Getting in Touch! Feeling at Home!

We FINALLY started our Spanish lessons last week! With just four two hour lessons under our belts, we’re getting brave enough to speak a little Spanish in public! Though we are FAR from fluent, the initial response to our efforts is creating some incredible and heartening experiences! Consistently, local residents have been meeting us WAY more than half way as we have faced confusing situations. For instance, there was the mujer (woman) and her hija (daughter) who guided us through our second attempt at the tricky process of paying our local property taxes. We were unsure of what documents we needed and which line to get into at “La Municipia” building, what with all the people milling around. The daughter took Bonnie over to one line to show copies of documents needed to get the tax printout that verified the discounts for paying early, being part time Mexican residents and being OLD , while Larry and the mother waited in the line to pay. Voila! Done! After sharing “besitos” (little kisses on the cheeks) and saying “Muchas gracias” a number of times, we were on our way!
There is a sense of isolation that comes with not being able to communicate in the native language. The personal impact has been challenging for us (especially Bonnie), to put it mildly! Sly will share HIS perspective on not knowing the local “Aranese” (Arana = Spider) dialect in his next blog entry….