Comete el alfajor!!!

Today was officially my favorite class. Of course the major topic was my favorite subject. COMIDA!!!

When the class first started, David was voicing his frustration over only knowing words in the present. He really wanted to talk about the past, more specifically his date the night before. Jimena did point out that it was only his second week of class and that he should be patient. To calm him down, Jimena did point out some things that you can say in the present, where people will understand that something already took place. For example, Hace una hora - an hour ago.

David apparently got knocked down a peg or two when he was out on his date last night so in today's class he was not his usual obnoxious self. Granted there were a few inappropriate comments but on the whole, I think he behaved himself quite well. But then again, it was a very important class (at least for me!!)

Whenever anyone asks me how my Spanish is, my answer is always the same. "When it comes to food, drink and the bathroom . . . I am good to go!!!" And I can usually say that no matter what country I am in. While my smoker of a husband knows how to say ashtray no matter where we go, I can always get me something to eat and drink.

Granted, I knew most of the food that they talked about but I have to say that I really enjoyed the discussion on alfajors. Jimena was so descriptive that I was truly able to visualize it. I even laughed at David's "alpha + whore" comment. Yup, my friends said the same thing when they came to visit. Besides steak and wine, I do believe that alfajors are my husband's favorite thing about BsAs. And I think his waistline will attest to it!!

But besides the actual food, I learned a lot of very handy Spanish phrases for when dining out. I am really looking forward to surprising my husband when I ask him to "Podría alcanzarme el vino, por favor?" (Can you pass me the wine, please?) When one eats out as often as we do, another question that we ask a lot is: En qué mesa nos sentamos nosotros?



I am pretty confident that neither Visual Link, Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur will give you quite the descriptive as well as helpful food lesson.


In the middle of all this food talk, there were brief lessons regarding among other things, the difference between saber (to know) and conocer (to be familar with/to meet) and reciprocal and reflexive verbs. While not nearly as interesting, they were quite helpful. But then we got right back to more food talk.

It was a class where I never got bored although I did get a bit hungry. Apparently there is more food talk tomorrow. Maybe this time I will have something to eat before I watch the video!!

Even Jimena Needed a Break from David

Well, I think we all know how I feel about David and I had promised myself I wasn't going to bad mouth him again. But really, wondering how long "things last" with Jimena and her boyfriend, just makes you want to call him a CULO all over again. Thankfully Jimena seems to be getting a bit fed up with him too, so hopefully next week she will ream him a new one and whip him into shape.

Anyway . . . .in the world of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish, today is Saturday so today's class was a re-cap of this past week. Jimena called David at home (even she couldn't stand to see him again ;-) ) and they reviewed a lot of what was learned during the past 5 classes.

By the way, for those that were wondering, this is Jimena.

Jimena decided to play a few games with David to review his numbers, family members, moods, a few greetings, as well as conjugating some verbs in the present tense. All and all, quite the informative lesson.

In addition, there are some practice exercises for me to do in the support material that came with the Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish learn Spanish DVD. A great way to really reinforce what Jimena has been teaching us.

As I am being taught more and more new things (from what I had learned in previous Spanish classes), I find myself pausing the video more often to jot down more notes . . . new vocabulary words and useful Spanish phrases. It is nice to see my notebook filling up, ever so slowly.

I still find myself looking all over the screen at all the colors and all the words (both English and Spanish), all the while, trying to listen to Jimena. So at times I feel a bit distracted by doing so many things at once.

During all my previous Spanish classes (both private lessons and Visual Link), I found that I started to excel in writing and reading while I really lagged behind in speaking and understanding other speakers. I am really hoping that listening to Jimena, who ONLY speaks Spanish (no matter how much David exhausts her) will really help boost my listening (and understanding) and speaking skills.

One thing that was new today was Reflexive Verbs. I have been taught them many times in the past and while it all makes sense when it is explained to you, being a native English speaker, it is still hard to grasp. All a reflexive verb is one where the action is done to yourself. For example, ducharse (to shower one self) vs. in English one would say I am showering. (I hope I got that right.) The little professor popped up and did a great job of explaining it. Let's hope that this time it sticks.

This is a video that I might repeat again before I move on to Class 7 just to make sure that I am not too far behind Señor David since he really seems to be grasping the Spanish language. (My one and only attempt to say something nice about David).

Well, there may be a day off for David, it is Monday for me (and I already took the weekend off) so I will be back, bright eyed and bushy tailed mañana!! Chau Chau para ahora!!

Why Is She Laughing At Me?

That is what David asked in class today. And my answer to him . . .

"porqué sos un culo"

(did I get that right???) Thanks to the last class, I learned what a "culo" was (for those that don't know, it's an ASS.)

Well, enough about David for the moment. I decided to take the weekend off and took a little break between classes 4 and 5. I went to an asado on Friday night with a mixed group of both locals and ex-pats and was able to share all the new words I learned in class that day. I must say, while no one was offended, they were all pretty surprised at how graphic some of the slang words were that were taught. After many bottles of wine my friends were able to teach me some more slang Spanish as well (although I don't think I will share those!!)

I really enjoyed today's class (with the exception of David of course!!). Today was the day we learned "estados de ánimos" or moods. With all that has been going on with my neck (and to add insult to injury, my husband has come down with some sort of stomach virus within the past 36 hours), the moods in my house have varied quite a bit lately.

I actually took a lot of notes today and paused the tape frequently to jot down things that were of interest and might come in handy some day. In addition, they did mention something that I thought was quite amusing and quite appropriate for me (that is, before I moved to BsAs and started eating every steak in sight and drinking so much wine):

Hace tanto tiempo qué estoy a dieta! (It has been so long that I am on a diet!)

I am starting to wonder who Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish is really geared to. In today's class, for example, I think just a bit too much time was spent on "pedo". While pedo apparently means quite a few things, the end result was getting Jimena to admit that it also meant fart. I was beginning to feel as though I eavesdropped on a conversation between my husband and some of his idiot friends after many cervezas!! Now let me think, do they do this in Rosetta Stone?? Pimsleur?? Just curious!!

Overall I really enjoyed today's class since I was able to add quite a few new vocabulary words to my repertoire.

Apparently, since David's mother is still in town there might be some surprises in store for us. Guess I will find out soon enough.

David es un Pija . . .

In case you were curious. . . here is a look at David:

Did I say that right? :-)

Normally I would not write anything like that about someone I don't know in a public forum, but I am just practicing the new vocabulary that I learned today in lesson 4 of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish.

Ok, ok, that might have been a bit harsh. But I do have to say, never in all my research of Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur or Visual Link have I been taught about boobs, butts or . . . well, you get the gist. I can see how Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish can really come in handy for a single guy on the prowl here in Buenos Aires looking to learn some slang Spanish!!

With that said, today's class was pretty interesting. I have trouble with my numbers (well not the basics, but once we hit 100's and 1000's I get a bit confused) so today was quite informative for me. It was great to see the numbers written out as well as spoken.

Having recently been laid up due to a pinched nerve, it was also really helpful to learn a few more body parts (especially those that can be discussed politely in mixed company). Even though I have had a pain in my neck for weeks now, I never did learn that word for neck until today. Wonder why I never looked it up??

While I have already learned all the irregular verbs that they discussed in class (as boring as verbs/grammar really are), you can never have the info repeated enough. I liked the summary of the different types of irregular verbs. A nice quick summary that explained a lot.

Although I thought they spent a bit too much time on the pronunciation of the "rrrr" sound. Here check out what I mean:


And since we all seem to know how I feel about David, I thought he sounded sort of like a "boludo" (not being mean, just using new vocabulary).

Well, tonight I have been invited to my first official Argentine asado. While I have already had one at my house with a mixture of locals and expats (with the BEST asador ever!!), I am really looking forward to how the locals do it. It will once again be a group of expats and Porteños, with varying degrees of English and Spanish amongst the group. Looks like this will be a great time to practice what I learned.

I just hope I don't come across any "culos".

Nope, not growing on me yet.

Oh how I wish he was. But after spending some time observing David, all I can say is: THANK GOD I AM MARRIED :-)

Having studied Spanish privately for almost 3 months, most of what I have seen on Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish so far for me is more of a refresher course. But I have to say it is good timing. Since I was laid up in bed for 2 weeks speaking only English to my husband and friends, watching English television and reading English books, my Spanish had really suffered.

I was getting upset that all that time (and money) spent was for nothing. But as I watch the videos I realize it is coming back to me . . . ever so slowly. So as I said, this is a really good time for me to start Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish.

I am still having the problem of whether or not to read the English or Spanish. They talk really fast (as does most everyone I have ever met in this country so I guess in the end that will be helpful). I feel as if I read the English I am not learning the Spanish words but then if I read the Spanish, I don't always know what they are saying. HRUMPH!!

Another problem I have is that although I have some Spanish lessons under my belt, I really only know the PRESENT tense. So while reading the Spanish on the Pizarra Mágica, I see that I am familiar with the word but realize it is a tense I don't know. Just another source of frustration for me.

I think the smartest thing for me is to watch the videos completely and get the total gist of what they are trying to convey that day. While I am not taking notes, I do have hard copy support documents that they gave me so I do have that to fall back on. This way I don't have to struggle trying to take notes while they are talking. I have a feeling though that when the subject matter is something of real importance to me, I will go back and watch it again for a better review.

While I am obviously learning A LOT of useful Spanish phrases, I feel I am wasting some time for example, learning about what money they use in other countries or what people are called there or the name of jobs that are of no interest to me. I found they do that in many other Spanish language courses as well (CD-ROM, online, as well as personal and group classes). Having never taken them, I wonder about Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone as well.

I am really curious about how the course is going to continue. No, not about how lucky David gets with the ladies, but rather how the learning process will really work.

I wonder how differently this course would be for someone who knows no Spanish at all (or more like how I was when I arrived in BsAs 4 months ago) vs. someone who has 3 or 4 months of lessons under their belt vs. someone who has a better Spanish background and now wants to learn what it is really like to speak Spanish here in Buenos Aires.

Well, I have 27 more videos to find that out. And I am sure it will be an interesting journey. Oh, and now I have David's mother to look forward to. This should be interesting, especially since my parents are coming for a visit in a few weeks. Hmmm . . . if she is anything like David, let's just hope their paths don't cross!!

Moving Right Along

Day Two of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish and I am still trying to get the hang of it. Since it is still in the early stages and the subject matter has all been pretty basic, it has been pretty easy to follow. But I must say, it sure moves fast.

On the Pizarra Mágica (this video will give you a much better description of it than I ever could . . . )


words in both English and Spanish appear. My problem is that sometimes I just don't know where to look. It is all color coded for which I am sure down the road will be very helpful but at the moment it all seems like a rainbow. Blue for masculine endings, pink for feminine (OK, that isn't so tough to follow), green for verbs, symbols for different types of verbs (present, past, infinitive. . . the list goes on and on).

So while I am getting some really great and useful Spanish phrases, I am having a hard time figuring out if I should be reading the English or Spanish. If I listen in Spanish and read the English will that help me learn the words or should I read the Spanish and hope I understand?

I keep asking myself "Can I learn Spanish"?

Think about it. I have lived in Spanish speaking countries for over 3 years now and to be honest, I always thought that I couldn't learn it. I always said, "I just don't have a knack for other languages." My husband picked it up in just a few weeks (but then again he is a computer programmer and God only knows how his head works) and for me it has been a struggle. Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Visual Link . . . these are all options I either tried, thought about trying or at least researched. With the exception of actually buying Visual Link and using it for a few weeks, I really haven't been all that successful.

I have taken private lessons which I found to be really helpful (that is if you like your teacher, they speak English, have flexible hours and apparently, if they have David as a student, they don't mind getting hit on). But in the end it can be costly and very time consuming.

While David wasn't nearly as annoying today (so maybe he did get lucky last night) I think I will be able to keep plugging along. Then again, it is only day 2!

Who Will Kill David First??? Me or Jimena???

OH MY GOD!!! What an ass!! Want to take a peak and see what he is all about??



OK, OK, I know it is all in good fun but I really hope he turns it down a notch mañana. Actually a lot of notches.

I really didn't know what to expect. Was I to take notes, just listen, listen and repeat. Today was my first lesson of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish.

Thankfully I am a little ahead of the game (after 3 years of living in Spanish speaking countries and 3 months of lessons) as I already know how to say hello, goodbye, my name etc. . . and while I really am not all that interested in "spooning my way around Spanish speaking countries", I sat back and took it all in and just tried to get the lay of the land.

I am definitely a "whiteboard" (**NEW WORD: Pizarra Mágica"**) kind of student so I was very happy to see it used here. I am much more visual than auditory so I have a feeling once David tones it down , I will really start to remember and learn what they are talking about.

From my brief experiences with Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone they both seem a bit stiffer and more serious. What I liked about Visual Link were the games we played so I have a feeling Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish will be a great mix of fun and knowledge and a great way for me to learn.

Due to my recent injury and recovery I am stuck home today so I won't get much of a chance to practice my greetings, but I think I have enough of that under my belt already. So for now, I am looking forward to what lies ahead tomorrow and hopefully learn some really useful Spanish phrases!!

Maybe David got lucky last night and will give Jimena a rest. She really does seem to have the patience of a saint!!

Chau Chau!!

Let's get the ball rolling . . .

My husband Mike and I, die hard New Yorkers, have been living in Buenos Aires for almost 4 months (after a 2 1/2 year stint in Costa Rica). One would think that I would have picked up Spanish by now. But then you would have been wrong.

Before we ever got to Costa Rica Mike had taught himself some Spanish using the Pimsleur tapes. 30 minutes a day for 6 weeks (he actually did two tapes a day and nipped in the bud even quicker) and he was good to go. Me, um, not so much.

When we first got to Costa Rica my Spanish teacher didn't speak English which made learning grammar (which I have enough difficultly with in English) to be a big problem. I ordered the Visual Link disks which had a lot of games and goofy stuff which I thought would be fun. But that lasted only so long.

So what did I do, I just gave up. Mike has a really easy time learning languages so I pretty much relied on him. Although everyone in Costa Rica thought I was a local married to a gringo who let her husband do all the talking. And hanging with the Gringos made it easy to never really need Spanish.

Well, we decided to give up the small town life of Costa Rica and move to the big city. Mike is a computer programmer who works from home all day. And there was WAY too much to do and see in Buenos Aires that I was going to sit around and wait for him all day. That meant I had to go out and learn me some Spanish.

I had been studying 4-5 times a week for up to 2 hours a day with a private teacher for about 3 months and apparently my friends told me I was doing pretty well. I could order in a restaurant (but then again, I never had any trouble with food, beverages or finding the bathroom in most any language), buy things in the store, open a gym membership, and do some other pretty basic stuff.

We also had met a great group of new friends, locals and expats alike so there was always a great mix of English and Spanish for us all to practice. And of course, the more wine I drank, apparently the better my Spanish became.

Two weeks ago I got hit with a pinched nerve in my neck and it all went to hell. I was laid up in bed with a cervical collar and a bunch of meds. I spent 2 weeks either poking around Facebook, reading or watching the same episodes of Friends or Two and A Half Men for hours on end. Not a lick of Spanish was uttered from these lips.

After going to the doctor and totally relying on my husband to explain my pain (and wishing I had done better with either those Pimsler tapes or maybe even Rosetta Stone, I knew it was time to get my Spanish learning into high gear.

I had heard about Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish (and that I could even earn money by learning Spanish) and thought that would be great for me. Keep me busy, make a couple of extra peseos and most importantly, LEARN SPANISH!!

Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish is 6 DVDs, 30 classes, 18+ hours of Spanish which seems like a really fun and affordable way for me to learn Spanish on my own time. No more setting up classes in the middle of the day on someone else's schedule. I can now learn Spanish in the middle of the day, the middle of the night, in the park or even on the treadmill.

So here I am. . .. day 1. Time to get myself set up and see what Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish can do for me. I will be sure to let you know.