La serpiente era más astuta...

I never told you, but the most discouraging stretch with my Spanish has been over the last few months. My expectations were so low before that I was always feeling heartened by my progress, no matter how small. As the one-year mark ticked over I was actually doing pretty well. I could get across most of what I wanted to say and understand most of what was said to me . . . but I still made so many mistakes and was very limited in terms of the fluent, precise expression you have in your native tongue. I'd come so far, but, finally, it was the distance I had to go that was getting to me.

Well I may not have told you then, but I'm telling you now . . . because it's no longer true! As of about a month ago, my Spanish really turned a corner. I write things for my teacher and don't get too much wrong. I'm well on the way to grasping and feeling the significance of the classic English-language confusions - the two "to be" verbs (ser and estar), the two past-tenses (imperfecto and indicativo), and the subjunctive. I even think in Spanglish! And the other day the strangest thing happened - we didn't have enough Spanish Bibles to go around so I ended up with an English one. As my friend began to read the passage I was following along in my Bible, thinking to myself "Gosh, it's quite different to mine - must be a different translation". It took a verse or two before I twigged that it was actually a different language! :)

Stgo

my corner of town
the Plaza de Armas

poor suburb in the rain

the cordillera after the rain

my corner, this time with carabineros and youth long-gone