Volunteering...and speaking Spanish

One of my goals this semester was to improve my Spanish (obviously). However, a few weeks ago, I noticed that in the house I rarely have a chance to speak it. And my internship is working with my program director, Valerie. So again, very little Spanish exposure. So I talked with Val about volunteering somewhere so I could have the chance to use my Spanish.

She looked around and found a guy at the Mexican office for Urban Development and the Environment. We met with him last week about what I could do with them. Today I was supposed to go to their office at 9am, and then we were going to the coast to check out some conservation projects that are going on. So I grab a pb&j, skipping the wonderful breakfast of pancakes, and leave the house at 8am. I had to walk several blocks, then find a bus to take me downtown. Right after I got off the bus, about 1 block away from the office, I got a call from Claudina, who is second in command at the house. Chema, the guy from the office, had called and said the trip was canceled, and that I shouldn't come down.

I was bummed! But I got the chance to travel around Merida all by myself, and I didn't get lost or anything. I hope that next week they'll be something for me to do! Anyways, since I talked to Val about not using my Spanish, I've been using it a lot more. On Tuesday, one of my class assignments was to go to the bus station, get a ticket to a town called Muna (about an hour away), and find someone on the street to interview. We had partners, and Keith and I found a nice little old lady to talk to. Intense Spanish....but I'm really happy because I can understand and speak it clearly. Even if I have a Gringa accent, I still get compliments from some people about my speaking skills. That just makes my day!

I'm actually a little worried that by the time I get to the US, I may try to order food in Spanish. I was thinking about my dentist the other day (my jaw keeps popping, which can't be good). I thought I should tell the dentist about my jaw and its annoying habit of popping. I thought to myself "Dang, I don't want to do that, it's going to be hard. I don't know how to say that in Spanish." Then I thought, "Wait, I'll be in the US. I can talk in English!" It made me laugh!