Mission: Urban

The other night, as I was diligently working on my conversation homework, a Tico came by to hang out with Rich. He’s part of Rich’s FARO route. They had prearranged to meet on Tuesday nights at our house. When Gustavo arrived, I talked with him for a few minutes, but quickly gathered my stuff and headed into my bedroom so I could keep working and also get out of their way. Gustavo had only been here a few minutes when his friend called him, saying she was in the area and wanted to hang out. He told her to come to our house.

When she arrived, I came out and introduced myself. It seemed strange to stay in my bedroom at this point, so I moved my laptop to the kitchen table. I tried to keep working and at the same time look like I wasn’t completely ignoring them. So there I was, in the middle of writing El Origen de Galletas de Chocolate Chips, when it hit me. Wise words I heard from a couple of people about language school. Don’t sweat the academic stuff. Don’t worry about studying for a test or getting homework done if it means giving up actually talking to a Spanish speaker. And that’s what it’s all about anyway. I closed my laptop, moved closer and gave them my full attention. They were a very cool couple, close to our age, and easy to relate to.  We were building relationships with them. We were having fun. And we were doing it all in Spanish.