The making of a Latinophile, Part 1

My husband came home from work one day (he has his own home improvements business) and announced that he’d like to take up Spanish, so he could possibly hire some Spanish-speaking workers in the future.  I said, “Que bueno!” (well, that’s what I would have said, had I known it meant “great!”)   I asked him how long he had been thinking about it and he said, “Oh, about 3 or 4 years.”  What?!  This didn’t make sense to me – a person who rarely has an unexpressed thought – at all.   But that’s another story…   I decided that I would learn with him and ran right out to the bookstore and got us identical books of introductory Spanish.  Literally.  That day.  These first books didn’t prove to be particularly good – I was frustrated that they never ventured past the present tense – but it was a start.  That was almost 3 years ago.   Husband has learned all of about 12 words but I’ve been steadily studying ever since.  I just fell in love with this beautiful language and now can’t get enough.  I have amassed quite the collection of books and CD’s, my car radio is always tuned to the local Spanish station, I’ve added the full line-up of Spanish channels to our satellite package and I regularly pick up something new with my phrase-of-the-day calendar.  This is my way – I really like to immerse myself in whatever interests me.    I’m also found myself to be remarkably self-motivated and so had no problem blocking out time to study.  This I did mostly at the local coffee shop, my books and dictionary spread out over the table next to my iced tea. I live in a small town that isn’t known for its diverse population so it took me by surprise that Spanish-speaking people would just come up to the table, after seeing what I was doing, and offer to help.  Where did these people come from and why were they being so nice to me?  Just a suggestion for you — if you want to meet people that speak Spanish, go to a coffee shop with a stack of Spanish textbooks and study by yourself.  You will become a veritable Latino-magnet.   It was kind of embarrassing at first, since I could say SO little.  I met my first tutors this way, most of whom became good friends.  Through them I met others, and here I am today, having met Spanish speakers from 11 countries and the U.S. and Puerto Rico.  I am always amazed, that each of them, without exception, is SO delighted to see an Anglo trying to learn their language that they bend over backwards to help.  Every Latino I have met is warm, wonderful and funny, and a welcome addition to the community of America.  I am proud to say that I am now an avowed Latinophile!