I had my first Spanish lesson today. It was only an hour and I am already wiped out. It reminded me of being an exchange student again, but without the waffles and French fries. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited to learn Spanish, but my tutor wants me to pronounce things correctly after hearing them only once AND she wants me to do homework. I hate homework. I realize that is probably ironic considering I am a teacher, but the only thing worse than correcting homework is doing homework. Plus, I keep confusing things with French. Does it really matter that I have been calling the dog “per-ro” instead of “per-jjo?” So far everyone has understood me. So what if “pero” means “but.”
I think The Boy feels the same way about his informal Spanish lessons. All day long he is bombarded with Spanish (except when he is talking to me – I only “do” nouns in Spanish). We go crazy when he says something in Spanish (Hasta luego is his favorite saying today) and he stops and smiles as if to say, “You like me. You reeeally like me.” When he gets up after his nap he is in a terrible mood and screams if he sees any Spanish-speaker. It is crazy because earlier in the day he’ll (sometimes) choose The Nanny over me or he’ll run toward her like he is going to tackle her and hug her to pieces.
By dinner-time he warms up. He asks for “Wee” (Lili, The Nanny) who has already left or he watches everything The Cook does (maybe he’s anticipating dinner?). Sometimes he distracts her by reaching up for her to hold him. It is quite a comical sight because he’s so tall he’s practically half the size of Julia.* The hard part, for me, is that he is still developing his English vocabulary and structure. He constantly asks, “What’s this Mommy,” and I feel obligated to answer him in English (not that I would know the Spanish word anyway). Everyone says his language will develop a little slower, but he’ll be fine in the long run. Can’t wait until we start English, Spanish, and Sign Language with The Girl.
*Bolivian people are a lot smaller than us. My theory that it is the altitude (everything is blamed on the altitude) is supported by MH’s colleague. She said that her son never grows when they are in La Paz, but as soon as they go home he has a growth spurt. Coincidence? or Science?
