My first lesson on Tuesday (el martes) went pretty well. I left the session feeling exhausted and much better about my Spanish skills. I need to practice, and to get over being self-conscious and just speak...
Yesterday, I created little flashcards (apparently Mexico doesn't carry index cards. Anywhere. Ugh.) and practiced my verbs ser and estar. I FINALLY figured out the pattern of conjugation (seriously, Mr. Levin, where was the loud-and-clear message that the conjugations are practically identical in the past/present/future tense...? I spent how long trying to learn 2 verbs, when I could have focused on one, and transferred my learning to the other? You suck, Mr. Levin.) and was kicking ass. My instructor really wants me to watch the movie Doubt (Duda) with Meryl Streep, so we'll have something to talk about. Uh...could we start with something a bit easier, perhaps? Like Curious George or Hot Rod or something? I need to get to the little rental place down the street so I can start mi tarea (my homework).
Today, I woke up feeling totally tongue-tied in English. "Wow, Spanish'll be a real treat, since I can barely form a proper sentence in my native tongue," I thought. By a stroke of luck (?), my instructor emailed me to let me know that she'd have to cancel today...
So, what did I do? Hide inside because my Spanish SUCKS today? Practice more with my little flashcards? Watch TV en espanol to get the sound back in my head? Nah...I found one of my buddies that doesn't speak a lick of the language and headed to the grocery store. Eh...at least I'm practicing, right?!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
zebra cakes & la vic's orange sauce
So far, today has been a day of discovery. Check out what I found, completely by accident:
orange sauce, identical to the famous sauce from La Vic in San Josefor those who are unfamiliar with La Vic's orange sauce (aka anyone that didn't go to SJSU), it holds a huge place in my heart, currently trumped only by my beloved Kinder's BBQ sauce. Since its like comparing apples and oranges, I would refuse to choose between them if I were to be stranded on a deserted island
zebra cakes, one of my various comfort foods (and a sweet reminder of Grama)...and check out the price, 23.22P, or about $1.15USDfor the record, I didn't actually buy them, since my diet contains quite a bit of crap already, with the tacos and beer and bubble-teas I consume on a somewhat daily basis...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
taking care of me, even from hundreds of miles away
After reading this post about my attempt to cook an actual meal in the one little pot we have, my Mom sent me a link to a whole bunch of one-pot meals:
I may have to try these ones, if I don't get over it and resort to tacos (again) first...thanks, Mamacita!
instrucion del Espanol - parte uno
I had my first meeting with my Spanish instructor today!
We spent an hour together at the ITESM library, and spoke entirely in Spanish. Apparently, being a language professor doesn't necessarily mean that you have to speak any another language. Cool...makes me really work for it! It is exhausting, however.
We covered some things that I'm already comfortable with (estar y ser...meaning "I am" in the temporary/permanent form, respectively). We unknowingly reviewed a lot of verb conjugation that I'd flat-out forgotten how to do, and erroneously thought I was rid of for life (the past and future tenses of estar y ser...much more difficult).
All in all, I think it went pretty well. We'll meet on Tuesdays (el martes) for one hour and Thursdays (el jueves) for two. I picked up two third-grade level (that's right...I've got mad skills) Spanish workbooks for a whopping 40P to practice with. Our focus will be fluidity and speed. I hear things well, says Maestra Lupina, but I need to speed up my hearing and speaking. It's nice to have a goal, right?!
My homework for tonight and tomorrow is to speak in only Spanish to my roommates. It will be difficult because they don't know a lot of Spanish. After my class, Rob was playing a game on his computer, and I wrote many things in Spanish in my notebook. I'm also practicing talking in the shops near my apartment.
(Mi tarea por esta noche y la manana es hablo en solamente Espanol con mis companeros. Sera dificil porque ellos no saben mucho Espanol. Despues de mi clase, Rob fue jugando una partida en su computadora, y yo escribio muchas cosas en Espanol en mi cuaderno. Practicando habler en los tiendas cerca de mi apartamento, tambien.)
Blogging in Spanglish counts as talking to my roommates en Espanol, right?! Maybe not...be it's better than nothing (es lo mejor de nada)!
We spent an hour together at the ITESM library, and spoke entirely in Spanish. Apparently, being a language professor doesn't necessarily mean that you have to speak any another language. Cool...makes me really work for it! It is exhausting, however.
We covered some things that I'm already comfortable with (estar y ser...meaning "I am" in the temporary/permanent form, respectively). We unknowingly reviewed a lot of verb conjugation that I'd flat-out forgotten how to do, and erroneously thought I was rid of for life (the past and future tenses of estar y ser...much more difficult).
All in all, I think it went pretty well. We'll meet on Tuesdays (el martes) for one hour and Thursdays (el jueves) for two. I picked up two third-grade level (that's right...I've got mad skills) Spanish workbooks for a whopping 40P to practice with. Our focus will be fluidity and speed. I hear things well, says Maestra Lupina, but I need to speed up my hearing and speaking. It's nice to have a goal, right?!
My homework for tonight and tomorrow is to speak in only Spanish to my roommates. It will be difficult because they don't know a lot of Spanish. After my class, Rob was playing a game on his computer, and I wrote many things in Spanish in my notebook. I'm also practicing talking in the shops near my apartment.
(Mi tarea por esta noche y la manana es hablo en solamente Espanol con mis companeros. Sera dificil porque ellos no saben mucho Espanol. Despues de mi clase, Rob fue jugando una partida en su computadora, y yo escribio muchas cosas en Espanol en mi cuaderno. Practicando habler en los tiendas cerca de mi apartamento, tambien.)
Blogging in Spanglish counts as talking to my roommates en Espanol, right?! Maybe not...be it's better than nothing (es lo mejor de nada)!
Monday, February 2, 2009
more pics
Apparently I'm not feeling too wordy today, but I have been taking lots of pics, warming up for some really good ones to come...
the Macroplaza, as un-macro as it was, did have some cool architecture
I've heard that Barrio Antiguo is an awesome, old-world neighborhood nearby, with cobblestone streets and super colorful buildings...need to check that out
just practicing my depth-of-field! after I reset almost every setting on my camera, I needed something to play with and had some pesos laying around
further proof that I am, in fact, in Mexico
sometimes I forget that I'm in Mexico...some parts are so Americanized, and other parts are so foreign and ass-backward
I promised better pics of the (screaming) peacock and the deer on campus...how're these?!?!
(and yes, Summer, I chose a doe just for you, since she's obviously "peen"-less)
the Macroplaza, as un-macro as it was, did have some cool architectureI've heard that Barrio Antiguo is an awesome, old-world neighborhood nearby, with cobblestone streets and super colorful buildings...need to check that out
just practicing my depth-of-field! after I reset almost every setting on my camera, I needed something to play with and had some pesos laying around
further proof that I am, in fact, in Mexicosometimes I forget that I'm in Mexico...some parts are so Americanized, and other parts are so foreign and ass-backward
I promised better pics of the (screaming) peacock and the deer on campus...how're these?!?!
(and yes, Summer, I chose a doe just for you, since she's obviously "peen"-less)just pics
my cell phone - an old school nokia, complete with yellow/black screen. that's right, its not color. the orange ribbon is how Rob and I tell our phones apart.
at club La Fuerte on Saturday night, we ended up in the DJ booth
Coca Light - a.k.a. Diet Cokethey reuse glass bottles here, so it's common to use straws (las popetes)
Macroplaza...not so Macro...
On Friday, a few companeros and I headed to the Macroplaza, toted as the "third largest plaza in the world". Ann-Marie, Chris, Eric and I hopped in a cab, and since I spoke the most Spanish in the group (eek!), I asked to be taken there...
We drove though an area that I hadn't been through before, and arrived in a park surrounded by cobblestone streets and gothic buildings. Standing in the center of the Macroplaza was a HUGE obelisk (named "the big red wall" by our group). We wandered through the plaza and into an outdoor mall of sorts. Every 12 feet or so, there was a shoestore (una zapateria), a 7-11 (they're EVERYWHERE) or a TelCel kiosk (selling cellphones and SIM cards). Repeat. Twelve more feet, same three things. Over and over and over for several blocks.
the big red wall
Moral of the story: the Macroplaza wasn't so big. We easily covered it in two hours...oh, well.
My Spanish definitely got some practice as Chris picked up a cellphone. The true test came while standing in a long line at Office Depot (yup, they've got those here, too): a Mexican guy came up to me with a gluestick he'd intended to purchase, but needed to get back to work. In rapid Spanish, he asked if he could give me money to pay for his item, since I was next in line. The nervous look on my face, followed by my request to speak mas demasiado (more slowly) told him that I'm not exactly fluent. I was super-proud of myself when I worked my way through it, figured out what he was asking, and made the purchase.
The best part of the Macroplaza, since it wasn't nearly as Macro as it claimed to be, was the crosswalk signal...it's freaking animated. No joke. When it's safe to cross, the signal is a guy (a white guy, no less) who walks. As the time decreases, he speeds up...he runs!
SPANISH INSTRUCTION UPDATE: My first meeting with the professor is on Tuesday (el martes), and I'm obviously super-excited. I've picked up a little book that's ALL Spanish to practice with, and have been pushing myself really hard to practice while we're out and about (to the point that I won't let Spanish-speakers speak for me). Hope you'll all still be able to read these posts when they're in full Spanish... ; ]
We drove though an area that I hadn't been through before, and arrived in a park surrounded by cobblestone streets and gothic buildings. Standing in the center of the Macroplaza was a HUGE obelisk (named "the big red wall" by our group). We wandered through the plaza and into an outdoor mall of sorts. Every 12 feet or so, there was a shoestore (una zapateria), a 7-11 (they're EVERYWHERE) or a TelCel kiosk (selling cellphones and SIM cards). Repeat. Twelve more feet, same three things. Over and over and over for several blocks.
the big red wallMoral of the story: the Macroplaza wasn't so big. We easily covered it in two hours...oh, well.
My Spanish definitely got some practice as Chris picked up a cellphone. The true test came while standing in a long line at Office Depot (yup, they've got those here, too): a Mexican guy came up to me with a gluestick he'd intended to purchase, but needed to get back to work. In rapid Spanish, he asked if he could give me money to pay for his item, since I was next in line. The nervous look on my face, followed by my request to speak mas demasiado (more slowly) told him that I'm not exactly fluent. I was super-proud of myself when I worked my way through it, figured out what he was asking, and made the purchase.
The best part of the Macroplaza, since it wasn't nearly as Macro as it claimed to be, was the crosswalk signal...it's freaking animated. No joke. When it's safe to cross, the signal is a guy (a white guy, no less) who walks. As the time decreases, he speeds up...he runs!
(my apologies for the sideways, shaky video...but you get the picture)
SPANISH INSTRUCTION UPDATE: My first meeting with the professor is on Tuesday (el martes), and I'm obviously super-excited. I've picked up a little book that's ALL Spanish to practice with, and have been pushing myself really hard to practice while we're out and about (to the point that I won't let Spanish-speakers speak for me). Hope you'll all still be able to read these posts when they're in full Spanish... ; ]
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