Back to the Basics

Even though four and half years of Spanish may seem like a lot - even enough to be fluent - it`s really not. Maybe it`s just that I`m extremely rusty, since my last Spanish class was a year and a half ago and I`ve practice little since then. As a result, I`m taking intermediate-basic level classes. It`s frustrating that they offer Level I and Level II but no Level I.5 for most of the classes. I think I`m more advanced than a basic but not an expert, which is sort of how these classes are set up. Either I or II. Pfft.

It`s hard to shed the habit of thinking in English. Think of a tub of crystal clear, cool water, purified and ready to be drank. Now, imagine a dirty dog who just rolled in dead fish and nuclear waste. The tub of water is Sparkling Spanish and the filthy fido is English. Fido wants to clean himself in Sparkling, but Sparkling doesn`t want to think in English, he wants to think in Spanish. Fido keeps bothering Sparkling and they go on for a while. Now, this fight is me. When I want to say something to someone (a bus driver, or vendor selling juice) I first think of the phrase in English. Then I translate to Spanish and then I say it aloud. But all this time I`m translating I`ve wasted valuable time and ignored my pronunciation. I`ve got a 133 mhz processor in a 900 mhz world, and I need to upgrade pronto.


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Now I`m experiencing Xalapa`s real weather. The first week I got here it was sunny everyday, all day, and cool enough to wear pants or shorts and not really mind. But now it`s cloudy and rainy (on and off) all day, everday. It`s sort of depressing. And at night it gets cold. Not Minnesota cold, but May cold, you know when leaving the window open when you go to bed is fine but you wake up halfway through your sleep and realize the coldness has no business being in your room. Plus, there`s hardly any humidity, unlike Minnesotan summers.

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We also moved on Saturday. I`ll post a picture comment later because your eyes are hungry.