Spanish Vulnerability

Sometimes my Spanish decides to take a vacation. I'm not sure where it's going whether it be Costa Rica or Panama or maybe it's just going to the beach.  It's embarrassing when I am scrambling for words and people are looking at me strangely.  Most people tell me, "You have such great Spanish," which I give credit to my expression and ease of flow. In my opinion, language is not my strength, but picking up on non-verbal expressions, gestures, and their pronunciation is what makes me communicate better. 

When these cloudy language days arrive, I start with the broken Spanish and then I look up things in my handy Iphone Spanish-English dictionary, which does not require a Wifi connection.  There are moments with this Iphone where I think, "Wow, this thing really is helpful."
Although, the local person is not concerned with the Iphone or the dictionary, there interest is in you.

You are not the American that is just trying to get by with some Spanglish.  

You are not the American who would never look in a Spanish dictionary because people speak English.  

You are not the person who disrespects the language. 

You are the person who pulls out your phone, says excuse me, and looks up a word or phrase.  
You say thank you for their patience and apologize again for your incompetence. 

 The amount of happy faces that I have seen pulling out this Spanish dictionary. People are so happy when you are trying to learn their language, but they are happiest with the beauty of vulnerability.
You are sitting there in front of them completely alone and vulnerable-in their culture-in their city- in front of their eyes. They love that you are just trying to learn, you are trying to improve, and you are just trying to communicate with their language.

There are days that we are going to be great and there are going to be imperfect days.  People respect you when you are trying and just showing some human vulnerability.  You're not a perfect, smart American, but you are someone trying to learn just like everyone else-no matter the color, the race, the language, and the country. 

Next time your Spanish, your new learning language takes a vacation. Pull out that dictionary or ask a local.  The sun will shine again and you will have a better language day. Those difficult days will come, but......

Instead of feeling embarrassed let yourself feel human. 

PRIS 

Tu Hablas Espanol?

Many locals in Guatemala don't ask me if I speak Spanish rather they just start speaking and I respond. Of course, many think that I am from a Spanish speaking country and usually I don't contradict this by saying, "I speak English" rather I just go with it and see how far my Spanish will take me.  This is a great language learning method as you are encouraged to practice the language.

 While my Spanish has it's good days and bad, a majority of locals tell me my Spanish is good.  Each and every time I smile at them and say, "Thank You" along with a question mark. While my Spanish is pretty good, I believe they comment on it being good because the ease of the conversation. With locals, I can talk and talk and talk. I just feel so comfortable and I am connected with their expressions, gestures, and specific pronunciation of specific phrases and words.  This may possibly make me sound better than I actually am, but I do appreciate the positive feedback.  

When compared to the Spanish expat experts at work, I would not say I'm quite up to their fluent level.  My Spanish seems to get scared in front of them rather than rise to the challenge.  While I do have conversations with them, they are usually in English and again I speak with the teachers and local staff in Spanish-more comfortable.  With locals outside, I can just be myself and act funny occasionally mess up a tense and they don't have a care in the world about it. If I do this with an expat, I will feel self-conscious about it and try to correct myself.    

While I talk positively about the locals, there are a few who look at me with a big question mark. For instance, One day I was having a conversation in Spanish for about 5 minutes with the guy working in security near the bank.  We were talking about the ATMs and how some only accept Visa and I need to go to another ATM at the end of the mall.  He was nice and seemed like he understood my Spanish as he was responding to my questions, but he clearly needed additional clarity as he said at the end, 

 "Do you speak Spanish?" What language was I just speaking? It definitely was not English.  Sometimes it depends on the age or generation of the person you are talking with as older people can have more difficulty with things.   There was another bus driver who completely disregarded my Spanish and turned his head in the opposite direction and said, "No Speak English." This is a rare occurrence as people are rarely so rude, but this occurrence was in Guatemala City.     

Oh well, keep speaking, keep practicing and keep shining

PRIS 

Cafe con Leche

Last summer, I was in Spain where the popular morning drink was Cafe con Leche. And this summer the drink of choice is the same Coffee with Milk. 

While I have been on No Caffeine for 2 years, I do have my moments of relapse especially when it comes to coffee in those countries which produce it. I have had the coffee in Costa Rica, which was outstanding so I had to give this one a try.

I tried it as Cafe con Leche and in espresso form- both were great. It's definitely coffee in its freshest form with coffee plants being all over Lake Atitlan and especially in Antigua. It's like Americans drinking Starbucks with all those fresh coffee farms around.

Bad analogy, but just referring to the amazing quality of coffee from its freshest roots rather than drinking Starbucks and considering that as the superior coffee. The quality of this coffee is so high, it must be difficult for an actual coffee drinker to take a step backwards. I guess you could bring it back with you in limited quantity or savor the memory and go home and buy a frappuccino because that's the same thing-not. 

*Random shout out to Spain- you're amazing! Abrasos y besos para ti