What do you call . . .

"What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks only one language? American.
(Gonzales, R., 2005, August, Star-Telegram)"

Yes, I am in the chaos of glorying in my half-done thesis. Nothing like fighting words onto the page. "You will go on there. You will go on in an order that makes sense. You will present yourself for inspection in an academically sound way. Arr!" (And yes, I know that Talk Like a Pirate Day has been and gone, but my thesis just brings out the wench in me).

Also on my table is a thought. Ten years ago I was beginning my freshman year of high school. I was starting to take Spanish 1 from a man who would, in a number of months, get fired. I was beginning to mutter these strange sounds to myself in the mirror (not yet daring to whisper them in public). I was beginning to become bilingual. Here I am, ten years later, teaching native Spanish speakers how to read and write and understand grammar in their native tongue. I stand in front of a classroom of native speakers, five days a week, and talk to them in their language, instructing them in how their language ought to be. It is a far cry from the shy 14-year-old girl who began to memorize written phrases like, "Me llamo" and "Yo tengo catorce anos" those ten years ago. Me is a strange person to be right now. And in a way I am just as I was 10 years ago - I am fascinated by the strangeness of my life.

With all this newness and strangeness though, I catch myself navel gazing an awful lot, and I want to take a moment to apologize to you, my friends and family, because I know that it has got to get boring for you to hear about all the new stuff in my life all the time. I remind myself of how Jess was when she was pregnant. Only instead of producing a new life I am producing language growth in others and myself. I really do care about all of you, and I still pray for you, and I'm sure I'll get over myself a little more sometime in the near future, enough so to be more loving and caring once more.

Thanks to my dear brother for the great music - it's keeping my spirit up as I wrestle with my thesis.

My thought for the day last night and I'll be done -

Infinitive, this concept that I have been teaching to my Spanish classes, if you break it down into the Latin components
in = no
Fin = ending
And infinitive verb has no ending - it is aplicable to no one in particular. Fascinating! A new thought for me on a ten-year-old concept. Always fun. =)

May your life never be an infinitive!