Meet Maria de Jesus, my language helper. She lives on Maria's mountain (see Jan. 12 blog entry) where her father works at processing coffee. Maria de Jesus normally works for an exporting company, but she is on leave due to an illness. This week she has been helping me learn Spanish for an hour or two each day. With the patience of a saint, she waits 15 seconds or more for my brain to spit out the right verb and then a little longer to choose the right tense, gender, and number (singular or plural). I have learned a lot from her. For example, I didn't know the grocery store cashier was asking me if I wanted a bag. I always just shrugged and then motioned that I wanted a bag. She also taught me to say, "Hoy yo no voy a comprar otro collar," so that when the necklace vendors try to make a sale, my swift espanol will not label me as a tourist. Trust me, there are plenty of other things that label me as a tourist.
Yes, but by the time you're ready to come home you'll be fluent and people will confuse you for a native! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like so much fun! I wish you could get paid for going to different countries and learning their language. That would be a full-time job I would love! I wish I knew more Spanish than "Porquito vino"
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