The Brain Drain From Spain

Posted on by tampaheights
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When you  find out the word for a woman’s dress, ‘vestido’ is a masculine noun. 

Four hours of foreign language instruction  per day is about two hours more than my brain can handle.  Sometimes I just have to slow down the teacher’s relentless conjugation of irregular verbs by asking a stupid question like ‘how do you say, on-fleek in Spanish?’ She’s getting back to me on that.

The little linguistic victories are thrilling. Successfully transacting the purchase of dental floss can make me feel as fluent as Miguel de Cervantes. But trying to learn the proper usage of the pronouns  ese, esa, este, esta, estes, estas, esto, estos, aquel, aquella, aquello, aquellas, aquellos seems like something I didn’t leave enough life span to complete.

But when I’m feeling frustrated or low, the frisky little Patagonian Mara never fails to cheer me up. They roam freely  in Buenos Aires and though they’re technically very large rodents, I prefer to see them as tiny little donkeys.

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Would you call Terminex on these little rascals?

 

 

2 thoughts on “The Brain Drain From Spain”

  1. Hi Brendan! As promised, I said I would find your blog even though it took about a dozen tries figuring out how to spell “Sabbeardical.” It was awesome meeting you and all of our fellow VAMOS Spanish classmates in Buenos Aires. I literally LOL’d at:

    “But trying to learn the proper usage of the pronouns ese, esa, este, esta, estes, estas, esto, estos, aquel, aquella, aquello, aquellas, aquellos seems like something I didn’t leave enough life span to complete.”

    Wishing you, your lovely wife, and children happy travels and a wonderful year off. Stay in touch and feel free to follow my husband and my adventures (mostly misadventures really..) on BrianandChristiedotcom.

    Safe Travels,
    Christie

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    1. Sorry it’s taken so long to reply. I’m no real smart! So nice to run into you in Buenos Aires of all places. That class was really fun and a great way to connect with people in a foreign city. I’m still studying Espanol and plan more travels in the coming year. Hope you’re doing well. Stay in touch. Maybe we can meet up in SF. My daughter lives there now and my wife and I return frequently. Stay in touch!

      Brendan
      mcbrendan@aol.com
      813 300-3365

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