Hello everybody! Today is Wednesday and it's my first day back to school after two days off. Spain has a lot of random holidays that we get school off for, and this time it was for a world fair or something. I don't really know. I was sick all weekend (still have a bad cough and a bit of a headache) so I didn't get to go, which is a bummer but I guess that happens.
A couple days ago my mom told me over Skype (something that's become more and more recent in the last few weeks) that the wonderful crew over at Domestic Square Peg would like me to write a series of 5 articles for their teen section about my experience adjusting to a different culture. I'm really excited- I always love an opportunity to get my work published! However, I do need some ideas on what to write them about. I feel like I've gone through so much that, if it were up to me, I'd write an entire (very opinionated) autobiography on this year. That would certainly exceed my 200-500 word limit, so if you have any ideas, please share them!
I passed the 7 month mark yesterday and, while I'm pretty much ready to go home, the idea that I only have two more months here scares me. Especially living in a new town, I feel like I have so much more that I'm supposed to do with this experience. I'm constantly comparing my exchange year with those of other exchange students that I know, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing more than I have. This is silly because I'm obviously going to have a different experience than other people. This is scary because I don't want to look back and regret not doing enough this year.
My iPod broke on Friday (something about bad software, according to Yahoo Answers and the Apple forums). This happened to me once back home, and it was completely devastating. It occupied me for weeks, and I do believe I may have cried once or twice. Here, it was just another thing that happened. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I mentally made a list of solutions, and decided not to worry about it until there was something I could do. While this may not be a story relevant to my actual experience here, I do believe it shows a lot about what I've learned during these last couple months. Apparently whatever it is I'm learning here is applicable in "real life" situations.
Other than that, nothing's really going on in my life. I've been watching Disney movies and eating bizcocho and walking to and from school and trying to pay attention in Filosofia and speaking Spanish. Life isn't super exciting, but it's not bad either. I'd even go so far as to say I might just be content with it.
Showing posts with label spanish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spanish. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Spanglish
Before I left for Spain I used to throw Spanish words into everyday conversations. Common Spanish words or phrases, like "anda!" or "ay dios" suddenly snuck themselves into an otherwise typical English sentence. I used to call it Spanglish, thinking that the 5-95% rate of Spanish to English was an acceptable rate for a way of speech to be considered Spanglish. Like every other assumption about language I had before I arrived here, I was wrong.
Now that I've been here three months, I wish I could call myself fluent in Spanish but I'm not. Every day I get closer to it, though, and further away from my previously excellent knowledge of English. My Spanish is increasing and my English is deteriorating. This means that the 5-95% rate that made up my definition of Spanglish this summer is rapidly turning to a 30-70% rate. Spanglish is becoming more and more Spanish and less and less English. This makes my head a constant mess of Spanish versus English. I find myself talking to myself in both languages, and even to others in both. It's no longer mostly intentional, it's 100% done subconsciously.
This makes my mind, spoken word, and written word an imperfect combination of Spanish and English. I'm now nearly truly fluent in Spanglish, which is both highly inconvenient and actually kind of cool. I feel kind of like I'm losing a huge part of myself, the part that reflexively corrected peoples' grammar and had an unnatural grasp on the English language. On the other hand, my Spanish is improving, meaning I'm fulfilling one of my goals of exchange.
This Spanglish prevents me from thinking in actual words, making writing and speaking hard for me. It's creating an explosion of awesome inside my head though. I guess that makes it worth it.
Now that I've been here three months, I wish I could call myself fluent in Spanish but I'm not. Every day I get closer to it, though, and further away from my previously excellent knowledge of English. My Spanish is increasing and my English is deteriorating. This means that the 5-95% rate that made up my definition of Spanglish this summer is rapidly turning to a 30-70% rate. Spanglish is becoming more and more Spanish and less and less English. This makes my head a constant mess of Spanish versus English. I find myself talking to myself in both languages, and even to others in both. It's no longer mostly intentional, it's 100% done subconsciously.
This makes my mind, spoken word, and written word an imperfect combination of Spanish and English. I'm now nearly truly fluent in Spanglish, which is both highly inconvenient and actually kind of cool. I feel kind of like I'm losing a huge part of myself, the part that reflexively corrected peoples' grammar and had an unnatural grasp on the English language. On the other hand, my Spanish is improving, meaning I'm fulfilling one of my goals of exchange.
This Spanglish prevents me from thinking in actual words, making writing and speaking hard for me. It's creating an explosion of awesome inside my head though. I guess that makes it worth it.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
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