Reality Check

Let's begin with a pop quiz. After all, I am a teacher.

I have been occupying myself with all of the following over the past two weeks except:

A. Indulging my inner artist by painting a pasta bowl and attending a photography lecture.

B. Planning a trip to a Spanish-speaking place.

C. Learning Spanish.

D. Buying cute shoes to go with my cute dresses for my upcoming 20-year high school reunion.

E. Shoveling out Baseball Boy and Little Guy's bedrooms.


If you guessed C - you are right!

Sigh.

Here are some of my lame excuses. I shall try not to sound too whiny.

1. When I am in the mood to do a lesson or have BB quiz me/me him on vocabulary, BB is not in the mood. And vice versa. We were at the pool during LG's swimming lesson the other day and since BB was not swimming too, it seemed the perfect time to quiz me from my old SparkChart (those laminated fold-out cards from the bookstore) from my ESOL days. He was not into it. The next night (at like 9:30) he asks me if I wanted to do a lesson. My turn to not feel it. We loaded a "Spanish for Travelers" CD from the library into the car one morning...both our turn to not feel it.

So what should we do? Should we just work on our own...so that it is less like "work" and more of a routine? I admit that once I start procrastinating, it's hard to stop. I can and will tackle every dust bunny and weed first before I buckle down. I have to incorporate this into some sort of regular routine...so that if I don't do it I feel weird.

So yeah...I think it may mean BB and I will have to work separately - for now at least.

2. The purpose of this blog is to be honest, so I am going to be. I am going somewhere in a few weeks where Spanish is spoken. You would think that in addition to making all my endless lists and research I would be learning some freakin' Spanish as well! But no, I'm not.

Why is that? I think it is because...and I really hate to admit this...it's just easier to no habla Espanol sometimes. If I don't know, I won't try and if I don't try...I won't fail or sound foolish. I need to get over that. If I sound stupid, so what? At least I am trying and learning.

I have had some of the most wonderful suggestions regarding learning resources, now I need some motivational techniques!

Glad to get all that out. Off to do a lesson - by myself.

So...here's the story.

The Short Version:
I want to become fluent in Spanish by the time I turn 40. As of today, I have a little over two years to accomplish this. My 10 year old son wants to learn as well. Hopefully, he will learn before he turns 40. I am hoping that having a blog will keep me/us accountable and focused on this goal.

The Long Version:
I really should speak Spanish. I'm half Polish and half Puerto Rican. This makes me, well, a PoleRican. I realize that people of mixed ethnicity are no longer a big deal today but I definitely felt different when I was growing up. My late father spoke Spanish fluently and of course attempted to teach me when I was young, but I would just laugh and refuse to learn. In high school, I took Latin.

You know how you just cannot escape certain things sometimes? Well, this not-knowing-Spanish-thing has hung over me as long as I can remember. I have been in countless situations where people assumed I was bilingual, I even taught reading to ESOL students who were from all over Latin America. It just has followed me everywhere.

One other thing you should know about me: I am a complete nerd, and proud of it. I think the more appropriate term is "lifelong learner", but I am fine with nerd. I embrace it. I like to learn new things and I read voraciously. I was always a good student and totally focused on the "next" thing...college, grad school, job. I have been a stay at home mom with some teaching in between for a number of years. Over the past few years, I have found myself focusing more on topics that I wanted to learn, rather than what I had to learn. One of these is photography. I always enjoyed taking pictures, but did not own or learn how to use a DSLR camera. After getting one and taking a class, it is now something I really enjoy and I will probably post some of my favorites here and there.

A year ago, in yet another attempt to lose weight and get in shape, I tried a Zumba class. I was hooked immediately. Again, despite the Hispanic heritage, my knowledge of Latin dance moves was minimal, but I loved it anyway. I felt like an elephant those first few months, but as time went on, I got better and better, moving from the back of the class to squarely in the front. As the weight fell off and my confidence grew, I began toying with the idea of becoming an instructor myself, and when one of my best instructors suggested it to me one day, I took it seriously. I'm going to my certification class in a few weeks, and shall see what happens from there.

As silly as it may sound, I am kind of on a roll with this lifelong learning thing. Learning Spanish is my white whale, my Mount Everest. My 10 year old volunteering to learn with me is a bonus-he's a smart kid who likes to learn as much as I do. I want to model for him that you can learn anything at any age.

One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, "Back to the Future" is this one:
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."

I really believe that. I am excited to see where this learning journey take us.