I woke up in the early afternoon to make melting cake batter and get a little dressed up - I had places to be and people to see! I had been invited earlier on in the week to my Spanish Family's house for Jesus' birthday lunch!! ^_^
I believe I have written a million blog entries about how much I adore my Spanish family and how grateful I am to have them. <3 And, of course, this afternoon was no different. We had our appetizer of vermouth and potato chips, followed by a super yummy lunch, with my melting cakes for dessert (at first they thought it was pudding and tried to serve is as such! oh God! It has four eggs... I think not!) - which we put in cupcake cups and it turned out surprisingly well (melting cake cupcakes... hmmm... may have to try it with frosting... tee hee)! We had our usual tea after lunch and talked and giggled the whole time. They wanted to know all about my trip and told me they'd be stalking me on Facebook, but couldn't understand a word of my English statuses, so had been trying to use Google Translator and mostly look at the pictures - adorable!! :)
After having been abroad abroad (haha) for two weeks and not encountering a single person who spoke English as their native first language combined with understanding a lot and speaking a bit of Portuguese and French (two languages which, though I've studied at one point, I thought for sure I'd become completely useless at), I'd come to realize that all my time wasted on worrying about my Spanish abilities were for naught. Every single person I couch surfed with at one point apologized for their English - some of the people spoke it near perfectly and I had no idea what they were talking about, while others made lots of mistakes, but after a day or two I honestly hardly noticed a single mistake they made because I was completely wrapped up in what they had to say and understood everything they were trying to get across, so I couldn't have given a shit if they used the wrong tense or mispronounced a word. At one point somebody asked me to correct what they'd just said and I'd been so focused on what they were saying that I literally didn't hear a mistake, even though when they repeated it, I'd realized there had been multiple mistakes in the sentence.
These experiences showed me that all my time spent not speaking Spanish because I'm so worried that somebody will judge me if I use imperfect instead of preterite, or if I mispronounce the ceceo, or if I use the wrong pronoun in the wrong place... has been ridiculously wasted. IF somebody has the balls to judge me for a mistake, then they are the losers, not me. Some mistakes are funny because they change the meaning of the sentence, or the accent makes something sound way more adorable than it normally would, but on the whole, a mistake is a mistake and who cares. For me, the people who have the confidence to just start talking at a normal to quick pace are the people I respect. I would respect that person over a person who speaks very slowly, carefully, timidly and, almost, artificially, but makes hardly any mistakes at all. Speaking to somebody who speaks your language as their second language takes a bit of extra work than speaking to a fellow native, and I think that person has the onus to be a bit more patient and open with the person who has given the time and energy to learn their language just to be able to communicate with them. People who judge or make fun of a second language learner who is really trying are the true idiots, not the person giving it their all and putting themselves (linguistically) out there.
And so, I decided to forget about my fears and just start speaking. Throw caution to the wind. Know I'm going to make mistakes and instead of realize it five minutes after I've done it and then fret that the person is probably thinking I'm an idiot for the next half hour... it's far better to say, "Meh. Won't mess THAT one up again!" If I'm not noticing copious amounts of mistakes made by people speaking my language (and I TEACH it every day and am PAID to catch mistakes and correct them), then maybe other people aren't really giving a crap about my mistakes, either. And if they are, I don't want to spend my precious time practicing with them and talking to them anyway. So tehre.
Anyway, I used this general philosophy with my Spanish Family (which is rather silly, I mean they're the only people in the world who I feel 100% comfortable speaking Spanish around... if I make a mistake I either make a funny eyebrow face and they correct it for me, or I just keep going and they know what I said and really don't give a rat's a** anyway, 'cause they're genuinely interested in what I'm saying). I spoke at a speed about 1.5X what I usually speak with them (which is something like 2 or 3X what I speak with others) in Spanish and had a great time!! I was surprised how fluent I sounded to myself and I KNOW I impressed the new girl living with them. ;) Hell yes.
After a wonderful afternoon spent with my Spanish Fam (and feeling on the top of the world when it came to my Spanish!!), I walked home to take a nice half hour to myself to listen to music and just bask in gratitude. :) I love that feeling!! The walk from my Spanish Fam's house into town has always been my time to just be, and I absolutely adore it. <3
As I was walking, already beaming with a sense of bliss, I noticed the sunset.
Now, Spain - as far as I know - is not big on gorgeous sunsets. Certainly not in the winter, anyway, from what I've seen. But tonight's? It was ineffably majestic. The red was so striking and bright and warm - it was absolutely breathtaking. A few hairs stood on end, I got a chill and a tear may or may not have came to my eye. It was THAT amazing. I tried to take a picture, but my camera phone was unable to do it the slightest amount of justice.
I walked on, looking at it when the buildings would subside along my journey, and then it hit me:
"Tu piel tiene el color de un rojo atardecer."
THAT was the song I was listening to on repeat on the walk home. It was all just too perfect. I giggled and looked up, like I do at grand moments of seeming serendipity like these, and thanked him. I told him all my faith is still in him and I am ready for whatever he conjures up next, because I know it will be amazing.
<3
When I got home, Abby was ready to go on our mini trip to the big supermarket a town over. She bought a juicer (something she's been wanting for forever and we were able to find at a really good price!) and I bought really yummy Chai tea (couch surfing finally turned me on to the whole tea thing - haha). After we took our sweet time purusing all the aisles and talking and giggling, Abby pointed out that it was Sunday and 100 Montaditos was still open in the mall. Sunday at 100 Montaditos (a chain of tapas restaurants) means that everything - a big mug of beer, tapas, etc. - is one euro. :oD WIN.
We had two tapas and a giant beer and continued our lovely night out with long conversations and lots of giggling. :) Perfect roomie night out. <3 I heart her so much and I'm so happy to be back home with her!!
XOXO
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