So Valentine's Day occurred sometime last week...
Shane and I went the undtraditional route (there were no flowers, candy, special dinner date...and so on). Instead over a month ago I signed us up for a couple's massage class. It took place on two consecutive Friday nights (the Friday before & after Valentine's Day). It was great. There were about eight couples in attendance; all ages (college age- retired age). It was really cool. I learned some new things and better techniques, too. I think that was the best Valentine's gift we could get each other; a gift that lasts longer than one day! I highly recommend it to all married people.
Over the weekend we celebrated one of my new friend's birthday. In total there were seven couples of which five have kids. They range in age from infant to about 11 years old. It was a mad house! We should've requested a banquet room/area- we were a rather large group. Then the funniest thing, to me, was that Shane was the only "non-hispanic" in the group.
Sometimes it feels like we are being "immersed" in the Latino culture like never before. Being from LA we we've been exposed to a lot of people from many different cultural backgrounds and such, but for the most part we hung out with "Americans." "Non-Hispanic-White" Americans, Mexican-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans, African-Americans, Ecuador-Americans.... mostly born and raised in the US. (Of course, Shane was exposed to more non-Americans through his job/school. But not so personally.) Here, though, we are getting to know these families in a personal/familial way. So, Shane told me "funny how you found this here in Blacksburg."
My new friends are Mexican, Colombian, and Puerto Rican. They are amazing women that are here because they, too, followed their husbands. They followed them to, of all places in the whole world, this small town called Blacksburg. Their husbands are here either for work or they're VT students pursuing a PhD (one is a post-doc). The ladies are all college educated as well. It's funny because we talk a lot about adjusting to being housewives and such. I suggested we start our own reality show called- "The Real Blacksburg Housewives!" We are far from desperate, but definitely have some interesting tales to tell. (Sometime last week I realized that at least 50% of my conversations are in Spanish. I use Spanish more than ever that, even when I am home alone, I find myself thinking in Spanish!)
Well, anyhow. It was great to hang out on Saturday. That same day we also went to B&N and bought some Spanish vocabulary flashcards. They came in handy yesterday. Since it was windy, sometimes it would snow, then it'd be just cold.... we stayed in. We spent some time with the cards. I was surprised at how many words and phrases I know. There were plenty words I have never heard, and some that I've just never seen written. It's cool that while Shane quizzes me he also learns some new words and uses (sometimes he'd ask me to use the words in a sentence. Pretty cool tool.).
Well, Happy Monday.
Check out this video .... of a dog wearing shoes. We aren't the only sick people that get enjoyment out of accessorizing our dog. This video is hilarious! That is exactly how Chispita walked when we first put her SuperDog booties on!
Over the weekend we celebrated one of my new friend's birthday. In total there were seven couples of which five have kids. They range in age from infant to about 11 years old. It was a mad house! We should've requested a banquet room/area- we were a rather large group. Then the funniest thing, to me, was that Shane was the only "non-hispanic" in the group.
Sometimes it feels like we are being "immersed" in the Latino culture like never before. Being from LA we we've been exposed to a lot of people from many different cultural backgrounds and such, but for the most part we hung out with "Americans." "Non-Hispanic-White" Americans, Mexican-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans, African-Americans, Ecuador-Americans.... mostly born and raised in the US. (Of course, Shane was exposed to more non-Americans through his job/school. But not so personally.) Here, though, we are getting to know these families in a personal/familial way. So, Shane told me "funny how you found this here in Blacksburg."
My new friends are Mexican, Colombian, and Puerto Rican. They are amazing women that are here because they, too, followed their husbands. They followed them to, of all places in the whole world, this small town called Blacksburg. Their husbands are here either for work or they're VT students pursuing a PhD (one is a post-doc). The ladies are all college educated as well. It's funny because we talk a lot about adjusting to being housewives and such. I suggested we start our own reality show called- "The Real Blacksburg Housewives!" We are far from desperate, but definitely have some interesting tales to tell. (Sometime last week I realized that at least 50% of my conversations are in Spanish. I use Spanish more than ever that, even when I am home alone, I find myself thinking in Spanish!)
Well, anyhow. It was great to hang out on Saturday. That same day we also went to B&N and bought some Spanish vocabulary flashcards. They came in handy yesterday. Since it was windy, sometimes it would snow, then it'd be just cold.... we stayed in. We spent some time with the cards. I was surprised at how many words and phrases I know. There were plenty words I have never heard, and some that I've just never seen written. It's cool that while Shane quizzes me he also learns some new words and uses (sometimes he'd ask me to use the words in a sentence. Pretty cool tool.).
Well, Happy Monday.
Check out this video .... of a dog wearing shoes. We aren't the only sick people that get enjoyment out of accessorizing our dog. This video is hilarious! That is exactly how Chispita walked when we first put her SuperDog booties on!
posted by kika at 11:52 AM
4 Comments:
I guess I don't understand why you, Jessica, would need to use Spanish vocabulary cards?
I think it's because there are some words that have meanings she's not familiar with. And then there are words she's familiar speaking, but isn't used to seeing and she wants to learn their spelling.
Even though I am pretty fluent I still have a lot to learn. I usually understand a whole lot more than I can speak. As I engage in longer conversations with my friends sometimes its difficult to explain myself completely because I will be missing one or two Spanish words. With most bilingual people, you can rely on substituting with English. But here, I must completely speak in Spanish. So, I am trying to increase my vocabulary.
kika
Ahhh...very interesting.
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