Making progress, un poco

This week we started taking spanish lessons from Irlanda.  She's awesome, so far she's just been here one day but I feel like it's helped me a lot.  She's very strict and even when I just want to have a conversation about something and I don't want to be in school she forces me to try en espanol.  It's usually pretty much a failure but then she helps me to figure out the words and I stumble through the conversation.

Today we went into town with one goal, to get a hammock or maybe two.  I practiced and practiced the words that I'd need to negotiate with the hammock sales people.  It went OK, I was hoping to get a couple of them for around 12 each and I ended up paying 15 a piece, one lady was very nice and came down from her original price of 450 cordobas (about 20.00) to 15.00.  She only had the larger kind that you lay in.  So we bought one from her and went searching for a smaller one that you sit in.  We found some and the lady told us 15.00 I tried and tried to talk her down but she wasn't budging and she was not very nice.  I walked away but then I really really wanted another hammock so I went back and paid the 15.00.  I didn't want to buy it from her since she was so unfriendly but I REALLY wanted a hammock.

After hammock shopping we went to the beach and let the kids play for a while.  While I was sitting there waiting one of the many people selling pottery came by.  I actually really needed a large bowl for mixing stuff.  Our condo has only the basics and no larger bowls or pots.  So I talked to the guy for a while, he asked me where I was from, I actually understood and was able to answer.  He asked about the kids and I told them that yes those three kids belong to me.  He asked about their dad and I told them he was at home but he'd be coming to visit in a few weeks.  We had a very nice conversation, I'm sure it was because he was trying to sell me something but he was really nice.  In the end I did buy a large bowl from him, one that his mother made (or so he said). 

After playing at la playa I remembered that Irlanda had instructed us that we needed to buy some flashcards before our next lesson and that there was a place in town by the park where we could get some so we made our way there.  Once at the park I couldn't see the store she had told me about so I had to ask around.  I was able to explain to someone in spanish that I was looking for a place to buy flashcards, paper, etc and they pointed me in the right direction.

At this point it was time to get home.  I found a taxi driver and negotiated the price for him to take us home.  He started at 80 cordobas, I told him that was too much and offered 40, we settled on 50.

So I'm feeling pretty proud of myself tonight.  I had several conversations in what was probably the most broken spanish ever spoken but I was able to communicate a little and that's progress.  It can only get better from here an I'm very excited to spend more time with Irlanda.  Ahora necesito trabajar, hasta luego.