Last burst of preparation for Spanish 111 final exam

El período más memorable de mi vida

Noviembre 2011: en Monterey con mi esposo (¡quien es guapo y simpático!)

El 17 noviembre 2011, mi esposo y yo llegamos a Los Estados Unidos. Somos de Singapur y el trabajo de mi esposo es la razón que nosotros venimos aquí. En Singapur, hace calor siempre porque es verano todo el año. Cuando nosotros llegamos al aeropuerto de San Francisco, nosotros tenemos mucho frío porque es invierno en Los Estados Unidos.

Hay muchas cosas para hacer y preparar. Nosotros necesitamos un apartamento y un coche. Por gracia, nosotros conseguimos la ayuda de dos de nuestros amigos, quienes viven en California. Durante la primera semana de nuestra llegada, nosotros alquilamos un apartamento y compramos un coche.

La segunda semana, mi esposo empieza su trabajo. A mí, ¡yo comienzo mi vida viva! Yo salgo con mis amigas casi todos los días. Nosotros pasean al parque cerca de nuestros casas, vamos al café para conversar y a veces almorzamos en los restaurantes del centro. Además, una vez de la semana, yo asisto al Club de Francés. Cuando mi esposo vuelve en la casa por la noche, yo preparo la cena. Me gusta mucho cocinar y aprendo a hacer la comida diferente.

Cuando mi esposo tiene los ratos libres, nosotros vamos de vacaciones. Desde las ciudades como Nueva York a los parques nacionales como Yosemite, nosotros viajamos mucho. Me encanta viajar y explorar los lugares diferentes.

Mi vida en Los Estados Unidos va a terminar en el fin de este año... Pero no hay duda, estos dos años son el período más memorable de mi vida.

The quest to learn Spanish

One of the things on my to-do list in the US is to learn to speak Spanish! Why? Because I am crazy about learning languages. Being able to speak French now (at a more comfortable level) sort of gave me the confidence to learn another European language. And Spanish is widely used in California.

Does it make sense?

And well, I'm proud to say that after seven weeks of SPAN 111 at the College of San Mateo, under the instructions of la profesora Sarah and the awesomeness of los compañeros de clase, yo puedo hablar español!

It was funny because I actually signed up for the Summer semester on a whim. Classes have started a week ago, which meant I'd have missed the first two lessons. I also had to get my California residency verified at the student's admission office so that I could pay local rates for the course fees. I only had a few hours between calling the office to inquire and getting my butt to the college office - Jo was kind enough to send me there and stayed with me till the office closed. I was minutes away from the absolute deadline on registering as a late entry. And I made it!

It was only after the registration, on the way out of the glass doors, that it hit me - I was going back to the classroom! Omg... with college and high school kids who are more than a decade younger? Will I be able to cope? CSM is so much bigger than I thought. It was one of those uh-oh-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into-again moment. Quite typical of me.

Do first, think later.

But boy, I'm so glad I went ahead. The amount of homework was a killer (we cramped everything into a 7-week course!) but I learned so much in such a short period. It's amazing how I can now string together sentences, write an essay of 100-150 words on simple topics, and make simple conversations. From zero to this. In seven weeks. Incredible. Gracias to Ms Sarah!

Today, we had our last class before the final exams. We had to put together a cultural presentation on Spanish-speaking countries. I had so much fun working with Elyse and Ari on Mexico- we were the only group who dressed up and put flowers in our hair. (Being girls are so much more fun!) The presentation went really well. We remembered all our lines (phew!) and I think the class enjoyed it too.

Am really going to miss attending Spanish classes and seeing my classmates, some of whom I have gotten to know better, like Caroline who speaks French with me! I hope they will be able to visit Singapore some day.

¡Hasta luego, mis amigos!