I'm plunking along with my Spanish lessons via Rosetta Stone. At some point I'm going to have to attempt speaking to a live person in Spanish, and that still seems scary, but I am picking up a lot of vocabulary. I am far enough that the program is teaching me all the little accent marks, which I usually forget to type in. And some words seem all wrong, like cinturon for belt. And marron for brown. I always think maroon. And the possessive pronouns with gender attached. Me or my! But the sense of being outside of myself and my normal world is delightful, and I find it hilarious to pronounce Japon or Russia. And Americans seem to be represented mainly by cowboys and cowgirls. Oh, and baseball players. At least they are benign stereotypes. What other countries think of us really would often be unfit to print.
I live where there is a constant immersion in Spanish, at least the Mexican version. And so many of my fellow Californians speak Spanish. And our history involves Spain as well. There is a familiarity with every word I learn. Like coming home. This may also be because I was born on the border between Texas and Mexico. And that border is mostly artificial. We are all Norte Americanos. I find that fact pleasing.
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