Our Spanish classes are going
great. Dodging pigeons along the way, we
walk to school every morning and are completely worn out and brain dead by
lunchtime. Our goal is to speak only
Spanish at home, which has created a very quiet environment indeed. But the limits of our language are the limits
of our lives here, so with books in hand, we open our minds to Valencia.
This week I stumbled upon a language
exchange website. Turns out there are
not too many native English speakers here willing to share their verbal skills
so I have never been so popular. Within
24 hours my inbox was flooded with people wanting to exchange Spanish for English,
and now in addition to the three people I know in Valencia (Keith, Becca and
Sam), I now know Lola and Vicente.
Lola knows me as the
insufferable American who drones on about running, food, and her kids. After an hour and a half, I’m sure I saw
blood dripping from her ears and a tear in her eye. Vicente speaks very fast, and knows only the
¨deer in the headlights¨ Jacque who marvels at the fact that he just got back
from somewhere doing something and may or may not have a twin brother with bad
teeth. My hope was to blossom into an
elegant Spanish-speaking songbird, but I feel like an ostrich who should bury
her head in the sand.
But, C’est La Vie. No, I’m not that confused. It is the
name of the French bistro around the corner where I sip my red wine and ponder
what I might have said to my new friends.
Lola just texted me, so she has not yet flown the coop, and I have hope. I know that when you are truly
genuine, there will be people that don’t like you, but that it is important to
keep being yourself without apology. So
I squak on, and I just know that one day, Vicente and I will eloquently swap
stories about his brother’s dental implants and I will be flying high.
Our walk to school
The girls enjoying time with classmates!
What a great way to make friends!! How different is the Spanish spoken in Spain where you are compared to the Hispanic Spanish mostly spoken here? Different words, different pronunciation? Just curious. Nice pics of the girls! Cheers, Tanja
ReplyDeleteTanja - there are definitely some words here that are very different, and the Catalán "lisp" is present (but not as strong here as it Barcelona). They also use a different verb form in Spain (vosotros) that I was lazy in learning in Chile because they didn't really use it. So I have a ways to go, but am having fun figuring it all out!! Thanks for your words!!
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