• Ay!  ¡Me tengo lástima a la mujer cuya menopausia decide darse guerra en ESTE calor! -Schwew! I pity the woman whose menopause decides to act up in THIS heat!
• No me malinterpretes…la artritis no es nada fácil. ¡Pero debe ser algo bueno saber cuando  viene una tormenta! -Don't get me wrong, arthritis is no walk in the park.  But it must be neat to know when a storm's a'brewin'. 

GRANDCHILDREN

• ¿Cuántos nietos tienes? -How many grandchildren do you have?

BOWELS

• No he comido suficiente fibra recientemente y ahora lo siento mucho. -I really haven't been getting enough fiber lately and BOY HOWDY AM I PAYING FOR IT!
• ¿Cuánto tiempo ha pasado? ¡¿¡¿¡¿CUÁNTO?!?!?! -How long has it been?  HOW long?!?!?!
• ¿Como bolitas, dices? Esto no es ninguna manera de vivir. -Like marbles, you say?  That's no way to live.
• ciruelas - prunes    
• salvado - bran    
• laxante -laxative

Okay so CONFESSION: the Spanish translation is perhaps not perfect and is CERTAINLY not as jazzy as the English.  SO SUE ME.  Anyways, let me know if I've missed any major topics of conversation.