School sure was tough today. So far it’s been pretty easy for me to fill in the the correct endings when the directions tell me to cambie los siguientes verbos para el pretérito, but it’s a whole different ballgame to figure out when to use which past tense. Aye aye aye. Can’t wait to move out of the past! Although I truly fear the subjunctive past. Miriam insists I’m doing better than I think I am, but I was definitely a little frustrated today. And I think she was too. She actually returned a more advanced book that she optimistically brought with her from the office! We did a lot of exercises today comparing and contrasting the uses of the preterite and the imperfect. Did I mention that all explanations of usage are in Spanish? Yeah. They are. So I had to choose which form (and conjugation) of the past tense to use and a lot of times I would go with my gut and then change it and my gut would be right. When I understand the context, I do better, but sometimes I really just don’t understand what I’m reading.
I skipped work this afternoon to participate in a cooking class—will upload those pics tomorrow, this computer doesn’t like my USB thingamajig. We made masa empanadas de carne res con salsa tomate natural y queso fresco. Mmmm. It was really fun and I’ve only made them with flour before, but I have to write about it in the el pretérito y el imperfecto for homework, which I’m dreading. The class was conducted entirely in Spanish and I understood the directions and information, I think. Mi hermana guatemalteca offered to help me and I think I’ll take her up on it.
Okay, so I am in love with the dog in mi casa and I am really going to miss him when I leave. Gordo (“fatty” or maybe “fatso”) is so adorable and cuddly and not fat at all. He’s so playful, friendly and smart and reminds me so much of my other little Greek perrito amoroso, Houmas. He greets me like I live there when I get home from school and work. He constantly stands up like a person and leans on the edge of furniture or people. He will actually put his paws on my hips and walk with me around the house. He also ate the rest of my mush this morning, so I will be forever in his debt. It’s hard to get a good picture of him because of the extremely low lighting en mi casa and he seems to be a little afraid of the camera or constantly moving. I’ll try to get a picture of him standing outside during the day when I have more time over the weekend.
I smell like masa and beef. Hope I don’t attract all the stray dogs en la calle. Guess I should head home and start my homework.
The dog looks adorable. He has my hairdo, I think, except his curls are not as frizzy.
I get hungry when I read your blogs. All that food.
Don’t be so tense about the tenses, I’m sure it will all fall into place soon.
LOVE YA
Yup, my hair looks like that too everyday here!
My guatemalan mama is going to take me shopping in a REAL supermarket today to get some food for my new apartment next week. We had the most delicious sausages yesterday and they cost only 10 cents each. She also made some soup with chipilines (which I helped her pluck the leaves off…not sure what it was but now I know they are not scallions).
I´m going to attempt to cook some roast chicken for them, Greek style tonight.
Love you, in all tenses xoxox
Aww…Gordo reminds me of Houmas also! I’m sorry that you feel like you are struggling but I know that you can do it! What a great idea to take the cooking class. It let you do something fun on a day that you struggled and now you have a new dish to cook for me. Hee hee hee. I love the floor in this room that you took Gordos picture in.
I know, he acts like him too.
I can´t wait to cook all these masa dishes, get ready for empanadas and tamalitos when I get back…I have a huge bag of masa at home. I´ll be living on masa balls and chicken bone soup for months!
WHEN U TAKE GORDO OUTSIDE TO TAKE HIS PICTURE, PLEASE MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T RUN AWAY. AFTER READING UR STORIES ABOUT WHAT A DIFFICULT TIME U THINK U R HAVING LEARNING SPANISH, I KNOW I WILL CONTINUE SPEAKING TO ALEX IN ENGLISH AND HE CAN YELL AT ME IN SPANISH AS MUCH AS HE WANTS. CAN’T WAIT FOR U TO COME HOME AND MAKE US TAMALES.
Don´t worry, their house is surrounded by an outdoor area and Gordo never steps a foot outside the iron door. hee hee, could you imagine if I lost their dog? I think it would be an international incident.
Can´t wait to cook you tamales AND empanadas…yummmm. Too bad I can´t learn how to make those pasteles. Hugs to you and Alex.