My new Spanish mother

I just called my host mother in Spain to figure out when I should arrive, and, well let's just say the next couple months are going to be interesting, to say the least. You see, in the midst of our nine-minute conversation, she mentioned to me that she doesn't speak any English.

This wasn't my first time speaking in Spanish on the phone; I did it when I called the university over the summer. That time I had spent all my effort memorizing my introduction that I forgot to prepare my questions in Spanish. I mean, I had a gist of what I wanted to ask, but when I was actually on the phone speaking to an actual Spanish speaker in Spain, I completely blanked and ended up stringing a bunch of random words together until she realized how much I was struggling and transferred me to someone who knew some English.

It's not that I don't know Spanish, I've emailed back and forth in Spanish and don't really find it difficult. But speaking is always the hardest part of learning a language, and while everyone says that people appreciate it when you attempt to talk in their native language, it really takes a lot of guts to suck it up and sputter out what you're trying to say to someone whose fluency level you will probably never reach.

Needless to say, I was pretty nervous about calling my host mother, since this is the person I will be living with for about five months, and unlike the people at the university's international programs department, I couldn't exactly assume she knew any English. At Sash's suggestion, I prepared a script of sorts and finally dialed the number. It was about 8:15 or so her time and no one answered, so I left a message with my e-mail address. I called again an hour later and this time she picked up.

Immediately it was difficult because there was an echo on the phone, so not only did I have to think of vocabulary and conjugate verbs, but I had to hear it all played back to me. I think it was only a problem on my end, because she didn't seem to be having any issues hearing me. The script was pretty handy until I actually started having a conversation with her, at which point I had to think of replies. I also, of course, had to try and understand what she was saying, though I'm pretty sure I got most of it. She did mention something about me being student number nine, and I have no clue what she meant. Maybe I'm the ninth student she's hosted (I really hope she didn't say that she is hosting nine of us at the same time, because that could get quite interesting). She asked where I was from and if I had any dietary restrictions, and I tried to ask her about the weather, but I'm pretty sure what came out was "Is it cold in the winter? "She seemed pretty flexible about the dates and I told her I'd give her another call once the flight is finalized, and that was pretty much that.

So there it is - I'm embarking on a real life adventure in about six weeks. I'm spending five, probably eight months, in a foreign country where they speak a language I've never truly been exposed to outside of nine years in a classroom. And best of all, my entire life has to be packed into two suitcases, and that's supposed to last me those eight months. Oh, 2008 is going to be one interesting year. Stay tuned!