Spain vs South America

The theory is that I am not working so much, so I have more time off. To fill some of that time I decided to take a spanish class. Just up the street from work is the Milltown Language College. Karen lives between the college and work, so since she is taking French at the same time, we have a lovely supper together before class at her house, cram before class and walk there together.

After visiting Spain, I realized how rusty my Spanish is. I have a large vocabulary, but to put a sentence together is something completely different. And to top it all off, I just do not understand those Spaniards. Their accent is so different from South America since they put in this strange lispy thing. I have a difficult time understanding my teacher, but I am getting better. Halfway through my 12 week course now, she has me read out loud often since I have such a sweet accent and sound so different compared to everyone else. She is even letting me know some of the differences between SA and Spain Spanish that she would normally leave out because most Europeans are learning Spanish to go to Spain. My teacher is also surprised with my extensive vocabulary for knowing random words but still have difficulties putting sentences together. I also surprise myself with how many words I remember since my last class was over 10 years ago.

Hopefully when Ben and I go back to Spain we both can manage the whole trip without any English. We just need to practice together more. Off to do my homework!