Breakthrough
I'm not really sure what happened, but today it was like something clicked. I first noticed it when I was in the kitchen eating breakfast. I realized that I understood everything Beatriz (my host mom) was saying...usually she speaks a mile a minute, making her hilarious stories virtually impossible to understand.Then, a few hours later, I was running at the gym and a trainer came over to chat. We had a 10 minute conversation and I felt completely at ease. I was thinking to myself that this must be one of my good days. It's strange because my progress here has not been linear. Some days I feel like I'm speaking wonderfully while other days my Spanish attempts are disastrous.
BUT it isn't just the speaking that is going well today...while eating lunch I read Clarin (my favorite local newspaper) WITHOUT my dictionary in hand. It was amazing, I could understand virtually everything. Here's some of the news of the day: Argentina just raised minimum wage (from 1.50 pesos per hour to 2 pesos per hour), illegal immigrants found on the border of the U.S. and Canada or Mexico can now be immediately deported without the judicial proceeding that was formerly required, Brazil has decided to create a state-operated condom factory to fight their AIDS problem (they have the highest rate of contraction in all of South America).
Rachel Newbound is coming in from England tomorrow! I am going to take it easy tonight in preparation for her arrival, especially after last night: margaritas, caiperinhas (another fun drink with a lime base), a LOUD political debate and a fun group from all over the world (3 americans, 1 french, 1 canadian, 1 argentine)...we all enjoyed the music at a place called the "Soul Cafe." Rach will be in town for about 2 weeks, I'm sure there will be interesting stories to come! Hoorah for a three day weekend :)
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