Progress Not Perfection

I received a compliment from my husband the other day that some might think is an insult. He gives me lots of compliments and encouragement in regards to my Spanish, but this one stood out to me. He said that I have now moved up to the level of being able to communicate poorly in Spanish. It made me realize that I am communicating so much more in Spanish. Granted, here in Arequipa if you want to be understood it has to be Spanish. The vast majority do not know English. When I hear English outside of my home I am shocked and assume it is a foreigner, which it usual is. A lot of times in my house it is Spanish too. Got to love those kids. Anyway, back to the point.

I was so frustrated in Costa Rica b/c I was unable to have very many conversations. They all ended with me being totally clueless and wondering what went down. Now I have conversations. Not all go well and I do not by any means understand it all, but end with some understanding on both parts. I usually have to ask someone to repeat themselves and then respond in a somewhat stilted and extremely slow fashion trying to make sure all my conjugations match the right person and use the right masculine and feminine endings. I also get to have a lot of the same conversations over and over with taxi drivers as we take a ton of cabs. They are really friends and curious as to why my little blondies are rambling on and on in Spanish and what in the heck are we doing here in Arequipa. I still come home discouraged and a little dazed b/c I missed stuff or wanted to have a better conversation with the neighbor, but poco a poco. A very grateful for the experience and am glad I am bringing home bilingual kids so we can keep speaking Spanish in the house.