Tú vs. Ud.

I've always learned in my Spanish classes in school that you use tú for people your own age and Usted for older people - basically, it's a formal mark of respect. Our guidebook for CIEE told us that we should refer to our host mothers as Usted unless instructed to do otherwise. So, I've been calling Angela Usted and yesterday I left her a note with my cell phone number when I went out for the day saying "para que tenga Ud. mi información."

Her response when I got home was, "no me llamas Usted! Usted es para una persona mayor que no conoces bien!"

Interesantemente he estado usando Ud. porque ella es una persona mayor que no conozco bien.

We did a reading in my Spanish class today about the differences between the two words, and it basically boils down to calling someone ma'am (at least, when you're not in the South). Forty-somethings wearing a little bit too much makeup can get really self-conscious about it.

In other news I made friends with a whole group of kids on the metro today. I think they were around seven and I was eating an ice cream cone and I made faces at them through the window and they thought I was the coolest.