Language

So I just wanted to make a few comments about my experience so far being immersed in a Spanish speaking country and desperately trying to learn the language.

1. It has given me such an appreciation for people who immigrate to the United States and are not able to speak the language. I can not imagine. Thinking of that makes me so motivated to really learn Spanish, so that one day when I am a nurse somewhere, I can communicate with Latino patients who feel overwhelmed and out of place in the US.

2. I think the Spanish is definitely coming along, but there are days when I wake up and honestly feel like a five year old. No, younger than that. Three year old. I feel like I am at the same speaking level of my four year old cousin, except that I am trapped in a twenty year old body. The most frustrating feeling in the world is wanting so badly to understand, but being physically unable to do so. There are times when I feel like I have a blanket over my mind, and there is this disconnect between hearing and understanding. I understand more than if I were hearing Chinese, but there are so many details and things that I am not getting. Frustrating.

3. Our family has a new cat. This has completely changed my perspective of speaking to animals. My family is always talking to the cat, and telling it things that even I do not understand. They will say, "No Luna, you can't sit on the chair, you must sit and the ground... Are you hungry? You just ate an hour ago! Luna, where are you? Come out from under there! That is dirty- don't eat it!" And I just smile to myself because I can barely understand what they are saying, and of course this poor cat has no idea! She is more lost than I am in this world of foreign words and sounds. What is also funny is that I feel weird talking to the cat in English. But I could just make up jibberish and it would be all the same to this cat. Spanish. English. Jibberish. No difference at all.

4. Probably one of my proudest moments so far on the trip has been explaining my symptoms to the doctor at the clinic in Spanish. The times when I have really needed to use my Spanish, in real life situations, has been so rewarding to me. I can't wait to continue that, and hopefully in the future, be able to use Spanish with my patients wherever I work as a nurse.