Super Spanish!

So have you noticed too- how when you're emerged in another language, your english sentence structure and expressions change slightly or get a little awkward? lol it cracks me up.. -Kathrin.

Oh Kathrin, how I've noticed it. I've been waiting for this point in my time abroad- the time when Spanish feels normal(ish). I have to admit, i did have this romanticized idea of coming home with Spanish feeling like a first language, and being 100% fluent (um, someone tell me where i got that idea?!), but where I'm at now feels pretty dang good.

I still find my self struggling with new topics when my stream of thoughts in spanish flowing out into words of spanish get interupted by thoughts in english that don't come out in either languague- but rather i'm confronted with a awkward pause and a...' o sea... sabes...me entiendes?" or like...you know...ya get me? For instance, as i tried to explain green bean casserole to my host mom i was left with blanks on how to say 'green beans,' 'casserole,' amongst other unfamilar words.

So maybe my grammar isn't perfect, I may stumble through some stories that I'm telling, people might not be able to catch my sarcasm all the time, and I may have to ask you to 'say that again...' but i'm happpy where I'm at. I can watch movies in spanish sin subtitles and understand it all, I can participate in dinner conversations without hesitating, and reading 30 pages in spanish has become almost as natural to me as reading in english.

My english has become spanglish almost at all times, throwing in spanish vocabulary either when i can't remember the word in english, or when the spanish word just describes it so much better. For instance, when I asked my dad for my sister's direction so i could write her a letter, i didn't think twice until he asked me "what do you want?" My sentence structure has changed, too, like when i told my mom my spanish 'has bettered'...uh.. ha mejorado was what i was thinking in my head.... or when i've started to use super as one of my favorite words. Super chevere..super frio...super emocionada....Super fun, super cool, super beautiful- who says that?

Now the real test of time will be if my family and friends back home notice a difference- cause i sure do.