KooKooBirdies: Salud, amor y dinero, y tiempo para gastarlos... or Spanish 101

One of my dreams with David is to live abroad in another country (or countries) for a time. We'd especially love to live in Spain where David's father's family is from. It would be great to be fluent in more than one language, and we'd both really love to be able to give that opportunity to our kids (when we have them) as well.

In an effort to make that happen, David is attempting to get his Spanish citizenship. There is a process going on in Spain right now called, La Ley de Memoria Historica, which allows children and grandchildren of Spanish citizens/former Spanish citizens to now gain Spanish citizenship without giving up their current citizenship (whatever that may be, in our case, American).

Since David's father was a Spanish citizen when David was born, David's name (and that of his older sister Marlee) are written down in the Spanish register called el Libro de Familia. There are still quite a few loops we have to jump through to make this happen, including going to San Francisco to the the Spanish Consulate there, but once we do our dream is that much closer to becoming a reality. I'm so excited!!!

David and his sister Marlee (Marta in Spanish)
(Photo by Krakora Studios)

In the mean time, David and I are brushing up on our Spanish lessons. I've pulled out an old college text book called Asi es that I saved for some reason, and I'm reading it through a little each day. It's not easy... when you don't use it, you lose it, and neither of us were very fluent to begin with. What little Spanish I did know does come back quickly though, and that's nice.

Starting in September, David and I are going to take a Spanish language class once a week (http://www.crlanguages.com/services/language-classes/) and really work hard at speaking Spanish with each other as well. Then in October or November (fitting it around the Boise State Football games) we take our trip to San Francisco to the Spanish Consulate to sort out all the paperwork. Then, we wait.

When I think back about my first few words of Spanish, I think of my father. My parents had a time-share in Mexico when I was a little kid (younger than 6 because that's when they sold the place), and my dad used to give us "Spanish lessons" only he didn't nor does he really speak Spanish. He taught me the "important things" to know. I learned peanut butter- crema de cacahuete, and butter- mantequilla, and water- agua, and a toast- salud, amor, y dinero, y tiempo para gastarlos- health, love, and money, and time to enjoy them.

Me and my dad... my first Spanish teacher.
(photo by Krakora Studios)

What amazes me most is how everything comes full circle in life, I learned those few words and I had that small taste of the Spanish language and culture as a very small child, which coming from the small town that I'm from was pretty amazing to have had. Now, as an adult, I've found myself married into a Spanish family, and excited to experience the culture and language that comes with it.