What the...?

So I’ve been plodding away at Spanish since getting back from Lima and Bolivia. It’s been going pretty well. I’m noticing more and more when I say things incorrectly (which I’m taking as a good sign...). But when I do stuff up, it definitely makes for a good laugh!

I decided not to do most of my language and culture year in a language school, so the idea was to have some language helpers and live with a family... and it’s been really cool! I’m learning words and phrases that people use (though I have a feeling my 13 year old brother Javier might be using words that I might not want to use...). Conversation is getting easier, especially one-on-one and face-to-face...but groups and over the phone is still difficult.

So I thought I’d share some of my stuff ups... I’m watching TV with Javier and we’re and talking about going to look at the stars with his telescope and I say... But today’s not really a good day because of all the nines (nueves) in the sky. Clouds are “nubes” which you might think sounds nothing like “nueves” but B and V are virtually identical in Spanish. He definitely gave me a “What the...?” look.

There are so many words that are really easy to mix up... for eg: casada (married): cansada (tired), vieja (old): viajar (travel), piedra (stone): pierna (leg), pollo (chicken): polo (t-shirt)...

So basically, there are SO many mistakes I can make... and at the same time, there is still so much to learn. I’m looking forward to going to Lima in a couple of months to consolidate everything but at this stage, I’m really enjoying meeting with Haydee and Deysi each day and hanging out with my family. Learning in context has made it a lot easier and I have lots of opportunities to listen and practice.

You know what? This week has been really cool, the family and some church friends asked about why I decided to ditch the corporate world and become a missionary in Peru. While it is such a great opportunity to share my testimony, at the same time, it’s frustrating because there are things that I can’t express properly, especially deep and meaningful stuff.

So pray that my Spanish will continue to improve, so that I can have more opportunities to talk and share with people at a deeper level, especially my family. Praise God that we’ve been getting along really well, God has provided me such a cool family to live with and it has been such an answer to prayer. Pray for creativity, motivation and discipline to learn more vocab and verbs. If you have any fun ideas, let me know!!