Some of you have finally noticed that my blog and I decided to take some time apart. Fear not, the underlying motives are merely circumstantial and have nothing to do with fundamental incompatibility.
Shortly after my last blog post, I found myself defending the Subte (subway) workers' strike/struggle for an independent union to some locals. It was everything I could do to keep my brain from exploding as I dug around looking for the right verb forms to use. For anyone that's tried to convince someone of something political, you can imagine that the process of discerning which verb form is appropriate (imperativo, presente subjuntivo, preterito, imperfecto indicativo, pluscuamperfecto subjuntivo (seriously!)...), remembering the ending of the infinitive form (-ar, -er, -ir), pulling up the extensive list of irregulars, and finally combining these three results to add one of fifty possible endings -- every g.d. sentence -- can be a hindrance. In this moment I realized that I really needed to nail this Castellano Spanish business if I wanted to do more with my voice than order empanadas and talk about the weather, and resolved to abandon all English-based interaction and focus my powers here.
This is where I have been, and will be for a couple more weeks. But I promise to return, ready to recount stories of all the masses that have been swayed.
Also, I'm not coming home in December.
Saludos y solidarity!
17 November 2009
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