Como se dice?

"Como se dice??".... this has to be the phrase I have said more than any other in the past week. I say it at least twice at breakfast, at least 10 times at school and find myself hearing it in repeating over and over in my head as I drift off to sleep at night. During the past week I have developed a whole new appreciation for language and communication. I have to wonder-what do I actually sound like to the family I live with when I'm trying to say easy phrases like, "I am cold", "I am hot" "I am tired", "I go to school now", "I like food", "I help you?"......Since I've actually only officially learned Spanish verbs in the present tense, I'd imagine I sound mildy ignorant....like a very young child learning to speak for the first time or like I need to be enrolled in Special Ed. Then toss in all the words that are one letter away from being different from one another and that I's are actually pronounced like E's, E's are pronounced like "A's" and so forth....you get the picture. I am lucky that the family I am living with is very patient. The other night I accidentally said "I want a man" instead of "I am hungry".....you can be sure I will not be living that one down.

I must admit though-I love the challenge. I haven't felt the need to study like this in years! I won't lie...it's frustrating, but simultaneously excites me - my brain has switched brain back into the "on" position. Each morning I try and study a few new words to bring to the breakfast table and so far its been going well....or so I think....maybe I make no sense..but at least it feels good-and I can tell my family appreciates me trying. I've had 4 hours a day of Spanish classes, 1 hour of tutoring and about 2 hours of family talk time per day in the past week. Slowly but surely things are starting to make sense. I've become friends with Veronica, a girl from Cusco (pictured to the left) who is willing to work with me daily. I will in exchange be tutoring her in English over the next few weeks....I haven't broken to her yet that I went to Engineering school and had just about 1.5 English classes in the past 11 years. Every time we talk about it I see Ralphie from the Simpsons pop up in a bubble over my head saying "Me fail English-that's un-possible."

I think that if I have learned one thing so far this trip it's to never again be impatient with someone who is learning and attempting to speak English-its not easy to learn a language outside of your native tongue. Secondly I have learned to not be embarassed to keep trying...the worst I can do is sound like a second-grader right?......so when they look confused I just smile pretty, play a short game of charades, and say "Como se dice??"