I do not understand...

Weird title opening for my post on this blog. But maybe, just maybe, by the end you will completely understand why I do not understand.

Flashback first.....(weird music as we go back in time - you know the kind that they do on tv....80's music starts to come into focus, Howard Jones, Erasure, Thompson Twins, New Order, OMD...you get the picture). So in Junior High I decided that I was not going to be like everyone else and take Spanish, I am going to speak French. Besides, each language is used just as often and I am "for sure" that I will use French a lot! Okay, 8th grade, 9th grad, 10th grade, oh and 11th grade, I am speaking French. I have four years of French (not that I remember it now or use it, you know I was going to use it all the time).

(Weird music again---we are going into the future, okay the present) So I decide I am going to pursue a Bachelors in Arts degree, and from what I understood this to mean, I had to have a language.

Ding, Ding Ding...light bulb goes off in my head! I am going to take SPANISH!!!! You know, remember I had said that French was used just as much as Spanish and that I would speak to lots of people in French? Yeah, right, that really happened...lol. I became older (although people do not think I am nearly 36 years old. Okay 35 and 3/4. Maybe a little bit closer than that, but I hate math so I am not going to figure it out. September 20th if you want to figure it out.

Sorry, I am not trying to confuse you also, let me get back to the subject.....Spanish. So when I was registering for classes for the Fall semester I decided I would start taking Spanish. Spanish 1010 (beginning Spanish). A week ago this past Monday, August 25th, I take my seat in class (my only class where I have to actually go to a classroom, all other classes are online). The teacher walks in, she looks like she is in her early 30's, and "Holy cow, what in the heck is that coming out of her mouth!!!" No I am not talking anything gross....she is speaking in SPANISH!!! I am looking around the class "do other people understand what she is saying?" I am wondering. The appear as though they do.

She is going on and on and on and "Yo no hablo espanol." I did not say this out loud, but I am thinking it.

"What is she thinking, this is supposed to be Spanish 1010. Okay, maybe I am in the wrong class." Then, she hands out the syllabus. Nope, I am in the right class, it says it there on the top of the syllabus paper, Spanish 1010.

"What have I gotten myself into?" "Oh my word, is this really how this class is going to be ALL semester?" "Crap, how am I going to do this?"

Every now and then, she would speak English, but by the middle of the class, it turned into about half English and half Spanish. Okay, this I can handle.

Wednesday, a repeat of Monday. Tonight, 80% Spanish, 20% English. Not sure if I am getting it, but I do know how to say:

Hola! Me llamo Heidi. Como te llamas?

Y, de donde eres? Yo soy de Utah.

Que pasa?

Me gusta la comida mexicana y italiano. Te gusta la comida?

Hasta manana.

So when I said in the title, I do not understand, I do not understand Spanish. I am trying to learn to understand. My ultimate goal is to understand what they are saying at ________________ (won't name any fast food joints, but we have all been to them) I would like to know what bad things they are saying about me. Just kidding, that really is not my ultimate goal, although it could be a great one to reach for, but I think it is a vital skill/language to know. Not to mention if I get upset I can start speaking Spanish and no one will understand what I am saying. Wait, maybe that is not a good thing, people might think that I am crazy (I cannot let Brent read this last line - so don't tell him :) )

Tener una buena noche. Adios.