lengua es cultura / language is culture

Español. Spanish. Castellano. Yes I have to speak it here! AKA why all my titles thus far have been in Spanish and English. But first lesson...although the language is Spanish, the "Buenos Aires Spanish" is called Castellano. Most of the differences are within the way it is spoken and "vos" is used instead of "tu". (If you didn't understand that no worries!).  I´ve made a couple EXTREMELY embarassing mistakes and because I love you all, I will share a couple: 

• At one of the Rosh Hashanah dinners I went to, they had delicious meatballs and I of course wanted more. I could not remember the word for meatballs (la albóndiga) so I went for the literal translation, "¿Me pasas las pelotas de carne?" I got blank stares that turned into the person laughing in my face...I had asked for "balls" of "meat" ah!
• I realized I had forgotten to bring a comb so I went to the local pharmacy to find one. Figuring it was easier to just ask where they were located, I asked someone ¨¿Dónde están los penes?" The worker had a huge look of surprise on her face and quickly said ¨¿De dónde sos?" (where are you from?). I said the US and her reply was "sweetie, I think you are asking about "los PEINES" (combs) not "los PENES" (penises). I don't think my face could have been more beet red. I will definitely not be making the same mistake again.

At this point, 85% of my work here is in Spanish; I am fully immersing myself and pushing myself to only ask for an English translation when I absolutely do not understand. Yes, there are times I find myself being spoken to and nodding my head "yes" when my brain is saying "what are they saying? please slow down! and what does that word mean?" but I have generally been very surprised at how well I have adapted back to the language.

Whats my secret? The better question is...Who´s my secret? 

The answer: ROBERTO

I met Roberto when I was in Buenos Aires last year, took classes with him last year, and even ended up renting a room in his apartment for about three weeks. When I found out I'd be heading back to Buenos Aires, I immediately emailed Roberto to let him know and ask him to continue giving me Spanish lessons. Currently, I have lessons with Roberto three times a week for three hours each time. Lessons include grammar, vocabulary, verb tenses, themes, conversation, and more however all the lessons are extremely interactive. For example, one lesson was playing chess to go over all the vocabulary, movements, and verbs used in the game of chess and another was listening to an Argentinian song, writing down all the lyrics while they were being dictated to me; and then having to read them back with the correct pronunciation. 

My favorite class so far included going to the grocery store, buying food, making stir fry, and then eating it with some yummy wine (¡Buen provecho!). The amount of vocabularly, phrases, and verbs I learned was overwhelming but wonderful; and most importantly I can now correctly walk someone through opening up a bottle of wine in Spanish woo! Roberto makes the classes fun and interactive because he knows that living and using the language is the best way to learn. With Roberto I have been able to immerse myself in the language, ask lots of questions, and through this, begin to understand the culture better of the people surrounding me. 

As for the random fact of the day, my favorite Spanish phrase to say so far is "Etiquéteme" meaning "Tag me" (on Facebook).