Mi clase de espanol

Last Sunday our Honduras team had our first Spanish lesson. We will have a translator with us throughout our trip, but we’d like to be able to talk with the kids at the orphanage and show them that we care about them, so we’re trying to learn a few basic words. We hastily scribbled down the words our teacher Ambar shared with us, but I found myself struggling to remember even one of them by the next day. 

On Tuesday afternoon, my doorbell rang. Of course Ozzie sprang into a frenzy of legs and barking, and when I answered the door I was met by Adolfo. He is a really sweet boy who lives down the street from us, and he often comes over to see if Ozzie can come out and play. He even invited us to his dog’s birthday party the other day, which he excitedly told us had a cake made out of dog bones! On Tuesday he had his younger sister with him and the weather was beautiful, so I brought Ozzie out on the front lawn and sat while they ran around and played. After a while Adolfo told his sister it was time to go home, and she responded to him in Spanish. They spoke back and forth for a minute, and then she turned to me and said shyly “We speak Spanish.”  Immediately I realized this was a great opportunity and said “Maybe you guys can teach me some Spanish some time. I’m going to Honduras this summer and I don’t know any Spanish yet.” 

Adolfo nodded his head and they turned to go home.  I wasn’t sure if anything would come of it, but figured it was worth a try. Ozzie and I headed back inside. About 15 minutes later, the doorbell rang again. As I went to the door I saw Adolfo’s empty bike sitting on our sidewalk and guessed it would be him. Sure enough, when I opened the door there was Adolfo, holding a HUGE book written in Spanish! Ozzie and I headed back outside, and while Ozzie played with Adolfo’s sister, he showed me different words and told me what they meant. After several minutes, he asked me “Do you want me to go home and write down all of the words in the world so you will know them?” This made me laugh even though I tried not to, and I told him he didn’t have to write all the words in the world, but maybe he could write some of the words he thought I should know. He nodded and stood up to go. As he was leaving he said “When are you going to Honduras?” I’m pretty sure he wanted to know how long he has, because he could tell I didn’t know anything! :)