Journal #16

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

There is nothing exciting to report today. We have to study even more each day as we learn a ton of verbs and their irregular declensions. The more we get into the language, the more difficult it becomes. We are marching on though. It will come to us (hopefully sooner than later).

We had a large crowd for lunch today. All the regular family was present along with another son and his family. We had a total of 11 around a table for 8. It was enjoyable though. It gave us a chance to hear others talk in Spanish and try to understand their dialect. We had rice, chili (almost like in the States) and fruit. It was good.

I asked for a new teacher this week and that has been a good decision. I really liked my other teacher but he was talking too much English to me and we spent too much time on his personal problems. My new teacher is named Silvia. She leaves her house at 6:00 am in the morning to catch a bus to travel to school. After 3 buses and 2 hours of traveling, she arrives at school. How about that for dedication! She hardly speaks English which forces me to listen more and look up more words for myself if I am going to understand her and she understand me. It is challenging but I can already tell I am more confident talking out loud because she forces me.

I am a good book worker. I can understand what is being said on paper, but when it comes to speaking, it is a challenge. My brain does not want to function that way. It wants to keep everything inside. I am learning that you can not translate everything into Spanish to comprehend it. You have to depend on your knowledge and understand what is said in Spanish. I want to translate everything in order to understand but I have to break that habit. It is difficult but I am making progress. You truly have to know two completely different languages.

Shelly and Tristan are taking a nap on the bed. I need to start studying more verbs and complete my homework. I hope you are having a great day back at work! For those who have asked me to write our journal in Spanish, here you go: Que le baya bien!

Chad