ohhhh spanish
this is going to be a challenge for me and i definitely go up and down for whether or not i'm up for it. sat. night we had our first spanish only meal (only spanish spoken at the table). in case you forgot saturday was an extremely tiring day for me and i got to dinner and i wanted to shoot myself. everyone was trying to include me and speak to me and i just wanted to crawl in a hole. i just kept thinking, 'please stop talking to me.' they did lay off a little bit. then i actually tried and everyone was so wonderful and helpful! that's the key. i won't learn anything by sitting back and watching/listening. i'll admit i was frustrated. yeah, i didn't know most of what was said at the table, which was hard to deal with at first, but i know it will get better, especially since we're planning on having one spanish only meal everyday until we leave.
sunday's mass was beautiful and wonderful and we even received a blessing, but it was a spanish & english mass and i thought it was mostly spanish, but maybe that just shows my frustration. i sat right next to the mariachi band and i don't think there was a better seat in the house. but again it was a wonderful experience & beneficial for me too.
it's like everything in life. it's hard at first and then you get into the groove. poco a poco (little by little)
everyone here is SUPER helpful though...
melissa is SO patient with me. she's the one who's my charades friend during dinner. She's not afraid to look silly and act everything out for me. she'll work with me on pronunciation and everything. when we were walking around one time linda was trying to help me learn to roll my rs. i kept trying what she was telling me and didn't sound anything like a rolling r. melissa says, "i think i heard it that time." i just laughed and said no you didn't. she says she's used to working with kids so she's so helpful.
jenn tries so hard to include me at the dinner table (even when i can tell she's super tired). she's also SUPER fluent in spanish! she tries to ask me things she knows i can talk about and she's still patient with me when i still don't get it and i start looking things up in my dictionary (yes-i have it with me at the table) she just waits.
andrea comes up to me after every meal and asks what i learned. this way i can't just say i'm paying attention and learning i have to report back to her. she also checks in with me during the meal "¿todos bien?"
mike seems to think we're on the same level, but we're not... he's more advanced than me... always comes up to me after meals and expresses his frustrations as well. i appreciate it because it shows i'm not the only one. and we talk about how tired it makes us.
marcelle lends me her flashcards and other resources she brought along to help herself learn and i make myself continue to go through them.
i can't thank ALL of them enough.
meg says her dad always said after graduation from college every day is finals. i think everyday for me for quite awhile is going to be a spanish final.
i think my little pocket dictionary is going to become my most prized possession. i've started taking it with me everywhere.
si se puede
this is going to be a challenge for me and i definitely go up and down for whether or not i'm up for it. sat. night we had our first spanish only meal (only spanish spoken at the table). in case you forgot saturday was an extremely tiring day for me and i got to dinner and i wanted to shoot myself. everyone was trying to include me and speak to me and i just wanted to crawl in a hole. i just kept thinking, 'please stop talking to me.' they did lay off a little bit. then i actually tried and everyone was so wonderful and helpful! that's the key. i won't learn anything by sitting back and watching/listening. i'll admit i was frustrated. yeah, i didn't know most of what was said at the table, which was hard to deal with at first, but i know it will get better, especially since we're planning on having one spanish only meal everyday until we leave.
sunday's mass was beautiful and wonderful and we even received a blessing, but it was a spanish & english mass and i thought it was mostly spanish, but maybe that just shows my frustration. i sat right next to the mariachi band and i don't think there was a better seat in the house. but again it was a wonderful experience & beneficial for me too.
it's like everything in life. it's hard at first and then you get into the groove. poco a poco (little by little)
everyone here is SUPER helpful though...
melissa is SO patient with me. she's the one who's my charades friend during dinner. She's not afraid to look silly and act everything out for me. she'll work with me on pronunciation and everything. when we were walking around one time linda was trying to help me learn to roll my rs. i kept trying what she was telling me and didn't sound anything like a rolling r. melissa says, "i think i heard it that time." i just laughed and said no you didn't. she says she's used to working with kids so she's so helpful.
jenn tries so hard to include me at the dinner table (even when i can tell she's super tired). she's also SUPER fluent in spanish! she tries to ask me things she knows i can talk about and she's still patient with me when i still don't get it and i start looking things up in my dictionary (yes-i have it with me at the table) she just waits.
andrea comes up to me after every meal and asks what i learned. this way i can't just say i'm paying attention and learning i have to report back to her. she also checks in with me during the meal "¿todos bien?"
mike seems to think we're on the same level, but we're not... he's more advanced than me... always comes up to me after meals and expresses his frustrations as well. i appreciate it because it shows i'm not the only one. and we talk about how tired it makes us.
marcelle lends me her flashcards and other resources she brought along to help herself learn and i make myself continue to go through them.
i can't thank ALL of them enough.
meg says her dad always said after graduation from college every day is finals. i think everyday for me for quite awhile is going to be a spanish final.
i think my little pocket dictionary is going to become my most prized possession. i've started taking it with me everywhere.
si se puede
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