I want to get past being a 'good enough' speaker of Spanish. There are many grammatical challenges that I have chosen to avoid until now. Present subjunctive, imperfect subjective, conditional, pluscamperfecto; these are tenses and uses of the language that I entirely ignore. It is rather remarkable how much Spanish one can speak by staying in the present and occasionally addressing the past. I can carry on long conversations and essentially say whatever I want to say. I am amazed how much I understand, and how rarely I feel confused or stumped. On the other hand, I make dozens of errors when I speak, and rarely pause and make an effort to be accurate or grammatically correct.
I decided this week to make a big push to overcome the obstacles that I usually ignore when I speak. I studied with Amparo for six hours yesterday and five hours today. It was really too much for me, and I do not believe I can continue a this pace. But I pushed and pushed. Usually, we spend most of our time together simply talking and sharing experiences. Yesterday and today however, armed with an exercise book I used in my Spanish class at Johns Hopkins, I read two stories, one by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and another by Isabel Allende, reviewed all sorts of tough grammar, and am now charged with writing an essay, which is a new challenge for me.
Tomorrow is another holiday for Maya. She has not yet completed a whole five day week at school! It is 'Day of the Races' for the whole country, and many are heading for the beach to rest and relax. I would love to take a few days on the water, far away from the cars and pollution of the city, but Eric is not keen on the ten hour drive (I don't drive!) there and back. He has yet to see Puerto Lopez or Machalilla, which is a wonderful part of Ecuador. We have not spent much time on the coast, in fact, have yet to explore any of the coast. Eric wants to look for more plain tailed wrens, which of course is why he is here, so I am going along with his wish to check out more birds. I have my camera ready and will get to bed early, and look forward to photography challenges.
I decided this week to make a big push to overcome the obstacles that I usually ignore when I speak. I studied with Amparo for six hours yesterday and five hours today. It was really too much for me, and I do not believe I can continue a this pace. But I pushed and pushed. Usually, we spend most of our time together simply talking and sharing experiences. Yesterday and today however, armed with an exercise book I used in my Spanish class at Johns Hopkins, I read two stories, one by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and another by Isabel Allende, reviewed all sorts of tough grammar, and am now charged with writing an essay, which is a new challenge for me.
Tomorrow is another holiday for Maya. She has not yet completed a whole five day week at school! It is 'Day of the Races' for the whole country, and many are heading for the beach to rest and relax. I would love to take a few days on the water, far away from the cars and pollution of the city, but Eric is not keen on the ten hour drive (I don't drive!) there and back. He has yet to see Puerto Lopez or Machalilla, which is a wonderful part of Ecuador. We have not spent much time on the coast, in fact, have yet to explore any of the coast. Eric wants to look for more plain tailed wrens, which of course is why he is here, so I am going along with his wish to check out more birds. I have my camera ready and will get to bed early, and look forward to photography challenges.
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