Weekend Update

In an effort to put ourselves out there in this new town, we decided to go to a Conversational Spanish meeting. The flyer said it is an informal group that meets to practice spoken Spanish, all levels would be welcome. Well, it was, we did, and there were.

When we first walked into the mate shop and got in line to order a drink, we saw the group. It consisted of a woman and a man speaking in what sounded like pretty good Spanish. After a minute, though, I noticed that the man, while he had an extensive Spanish vocabulary, did not at all try to adopt a Spanish accent. He had a heavy American accent that, it sounded like to me, he was determined not to lose.

The group was cool, getting up to ten people. It did not include an Hispanic person, however, but the original woman speaking to American Accent Man told me that this is a portion of the members and that it sometimes does include Hispanic people.

I am motivated to get more fluent. Besides the fact that my husband speaks better Spanish than I - and there's nothing that's more motivating to me than a competition with my husband involving who knows more language - we plan to go to Mexico again and I don't want to be the stupid American who can only say a few words.

This past weekend I was back in the Valley (Willamette) for my niece's birthday party. It is amazing how green it is there, and how brown it is here. It is strange going back, because it brings back all kinds of memories....and longing.

*sigh

In sports news that probably no one will care about, my ranking moved up in the NCAA men's basketball tournament office pool from low; very, very low; to second place! I am now in third place.

It should be noted that, being the only woman in the office pool, I'm particularly proud of this random achievement of mine, done by wild-ass guessing. Go, me! (The office pool, as you might know, is with my husband's office. I am currently without office. On the upside, if I had my own office pool, I would be number one, which would double for first and last place.)

In news that you may care about, my previous supervisor from my job when I was employed is participating in this year's Team In Training ride for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The crazy thing is, the first year he rode in this, 2005, he himself was undergoing chemotherapy.

I know! He totally kicks ass!

Anyway, if you want to donate money, it's tax-deductible and will go to a great cause. The cool thing is you can do it online. Click here for his brief story, and donation page.

I mention that because I have known way too many people to have leukemia, and especially WAY TOO MANY who have died. There was my nine-year old cousin, my 33-year old brother, and my 62-year old dad. I know bloggers who've lost people to cancer. I hate leukemia.

Buenos dias, mis amigos.