Buen Noticas (Good News) more or less week 8

Friday night, I was chatting in Spanish with my host senora, Esmeralda. She says to me, extremely unexpected by me, "your spanish is so improved since you first got here"! WOWOWOOW, I was so surprised and shocked to receive such a nice compliment. No one ever says my Spanish is any good!! I hear other people get compliments all the time by the teachers at school, but it is never me. Esmeralda is a retired high school history teacher and is a non-nonsense kind of person, so when she said that to me I believed her. In fact, she went on to tell me, that she wouldn't have said it if it wasn't true!!! Of course, the entire conversation was in Spanish.

Later on the the evening we were chatting again and once again, she told me how improved I am and then went on to share, how "terrible" my Spanish was when I arrived. Hows that for honesty!! I just sheepishly responded, "that is the process of learning", she agreed.

So I thought I would share me good news....I am learning and improving and YES I do speak Spanish!!! I appreciate how the young people I meet here have no qualms about saying they speak English, when I know full well their English is about as good as my Spanish. So I need to have as much confidence as they do!!

Other interesting thing: At my internship, I got to cook last week. It was really interesting. We took this plant, called "huazontles"
which is also the name of the dish. If you all saw the plant you would think it was a weed! But anyways, we washed it, took only the bud part of it, squished it up, stuffed some cheese in it. Meanwhile, whipped up some egg whites, then added the yolks, whipped more. Rolled the cheese stuffed buds in flour and then rolled it in the whipped eggs, then fried them. More or less, it is a chile rellano, just no chiles. Then we made a sauce which is drizzled over the giant fried plant rellano. I was unsure about eating this plant thing but it was very very good. Maricarmen called it "poor people food" or comida pobre! Meaning, out in the countrysides, then can just pluck this plant from the fields and cook it up.

6 days till I see my husband and girls!! Yeah...and vacation!!!

adios