Castellano

Here, Spanish is not Español, it is called Castellano. Slowly but surely, my Spanish is improving. I use "modismos" (idioms, more or less) in every day speech more often, and can understand them. I've changed my accent (I know pronounced y and ll as a cross between a j and sh) and use vos and its various conjugations, their form of tú, which means you. I'm also getting better at understanding people my own age, who are definitely the hardest to follow. Besides the normal slang (called lumfardo, fyi) people my age tend to speak really fast, mumble, and have thicker accents. We also tend to talk about things I just can't discuss in Spanish - like different styles of sneakers, fashion, etc. Describing the pair of sneakers that I want to buy is hard! I don't know how to say high tops and low tops in Spanish, and generally use a mixture of pointing, explaining, and laughing ;-) Luckily, people generally have patience and help me find words I don't know (ie: fuschia = fucsia. The sneakers I want are converse all stars low tops in fuscia - converse are really really popular here!).

I also get a bit frustrated when I hear little kids speaking. I know that they are native speakers and this is their only language, but its not cool that six year olds have better grammar than I do :-) They are actually harder to understand than adults or people my age (do we have a category? young adults? old adolescents? its a funny in between age) because they REALLY mumble! I had a pretty good conversation with an 8 year old on Saturday about what kind of sports she likes and what she does at school. The best part of little kids is that they love showing off their English, and we sing songs together, like "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

My other frustration is my accent, and specifically my pronunciation. While it is definitely getting a lot better and I no longer speak like such an American, I still hear it sometimes! The worst part is saying my name - due to my inability to roll my r's I can't say "Rebeca" correctly! It makes me feel so silly that I can't even pronounce my own name. Also, Rebecca is not a popular name here, which is SO different from the US and specifically Penn.

Another fun part of Spanish is the friends I make randomly, and the inevitable conversation about the US. Friday night my cab driver and I had a pretty in depth conversation about Bush - he was very curious about my opinion on Bush, the war on Iraq, and why Bush was so unpopular in the US. I also made a friend yesterday while crossing the street, after we almost got hit by a car together (we had the right of way and a car wasn't looking when he turned, so we sprinted across). He was probably Dad's age and he told me all about his daughter who lives in Champaign (sp?), Illinois (which is pronounced phonetically, btw).

Speaking of Dad, I had an Iguazú story I thought you'd all appreciate. Out of my group of 6 friends, I was the only one to run into people that I knew, and felt very much like Dad or Grandma! Our first day there we were leaving a restaurant after lunch, when I heard someone saying "Rebecca? Is that you?" It turns out it was a kid from Penn who is here abroad on a different program! Then, when we were on the bridge looking at La Gargantua del Diablo, I again heard the infamous "Rebecca? Is that really you?" It was the girl who lived with Bocha last semester, who I met when she came to visit! My friends didn't understand how in the world I could run into people that I know in Northern Argentina of all places, but I assured them that is a part of my genetics!

Okay all, it's bedtime!

Hasta Luego.
~Becca