Necessary Characteristics of Life in Spain.... Part 3

In case you forgot the first two...

#1 - Ability to Laugh at Yourself
#2 - Strong Legs

This weekend #3 jumped out at me - Ability to Celebrate the Little Accomplishments!

I am not very gifted in regards to foreign languages.  Don't believe me?  Just ask some of those who have traveled with me on short term trips.  My attempts at language were often the humor needed to get through the rough days.  And now, God has moved me to a country that doesn't speak my native tongue, and although they speak Spanish (a language I heard a lot of in NC and even studied a little in high school), they speak a different form of Spanish than is commonly heard around "my neck of the woods."  Add to that that I am not as young as I used to be and that somewhere along the road of life many brain cells have burned up and language is slow going.

It is easy to get discouraged and frustrated.  It is easy to think I'll never learn enough to minister (forget ever being considered fluent).  And often the only things that jump out in your mind are your mistakes.

For example - now get ready to laugh, it's ok!  Last Sunday we had the pastor and his family to lunch.  I served a Citrus Salad for the first plate.  The wife asked (all in Spanish of course as they speak very little English) what all was in the salad.  With confidence I began to answer.... lechuga (lettuce), cebolla (onions - they were little green onions but didn't know how to differentiate), naranjas (oranges), fresas (strawberries), and alemans.  She smiled and said "alemans?"  I said yes.  She asked one more time... "alemans?"  I figured she didn't recognize what they were because I had candied them so this time I answer "si, alemans con azucar." (with sugar).  And she asks one more time, but before I could repeat my answer again her son speaks up and says (thank goodness he speaks much better English) "do you really mean you put Germans in this salad?  with sugar?"  The entire table cracks up laughing!

For you see - "alemans" are germans and "alemendras" are almonds.  Refer back to lesson #1.

But back to #3.... here are a few of language celebrations -

• Last week I sent a Spanish friend a text message saying I could not meet her to go to the library because I had 6 young people in my house - the text was all in Spanish and I didn't have to use google translate - and better yet, She understood it!
• We went to Valencia (a town on the east coast of Spain this weekend for some family time - where, by the way, they speak even another version of Spanish).  When I was checking into our hotel the gentleman asked whether I wanted him to speak English or Spanish.  I said English (shoot when available and it deals with money/rules I'd just as soon be sure what he is saying).  However, he started into his spiel in Spanish and I never stopped him and actually understood what he was telling me - including directions as to how to get there!
• Our new car has a GPS in it.  I have set it to Spanish trying to get used to the commands I might hear when I take the practical part of the exam in Spanish.  Here's the cool thing - so far I haven't gotten lost due to lack of understanding the Spanish (note - I didn't say I hadn't gotten lost, however).
• We went to an aquarium in Valencia today and saw a presentation on penguins.  It was all in Spanish and I understood a good deal of it - including the fact that one of the youngest penguins has decided it much prefers to spend time with humans instead of other penguins and therefore has kind of become an outcast in it's penguin community (now I am sure penguin vocabulary is going to benefit me greatly as some point in my life here in Spain).
• We stopped at a gas station (where, by the way, they still come out and pump the gas for you) this evening and had to stand in line to use the bathroom.  I carried on an entire conversation with this older lady in line about the noise young children make in the car on long trips and how she was grateful for the long line at the bathroom because it gave her a break from the recorder playing (yes, they have those here too) her granddaughter had been doing for the last hour.  I told her the 3 teenagers I had in the car (no - we didn't pick up an extra child, we have one of Hannah's friends for the weekend) all either had electronic games or computers and my car was totally silent.  She asked if we had room for her.
• I have memorized John 3:16 and Romans 3:23 in Spanish.  Now on to Romans 6:23.

 So, none of these are life changing conversations - but hey - they are using language and I'll celebrate whatever I can find to celebrate!