It's my goal to learn spanish. There have been so many times when I was back in the states that I wanted to strike up a conversation with someone from church that didn't speak English, and the only thing I could remember how to say was "Hola, como estas." (Hello, how are you.) And a very general reply. I took two years of spanish class in high school but it has been about 3 years and I have forgotten most of it. After I got here, some of the words and phrases began to jog my memory and I would remember stuff, and if I didn't know it, I would ask what a particular word meant, or what someone was saying. It's much easier to figure out what someone is saying than it is to speak to them though.
I am very proud to say that I understood a lot of Sunday's sermon. :) The general idea was what you can do for your neighbor, or to help your neighbor out. We just moved to a new neighborhood and I hadn't spent a lot of times with the neighbors yet, but I had met Denisse, the girl across the street that seemed very nice. Her Mom runs an almacen in their house, (it's like a mini store with food and random stuff to buy in it, they're very common in neighborhoods) and the girls and I have went across the street a few times to get snacks or eggs.
So, when I got home Sunday, I walked to Denisee's house and told her that I really needed to practice my spanish more and I was wondering if I could help her with English and if she could help me with my spanish. She said that that sounded great, and to my surprise, she pulled out a couple of chairs right there on her porch and started talking to me. I learned more about her life and about her school. If I didn't unerstand a word, she would slow down and tell me another word for i
t, until I understood what she was saying. Sometimes she would have to stop talking and get something if someone came to buy something from the store, and a couple of times she would bring us back a snack when she was done :)
I am so glad to have made a new friend, especially a friend that's a neighbor. Everyday, she tells me to come back the next day and we'll practice more. There's another language here [Guarani] that everyone speaks. They grow up in their house speaking Guarani, and then they learn Spanish when they go to school. It's kind of weird though, because if you go to the country area, there are some people that don't speak any Spanish, because they never went to school. After a little bit of yesterday's spanish lesson, Denisee decided that I needed to learn Guarani....hahaha. It's really difficult for me, and after the several hours that we were on the porch, we had an audience of all of the neighborhood kids watching. Everytime I would pronounce something, they would think it was hilarious. :) Guarani is only spoken in Paraguay, so I will only be able to use it here, but I'm very excited to get to learn it. It's a very beautiful langauge.
I also wanted to ask that everyone keeps Denisee's family in your prayers. Her grandmother is in Asuncion, the Capital, in a coma. They have gotten a lot of bad news about her condition, and they're not sure how much longer they have with her. Asuncion is about an hour and a half drive from here and I would think that it would be hard for them to not have their store open to go stay with her.
I am very proud to say that I understood a lot of Sunday's sermon. :) The general idea was what you can do for your neighbor, or to help your neighbor out. We just moved to a new neighborhood and I hadn't spent a lot of times with the neighbors yet, but I had met Denisse, the girl across the street that seemed very nice. Her Mom runs an almacen in their house, (it's like a mini store with food and random stuff to buy in it, they're very common in neighborhoods) and the girls and I have went across the street a few times to get snacks or eggs.
So, when I got home Sunday, I walked to Denisee's house and told her that I really needed to practice my spanish more and I was wondering if I could help her with English and if she could help me with my spanish. She said that that sounded great, and to my surprise, she pulled out a couple of chairs right there on her porch and started talking to me. I learned more about her life and about her school. If I didn't unerstand a word, she would slow down and tell me another word for i
t, until I understood what she was saying. Sometimes she would have to stop talking and get something if someone came to buy something from the store, and a couple of times she would bring us back a snack when she was done :)I am so glad to have made a new friend, especially a friend that's a neighbor. Everyday, she tells me to come back the next day and we'll practice more. There's another language here [Guarani] that everyone speaks. They grow up in their house speaking Guarani, and then they learn Spanish when they go to school. It's kind of weird though, because if you go to the country area, there are some people that don't speak any Spanish, because they never went to school. After a little bit of yesterday's spanish lesson, Denisee decided that I needed to learn Guarani....hahaha. It's really difficult for me, and after the several hours that we were on the porch, we had an audience of all of the neighborhood kids watching. Everytime I would pronounce something, they would think it was hilarious. :) Guarani is only spoken in Paraguay, so I will only be able to use it here, but I'm very excited to get to learn it. It's a very beautiful langauge.
I also wanted to ask that everyone keeps Denisee's family in your prayers. Her grandmother is in Asuncion, the Capital, in a coma. They have gotten a lot of bad news about her condition, and they're not sure how much longer they have with her. Asuncion is about an hour and a half drive from here and I would think that it would be hard for them to not have their store open to go stay with her.
