One year!

As of today, I've been in Argentina for one year!

During the first couple of months, everything was new and time seemed to move very slowly. But since then the days have been flying by. I guess that's what happens when we get into a routine in life.

So, after one year, have I met my original goals? The short answer is yes. (See my first post in this blog.) I've had a year to learn about and experience life in another culture. And I now know what it means to move away from home, from family and friends, and find a new home and meet new friends.

I've also had a year to greatly improve my Spanish. It took longer than I expected -- about six months -- to start to feel more or less comfortable speaking to people and to be able to express myself fairly well in everyday circumstances. I guess it took so long because I was so selfconscious about my speaking. That's one personality trait that doesn't help when it comes to learning a language! My vocabulary is much greater than a year ago, but the biggest change is that I can understand spoken Spanish much better. Unfortuntely, I still have trouble understanding some people. You don't realize how much difference there is in the way individual speakers talk until you learn another language.

I was planning to go back to the US after one year, but a wrench has been thrown into the works: I have an Argentine fiancee, and it turns out to be a long process to bring her to the US with me. We began the process in early January, and it will be at least another two months before it's finished -- and maybe a lot more! It's a little frustrating, since I'm ready to go home, but it's worth it.