My Tribute to los libros de Espanol... 

 

My 2^nd to last time teaching at BCN….and I can barely remember what I taught.  My head felt like it was splitting open all day, I’m definitely getting sick.  Tuesday night, I had a slight fever, I was really hot which is wired because my flat is always freezing, but by the time I went to bed, my teeth were chattering and I was so cold that 3 layers plus a thick blanket couldn’t warm me up!

But the good news is, I had more time to read!  I’m reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I just love that name!) because he is an Hispanic writer and I am in Spain (at least a few more days) so I felt the need to throw myself into the culture.  But I really wanted to get something actually in Espanol—so a few days ago I went to a little bookstore and bought a book recommended to me—La Sombra Del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind) by Carlos Ruiz Zafron.  I didn’t realize until after the man rung me up that the book had 550 pages in it!! I’m on page 5.  It has A LOT of words I’ve never learned (like “con un leve asentimiento” which means “with a slight nod”) or thought about learning. But I bought the thing, so now I’m determined.  Who cares if I need Google translate to read it? Or of I have to make notes in the margins? Or if I have to read a sentence 3 times to get the quasi-full meaning? Whatever.  It’s good motivation—and a good goal to have.  By this time next year, I’ll finish the book and be so much better at Spanish!