{"id":5237,"date":"2026-03-18T16:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=5237"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:41:08","slug":"learning-spanish-un-poco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=5237","title":{"rendered":"Learning Spanish — -Un poco"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After getting settled into my apartment in Mexico City, Spanish lessons began. I thought I\u2019d made it clear to the program I\u2019d selected that my knowledge was minimal at best yet ended up with a delightful group of thirty-somethings, all way more skilled than I. (In fairness, age has corrupted my ability to remember vocabulary. However, the instructor, a lovely guy, moved very fast assuming that we understood him. Not me.)<\/h3>\n

Lessons were from nine am to one pm starting at a different coffee shop each day.\u00a0 It was chilly early in the day and three-plus hours on a hard chair taxed my butt mightily. The best part of the lessons was the last forty-five minutes when the group moved to a cultural space to\u00a0 introduce us to CDMX. We went to spots in beautifully maintained Chapultepec Park, to the Temple Major Museum (ruins excavated when the Metro was being built);\u00a0 to the Museo Vivo de Muralismo to see frescos by Diego Riviera\"\"and to the Jamaica Market that sells everything under the sun but specializes in flowers. I \"\"lugged home a huge bunch of sunflowers.<\/h3>\n

After a week, that group split and the following Monday another \u2013also thirty somethings\u2014was formed.<\/h3>\n
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Spanish class group one<\/p><\/div>\n

This week\u2019s instructor moved at a marginally slower pace. The cultural visits continued with one to a pavilion from the people of Lebanon to Mexico and further explorations in Chapultepec Park.<\/h3>\n
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Olmec head<\/p><\/div>\n

It was fun seeing different parts of this fascinating city but I can\u2019t say that my Spanish is fluent. However, I\u2019m able to get what I need and even communicate with the lovely woman who cleans once\u00a0 a week. (Let’s hear it for Google Translate!)<\/h3>\n

This is said to be an easy recipe for black bean and beef tostadas. Based on the food here, it\u2019s a total hack but is vaguely reminiscent of the real thing. To be authentic you should serve with many bottles of hot sauce, one more incendiary than the last.<\/h3>\n
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A very small selection of what’s available<\/p><\/div>\n