Saying Hola!

The kids and I were playing outside on this beautiful fall day when we heard little kids laughing just a few houses down. Ben scoped it out and sure enough the neighbors were out enjoying the day as well. We have lots of kids in our neighborhood, we see them all the time running and riding and laughing, but we have yet to stop and play because of one seemingly major factor: We don't speak the same language.

Ben asked if we could walk down and see if they wanted to play and I hesitated for a moment, then remembered this blog I read yesterday and was inspired to step out of my comfort zone. We walked on down and I scrambled to dust the cobwebs off of my three years of high school Spanish.

My kids walked up to the other two, a boy and a girl, and they all just stared at each other. Their mother was standing waaaaaaay off so I smiled and waved to her, she smiled and stayed put. Random spanish phrases flew around my head, but I tried to focus. I know where the library is, so "donde es la biblioteca?" was out. "Vamos a la playa" seemed a bit awkward for a first meeting. Then all the VBS songs from our trips to El Centro came rushing to mind and I was tempted to bust out "Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo, en mi corazón" but stopped. The little girl was just staring at me. Okay, I can do this. She's no more than 5, and she already knows I'm a silly white lady, so what have a got to lose?

I got down low so she could see my eyes.

"Hola, me llamo Sarah. Como te amas?"

"Jaqueline".

"Hola Jaqueline! Quantos anos tienes?"

"Cinco"

"Ah cinco! Muy bien!"

Then I introduced my kids. They all smiled and said hola. :-)

Addison wanted to tell her she liked her pricess shoes, so I did my best to say, "me gusta tu zappatos", I think might've been a little off, because she totally giggled, but she knew her shoes were liked and said, "gracias".

For a moment I was certain she was going to yell at me - in perfect English, "Why are you speaking Spanish? Crazy American!" but she didn't.

The kids skipped around a bit and laughed at how no one understood each other, but it was still really fun.

So thanks, Karen Yates, for encouraging me to make an effort to engage, even if it would've been easier to stay and play at my own house. The kids got to see me squirm a bit and laugh at myself, and we made a new friend on our street! And since Thanksgiving is just a few days away I'll throw out a quick "Thankful List"...

1. Mr. Garcia's awesome spanish classes.
2. Growing up in a church that took frequent trips to Mexico, Mexicali and El Centro, where I learned how to talk to children about Jesus Christo.
3. Kids who are fluent in "laughter".
4. A gorgeous day to be outside.

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