speaking Spanish in North America by Shelley Hopkins

Speaking Spanish in America (North, that is)

            I wonder if there is etiquette for speaking to people in their own languages?  I speak Spanish, and I love to practice with native speakers.  The question is, do I just start speaking Spanish every time I see someone that I think speaks that language?

            When learning a second language, we are told to plunge right in and start talking.  The only way to become comfortable with a language is to use it, and so we should seek every opportunity.  When I am in my local big box store I often hear families talking in Spanish.  They discuss the price of sugar, they correct their kids, and they chat about nothing.  It would be rude for me to walk up and talk with them, or at least I feel like it would be.  Standing in line to pay I sometimes strike up a conversation in English, then do I say, “Oh, now can we talk in Spanish?”

            Why do I struggle with this?

            My experiences:

            One time in a Mexican Restaurant with my extended family and friends, I decided to order in Spanish.  Everyone else spoke in English, and when my turn to order arrived, I ordered in Spanish.  The waiter, without batting an eye, write down the order, replied in English and moved on.  He might’ve not even noticed which language I spoke, or he might have preferred to keep the same language for the entire group.  Another time I was having a yard sale and two Hispanic ladies were chatting together while browsing through the items I was selling.  My house was also for sale, which is why I was trying to get rid of a few things.  One lady asked the other how much she thought my house was, and I eagerly told her.  All of this was in Spanish.  The two ladies didn’t reply, they just turned and left.  Did I offend them?  Had they said bad things about me that I had missed?  I don’t know.

            Another time my daughter and I were eating in a different Mexican Restaurant.  We asked the waitress if we could order in Spanish and practice our language.  We asked in English.  She agreed, and we had a wonderful time chatting in Spanish.  She even told her manager who came out to chat with us.  At the end of the meal the chef sent out a complimentary dessert.

            Last week my husband and I walked into a panadería, a Mexican bakery.  Immediately all eyes were on us.  I felt shy and out of place.  All my Spanish words froze on my tongue.  We made our purchases quietly.  After I paid the cashier said, “Que le vaya con Dios” and I smiled. “gracias” and I fled.  Maybe when I feel better I’ll return and ask to practice with her.

            I know that when I am in Costa Rica I only speak Spanish.  I wake up every morning thrilled to speak, and go to bed exhausted for speaking.  At the same time my feelings are hurt when I start speaking in Spanish and the Costa Rican switches to English.  Was my Spanish not good enough, have they assumed I can’t manage to communicate?  What I fail to consider is that the Costa Rican may be excited to practice his English since I am a native speaker in that language.  Same problem, but in reverse. 

            I guess the answer is to try to see situations from the other person’s point of view, no different from any other communication issue.  Ask for permission to practice, be ready to speak, and have fun!

            

Where to eat in Charleston SC by Shelley Hopkins

Where to eat in Charleston, SC

We are fortunate to live in the land of great eating and wonderful restaurants.  I don’t think we have had a bad dining experience from any restaurant in the Charleston area, and I can’t say that about any other place we have lived.  Last weekend we ate at what is now my favorite place, an old gas station, sort of.  The restaurant, called Fuel, is in a building that started out as an old gas station, but now serves Caribbean themed food. We sat at our tables in the outside dining area, and relaxed while the sun shone and the fans cooled.  It seems that more of the restaurant is outdoors than in, and I like that. If all the tables are full, patrons can wait in the outdoor living room, sitting on couches and enjoying the almost tropical mood.  Diners can relax and chat, traffic is barely heard or noticed.  The patio is a quiet outdoor living space.  The flowers, the building, the dogs and laughing people made me feel like I was in Central America.

We ordered appetizers, hoe cakes.  These little corn meal cakes that used to be cooked on a hoe over a fire in the fields are now gourmet foods, spicy and wonderful.  Next we ordered our main dishes.  I chose Braised Pork Tacos with fried plantains.  Plantains are a type of banana that has to be cooked, and are commonly found in Central America.  I love them.  My son ate the jerk chicken sandwich, and my daughter enjoyed a chorizo burger.  My husband had a goat cheese salad, which he enjoyed.  I found the cheese to be too rich for me, but the salad toned it down.   The food choices were plentiful, the atmosphere was relaxing, and every bite of food had great flavor.   Anytime I can eat outside and not suffer heat stroke I am very happy, and the dining area was both shaded and cooled by fans.  The bathrooms were original from the gas station days, with graffiti on the walls.  I almost looked for a key on a stick to return to the attendant.  Luckily they were cleaned better than old gas station bathrooms.   Fuel has been featured on Diners, Drive Inns and Dives, and although I have not seen that episode I can see why this place was chosen.

Apparently many people take their dogs with them to eat around here.  I think this is strange.  Do these people go take the dog for a walk, and while out strolling say to themselves, “lets go out to eat, I’m sure Fido will love it too.”  Somehow I think the dogs are not as happy as the rest of us, while we are enjoying our black bean burgers and pulled pork tacos the dogs are sitting under the tables smelling all this food and not getting to eat any delicious scraps.  This weekend a very smart group of people had taken their dogs out, volunteers from an animal shelter.  Every dog was wearing a vest that was embroidered with “adopt me” and the humans kept wandering around the outdoor patio with these adorable little family seeking animals.  Almost every restaurant that has an outdoor section has dogs here in Charleston.  

I am looking forward to sharing this restaurant with my visiting family and friends.  I like the outdoor feel, the friendliness of the staff and the wonderful creative food.  But I will not be sharing this place with my dog, I am not interested in keeping up with my animal friend while relaxing on the patio, and I am not sharing my meal, not one bite.  I am too greedy for that!

Why Read? by Shelley Hopkins

Why read?

There are as many answers to this question as there are readers.  The best sounding answer is that we read to enlighten our world, to learn and to experience from other viewpoints.  Sometimes we read simply for entertainment.  I love a good murder mystery but I am not trying to learn how to get away with murder, or how to solve murders.  I simply want to enjoy the story.

For me, another reason to read, a not very highbrow reason to read, is to calm my mind.  Sometimes I enjoy reading after very stressful or busy days.  The order of letters lined up creating words, the order of words lined up creating sentences, and the order of sentences lined up to create ideas causes a very calming effect, ordering my mind.  If random letters can be lined up in ways that make words and sentences, and these sentences can illuminate grand or maybe even mundane ideas, then my mind and my spirit can do the same. In the same way that straightening a desk or a room can calm me, reading the words on a page can calm the mind.  Of course the best part is that these words generate ideas and dreams, the result of which is my ordered mind begins to dream, to run, to take off and fly to non-orderly but wonderful places. I reap the benefit of order and calmness, followed by creativity and dreams.  I might even learn something along the way!