too good not to write about...

Pues, there is a recent development happening that I am very excited about. The frustrating culture shock part is OVER! I have noticed myself getting more and more wanting to speak Spanish and over the last few days, especially, my roommate and I have been speaking constantly to each other in Spanish! ALREADY my Spanish is a lot better. This is even a little tough to write! I have gotten over the fact that some people in the program just aren't going to want to speak it all the time, which is fine, but I shouldn't be one of them. This experience is for me and I want to leave this country with near or full fluency and the only way I can do that is by actually activly taking part in it. This afternoon some of my friends from my school came up to me and started talking to me in English, but then I answered them in Spanish. Eventually, they switched from English to Spanish and we continued our whole conversation that way! I felt so much better that even if they weren't thinking that way at first, they still want to practice it. They just need a little nudge, just like I did. I am happy my roommate is on the same page as me now. It took a while and I knew she wanted to speak, she just needed to get through it too. I don't think I have spoken more than 10 sentences in English today! :) Anyways, that is very exciting news to me!

Also, tonight my roommate and I went to an heladeria down the street to get some icecream and the whole place was filled with men watching a Real Madrid vs. Liverpool futbol game. They were the only place open with icecream, so that's where we went. We couldn't find anyone who worked there because it was so packed and these men were laughing at us and asking us which kind we wanted. Eventually someone, who knows if they work there, scooped us icecream and these men ended up paying for it because they wanted to talk to us longer. They talked to us for almost 20 minutes, they wanted to practice their English with us and we spoke Spanish. It was a little creepy since they were in their 60s and really excited to talk to us but it was fun to talk to locals so went along with it. They invited us to come every night to the same place and practice English and Spanish. Who knows if we are going to but it was fun to talk to some locales instead of just eachother and our host family. One thing that they said was for us to speak Spanish all the time, todos los dias, because we won't get better at it even though we are living here. We need to speak it to eachother and everywhere to improve it. Que ironico! (How ironic!)

Anyways, just wanted to write a little something about that. I am very excited and can't wait to speak more Spanish and get better everyday. With these new classes I am going to have to start speaking in a totally different context than I am used to. I think I am going to have a hard time coming back and not being able to speak Spanish to everyone all the time. It is going to be different and frustrating, but I think I will be able to find a place where I can practice it.

Gracias,
Buenas noches,

Besitos y Abrazos,

Betsy (todas las personas aqui llamame Elizabeth porque es mas facil a decir)