Spanish

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE to speak Spanish?? It has been a passion of mine for years but I never had the opportunity to really get into it until the last few years.

Flashback to 30 plus, plus odd years ago to high school Spanish. I never really appreciated my classes. My first year Spanish class was a joke--second year Spanish was much harder. I had an 75-year-old (or so she seemed that old) teacher, very proper Spanish lady (from Espana) who was very strict. We had a kid in our class, Tony, who had the most horrendous accent and I think it was his goal to crack her up, which he did on almost a daily basis, because his pronunciation was SO bad. We used to have to cut articles out of the newspaper, translate them into Spanish, then memorize them and recite them in front of the class. I used to look for the teeniest, tiniest, shortest articles I could find so that I didn't have to memorize so much.

Flash forward a few years, I am married to a man who speaks fluent Spanish after a mission to Southeast Mexico-I have traveled all over Mexico, including crossing into Guatemala, visited Spain and I have a burning desire to learn Spanish.

Flash forward again a few years, my husband is serving in a Spanish speaking branch (small congregation) and I am leading the hymns in church! Now leading the hymns in another language is kinda like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time, (or is it patting your stomach and rubbing your head?) ANYWAY, it's HARD!

After a semester of college Spanish-mostly a review-and lots of practice----well, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know! But I have mustered up courage these days to approach people who I either think speak Spanish or I hear them speaking Spanish and converse with them. They are usually delighted to converse with me and are so surprised to see a "gringa" speaking so well.....disclaimer.... I am NOT fluent.....but I do have a very good acento! I have some dear, dear friends at church who help me all the time..Now with a son on a Spanish speaking mission, well, the drive is still there to learn the language.............nos vemos!