"When did you decide you were going to Guacamola?"

This questions was the response from a friend in my Family Home Evening group a few weeks ago after telling her that I was spending my summer in Guatemala. I have to admit I was a little surprised hearing this slip of the tongue from a flight attendant, and a little more surprised when she said it happens to her all the time...

For those of you who haven't heard, yes, I am going to "Guacamola" this summer in an attempt to learn enough Spanish to call my Hispanic student's parents and tell them that they need to get their children under control. I guess it would be good to learn how to say some other things too. Ever since returning from my mission I have wanted to learn a language that I could use more often. Tagalog is a beautiful language but I only use it in random run-ins with Filipinos. Yesterday, for example, I was sitting near a picnic table of what looked like Filipinos. I got so excited that I practically pounced on the first woman from the table to walk near me. But as soon as she realized I could say more than a few words in their language, she invited me to come talk with them. In true Filipino style, next thing I knew I was eating craw fish, pansit, mangoes and chatting up a huge table full of people I had just met. What a great culture.

I love speaking Filipino and interacting with people from other cultures. So a long time ago I got a hankering to learn Spanish... a language I could use much more often. For a year or so my desire lay dormant... just a vague dream for the future. But after moving to Texas for a while I realized it was time to start acting on that. I signed up for a class at the local community college with a friend of mine from church. After a few hours of class with Narciso Sosa, our older, talkative and slightly ridiculous professor, we realized that we'd have to learn Spanish some other way. No offense intended to this very smart man, but after hearing the story about the "erough espanish" spoken by the immigrants to Texas the 5th time in two hours, we looked at each other with that look that basically means, "is this guy for real?" Yes. Apparently he is.

So since then we've taken to studying on our own two night a week and following along our text/workbook. We thought it proof of our diligence and accomplishment when, while eating dinner at one of our favorite "study spots", we were able to communicate well enough to keep our Hispanic waitress without being handed off to a server who spoke better English, as had happened several times before. But despite our best efforts, my Spanish skills (especially speaking) are meager at best. So off I go to Guatemala for 7 weeks this summer to attend Spanish classes and volunteer in my free time. I'm excited for the Spanish skills I will return with, however, not so excited for all the hard work and frustration I will undoubtedly experience this summer.

So wish me luck or suerte if you want and I'll totally know what you mean. Funny story actually. I've gotten really good at telling people about my trip to Guate in Spanish. So much so that I often find myself in awkward situations where people think I speak much better than I really do and I have to disappoint them by speaking English right after I clearly wow-ing them with my great Spanish. Someday.. Someday I will be able to finish that conversation!

Here is an entertaining little side note also, since it is Mother's Day. A true gem, you might say, from a true legend. He knows.