hi, here's a photo of zocalo in mexico city. i'm having a great time here. the weather is really good, and ana maria, my host mother, is a fantastic cook! the only problem is the language. spanish is not as easy as you said, dad. you told me spanish is like english, but you put "a" or "o" after every word. well, when i wanted some more soap, i asked ana maria for "sopa." five minutes later, she came to my room with a bow of soup! at least now i know that "sopa" means "soup." we laughed about it. i apologized and said i was very "embarazado." then she laughed even more and ran to tell carlos, my host father. he speaks a little english. he told me "embarazado" means " pregnant" in spanish. i felt terrible!
and that's not the only language problem! yesterday in town, i had a sandwich at a cafe. when i wanted to pay, i tried to speak spanish. i know that"como" is " how," so i said "como mucho?" thinking i was saying " how much?" the waiter just smiled and walked away. i tried " como mucho" again a few times, buy then he brought me another sandwich! when i checked in my phrase book, i discovered that "como mucho" means "i eat a lot." "how much" is something completely different.
the most embarrassing mistake i made was in my spanish class. we had to ask each other, "what's your name?" in spanish, this is "como te llamas?" but i got confused. i said to my partner eric, "como te amo," which means " how i love you!" everyone laughed. i felt really bad!
anyway, i'm learning spanish - slowly! the people here are great, and i love mexico. thanks so much for this trip. see you next month.