Poco a poco

Some days, I don't feel like I've learned anything. It's difficult to measure my progress. Every day after three classes of conversation and a grammar review, it's hard to tell if I've actually picked up on anything new. Last Thursday was a rough day for my psyche, but I'm learning to having faith in the process. This Institute wouldn't be here if they weren't doing something right, so I trust that poco a poco, little by little, my brain is capturing new bits of Spanish here and there.

I did have several little victories this weekend that made me feel better after a rough week. Successfully navigating through La Concha with Jonathan (more on that expereince later), ordering a coffee, translating newspaper headlines without my dictionary, asking several book sellers if they carry tiny dictionaries, and asking a vendor if I could try on a sweater by literally saying, "Can I wear that for a minute?" He took a moment to catch on, but eventually understood what I was saying, and now I'll never forget the verb I need to use that means "to try on."

And out I go...

An interesting part of living with Beatriz is that I am forced to go out on the weekends. I don't mean that she's pushing me out the door, although I have the feeling that she would if I was staying in. Whenever I talk about my weekend plans, she always says, "Good! You're young! Go dancing! Go out with your friends! Go have a good time!" I would prefer to stay in, have a glass of wine, and invite some friends over for a rousing game of Yahtzee or charades. That's just not an option here, so out I go. Two nights ago we ventured into the bowling alley. I tried to look up bowling vocabulary to make it an educational event, but the only word I could be sure was the correct translation was "pavo" for "turkey," and I didn't even get to use it. Last night we crossed off number 44 on Lonely Planet's top 70 places to see in Cochabamba, at Lujo's Discoteca and Karaoke Bar. Brother Wes loves himself some karoke. And I guess it's growing on me too, especially when Meatloaf and $2 Tequila Sunrises are involved.

Love in the key of G,
K