Getting to know German

 

My Spanish tutor, German

It's taking me years to learn Spanish, but it only took me a day to get to know German! Yes, as I mentioned yesterday, my new Spanish tutor's name is, "German" (pronounced Hair-maan).  Today was my second day learning from him and I really enjoy the individualized practice with conversations.

I have to admit, it's frustrating that I still have so much trouble understanding German, even when he's speaking slowly. And I'm even worse at speaking. Sometimes I think studying Spanish is a just a futile exercise.  I don't think I'll ever become fluent unless I live in a Spanish-speaking country and really force myself to interact almost exclusively with locals. 

Still, I don't want to give up now.  At this point in life, the thing that matters most about any goal is that I'm having fun and enjoying the journey.  Even if I don't become fluent, I am enjoying getting better.  I just have to try not to be frustrated or impatient or embarrassed by all my mistakes.

Anyway, German is a fun and patient maestro. Even though I don't understand him half the time, I enjoy listening to his stories because he's quite the story-teller with his expressions, voices, and mannerisms.

Here's a little video with us speaking Spanish (unfortunately, it doesn't include the aforementioned funny expressions..  maybe I'll record one of his stories tomorrow.)