Language Barriers

I never expected the difference of languages to effect communication as much as it does.  My siblings speak English, but they aren't around for me to talk to them all the time.  My Mom speaks one or two words of English, and she is the one I communicate with the most.  I can tell she speaks slowly for me and gives me objects to relate to, but it's still difficult because I don't know all the vocabulary yet.  Today was very difficult in communicating with my Mom because I had my first day of Tango lessons.  I thought it would be at the University where I go to school, but it was at a dance studio downtown.  We were let out at 1 and my Mom was waiting to pick me up at the University, but I was still downtown.  She waited for over 45 minutes for me at the school and I felt really bad that because I didn't know how to communicate well enough in Spanish, she had to wait.  Most of the time I feel really dumb because for everyone else it's so easy, but I am trying and practicing as much as I can.  I'm realizing that you can't become fluent in a difficult language in six weeks, it takes years.  I was talking to my brother and he was telling me that he spent over 10 years studying English to become fluent, so I'm expecting that I will have to study just as long to become fluent in Spanish and have a way to communicate effectively with people from Argentina, because one day I'm moving here!

On to Tango...

The instructor is a flirt, to put it mildly.  He picks his favorite girls and likes to dance with them and tease them.  It's annoying, not cute.  We also have homework in Tango.  HOMEWORK. As you can read, I don't like it that much.  Learning the movements and history behind the dance is cool, but I'm not sure I will enjoy rigorous dance lessons two days a week for two hours.  I was sweating through my clothes when I left dance this afternoon.  If anything, I'll be able to get closer with some more Baylor people and maybe learn how to stare intensly into a man's eye.  

Tomorrow...

We are going to the country, near the mountains, to horseback ride and have a BBQ.  I'm looking forward to getting to know more people, but it will be a very long day.  We are meeting at 8:30 in the morning and not getting back until 8:30 that night.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post on Sunday so you can see!

Until then, I miss you all (whoever is reading this) and look forward to the day that I come home.