Yesterday I was out strolling in the pasture with Keri, our goats, turkeys and chickens. It's not uncommon for cars to slow down to look at the animals so I waved to the SUV which almost stopped as it approached the pigs and goats. Most folks become self-conscious when they see me watching them watch our animals, but today's group didn't care I was watching them watch. I hollered, "do you want to buy a pig?" The driver waved to someone in the back who leaned out the window. "We don't have a farm, ha ha ha". I assumed they were staying at the campground up the road but I was wrong. I invited them to pull in our driveway if they wanted a closer look at the animals. They seemed excited to be asked.
They were originally from El Salvador but have lived in the US for 13 years. It was 2 brothers and their wives and one young child. Only one of the brothers spoke fluent English. One lived in VA and the other in MD. They grew up on a farm in El Salvador and were enchanted with our place for some reason. Rubin was full of smiles and appreciation. His wife and brother had very little to say unless they were speaking in Spanish. They weren't being rude, they just didn't understand me and my rambling. They took lots of pictures or videos of themselves with turkeys and goats and laughed a lot. They were a friendly group and it was fun visiting with them even though I doubt they understood much of what I was saying, which didn't stop me. The one from VA lives about 45 minutes from us and they were out taking a drive and that's how they ended up here.
I tried learning a little Italian when we went to Italy 5 years ago but I've forgotten most of what I learned. I'm thinking maybe I should begin trying to learn Spanish now so when we visit a Spanish speaking country we can communicate a little better than we did in Italy. It would have been fun to be able to switch back and forth between English and Spanish yesterday.
They were originally from El Salvador but have lived in the US for 13 years. It was 2 brothers and their wives and one young child. Only one of the brothers spoke fluent English. One lived in VA and the other in MD. They grew up on a farm in El Salvador and were enchanted with our place for some reason. Rubin was full of smiles and appreciation. His wife and brother had very little to say unless they were speaking in Spanish. They weren't being rude, they just didn't understand me and my rambling. They took lots of pictures or videos of themselves with turkeys and goats and laughed a lot. They were a friendly group and it was fun visiting with them even though I doubt they understood much of what I was saying, which didn't stop me. The one from VA lives about 45 minutes from us and they were out taking a drive and that's how they ended up here.
I tried learning a little Italian when we went to Italy 5 years ago but I've forgotten most of what I learned. I'm thinking maybe I should begin trying to learn Spanish now so when we visit a Spanish speaking country we can communicate a little better than we did in Italy. It would have been fun to be able to switch back and forth between English and Spanish yesterday.
And since you ARE coming to Ecuador that would be handy to have. :)
ReplyDeleteSpanish is a great language to have at least a working knowledge of. I admit to understanding it being spoken better than I speak it, and I can read it quite well. I love the cadence of it and have an unconscious tendency to adopt it when around Hispanics. Most of them are good sports about it, thank goodness, as I'm not doing it in mockery but in some sponge-like fashion. Don't you wish you could go back to High School and pay more attention in those classes? :O)
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