Spanish lessons

I honestly cannot think of a better way to learn a language. What could possibly replace sitting in a hostel, a random assortment of people from the states, Holland, Serbia, Argentina, and Colombia, with Santi, one of the hostel owners rambling on and on about who knows what with that ridiculous grin on his face, knowing that he is speaking way faster than I could possibly even try to follow. At the end of it all, he asks me something, and giving him a completely blank state in return, I reply, “sí”. He cocks his head, raises his eyebrows and asks, “en serio? Me entendiste?” I laugh even harder and say “nooooooo”.

After GMM tonight, we went over to the apartment where a couple of the @ guys live, which was so much fun. I may be on the opposite side of the world, but as we were drinking wine, smoking shisha, ordering empanadas instead of pizza, laughing about facebook, and listening to Black Eyed Peas, I could not have been more at home.

From the moment that we arrived in Buenos Aires and Damien and Juan picked us up from the airport at nearly 5am, I have had such a blast and have been amazed at my ability to have real conversations in Spanish. Hell, the entire conference was led in Spanish. I am not going to lie and pretend that I have understood everything, or even half of it, that many of the conversations haven’t had quite a bit of English mixed in, or that my grammar skills are anything to brag about, but I am certain that I will be speaking like a pro much sooner than I could have ever dreamed. I probably sound like a 5 year old when I try to speak now, but I already have so much more confidence with the language, and I have caught myself using Porteño phrases without thinking twice about it. The Colombians here laugh when I attempt to use “vos” since that will do me absolutely no good when I head up to Barranquilla…