Spanglish Part 2

I wanna be fluent in Spanish sooooo badly.  You have no idea.  (Okay, if you're also an expat or a snowbird and buying groceries or filling up your gas tank turns into a fumbly Spanglish mess, like, every single time...then maybe you do.)

I know I'm getting better at speaking it, and I'm actually able to string together entire sentences now without having to look up certain words (I always go back and look up what I said later to make sure I didn't say something totally embarrassingly wrong...and to also brag to Ty about how much more awesome I am than he is, duh.)  But the big thing I'm feeling excited about:  I'm getting a little better at understanding when our housekeeper or another native speaker is speaking to me.  Which is the most common complaint I hear from fellow gringos... "People just speak so fast!  I don't know what they're saying!"  

It's true.  Even if you can say a full sentence to someone or ask them a question...you still have to know what the hell they're saying back to you.  And more often than not, you won't follow...especially if you consider different accents, mumbling and slang words.  (Think about how we say "gonna" for "going to"...for sure Mexicans have similar abbreviations that aren't technically correct.)  And actually, if you say something in Spanish to someone pretty well, they'll assume you can also understand them pretty well and they'll rattle off their response.  So, I can study all I want...but if I can't learn to comprehend what is being said to me, my "skills" aren't gonna get me very far.  I naively thought I would be further along one year in because I have a crazy good memory and that that would be enough ("I'll just memorize every word!")  But, I forgot about that whole "comprehension" aspect of learning a new language.  Whoops.  

I'm not in the business of being a "helpful expat blogger" all too often because it's more fun (for me) being a pointless one, but while we're on the subject of responding to someone you don't understand (a.k.a. Gringo in Headlight Syndrome) let's cover a couple things our Spanish teacher taught us over the winter that I wish I had known months earlier:  (Thanks, Sean!!) 

• "Mande?" (pronounced MAHN-DAY) comes from the verb mandar (to send) and it loosely means "send it to me again"...it's like the English equivalent of saying "Come again?"  We learned in our class that saying "Que?" (What?) to someone when you didn't hear them, can come off rude or defensive... It'd be like saying, "What did you say to me?"  "Mande?" is a more polite version of "I didn't hear you...can you repeat that?"  We had never heard this word before, but as soon as we were taught it, we heard it everywhere.  I now say this several times a day...if only to buy myself a little time to figure out what the crap someone is saying to me.  
• "Repite, por favor" (pronounced RAY-PEE-TAY) is similar to "mande" in that you need them to repeat what they said...but if the speed they're talking is the issue say, "repite más despacio, por favor" (DAY-SPAH-SEE-OH) which just means "Please repeat slower."
• "No entiendo" (AYN-TEE-AYN-DOH) means "I don't understand."  I typically only use this one when I don't have the slightest clue as to what someone is saying to me (and if I have to resort to this one, I'm pretty bummed about not being able to communicate at all because this is usually where the conversation ends and the other person seems frustrated that I don't understand them.)  A lot of non-Spanish speakers like to use "no comprendo" (I don't comprehend) but this seems a little more casual to me since "comprehend" isn't usually a word I use too often in English. 

Unfortunately, I have to use all of these phrases much more often than I would like to, but hey... I'm trying.  Once our schedules open back up next week, I'm going to get better about studying Spanish everyday.  Mostly because I need/want to learn more, but also, if I don't find some hobbies to fill my time during low season I'm going to drive Ty INSANE whining about being bored all the time.  I have a big, giant, nerdy, college workbook that I bought on Amazon before we left the states, and my goal is to complete 10 pages per week this summer.  I'm currently on page 56 and there are 505 pages...so, I should be done in a like a million years.  Swell.  

It's funny (a.k.a. embarrassing and cringe-worthy) to think back how BAAAAD we were at Spanish when we arrived in La Cruz nearly a year ago, but I'm glad we waited 5 months after moving here to start classes because I was able to pick up on how the locals spoke certain words first...noticing differences between regional dialect and whatever my Google Translate app was telling me.  

You know how like in the States some people call soda "pop" or even "soft drinks" because that's how it's said locally and they just grew up saying it that way?  (Look at this crazy graphic I found on this exact topic...someone had waaaaay too much time on their hands.)  Or like how Canadians and Europeans say "going on holiday" and Americans say "going on vacation" but they both mean the same thing?  Sometimes I'd look up how to say a word and it was different than what I had heard locals say.  For example, all of our Mexican friends say "carro" and not "coche" for car, even though both are correct, but I choose to say "carro" now too because it's more commonly used in our area. 

And I'll never forget when I tried to say "piscina" for swimming pool to the groundskeeper and he looked at me like I was Dingbat Barbie speaking Chinese.  He's lived in the Bay Area his whole life and he didn't even know that "albercas" were ever called anything but "albercas."  But of course, this nuance, just overwhelms me even more...because not only do I need to learn Spanish, but now I gotta know the local dialect?!  Balls.  

   

Overall, we're (I'm) slowly but steadily improving at communicating and I'm exciting about getting better and better over time.... We have to go into Immigration next week to start the process of renewing our temporary resident visas for another 3 years (don't cry, mom!!) and at least Ty will have improved his Spanish enough since the last time we were there a year ago when he said to the security guard, "I made a mistake-o."  I'm not even joking.  And yes, I still make fun of him for it.

Oh, yeah!!  I almost forgot the entire inspiration for this (pointless) post!  A couple weeks ago I ran into a woman I had gone to class with for six weeks last fall and we talked (whined) about the process of learning Spanish, and how we were both coming along, etc. and she told me about this little school called Habla Hispana she went to last year in the super cute colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanajauto...which is about 8 hours east from us.  The school offers 4-week courses where you're attending classes from 9:00-1:00pm Monday through Friday and in the afternoons there are optional activities (all done in Spanish, of course) like walking tours, Mexican cooking classes, etc.  You even have the option of renting a small "dorm room" on the school grounds during your course.  As a giant nerd (and someone who wishes they could be a professional student) this has me all kinds of excited.  The idea of spending 4+ hours a day in a classroom studying something that really interests me...is like...Christmas to normal people.  It's okay to be jealous of my dorky prowess.  

I'm considering going for the month of September or October...but the only downside is that someone will need to stay at Jardin (especially if we have renters) which means I would most likely be going alone.  Say what????  Since Ty and I are super duper best friends and attached at the hip...the idea of being away from him and our perfect pup for a whole month makes my head a bit woozy, so I would definitely have to put on my big girl pants and be a brave little engine that could-ish.  

Ty, however, is probably thrilled at the idea of me being gone for a while, because he likes to pretend I'm clingy and annoying.  Which is, of course, completely "FAKE NEWS."  Duh.  I was also thinking it would be fun for us to take a road trip there a few days before my classes start to explore the town and for him to drop me off at school (how adorable is that?)...but we'll see.  

Also, if you'd like to read all the ways I've embarrassed myself while misunderstanding someone speak Spanish to me...you'll enjoy this post.  

Welp, I've bored you enough for one day, so I'm off!  

Why did we bring that?

When we sold off our house, cars and 95% of our possessions in the Spring of 2016 it was difficult to decide what we should take to Mexico with us... It was pretty much a guessing game as far as knowing what we would need and what we could or couldn't buy here... It was also super difficult sorting through what we actually needed to keep, and what we wanted to keep...but that's a whole other issue.  

We stored a few things with Ty's parents (photos, my paintings, yearbooks, etc.) but everything else that didn't fit in the mini van, we sold, donated or gave away.  We didn't even have a car top carrier on our drive south because we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves as "tourists" driving through Mexico.

Here's a picture of the very BEST thing we brought to Mexico.... 

Stuff I wish we had kept:

• a cooler - we sold all of our camping gear, but why wouldn't we have kept a cooler when moving to a hot climate?  Dumb-dumbs.
• More of my tools - I kept a few small hand tools and my cordless drill, but there were many times while we were working on remodeling projects last summer that I wished I had kept more of them.  
• Our collection of pool floaties/innertubes - our house was on a river when we lived in Seattle and we were big fans of lazily floating down it for a couple hours and ending in our backyard.  We stupidly got rid of them even though pools are common here and we live at the beach.  Dumb.  And annoyingly/ironically, quality pool loungers were hard to find here.  (I'm sure we have your sympathy, right?)

Stuff we should have brought but didn't know we would need it (a.k.a. "stuff I'm going to buy when we go home in July"):

• Gringo taco seasoning - You know that pre-mixed, orange-colored taco seasoning you can buy at any grocery store in the states?  You can't buy it in Mexico.  Go figure.  
• American brand hairspray - Seriously, what is up with Mexican hairspray brands??  I feel like I'm just spraying aerosol air freshener at my head because it doesn't actually "hold" anything and it smells like flowers.  Dumb.  
• Bug repellent that actually works and isn't full of cancer chemicals (Thanks again, Aunt Pam!!) 
• A backup iPhone charger.  Or two or three.  I've gone through at least 4-5 chargers in the past year.  It's hard/impossible to find legit Apple products here, and the knockoff chargers either don't work at ALL, or they last a couple weeks before they fizzle out. 

Things we brought with us that we shouldn't have:

• Our Cornhole boards - Cornhole is a yard/beach game (usually played with a beer in hand)...it's pretty much just bean bag toss with more specific (and entertaining) scoring rules.  Even though it's brought us hours and hours of silly fun over the last few years and I thought we'd whip it out at every beach party or barbecue here...it's gotten used twice in 11 months.  But more importantly...I wish we would have left it at Ty's family cabin on Anderson Island in Washington, because now we can't play it THERE in the summers.  What was I thinking?!  
• 10 sets of golf clubs - okay, so it's "only" like 5 or 6 sets, but still!  Our van was like half golf clubs when we packed it up.  Ty had originally wanted/planned to start some sort of golf concierge business down here, so he bought up a bunch of used clubs before we left... Turns out the local courses don't want or need his services and they basically told him to go pound sand.  So now our closet is mostly golf clubs with a little bit of clothes mixed in.  It's come in handy when we've had friends or family come visit who've wanted to golf with Ty, but the other 360 days per year, they're just space suckers.
• Salad spinner - I've had the same (nice, stainless steel, Crate & Barrel) salad spinner for like the last 12 years and I've used it maybe 5 times ever...and for some reason we lugged it thousands of miles despite it's main purpose having been dust-collection over the years.  Why?  Because for sure we would have to wash our lettuce and veggies more than we do in the states!  Because, germs!  We haven't used it once.  Anyone want it? 
• Shoes - why did I bring so many pairs of shoes?  I just counted:  5 pairs of Nike running shoes, 1 pair of Vans, 10 pairs of sandals/flip flops, and 3 pairs of loafers/slip-ons.  Most of them I haven't even so much as looked at, let alone worn.  I literally wear the same flip flops every day until the soles are paper thin and the straps break.  And then I staple gun the straps and wear them a few more weeks.  And then I super glue the straps when they inevitably re-break.  And then I wait several more weeks before sadly admitting that they're garbage and I need to just throw them away.  
• DVDs - against my wishes, we brought a big box of our favorite movies even though we never watched them before we moved. (That's because it's 2017 and we watch Netflix like normal people, duh.)  But we brought them with us anyway and they sat in the box untouched until we dropped them off at the little video rental store in La Cruz when we moved into Jardin.  
• Winter-ish clothes - yes, it can get a bit "chilly" in the early mornings in December and January and when we visited Guadalajara last year I wished I had a jacket with me, but we brought one of those big, blue IKEA bags (you know the ones) stuffed full of warmer clothes, for some dumb reason.  I've worn a couple things (you can't separate a Pacific Northwest girl from her favorite hoodie forever!) but Ty hasn't so much as even looked at winter crap he packed.
• Ty's underwear - he's worn underwear exactly twice in 11 months...once to a Catholic confirmation and once to a wake.  Apparently he thinks wearing boxer briefs is a sign of respect.  The rest of us losers he doesn't care about just get to see his ever-present butt crack hanging out.  (Because he also refuses to wear belts.)  
• I just asked Ty if he could think of anything we should have left in the states and he said, "Yeah, you!"  Whadda jerk.  

Welp, we have new guests arriving any minute, so I'm off! 

We're still alive...

I have nothing to write about anymore.  We haven't been going on awkward, hilarious, embarrassing Mexican adventures since we started working/living at Jardin, so I don't have any new material to entertain you with.  So...I'll just bore you all with a generic update of our lives.  Lucky you. 

I cannot believe it's almost May.  May 15th marks ONE WHOLE YEAR since driving away from Seattle in our dorky mini van with our dorky pup and trekking the 2,800 miles to La Cruz.  I can't friggen believe it's been that long already.  It's gone by so fast because time and seasons and months just all kinda blend in together and become a big, hot, sunny blur here... 

I usually mask my feelings with sarcasm and smart-assery (who, me??) but the first several months in Mexico were actually really hard on me... Moving is stressful enough, but throw in a new language, new culture, new currency, new climate, new everything....and it can create one little, anxiety-filled, homesick turtle.  (That was me last summer.)  But I can honestly say that I don't regret moving here...and I'm pretty happy now, in general.  I'm getting better at speaking and understanding Spanish (notice I didn't say "we"), I'm not afraid of driving like a Mexican anymore, I haven't had to (ask Ty to) evict any giant spiders lately, we've made a lot of friends and met tons of cool people, we've finally adapted to the heat enough that we can exercise regularly and not DIE, Bloo and Luna are the happiest nerds you ever did see...and our new gig as property managers at Jardin del Mar couldn't be going smoother.  

Things have been going really well at Jardin since we took over the business/property in December.  For reopening the hotel as late as we did in high season, we're happy with the amount of bookings we've been able to generate so far.  April has been our busiest month to date, with 26 people checking in or out!  And we already have several bookings for next winter/spring, so we're feeling optimistic about this gig being something we can enjoy doing for a while.  And, duh, we get to live HERE.  So, life definitely does not suck south of the border... 

It's funny...whenever we're doing like the least worky-things, we get the best reservations.  The last time we were shoving pizza in our faces on the way home from the hot springs, we got a reservation for 13 people who rented out the entire Estate for the week of Christmas.  While we were out kayaking once, we came back to a 6-week reservation for February/March, and then we got another month-long reservation while having dinner at a friend's... It's like as soon as we give ourselves a break and get out of the house, my phone buzzes with a reservation notification.  So, that means we should just be kicking our feet up all the time, right???  I can get behind that logic. 

We have our last round of guests this week, checking out next Monday, and then we have zero bookings for six straight weeks...and to be honest, I'm looking forward to the break.  Our guests have all been totally awesome and fun to host, but our living quarters are essentially split in half by the "hotel lobby"....a big courtyard that guests use to come and go out the front door, walking by our bedroom on one side and our kitchen on the other. 

It's a really weird thing to have to get used to always having people around "your house."  Between having 1-4 staff members here every day (gardener, housekeeper, pool guy and maintenance guy) and guests coming and going at all hours, we're very rarely "home alone."  (Marco even comes in on Sundays for a couple hours when we have guests, despite me insisting that he works too damn much.)

I wake up to the sound of Marco sweeping the lobby or watering flowers (or the damn bird squawking his head off at sunrise every single morning... Oh, did I mention we got a parrot?  Did I mention I hate him?) ...and I'm pretty sure Marco has seen me with sleepy bed head schlepping my way to the kitchen for coffee in my pajamas waaaaaaay more often than he's seen me put together early in the morning.  Poor man. 

Meet Macho... Don't be fooled by his cuteness, he's evil.  

It's the only down side to living at a "hotel"... I miss the feeling of home being the place where you're most relaxed and unapologetically yourself.  Where you can rock the same pair of paint-stained sweats all weekend and binge on Netflix.  Where you don't have to put pants on as soon as you get out of bed because the pool boy has a habit of walking right past your open bedroom windows.  Where you don't have to be "on" all the time.  Where you don't feel obligated to wash the dishes right away because the housekeeper will see how big of a slob you really are.  (I'm sure you feel really sorry for us, right?  Yeah, I thought so...)

This past Sunday was the first time in months that we've had the place to ourselves, so instead of staying indoors on our laptops as per usual, I forced us outside and we spent the afternoon goofing off in the pool and listening to music.  It was fabulous.  

I'm looking forward to low season, but I am NOT looking forward to another Mexican summer.  When I think about the humidity and the never-ending sweat and the torrential downpours and being unable to sleep and the blasted mosquitoes, I feel my blood pressure start to rise.  So, if we could just fast forward from June to October that would be grrreeeeeat.  

We're headed up to the states to visit friends and family in Portland and Seattle for a few weeks in late July (and to see Bruno Mars in concert for my birthday... NBD) so that'll be a nice break from the thunderstorms.  However, Bloo has to stay here (because he's too friggen big and no airline will take him) and I regularly lose sleep over the thought of being away from him for that long and whether he'll get any snuggles from the staff (he won't) or if he's gonna be sleeping outside at night (he will be) or if he'll get fed on his usual schedule (I'm not counting on it)... So, aside from constantly worrying about being away from my perfect angel boy, I'm looking forward to going home in a few months.  

We had originally planned to stay in Seattle for two whole months this summer just because it's so miserable here, but once we found out that it would be a huge pain to get Bloo there and back, we shortened our trip to 3 weeks.  We're flying into Portland, taking the train to Seattle, driving to Vancouver, B.C., spending back-to-back weekends on Anderson Island and then flying back to Puerto Vallarta out of Seattle the first week of August.  It's going to be a crazy busy trip!!!    

Welp, I should probably go do something with my bed head before our guests are up and about, so....hasta pronto y tenga un buen dia!