Casi termina. Casi termina.

This trip is quickly reaching its last days. I have a few random thoughts about my time here, and since I’m not keeping any other journal of my trip, I guess I have to post them here. Then I’ll post some pictures.

Why do I keep buying Snickers bars? Crap.

Every morning in conversation class we have to say what we did the day before. Luckily I have done some pretty fun things! But then we have to use the past tense.

The past tense in Spanish is sooooo difficult. There are four ways to say “It was” (estuvo, estaba, fue, era) and four more ways to say “They were” (estuvieron, estaban, fueron, eran) depending on the context. You know how many times one uses “It was” or “They were” in a typical conversation? And actually, if one counts the compound tenses, there are probably even more ways. The verbs are my nemeses. Los verbos, los verbos, los verbos (pronounced “bairbos”). I have flash cards. I bought “501 Spanish Verbs” for my Kindle, which is a huge book that everyone at school carries around. OMG, the verbs are really hard.

Every day at comida Lupita says “grace,” and so I bow my head and say “amen” at the end (which apparently is the same in both languages). Today she asked me if I would like to say grace. Gracias a Dios que yo no tuve que decir “Gracias a Dios”! (Thank God I didn’t have to say “Thanks to God” — i.e., I got out of it.)

Today I blew off salsa class (lo siento, Nicole!) and went to a free showing at a documentary film festival going on in Cuernavaca. I picked a Spanish-language film. Yo no podría entender ninguna palabra! I couldn’t understand a single word. The sound system was terrible, the people were mumbling. I have no idea what they were saying. But I do have a vague idea what the movie was about: the life of a small town in Mexico, where people farm and work in sweat-shop factories and wait for word from their spouses, sons, or fathers who have gone to the United States.