Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hablando en Español

So speaking in Spanish is coming along. I suppose. I can order my meals with increasing confidence and I can tell that my comprehension is growing. The relationship between me and my host mother is only getting better; for the more I´m able to speak, the more her patience increases.

However, with all of the good times there are also the funny times, and the complete failures. At Spanish school on Friday we had a mock-school day where Stephanie, another volunteer and I took turns being the teacher while everyone else goofed off. Mi maestro (teacher) was the worst ¨student¨ and quickly regressed 40 years to tossing spitwads at the others. My grand idea to ¨control¨ him quickly resulted in hysterics on their part and un poco de verguenza (embarassment) on my mine. I was trying to tell him to put his hands (manos) under his legs (piernas) while he was sitting, so that he would stop tossing paper. However, I goofed piernas with piedras and said instead: ¨Pon tus manos abajo de tus pierdas.¨ While piedra usually means a rock, it can also be slang for balls. Yet, the first round of laughter was not the last as I managed to goof one more time and repeated the error when trying to say put your feet on the ground. I said, ¨Pon tus piernas abajo los piedras.¨ Mi maestro managed to choke out ¨No puedo¨ (I can´t) before falling off his chair laughing.....

Pero, esto es la vida para aprender el español...

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