Have you got a light?

Last night was Spanish class, and Ivar says that he's giving us a test next Thursday night.(Ay, carrumba!) Although it really makes no difference, since I'm only taking the class for my own benefit. Perhaps it will be a good self evaluation, though. It will be a good motivator to keep me studying this week. And it IS a motivator 1) I don't want to look stupid, and (2) There is one other student in the class. I'm quite competitive, to put it mildly. (Lloyd says he'll never, ever play Parcheesi with me again!) I HAVE to score as well as she does!!

I know I've said this before, but I'll repeat it only because its truth keeps being demonstrated over and over. The Latinos who work here love it that I'm taking Spanish. They seem to enjoy helping me, and laugh at my feeble attempts in great fun. It just builds camaraderie among us, I guess, which is a great help in what is often tense relationship.

The same idea sort of worked the other day with Amharic. I had an Ethiopian caregiver the other day, and Sue (sister Sue) and I used to be good friends with a group of Ethiopian guys . I said "good morning" to her in Amharic, which amazed her, and "lets drink beer now", the only other phrase I know, which amused her.

Besides using Spanish as a tool to enhance relationships, the other thing I enjoyed about the class last night was the trip back and and forth. That may seem strange, but the bus going both directions went through residential neighborhoods, taking a different route going than the one used to come back. It was after dark, and it is almost Christmas, so there were lots of pretty Christmas lights out on the houses.

In the past, David and Ron and Sue2 and I always took a night to drive around and look at the pretty lights in the neighborhoods. I'll never forget that one year. when it was real cold outside, we drove around for a long time with David and me in the front seat and Ron and Sue in the back. David and I kept "oohing" and "awwing", but the other two never said anything. Finally they said, "We can't see anything!" and we looked back and found that, despite their frantic wiping, Sue's and Ron's windows were entirely covered in fog and they couldn't see anything at all. This is probably an example of why Susan has taken to calling herself "Susanella".