Hablo Un Poco De Castellano

I'm learning Spanish.  Yes, that's right.  Me. 

We wanted to learn Spanish as a family this summer.  David researched it extensively and purchased the best language program he could find.  (Pimsleur, by the way.  He's a big fan!)  This is the beginning Spanish course, consisting of 30 lessons.  Each lesson is 30 minutes long.  I could tell you much more, but you're probably not interested in the details of the Pimsleur language course.   Too bad.  It's fascinating (to me).

Anyway, the girls and I tried taking the lessons this summer.  We made it through two or three lessons before the girls were in outright revolt!  Whenever I said, "Time for Spanish lessons," they acted as if they were being physically tortured.  I've heard that kids pick up languages faster than adults, but maybe that only applies when the kids are submerged in the language.  All I know is it was NOT happenin' with our family.  The lessons were hard for me.  The kids couldn't keep up.   We decided to bag it.

Fast forward a couple of months.  Instead of learning as a family, we decided that David and I would take the lessons together.  Now we listen to a lesson together every night.  Sometimes we do it while we're doing the dinner dishes.  Sometimes we wait until the kids are in bed.  It's really fun.  I look forward to our lessons.  They are VERY difficult for me.  I'm only six lessons into the thing (I've had to repeat one or two) and I feel like my brain is already maxed out, but it's fun.  David calls me almost every day and speaks Spanish to me.  He already knows the language a little bit, so it's not nearly as hard for him.  Its really exciting to be learning something new and its a blast to do it with my husband (except when I'm trying to fall asleep and he keeps rattling off all kinds of Spanish words that I haven't learned yet.  Then, I just want to curse in Spanish).

I know that what I'm learning is basically Spanish in slow motion.  If I were to actually talk to a Spanish speaker I'd be totally lost.  Luckily for me, one of the six TV channels we get is Telemundo.  I'll have to start watching some Novellas.  In the mean time, if I'm ever in a Spanish speaking country and I need to find the Hotel Columbus, I know how to ask.