learn something new every day

For example, it turns out the past tense of to be and to go IS the same in espanol. And the word for 'this' is esta. Oh, if I could tell you how much that little word helped my conversations in class today. And apparently houses with lots of wood are attractive to scorpions, who move from the sugar cane fields when the temperatures get too hot. (I might not have understood all these facts correctly.)

This afternoon I took Emily for a birthday pedicure at a beauty salon. Women here have fancy toenails, with polish and designs on each toe. So now Em's toenails are an orangey pink with pretty white flowers. A woman who worked there just chatted me up, blazing kindly past my incorrect Spanish (many people, helpfully, correct me and after a while I find all the correction to be a bit demoralizing) and saying she thought Emily was my sister. I of course loved this, and remembered my mother's pleasure when a waitress in Manuel Antonio asked if my mom and I were sisters. I guess, logically, one could wonder if that means my mom looks twenty....

I know I moan a lot about my lack of skill in Spanish. I do not exaggerate when I say I am not gifted in languages and am terribly inarticulate. Still, when I think what I've accomplished in 9 weeks--or perhaps I should give credit where it's due, to the Institute with its fabulous teachers--I'm really amazed. I can make my way here. That's pretty amazing considering I started out with three sentences, one of which was "Tengo dos gatos."

Now I'm off to the theater to see that Lorca play. Tomorrow is my last class in Spanish and my last class teaching. I can't believe my time here is really coming to an end. Hasta manana. (Imagine the tildes in the right spots, por favor.)