after that last post about the wax, everyone seems to know me a litttle toooooo well.
but i know what youre thinking, "ariana, enough about fabulous vacations, surprise birthday parties and waxes that make you scream. we wanna know about what youre suppose to be doing there: learning portuguese!"
i've been here for a little over 2months now (holy cow) and i can honestly say that it depends each day.
Sometimes I feel like I know ALOT of português, like i can have a conversation with my friends and family and not even have to think or translate, just speak. that in itself, is one of the most beauitful feelings i have ever felt. to think that i know a language that 2months ago, i knew 6words, is astonishing.
you also have to understand how much i love português. its a romance language, along with spanish, italian, and french, all formed by the roots of latin. as Liz Gilbert would say, each word, its like a truffle. like a sweet candy that rolls off your tongue.
for football fans, speaking português is like your favorite team winning the SuperBowl.
for Grandma Hall, speaking português is like you winning the lottery.
I love it that much.
Now, dont let my love for this language fool you, i am no fluent speaker that learned everything she needed to know within a 2month period.
I am waiting for the day that i can have a conversation with Vanessa or Iasmim or any other of classmate that doesnt speak english and not have to grab my dictionary or have Laura translate for me.
I am waiting for the day when a teacher makes a ridiculous comment and the class erupts into laughter, that i can laugh along too and ACTUALLY know what they are laughing at.
I am waitng for the day when i wake up and know that i dreamt in português..
Am i being patient?
Absoletly not.
i wanted all these things the first week I arrived here. Many of you have no idea what its like to sit in a room with 40kids and not understand a thing they are saying. To gather around a table for a meal and just sit and listen, trying to catch atleast what they are talking about. To have people talk to you and you just nodd and smile cause you are tried of saying what? repeat? again &again. To cherish all the conversations that you understand, whether in english or português.
And that is the joy of being an exchange student :D
Sometimes i get really frustrated with my português. why cant i understand this, why cant i understand when they talk to eachother REALLLY quickly, why cantt they understand ME when i try to say a new word and completely butcher it, why cant i just join a conversation without having to think really hard about what to say? ahhh!
You better believe that I am coming back with many many MANY português phrases that i will be saying, and you will be tooo :) some of these phrases make NO sense in english, there is no translation. like everyone says, vei, meaning "dude" but vei is short for old. why are you calling each other old?
or minha filha or meu fihlo, my son/daughter. why are you calling eachother your daughter? you cant even have kids yet.
or my personal favorite: Nossa Senhora. Translation in the dictionary is Our Lady but its used like Ohmygosh. Our Lady..huh?
my love of português, a beauitful langauge that someone back home should start studying so that we can tlak to eachother :) overrules how frustarting it is to communicate in the land of Ipatinga ;D
