I kind of learned Spanish when I lived in Mexico 15+ years ago but it is pretty much all gone since I have barely used it since I moved back to Canada. So, task one, relearn Spanish. Alisma has French language skills that she will build on so she will be ready for France and I will improve my Spanish for Spain. If we ever get split up, one of us is going to be in trouble, depending on which country we are in, because we are not learning the other's language. oh, well, c'est la vie (see what I did there). No hay problemo mis amigos! Todo es bueno. (No problem my friends, all is good)
Anyway that is the plan. I don't know how Alisma is doing on her French but I have enlisted Val, who is fluent in Spanish as I'm sure you remember from my Ecuador blog, to help me. I had no idea she would take this task so seriously. I thought I would show up at her house occasionally and she would practice with me. Nope. We meet weekly and when I show up she has lesson plans on her white board. Who has a white board? La maestra Valeria, that's who. And she gives me homework.
Here we are, teaching and learning Spanish. This week's lesson was 'what time is it?"
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| What time is it? Time to learn! |
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This is me with my dictionary doing homework, a story about a mean turkey.
El pavo es malo. |
And just so you don't think I am a total mooch, after this lesson, we replaced that hideous flooring in her kitchen.
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See how hard I am working by taking this picture.
Anyway, it looks great now. Go team! |
I am also supplementing my lessons with a free online language site called
Duolingo. I don't know how helpful it would be if I was starting from scratch but it is a good place to practice (vocabulary and pronunciation) and to get my brain in Spanish gear between lessons with Val. It doesn't give my any grammar lessons or explain anything, it just repeats things so often, I guess it is supposed to sink in. So far, Duolingo has made sure I know that the cat and the elephant drink milk and eat bread. It is actually kind of fun and gives me some validation that I might remember something from back in the Cuidad d'el Carmen days.
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| Duolingo thinks I am 17% fluent in Spanish. I am not. |
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| As you can see by the fact that I still can't say 'our' properly |
Besides learning Spanish, Alisma and I have taken a few 'hikes' around town to get out and walking - Beacon Hill = Camino Trail (not). Here we are on one of our jaunts
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| From near the top of Beacon Hill |
And Alisma is researching and planning our itinerary. I have only made two suggestions, both of which involve dead people. The
catacombs and
Père Lachaise Cemetery, both in Paris. I'm sure there will be some dead people I will want to visit in Spain too.
So far, that is where we are at. I will keep you updated.
