Vale

More on la lengua ... it's making my head hurt. I don't speak any english here ... unless I'm reading a novel or writing an email (oh, that's 75% of the day done, then).

> How strange to be in a
> non-english speaking world, I didn't know they existed!

Me either. Everywhere else I´ve been ('cepting China, where you're inferior for not being chinese anyway, so they expect you to be stupid, which is actually rather helpful) they seemed aware that learning their language was hard, so they helped, or praise you as you stumble through it.

Here, nobody speaks english, so why would they be nice to you for speaking a bit of
spanish? Why can't you speak it properly? You tiresome gringo.
Look, we'll slow it down a bit, and that's all we're doing. Speak spanish properly!

Yeah, I'm picking it up quickish*, but... it feels so weird not to be reverting to your home tongue. Not to be able to say what you really mean, or say it with sub-clauses, or in tenses that are even approaching correct. Some days ... well, most days ... I feel like my head can't take another word of this blasted lingo, and go sit on some steps in the sunshine wondering when it'll be easy.

If my profesora tells me an irregular verb, I quite unfairly fix her with a steely look as if she'd made the language difficult quite on purpose, to destroy me.

Perhaps I should calm down, and just speak it spectacularly badly for a day or two.

(* Disclaimer for people I know who are learning spanish where it's not going so quick: I get 20 hours a week of spanish classes, I do another 25 hours a week of revising me spanish, I only speak spanish at home, I only speak spanish outside the home, and on the weekends, I go on extra spanish language outings. Of course it's going quicker than sitting at home with a book.)

Right, Enough. I'm off to Cotopaxi for the weekend.