Language Lessons by Claudia

Since Claudia attends a Spanish immersion school, she is helping me out with my Spanish. She will teach me one word a day. This week, I have learned the following:

• plato (plate)
• mano (hand)
• cabeza (head)
• agua (water)

This list does not include what I learned the night of the Lemonade International Gala. Most of this was written down for me by a very nice Colombian gentleman. He thought that this would increase my popularity in Guatemala.

• ¿Dónde está el baño? (Where is the bathroom?)
• Quisiera una cerveza. (I would like a beer.)
• Tengo el cuerpo de una diosa. (I have the body of a goddess.--Thanks to Karen Brown for this one.)
• Quiero muchos besos. (I want many kisses.)

La Limonada

Yesterday, I met with Bill and Cherie (founders of Lemonade International). We met at a great coffee place in downtown Raleigh (a place that I am sad to say that in my 13 years of living in Raleigh, I have not spent enough time exploring). We discussed the immediate, and future, needs of the folks serving in La Limonada. Bill encouraged me to take a short trip down to Guatemala City to meet Tita (head of the Guatemala side of the organization). I am going to work on going down to meet Tita and tour the ghetto and schools in June. For more informationon Lemonade International, check out www.lemonadeinternational.org.

Where Are My Pants?

I want to take a moment to explain the title of this blog... I never thought that I would have to learn Spanish for any reason at all. I can order a burrito with extra cheese. This is the extent of my Spanish. This was all the Spanish I thought that I would ever need. Where are my pants? came from a joke years ago. I don't even know who's joke it was, to be honest. I find myself in situations, more and more, where friends and acquaintances are learning languages. This is amazing to me. I have always loved languages. I thought that I would be learning Hindi this year, and not Spanish. I love to listen to conversations and stories with accents. I love the sound and expression that goes into a foreign language. I can say "hello" in Hindi, "I love you" and "thank you" in Ukrainian, I can order you a great salad or an omelet with shoes (oh, and cheese) in French... but in Spanish, "Where are my pants?" is all that I know. So, here I am going to Guatemala. I will be forced to learn Spanish. The challenge is exciting. Thank you for taking this journey with me.